1950 Unification Proposal between the GOC and the Official Church

1950 New Calendarist / Old Calendarist Unification Proposal

Tentatively Agreed to by Metropolitan Chrysostomos (Kavourides), formerly of Florina and Archbishop Spyridon (Vlachos) of Athens and All Greece,                    

On account of the negative effects of the continuing G.O.C. divisions, civil persecutions, the sectarian and radicalizing influence of Matthewite-minded individuals, and the international scandal associated with the Matthewite Panagia Pefkovounogiatrissa convent in Keratea. English translation from the original Greek.

1. The Old Calendar bishops should commemorate the Holy Synod, and their priests should commemorate them [the Old Calendar bishops], as they have until today.

2. The holy churches of the Old Calendarists are to be accountable to an Old Calendar Exarch, and he, in turn, to a state representative trusted by the [official] Church, and the state representative to the [official] Church. This is to give the appearance that the Old Calendarists, initially, only deal with the State and not with the [official] Church. Collections are to be gathered at the Archdiocese of Athens, for the whole of Greece [that is, for all churches].

3. The priests of the Old Calendar should be recognized as canonical (as those who have been ordained under the New Calendar and by a canonical bishop).

4. Those [clergy] who have been ordained separated from the three Bishops [of Florina, of Christianoupolis, and of Diavleia], who are married, should be tolerated under a temporary arrangement, since they can be easily settled if they are not reacting antagonistically.

5. All the hieromonks, monks, and nuns should be immediately restricted to their respective monasteries under the supervision of the police. The Athonites should be immediately confined to Mount Athos, as all the aforementioned spread fanaticism among the Old Calendarists. Only monks and nuns (never hieromonks) are allowed to leave for the material needs of the monasteries with written permission from the Exarch of the Old Calendarists.

6. Small monasteries should be dissolved or restricted, with the monks or nuns moving to two or three such large ones, which will be under the control of the Exarch of the Old Calendarists.

7. There should be a renewed effort for communication with the former Metropolitan of Florina [Chrysotomos Kavourides], [Bishop Polykarpos] Liosis, and [Bishop Christophoros] Hatzis with the promise that they will be reinstated as auxiliary bishops somewhere if, of course, the [official] Church approves this.

8. All the above should be formulated and communicated to all the police authorities of the State and the Bishops through circulars of the Ministry of Religions.

9. A confidential document should be given to the Exarch of the Old Calendarists from the Archbishop of Athens, addressed to the Bishops of Greece, and from the headquarters of the gendarmerie and the Cities Police to all the police authorities of the State, to assist the above in their work.

10. Those among the owners of the Old Calendarist churches who resist should have their churches closed immediately.

11. On behalf of the Exarch, there should be a gathering of the clergy of the Old Calendarists, and catechesis to affirm that the issue of the Old Calendar is not doctrinal, and we can accept the commemoration of the canonical Archbishop [of Athens].

12. Those who will be ordained as [Old Calendar] clergy should have the same qualifications as New Calendar clergy.

13. Suitable books should be written for the enlightenment of the pleroma, showing that the [calendar] issue is not doctrinal, and it is not harmful to accept the commemoration of the canonical Archbishop.

14. There should be a purification of the clergy of the Old Calendarists by the Old Calendarists themselves, and the decisions made by the authorities of the State should be implemented.

15. Persecution should be endured, so that by accepting this solution, we can persuade the owners of the churches, both priests and laypeople, to accept this solution.

With these measures, I [Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Florina] have the belief that within 6 months, or at most one year, the Old Calendar issue will enter a normalcy phase, as even the bishops, priests, and the people will eventually yield. Initially, Old Calendarists will exist under the administration of the official Church, albeit in a hidden form, but later it will gradually disappear entirely, as married priests never have the fanaticism of the monks.

However, when this confidential agreement initially exists between the Church and the Old Calendarists, no government will be able to intervene unilaterally in favor of the [radical] Old Calendarists and grant them freedom, because the ecclesiastical authority will intervene and inform the Prime Minister and the competent Minister that this agreement exists and must be upheld until the issue is definitively settled [by a Pan-Orthodox Synod] in the future. At that time, when the Old Calendarists who refuse to comply see that no government is firmly supporting them, they will surely yield.

Finally, I am convinced that to achieve all the above, they will only succeed through a person originating from the Old Calendarists and holding the appropriate authority.

For the implementation of the above, great effort is necessary, which I am certain will bear great fruit.

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The above terms were agreed to by official representatives of the State Church and the Church of the G.O.C. of Greece, but were ultimately rejected by the grassroots of the G.O.C.

Regarding the failed unification, see the comments of Greek Minister of the Interior Nikolaos Bakopoulos, published in Ἐμπρός [“Forward”], March 9, 1951:

"...During the subsequent discussions that the Archbishop [Spyridon] had with the former Bishop of Florina [Chrysostomos], the latter fully recognized the necessity of ending the irregular situation of the Old Calendarists, and promised to exhaust his entire influence for the return of the [old calendar] Christians to the bosom of the Church. He also requested the freedom to communicate with the other Old Calendarist bishops and the lay leaders of their movement, so that the resolution of the issue does not come solely from him but from all the leaders of Old Calendarism...

"The ongoing negotiations with Archbishop Spyridon were fruitful and reached a point of concluding with a full recognition by the former Bishop of Florina of his error. Unfortunately, the leaders of the Old Calendarists recanted. Everyone accepted everything, both the former Bishop of Florina and the other bishops of the Old Calendarists. Unfortunately, at the last moment, irresponsible agents of the common people intervened, having only the aim of exploiting the naïveté of simple Christians for their own economic benefit, and they influenced the frail nature of former Bishop of Florina, as it was proved to be, who regrettably declared that he could not keep what he had promised. It is worth noting that when the Bishop of Florina left the Voula Hospital, he himself requested to enter and pray in a nearby church. After his prayer, he was clearly moved, and told those present that this situation should not be allowed to continue, and upon returning to Athens, he will seek to end the matter..."

A similar report was published on the same date in Εθνικός Κήρυξ [“National Herald”]:

“The negotiations... are going well and have reached the point that the former Bishop of Florina has completely recognized his error... The official Church has exceeded all limits in the concessions it has made. In time it would have rehabilitated the Old Calendar bishops, and ordained their priests... and recognized the sacraments accomplished by them as valid, and churches would have been offered for those who would want to celebrate according to the old calendar. Both the former Bishop of Florina and the other bishops agreed with all this, and, according to our information, their representatives, distinguished lawyers, had to formulate a corresponding act... Unfortunately, at the last moment irresponsible activists from the lay estate interfered... and influenced the weak character of the former Bishop of Florina, who rejected all that he had said earlier...” - excerpt translated by Vladimir Moss in “New Zion in Babylon.”

The Εθνικός Κήρυξ article also quoted comments from Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Florina:

“Old Calendarism in its essence is an invincibly strengthened protest... The only power which could review this protest and bring a final decision for or against the calendar innovation is a Pan-Orthodox Council... Our movement is not being stubborn... Our opinions differ from those of the leadership of the Autocephalous Church of Greece... The second reason for the failure is the strange and imprudent hastiness of the competent people to force any kind of decision on us. Thus they suggested that within three or six days the Old Calendarists should agree to commemorate the new calendarist metropolitan in their churches. We, for brevity’s sake, will omit all the other reasons which the making of this suggestion made unacceptable, and ask the Greek people: how is it possible for an Old Calendarist to change his psychological presuppositions so quickly as to consider as his president the metropolitan whom to this day he has considered to be his real enemy and persecutor, and from whom he has suffered much? We, at any rate, have not found this magic wand...” - excerpt translated by Vladimir Moss in “New Zion in Babylon.”