The works of Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky) and Archbishop Averky (Taushev) reveal the doctrine of the unity of the Church as an immutable dogma, not subject to change under any historical circumstances. Considering the history of the Church, Hieromartyr Hilarion traces how heretics and schismatics were accepted into the fold of the Church at different times and in different states. He shows that the differences in admission into the Orthodox Church in different historical eras and from various non-church groups of people in no way mean a change or diminishment of the dogma of the unity of the Church of Christ, but is condescension (oikonomy) in relation to human weakness. The book is useful for everyone who wants to more deeply understand the meaning of the Church and its interaction with the outside world. “The widespread, “current” opinion of our days is that Orthodoxy is just one of many varieties of Christianity, along with others that have every right to exist and even, to one degree or another, equivalent. But to think so is either extreme naivety, based on ignorance, or definitely a malicious distortion of the truth. If we turn to the history of the Christian Church and take the trouble to calmly and impartially, without any bias, thoroughly familiarize ourselves by it, we can easily be convinced that only Orthodoxy is true Christianity - that Truth, which, in His own words, the incarnate Only Begotten Son of God came to earth to testify,” writes Archbishop Averky (Taushev).

With the blessing of His Eminence Augustine, Archbishop of Lviv and Galicia