Divine Grace Does Not Forcibly Restrain Bishops from Falling into Error #
New Ritualist: Our Orthodox Church teaches that all bishops can never err or fall into heresy, but this does not equate them with God or with animals. Rather, the Church teaches that bishops are prevented from falling into heresy because, even if they desired to do so, God’s grace would not allow them.
Old Ritualist: But that is even worse. If divine grace restricts bishops’ freedom to such an extent that they do good and hold to Orthodox faith not by their own will, but because divine grace prevents them from acting otherwise, then it means that God Himself deprives people of the Kingdom of Heaven not only for good deeds but even for holding to the Orthodox faith. This view not only diminishes the dignity of bishops, but it also directly insults God and contradicts the teachings of the holy fathers.
This truth is so undeniable that even theologians of your own church confirm and demonstrate it. Metropolitan Macarius writes:
Divine grace does not restrict human freedom, nor does it act upon it irresistibly. Although God works in us both to will and to act according to His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13), and without His grace we can neither undertake nor accomplish anything truly good, nevertheless, this divine power, working in and through us, does not at all restrict our freedom, nor does it compel us irresistibly to do good. Therefore:
Scripture commands people to open their hearts to grace and not harden themselves against its influence. ‘Behold,’ says the Savior, ‘I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me’ (Revelation 3:20). ‘Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts,’ repeat the sacred writers in both the Old and New Testaments (Psalm 94:7-8, Isaiah 55:3, Hebrews 3:7; 4:7). What would all these statements mean if a person could not resist grace, if it acted upon him irresistibly?
The Word of God actually testifies that people can resist grace, and resist it stubbornly, in spite of all its efforts. ‘What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it?’ God says in the Old Testament regarding the people of Israel (Isaiah 5:4). ‘I have stretched out My hands all day long to a disobedient and contrary people, who walk in a way that is not good, according to their own thoughts’ (Isaiah 65:2). ‘Therefore I will choose their delusions, and bring their fears on them; because when I called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not hear; but they did evil before My eyes and chose that in which I do not delight’ (Isaiah 66:4; see also Isaiah 65:12, Proverbs 1:24, Jeremiah 7:13). In the New Testament, St. Stephen the Martyr cried out concerning the Jews, ‘You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you’ (Acts 7:51). Pointing to this sad example, the Apostle Paul urges Christians, ‘Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience’ (Hebrews 4:11).
Scripture is filled with exhortations, promises, and warnings to encourage people toward virtue. But what purpose would all these exhortations, promises, and warnings serve if grace acted upon people irresistibly, so that they could not help but do good when drawn to it by divine power?
The holy fathers and teachers of the Church unanimously preached that a person freely acts in choosing and performing good deeds and is not constrained by divine grace. For example:
St. Justin Martyr writes: ‘We did not make ourselves, but by His power who created us, we are urged to follow Him with reason, choosing what is pleasing to Him’ (Apology, 1.10).
St. John Chrysostom states: ‘God compels no one; but if He wills and we do not will, our salvation is impossible—not because His will is powerless, but because He does not wish to compel anyone.’
St. Gregory the Theologian says: ‘The human will does not always follow, but very often contradicts and opposes the divine will’ (Oration on Theology, 4).
St. Basil the Great teaches: ‘The Spirit dwells in each person who receives Him, filling them according to their capacity, and His grace is given in measure to each according to their own capacity, not the Spirit’s capacity’ (On the Holy Spirit, Ch. 9).
St. Macarius of Egypt states: ‘Human nature is capable of accepting both good and evil, of divine grace and opposing forces, but cannot be forced toward either’ (Homily 15, §54). Without the consent of the human will, God Himself produces nothing within a person, even though He could do so, due to the freedom He has granted mankind (Homily 37, §10).
Even the apostles, though perfected by grace, were not forcibly restrained by grace from following their own will, even if that will had led them contrary to grace. Though they could not sin, this was not because they were coerced, but because they were illuminated by such divine light and granted such grace that they did not exalt themselves (Homily 27, Parts 10, 11). Furthermore, even from those perfected by grace, the Lord expects the willingness of the soul to serve the Spirit, so that will and grace may be in harmony, as the Apostle instructs: “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19) (Word on the Exaltation of the Mind, No. 16).
Sound reason, too, cannot overlook the fact that if divine grace restricts a person’s freedom and irresistibly compels them toward good, then all incentive for virtue is removed, all merit of their good deeds is nullified, and their morality as a whole is undermined—with God Himself being blamed for all of this! How can such an idea even be allowed? (from Theology, by Metropolitan Macarius, Vol. 2, §193).
Yet you not only permit such an idea but positively embrace and preach it, contrary to the teachings of the holy fathers, insisting that God restrains bishops from errors in faith by His grace, even against their will and desire—by force. If your teaching that bishops cannot err by nature or essence is foolish, as if they were animals or, indeed, irrational and insensate creatures, then this notion—that God Himself forcibly prevents them from falling into error—is outright blasphemy. Is it not blasphemy, in fact, to teach that God, by undermining all morality of bishops, deprives them of any hope of salvation and eternal bliss for adhering to the Orthodox faith and God’s commandments, let alone for virtues? This is precisely the doctrine your Church’s missionaries preach in polemics with the Old Believers.
New Ritualist: Let it be, as you argue, that God does not forcibly keep anyone in the Orthodox faith, and that He allows all Christians, including bishops, to fall into error. But even so, this does not justify you in the least. Now, if you could prove from history that all bishops simultaneously fell into error, then that would be a different matter. If you could show that such an event occurred in the Church of Christ before the time of Patriarch Nikon, that she was left without all bishops, even for one minute, then you would be entirely justified, and there would be nothing more to debate.