These words spoken by Christ to Peter: "Get behind Me, satan!" (Matthew 4:10) – testify that it was not on Peter himself that Christ founded His Church, but on the rock of faith of the chosen Apostles.
compiled by V. Vasiliev, G. Alekseev
Questions and Answers
Contents
Introduction
I. The Most Important Innovations of Roman Catholicism Before Vatican II
The Doctrine of Papal Supremacy
On Papal Infallibility
The Doctrine of the Procession of the Holy Spirit
The Doctrine of Original Sin
The Doctrine of the Supererogatory Merits of the Saints and of Indulgences
The Dogmas of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary and Her Bodily Assumption
Deviations in the Administration of the Holy Sacraments
II. Statements of the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church about Roman Catholicism
III. The New Dogmatic Teaching of the Roman Catholics Adopted by the Second Vatican Council
The Essence of the New Dogma and Its General Justification
The "Spiritual Kinship" of Christians and Jews
On the Spiritual Proximity of Christians and Muslims
On the Spiritual Proximity of Christians and Pagans
On Salvation in Non-Christianity
The Innovations of the Second Vatican Council and Their Contradictions with Christianity
Roman Catholicism After the Second Vatican Council
IV. On Salvation and Spiritual Life in Roman Catholicism
V. On the "Reunification" of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches
Unions and Uniatism
Ecumenism
Conclusion
Appendices
Some Materials of the Second Vatican Council
a. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church
b. Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions
Literature
This publication sets forth the main differences of modern Roman Catholicism that arose during the past millennium after its fall from Orthodoxy. Special attention is given to the new dogmatic teaching of Roman Catholics about God, salvation, Divine Revelation, and the Church, adopted at the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965).
Introduction
Question. What is the nature of this publication?
Answer. It is a presentation, in the form of questions and answers, of the main distinctive features of the Roman Catholic faith in the second half of the 20th century and their critique based on the Orthodox position.
Q. How significant are the existing differences between the Orthodox and Catholic faiths?
A. The differences touch the very essence of Christian doctrine and are so serious that modern Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy are two different religions.
Q. Why did such deep discrepancies arise between Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism?
A. Due to the different paths they follow. Orthodoxy preserves the Christian faith in the form in which it was given by the Lord Jesus Christ, preached by the apostles, expounded by the Ecumenical Councils and the holy fathers and teachers of the Church, while Catholicism follows the path of introducing additions, changes, and new teachings into its faith that contradict the apostolic Christian faith.
Q. Can Christianity be modernized and changed, adapting it to changing historical, social, religious, philosophical, and other conditions and teachings?
A. No, it cannot. Christianity is the true, divinely revealed religion, and introducing changes into it according to human understanding, contrary to Divine Revelation, "correcting" God, replaces the truth given by God with a lie invented by man, transforming a religion from true to false. Jesus Christ commanded His disciples to preserve the teaching He gave unchanged: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19–20). And the Apostle Paul says: "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8).
