The doctrines of Godliness are overturned (Saint Basil)
by VP
Posted on Monday January 03, 2022 at 12:51AM in Books
"The doctrines of Godliness are overturned; the rules of the Church are
in confusion; the ambition of the unprincipled seizes upon places of
authority; and the chief seat is now openly proposed as a reward for
impiety; so that he whose blasphemies are the more shocking, is more
eligible for the oversight of the people.
Priestly gravity has perished; there are none left to feed the Lordʼs
flock with knowledge; ambitious men are ever spending, in purposes of
self-indulgence and bribery, possessions which they hold in trust for
the poor. The accurate observation of the canons are no more; there is
no restraint upon sin.
Unbelievers laugh at what they see, and the weak are unsettled; faith is
doubtful, ignorance is poured over their souls, because the
adulterators of the word in wickedness imitate the truth. Religious
people keep silence, but every blaspheming tongue is let loose. Sacred
things are profaned; those of the laity who are sound in faith avoid the
places of worship, as schools of impiety, and raise their hands in
solitude with groans and tears to the Lord in heaven."
Source: St. Basil the Great, The Church of the Fathers, John Henry Newman 1868
