How Can I Tell Which leaflets are Orthodox and Which are Not? | Saint Peter & Saint Andrew Coptic Orthodox Church

The question

I recently received some leaflets containing various spiritual words and religious teaching, which were mostly to do with redemption and salvation. How can I tell if these leaflets are genuinely Orthodox, especially in view of the fact that some of them say that they have been published by this or that 'Orthodox ' association or society?

The answer

Just having the word 'Orthodox' attached to that society or association is not enough.

Many people conceal their own teachings behind the word 'orthodox'. Some people claim that they and their work are Orthodox, but because these people have been reading too many books that are not on Orthodox Christianity. And because these people attend non-Orthodox meetings and societies, and have formed close friendships with the non- Orthodox ideas which do not at all accord with the belief and

faith of the Church. These ideas have entered their minds and shaped their opinions. Yet even so, they go ahead and publish these ideas.

So how can you tell the difference? Actually you can tell by the language, for what is genuinely Orthodox writing shows itself clearly in the language. According to what I have seen, of some of these pamphlets, I could say to you that in general:

Leaflets that are not truly Orthodox very often avoid mentioning the Church, the Sacraments and the priesthood, in whatever teaching they are trying to explain.

So for instance when writing about the forgiveness of sins, or repentance, or salvation or eternity, these kinds of publications just concentrate on the relationship between the individual and God, without bringing into it the activity of Church, the sacraments and the priesthood.

Frequently what they are saying unfolds in the following sequence of argument, for example they stress the importance of eternity, your need for salvation, that God loves you and that He alone can save you, therefore you must take refuge in God, open your heart to Him and receive Him as your Saviour etc. All this they expound without any mention of confession, receiving the Holy Communion, or the role of the Church.

Another observation which can be made is that these pamphlets for the most part talk to the readers as if those readers were doomed to destruction, as if they had not yet received redemption, and they talk to them about the blood

of Christ, as if those readers had not so far gained its effectiveness in their lives.

And the final irony is that these unorthodox groups distribute their leaflets at the doors of churches while those within these churches have already experienced atonement for their sins through Christ's blood, on the day that they were baptised.

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Thrice-Blessed Pope Shenouda III of Blessed Memory

Thrice-Blessed Pope Shenouda III of Blessed Memory, Many Years with People's Questions, Part IV: Dogma and Ritual Questions. Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate. Translated by Mrs. Glynis Younan, London. Revised by Mrs. Wedad Abbas. First edition, August 1992. Revised COEPA 1997. ISBN 977-5319-0-2-1.