The book

Apoteichisis

Heavenly Communion

The Church, the Communion of the Saints, and the Preservation of Communion with God in a Time of Heresy

In the spirit of the Holy Fathers, the Sacred Canons, and the confessing Saints

A necessary word on the limits of this book

Scripture is given according to the received text of the Orthodox Church in the King James rendering, with reference to the Septuagint where the Old Testament is concerned. Citations of the Sacred Canons follow the Pedalion, the Rudder of Saint Nicodemos the Hagiorite. This book is offered for the strengthening of the faithful and for the glory of God. It may be reproduced for noncommercial use in the service of the Orthodox Faith, provided that nothing is altered and the meaning is not distorted.

We who have written this book are laymen of the Orthodox Church. We hold no episcopal office, and nothing in these pages speaks with an authority we do not possess. This book pronounces no deposition, no anathema, and no official judgment upon any person. It names no living person, and it adjudicates the case of no living hierarch, priest, or layman. It does not teach rebellion against the Church. It does not invent a private church. It does not usurp the authority that belongs to the bishops and to the councils. Its single aim is fidelity to Christ within His one Church; and wherever it treats of matters genuinely disputed among the Orthodox, it says so plainly.

To the confessors of the Orthodox Faith in every generation, who loved the truth more than their own safety, who would not exchange the Faith of the Fathers for the peace of the world, and who proved that the narrow way is the way of life. And to those who stand today between fear and presumption, asking how to remain faithful without becoming proud, that they may find the sober path of the Saints.

May the prayers of Saint Athanasius the Great, Saint Maximus the Confessor, Saint Theodore the Studite, and Saint Mark of Ephesus accompany every reader.

Preface Why Apoteichisis Is Heavenly Communion The Whole Teaching in Plain Words