A topical appeal to Catholic priests

Lvov (Ukraine), 14 June 2012

Dear Catholic priests,

the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate turns to each one of You personally in this historic time. We want to help You to make a true diagnosis as well as prognosis of the current situation and show God’s solution for each of You. We assume that most of You sincerely desire to serve God and to save Your souls and the souls entrusted to You.

50 years ago, the Second Vatican Council began with the slogan “aggiornamento”. During the Council and in the period after it, the main emphasis was placed on the reform of the liturgy and liturgical space. The final and seemingly insignificant declaration of the Council under the title of “Nostra aetate” contained a statement about reverence for the pagan religions and about so-called rays of truth in these religions. This apparently trivial point soon became the centre of the postconciliar thought which formed the public opinion that Christ’s redemptive sacrifice on the cross and the worship of pagan demons are equal ways to salvation. The Council was attended by representatives of two main currents in the Church which were called progressists and conservatives. The Council opened the way for the so-called progressists, i.e. people open to the world – aggiornamento. This does not mean that the orthodox conservatives were able to become bearers of a true reform of the Church. Behind their orthodoxy there was often rigidity, pharisaism and greed for a personal career. They strictly adhered to the letter of the law and quenched the Spirit of God just like their opponents. Men of holy life, such as St. Charles Borromeo or St. Pius X, were not found among them. The Council therefore did not open the door for restoration based on true repentance and a return to the healthy roots of the early Church. Immediately after the Council the so-called “Dutch Catechism” became a bestseller. One by one the seminaries were invaded by the historical-critical method. It penetrated first into the biblical studies and later on into all spheres of theology. As admitted by Card. Ratzinger, the posts of bishops were occupied solely by priests open to the world. After 50 years this all brought the fruit of total apostasy from the essential truths of Christianity. Finally, the Holy Spirit was expelled from the Catholic Church! It is a harsh reality that the entire Catholic Church has fallen under God’s curse – anathema (Gal 1:8-9). This curse had progressed long before it reached its culminating point in the pseudo beatification. Its symptom is homosexual and paedophile scandals among the clergy from America through Ireland to Australia. Owing to this dark backstage the Church is also treacherously silent on the revolt against God in the world which makes itself manifest in aggressive promotion of homosexual ideology. This is destruction of all moral, spiritual and Christian values.

The ideology of homosexualism is associated with the juvenile justice system which removes children from good families and places them in “adoptive” families predominantly comprised of homosexuals or paedophiles. There are two million artificial orphans in France, 70,000 children were taken away from the families in Germany in 2009, and 100,000 children were sold to USA from Russia in 2010. Many children were bought by homosexuals and paedophiles. As admitted by the former Italian Minister of Interior a few years ago, children removed from the Russian families were sold for the purpose of organ removal. In Norway, all parents have been deprived of parental rights en masse, by a single law. Upbringing of children is prohibited by the UN conventions, it is termed as “violence against children” and interference with the rights of the child. On the other hand, children from 4 years of age are exposed to sexual anti-education imposing perversions on them which not only demoralize but even demonize them. Children are no longer allowed to call their parents “mum” and “dad”. They now have a so-called right to choose their gender identity. The boy cannot say that he is a boy and a girl that she is a girl. Already in the primary school they have a “right” to use hormonal preparations and from 14 years of age they have a “right” to undergo sex reassignment surgery. These physical and spiritual cripples then become victims of drug addiction, AIDS and end their life by committing suicide or receiving legalized euthanasia. This all may be done with impunity according to the new laws, actually antilaws, which stem from the gender-gay policy forcibly promoted by the UN conventions, all kinds of resolutions and recommendations. If any of the states does not want to accept this “boon” – its autogenocide, it is sanctioned. The apostate Vatican with cardinals and bishops hold the Catholic Church in criminal passivity so that the process of moral, spiritual and physical autogenocide may be undisturbedly accomplished in these areas. This is a crime against God and against humanity. The responsibility falls on the apostate Church hierarchy which is capable of betraying Christ 77 times a day.

This is the fruit of a curse for accepting a false gospel and antivalues, for which one brings down God’s anathema according to Gal 1:8.

You ask: What shall we do? If You want to do something for the sake of God and for the salvation of souls, be prepared that the official apostate structure will excommunicate You. But do not be afraid of it. God’s excommunication will not fall on You, it has already fallen on the Church hierarchy. An example is Slovakia. In 2010, three priests and a deacon were excommunicated within 24 hours for asking the bishop to confess the faith and distance himself from heresies. They came out of this treacherous structure and became a restoration movement in truth.

The Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate was obliged before God, before the whole Catholic Church and before all Christians to publish God’s anathema against Pope Benedict according to Gal 1:8-9. By the gesture of the beatification of an apostate he elevated to the altar of the Church the spirit of Assisi – the spirit of antichrist. This gesture was the culmination of progressing apostasy started by John Paul II in Assisi in 1986 and also caused by heresies of historical-critical theology. The historical-critical method denies Christ’s redemptive sacrifice on the cross, His historical and real resurrection and even the very inspiration of the Scripture. The present Pope knowingly covered paedophile crimes as early as the time of his prefecture.

The Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate promulgated that the gesture of Benedict XVI brought down a curse on all priests who are in unity with the spirit of antichrist, with the spirit of Assisi. It concerns the priests who manifest their union with Benedict XVI in the liturgy. A priest who commits a grave sin celebrates the liturgy validly, but he eats and drinks judgment on himself (cf. 1Cor 11:29). A priest who is in unity with the spirit of Assisi – the spirit of antichrist – expelled the Holy Spirit from his soul and all the sacraments administered by him are invalid and are a mere pious performance! If such a priest persists in obstinacy or cowardice and refuses to separate from the spirit of apostasy, he will be eternally condemned.

Our Patriarchate also appealed to the Catholic believers to warn their priest to stop commemorating Benedict XVI in the liturgy. If he does not do so, they must stop attending his invalid liturgies which bring down a curse on them.

There is no continuity of the orthodox doctrine of the Popes throughout the two millennia with the doctrine of the last two Popes! All the Popes defended the Church against heresies. The last two Popes accepted heresies and thus brought down a curse – God’s anathema – upon themselves and upon all who are in unity with them!

The Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate is well aware of the deadly machinery behind the present-day Church structure which destroys the last remnants of living Christianity under the guise of so-called obedience. Behind this structure today there is not the Holy Spirit but the spirit of antichrist, and those who obey this structure do not obey God but the devil, not Christ but antichrist. In the hour of death and before the judgment seat of God they will be condemned to eternal damnation in hell.

The priest who sincerely wants to serve God must humbly and truthfully admit before God his own cowardice and betrayal of Christ and of His Mystical Body. He must break with the spirit of antichrist and deadly structure. He must publicly in his church stop commemorating the apostate Benedict as well as the local bishop. Instead, he can pray: “in union with all the orthodox Popes and Bishops of the Catholic Church”. If for this gesture this priest will be punished or excommunicated, let him separate, find two or three brethren and start a religious life in the world as a testimony to God. This heroism will be a reproach to all the cowardly priests in the diocese! If there are more priests in the diocese who will do so, the bishop will be forced to repent. If he persists in obstinacy, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector (Mt 18:17). These priests can begin to establish an orthodox Catholic structure in their homes and serve the orthodox believers. God will care for them!

The tragedy is that a Catholic priest so easily exchanges the true way of following Christ and the fight for the salvation of souls for comfort and glory. Such a priest is mindful neither of his death, nor of the judgment of God, nor of the words of Christ: “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practise lawlessness!” (Mt 7:23) He substitutes pious phrases for true repentance, conversion and the following of Christ!

Nowadays, when almost every priest has the internet, and is bound by celibate, the question of purity of thought, and generally observance of the 6th and 9th commandments, is paradoxical. The roots of apostasy begin to be formed in the early days in the seminary. God’s calling to leave everything and follow Jesus becomes a mere utopia for the young man. Seminary system and formation does not allow sound formation of a disciple of Christ. The hierarchy and heretical theologians, including the last two Popes, are to blame for the crime of ruining the lives of priests! Courageous priests, who will make a heroic step, must expect persecution and excommunication. But such excommunications are invalid before God. These priests must then take the next step. Saint Basil the Great says, quoting the Scripture: “Woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.” (Ecc 4:10) Those who will separate from the heretical structure must choose a form of religious life. This will be harder for older priests, but with God nothing is impossible. To be like the early Church in Jerusalem the community must be founded on the same principles! It must be a community of men who have been converted and received the fullness of the Holy Spirit. These men must practically apply, not just theoretically discuss, the four cardinal principles of the early Church acc. Acts 2:42: 1. the apostles’ doctrine, 2. fellowship, 3. prayers and 4. the Eucharist. Adherence to these principles enables the process of inner purification and true unity in Christ. Then through prayer and God’s Word (Acts 6:4) practised both in personal life and in community these servants of God will receive God’s power; the Word lived and preached by them will convert the souls and the Holy Spirit will work through them. They will be His witnesses – martyrs (cf. Acts 1:8). Without these priests the revival of the Catholic Church is impossible! It is only possible through their true repentance!

The Church needs holy priests who can leaven and restore the Church. We live in times when God calls every priest to holiness. If You refuse, there is no middle way now! You will either be a hero or a traitor! Either a martyr or a Judas – a self-murderer. You have been put right in these times. God gives You the grace that You may come out of the apostatical structure and begin to serve God faithfully! Leaving this structure today is no extravagance or doing God a favour. It is an urgent necessity, because the apostatical structure has become the system of antichrist! Do not think You will survive in this structure indifferently and secure Your own life or even salvation! You are very much mistaken, because You do not know the mystery of sin which is in You and which, bit by bit, will slyly lead You astray along with the spirit of this world! You will believe that You serve God, and in fact You will serve antichrist! You serve the spirit of the structure. If the structure has the spirit of betrayal of Christ, You will be a traitor too. If the structure has the spirit of heresy, You will be a heretic too. If the structure has the spirit of antichrist, You will have the same spirit. In this situation, if You want to serve God and save Your soul, You must come out of the system which has fallen under God’s anathema – a curse. There is no other solution. One can fully apply God’s Word: “Come out of Babylon!” (cf. Rev 18:4) If You disobey and make not a step of faith, You will become a slave of the system of antichrist and drag other souls to perdition too. This system will incarnate a spirit in You and overturn all values. The greatest tragedy will be that You Yourself will no longer be able to perceive it. Why? Because You have lost God’s grace, sensitivity, conscience. You will kill Christ’s witnesses by ridicule and moral degradation, and You will be convinced that You are doing God service. These are the words of Jesus to You (cf. Jn 16:1-2). The worse the state of Your soul will be, the more advantages You will enjoy and the more successful career You will make, but then suddenly the Lord will call You to stand before His judgment seat and You shall hear His words: “Depart from Me … I never knew you.” (Mt 7:23)

Practical advice: To create a true community, it is necessary to spend at least one full day a week in prayers – 4-5 hours of prayer besides the liturgy. In the interior prayer, the Holy Spirit will point to topical issues and show You and Your brethren the solutions. Then You will be a truly happy priest, a witness of Christ, even though the entire diocese will stand against You and Your closest brethren who will be in unity with You. It will hold true about You like about the Apostle Paul: “For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” (2Cor 4:8f)

The restored Order of St. Basil the Great (OSBMr), whose members are bishops and priests, devotes one whole day to 4-5 hours of prayer. This is an hour of interior prayer in common followed by a time of sharing, and this repeats several times. One hour of prayer and sharing is devoted to a preparation for the Sunday sermon. The next day we spend 3 and a half hours in prayer apart from liturgy. Without a true prayer it is not possible to form true unity with God and with Your brother. Without interior prayer that leads to the true following of Christ and onto the true path of repentance the priestly life becomes tasteless salt!

Once You have a community of priests, establish a small community of men to whom You will pass on Your experience, encourage them and make them Your disciples, and they will become the leaven in the particular territory.

Dear brother in Christ, make a step of repentance and stop commemorating the name of the apostate Pope in the liturgy. Do not fear excommunication by the apostates. Fear hell for the betrayal of Jesus Christ!

+ Elijah

Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate

+ Methodius OSBMr             + Timothy OSBMr

Secretary Bishops