The Temptation of St. Justina and the Repentance of St. Cyprian

The Feast and commemoration of Sts. Cyprian and Justina bring to mind some important truths deriving from the experience of the Orthodox Church. The holy members of the Church have always been subject to temptations, in accordance with the wise Providence of God, but have always been victorious. They have, thus, become the cause of the conversion of others—until then enslaved to the darkness of the Devil—to the light of Christ’s Truth.

 

 

St. Justina was a model of love and virginal dedication to Christ, just like the Holy Protomartyr Thekla, the Equal-to-the-Apostles. Her pure heart, ablaze with Divine love, prompted her to frequent God's Church, fashioned by human hands; the Grace of the Holy Spirit made her heart an altar, not fashioned by human hands: a "temple of the living God." [1]

When Cyprian the sorcerer sent evil spirits to vex her and induce carnal desire in her, so as to befuddle her and make her a plaything in the hands of a licentious youth, Justina resisted valiantly and resolutely.

Demonic assaults and the temptations which they provoke are not without limits or checks: "The demons...cannot fulfill their own evil will to cause the destruction and perdition of another when God, Who governs all things, does not so will; but even when He does so will, He sets limits as to how much harm they should do." [2]

In this way, while a person's freedom is tested, his will is not forcibly dominated by Satan. The Devil acts through the passions and stimulates us with feelings of pleasure. And when, because a person is vigilant, he cannot act through the mind, he stimulates the body, in order to arouse it and thereby seize the mind. [3]

But constant vigilance on the part of a person, wakefulness, and prayerful alertness render him a vessel of Divine Grace, and thereby the attacks of the Evil One are repulsed. The dew-laden Grace of the Holy Spirit quenches his fiery arrows. When the sign of the Cross is not made merely perfunctorily and externally, but reflects an inner disposition of crucifying one's carnal desires, the invincible power of the Precious Cross banishes the Devil and puts an end to his unclean machinations. Unceasing invocation, in a spirit of repentance, of the Divine Name of Jesus, the Crucified and Risen Son of God—Who annihilated the Devil—and union in the Eucharist with the Lord of Glory, our God and King, truly crush and overwhelm Satan.

So also in the case of St. Justina: a powerful nocturnal temptation at the hour when she awoke for prayer prompted her to oppose it at once with her spiritual weapons and to make the enemy disappear through the sign of the Cross: "I saw a sign of some kind and I trembled!'’ admitted the Devil.

However, until he was finally destroyed, the enemy did not cease to war against what is good. He also appeared to the Saint physically, in the form of a maiden, in order to deceive her. And he has this property. "The grosser demons fight against a man's body." [4] In their endeavor to destroy a man, demons can approach him in two ways: "either through a dense material substance, or through a very refined immaterial substance"; [5] that is, either visibly and corporeally, which happens rarely and only according by God's Providence, or invisibly and incorporeally, as usually occurs.

The enemy, therefore, attempted to inject his poison and corrupt the Saint's thoughts, "as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtility," [6] and he brought upon her, albeit for a moment, perplexity, turmoil, and mental confusion; for, the Saint saw one who was supposedly a virgin and fellow-straggler, but heard words that emanated from a profligate antagonist! But once again, the sign of the Precious Cross, made with faith and prayer, drove the tempter away in shame.

The consequences of this victory of the virgin Justina were incalculable. A new triumph of the Faith was beginning.

The admission of the demons to their devotee, Cyprian the sorcerer, that they were powerless and had failed in their mission, initiated the reversal of his situation. The son of darkness became a son of Light through repentance, renunciation of the Devil, and recourse to the Church of Christ.

Justina was the instrument used by Grace to bring about St. Cyprian's repentance. Cyprian himself recognized this immediately: "I must grasp the feet of Justina, so that she might bring about my salvation." When the evil spirits attacked him fiercely, he cried out: "O God of Justina, help me!" On hearing this, the demons vanished. They did not, however, abandon their efforts, but returned, using thoughts of despair to impede Cyprian's repentance. They maliciously assured him that he would once again come under their power, since God would surely reject him as someone abominable and impious.

In truth, Cyprian appeared for a moment to be overwhelmed and, under the weight of his sins, to doubt God's inexhaustible goodness and the possibility of his complete conversion and sincere repentance. Could he return to Him Who is Life?

With the aid of certain pious people, the Lord of life encouraged him at this critical juncture in his journey towards the healing of his diseased nature; Satan's malevolent activity was exorcised, Cyprian's thoughts of despair were banished, and his return to God was accomplished. The presence of God is the advent of His Kingdom, which is manifested through a life of repentance. There is no other way in which a man can be restored and saved.

"Repentance is a return from the unnatural to the natural state, from the Devil to God, through asceticism and toil." [7] Repentance, the "door of Grace" is the first step on the path towards knowledge of God; it is also a condition that persists throughout the course of our ascent to God, an ascent which involves both cleansing and perfection. Repentance is not simply remorse for certain deeds and sins, but rather, a struggle to "encounter’ God and achieve union with Him. This union is attained through labors and tears over one's past and present loss of God. Only thus is a man's nature transformed, and only thus is he preserved from the spiritual delusion of self-justification, complacency, and acquiescence. "For this reason, repentance is demanded of all people and at all times, and there is no limit to the perfection of repentance; for, even the perfection of the perfect is incomplete, and hence, until the hour of our death, repentance is not confined to particular times or particular deeds." [8]

To give up repentance is to give up making any spiritual ascent and is a symptom of spiritual death, whereas unceasing repentance and its blessed fruit—that is, the gift of a contrite and humbled heart and the repetition of the prayer of the Publican, "O God, be gracious to me, a sinner," until we reach the very door of the Kingdom—constitute a sure sign that our hearts are possessed by Divine love.

The purification of human nature through repentance and tears is ultimately perfected by the Grace of the Holy Spirit, which penetrates a man's heart and transforms it.

This was the Grace that delivered the maiden Justina from her temptation, converted Cyprian the sorcerer from the captivity of darkness, sanctified both of them, transformed them into vessels of Divine glory, and, after crowning them with the wreaths of martyrdom, finally entrusted them to the Church as protectors of the Faithful and expellers of unclean spirits.

NOTES

1. II Corinthians 6:16.

2. St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 3.

3. St. Maximos the Confessor.

4. St. Diadochos of Photiki, Ascetical Discourse, §81.

5. St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 84.

6. II Corinthians 11:3.

7. St. John of Damascus, Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book II, eh. 30.

8. St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 55.

 

Greek source: Άγιος Κυπριανός, No. 310 (September-October 2002), pp. 161-163.

English source: Orthodox Tradition, Vol. XX (2003), No. 3, pp. 26-28.

The Indelibility of the Priesthood

Nikolaos Mannis, Educator | September 11, 2020

 

 

Recently, the well-known speaker Fr. Andreas Konanos decided to resign from the Priesthood. Although I am not among his admirers, because his words, in my personal opinion of course, are far from the genuine patristic spirit, I consider that for this particular act of his he was criticized very harshly, and unfortunately by a multitude of people, even though the reason for which he proceeded to this has not even been made known. Let us consider the possibility that this man had impediments to the Priesthood and came to understand that these (despite the justifications of contemporary Bishops and Spiritual Fathers) admit of no Economy, for they bring damnation both to the one ordained and to the one who ordained him, and great harm to the Church. Then, for this act of his, he would not only not be blameworthy, but on the contrary, worthy of praise. And indeed, great praise, for we live in an age in which, due to the general disregard of the impediments to Priesthood, we are experiencing many afflictions, concerning which the Saints have warned us.

However, on the occasion of this recent self-defrocking of Fr. Andreas, a position was expressed by His Eminence Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus, which I consider to be contrary to the Orthodox view, as the latter arises from the word and the practice of the Church.

Specifically, the position of His Eminence Seraphim, Metropolitan of Piraeus, is the following:

“The view, therefore, that the Priesthood is indelible or that it becomes inactive is a heresy, which originates from Roman Catholicism and was introduced into our Theology by theologians who studied in the West and by their disciples. A proof of this fact is the 62nd Canon of the Holy Apostles, which commands the following: ‘If any clergyman, out of fear of man, whether of a Jew or a Greek or a heretic, denies—if it be the name of Christ, let him be cast out; but if it be the name of the clergyman, let him be deposed; but if he repents, let him be received as a layman.’

This canon has been definitively ratified by the Second Canon of the Holy Quinisext Ecumenical Council.

To the question of why clerics who are subjected to the penalty of deposition are not ‘re-ordained’ after grace has been bestowed upon them, the answer is that the mystery is the Church, which judges, and thus the repetition of the sacramental act is not required.” [1]

And while it is true that Papism (or "Roman Catholicism," if you prefer) has distorted, also in this domain, Orthodox teaching with its scholasticism, the view that the Priesthood is indelible and that it cannot be removed from the Clergyman, but only suspended (that is, rendered inactive), is not supported only by theologians who studied in the West [2] (after all, most of those who oppose the indelibility of the Priesthood—whether theologians, such as the well-known ecumenist Amilkas Alivizatos, Panteleimon Rodopoulos of Tyroloa, etc., or [the main proponents of it] jurists, such as the famous freemason Christos Sgouritsas, Panagiotis Poulitsas, Konstantinos Tsatsos, Georgios Rammos, Spyros Troianos, etc.—also studied in the West!).

The indelibility of the Priesthood (without, of course, the papal misinterpretations and scholastic minutiae concerning it) is supported also by earlier distinguished Teachers of the Church, such as (among others):

a) Dositheos of Jerusalem (+1707):

“Baptism indeed imparts an indelible character, just as also does the Priesthood… it is impossible for the same person to receive the same priesthood twice.” [3]

b) Chrysanthos of Jerusalem (+1731):

“This (the Priesthood), in those upon whom it is impressed, remains indelible and invincible, secure and exceedingly radiant, perpetually enduring.” [4]

c) Eugenios Voulgaris (+1806):

“For deposition is a kind of removal from sacred service, and this only means perpetual inactivity, without end, differing from simple suspension in that the latter is imposed for a set time after which there is restoration, whereas the former extends throughout life, bearing no hope of restoration. But there is no total erasure of the Priesthood itself—God forbid!—since it remains indelible, and the character is not removable… The Priesthood, being indelible, is not annulled through deposition. For if it were annulled, neither would there be any hope of restoration, which indeed exists in some cases, as we are taught by the canon of Antioch: ‘A Bishop,’ it says, ‘deposed by a synod, or a presbyter, or a deacon, or a subdeacon by his own bishop—if he dares to perform anything of the Liturgy, let him no longer have even the hope of restoration.’” [5]

d) St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite (+1809):

“Priests who have fallen from the Priesthood are not ordained a second time, because they typify the first and great High Priest, Who entered once for all into the Holy of Holies, having found eternal redemption, according to Paul, and remains perpetually, having an unchangeable Priesthood; this, in my opinion, is the reason why the priest is not reordained. For in Christ, the Priesthood is unchangeable.” [6]

e) Vasileios of Smyrna (+1910):

“Through deposition, the grace of the Priesthood is not removed or annulled, whose efficient cause is chiefly the All-Holy Spirit, but its operation is suspended and hindered.” [7]

The indelibility of the Priesthood is also supported by the practice of the Church, which has always considered valid the Mysteries performed by deposed (it is understood, deposed Orthodox, and not deposed heretics who have been placed outside the Church through the great anathema) clergymen, and indeed not only when the depositions were unjust, [8] but even when they were just.

The 28th Apostolic Canon (“If any bishop, or presbyter, or deacon, who has been justly deposed for manifest crimes, should dare to touch the ministry once entrusted to him, let him be wholly cut off from the Church”)—while it threatens the deposed cleric who dares to celebrate a Mystery with complete severance from the Church (great anathema)—does not state that the Mystery celebrated by him is non-existent, that is, as if performed by a layman.

Eugenios Voulgaris writes on the matter that if the deposed one “should perform sacred rites, he indeed brings upon himself a heavier condemnation, but the gifts offered are sanctified by the descent of the Spirit Who presides over the Mysteries.” [9]

This is also confirmed by a Synod in Constantinople in 1143 under Patriarch Michael Kourkouas, which condemned Bishop Leontios of Balbissa “for baptizing a second time the one who had been baptized by a priest deposed for manifest crimes, because he believed that the baptism performed by the deposed was not valid.” [10]

The invocation of the 62nd Canon of the Holy Apostles—or, more accurately, its literal (and detached from the other related Canons) sterile interpretation—leads to erroneous legalistic conclusions. The correct interpretation is not that deposed Clerics lose the Priesthood and are, as if by magic, turned back into Laymen, but rather that, as a punishment, they are “cast into the place of the Laity.” [11] And if the crime for which the Cleric was deposed is the denial of Christ or of his own Priesthood (62nd Apostolic Canon), then even if he repents, he remains for life “as a layman, that is, let him pray together with the faithful” [12]; but if his crime is canonical (e.g., fornication, adultery, etc.), then if he repents, the right is granted to him to once again wear the form of the Cleric, according to the 21st Canon of the Quinisext Ecumenical Council (“Those who have been found guilty of canonical crimes, and for this reason are subjected to complete and permanent deposition, and are thrust into the place of the laity: if, seeing their return, they willingly renounce the sin through which they have fallen from grace, and make themselves utterly alien to it, let them receive the form of the clergy; but if they do not choose this voluntarily, let them grow their hair like the laity, as having preferred the worldly way of life over the heavenly”)—but not the permission to perform sacred rites (according to the aforementioned 28th Apostolic Canon).

In summary, and referring specifically to Fr. Andreas, at this moment he still has (due to the fact that he has not been deposed) active Priesthood, [13] even if he does not exercise it (in the case of impediments, as we said, he does well not to, so as not to be condemned). After his deposition, however, he will not be permitted—under penalty of excommunication—to activate it, despite the fact that he will bear the indelible Priesthood and will be judged before God as a Priest.

I conclude with a terrifying incident, which proves the indelibility of the Priesthood, and if necessary, I will return to the topic with many more pieces of evidence which I omitted for the sake of brevity.

Around the year 1660 (during the period of Turkish rule), Bishop of Ophiounta in Pontus was Alexandros Potouras, “who, breathing threats against the Metropolitan of Trebizond, out of revenge, persuaded and urged those present to apostatize, setting the example himself... After his apostasy, he was named Iskender Pasha... Having become a mufti (Islamic judge) of the Turks in Trebizond, after some years he repented due to the following incident, and returned to the Christian faith. That is, from among his relatives who had remained in the Christian faith, the incorrupt body of one long deceased was discovered; his relatives, having carefully placed it in a coffin (case), secretly transported it one night to Trebizond to his house and begged him to pray and read according to the Christian rite, so that some means might be found to dissolve the anathematized incorrupt body. He, though a mufti, after removing his Islamic garments and donning his episcopal vestments, knelt down and prayed, reading and calling upon divine forgiveness over the body of the deceased in the presence of the relatives who had brought it. It is said—and tradition emphasizes this with conviction—that by divine intervention, a miracle occurred so that the body of the dead man immediately decomposed, and only his bones remained. Then Alexandros, having repented of his apostasy, said: ‘This is the only true religion, that of Christ. We thought it gold, that which is but copper.’ And thus, when he went to the mosque as usual to perform his prayer, he confessed from the pulpit his return to Christ. Whereupon the Turks seized him and, after torturing him in various ways, finally killed him and left his body unburied. The Christians gathered his body and buried it in a certain church in Trebizond.” [14]

 

NOTES

1. Holy Metropolis of Piraeus: Concerning Archimandrite Andreas Konanos

(https://www.romfea.gr/ieres-mitropoleis/39280-im-peiraios-peri-tou-arxim-andrea-konanou)

2. I do not know whether His Eminence Seraphim is alluding to the eminent theologians and defenders of the indelibility of the Priesthood, Panagiotis Trembelas and Christos Androutsos, whom several modern theologians (mainly “Romanidian” ones) reject with unwarranted disdain as being influenced by the West.

3. Ioannis Karmiris, The Dogmatic and Symbolic Monuments, Austria, 1968, p. 760.

4. Syntagmation, Târgoviște, 1715, p. 22.

5. Critical Observations, Vienna, 1806, pp. 277–278, 280.

6. Pedalion, Footnote to the 68th Apostolic Canon.

7. Treatise on the Validity of the Ordination of Clergy Ordained by a Deposed and Schismatic Bishop, Smyrna, 1887, p. 18.

8. Such as, for example, in the case of the “deposition” of Saint John Chrysostom by the Synod of the Oak, which the Saint very rightly ignored and continued to perform priestly functions.

9. Critical Observations, ibid., p. 278.

10. St. Nikodemos, Pedalion, Second Footnote to the 28th Apostolic Canon.

11. Ibid., Footnote to the 21st Canon of the Quinisext Council.

12. Ibid., Interpretation of the 62nd Apostolic Canon.

13. “For those deposed are not without effect; those under deposition retain an active power of the Priesthood equal to the innocent,” according to St. Athanasios of Paros (Epitome, Leipzig, 1806, p. 378).

14. St. Kokkinidis, The Apostate Bishop (Pontiaki Estia, Issue 9, September 1950, pp. 514–515).

 

Greek source: https://www.romfea.gr/katigories/10-apopseis/39359-to-anejaleipto-tis-ierosunis

GOC History: Patriarch Diodoros I of Jerusalem and the Holy Synod in Resistance

In a moment of historical significance for the Holy Synod in Resistance of the Orthodox Church of Greece, His Beatitude, Diodoros I, Patriarch of Jerusalem from 1981 until his death in 2000, visited the Holy Monastery of Sts. Cyprian and Justina, in Phyle, Greece (headquarters of the Holy Synod in Resistance), where he addressed a large crowd of faithful on the afternoon of the monastery’s Feast Day, October 15,1989 (New Style). In the course of his comments, Patriarch Diodoros praised the work of the Holy Synod and of our Metropolitan. We reproduce, here, his words of endorsement for the edification of our faithful and as an item of historical interest.

 

 

 

Most Reverend Metropolitan Cyprian, Right Reverend Hierarchs of the Church, beloved children in Christ:

It is with special joy and emotion that I find myself in this holy place, on the occasion of the celebration of the Feast Day of Saints Cyprian and Justina. My joy and emotion are especially great because I am in the midst of Bishops and Priests who, in the course of the last decade, have spread the light of Orthodoxy to nearly every continent: to Europe, Africa, America, and wherever there exists an opportunity to proclaim the Orthodox Church. Thanks to the labors of the Most Reverend Metropolitan Cyprian and his Bishops, the voice of Orthodoxy has reached the most distant corners of the world.

My dear Christians, I arrived here in our beloved homeland a few days ago for personal reasons and because of certain concerns of the Patriarchate. I considered it my duty, therefore, to come today to celebrate with you and to congratulate Metropolitan Cyprian on his Name Day.

Certainly you know the situation in Jerusalem today. Jerusalem is struggling. Jerusalem is the Church from which the Holy Apostles were sent to preach the Gospel of our Lord to all the world. She is the mother of the Churches, having as her sacred duty the maintenance of Orthodox teaching, which she received from the Lord, in pure and unadulterated form. As you know, she is the only Church which can boast in the Lord of having been established by the Founder of our religion. He celebrated the first Liturgy in Jerusalem at the Mystical Supper. He sanctified its land by His presence; through His teaching in its abodes, He saved the human race, cleansing mankind from the sin of Adam through His death on the Cross. Yet the Holy Land is always in the midst of persecutions. For almost two thousand years, the Church of Jerusalem has been struggling to keep pure the teachings and Traditions of Orthodoxy, to hold to the Canons of the Church, and to preserve the teachings which we received from Christ and the Apostles.

The ecumenical movement, with its dialogues—the only aim of which is to eat away at our Church—, today seeks to subjugate Orthodoxy to the commands of Papism and ecumenism. It has for many years been working to destroy Orthodoxy in the Holy Land. But the Holy Sepulchre and God—Who has protected the Church of Jerusalem for so many centuries in the face of so many perils—have always saved Orthodoxy from every danger. Never, during its two thousand years of Christian history, has Jerusalem known a permanent ruler or conqueror. There have passed satraps, kings, and governors. But all of these have gone, and there remain but the one hundred Greek Orthodox monks who act as vigilant guardians of our holy heritage.

It is regrettable that, for decades now, nominally in order not to disturb the unity of the Orthodox Church, Jerusalem has followed the other Churches by participating in ecumenical dialogues, though without, of course, having been influenced or dominated in any way. Nonetheless, her presence in these dialogues provided certain parties with an opportunity to stress that the Patriarchate of Jerusalem was also a participant. What we have observed with sadness is the fearful exploitation of these dialogues by heretics. They exploit our faithful, trying by every means to convert them. They produce photographs showing the Pope with our Patriarchs and Bishops, claiming that union has already been achieved: “Do not listen to your' Bishops. The union has already been accomplished and the Orthodox Church has joined the Roman Catholic Church”—union, perhaps, in the sense that the ecumenists understand it: as subjugation.

We have thus pondered our· responsibilities toward God, toward the Church, toward Orthodoxy, toward history itself, and toward our traditional right to the Holy Land. And with enlightenment from God, we have decided to cease every dialogue between the Patriarchate and the heterodox churches, since no positive result has emerged from so many years of contact. We have announced this decision to our Sister Churches. And we are obliged and committed to hold to this decision and to continue, as far as possible, until the other Orthodox Churches acknowledge, before God, their responsibilities to Orthodoxy and to history and cease every contact with the heterodox. As you know, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem follows the traditional Old Calendar. It has never changed, and will never change, in the slightest the teachings, Canons, and doctrines of our Church. It will preserve them at any price. We will labor, even with sacrifice, to maintain them. The threats which are every day directed against us and the actions of our opponents do not frighten us. We shall remain unshaken guardians, faithful to the doctrines of the Church.

I thank the Most Reverend Metropolitan and I pray that God, through the intercessions of St. Cyprian, will grant him strength, health, and patience in carrying his Cross for the glory of Orthodoxy. I bring to all of you the blessing of the Holy Sepulchre, Golgotha, and the Sacred Cave, and I pray that God may always strengthen, protect, and establish you in the Faith of our Fathers. Many Years!

 

Source: Orthodox Tradition, Vol. XXV (2008), No. 3, pp. 28-29.

Saint John (Maximovitch) of Tobolsk (+1715): On how we may discern the will of the Lord in all matters and occurrences

 

Authorities differ according to various institutions: in a school — by the assembled pupils; in a household — consisting of family and servants; in a monastery — of the brethren; in a military camp — assembled from separate regiments, battalions, and other distinct units. Yet in each of the aforementioned institutions and those like them, there exists one and the same principle for attaining order and well-being: this is the obedience of subordinates to their elders, instructors, and commanders — an obedience that brings the various individual wills of subordinates into unity, into harmony, which is expressed through authority, organizing the separate wills into concordant action. A commander will govern poorly if he does not know how to direct and wisely restrain his subordinates in unquestioning obedience to the law and in the fulfillment of orders or instructions. On the contrary, everything proceeds successfully and reaches its intended goal where, for example, in a house — the steward, in monasteries — the guide of the brethren, in schools — the teacher, in regiments — the military commander, leads all those entrusted to him through prudent instruction, by example, by word, or even by a mere motion of the hand, toward the attainment of a good end according to his discernment.

As a soldier is obliged in all things to be obedient to his commander, to follow his example, and to be ready to fulfill every order, so must every true Christian live as though under the hand and the word of God. Whatever God may will to do with us, to what He appoints us, what He commands — in all this we must unquestioningly submit to His most holy will. Let there be for all of us, Christians, a single response to the call addressed to us by God in the Holy Scriptures: Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me (this is said of Christ the Savior): I delight to do Thy will, O my God; yea, Thy law is within my bowels (Psalm 39:8–9) — that is, in my memory, in my understanding, in my will (let each of us say after the example of our Savior): Thy will, O God, is for me better than all commands; the fulfillment of it is for me the greatest good.

With Saul, after he had fallen to the ground, struck by an extraordinary heavenly light, and heard the voice: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? — his first question was: Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? (Acts 9:4–6). This question let us repeat daily in every moment of uncertainty, when we do not know how to act in this or that circumstance: “Lord! What wilt Thou have me to do? What is Thy will in this matter, all-good Jesus? Reveal it to me by whatever sign Thou wilt, that I may understand it — whether by a good word, counsel, or some other kind of revelation. Willingly will I follow Thy gracious will, prayerfully inspired in me by Thee.”

To the question of how we may discern the will of God in all matters, let us respond by pointing to certain ordinances or principles through which the will of God is clearly revealed; let us call them, for brevity's sake, commandments.

The first commandment, or Principle, aiding in the knowledge of the will of God

All that draws us away from God is contrary to the will of God; whereas all that brings us closer to God is in agreement with the will of God. For the will of God is your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication (1 Thess. 4:3), not only from carnal fornication but from every form of delusion, and all the more from what is unlawful. Whoever senses such a delusion within himself should say to himself: this undertaking of mine, this friendship, this acquisition, this manner of life will not make me morally better, for it draws me away from God; at the very least, this is not God's Divine good pleasure concerning me.

The Second Commandment

The will of God is explained to us clearly and intelligibly through the law of God and the ordinances of the Church. Therefore, in every doubt, we must inquire: what do the commandments of God and the Traditions of the Church require of us? And not only what they require, but also consider what is in accordance with them (even if not explicitly defined) and what is in harmony with their spirit. Once, Christ pointed to the commandments of God to the rich young man who asked Him: What shall I do to inherit eternal life? — Thou knowest the commandments (Mark 10:17; 10:25) — and He pointed out those among them which prescribe our duties toward our neighbor. Truly, there is nothing better than the fear of the Lord, and nothing sweeter than to heed the commandments of the Lord (Sirach 23:36). Abraham, speaking to the rich man who had rejoiced every day and afterward ended up in hell, presented as a witness the Divine will revealed through Moses and the other prophets, saying of the rich man’s brothers who were still alive: They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them (Luke 16:29). And the divine Apostle Paul says: Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2). The good (i.e., righteous) will of God is contained in the Ten Commandments of God; the acceptable (God-pleasing) will — in the Gospel counsels; the perfect will — that which demands that all commanded by God be fulfilled by us on earth just as it is fulfilled by the Angels in heaven.

The Third Commandment

This commandment is prescribed by the Apostle Paul in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 5:18): In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. First of all, it is worthy of note that our giving thanks to God for everything that may happen to us is greatly beneficial for us in times of anxiety and sorrow—how much more so when we receive something good. Saint John Chrysostom beautifully expressed this: “Have you suffered something evil? If you do not wish it to be evil for you, give thanks to God, and behold, this evil has already been turned into good. In this lies great wisdom.” The ancients taught their children a good custom, which consisted in this: if a child burned its finger, it was taught to immediately turn to God with the words, ‘Thanks be to God!’—a short, yet most beneficial commandment. For everything endured, let the Christian, burdened with misfortunes and sorrows, exclaim: ‘Thanks be to God!’ Let him proclaim it a hundredfold, a thousandfold, unceasingly: ‘Thanks be to God!’ To this, Saint Paul adds: Quench not the Spirit — make room within yourself for the Holy Spirit; for often God reveals His will through hidden, mysterious signs, which one must be guided by and believe in only when the deed they point to results in the glory of the One God. Further, Saint Paul says: Despise not prophesyings — that is, the interpretations of Divine Scripture and the teachings offered in churches, as well as the prophetic admonitions of wise and pious men, must never be despised by anyone who wishes to align his will with the Divine will. But whoever does not wish to heed all the above clearly does not wish to understand the will of God. Again, Saint Paul teaches: Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil (1 Thess. 5:21). Just as coin testers examine every coin by various known signs—by the sound of the metal, by the inscriptions—and thus distinguish the genuine coin from the counterfeit, accepting the former and rejecting the latter, so also must we act in discerning the will of God in every matter: that which truly conforms to it we must hold fast to; and all that bears even the slightest trace of falsehood or sin we must hate and cast away as being contrary to the will of God.

The Fourth Commandment

For the understanding of the will of God in some doubtful case, there are also other sources; beyond the aforementioned commandments of God and Church ordinances, there belong here the lawfully chosen interpreters of the will of God in our uncertainties—those who truly live in a Christian manner (for example, spiritual fathers, pastors). These are the spiritual and secular judges of our conscience. Among the laity, this includes parents, schoolteachers, instructors, and all lawfully appointed, true rulers of human societies. We bring forth historical examples for illustration:

When Saul, having wholly surrendered himself to the will of God, asked, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? — the Lord did not burden him with immediate commands in every detail, nor did He at once send him the Spirit of wisdom, but, as a disciple, He sent him to Ananias, saying: Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do (Acts 9:6). Ananias became the sure interpreter of the will of God to Paul, just as Saint Peter was to Cornelius the centurion (cf. Acts 10). From this, we see God’s good pleasure to reveal His will to a person through another person. Therefore, we must not neglect the good counsel of others: Ask counsel of every wise man, and despise not any useful advice (Tobit 4:18); following this, you will not regret it. The soul of a righteous man sometimes declares more than seven watchmen that sit aloft to watch — yet in all this, pray to the Most High that He may direct thy way in truth (Sirach 37:18–19). Dwell in friendship with a man who is truthful and possesses the fear of God: his soul shall be as thine own soul, and he will grieve with thee if thou fallest. Along with this, hold fast the counsel of thine own heart, for there is none more faithful to thee than it (Sirach 37:16–17). To resolve doubts about how to act according to the will of God in any matter, ask for counsel and guidance from your spiritual fathers and superiors, to whom we have entrusted our conscience and the moral conduct of our life. In general, address your uncertainties to all those in authority, whose will—excluding anything sinful—is the will of God. Whatever they advise, apart from sin, we must receive as if given through them by God Himself, and we must carry it out. Saint Paul the Apostle serves as an example for us in this. Describing to the Galatians his actions after his conversion to Christianity, he says among other things: Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas (by revelation) (Gal. 2:1). Why, then, did Paul delay his journey to Jerusalem for such a long time? The reason, he answers, was that I communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain (Gal. 2:2). Behold the universal preacher, who had been preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles for fourteen years as though he were the least of the apostles, offering his teaching to the foremost apostles, inviting them to be judges or censors of his preaching, so that in his teaching all that the elder apostles might approve would be received by common counsel, and being harmonized with their own preaching, they might add to it or take something away—and all of this he himself would then believe and teach the Gentiles. What is most astonishing is that Paul says of himself, I went up by revelation. If it was by revelation that he went to Jerusalem, then by revelation he could also have been given all that the Apostolic Council resolved. But such a further revelation was not given, precisely to show that God wills to instruct us not only through revelations, but also that man be instructed through man. Moreover, Paul’s submission of his teaching to apostolic judgment was not done because he doubted the orthodoxy of his teaching; rather, the synodal confirmation was more necessary for others—both believers and, even more so, those who doubted. Thus did all who wished and strove to unfailingly follow the will of God resolve their uncertainties: they questioned their elders, accepted their good and beneficial counsel. Stand ye in the ways — that is, pay full attention to your deeds, says the Lord through the Prophet Jeremiah — and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest and comfort for your souls (Jer. 6:16).

The Fifth Commandment

If time or place do not permit one to seek counsel, a person must judge for himself in his uncertainty regarding the understanding of the Divine will—how he should act in accordance with it in the matter before him—and God will not abandon his prayerful desire to fulfill the will of God in all things, but will unexpectedly resolve his doubt. In such a case, the one in doubt must carefully examine the matter before him and consider both or all sides of it that raise the question. In choosing one of them, he should take into account which is more favorable to the will of God, and which is closer to our carnal desire or attachment. Having considered all this impartially, each person is obligated to do that which is more pleasing to God, even if it is undesirable to our own will and wholly disagreeable to the inclinations of the flesh, bringing neither pleasure nor delight, but only labor and weariness. Despite this, we must follow the will of God, do what is pleasing to Him, and not what pleases our self-love and indulgence of the flesh. Egoism, pride, and carnal desires are always shameful and lead us close to a fall; to resist them in every case is safe. If thou turn away thy foot from doing thy pleasure on My holy day, says the Prophet Isaiah, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, saith the Lord (Isaiah 58:13–14). Let us offer some practical advice for further clarity. For a person suffering from stomach illness, the best advice is not to eat what he greatly desires—such food will bring him no benefit and more likely will harm him. For example: fresh watermelons, melons, cucumbers, mushrooms, strong undiluted drinks, cold water, young vegetables, and unripe garden fruits—these things stimulate excessive eating and thereby burden digestion, causing harm not only to the sick, but sometimes even to the healthy, although indulging in them may seem pleasant.

The same—or something similar—occurs in our moral actions: more often than not, we are drawn to that which pleasantly gratifies our outward senses, by which we may appear impressive, by which we may boast before others—in a word, all that is worldly and temporal is desirable to the flesh but harmful to our inner man. Whatever excessively draws our will toward the material and fleeting, that very thing diverts our spirit from the Divine and eternal; therefore, it is contrary to God, estranges us from Him, and casts us into the abyss of evil. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth (restrain their inclinations toward godless deeds and passionate desires): fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry; for which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience (Col. 3:5–6). Go not after thy lusts, but refrain thyself from thine appetites, advises the son of Sirach (Sirach 18:30). In your uncertainties, turn to God in prayer, that He may instruct you concerning His holy will in your actions.

If you encounter, dear reader, something neutral—for example, you are walking and come across two people begging alms, both equally destitute, and for some reason you cannot give alms to both equally—then give, even if unequally: to one more, to the other less, according to your desire; you will not sin against the will of God in this inequality of giving. But if the matter is complex and requires special study and consideration, then seek counsel from knowledgeable people, and ask prayerfully from God His blessing upon the good deed. If it is a question of choosing one of several such deeds and it is entirely unknown which of them is pleasing to God—that this or that should be carried out—then in such a case, wait; do not carry out either of them until you come to know, in one way or another, even approximately, that your action and choice are not contrary to the will of God. In all doubtful judgments, two counselors are especially beneficial: reason and conscience. If both diligently apply themselves to the examination of the uncertain matter, they will, without hindrance, find the true resolution as to how best to proceed and how to carry out the intended deed in accordance with the will of God.

It happens, however, that even people with a pure conscience may go astray in the labyrinth of the manifold conflicts between spirit and flesh, wherein the spirit sometimes finds itself in such confusion that it does not know what it ought to choose and do, so as not to act against the will of God. This occurs not infrequently even with church preachers. Let the following instructive example serve them for consolation and benefit.

A preacher sets forth and explains the word of God to his listeners and notices that the majority of them have dozed off, while only a few listen attentively; this troubles the preacher. Yet he thinks: “Still, it is better that they have dozed than if they were engaged in idle talk. And if even two or three are not asleep, that is enough to encourage me in my labor: one is as good as a thousand!” Let each person, similarly, reason in moments of uncertainty concerning his own affairs: it is enough for me if two eyes remain watchful within me—reason and conscience; if only they preserve the will of God, then they will direct my own will toward the will of God. As for the rest, I will not be disturbed; and if in anything, through my weakness, I fail to fully meet the good pleasure of God, I will nevertheless strive to be well-pleasing to Him!

The Sixth Commandment

Much contributes to the knowledge of the Divine will the prayerful appeal of Saint Paul to God: Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? (Acts 9:6). We, following the example of Saint Paul, often have the need to repeat this prayerful request: Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? It became customary among the holy servants of God. In matters doubtful and extraordinary, they always resorted to prayer for God’s help, that He might reveal to them His holy will: Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? Thus Moses and Aaron in their time would approach the Ark of the Covenant (the Lord’s ark) with prayerful inquiry of the Lord. Likewise, our elders did and still do the same: if the sky is suddenly covered with thick clouds, thunder strikes like cannon fire, and lightning flashes continuously, then the bells are rung to disperse the storm clouds and at the same time to call everyone to fervent prayer to God for mercy upon us sinners and for His help unto deliverance. In like manner must we act when we perceive that the righteous sun of God’s will is withdrawing from us and we know not at all what we are to do. It is necessary and greatly beneficial for us to lift our eyes to heaven and with fervent prayers knock upon it, saying: Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? So acted the Apostle Paul, when suddenly in the field a light unbearable to the eyes shone upon him and he fell to the ground and heard a voice: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? In fear and trembling, he asked: Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? (Acts 9:3–6). It is profitable to repeat this prayer often. But the most pleasing time for its frequent deepening is when we, with fear and trembling, approach the reception of the Divine and Most Pure Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ. Fully aware of our unworthiness to receive them, we must with all our soul and heart implore our Redeemer: Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? God-inspired men advise us to hold unceasingly in our mind and to express in words: Lord, I am unworthy; but I acknowledge in my heart: that which is pleasing to Thee, let it also be pleasing to me; what I have promised, I will keep and fulfill.

The daily entrusting of oneself to the will of God is the most perfect and most beneficial preparation for the unknown to us, yet inevitable hour of our passage from this present life into the life to come, the life beyond the grave, where we shall receive that which we have merited here by our good or evil deeds.

Note: If someone, having long prayed to God for the fulfillment of some request, does not receive what he asks, let him know that the Merciful Heavenly Father delays in granting the request either because what is asked would not be to the benefit of the petitioner, or else He postpones its fulfillment in order to cause the petitioner to pray more often and to train him in patience—for the sake of a greater reward.

There is not the slightest doubt that often even the best father does not hasten to give his son or daughter what they ask, in order to test their affection for him and to teach them the useful virtue of patience, which merits a greater reward than impatience and resentment after the very first refusal. All the more is it fitting for the All-knowing Heavenly Father to act thus with us. We would cease to pray to God altogether, or would pray only very rarely and out of necessity, and it is unlikely that we would possess any measure of patience, if God were to grant us immediately everything we might desire from Him.

It is far more beneficial for us to obtain even small gifts from God through prolonged and frequent prayers than to receive a quick answer to our prayer; for unceasing prayer in itself is already the greatest gift of God, and in addition, it makes the one who prays worthy of even greater mercy—consolation and peace of soul. Such a repeatedly offered, yet seemingly unheard, petition has granted many righteous ones the greatest stillness and tranquility in the heart.

The King of Judah, David, when the prophet Nathan reproached him for his sin and declared the will of God concerning the death of the child conceived in sin by him, prayed long and fasted, shed tears, casting himself upon the ground before God, beseeching Him for the life of his newborn son. But when he heard that his son had died, he immediately found peace: he changed his garments of mourning for festive attire, went into the house of God, and worshipped the Lord (cf. 2 Samuel 12:14–23). Christ, the God-man, having completed for the third time His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane for the removal of the cup of death from Him, fully surrendered Himself to the will of the Heavenly Father and calmly said to His disciples, who were heavy with sleep: Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray Me (Matt. 26:46). Thus, it often happens that an unanswered prayer brings peace to the mind and heart, and from this we may come to know the will of God—that His good pleasure is not in the fulfillment of what we ask, but in the complete surrender of ourselves to the will of God concerning the thing requested.

Eli, the Jewish priest, when Samuel told him what punishment God had decreed for the house of Eli and his sons, humbly said: He is the Lord; let Him do what seemeth Him good (1 Samuel 3:18); as if to say: “Thy declaration of God’s judgment is grievous to me, O Samuel, but since I know that this is the will of God, I willingly accept thy words and recognize in them the will of God: I and my sons receive punishment according to our deeds, by the sentence of God’s judgment, to which no one has the right to resist; let the Lord do all that is pleasing to His most holy will: we are servants, He is the Lord; we are guilty in many things; it is His work to correct our falls through righteous chastisement.” When the Apostle Paul was on his way to Jerusalem and passed through Caesarea, and the Christians there, knowing through prophecies that many troubles and sorrows awaited him from the Jews in Jerusalem, sought to dissuade him from continuing his journey, Paul answered their tearful pleading: What do ye, weeping and breaking mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And when we (the Christians of Caesarea) could not persuade him, we were silent, saying: The will of the Lord be done (Acts 21:13–14). This is the only true consolation of the soul when our prayer is not heard, when our petitions are not granted—to pray for one thing: The will of the Lord be done.

The Seventh Commandment

No one among the living can more truly know the will of God concerning the actions he intends to undertake than he who sincerely and wholeheartedly desires in all things to act according to the will of God. Such a desire will truly serve as a guiding thread for him in the labyrinth, helping to remove the difficulties and errors that may arise in understanding the will of God in the matter at hand. He who is filled with such fervent desire to act according to the will of God, or to choose that which is pleasing to God from among two possible actions, and who is in doubt as to which undertaking is in accordance with the Divine will, let him prayerfully turn to God, saying with all his soul and heart: “Lord! If I knew with certainty what is pleasing to Thee, I would surely do that very thing—and thus I believe that Thou, though unseen, wilt implant in my heart the thought that is pleasing to Thee.”

Having poured out his heart before the All-seeing One, he may then act according to what seems best to him, choosing one course or another, laying aside all doubt; he will not anger God thereby, for the most loving Father does not allow such a loving son to fall into delusion. If there is no person capable of giving edification, God sends a good Angel, just as He sent an Angel in a dream to Joseph, when the latter was pondering and uncertain as to how to act concerning the Virgin betrothed to him in a matter of great importance. In like manner, an Angel was sent to the three eastern kings who were journeying to worship the Child lying in the manger in Bethlehem, to instruct them not to follow the flattering counsel of King Herod and to return to their country by another way. To Abraham, to the bondwoman Hagar, and to many others, Angels were sent for aid and to turn them away from various errors—or, in place of Angels, faithful people were sent for their instruction.

In the year 324, Emperor Constantine the Great, having departed from Rome, began to build a new capital in Heli; but this undertaking was not pleasing to the Providence of God, and in order to change his intent and indicate the proper place for the construction of the new capital, God wondrously arranged that the building tools and materials for the city's construction were, in a single night, by an invisible power, transferred from the Asiatic shore of the strait to the European side—in Thrace, as related by Bede and Glycas. Zonaras further adds that an eagle, seizing in its beak the plan of the city prepared by the architect, flew with it across the strait and dropped it near Byzantium.

Thus, God never refuses to reveal His will—by one means or another—to those who sincerely desire to know and fulfill it; for the Holy Spirit of Wisdom, being full of love for mankind, withdraws from deceitfulness, as the true beholder of our heart, and being all-encompassing, knows every word of ours—whether it is true—and abundantly grants Himself to all who call upon Him (cf. Wisdom 1:5–7). The Lord is near to all who truly seek Him and reveals to them His will through wondrous and most sweet instruction: He will fulfill the desire of them that fear Him, and He also will hear their cry, and will save them (Psalm 144:19)—that is, from every delusion, error, and danger.

 

Russian source: Илиотропион, или сообразование человеческой воли с Божественной волей, by Saint John (Maximovitch) of Tobolsk; introduction and notes by Priest Alexander Gumerov, Third Edition, Sretensky Monastery Publishing, Moscow, 2014, chapter 4.

Russian source online: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Ioann_Tobolskij/iliotropion/1_4

GOC History: The Response of Archbishop Auxentios to the Consecrations of 1979

Greek source: The Voice of Orthodoxy, No. 759, February 1979 (O.S.), pp. 1-3.

 

ENCYCLICAL

Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece

The Holy Synod

Protocol No. 1420

Athens, March 2, 1979, Old Calendar

TO

The Sacred Clergy, Holy Monasteries, and Most Pious People of Our Suffering Church.

Beloved and cherished children in the Lord,

Grace and peace to you from God Almighty, and from us prayer and blessing.

With great sorrow we announce to you that in recent days a coup has been attempted within the ranks of the Sacred Clergy of our Holy Church, with the aim of seizing its leadership. Metropolitans Kallistos of Corinth and Antonios of Megara secretly proceeded to ordain eight bishops (Archimandrites Germanos Athanasiou, Kallist. Giannakoulopoulos, Kallinikos Sarantopoulos, Kyprianos Koutsoumbas, Maximos Tsitsimbakos, Kallinikos Karafyllakis, Matthaios Langis, and Merkourios Kaloskamis) and subsequently proclaimed themselves a Synod, with Kallistos as archbishop, repudiating our established, canonical, and recognized Holy Synod, under whose authority they stood, in violation of the Sacred Canons.

They communicated their foul decision to the Holy Synod after first attempting to contact His Beatitude our Archbishop Auxentios to obtain his recognition, only to be turned away by him.

To justify their most audacious act—their, in truth, Luciferian undertaking—they turn against His Beatitude our Archbishop and His Eminence Metropolitan Gerontios of Piraeus and Salamis, accusing them of supposedly governing our Church dictatorially and allegedly tolerating clergy who are discredited—in their own estimation—with whom, nevertheless, the accusers have repeatedly concelebrated and prayed; thus they judge others by themselves.

They further accuse His Beatitude and His Eminence of supposedly undermining our sacred struggle and dissolving the Holy Synod, although they know perfectly well that during their energetic administration the struggle attained its greatest and most decisive achievements, which glorified and exalted our suffering Church and established it in the consciousness of the faithful as the true Church of God, so much so that these very men boast in the Lord that they are members of it (constitutional protection of our freedom to fulfil our duties of worship, judicial recognition of the canonical standing of our hierarchs and clergy generally, an increase in the number of churches serving the struggle, judicial recognition of the holy monasteries, hermitages, etc.).

The instigators of the coup also recalled the defamatory writings issued by the hierarchs Akakios [of Diavelia], Chrysostomos [of Thessalonika], and Gabriel [of the Cyclades], forgetting that they themselves had condemned them at the time and had unreservedly endorsed, at the most recent assembly of the clergy, the decisions taken concerning them, also signing the relevant minutes. Kallistos, one of their number, had even accepted his appointment as secretary of the inquiry ordered against Chrysostomos.

These men act with shameless hypocrisy, thus justifying the unjustifiable and making excuses for their sins. For their self-serving purpose has now been fully exposed. Germanos, Kallistos, Kallinikos, and Matthaios, having been unable to obtain episcopal ordination in the Matthewite ecclesiastical faction, to which they belonged in soul and spirit, repudiated their spiritual nurse and sought refuge in our Church, professing repentance. Our Holy Synod received them magnanimously, believing in their repentance. Yet their sole motive was to become bishops. And when, as time passed, they despaired of satisfying their lust for glory as intruders in our Church, they entered into a conspiratorial alliance with Kallistos, who had been nourished at the same breast, to elevate him to archbishop and themselves to bishops.

They also won over to their unlawful assembly Antonios, who rushes into everything and fails, and those seeking an opportunity to become bishops: Merkourios, together with Kyprianos, his disciple Kallinikos, and Maximos, who advocate continual reception of Holy Communion without preparation, in accordance with the teaching of [Apostolos] Makrakis. They hoped that by forming a Synod they would assume the leadership of our Church and remove its established Holy Synod, taking revenge on His Beatitude and His Eminence Gerontios for refusing to consent to their ordination, since they did not inspire confidence, and elevating Kallistos to archbishop as another Arsakios against Saint John Chrysostom.

But the Lord lives, the All-Holy Almighty God in Trinity! “Human beings devise one thing, but He ordains another.” And “He makes foolish those whom He wills to destroy”! Their schismatic scheme failed spectacularly. It was immediately seen through by our right-believing Sacred Clergy and the faithful people of the Lord, who indignantly rejected them and condemned them as enemies of our Church, as men who dishonor her, cause scandals, stir up trouble, and disrupt the unity in spirit and soul of the arduous struggle she has waged for fifty whole years. And they were left alone!

Raging over their misfortune, they have lost control of their words and actions and issue proclamations to the Greek people in the manner of political leaders. In these, they—the members of an unlawful assembly and schismatics, the false saviors of our Holy Church, who have trampled upon both their own confession and the Divine and Sacred Canons to satisfy their lust for glory—dare to speak of imposing penalties of suspension and deposition and conducting inquiries. They descend into insults, slanders, and threats, their ridiculous nonsense provoking amusement and ironic and derisive comments from their readers. Yet nothing remains for them but the road to the Holy Mountain, as they declared they would take in the event of their failure, to weep there in spiritual recollection and contrition of soul over the great sin they have committed (schism), which cannot be expiated even by the blood of martyrdom, according to the words of Saint John Chrysostom.

Following these events, our Holy Synod, enlarged through the ordination to the episcopate of the pious hieromonks, fervent zealots and strugglers, Paisios Philokalotakis (of Aegina), Gerasimos Vrakas (of Talantion), Theophilos Tsimbas (of Christianoupolis), Stephanos Tzinoras (of Kardamyla), Athanasios Charalambidis (of Grevena), Athanasios Postalas (of Platamon), Maximos Vallanatos (of the Ionian Islands), Ioustinos Kolotouros (of Marathon), Euthymios Orphanos (of Stavroupolis), and Paisios Loulourgas (of Gardikion), for America, proceeded to annul the ordinations that had taken place as uncanonical, because: 1) They were performed in another diocese without the permission of its bishop. 2) Those ordained had not been elected by at least three bishops and with the indispensable consent of the first in rank. 3) They were performed without the consent of the bishop under whose authority those ordained stood. It also proceeded to depose both those ordained and those who ordained them, as conspirators, factionalists, members of an unlawful assembly, and schismatics. Disregarding these men, the Holy Synod, supported by the clergy and the Christ-bearing fullness of our sorely tried Church, which has manifested in every way its obedience and devotion to her, proceeds unwaveringly with our sacred struggle for Most Holy Orthodoxy and her eternal festal calendar, with heightened determination and greater sacred enthusiasm until final victory, always following the course charted by our ever-memorable, venerable, and wise first leader, blessed Chrysostomos, former Metropolitan of Florina, to the glory of Christ the Chief Shepherd, the God-bearing Fathers, and our most beloved homeland.

Your attention is drawn to the cessation of all communion with them, in order to avoid the ecclesiastical penalties prescribed by the Sacred Canons.

On behalf of the Holy Synod

The Archbishop

AUXENTIOS

Also see: 

https://orthodoxmiscellany.blogspot.com/2026/05/metropolitans-chrysostomos-kiousis-and.html

 

War as Permitted by God, a Scourge, and a Remedy

Chorbishop Naum of Hvostan and Barajevo | September 5, 2026 | Gučevo, Serbia

 

In the following piece, we present the address delivered by His Grace Chorbishop Naum of Hvostan and Barajevo at the commemorative gathering held on Gučevo on September 5, 2026, marking the 112th anniversary of the Battle of Gučevo.

 

 

Honourable and venerable fathers, venerable sisters in monastic life, dear brothers and sisters,

Guided by love for God and our people, we have gathered again this year at this holy place to pay homage to the immortal Serbian heroes who laid down their lives for the honorable Cross and golden freedom in the glorious Battle of Gučevo. The feats of the Serbian army in the Great War were numerous, and the feat at Gučevo is one of the greatest and most glorious.

With prayerful trembling, we weave a wreath of flowers formed from words of praise and gratitude, lay it upon the Gučevo monument, and cry out from the depths of our souls: Glory and thanks to them!

Through their sacrifice, humanity, and heroism, the Serbian heroes of the Great War became beacons for the Serbian people and proclaimed the truth that heroism means defending oneself from the enemy, while humanity means defending the enemy from oneself. Indeed, the Serbian people’s struggle in the Great War was a righteous struggle against the enemies of the faith and the fatherland—that is heroism. In the face of the enemy’s atrocities, the Serbian soldier was not a beast but a Christlike man—that is humanity. Humanity and heroism brought us to the gates of victory, and the cross borne by our entire people, which we carried humbly and gratefully, opened them.

The Great War, that great madness of humanity and great tragedy, was for the Serbian people a defensive and just war against the force of evil. In it, we did not seize what belonged to others but defended what was our own. We defended our faith and sacred tradition, our churches and monasteries, our customs and culture, our literary creations and handicrafts, our fields and valleys, our forests and mountains, our rivers and lakes, our woollen coats and traditional leather shoes.

Let no one think that there can be no just war on earth. If there is a just war in heaven (see Rev. 12:7), why can there not also be one on earth? In that war in heaven, the good angels, led by the Holy Chief Commander Michael, defeated the utterly evil Satan and his evil angels and cast them out of heaven; in this war on earth, the Serbian people, led by Regent Aleksandar Karađorđević, defeated the evil Austro-Hungarian army and its allies and drove them out of Serbia. That blessed defensive war brought golden freedom to earthly Serbia and a host of nearly one million three hundred thousand New Martyrs to heavenly Serbia.

In the Great War, the Lord Himself determined the outcome. The Serbian people rose against the Austro-Hungarian Goliath and defeated him by the power of Christ, for God’s justice was on our side, and our people trusted neither in their army nor in their own wisdom, but only in God, the Almighty and All-Wise. One pursued a thousand, and two pursued ten thousand, for the Lord God fought for us (cf. Josh. 23:10). Courage is always with the righteous, and fear with the unrighteous.

Our enemies went to war against us because they had not first waged war against themselves, against their own passions and sinful desires. If a person does not wage war against himself, then he wages war against God and other people. Sin separates man from God and turns him into a beast. Sin is the cause of all disagreements among people and of all wars. Through an alliance with Satan, man becomes greedy and starts wars. Austro-Hungarian greed set the Great War in motion, while God’s justice decreed that those who coveted what belonged to others should ultimately lose even what was their own and disappear from the stage of history.

For the Serbian people, the Great War was permitted by God, a scourge and a remedy. With the scourge of war, the Lord shook the dust of sin from the soul of the nation. With the bitter remedy of war, the Lord halted the progress of a deadly disease, prevented the far greater catastrophe towards which the Serbian people were heading, and stopped the final extinction of the spirit and the final death of the soul. For after Turkish bondage and misery, the Serbs had begun to admire “European culture and values”—or, more precisely, to admire Satan dressed in finery. The Great War taught us to value the human person more than “European culture” and perishable wealth, and to think more about heaven than about earth. Amid the whirlwind of war, Saint Sava thundered to the Serbs: “Children, lift up your hearts.” Many Serbs heard that voice and, together with Saint Sava, cried out to God: “Enough, O God; spare the remnant.”

After the bitter remedy of the Great War, the Serbian people became spiritually healthier, but not completely healthy. As time passed, their spiritual health deteriorated again, so the Lord permitted great suffering in the Second World War as well. It was an even harsher scourge and an even more bitter remedy. This scourge did not bring us to our senses; on the contrary, we became even worse. The post-war communist period showed that the disease had worsened, as many candles for the family patron saint’s feast were extinguished, and icons were cast out of homes and replaced with pictures of Comrade Tito. Persecution of the Church began at the hands of renegade Serbs—the communists. Churches became empty, while taverns and stadiums were full.

When this evil too had passed, an even greater evil came, an all-encompassing evil: the pan-heresy of ecumenism. Heresy is the greatest punishment that can befall a people for their sins. It is the death of the soul. As much as the soul surpasses the body in worth, so much does heresy surpass war as an evil. Because of communism and ecumenism, the Lord permitted our people to suffer anew in the wars of the 1990s. In those wars, we lost the western Serbian lands and Kosovo and Metohija.

Ecumenism, that infernal worm, continues even today to gnaw silently at the soul of the Serbian people and threatens to kill it completely. Today it is our greatest enemy, our latest [Oskar] Potiorek. Thanks be to God for giving us Bishop Artemije of blessed repose to lead a war pleasing to God against this utter evil. Through the prayers of Saint Sava, the Holy Bishop Artemije, and all the Serbian saints, we believe that we shall defeat this enemy too and drive it out of the Serbian land, just as our glorious ancestors once drove out the Austro-Hungarians.

Today we live in the peace and freedom that our brave ancestors secured for us. But do we use that peace and freedom to serve God? Unfortunately, we do not. There is much evil among our people. Hundreds of thousands of children are killed each year through abortion. Fornication and adultery kill many Serbian souls. It is truly rare for young people to enter marriage as virgins. Scantily clad bodies reign supreme on our streets. The souls are naked, and so are the bodies. A high percentage of marriages end in divorce. Few families live a Christian life and put God first. Because of all this, the family, that basic cell of society, has been largely destroyed. Many people are addicted to drugs, tobacco, alcohol, mobile phones, and social media. This is why our hospitals, madhouses, and prisons are full. There is little harmony, love, or respect within the family or in society at large.

Because of our passion-ridden and sinful lives, the peace in which we live is hateful to God and will certainly not last. If we do not repent and return to God, we shall soon be punished with another war, more devastating than any before it. Let us remember: a people’s godlessness is the cradle of war, and “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Heb. 12:5).

The Holy Prophet Isaiah once proclaimed that lasting peace can be found only in the piety of the people: “Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea” (Is. 48:17–18).

Therefore, let us return to God through personal and national repentance, and we shall have lasting peace and God’s blessing. Let us not allow the Lord once again to perform the surgical operation of war, an operation that goes beyond every other remedy of God. Let us not trust in the wisdom and ability of our national leaders and politicians; let us not trust in any man, whoever he may be, for thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord” (Jer. 17:5).

Serbs, the Lord God is a sturdy ship in the storm, our strength and our refuge—not man!

Above all, let us not trust in our economy, the most advanced weaponry, motorways, factories, artificial intelligence, and the other dust of which our present rulers boast so much. Let us trust in God alone, for every other trust is a deception of the devil.

Let us cry out to God: We have sinned, we have committed iniquity, we have acted unjustly before Thee; we have neither kept nor fulfilled what Thou hast commanded us, but forsake us not utterly, O God of our fathers (Dan. 9:5–6).

Let us confirm our repentance by a pure life, and we shall hear from the Lord: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you, and uphold you with My righteous right hand. Behold, all who rage against you will be ashamed and disgraced; they will become as nothing, and your adversaries will perish. You will seek your opponents but will not find them; those who wage war against you will become as nothing and cease to exist. For I, the Lord your God, hold you by your right hand and say to you: Do not fear; I will help you” (Is. 41:10–13).

May God grant that we Serbs of today may also live our earthly lives in holiness and righteousness, as did our holy ancestors, so that we too may say with them: “All was holy and honorable, and acceptable to our dear God.” May God’s name be glorified through our lives, so that people may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven. Amen. Grant this, O God.

Next year in Prizren!                                           

 

Serbian source:

https://www.eparhija-prizren.org/horepiskop-naum-rat-kao-dopustenje-bozije-bic-i-lek/

 

 

God Will Save the Environment, Not Environmentalists!

Orthodoxos Typos | September 10, 2026

 

 

Following up on our previous commentary, Fr. Theodoros Zisis uses theological arguments to dismantle the Patriarch’s “concern” over supposedly “saving the environment.” The hidden aims lie elsewhere. He emphatically stated: “Joint prayer takes place in front of a globe. They are all praying to the goddess Earth, and this is what today’s celebration, Environment Day, implies. Environmentalists seek to save the environment themselves. Will they save the environment? Will they save the world? If God does not save the world, no one can save the world. We human beings do not bear responsibility for saving the world. We bear responsibility for the salvation of our souls. Saving the world is not our task; that is in God’s hands. Even if we wanted to destroy the world through natural disasters, we would not be able to. God would prevent us. God alone either allows the environment to be destroyed in order to discipline us or preserves it. Our responsibility is to attend to the salvation of our souls. And if we attend to the salvation of our souls and fulfil our spiritual duties, then the natural environment is saved as well. The fact that the natural environment is being destroyed today is due to our lack of spiritual steadfastness. When people are spiritually steadfast and live ascetically, live simply, live according to God’s commandments, then the natural environment is automatically saved as well. We must not live in comfort, self-indulgence, and luxury.” We wholeheartedly agree!

 

Greek source:

https://orthodoxostypos.gr/%cf%84%e1%bd%b8-%cf%80%ce%b5%cf%81%ce%b9%ce%b2%ce%ac%ce%bb%ce%bb%ce%bf%ce%bd-%ce%b8%e1%bd%b0-%cf%84%e1%bd%b8-%cf%83%cf%8e%cf%83%ce%b7-%e1%bd%81-%ce%b8%ce%b5%e1%bd%b8%cf%82-%ce%ba%ce%b1%e1%bd%b6/