Name-glorifying lies at the very foundation of the teaching about One Essence and Three Hypostasis of the Godhead, about the Divinity of the Saviour, about the Church, the Mysteries, especially the Eucharist, about the worship of the Icons, etc. I see in Name-fighting a religious relativism that severs the real link with God and which, making relative that which is all-binding, making psychological that which is ontological, is shaking the very foundations of the divinely-efficient Faith of Christ and of the Church, and directly pushes one towards atheism. (ultimately - to man-worshipping and anti-Christianity).
The name-fighting heresy poisoned our theological school, our hierarchy, our pastors, and, naturally, it is poisoning the whole society of the Church. The fruits of this poisoning are evident to all... Only a blind man, or somebody who has covered his own eyes, will fail to see the corruption, which has entered into our Church and which is the fruit of the long-standing de facto Name-fighting, and which was de jure adopted by the Holy and Patriarchal Synods. This protestant principle (which in its essence, I repeat, is man-worshipping) of religious relativism is being offered to us on an official level, as a norm of spiritual life... And if this is the case, then what need do they have of the divinely-efficient, unconquerable and terrible Name of God, which is near and dear only to those, and is needed and understood only by those, for whom Christianity is a “Great Mystery” of transformation of the old man into a new creature, a deification of man through the indwelling of God, which is accomplished by the wonder-working Name of Jesus, mysteriously making its dwelling in the heart of man?
These profound words of the Saint are just as true today. For the past 100 years, the Orthodox teaching and veneration of the Name of God, which lies at the very heart of our Faith, has been distorted and put under the bushel by the followers of the Name-fighting (Onomoclast) false-teaching. The eternal Name of our living God, the Name that is wonderful in all the earth, has been given over to blasphemies, whilst the defenders of the divine dignity of the Lord's Name were subjected to slanders, persecution and mockery. The name-fighting heresy poisoned our theological school, our hierarchy, our pastors, and, naturally, it is poisoning the whole society of the Church. The fruits of this poisoning are evident to all... Only a blind man, or somebody who has covered his own eyes, will fail to see the corruption, which has entered into our Church and which is the fruit of the long-standing de facto Name-fighting, and which was de jure adopted by the Holy and Patriarchal Synods. This protestant principle (which in its essence, I repeat, is man-worshipping) of religious relativism is being offered to us on an official level, as a norm of spiritual life... And if this is the case, then what need do they have of the divinely-efficient, unconquerable and terrible Name of God, which is near and dear only to those, and is needed and understood only by those, for whom Christianity is a “Great Mystery” of transformation of the old man into a new creature, a deification of man through the indwelling of God, which is accomplished by the wonder-working Name of Jesus, mysteriously making its dwelling in the heart of man?
The Wonderful Name was created in order to help bring to light the Orthodox, patristic teaching concerning the Name of God. The website is run by St. John of Kronstadt Brotherhood, an informal association of the Orthodox Christian clergy, monastics and lay-people who are dedicated to achieving this goal.
+ St. John of Kronstadt Brotherhood
