12.

 Give your understanding of the Orthodox attitude toward the branch theory.

            The branch theory was once popular among High Church Anglicans and taught that the Christian Church was divided into branches. Usually three branches were given: Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.

            The branch theory was subsequently taken up by the ecumenists, who initially applied it to Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism and all denominations of Protestantism. This theory maintains that all Christian Churches are branches of the same ecclesiastical organism, which is Christ, and it accepts all Christian confessions as equal — that is, equally sharing bits and pieces of the truth.

            Carrying the branch theory further, ecumenism now contends that there is a variety of doctrinal principles not only of individual Christian creeds, but of all religions. As the foundation of ecumenism's theory is the erroneous idea that there are many religious doctrines that mutually enrich one another. Thus, ecumenism promotes “love” above truth, ignorance of dogma for the sake of peace, and disregard of differences which tend to divide.

            The branch theory is heretical as it contradicts Holy Scripture, which speaks of “one Lord, one faith, one Baptism” (Eph 4:5), “one Holy Tradition” (2 Thes 2:15), and “one Christian Church” (Mt 16: 18). Also, as noted in an earlier chapter, such a false assertion invariably leads to a relativization of God's Truth. As Archimandrite Sergius, former Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Theology, University of Sofia, Bulgaria, writes: “Orthodoxy is not just one of the many forms of Christianity, alongside other legitimate, non-Orthodox forms of Christianity; our Orthodox faith is Christianity itself, in its most pure and one and only authentic form.”

            As the branch theory is contrary to the fact that the Church is one, it cannot be reconciled with Sacred Scriptures and Orthodox theology. The only branches of the Church (if one wants to think in terms of branches) are the local autocephalous Churches of the Orthodox communion.