By Metropolitan
Gregory of Boston and Hierodeacon Samuel
Despite the accusatory tone of Fr. Panagiotes
Carras’ latest polemical attack against HOCNA, we in fact stand very much in
his debt. This is because his article shows the utter lack of reasonable
argument and Christian charity inherent in so many of his attacks against us.
Let us briefly examine his mode of argument.
First, Fr. Panagiotes shows no evidence
whatsoever of having read either Vladimir Ern’s or Hierodeacon Samuel’s essays.
Instead, they are both guilty solely by association.
a. Ern’s arguments are neither analyzed nor
responded to, but are simply tossed out because he was allegedly personally
acquainted with Fr. Sergius Bulgakov (that the latter actually had any
influence over the former is nowhere demonstrated; moreover, friendship does
not imply agreement: no less a critic of Bulgakov than Fr. Georges Florovsky
was a very close personal friend of his in Paris).
b. Similarly, there is no engagement whatsoever with
the content of Fr. Samuel’s talk. Instead, it is simply dismissed because he
was ordained to the diaconate by Archbishop Mark of Berlin (not unlike Fr.
Panagiotes himself, who was ordained by Archbishop Iakovos, a notorious
ecumenist!), very briefly cites the words of Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev)
(which in no way implies endorsement of his erroneous views on other topics),
and because he has travelled to Moscow. This is the totality of his response to
Fr. Samuel’s arguments.
If Fr. Panagiotes were in fact to show evidence
of having read either of these essays, and were he to provide an actual
analysis of their arguments, we would gladly engage in dialogue with him.
Instead, since his sole means of argument is guilt by association, and
his only means of research seems to have been five minutes spent on the
Internet, we can only thank him for exposing the utter weakness of his claims
and hope that all well-meaning people, of whatever ecclesial affiliation, will
see through his fallacious, ad hominem method and make up their minds for themselves
by actually reading the above-mentioned essays and comparing them with the
consensus of the Holy Fathers and the decisions of the Holy Councils. The Truth
deserves better arguments than those used by Fr. Panagiotes.
Second, only someone with an agenda of constantly
deriding HOCNA can call the content of www.thewonderfulname.info (a website that exisits thanks to the common effort
of clergy, monastics, and laymen) a propagation of a “name-worshipping heresy.”
Any unbiased reader visiting this website can see for himself that it contains
a wealth of passages from the Scriptures and Holy Fathers witnessing to the
traditional Orthodox teaching regarding the Name of God. Nor does Fr.
Panagiotes have the sincerity to admit that this website was created in response to continued and vicious
attacks against HOCNA by persons such as himself. Regardless, we should like to
thank Fr. Panagiotes (as well as the Holy Ascension Monastery’s Facebook page)
for drawing attention to this website, so as to make it available to a wider
audience, one that can study it and draw its own conclusions.
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