The Royal Path - Fr. Seraphim Rose

This article’s aim is to present the Royal Path of Orthodoxy which falls not too far to the left, into slothfulness and ecumenism, or to the right, into over-strictness and divisiveness. Fr. Seraphim wrote this in response to attacks from the “super-correct” factions who, as Fr. Seraphim wrote, “wish to make everything absolutely ‘simple’ and ‘black and white.’” In their zeal for Orthodoxy, they were proclaiming that all new calendar churches were without grace, that Orthodox Christians joining their jurisdictions must be rebaptized, and other “super-correct” positions. Fr. Seraphim not only saw these views were not in step with the Royal Path, but that they created a novel “branch-theory” within Orthodoxy. In anguish and conviction, he penned writing this article attempting to rise above false dichotomies and worldly thinking, transmitting the mind of the Fathers for his day. This article is a guide for us not just on ecclesiastical matters, but in all of life, since our enemy wishes nothing more than to dra