The effect of the «spirit of love» one may find in the life-descriptions of Catholic «saints», such as Francisco, Theresa, Mehtilda, Hertrude, Angela... Thus, the latter, burning with love, she asks Christ to show her at least some part of his crucified body. «And then He displayed His neck to me...», — says the «saint», — He would not display anything to me except this neck, the sweetest and the most beautiful»23. There is no sense in repeating those blasphemous passionate descriptions full of disgusting lechery origin. «Those are strong hallucinations on the basis of hysteria, in other words — delusion... — writes A. F. Losev, — This bedlam of erotomania, devilish pride and satanism one can do nothing but anathematize»
It's a pity, but The Most Reverend Anthony, being carried away by the Latin teaching, is far from anathematizing and warning; more to that he comes to a habitual for the Catholics conclusion: «...If we want to worship God in a prayer we should first of all learn how to feel joy from staying in front of Him in silence»25. In order to expose this error, I would like to cite St. John's the Ladder words, who says: «With a humble hand reject the coining joy as unworthy of it so as not to be deluded by it and not to accept a wolf instead of a shepherd»26. To begin praying with joy and silent staying in front of God is a heretic and destructive teaching. Exactly this trend was the one to which «the hermits of the Western Catholic Church have been sticking to along with the writers about asceticism starting with the time of its separation with the Eastern one and its befall in the destructive darkness of heresy, — St. Ignatius writes. — St. Benedict, St. Pope Gregory Dialogos are still in accordance with the ascetic elders of the East; but Bernard already differs abruptly from them; the later ones wander away even in a stronger digression. They seek for and make the readers be seeking for the heights unattainable for a novice, themselves, are misled and mislead the others. Exited, very often frenzied dreaming substitutes for everything spiritual, which they even have no idea of»27.
Further on His Eminence teaches to pray this way: «We can keep repeating time after time: joy, oh, joy! We can utter any words, for words don't matter anything, they can only support our mood and express in a clumsy, mad way our love or our desperation»28.
But if words don't matter in a prayer, than this is already not a prayer but an exorcism. Those are exorcisms (mantras), which have no essential meaning and consist of a mere verbiage. Such practice is obtained by the eastern occultism and has nothing in common with the orthodox teaching. Frequent repeating of senseless words switches off the inner attention of a man so that the demons can attain power over the man. Through exorcism many people would let the devil into their souls and ended up with the frenzy of mind.
According to the patristic teaching, a prayer is a short Symbol of Faith, a short Gospel, a confession. «Pronounce the word of the prayer slowly, — wrote St. Ignatius, pointing out the admonition of St. John the Ladder, — don't allow the mind to wander about, but imprison it in the words of the prayer29. Narrow and grief this way is for the mind which is in the accustomed to float in the universe, but this way leads to attention» 30. It’s a pity, but instead of the narrow way in «The School of Prayer» rather wide gates. His Eminence instructs that «a prayer takes its origin from two sources: either it is our rapturous admiration of God... or the feeling of tragedy, our own or other's»31.
In this case there is as well an essence of a catholic spirit, which displays itself as a symptom of ill rapture — «joy» of being thrilled by oneself. Though the orthodox teaching announces: «Don't make up raptures for yourself, don't drive into motion your nerves, do not enflame yourself by material things, by your own blood. The sacrifice favorable for God is a contrite heart, a broken spirit. God would turn away with anger from a sacrifice offered with self-conceit, with a high and proud opinion of oneself, even let it be a whole burnt offering» 32.
The Most Reverend Anthony often calls praying a «meeting» or a «journey», carrying away the reader with his erudition in different spheres of non-orthodox denomination, but such dangerous stroll can end up for many of the readers with an unpleasant encounter with a psychiatrist, for leads not to contrition, but to devilish pride, which His Eminence, following the suit of J. Bemanos33, suggests offering to God34. Though pride is hated both by God and people and is criminal against the both35 — says the Holy Scripture. God expects only repentance from us, a broken and a contrite heart36. Son, give me your heart37, — says God, — heart but not pride. It's a pity, but His Eminence sympathizes with heretic Bemanos.
Religious mosaic of ecumenism
Besides the catholics — French jesuit Bernanos, J. Danielu general Morris d'Elbo, The Most Reverend Anthony cites protestant false teachers as well. For instance, he encloses extracts from the works of the writer C.S. Lewis39, a member of Anglican Church. The history of his turning to God is described in his book «Overtaken by joy», and on reading the one, you can understand by whom was overtaken poor Lewis. Unfortunately, the root of this devilish joy can be found in the works of The Most reverend Anthony as well, who wouldn't even stop at using the heretic protestant translation of Bible40, made by a Scotsman R. Moffat41. This translator claimed that Logos — the Son of God — was only «divine», in other words less than God Father. Though such translation is an evident corruption of the dogma about Christ. «Those belittling the Only-begotten Son of God abuse God, — wrote St. Athanasious the Great, — and having a false idea about imperfection, being unfair to call Him imperfect, make themselves worthy of the most severe punishment... and shall not receive forgiveness of sins neither in this century nor in the future one»42.
Any heresy is a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Especially, the Roman Catholicism, which in fact has belittled the Face of Holy Spirit into a serving energy, posesable equally by both the Father and the Son (filioque). The word «heresy» itself is in no way abusive, as it is introduced by contemporary apostates-ecumenists, who are trying to corrupt the meaning of it as well as announce those who expose in heresy as the ones having no love. But the exposure of a heretic and his turning to truth is the act of real love.
Thus, Bishop Nicodemus Dalmatian and Istrian in his commentary to the 45-th Apostles' Rule, which forbids to pray with heretics, writes: «Under communication in praying, or as it runs in the rule σννενξάμενον μόνον (the one who will only be praying), according to Valsamon's words, while interpreting the rule we should not only understand the forbiddance to a bishop and other clerics to pray in church with heretics for they are subject to ejection due to the 46-th Apostles' Rule for the occurrence, and for admitting heretics to serve as clerics, but the words σννενξάμενον μόνον we should understand as those "carrying out mere communication" (άπλώς κοινωνήσαι) and "regarding leniently the prayer of a heretic" (ήμερώτερον διατεθήναι έπι τη εύχη του αιρετικού), as worthy of disgust, should be kept away from... The Rules aim not only at protecting the orthodox from being infected by heretic spirit, but at protecting them from being indifferent to faith and to the Orthodox Church — something, which can easy occur within close communication with heretics in the matters of faith. Such attitude, nevertheless, does not contradict the spirit of Christian love and tolerance, which distinguishes the Orthodox Church, for there is a huge difference whether to bear having the stray in faith, awaiting for their free-willed conversion, maybe even insisting on it, living with them in civil interaction, or fall without regard into religious interaction, since the latter means that not only we try to converse them into Orthodoxy, but do hesitate in it ourselves».