NationStates Jolt Archive

Constantinople

After a brief but fierce struggle, the dignity and orthodoxy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate has been restored.

Chanting "Orthodoxy or Death!!" and "To Hell with the Pope!!," mobs of orthodox monks rioted in the Phanar, until the previous, liberal Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, showed his face. Whipped up to a furious and righteous anger, the mob descended upon Bartholomew and forced him to resign from his office, the man having spent the past decade defiling the holiness of his office with blasphemous innovations and ill-conceived attempts to merge the clean-white purity of orthodox religion and the sooty blackness of the Satanic cults embraced by heretics, schismatics, and infidels. His tongue was then cut off and his eyes put out, and himself banished to a remote monastery in Alaska.

A new Patriarch was chosen; the monk Seraphim, who retained that name as his Patriarchal name.

Thus acclaimed to his office by the monks, bishops, and devout civilians present in the pious mob that day, Patriarch Seraphim immediately drafted a letter to the orthodox nations of the world.


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OPEN LETTER TO THE ORTHODOX NATIONS OF THE WORLD

To All the Bishops Everywhere, Greetings.

I am pleased to announce the humble and awesome duty charged to me! True orthodox Christians have wrested control of the throne of St. Andrew from the puppets of Anti-Christ, and I am massively humbled to be selected by the Holy Synod to fill that throne in good faith. This is one minor victory in a long string of victories that have ever been scored to the Church, and will continue to be as we work toward Her inexorable triumph.

I invite you to my quarters in Constantinople to discuss the urgent crises facing the Christian Church. The Synod and I have selected the following topics to be addressed in our sessions.

-Recognition of recent holy men and women as saints.
-Purging of heretics, past and present.
-What we shall do about the arch-heresy of calendar reform.
-What we shall do about the so-called "Protestant" heretics who are attempting to spread their lies and filth in Orthodox lands.
-What we shall do about the assault on Christendom by the creeping forces of Mohammedanism, which increases in unholy strength daily.
-Finally, and most importantly, what we shall do about that most monstrous enemy of Christianity: the Pope of Rome.

I eagerly anticipate your RSVP.


Your Brother in Christ,

+SERAPHIM, by the Mercy of God, Archbishop of Constantinople, new Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch, a beloved brother in Christ our God, and suppliant.

And The Holy Synod of Constantinople.

November, _____
Constantinople

OOC: Interesting. Depending on what people you choose to interact with or not, the job of Ecumenical Patriarch is filled by a character from Pantocratoria :o He also runs the Orthodox Church of Constantinople (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/orthodox_church_of_constantinople.html), at least the local player circle variant of it.

Do also note that not all of the listed Orthodox churches (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/orthodoxy.html) interact in the same "universe" and, thus, do not necessarily exist for each other. The beauty of NS fractioned RP world.

This has been a brief OOC reply for now, will try to put up something IC later on.

OOC: Thanks for the links.

OOC - to add to Tarasovka's point, I briefly tried to run a thread for a Standing Conference of Canonical Nationstates Orthodox Churches, but had to let it run down as RL commitments meant I had to limit my RPs (and I was perhaps a little too focused on pronouncing anathema on the supposed heresies of a non-Orthodox nation).

But yes, there's a surprising number of us Orthodox out there - I'm an entire nation of billions of Mount Athos-style monk. I might also make an IC contribution later.

OOC: Cool, I'm looking forward to your contributions!

OOC: There goes. Wiki article link here. (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/taraskovyan_orthodox_church.html) Just in case, in the Taraskovyan Church, the Synod is not as it is understood in other Churches. It is more of a government. The "synod" itself is the Council of Archierei ;)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/Namellar/GDT/TOC_sign.gif
Vigvar Patriarchate

Patriarch Seraphim,

It is both with joy and worry that We have received word of the restoration of Orthodoxy within your blessed realms. Just as much as We rejoice upon the news of our brethren coming out of the shadows imposed onto them, so are We worried about some of the points raised in Your letter.

We perceive Your stated goals as going in opposition to the all loving and ever forgiving Holy Theotokos. The purge of heretics is a notion too broad and too delicate to handle in such an abrupt manner, for what do We consider heretics and what shall We qualify as purge?

Just as much as the Taraskovyan Church observes the one and true Julianic calendar, so do We not deny other Autocephalous Churches to decide upon their liturgical calendars, for in as long as such are not done to the detriment of the doctrine of the faith and Christian principles, to the detriment of the Byzantine rite We all hold dear.

As far as the “protestant” churches are concerned, the Patriarchate enjoys cordial relatiosn with some such congregations within the Taraskovyan Empire. The Utharian Reformed Church and the Lutheran Church of Sortavala, both following the Lutheran dogmas and rites, whilst erring in shades are, none the less, not spreading lies and filth. A day shall come when all Christian faithful join the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, be they followers of protestant dogmas or of the latin rite.

In the same vein, the Taraskovyan Church instead of isolating and making enemies out of latin and eastern rites followers of the Patriarch of Rome, instead chooses to work with them. Dialogue should be promoted between Christians, the erring confused flock of a single pastor, not war and enmity.

These are the points We wished to raise in Our return correspondence. We seek to learn more of the new saints you wish to beatify. As far as the Mahomettan faith is concerned, the Taraskovyan Church has no dealings with such cults, for their presence within the Taraskovyan Empire and other lands and countries under the Canonic Jurisdiction of the Holy See of Vigvar is ethereal at best and non existent at most.

May the Holy Theotokos watch over you,
Nikon II, Patriarch of Vigvar and all Taraskovya
Holy Synod of the Taraskovyan Church

Patriarch Nikon and the Holy Synod, Love and Good Health from Constantinople.

I invite you to attend our conference in the City, where your thoughts will be addressed and discussed by all of us in collegial spirit. To address your immediate concerns,

-As orthodoxy has, for various reasons, let its guard down in these preceding generations, the trash of heresy has accumulated - a timely purging of which should be implemented sooner rather than later. At our sessions we shall sift through this mound of accumulated garbage and expose the heretofore disregarded heresies and errors, and our reighteous ecclesiastical sanction against them will guide secular authority in disposing of the enemies of Church and mankind from his realm.

-With sharp eyes orthodox Christians have correctly discerned that the sorcerous calendar conjured by Pope Gregory XIII has no place in the eastern Churches; to allow the Gregorian so-called calendar into the Eastern Rites would be to lightheartedly disregard and curse all the perfected liturgical ritual as practiced by the Church Fathers and handed to us with the unconditional trust and understanding that they will be kept sacrosanct. How can one expect the pious Christian to keep his Faith unshaken even under the most severe duress, when one is willing to shake the very Tradition of the Church at the slightest whispered suggestion and provocation by Papal astrologers and sorcerors?

We are well aware that various misguided Synods around the world continue to embrace the devilish calendar. Therefore, at our sessions, I will personally elucidate and enlighten our brothers as to the true rascal nature of the Gregorian calendar.

-We have for too long accomodated the Protestants and Latins. The compromisers and so-called "ecumenists" among us have always advocated dialogue and compromise and more compromise, but the path of dialogue and compromise has led us not closer to Unity, and the barriers between the Christian church and the schismatics remain as high as ever. Over the past century we have worshipped the totem of dialogue in the vain hope of finding that elusive Unity, but as long as we rely on trite compromises with the West, Unity shall always elude us. It would be impossible to show even a single instance where dialogue has increased the unity of the Christian religion.

Furthermore, through our well-intentioned and misguided efforts at dialogue we have totally failed to draw the Western heretics closer to our Truth - instead, our Church and our nations have become increasingly infected with the demonic ideas and influences of the West! Our dialogue with the Westerners has deluded us, rather than uplifted them. Protestant charlatans travel around our lands leading our poor Christians astray; the brazen and unrepentant Bishop of Rome sets up new parishes and bishoprics in our lands in summary contravention of Canon Law. Is our own decline not God's sign to us that "dialogue" is futile? We have truly strained our own commitment to God in our futile and misguided attempts to enter into a communion with the doctrines of Satan. Henceforth we can no longer be false to ourselves and others; we will be honest and we will tell the Westerners that they have gone down the path to self-destruction, and there is only one way back.

-As for the Mahometans, they are a vicious and swarming army of Satan that we all know has done in innumerable Christian kingdoms throughout its history, and it has not finished prowling the earth in search of more flesh to sink its claws into. The assault by Mahometanism against Christendom is our shared struggle, and that is why I implore you to support the defense of Christianity. Like the other issues we shall earnestly discuss this one in our sessions.

In Christ,

+SERAPHIM