The Danger of Being Spiritually Deceived

Or, a case for knowing your Bible and the tradition of the Church

As most of you know, my husband is Greek Orthodox, and I am Syriac Orthodox. He was born into it, left it, and returned to the Greek Orthodox Church after his wife discovered Orthodoxy. There are many reasons why I decided to become Syriac Orthodox, some of which I briefly answered here under point 2:

Further Thoughts on Moving to Orthodoxy

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I worship in both settings and keep my eyes on both Orthodox branches, Oriental Orthodoxy and Eastern Orthodoxy. With that in mind, a big brouhaha erupted in the Eastern Orthodox space about Brother Nathanael, a ROCOR (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia) monk, just yesterday. From what I know, he is an Orthodox convert from a Jewish background, and he is known for his odd dress (such as wearing a white and black glove or a huge cross). He has spent many years on various social media channels preaching a very anti-Semitic message. He has 78.8 thousand followers on X (the former Twitter), 6.17 thousand followers on Rumble, 13.3 thousand followers on Instagram, and almost 3,000 followers on TikTok. Not an insignificant number of people are listening to this Orthodox monk. He used to have a YouTube channel, but he was banned there. He also has a website where he sells merchandise.

Back in 2013, ROCOR Archbishop Kyrill asked him to cease his activities.

Four days ago, on Jan. 14, 2025, Metropolitan Nicholas clarified that Brother Nathanael’s activity was unacceptable to ROCOR.

This caused Brother Nathanael to react quite viciously. Last I saw, he said he had been kicked out of ROCOR. I saw this image on Facebook today with a quote from an Eastern Orthodox saint, and I fear it may be very true. And yes, this is Brother Nathanael with his white and black gloves.

Why am I telling you this (what appears to be a sordid) tale? It is not even happening in the Syriac Orthodox Church, right? Well…

When I first became Syriac Orthodox, I was sent a link with a video of a metropolitan of the True Orthodox Metropolis of Germany and Europe. The content seemed very Orthodox, but when I started to do some research, I learned that this man was a former Syriac Orthodox priest named Moses Görgün (or Muşe Görgün). He became disenchanted after what he felt was a lack of recognition of his work with the youth. The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church then accepted him and made him metropolitan of a new European archdiocese, leading to his excommunication from the Syriac Orthodox Church. After he overstepped his boundaries, he was then excommunicated from MOSC. He then joined a non-canonical old calendarist Eastern Orthodox group with most of his followers and still presides over a monastery in Germany that continues to lure people.

Not all that glitters is gold!

Since reading about Brother Nathanael yesterday, I have been thinking about how easy it can be to be spiritually deceived. Honestly, I see Satan at work when I stumble across voices of this nature. What can you do to prevent yourself from being deceived? The below is not foolproof, but it may help you to become more resilient to the assault of false teachers.

My first recommendation for becoming more discerning is to read the Bible! When you know the Word of God, you will easily see that there may be untruths hidden in what someone declares.

Secondly, know your Church Fathers. Just like with our Bible reading, discernment comes from knowing Christian history and what has been historically believed by everyone, everywhere, and at all times.

Thirdly, when you hear something that sounds wonderful on the Internet, do a little research to find out under whose authority a person speaks, especially if someone seems to be a cleric. Are they under a bishop of a canonical Orthodox tradition?

Fourthly, if you are still in doubt, take what you hear or read with an appropriately thick grain of salt and ask your priest or bishop for guidance.

Finally, pray. Pray that the Holy Spirit will always lead you to the truth.