Your Holiness,
With feelings of respect toward the throne of Ancient Rome, which for nearly ten centuries was a source of spiritual irradiation (mentioning indicatively the Most Holy Popes Clement I, Leo the Great, Gregory the Great, Martin I, Leo III), I address you with the desire to sincerely express all that some Orthodox Primates should have communicated to you if they were truly Orthodox and not followers of the heresy of Ecumenism. [1]
Your recent actions toward the Orthodox, and especially your decision to recite the Creed at Nicea without the addition of the Filioque, have been interpreted in two ways among the Orthodox regarding your purpose. One group considers it an act of impression for purposes of gain (sacrificing something small—the recitation without the Filioque—to obtain the maximum, that which intensely concerned all the Popes of the second millennium: to be recognized as Head of the universal Church). The other group considers that in your person, finally, a Pope has been found willing to fight with humility and a spirit of repentance for the return of Ancient Rome to the Church of the first millennium.
Of course, I am not a knower of hearts to know your intentions and deep motivations. But I know that if your purpose coincides with that of the other Ecumenists (that is, to achieve a “Unity” in which the revealed Truth is sacrificed on the altar of politics), or if you insist on the objective of your predecessors of the second millennium (to achieve a “Unity” with the Pope of Rome as visible Head), then we beg you to ignore this Letter, declaring your intentions with your silence, in the same way that I openly declare the intention of thousands of Orthodox to fight to the death (ours, not that of others) to prevent that evil “Unity.” [2]
But if your purpose is noble and you truly desire a Unity based on the Truth, then I fervently urge you to make a public declaration in accordance with Pope Gregory the Great (+604) that the Head of the entire Church (earthly and heavenly) is solely Jesus Christ and that every Bishop who seeks primacy and worldwide authority over the other Archpastors becomes an imitator of Lucifer and a precursor of the Antichrist. [3]
As is evident, after a declaration of such magnitude—cause of immense joy for us Orthodox—all the other innovations introduced by your predecessors in the second millennium (Filioque, unleavened bread, purgatorial fire, etc.) must be examined before an Ecumenical Council [4], the only one competent to resolve what divides us and proclaim Unity according to God and in the Truth.
In such a case, rest assured that a great multitude of Orthodox will stand humbly and gratefully at your side. Furthermore, we would be delighted by a declaration of forgiveness for all the victims produced by the religious violence of your Church against our ancestors, remembering especially the Great Martyr of the True Faith, the Patriarch of Constantinople Cyril Lukaris (+1638).
This open letter should be understood as an appeal of genuine interest, with the hope that you understand that accepting the previous exhortation from a humble believer will in no way constitute a humiliating concession, but a courageous Return to the common foundation that unites us—an act for which your name will be exalted above all your predecessors, according to the infallible words of the Lord: “Whoever humbles himself will be exalted” [5].
I desire from the depths of my heart that the Head of the Church, our Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, may enlighten you to do what is necessary for the joy of all Christians.
With the love due to all in Christ and with special honor,
Nikolaos Mannis
Master and ecclesiastical writer
[1] By “Ecumenism” here is meant the ecclesiological heresy according to which the “Unity of the Churches” is considered superior to the revealed Truth.
[2] “Therefore, it is possible to divide in a good way, and it is possible to be united in a bad way.” (St. John Chrysostom, Homily 57 on the Gospel of John, PG 59, 314).
[3] Gregory the Great, Epistolary, Book V (Letters 18, 20, 21, and 43), Book VII (Letter 33), Book VIII (Letter 30).
[4] In which, however, the participating Fathers must be able to express their opinion freely and not under pressure from external factors, as happened, for example, in Ferrara/Florence.
[5] Luke 14:11.