Greek hierarchs receive open letters from clergy, laity concerning recognition of Ukrainian schismatics

Greece, November 13, 2019

Photo: pravoslavie.ru     

The decision of the majority of the hierarchs of the Greek Church to throw their weight behind Constantinople and its invasion of Ukrainian Church territory and the decision of Archbishop Ieronymos, the President of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, to formally recognize the OCU and begin commemorating its primate has caused great consternation among the clergy and faithful throughout Greece.

The schismatic pilgrims who are currently touring Greece have received a mixed reaction, being shut out on Aegina and in Patras, but warmly welcomed on Evia and in Fokidos.

Now, the faithful clergy and laity of the Greek Church who stand on the principles of Orthodox canon law have taken to addressing their hierarchs with open letters.

Protopresbyter John Diotis, a well-known Greek priest, theologian, publicist, and head of the Patristic publications center in Athens, has addressed an open letter to Abp. Ieronymos, who first recognized the schismatics in an irenic letter to Epiphany Dumenko and began commemorating him as the primate of a Local Church on Sunday, November 10.

His letter is published in full on Orthodox Typos.

In his letter, Fr. John notes that the Bishops’ decisions from October 12 are publicly known, but the “canonical, ecclesiastical, and historical criteria for this decision remain unknown.” Thus, he calls on Abp. Ieronymos to publish the documents on the basis of which the two commissions that the Greek Holy Synod created to study the Ukrainian issue made their conclusions regarding the schismatic OCU.

Fr. John notes that he has studied the Ukrainian issue in depth and stated his position in several articles. In preparing a book on the activities of Patriarch Bartholomew, it became necessary to obtain all the documents concerning the Ukrainian crisis. “If there are no reviews and analyses of the requested arguments, as well as the opinions of other Patriarchs about pseudo-restored, anathematized and self-ordained Ukrainian schismatics,” the book will be incomplete.

Fr. John also asks what basis Constantinople had for intervening in the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate and for restoring schismatics who were anathematized and ordained by anathematized people. He also believes that all Local Churches should receive a detailed report on the restoration process. “The Patriarch is obliged to publish such a process,” he writes.

He also states that the hierarchs of the Bishops’ Council did not see receive the relevant documents before discussing the Ukrainian issue, because “only the two Church Synodal committees were given the opportunity to study the issue, which they did irresponsibly and formally.”

Fr. John hopes that Abp. Ieronymos will appeal to Patriarch Bartholomew to publish the relevant documents, since the Patriarch would likely simply ignore any such request from the priest.

At the same time, the faithful of Florina issued their own open letter, expressing their conviction that the Greek bishops committed a crime in recognizing the OCU and are pulling ordinary believers into the abyss.

The letter, addressed to Metropolitan Justin of Nea Krini and Kalamaria, was handed to him personally on Sunday, November 10. A copy was also sent to Metropolitan Theoklitos of Florina, and over 300 leaflets with the text ofh te letter were distributed by the faithful, reports vimaorthodoxias.gr.

In the letter, the faithful express “the deepest grief and pain for the new great schism in Orthodoxy in the last 1,000 years.” In their opinion, “Patriarch Bartholomew, serving the geopolitical interests of America, committed an unheard-of action, providing ‘autocephaly’ to the non-ordained, anathematized, self-proclaimed schismatics of Ukraine!”

The signatories state that Pat. Bartholomew had no canonical jurisdiction in Ukraine and had no right to restore the schismatics who broke from a different Local Church. Moreover, “the schismatics have never regretted or repented!” they write.

The Greek Church’s recognition of the schismatics was preceded by visits from the U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt to Abp. Ieronymos and Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos), “whose rhetoric influenced the entire hierarchy,” the faithful recall.

They also charge that the Synodal Committees were made up of bishops who were already sympathetic to ecumenism and the schismatics.

The faithful also call attention to the fact of the persecution against the canonical Ukrainian Church by the state authorities and the schismatics, which those who recognize the schismatics simply ignore. The hierarchs of the Greek Church who support the schismatics have thus joined the side of the persecutors, they write. What they have done is equivalent to if the Church of Greece were done away with and the Old Calendarists recognized.

The faithful also wonder if it ever occurred to the hierarchs that were adding fuel to the fire in Ukraine, where the schismatics are already so hostile to the true Orthodox believers.

The authors believe that the laity have a right to know about what is happening in the Church of Greece and what decisions the hierarchs make, because “you have to understand that the Church is not just you, the bishops. The Church is the Body of Christ, the clergy and the people. And you have no right to keep members of the Church in the dark, especially in such serious matters.”

The hierarchs who support the OCU are “moral criminals” and are “perpetrators of a colossal split” in the whole of Orthodoxy, the letter states.

“Are you not afraid of God, Your Eminence?” they ask. “You don’t care what answer you will give tomorrow at the Last Judgment of Christ? That doesn’t frighten you? Do you remember the words of St. John Chrysostom that the sin of schism is not washed away even by martyr’s blood?”

By having communion with those outside the Church, you “also put yourself out of communion,” the faithful remind their hierarch. “And if you want to follow the Patriarch to the edge of the spiritual abyss, then where is the fault of the ordinary believers whom you drag along with you?”

The authors of the letter are certain that the Church of Greece and the entire Church is in serious danger. The Local Churches who have not recognized the schismatics must meet in a pan-Orthodox council “to solve this very serious problem and it is possible that the Greek Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate will be condemned as schismatics!”

If that happens, the people write, “it will have terrible consequences: The sacraments will become invalid, people will not be able to marry, nor be baptized, nor even repent!”

“Have you thought of them all?” the laity finish their letter.

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