Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Florina on the Old Calendar Church

 

 

"And if we, the bishops, did not immediately get involved in the calendar struggle, we did so, on the one hand, in order not to become guilty of schism, and on the other hand, we expected that in time the other Churches would also adopt the new style. But when we saw that the old style schism had been established without us and that, because of the lack of pastoral supervision and guidance, it had begun to deviate to the extreme to the detriment of the authority of the Church and the prestige of the Hierarchy, and taking into account the fact that the ancient Eastern Churches also protested against the calendar innovation, we then, when we had exhausted all peaceful means without result, began to fight in order to appease our Orthodox conscience and the conscience of the supporters of the old style and to prevent even greater deviation... 

“Also prejudicially, the [State Church] Synodal Committee in its announcement asserts that we too, formerly prudent and moderate, have surpassed in fanaticism the Matthewite group, declaring the State Hierarchy schismatic and its Mysteries devoid of grace only, as they say, for the sake of appropriating the immense property [of Keratea convent] which the rival group has acquired by unlawful means, using piety for profit. This is completely untrue and inaccurate. And it is true that we, in spite of the cruel persecution which the State Hierarchy organized against us, avoided at first, out of respect for the importance of the Church, to declare it schismatic in an ecclesiastical encyclical, while she declared us schismatic in court, condemning our bishops of Megara and Diavleia, in order to justify their decision to depose them. But when we saw that the State Synod had decided, contrary to all sacred canons and the age-old practice of the Church, to consider the Mysteries of us genuine Orthodox invalid, and that this was being repeated without the fear of God, in order to violate the authority of the Mysteries, then we too, defending ourselves, issued this encyclical [in 1950] in order to soothe the troubled conscience of our flock, and not for the sake of appropriating the property of the monastery at Keratea...."

- St Chrysostomos the New (+1955), “Response to the Announcement of the [New Calendarist] Synodal Committee on the Calendar Issue, by the President of the Old Calendarist Synod.”

Published in the Athenian newspaper Βραδινη [“Evening”], December 11, 1950, edition.

Also published in the official organ of the Church of the G.O.C. of Greece, Ἡ Φωνὴ τῆς Ὀρθοδοξίας [“The Voice of Orthodoxy”], Year 4, No. 94, December 4, 1950 (O.S.), pp. 5-7.

Online: https://gocstudies.org/voice/voice-of-orthodoxy-issue-94/