This Page Last Updated November 25th, 2009 (new style reckoning)
The downfall of Constantinople and all in
their union
The image above shows Byzantium surrounded by the Ottoman Turks
There
were several foreshadowing’s of the downfall of Constantinople. The council of Florence was one. On at least two other earlier
occasions Constantinople desired union with the Latin’s and for
much the same invalid reason(s). “Constantinople finally splintered, and its manifold
accomplishments fell in the shadow of the Italian Renaissance” When
Constantinople was faced with the largest invading Islamic army yet “The
West finally promised help, but at a fearful price: submission of Byzantium’s Holy Orthodox Church to the Church of
Rome.” “God had punished the Greeks, Russians piously observed in
1453, when the Turks took Constantinople. For betraying their faith by submitting to Rome, He withdrew His
protection and their empire fell” [1] pgs. 709, 755, 762.
The
Russians “turned their backs on apostate Byzantium, since she had forfeited all claims to
leadership in the Orthodox world by betraying the true Faith.” In Constantinople “Papal
commemorative services commenced on November
12, 1452. On December 12, 1452, the union of the two Churches was solemnly commemorated
in the Church of Aghia Sophia.” Then, “Greeks who refused
to understand the decree of union were to be sent to Rome for re-education.” Also,
“Makarios Melissenos records that every night a
fire descended from the sky, stood over the City and enveloped her with light
all night long... (Then, on the evening of May 27, 1453 the heavenly sign descended in its
customary manner but did not envelope the City. The light appeared to be
distant, and then it scattered quickly and vanished at once. This filled the
Sultan and his court with malignant joy. They interpreted the sign, saying,
‘God has now abandoned the Christians forever!’” Finally,
“on the last night of the City's freedom, clergy and congregation,
whatever they might feel about union, came together for a final liturgy in Aghia Sophia... Having put aside all
bitterness, barely a citizen, except those watching the walls, stayed away from
this desperate service of intercession. Those priests who maintained
that union with Rome was a grave sin now came to the altar to serve with unionists.
The cardinal was there, and beside were bishops who would never acknowledge his
authority. All came to confession, so they might take communion, not caring
whether Orthodox or Catholic administered it.” [2] pages 476, 503, 504, 518, 521.
Iosif of Volokolamsk (the Father of
Medieval Russia) soon wrote, “Behold, today apostasy is come.”
Andrei Kurbsy, a prince of 16th
century Russia and defender of Orthodoxy, is noted for
saying that the fall of Constantinople was truly destruction along the lines of the apocalypse, that it
was then that “Satan was loosed from his bonds.”
Time
and again we can see how it is that the Greeks and those in union with them,
like the Antiochians and Serbs, were understood as
apostates, ever since the fall of Constantinople. When the Antiochian Patriarch
Makarios visited Russia in the 17th century “the foreign
envoys did not even have a right to attend Russian church services.” [3].
(I would note that Makarios smoked hash at liturgy.)
There
have been certain Greek judgments against the union of Florence, but these were too little too late, the
damage is done. The Greek capital remains in the hands of the Infidel. This is
when the saying, “Better the Infidel...” began. The compromise
of Orthodoxy had become second nature and was not corrected by such sayings. Truly the Papists are infidels too, better no infidels should have been their word and deed. The Greeks actually accepted both yokes willingly.
The Greeks have been bereft with continual compromises ever since, such as the
“Protestant Patriarch” (also known as the Calvinist Patriarch)
Cyril Lucaris and also his cousin Alexandrian Patriarch Meletios Pigas before
him. This “unionist” thinking continues today as we see such things
as the lifting of the anathema upon the Latin’s and the likes of Orthodox
presidency of false church councils started by Protestants. In actuality all of
Eastern Christianity was at a theological standstill after the “Orthodox
Confession” of seventeenth century Kiev, which embraced much Latin ideology. Do not let people fool you with misleading information as the suggestion that part of Greece (Agrafa) was autonomous durig the Ottoman occupation. They also remained in communion with the rest of the Greeks and were subjected to the same Latinizing heresies that the rest were.
During the two centuries after the fall of Constantinople there was communion between the Latin’s and the Greek’s. The Orthodox Church, 1972 Ware p. 108 see p. 107 also.
Prince Ivan I said, “Since Constantinople and (its) emperor are no more, we must do what we can. God depends on us, the Russians, to carry on his kingdom. We are his Church and what remains of the Roman and Byzantine Empires.” The Russians’ Secret, Page 50
Due to this fall from Grace, “henceforth any Orthodox patriarchal confirmation of a metropolitan in Russia was impossible... From this period dates the complete independance of the Church of Russia.” The Russian Church and Russian Decent, Pages 37-38
This
link is part 2 of an online article (in Russian), by sister Irena, who works on that Old Believer web site. She is with an Old Believer Old Rite church that accepted New-Rite clergy. The article is very pertinent to the topic here, because it relates somewhat of a timeline, illustrating how Mt. Athos fell out of communion and away from Orthodoxy. The rest of this paragraph is a partial paraphrase of the linked article. When Russia first went to Greece, seeking Orthodoxy, there were 22 main monasteries there, today there are only 20 New-Rite (Latinized) modern style monasteries. Athos suffered persecutions from the Latin’s who destroyed many of the monasteries during the Crusades (1204-1261). The modern icon above shows the sufferings of the Bulgarian monastery Zorgraphou on Athos when in 1283 there were 26 martyrs who found their death by hands of the westernernizing pirates. Some of the monks of Athos attempted to resist the manipulation of forced union with Rome, but the peninsula had been ruled by Frankish forces after Constantinople was conquered by the Crusaders. The second half of the 14th century was a time of recovering from the Latin takeover of Athos. This is the time that connects to the last Athos saint, Gregory Palamas. 1453 was the final fall of Constantinople and with that the total shipwreck of Byzantium. At this final fall of the second Rome also fell with it Mt. Athos. Either the monasteries on Mt. Athos were destroyed, or they entered openly into the Great Apostasy. Thus was completed the epoch of ancient piety on Mt. Athos. [The article also mentions the Russian word Stranniki, which I believe refers to the faithful Christians running away from the approaching Great Apostasy.]
The Russian Old Orthodox Faith understands the Holy Prophet Daniel (in chapter 12, and perhaps other places) foretelling a time of approximately 1200 years where the Christian Roman Empire would war for goodness until the Abomination of Desolation. The Church was largely of Roman Greek speaking people from the time of Christ until Constantinople faded away almost 1200 years later. It is very significant that the
Orthodox first used the Freemason double-headed eagle (known as The Abomination of Desolation) at Constantinople the very year of 1204 A.D. when the Frankish Freemason Crusaders conquered it. Or we can see the time form Constantine until Constantinope fell to the Turks as almost the same length of time as well.
One last thing to note about Mt. Athos is of a more personal nature. I worked at Greek Orthodox Church named after the Holy Trinity. It has one of the Latin westernized icons of the Trinity, with God the Father depicted as an old man and the Holy Spirit shown as a dove. My Greek godfather told me that it was made on Mt. Athos, suggesting that everything must be alright with it simply for that reason alone. Eventually my god-given conscience finally got the better of me on the multitude of heresies in the modern Orthodox Churches and I finally went away from them once and for all. The next link will take you to a
God the Father Icons page on this site, I plan to update it soon so be looking back for that.
Notes:
[1] National Geographic, December 1983
[2] Lives of the Pillars of Orthodoxy, Holy Apostles Convent 1990.
[3] http://ecumenizm.tripod.com/ECUMENIZM/id22.html
[It is interesting that the word Istanbul means “to the city,” referring to what is Constantinople.]
For more information see the
Holy Russia web page