ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY

1 TheAppearancesAt FatimaAndORTHODOXCHRISTIANITYO rthodox Christian Religious FoundationOklahoma City, Oklahoma - 1989 ORTHODOX InterestAccording to Roman Catholicclaims, between May and Octoberof 1917, the Mother of God ap-peared six times to three children -Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco - inthe Portuguese village of initial appearances attractedlittle or no attention, but by thetime of the last one up to 50,000people were present; at this time,many people claimed to see thesun dance in the sky, but at no timedid anyone but the three childrensee the person who was the years, many OrthodoxChristians have expressed an inter-est in these events, primarily be-cause of the predictions about theconversion of Russia which weremade in one of the appearances. Itstrikes many as significant that anapparent manifestation of theTheotokos occurred at the sametime as the Bolshevik Revolutionin Russia; they would like to hopefrom this that the Theotokos hasindicated a way by which Russiamight be freed from Communistdomination.

2 Thus, Tatiana Gori-cheva, a well-known Russian Or-thodox dissident and exile fromthe Soviet Union, tells of how shelearned about Fatima and speaksof fulfilling the directions of theTheotokos at Fatima for the con-version of Russia1. Refer to the ref-erenced footnote for her , when one examinesthe events at Fatima in detail, itturns out that they were not pri-marily about Russia at all; rather,they presented or reaffirmed anumber of distinctly Roman Cath-olic doctrines. One must considerthese teachings as a whole in orderto determine how an OrthodoxChristian should view the should be noted that there are asurprising number of discrepan-cies in the reports of the conversa-tions between the children and theapparition, raising the possibility1 The Appearances At FatimaAndORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their ownlusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn awaytheir ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

3 "II Timothy 4:304of some later corruption or alter-ations in the texts. For the mostpart the text followed in this paperis that presented by Sister Lucia,one of the three children, in Actually Appeared?First of all, no one knows whoappeared at Fatima. In the first ap-pearance, the apparition made noclaim at all to be the first identified her as theVirgin Mary, but Lucia initiallywas doubtful about who the appa-rition was2. In later appearances,the apparition did not always spe-cifically claim to be the Mother ofGod, but rather spoke of itself,rather oddly, as Our Lady of theRosary and the ImmaculateHeart of Mary. 3In the fifth ap-pearance, the apparition told thechildren, In October Our Lordwill come, as well as our Lady ofDolours and Our Lady of Joseph will appear with theChild Jesus to bless the world.

4 4 This sounds strange to our ears,since it almost seems to imply thatthese Ladies Was TaughtThe doctrines presented by theapparition are striking, since theyreinforce many of the most un-usual and extreme innovations ofrecent Roman Catholicism. Theinclude the following:Devotion to theImmaculate Heart ofMaryThe primary purpose of the appa-rition was to encourage devotionto the so-called Immaculate Heartof the second appearance, the ap-parition said, Jesus wishes tomake use of you to make me knownand loved. He wants to establish inthe world devotion to my Immacu-late Heart. 5 This devotional prac-tice is related to the cult of theSacred Heart of Jesus. In thetwelfth century a revolution oc-curred in the devotional practicesof the Roman Catholic Church;this revolution was inspired by thepreachingofBernardofClairveaux and spread widely byFrancis of attention was shifted fromour redemption by the Resurrec-tion of the Lord to a focus on thePassion of the Lord, an erotic ele-ment was introduced in worshipand private devotion.

5 The Lordcame to be viewed as a compan-ion, friend, or even husband/lover,as is reflected in the marriage im-agery which was introduced intoWestern monasticism (in taking2their vows, nuns went through asort of wedding ceremony, com-plete with bridal gowns, weddingrings, etc. with the Lord as thegroom).Thisnewdevotionstressed the worshipper s individ-ual union with the Mystic Lover,concentrating on the pain of theLord s suffering and trying toarouse emotional feelings byfocusing on His earthly the manifestations of thisnew approach to worship are theFeast of the Holy Name, specialdevotions to the Five Wounds ofChrist, the Stations of the Cross,the meditations assigned to the de-cades of the Rosary, the Christmas crib and devotion to the BabyJesus in general, and the cult ofthe Sacred Heart of Jesus6.

6 Thislatter cult focuses on one part ofour Lord s physical body and ef-fectively separates the worship ofthe human nature of Christ fromHis Divine Nature; for this reasonit has never found any acceptancein the ORTHODOX Church, whoteaches her children to worship theLord in His Divine-human unity,not in each of the natures sepa-rately. Orthodoxy has also main-tained a much more restrained andobjective devotional approach tothe Lord, avoiding sensuality,sentimentality, and , as the RomanCatholic doctrine of Mary has de-veloped in recent centuries, it hastried to parallel every attribute ofChrist with one in Mary, goingeven to the extreme of calling herthe Co-Redemptrix of the worldand suggesting that she shares inChrist s Priesthood in some to the Immaculate Heartof Mary is one more example ofthis tendency, paralleling the cultof the Sacred Heart of if the cult of the Sacred Heartis too dangerously overloadedwith emotion, sentimentality, andsensuality for it to be acceptable toOrthodoxy, what can we say aboutan extension of this cult to theTheotokos?

7 The problem here isthat Roman Catholicism has lostthe ORTHODOX concept of the deifi-cation of all of those who partici-pateinGod slife-creating,sanctifying, and uncreated Church Militant and theChurch Triumphant - all, in fact,who struggle in the life that is inChrist - participate in Christ s re-demptive work. They are a cho-sengeneration,apriestlykingdom, a holy nation. When the Church s Orthodoxdoctrine of grace, salvation, anddeification is forsaken for onewhich is carnal, erroneous, anddistorted, then, inevitably, theo-logical dislocations and aberra-tions will appear also in regard tothe doctrines of the priesthood and3redemption. This is especially evi-dent in regard to the position of theTheotokos in Roman Catholicism,where her cultus clearly begins toborder on Mariolatry. It is evenmore objectionable when particu-lar parts of Mary are singled outfor particular antiquity, there were two he-reticalsects,theAntidicomarianitesand theCollyridians.

8 The first refused tohonor the Theotokos at all and de-nied her perpetual virginity, thesecond made her equal to , of Cyprus writes that certainwomenmadesmallloavesandofferedthe min(Mary s)name in religious ritesperformed by inSikima, the local villagers offersacrifices in the name of theMaiden(Theotokos). 8 The Ortho-dox Church strives ever to pre-serve the truth, deviating neither tothe right nor to the left, but walkingon the straight and narrow waywhich leads to the Kingdom ofHeaven. St. Epiphanius writes thatboth of the extremes reflected inthe doctrines and practices of thesetwo aforementioned sects are theteachings of demons. The harm, he writes, that comes from both ofthese heresies is equal. We can see that, in regard to theTheotokos, the Protestants tend toreflecttheviewsoftheAntidicomarianites , whereas themodern Roman Catholics, who inextremes of pietism promulgatesuchideasasthatof Co-Redemptrix, clearly resem-ble the Collyridians.

9 Orthodoxyadheres to the middle way, vener-ating the Theotokos as the holiestof God s creatures and pouring outlove for her, but not dishonoringher by falsely exalting her to animagined equality with her DivineSon. By honoring her purity andholiness and by emulating in ourown lives her total obedience toGod, we show our true devotion Roman Catholic tendency tomake Mary equal to the Lord ismanifested in the second appear-ance at Fatima, when the appari-tion promised salvation to all whopractice devotion to the Immacu-late Heart. It said, To all thosewho embrace(devotion to my Im-maculate Heart), I promise salva-tion and their souls will be lovedby God as flowers placed by theway that will lead you to God. 9In the third appearance, the appa-rition showed the children a visionof hell, and then said, You haveseen hell where the souls of poorsinners go.

10 To save them, Godwishes to establish in the world de-votion to my Immaculate Heart. 10In this same appearance, the chil-4dren were told that there would bepeace if people did what the appa-rition of the most striking state-ments attributed to the apparitionis found in the first is a disagreement in thesources about the wording of thestatement, but some versions saythat people must suffer as a meansof repaying the Immaculate Heartof Mary for their sins and presented in these sources, inthe first appearance, the apparitionsaid, Will you suffer to obtain theconversion of sinners, to repair theblasphemies, as well as all the of-fenses committed against the Im-maculate Heart of Mary? 11In thethird appearance, the one in whichthe conversion of Russia is men-tioned, the apparition tells the chil-dren, Sacrifice yourselves forsinners, and say many times, espe-cially when you make some sacri-fice: O Jesus, it is for love of you,for the conversion of sinners, andin reparation for the sins commit-ted against the Immaculate Heartof Mary.