On media lies used to spread fear and hatred and on their authors

Our beloved spiritual children in Christ:

This is the last hour . . . Be vigilant! Watch over your precious souls!

. . . They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us.
For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us;
but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. . .
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
I do not write because you do not know the truth,
but because you do know it and because no lie comes from truth.

Who is the liar? (I John 2:18-22a)

In words of St. Dimitri of Rostov: a person who judges others is likened unto a mirror which reflects in itself all others, yet fails to see itself! And truly, these days, wolves, whose interests are purely material and secular, have gathered to steal your very souls in the pale reflection of their unscrupulous lies! Instead of falling victim to their machinations, together with the Psalmist David, let us pray: Set a guard, Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips (Ps 141:3). For all words uttered or committed to writing never can be destroyed, rather await us in Eternity and will serve to judge us accordingly!

We are contemporary witnesses to the rise of enslaved fundamentalism promulgated in the name of a "Free" Serbian Orthodox Church. Yet true freedom is an exulted state of being: the understanding and nurturing of Divinely-gifted freedom. Thereby in Christ alone: Only Unity Saves Serbs! The antithesis is diabolical chaos steeped in endless contradictions to canonical, hierarchical Orthodoxy. Individuals who promote such delusions attempt to force the innocent to act upon their fears, and not logically and reasonably on virtues and truth. These self-serving, indeed truly pathetic, "authors" conveniently hide behind the thinly-veiled mask of the media. For they attempt anonymously to twist and distort the pure experience of the freedom of faith in unity - that which is subtle and flexible, that which breathes with Divinely-inspired freedom, that which soars with the newness of a life in Christ, who makes all things new (Rev. 21:5) - to a rigid and inflexible, seemingly strict because of adherence and faithfulness, yet in actuality lifeless, graceless and hypocritical unimaginable and unrecognizable self-serving isolationist "religion". Such vulgar sectarianism thrives on aggression as the waging of war on those deemed "unbelievers". For base primitivism, predicated on lies and fears, is much easier to promote and to impose; rather than being challenged by thought-provoking and soul-searching Truth, which alone can set us free (John 8:32), as Christ, our High Priest, is Truth Incarnate!

Holding you firmly in Our archpastoral embrace, We are encouraged by your support and offer solace and conviction in the remembrance prayer of St. Basil the Great: Remember, O Lord our faithful people, arm them with truth, and grant them victory over every visible and invisible enemy, so that they may live a peaceful and tranquil life in every godliness and purity. Preserve the good in Your goodness; convert the corrupted by your goodness to good.

Your prayerful intercessor before the Lord,

+IRINEJ

Bishop of Australia and New Zealand
Administrator of the Diocese of Australia and New Zealand
Metropolitanate of New Gracanica

Given in Sydney
On the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, 2008