What is more important to the Church than the Mysteries of Initiation into the organic union and life in Christ?
Thus, most certainly of universal interest is that the manner of reception of the heterodox be based solely upon the patristic consensus and criteria. Indeed, the very foundation and future of the Church depends on faithfulness to this life and faith once received. For these and other reasons this work is essential reading for every Orthodox Christian.
In over 20 chapters, with over 700 references and 165 bibliographical sources, On the Reception of Heterodox into the Orthodox Church masterfully takes the reader from the evangelical words of the Apostles through the centuries of patristic witness and historical events into the mind of Christ. Included in the examination are the canons of the Ecumenical Councils and Fathers, the Apostolic canons, the principle of economy, the 1620 and 1666 Moscow Councils, the 1484 Council of Constantinople and 1672 Council of Jerusalem, the 1755 Council of the Three Patriarchs, the post-17th century state of ecclesiology, the witness of contemporary saints and much more.
What is presented, and at stake, is nothing less than the identity of the Theanthropic Body of Christ and thus the salvation of Her members and the world.
