Advice to the Orthodox Council against the Jew Isaac the Magus and Deceiver

A meek, quiet and patient attitude towards all human crimes is very necessary for all, in general, believers, and especially for the priests of the Most High, as the Divine voice says: “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29); but against those who contradict and resist the right faith and who strive to damage it in word and deed, and who are brought up in it and attract into their charms - against such it is very fair for us with all our souls to perceive the commendable divine zeal for good faith, according to the word of the prophet: “Have they not hated Thee, O Lord, and for all Thy truths; I hated them with complete hatred: they became my enemies” (Ps. 139:21-22). Who is as meek as Moses, the seer of God? However, when he saw people being lawless and angering the Most High with their madness, he carefully put aside his meekness and spared neither the elders, nor the young men, nor the old women, nor the young virgins, but without mercy he commanded the zealots of the law, the Levites, to kill everyone with weapons, whether they were relatives, or elders, or young, since they, having forgotten the many great blessings of God and miracles, turned away to idolatry. Let us also love the God-praiseworthy zeal of Phinehas, who pierced with his spear Zimri, the prince of Israel, and the Midianite woman in their most heinous crime (Num. 25:7-8). “And Phinehas propitiated the hundred, and stopped flogging,” says Scripture (Ps. 105:30), that is, the destruction of the Jewish people by the wrath of God stopped after twenty-three thousand of them fell in one day, solely because of prodigal sin. Oh, how amazing is the zeal of this wonderful man, with which he not only turned away the great and righteous wrath of God from the people of Israel, but also “accounted it to him for righteousness, for generations and generations to come” (Ps. 105:31). I will not talk about the wonderful Elijah and Elisha, how much they, out of God’s zeal, did for the glory of God and for the salvation of the Jewish race. But who does not know the act of the Blessed Archbishop Leo of Catania regarding the nasty sorcerer Iliodor, or who, hearing about this, will not be horrified? For quite some time he endured all his actions, with which he embarrassed the sacred flock of Christ the Savior and abused them. Finally, when I saw him incurably ill, I did not tolerate him any longer. And when Iliodor, during the evening service, caused confusion in the service itself with satanic magic, the saint of God, the wonderful Leo, kindled with divine jealousy, hastily came out of the altar and boldly wrapped his omophorion around Iliodor’s neck, dragged him all the way to the market square, and here, when at his order a large fire was lit, he dragged him to it, climbed in with him into the fire, and the bishop of God stayed in it, holding the sorcerer with an omophorion, until this nasty disciple and servant of demons was completely burned. The saint of God and the wisest champion of faith, Leo, came out of the fire unharmed, so that not a single hair of his was scorched by the fire. Imitating him, you too, as followers of those men and builders of the same sacraments, show the same zeal as they did, and with all your soul embrace the same feat for the sake of piety, and those who trouble him, whoever they may be, do not be ashamed or ashamed, but resist them, in the apostolic manner, with one wisdom and one accord, with the boldness befitting the Orthodox saints of God. And hand over those who have troubled the flock of Christ to external authorities for appropriate execution, so that others will learn not to trouble the sheep of Christ in our Orthodox land in the future. For what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? They crucified Him whom we worship, in whom we believe and by whom we are saved; they constantly curse Him, whom we bless and glorify day and night with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Keep our land clean and unharmed from such mad dogs. Be accomplices of the ancient zealots, so that you too may be worthy of the same crowns and praises as they are in the age to come, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever and ever with the beginningless Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen. You might be interested in: