Linus7,
I have read the Touchstone and agree with it up to a point, but it seems to me that Dr. Kalomiros goes too far. He seems willing to condemn all those who commemorate an ecumenist bishop as heretics even if they do not understand that he is a heretic. This is nonsense. Heresy means 'choice', therefore you cannot be an accidental heretic even if you believe in heresy. This is why, for instance, Bl. Augustine is still an Orthodox saint despite the heretical nature of his Triadology. He asked for correction if he erred but received none and never knew of the heresy of his doctrine. I note that if this belief of Kalomiros' is true, you and I (I having converted to the Romanian Orthodox Church) are both heretics simply because of the local church we attend.
Further, I feel he goes too far in opposing those who wish to fight from within the Church - far too far. We should not cut ourselves off from the Church lightly - this is encouraging schism whatever arguments he provides to the contrary. I dislike the New Calendar intensely and despise ecumenism, but I am in a church headed by a Patriarch who is an ecumenist and which uses the New Calendar. The next Patriarch is unlikely to be any better than Teoctist as usually the Metropolitan of Moldova is elected to the post and Metropolitan Daniil is also an ecumenist, so what do I do? Do I run to the 'True' Orthodox Church of Romania and cut myself off from all those faithful who remain in the Church, or do I rather stay in the Church and protest, seeking to bring others around to the right belief? I would rather do the latter and accept the consequences if it earns me an excommunication. Being illegitimately cut out of the Church by an ecumenist bishop is one thing, voluntarily turning my back on the Church quite another.
I know in my heart that I am Orthodox and I know that most of my brothers and sisters in the Romanian church are also. It is the faith we share that is important, not the attitudes of certain heirarchs, however unworthy they might be. In this I agree with Dr. Kalomiros, we, all of us, are the Church, not the heirarchy, but whereas he seems to believe an entire church falls if it's bishop does, I disagree. Even if every bishop were to apostasize, the Church would remain so long as there is one faithful member. I note that even during the Iconoclast heresy and the attempted Union of Florence, those that fought, such as St. Mark of Ephesus, did not cut themselves out of the Church and form schismatic synods as many modern Old Calendarists have done, but fought from within. Dr. Kalomiros is right to warn us of the dangers of ecumenism and the New Calendar, he is right to ask us to practice discernment and not blindly accept the actions of the heirarchs and he is right to point out to us that the laiety are every bit as much the Church as the clergy and we all have a duty to defend the Truth of Orthodoxy, but he is very, very wrong to foment schism, and that is the only way I can interpret his writing on this matter.
James