Message of His Beatitude DANIEL, Patriarch of Romania, addressed to the participants in the 24th Pan-Orthodox Consultation of representatives of the Orthodox Churches and of the Holy Metropolitanates on Matters of Heresies and Para-Religions, Thessaloniki, 15 – 17 October 2012:
It is with joy that we greet His Eminence ANTHIMOS, Metropolitan of Thessaloniki, the host of this meeting, and all the participants in the 24th Pan-Orthodox Consultation of representatives of the Orthodox Churches and of the Holy Metropolitanates on Matters of Heresies and Para-Religions, with the theme: “The Hope of the Orthodox Church in the everlasting life and the errors of the millenarist heresies”.
At the same time, we convey our congratulations to the organisers of this event who deal with the impact of the millenarist heresies and of para-religions, as well as with their consequences in the contemporary society, which has such a great difficulty in perceiving God’s presence and in understanding the necessity of the communion with Him.
Our forerunners had the consciousness of their responsibility in keeping the true faith, as basis for achieving salvation, namely the union of the human being with God in eternity, through the Church, because it is only in the Church that the true community experience of the human existence can be lived.
Today’s society is mainly individualist, narcissist and self-sufficient. The soul of the contemporary human being affected by secularisation, through the rejection of the mystery of the Church, begun to be assailed by the wrong teachings of some sects and heresies, as well as by a confuse or syncretistic religiosity. Unfortunately, the spiritual vacuum is filled by a “para-religion”, which imitates religion but without referring to God.
