On the GOC Division of 1937...

The exiled Bishops of Demetrias [Germanos], formerly of Florina [Chrysostomos], and of the Cyclades [Germanos] returned from exile in October 1935 with the silent consent of the government, under the pretext of their health issues, regaining their freedom of movement. However, a new method of persecution by the New Calendarists began at that time. They reported them to the criminal courts for alleged usurpation of authority, meaning that, even though they were supposedly removed from the governing hierarchy of the Innovators, they continued to exercise the duties of the episcopate, ordaining clergy, consecrating churches, signing documents, etc.

Such trials took place in the following years (1937, 1938, 1940), in which the accused confessor Bishops were acquitted after brilliant defenses, especially by Chrysostomos, formerly of Florina, who was the chief “theologian” of the Holy Synod. He indeed shouldered the great responsibility of composing various confessionals, defenses, interpretations, etc., works which are distinguished for their depth and thoroughness, as well as for their zeal for Christ.

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The fact that the confessing Bishops of the Patristic Calendar did not accept the punishments imposed on them by the New Calendarists was in line with their firm conviction that they had not committed a schism against lawful and canonical ecclesiastical authority. They believed that they would have indeed accepted proper correction and just penalties if they were warranted, but they disassociated themselves from the misled New Calendarist hierarchy for ecclesiastical and canonical reasons that concerned not only the Holy Canons on divine worship, but also the unity of the One Church.

Consequently, the hierarchy that deviated from the Canons and Tradition had no right to validly judge the Bishops who returned to the Orthodox standard, but rather, through its persecution, it demonstrated its greater estrangement from truth and justice.

The New Calendarists bear the responsibility for the division and are accountable for the schism and persecutions against the Orthodox before God and men. As was elucidated within the extensive literary work of the former Bishop of Florina [St.] Chrysostomos, the Genuine Orthodox, in reality, are the true Church of Greece and its conscience, striving for the reconciliation of the provoked division and a valid and definitive resolution by a Pan-Orthodox Council, in accordance with the Church's understanding and Tradition. For this purpose, the former Bishop of Florina had undertaken visits to the Patriarchates of Jerusalem and Antioch from December 1935 to May 1936.

The Orthodox positions of the confessing Hierarchs absolutely shielded them against the accusations and other injustices of the Innovators, but they caused disputes and divisions within the Genuine Orthodox. The interpretations, periodically presented by the former Bishop of Florina, within the framework of the 1935 declaration's meaning regarding the characterization of the New Calendarists as schismatics and the implications of this on a sacramental level, provided grounds for hasty conclusions, leading to the excessive persecutions against the Genuine Orthodox around Holy Theophany of 1936. Unfortunately, this led to the creation and perpetuation of division within its ranks.

In September 1937, the two bishops of the Cyclades [Germanos] and Bresthena [Matthew] hurried to excommunicate the Metropolitans of Demetrias and of Florina, alleging that they had deviated from their initial confession. Thus, during that critical period, the front of the Genuine Orthodox weakened and underwent a severe trial. The internal strife, turmoil, disputes, and other lamentable consequences arising from petty ambitions in the name of a strict Confession of Faith deepened a distressing division that, unfortunately, has not healed until today. May the Lord bring healing to it!

Efforts of reconciliation and rapprochement have been made since then, explanations and clarifications were provided, but they collided with the inflexibility of the two separated bishops, and especially of those surrounding Matthew of Bresthena.

From relevant texts of 1937, especially from a document of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs dated January 16, 1938, addressed to the Synod of the governing [New Calendarist] hierarchy, in which a memorandum of the Metropolitans of Demetrias and formerly of Florina with ten points for resolving the calendar issue is communicated, it is understood why the two confessing Bishops wanted to present a more moderate stance towards the New Calendarists compared to the previous year of 1937. Various indications and promises given to them by political figures, internal disturbances and ecclesiastical factors nurtured reasonable hopes for a favorable treatment of the calendar issue and a reunion of the divided parties through the return of the New Calendarists to the Patristic calendar.

Furthermore, the belief of the Metropolitans of Demetrias and Florina that the calendar issue required resolution by a Great Orthodox Synod in order to receive ecclesiastical approval and to validate what they had proclaimed as Orthodox in 1935 was a deeply held conviction and hope for them from the previous years. Let us recall only the aforementioned protests to the Synod of the New Calendarists in the years 1929 and 1933, which were also signed by Germanos of Demetrias and fully endorsed by the Bishop of Florina. Among the New Calendarist bishops, there were also “old calendarists,” as Germanos of Demetrias confirmed in his letter of July 17, 1935, written during his exile on Amorgos, who were waiting for an opportunity to express their views and were holding their positions out of fear or other circumstances. It was not a suitable time then for an uncompromising and condemnatory stance against the New Calendarists, with continuous emphasis and affirmation of certain strict points from the texts of 1935.

It should be noted that the Metropolitans of Demetrias and formerly of Florina were already mature hierarchs with three decades of extensive pastoral and administrative experience, possessing divine and worldly wisdom, which is not coincidental. They desired to act with an expanded perspective, with open horizons and bridges. All of this and other similar matters were not understood by the overly strict admirers of precision, who lived in a different climate and maintained a different mentality, closed and restrictive, unable to understand their motivations and expectations. Consequently, they deeply misunderstood them and accused them of submissiveness or even "betrayal" of the Canons of the Church, especially since they were not satisfied with answers that would easily address the continually posed simple questions through the complete and definitive condemnation of the Innovators...

Another cause of division was the growing discord between the administration of the "Community" [“of Genuine Orthodox Christians”] and the Metropolitans of Demetrias and formerly of Florina. Clearly, the "Community" was not familiar with collaborating with experienced hierarchs who had established the Holy Synod and rightfully now had the foremost role in the Holy Struggle. The result was the replacement of the "Community" by the "Pan-Hellenic Religious National Orthodox Society" (PTEOK) in 1936.

Source: “Σύντομη Ἱστορία τῆς Μαρτυρικῆς Ἐκκλησίας τῶν Γνησίων Ὀρθοδόξων Χριστιανῶν Ἑλλάδος καὶ περὶ τῆς Ἀποστολικῆς Διαδοχῆς Αὐτῆς” (Brief History of the Martyric Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece and Its Apostolic Succession), published the Holy Synod of the Church of the Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece, edited by the Synodal Committee on Doctrinal and Canonical Matters (Athens: March 2015), pp. 40-45. Draft translation.