Pelagianism is Nothing Other Than the "Christian" Version of Pharisaism

PELAGIANISM IS NOTHING OTHR THAN THE
“CHRISTIAN” VERSION OF PHARISAISM
Although we are speaking of the heresy of Pelagianism and not that of
Pharisaism, it is difficult not to mention the Pharisees because their positions
were also a kind of Pelagianism. In fact, the Pharisaic view of fasting is very
much identical to the view held by Bp. Kirykos, since he thinks that “fasting
in the finer and broader sense” makes someone “worthy to commune.” But
our Lord Jesus Christ rebuked the Pharisees for this error of theirs. Fine
examples of these rebukes are found in the Gospels. The best example is the
parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, because it shows the difference
between a Pharisee who thinks of himself as “worthy” due to his fasts,
compared to a Christian who is conscious of his unworthiness and cries to the
Lord for mercy. It is a perfect example because it mentions fasting. This well‐
known parable spoken by the Lord Himself, reads as follows:
“And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they
were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the
one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with
himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust,
adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I
possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes
unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell
you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one
that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted
(Luke 18:9‐14).”
Behold the word of the Lord! The Publican was more justified than the
Pharisee! The Publican was more worthy than the Pharisee! But today’s
Christians cannot be justified if they are “extortionists, unjust, adulterers or
even… publicans.” For they have the Gospel, the Church, the guidance of the
spiritual father, and the washing away of their sins through the once‐off
Mysteries of Baptism and Chrism, and the repetitive Mysteries of Confession
and Communion. They have no excuse to be sinners, and if they are they have
the method available to correct themselves. But how much more so are
Christians not justified in being Pharisees? For they have this parable spoken
by the Lord Himself as clear proof of Christ’s disfavor towards “the leaven of
the Pharisees.” They have hundreds of Holy Fathers’ epistles, homilies and
dialogues, which they must have read in their pursuit of exulting themselves!
They have before them the repeated exclamations of the Lord, “Woe unto you,
Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men!
For ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in
(Matthew 23:13).” They have even the very fact that it was an apostle who

betrayed the Lord, and not a mere disciple but one of the twelve! They have
the fact that it was not an idolatrous nation that judged its savior and found
him guilty, but it was God’s own chosen people that condemned the world’s
Savior to death! They have even the fact that the Scribes, Pharisees and High
Priests were the ones who crucified the King of Glory! Yet despite having all
of these clear proofs, they continue their Pharisaism, but the “Christian” kind,
namely, Pelagianism. But who are we to condemn them? After all, we are but
sinners. Therefore let them take heed to the Lord’s rebuke: “Ye serpents, ye
generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? (Matthew 23:33).
A Genuine Orthodox Christian (i.e., non‐Pelagian, non‐Pharisee), approaches
the Holy Chalice with nothing but disdain and humiliation for his wretched
soul, and feels his utter unworthiness, and truly believes that what is found in
that Chalice is God in the Flesh, and mankind’s only source of salvation and
life. If a man is to ever be called “worthy,” the origin of that worth is not in
himself, but is in that Holy Chalice from which he is about to commune. For a
man who lives of himself will surely die. But a man who lives in Christ, and
through Holy Communion allows Christ to live in him, such a man shall
never die. As Christ said: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if
any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my
flesh, which I will give for the life of the world (John 6:51).”
Thus a Genuine Orthodox Christian does not boast that he “fasts twice a
week” as did the Pharisee, but recognizing only his own imperfections before
the face of the perfect Christ, he smites his breast as did the Publican, saying,
“God be merciful to me a sinner.” Like the malefactor that he is in thought, word
and deed, he imitates the malefactor that was crucified with the Lord, saying,
“I indeed justly [am condemned]; for I received the due reward for my deeds: but this
man, [my Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ,] hath done nothing amiss (Luke
23:41).” And he says unto Jesus, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy
kingdom (Luke 23:42).” To such a Genuine Orthodox Christian, free of
Pharisaism and Pelagianism, the Lord responds, “Verily I say unto thee, today
shalt thou be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43),” and “I appoint unto you a
kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me, that ye may eat and drink at my table
in my kingdom (Luke 22:29).”
How does all of the above compare to Bp. Kirykos’ statement that
“fasting according to one’s strength” causes one to “worthily receive the body and
blood of the Lord?” How can Bp. Kirykos justify his theory that the early
Christians supposedly “fasted in the fine and broader sense, that is, they were
worthy to commune?” Can anyone, no matter how strictly they fast, ever be
considered worthy of Holy Communion? Does someone’s work of fasting
make them worthy? Is Bp. Kirykos justified in believing that fasting for three

days without oil or wine supposedly makes an individual worthy of Holy
Communion? If Bp. Kirykos is justified, then why does he not do this himself?
Why does he eat oil on every Saturday of Great Lent, and yet communes on
Sundays “unworthily” (according to his own theory) without shame? Why
does he demand the three day fast from oil upon laymen, but does not apply
it to himself and his priests?
We are not speaking of laymen with penances and excommunications.
We are speaking of laymen who have confessed their sins and are permitted
by their spiritual father to receive Holy Communion. When such laymen
receive Holy Communion they are not meant to kiss the hand of the priest
after this, because the Orthodox Church believes in their equality with the
priest through the Mysteries. There is no difference between priests and
laymen when it comes to the ability to commune, except only for the fact that
the clergy receive the Immaculate Mysteries within the Holy Bema, whereas
the laity receives them from the Royal Doors. Aside from this, there is no
difference in the preparation for Holy Communion either. The laymen cannot
be compelled to fast extra fasts simply for being laymen, whereas priests are
not required to do these extra fasts at all on account of being priests.
The equality of the clergy and laity with regards to Holy Communion
is clearly expressed by Blessed Chrysostom: “There are cases when a priest does
not differ from a layman, notably when one approaches the Holy Mysteries. We are all
equally given them, not as in the Old Testament, when one food was for the priests
and another for the people and when it was not permitted to the people to partake of
that which was for the priest. Now it is not so: but to all is offered the same Body and
the same Chalice…” (John Chrysostom, Homily 18, on 2 Corinthians 8:24)
This is why the Orthodox Church preserves this tradition whereby the
priest forbids the laymen who have communed from kissing his hand. These
are the pious laymen we refer to: those who are deemed acceptable to
approach the Chalice. Aren’t the bishops and priests obliged to fast more
strictly than the laymen, especially since the bishops and priests are the ones
invoking the Holy Spirit to descend on the gifts, while the laymen only stand
in the crowd of the people? So then why does Bp. Kirykos demand the three‐
day strict fast (forbidding even oil and wine) upon laymen, while he himself
and his priests not only partake of oil and wine, but outside of fasting periods
they even partake of fish, eggs, dairy products (and for married clergy, even
meat) as late as 11:30pm on the night before they are to serve Divine Liturgy
and commune of the Holy Mysteries “worthily” yet without fasting?
Are such hypocrisies Christian or are they Pharisaic? What does Christ
have to say regarding the Pharisees who ordered laymen to fast more heavily
while the Pharisee hierarchy did not do this themselves? Christ rebuked and

condemned them harshly. Thus we read in the Gospel according to St. Luke:
“Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, saying: “The Scribes and the
Pharisees sit in Mosesʹ seat. All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that
observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind
heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they
themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” (Luke 23:1‐4).

So much for the Pharisees and their successors, the Pelagians! So much
for Bp. Kirykos and those who agree with his blasphemous positions, for
these men are the Pharisees and Pelagians of our time! May God have mercy
on them and enlighten them to depart from the darkness of their hypocrisy.
May God also enlighten us to shun all forms of Pharisaism and Pelagianism,
including this most dangerous form adopted by Bp. Kirykos. May we shun
this heresy by ceasing to rely on our own human perfections that are but
abominations in the eyes of our perfect God. Let us take heed to the
admonition of one who himself was a Pharisee named Saul, but later became
a Christian named Paul. For, he was truly blinded by the darkness of his
Pharisaic self‐righteousness, but Christ blinded him with the eternal light of
sanctifying and soul‐saving Divine Grace. This Apostle to the Nations writes:

“For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom
of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of
the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power
of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to
nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world?
hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of
God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of
preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek
after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and
unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is
wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world
to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things
which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to
nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye
in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let
him glory in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:17‐31).”

Yea, Lord, help us to submit entirely to Thy will, and to learn to glorify
only in Thee, and not in our own works. For in truth, even the greatest works
of ours, even the work of fasting, whether for one day, three days, a week,
forty days, or even a lifetime, is worthless before Thy sight. As the prophet
declares, our works are an abomination, and our righteousness is but a
menstruous rag. Therefore, O Lord, judge us according to Thy mercy and not
according to our sins. For Thou alone can make us worthy of Communion.

Note that in the above short prayer by the present author, the word
“us” is used and not “them.” This is because, in order to preserve oneself
from becoming a Pharisee, one must always include himself among those
who are lacking in conduct, and must ask God for guidance as well as for
others. In this manner, one does not fall into the danger of the Pharisee who
said “God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are…” but rather acknowledges
his own misconduct, and thereby includes himself in the prayer, imitating the
publican who said “God be merciful to me a sinner.” For there is no point
preaching against Pharisaism unless one first admonishes and reproves his
own soul, and asks God to cleans himself from this hypocrisy of the Pharisees.
For we are not to hate the sinners, but rather the sin itself; and we are not to
hate the heretics, but rather the heresy itself. In so doing, our Confession
against the sins and heresies themselves constitute a “work of love.”

But when it comes to people judging Christians for food, or Sabbaths,
such as what Bp. Kirykos has done by his two blasphemous letters to Fr.
Pedro, this is definitely not a “work of love” but is in fact the leaven of the
Pharisees in its fullness. It is a work of demonic self‐righteousness and satanic
hatred towards mankind. For rather than being a true spiritual father towards
his spiritual children, he proves to be a negligent and self‐serving, and a user
of his flock for his own personal gain. He allows himself to commune very
frequently without the slightest fast, while demanding strict fasting on his
flock while also forbidding them to ever commune on Sundays. Thus it is well
that Mr. Christos Noukas, the advisor to Fr. Pedro, asked Bp. Kirykos: “Are
you a father or a stepfather?” By this he meant, “Do you truly love your
spiritual children as a true spiritual father should, or do you consider them to
be another man’s children and nothing but a burden to you?”

Our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ, in the sermon in which he
taught us to pray to “Our Father,” explained the love of a true father towards
his children. The account, as contained in the Gospel of Luke, is as follows:
“And [Jesus] said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him
at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in
his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within
shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with

me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and
give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give
him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek,
and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh
receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a
son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask
a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him
a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children:
how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
(Luke 11:5‐13).”

Thus if the faithful Orthodox Christians, who have confessed their sins
and do not have anything in the canons that prevent them from receiving
Holy Communion, and are therefore asking to receive this Source of Life on a
Sunday, as their forefathers have always done, and as the Church has always
prescribed, what kind of “father” is Bp. Kirykos to forbid Holy Communion
to laymen on a Sunday, and even during Great Lent, simply because they
consumed oil on the previous day, Saturday, as the holy canons advise? Is Bp.
Kirykos imitating our Heavenly Father, who loves his children and calls them
towards salvation? Or is Bp. Kirykos rather imitating the “father of lies,” who
has an ancient and prolonged enmity towards mankind and seeks to destroy
and devour their souls, forbidding them any way of communing with God?
To such a Pharisee who prevents the salvation of the people, our Lord Jesus
Christ declares: ʺWoe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the
kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them
that are entering to go in (Matthew 23:13).”

How are we to react to the commands of a Pharisee like Bp. Kirykos?
Should we accept his false judgments? The answer is given by the Holy
Apostle Paul, a true father and teacher of the nations. It was he who
enlightened our forefathers in the Roman provinces of Cyprus, Asia Minor,
Macedonia and Greece. It was he who brought Christianity to the Greco‐
Roman people, from which we descend; and it is his Faith, the Apostolic
Faith, that we hold to, and not the judgments of the Pharisees who are
responsible for the judgment and crucifixion of the King of Glory. We have
not seen the face of the Holy Apostle Paul, but he comforts us through his
Epistle to the Colossians, who too, along with the Laodicians, had not yet seen
his face. In this Epistle, he warns the Colossians not to let any Pharisaic or
Judaizing so‐called Christian to judge them with matters of foods or Sabbaths,
calling all of these Pharisaic rules “commandments of men,” differing from
the law of God. He writes:

“For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at
Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; That their
hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the
full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the Mystery of God,
and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge. And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing
words. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and
beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. As ye have therefore
received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and
stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit,
after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after
Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete
in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are
circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of
the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in
baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the
operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in
your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him,
having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that
was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly,
triumphing over them in it.
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an
holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of
things to come; but the Body is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your
reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those
things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, And not holding
the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment
ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.
Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as
though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not;
handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments
and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will, worship,
and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the
flesh (Colossians 2:1‐23).”

The above passage by the Holy Apostle Paul contains several signs that
refer to Holy Communion. The greatest sign is “acknowledgement of the Mystery
of God, and of the Father, and of Christ,” which is the Trinitarian Mystery of the
Holy Spirit, the Father, and the Son, respectively. But the Mystery of Holy
Trinity, the bond of love and grace of the Triadic God, can only be
acknowledged if the faithful receive the Mystery of the Body and Blood of

Christ, “that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love.” For only
by partaking of the same Body and Blood of Christ are all the faithful joined
together with one mind, one word, and one spirit, making them able to truly
acknowledge the Oneness of the Eternal Mind, Word and Spirit. This is the
reason for the following hymn contained in all the early Christian Anaphorae
of the Divine Liturgy (in which Holy Communion is the objective): “Let us love
one another that with one mouth and with one heart, we may confess: Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit: Trinity consubstantial and inseparable.”

This is also what the Holy Apostle John the Theologian had in mind
when he wrote: “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one
that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for
God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent
his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love,
not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for
our sins (1 John 4:7‐10).”

This “propitiation of our sins” mentioned by the Apostle John was also
mentioned by the Apostle Paul in the passage cited further above. It is God’s
love and mercy towards us that cleanses us from our sins and makes us
worthy to receive Holy Communion. It is through our Baptism in His name,
and our constant repentance through Confession and Absolution, that
purifies us for the Holy Mystery of His immaculate Body and precious Blood.
But the Mystery of Holy Communion is what grants us life, after the Christ,
who rose from the dead and granted eternal life to the world. Thus in the
Epistle of Paul to the Colossians, cited further above, he wrote: “And ye are
complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are
circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the
sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein
also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised
him from the dead.” Since Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, the day that
we are “complete in him” and are “risen with him through the faith of the
operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead,” then it is clear that the
most important and essential day of receiving Holy Communion is Sunday.

The Holy Apostle Paul then warns us: “Let no man therefore judge you in
meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath
days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the Body is of Christ. Let no man
beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility…” Thus we are not to allow
anyone to rob us of our reward, namely, the Holy Communion, by judging us
because of food or drink, or by compelling us to fast on the Sabbath day, like
what Bp. Kirykos is using as a means to judge all laymen as banned from

Communion on Sundays, while he himself eats dairy, eggs, fish, etc, even as
late as midnight on Saturdays and communes on Sundays without fail.

The Holy Apostle Paul refers to such Pharisaic rules as those enforced
by Bp. Kirykos onto the layman, while he himself does not follow these rules
at all, as a system belonging to “the commandments and doctrines of men.” Let us
therefore shun these false commandments and doctrines of Pelagianism and
Pharisaism, and instead remain on the Royal Path of Orthodoxy, which trusts
in the commandments of Christ, the Faith of the Apostles, and the canons and
ordinances of the Holy Apostles, Holy Councils and Holy Fathers. But we
shall know of the law of God also by receiving Holy Communion. For by
receiving God in the flesh, He shall dwell inside us, and we shall live in Him.

Thereby the law shall be written in our hearts and in our inward parts.
God promised this through the Prophet Jeremiah: “Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will make a New Testament with the house of Israel, and with the
house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the
day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my
covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this
shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith
the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will
be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his
neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know
me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more (Jeremiah 31:31‐34).”

This New Testament is the Mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ,
for He too called it by this name when he said: “And as they were eating, Jesus
took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat;
this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying,
Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many
for the remission of sins (Matthew 26‐28).” Thus the New Testament is the
Mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ, which, when consumed by faithful
Orthodox Christians, allows the law of God to be written in their hearts and
in their inward parts, allowing God to dwell inside them and guide them
towards all truth (Orthodoxia) and all aright conduct (Orthopraxia).

The Holy Apostle Paul also speaks of this correlation of the Old
Testament (that of Moses) and the New Testament (that of Christ). He writes:
“Then verily the first Testament had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly
sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick,
and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary… But Christ being
come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle,

not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes
of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for
this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are
called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance… Now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is
appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the
second time without sin unto salvation (Hebrews 9:1‐29).”

Thus, Christ is “the mediator of the New Testament” by the sacrifice of
Himself on the Cross. He offers His Body and Blood as this sacrifice and Holy
Mystery for the remission of our sins. This sacrifice is also the “New
Testament” prophesied by Jeremiah, in which, by partaking of the Holy
Mysteries, we shall have the law of God and his grace written in our hearts
and in our inward parts. Thus, rather than counting on our own human
works as the means to make ourselves “worthy” of Holy Communion, it is
actually the Holy Communion itself that perfects us and causes the law to be
written in our hearts and inward parts, thereby guiding us towards Christian
conduct such as faith, hope, love, wisdom, mercy, temperance and all virtues.

But if anyone thinks that their own work of “fasting” shall make them
“worthy,” such as in the manner of the Pharisee who said “God, I thank thee,
that I am not as other men are… I fast twice in the week…” then such a person is
not a Genuine Orthodox Christian but rather a Pharisee and a Pelagian
heretic. For no precision of the letter of the law, and no human works, not
even the work of fasting can make one “worthy” to have the law written in
his heart and inward parts. So much more is such an achievement impossible
if one commends himself for his own works, such as do the Pharisees who
think of themselves as “Christians.” But as for the real Orthodox Christians,
they purify themselves through a washing away of their sins through tears of
repentance and the Mystery of Holy Confession, and, trusting entirely in the
Lord’s mercy, they approach the Holy Mysteries, asking that the Body and
Blood of Christ sanctify them towards an increase in faith and virtue, a
remission of sins, and the reward of everlasting life. The real Orthodox
Christians receive the Holy Mysteries as their means of purification and their
means of having the law of God written in their hearts and inward parts.

Thus the Holy Apostle Paul wrote: “Do we begin again to commend
ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of
commendation from you? Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of
all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered
by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of
stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ to
God‐ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of
ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able
ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the
letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life (2 Corinthians 3:1‐6).”

Let us therefore take heed to the words of Christ, his Apostles and all
the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church, that we shun Pharisaism and
Pelagianism, the belief that we can trust in our own works. Let us shun the
meticulous observance of the letter of the law, lest we fail to observe the spirit
of the law. Let us shun the Pharisaic “commandments of men,” which revert
and abolish the Law of God. Instead let us trust entirely in the grace of Christ,
being clothed with Him by Holy Baptism, being washed by true tears of
repentance, and receiving His Body and Blood in the Holy Communion,
which sanctifies us towards good faith and all virtues.

Pelagianism is Nothing Other Than the "Christian" Version of Pharisaism

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Pelagianism is Nothing Other Than the "Christian" Version of Pharisaism