BOOK:
Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future
by Fr. Seraphim Rose
I recommend owning a copy.
$15 postpaid from SJKP.org
This easy-to-read book accomplishes a lot. There have been numerous printings since it was first printed in 1975. Here is the skeleton of the 1983 edition Table of Contents:
Preface
Introduction
Ch. I - Monotheistic Religions
Ch. II - The Power of the Pagan Gods
Ch. III - A Fakir's "Miracle" and the Prayer of Jesus
Ch. IV - Eastern Meditation Invades Christianity
Ch. V - The Spirit of Eastern Cults
Ch. VI - Understanding UFO's
Ch. VII - The Charismatic Revival as a Sign of the Times
Ch. VIII - The Spirit of the Last Times
Epilogue: Towards the 198O's. Jonestown and the 198O's.
Index
[More recent editions have at least one more epilogue.]
Introduction online here:
Chapters I thru V are online here:
Chapter VI on UFO's:
Chapters VII & VIII are online here:
This paragraph below is omitted from the last section of the concluding chapter in the online version. AND it has been rewritten in the newer edition. This is how Fr. Seraphim said it originally:
Ch. VIII - The Spirit of the Last Times
E. "Little Children, It is the last Hour"
[John 2:18]
Unknown to the fevered Orthodox "revivalists," the Lord has reserved in the world, even as in the days of Elijah the Prophet, seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal [Rom. 11:4] -- an unknown number of true Orthodox Christians who are neither spiritually dead, as the Orthodox "charismatics" complain that their flocks have been, nor the pompously "spirit-filled," as these same flocks become under "charismatic" suggestion. They are not carried away by the movement of apostasy nor by any false "awakening," but continue rooted in the holy and saving Faith of Holy Orthodoxy in the tradition the Holy Fathers have handed down to them, watching the signs of the times and traveling the narrow path to salvation. Many of them follow the bishops of the few Orthodox jurisdicitions that have strong stands against the apostasy of our times: the Catacomb Church of Russia, the Russian Church Outside of Russia, the True Orthodox Christians [Old Calendarists] of Greece.* But there are some left in other jurisdictions also, grieving over the ever more evident apostasy of their hierarchs and striving somehow to keep their own Orthodoxy intact;** and there are still others outside of the Orthodox Church who by God's grace, their hearts being open to His call, will undoubtedly yet be joined to genuine Holy Orthodoxy. These "seven thousand "are the foundation of the future and only Orthodoxy of the latter times.
-Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future
1983 edition, page 220
* The the Catacomb Church and the True Orthodox Christians [Old Calendarists] of Greece that Fr. Seraphim refers to, are not the same super-correct fragments we see today with their claims to be the Catacomb Church and to be "true."
** The omission is deliberate because it is obvious that Fr. Seraphim is referring to the world Orthodox jurisdictions. It is part of today's "rewriting" of Fr. Seraphim to make it appear that he would have today approved of Platina's move into world Orthodoxy. They say that Fr. Seraphim was becoming "soft-hearted" towards world Orthodoxy as he grew in the faith, and his earlier writings did not reflect this "later acquired" degree of "soft-heartedness". This is how they justify censoring him after his death.
The truth is that this has nothing to do with soft-heartedness. Fr. Seraphim never "revised" his earlier teachings, instead he built upon them, as a firm foundation. He was never lukewarm about Orthodoxy. He never started growing "soft-hearted" towards sin or apostasy.
Trying to "have your cake and eat it too" is not the Royal Path.
0 comments:
Post a Comment