HEAD: EPILOGUE

Truly, here in the conclusion of these writings of ours, we are constrained by the unyielding obligation of our spiritual ministry, first and foremost, to offer heartfelt prayers on their behalf, grieving over the misguided ways of those alienated from the truth of the apostolic traditions and from the sound, orthodox doctrines of the ancient holy Fathers—whereby they are found estranged from the light-bearing and upright course of the faith of the Catholic [and Apostolic] Church. These were our brethren from our own nation, and together with us they too worshipped in the true faith, confessing the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in accordance with our ancient holy Fathers. It therefore behooves us all the more—according to the holy Apostle Paul—to pray with a sincere heart unto the Lord God for their correction and conversion: "Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is for [their] salvation. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Rom. 10:1–4). Secondly, it is the imperative duty of us, spiritual shepherds, by vigilant oversight over those who have stumbled from an upright judgment of conscience, to preserve unswerving the rational flock committed to our charge by supernal Providence.

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