Republic of Greece
CHURCH of the G.O.C. of GREECE
HOLY SYNOD
KANINGOS 32 (3rd floor)
106 82 ATHENS
ΕΛΛΑΣ - GREECE
Protocol no. γ-1883
Encyclical
To the entire Church
“Today the Grace of the Holy Spirit hath gathered us
together, and we all take up Thy Cross saying, Blessed is He that cometh in the
name of the Lord."
Much beloved children in the Lord,
On this day precisely, 90 years are completed since the
imposition of the calendar innovation in the Orthodox Church of Greece. March
10th, the 2nd Sunday of the Fast was named March 23rd through an encyclical of
the Archbishop of Athens at that time, Chrysostomos Papadopoulos. The pious
people of our Fatherland thenceforth were divided into those who adopted the
calendar reform (New Calendarists) and those who remained faithful to the
Patristic Traditions (“Old Calendarists”) namely the Genuine Orthodox
Christians. There followed various persecutions against the people of God to
compel them to accept the innovation. But one year later during the Vigil of
the Orthodox for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in the chapel of
St. John the Theologian in Hymettos, at midnight the bright Cross of the Lord
appeared. This appearance is the divine confirmation of the correctness of our
Holy Struggle. During the suffering of the Genuine Church of Christ that
followed: the persecutions, imprisonments, stripping of clergymen, exiles of
bishops, demolishing of churches, etc. the remembrance of this great miracle of
the 3rd appearance of the Holy Cross was a support and a fount of power for the
Genuine Orthodox.
Today, this froward day of the imposition of the calendar
innovation coincides with the Veneration of the Cross. This fortunate
coincidence makes the present day especially filled with symbolic connotations,
so that the great event of the Synodal Concelebration of unity and confession
be celebrated on this day. Rightly is it appropriate at this point to exclaim:
“For behold, through the Cross joy hath come to the whole world!”
Today, according to the goodwill of God, we are truly
celebrating a great event, a thirty year division has come to an end. The years
of eruptions and divisions have passed away. Behold, the day of peace and
harmony has shined upon us.
Truly, the event of the unification of those formerly
separated is a great benefaction, according to St. Basil the Great: Thus its
seems generally that the state of the Church (if I may use a vivid figure,
though it may seem too lowly) is like an old garment, which is always being
torn easily on whatever pretext, and which can never be restored to its
original strength. At such a time, then, there is need of great effort and
diligence that the Churches may in some way be benefited. It is a good deed
that parts hitherto severed be united." ("Letter to the
Presbyters of Tarsus")
This good deed was accomplished last Tuesday March 5/18 of
the present year in the church of the All-Holy Theotokos “The Unfading Rose” in
Piraeus where the Holy Synod of the Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians
of Greece convened under the presidency of His Beatitude Archbishop Kallinikos
of Athens and all Greece, exclusively to address the issue of the union and
incorporation of the Orthodox Ecclesiastical Community in Resistance with the
Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece which was accomplished by
the Grace of God.
The ecclesiological agreement, based on the findings of the
official dialogue between the two sides, an arduous union attempt throughout
fourteen months produced an in-depth Ecclesiological Text entitled: The
True Orthodox Church in Opposition to the Heresy of Ecumenism: Dogmatic and
Canonical Issues which constitutes the sure ecclesiological basis of the
union which was accomplished.
Having established this, and the canonical impediments
having been removed, the Bishops of the Orthodox Ecclesiastical Community in
Resistance are now full, canonical members of our Holy Synod and the pious
faithful of this Community finally belong to the one, sole ecclesiastical body
of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece.
But our joy is not simply a local event, on this past
Friday, March 8/21, an Inter-Orthodox Deliberation convened in the Monastery of
the All-Immaculate Virgin in Megara, with the participation - aside from the
hierarchs of the Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece - of
hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, with its President
Metropolitan Agafangel being present, as well as the non-innovating Church of
Romania under His Eminence Metropolitan Vlasie. During this deliberation each
article of the the above-mentioned Ecclesiological Text was examined, the
hierarchs having expressed agreement on it, in principle, some days prior. They
discussed other dogmatic and canonical issues and by the Grace of God, the
many-hour deliberation came to a close in full agreement.
The presentation and the solemnizing of the union occurred
through the present Synodal Concelebration of unity and confession today, the
Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross, March 10/23 in the historic monastery of
St. Nicholas in Paiania, presided over by His Beatitude Archbishop Kallinikos
of Athens and all Greece, and His Eminence Metropolitan Agafangel of New York
and Eastern America of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, and in the presence
of hierarchs of the Church of the Genuine Orthodox Church of Romania. The
selection of this place is not without meaning because in this monastery the hierarchical
ordinations, and the reconstitution of the hierarchy of our Church in
cooperation with hierarchs of the Russian Church Abroad took place in 1962.
Through this inter-Orthodox concelebration today’s feast of the Veneration of
the Cross becomes finally a worldwide joyous event. It is appropriate
straightway to repeat the verse: ”For behold, through the Cross joy hath come
to the whole world!”
Beloved children in the Lord,
Our union in love and truth was not motivated in us by
worldy authority, nor by some material interest. Our only motivation was the
love of our Lord Jesus Christ and our dearest Orthodoxy.
Simultaneously, our hearts turn with love and forbearance
towards those who in various ways have cooperated and continue to cooperate
with the truly worldwide scandal of the division of the Orthodox in the name of
unity with the heterodox, and have breached the ecclesiological and
soteriological exclusivity of Orthodoxy. We call them to repentance and to
return to the immovable borders of the True Faith and the True Orthodox Church
of Christ, where the fullness of Grace and Truth is found exclusively.
In this regard, we paternally urge all our spiritual
children who participate in the joy of our Church, to continue to pray for the
stability of this union, and also that this unity may expand among all the True
Orthodox in the Truth and Love of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen!
In the year of Salvation MMXIV the 10th/23rd of March
THE HOLY SYNOD
The Archbishop
† KALLINIKOS of Athens
The Members
† AKAKIOS of Attica and Diauleia
† MAXIMOS of Thessalonica and Demetrias
† ATHANASIOS of Larisa and Platamon
† JUSTIN of Euripus and Euboea
† GERONTIOS of Piraeus and Salamina
† CHRYSOSTOMOS of Attica and Boeotia
† MOSES of Toronto
† DEMETRIUS of America
† CHRYSOSTOMOS of Etna
† CYPRIAN of Oropos and Phyle
† GREGORY of Christianoupolis
† PHOTIOS of Marathon
† SERGIOS of Portland
† AMBROSE of Philippi
† AMBROSE of Methone
† MICHAEL of Nora
† SILVANO of Luni
† CLEMENT of Gardikion
† THEODOSIOS of Bresthena
† CHRISTODOULOS of Theoupolis
† AUXENTIOS of Photike
Editor:
Rev.Spyridon Tanous
Orthodox Patristic Church- Sweden
Ἐκκλησία τῶν Γ.Ο.Χ
www.christ-prayer.org
