Encyclical to the Eastern Patriarchs

Photius, by the mercy of God enthroned in the Apostolic see of Constantinople and servant of the servants of God, to the most holy and blessed patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, and to the right honorable…

§1-4 (¶1)

I would have preferred silence. There are moments when the pastor would rather keep quiet than speak of what saddens him, preferring to wait and pray and hope that things will correct themselves.

§1-4 (¶2)

It is now some years since the people of Bulgaria, who for many generations had lived in the darkness of idolatry and the shadow of death, were at last illumined by the light of the Gospel through the labors of our…

§1-4 (¶3)

As the great Paul writes: Who is weak and I am not weak? Who is made to fall and I am not indignant? The injuries described below are not injuries to me personally, or to the Church of Constantinople, though they are…

§1-4 (¶4)

The Western missionaries began their work of corruption with customs. The first thing they attacked was the practice of the Orthodox Church concerning fasting on Saturday.

§5-10 (¶5)

Emboldened by the success of this first innovation, they proceeded to attack the marriage of the clergy. The Apostolic tradition, which the whole Eastern Church preserves and which is confirmed by the canons of the…

§5-10 (¶6)

They then attacked the mystery of holy Chrismation. In the Orthodox Church, the anointing with holy myron -- the oil consecrated by the patriarch -- follows immediately upon baptism and is administered by the priest who…

§5-10 (¶7)

Having denied the validity of our chrismation, they proceeded to deny the validity of our baptisms themselves. Those who had already been baptized by our clergy were baptized again.

§5-10 (¶8)

The reordinations followed the same logic. Those who had been ordained to the presbyterate and the diaconate by bishops in canonical succession from the Apostles were told that their ordinations were invalid and were…

§5-10 (¶9)

All of this -- the customs overturned, the marriages dissolved, the sacraments denied and re-administered, the ordinations invalidated and repeated -- all of this is grievous.

§5-10 (¶10)

The Symbol of Faith -- the Creed -- was given to the Church by the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea and completed by the Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople.

§11-17 (¶11)

The alteration is this: after the phrase "and in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father," the words "and from the Son" -- Filioque in Latin -- were inserted.

§11-17 (¶12)

The Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Truth and who cannot deceive, said: The Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He shall testify of Me.

§11-17 (¶13)

The theological consequence of the Filioque is not a small adjustment to the theology of the Trinity; it is a fundamental disruption of it.

§11-17 (¶14)

Let those who defend the Filioque consider the logical consequences of their position. If the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, then either: (first) there are two separate principles in the Trinity, the…

§11-17 (¶15)

The testimony of the Fathers of the Church -- East and West -- is against the Filioque as a dogmatic statement. Let the defenders of the innovation name a single Father of the Church, from the first eight centuries, who…

§11-17 (¶16)

We therefore call upon your holinesses to join us in addressing this crisis. The newly-baptized Bulgarians have been taught a corrupted Creed. The sacramental life of a young Church has been systematically violated.

§11-17 (¶17)

We do not write in a spirit of hostility toward the West or toward the Bishop of Rome. We write in sorrow and in pastoral concern for the Body of Christ.

§18-20 (¶18)

If those responsible for these actions repent -- if they restore the integrity of the Symbol of Faith, cease the illegal baptisms and ordinations and confirmations in our canonical territory, and acknowledge the…

§18-20 (¶19)

May the God of all peace, who reconciled heaven and earth through the blood of His Son, and who sent the Holy Spirit to guide the Church into all truth, grant to all of us -- in East and in West -- the grace of genuine…

§18-20 (¶20)