Ecumenism under the guise of love: where is the line of compromise?
We increasingly hear calls for all Christians to "unite". The reason given is love. But what lies behind these appeals, and can we speak of love where there is no Truth?
In November 2024, a Mass was held in the Catholic Church of the Diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas in Mexico, including Mayan pagan rituals. The heads of monks and Catholic priests were adorned with flower wreaths, and participants in the service carried a large cauldron of swirling incense near the altar. A few years ago, during a Christmas concert organized by the Congregation for Catholic Education, there was a ceremony of "catechization" for Pachamama, the pagan Incan deity. Earlier still, a procession and pagan ceremony called the "ritual of the burning of the sage" was held in Rome by delegates of the Amazon Synod of Catholic bishops.
These are just a few examples of such ceremonies conducted in the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations. On the other hand, in recent years, there has been a growing integration of LGBT ideology into Christian denominations. One could recall the RCC's controversial decision of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) , which allowed the blessing of same-sex couples. Among Protestants, support for homosexual relationships is becoming almost the norm. All of these phenomena within the Christian denominations are explained as a need to demonstrate support, respect and love for one’s neighbors.
At the same time, in a world where relativism, adaptability and simplification have long held sway, calls for the unification of all Christians are growing louder. These calls are not only coming from Protestants or Catholics, which is to be expected, but also from some Orthodox Christians.
For example, Patriarch Bartholomew is no longer merely talking about the necessity (and even inevitability) of unity between Orthodox and Catholics. He has even set a date for this process to begin – Easter 2025. Meanwhile, the doctrinal differences and canonical structure of the Orthodox Church are simply ignored by these "unifiers”. They present the dogmas of the Church as something akin to Phariseeism, which looks very unattractive in comparison with the enticing slogan: “The main thing is love!”:
And indeed, Christ taught both love and unity. But where does the line lie between genuine striving for unity in Christ and the dangerous dilution of the foundations of faith, which threatens a spiritual catastrophe for anyone who views dogma as merely a historical artifact?
This is not idle speculation. Essentially, we can say that this question has become of paramount importance for every Orthodox Christian personally. After all, it is not about secondary theological "nuances" concerning the understanding of the dogma of the Incarnation, for example, but about the very foundation of our faith. Ultimately, it is a matter of the salvation of our souls. This is why we can assert that a superficial approach to the issue of unity can lead to the most serious consequences – the loss of the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Unity in Christ
Let us recall that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself prayed for the unity of His disciples: "That they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me" (John 17:21). However, this unity is not a faceless uniformity, not the erasure of individuality but unity in the Truth, unity in the faith handed down to us by the holy apostles and preserved in the Orthodox Church. In this sense, unity in delusion is not a path to God but a path away from Him, into the abyss. This is important to understand, as striving for false unity can lead to a departure from the truth.
Just as striving to heal all "divisions" not through correcting distortions but by levelling meanings. That is, when people speak of "unity" among all Christians, they often neglect the fact that true Christians can only be those who belong to the Church of Christ. This means that one cannot speak of unity with those who have no relation to the Church. They can only join Her.
On the other hand, those who speak of love as the sole reason for "unity" forget that Christ did not preach love in relation to lies. Remember His words: "I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." What do they mean? That the Lord separates Truth from falsehood rather than trying to unite them. The Apostle Paul is very clear on this: "What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with a non-believer?" (2 Cor. 6:15). This is the question we too must ask ourselves.
Where is the Church of Christ?
Let us recall that Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol, known for his wisdom and deep understanding of Tradition, warned against the danger of calling heterodox confessions "churches". For this reason, he refused to sign the final text of the document of the Crete Council titled "Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World".
"The Orthodox Church, constantly praying for the 'unity of all', has in mind the return and our unity with all those who have cut themselves off and separated from it – heretics and schismatics, who leave it and return through repentance," wrote the Metropolitan in 2016. "The Orthodox Church of Christ has never destroyed the 'unity of faith and communion in the Holy Spirit' and does not accept the theory of restoring unity of 'believers in Christ', because it believes that the unity of believers in Christ already exists in the unity of all baptized children among themselves and with Christ in our true faith, which heretics and schismatics do not have. Therefore, the Church prays for their repentance and return to Orthodoxy."
Metropolitan Athanasios notes that the phrase "restoring Christian unity" in the documents of the Council is a mistake, because the Church has never lost its unity with the Lord, and thus it does not need to seek that unity.
In other words, we, being in the Orthodox Church, are already united with God. We partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, confess and participate in other sacraments. What benefit will unity with those who once departed from the Truth bring us?
Let them call us arrogant "Pharisees", let them say our position is prideful, that we lack love, and so on. But is it not true pride to reject the two-thousand-year experience of the Church, the experience of the holy fathers, the blood of the martyrs? We simply live as many generations before us have lived, as the Christians whom the Church has glorified among the saints lived. Were they all Pharisees, proud and unaware of love?
Pascal's Wager
The famous French mathematician Blaise Pascal, after whom the unit of pressure and one of the programming languages is named, was a deeply religious man and Christian thinker. In his work *Pensées* ("Thoughts on Religion and Other Subjects"), there is a section titled "It is wiser to believe than not to believe in what the Christian religion teaches", which later became known as "Pascal's Wager". In it, the mathematician with the help of logical reasoning proves that the life according to the canons of faith, though more difficult (than the life of a non-believer) because of fasts and other restrictions, but the possible ‘gain’ in case of existence of God is infinitely great – salvation of the soul, eternal life.
"What do you risk by making this choice? (living in the Church – Ed.)" writes Pascal. "You will become a faithful, honest, humble, grateful, good person, capable of sincere, true friendship. Yes, of course, low pleasures – fame, sensuality – will be denied to you, but will you gain nothing in return? I tell you, you will gain much even in this life, and with each step on the chosen path, your gain will become ever more certain, and all that you opposed will appear ever more insignificant compared to the certain and infinite gain you have achieved."
At the same time, living without faith, according to Pascal, is extremely dangerous, as the possible "loss" in the case that God exists is infinitely great – eternal torment.
Some theologians criticize the mathematician for oversimplifying, reducing an issue of universal scale to the level of "gain/ loss". But is pragmatism not the main driving force of our modern world? And can we not project Pascal's Wager onto the issue of the Church's union/non-union with "the rest of the world"?
What does an Orthodox Christian gain by refusing mechanical union with other denominations, which at one time fell away from the Church? Nothing in his life will change. He will continue to serve God as many generations before him have. And if he follows what the Church teaches, he will receive eternal life after physical death. What does he lose? "Losses" may include condemnation and criticism from other denominations, as well as, very likely, the secular world.
What does an Orthodox Christian gain by agreeing to union? The secular world's warm approval. What does he lose? The Truth for which many martyrs gave their lives without hesitation. Can he be sure that in such a "reformed" Church, he will be able to receive the salvation of his soul? No, he cannot. Moreover, after unification, Orthodox Christians will inherit the entire "background" of the rest of the Christian world: pagan rituals in churches, the "weddings" of homosexuals and female "priests", as well as deep dependence on the secular world.
In other words, we gain nothing. But we lose a great deal.
Conclusions
Let it be noted that all the arguments presented here are not a call for hostility or animosity towards non-Orthodox Christians. The Apostle Paul instructs: "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone" (Romans 12:18). On the contrary, we desire unity very much. But unity in Christ, not in the passions of this world. Because, in our understanding, true love cannot be without principles or indifferent to the Truth. It cannot be based on renouncing the dogmas of faith and moral principles for the sake of a fleeting "political paradigm". True Christian love strives not to erase the boundaries between Truth and error, but to lead those in error to the knowledge of the Truth, to communion with God. Our task is not to compromise with falsehood, but to bear witness to Christ and His truth.
Therefore, we must not blindly follow false calls for unity at any cost, but do everything we can to bring those who have fallen away from the unity of faith back into the fold of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Unity must not be in reconciliation with falsehood, but in reconciliation with God. It is in this – in faithfulness to the truth, and not in thoughtless compromise – that true spiritual benefit lies, the guarantee of our salvation, and the path to true unity in Christ.
