The Current Challenge of Caesaropapism to the Orthodox Faith: Interview with Fr. Savas Agioreitis The Orthodox Ethos

In this fourth part of our four-part discussion (4/4) with Archimandrite Savas Agioreitis, which took place on May 8th, we discuss a wide-range of matters pertaining to the current crisis, including the contemporary challenge of Caesaropapism to Orthodoxy and the innovations surrounding our understanding of the Holy Things in the Holy Temple of God.

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00:39 - Question 1: Should the Church be Obedient to the State even though it violates our internal life?
02:31 - The Synod supposed it could bless monastics to deny their vows
04:37 - Science doesn't say the truth; it seeks the truth.
06:56 - The Phenomenon of Caesaropapism
11:59 - Question 2: What about when it is not the State but the Hierarch which Innovates and Imposes upon the Clergy and People?
13:08 - Question 3: Is it so that "the faithful - not the faith - are in danger?
13:49 - Question 4: Is there absolutely no reason to close the Churches?
14:13 - Question 5: Since the government doesn't understand, what should we do?
15:04 - There are "red lines" for the "Crypto-Christians" as well.
15:37 - "Whosoever confesses IN Me...": Noetic Prayer a criterion for ecclesiality
17:13 - Question 6: Is this 'crisis' the result of not fulfilling the presuppositions for communion?
18:11- Question 7: Who discerns and excludes those unprepared from communing?
18:44 - The example of Fr. Athanasios Chamakiotis in Marousi (Athens)
19:19 - Question 8: What should Christians who are cut off from communion do as to live in a Christian way until they can commune again?
20:42 - Question 9: Should we not stand beside the priests and hierarchs to support them in doing the right thing?

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Archimandrite Fr. Savas Agioreitis began his monastic life in the Holy Kelli of the Entrance of the Theotokos in Kerasia on Mt. Athos. He is also a graduate of the School of Dentistry and the School of Theology, at the University of Thessaloníki, where he completed his Masters Degree with Professor Demetrios Tselengides. Today, Fr. Savas is the spiritual father of the Holy Monastery of the Holy Trinity in the Diocese of Edessa, in northern Greece. Fr. Savas works tirelessly teaching and guiding the faithful not only in his diocese or in Greece, but, indeed, through the online homilies and lectures, the world over, wherever the rational sheep of Christ are thirsting for the Word of God and the Gospel. 

In addition to nearly daily homilies during Divine Liturgy, which are uploaded to the internet, now numbering in the many hundreds if not thousands, Fr. Savas is also a prolific author, penning more than 11 books. 

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A Four-Part Interview: 

1. In the first segment we will address the Temple and whether or not the faithful need to fear becoming sick therein. 

2. In the second segment, we address the all-important matter of having a spiritual father during these times of trouble and persecution. 

3. In the third segment, we discuss a wide-range of matters pertaining to how we must live in a spiritual manner in face of this great challenge to our Faith. 

4. And, in this fourth segment, we look at the challenge to the Orthodox Faith from contemporary Ceasaropapism and innovative ideas about the Holy Things in the Holy Temple. 

We are sure that these interviews, with the ever-vigilant Fr. Savas, offered with much love and sacrifice to you, the pious, zealous faithful, will undoubtedly be profitable and enlightening!  
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