Monument to Orthodoxy: The Trial of a Zealot

 

Monument to Orthodoxy: The Trial of a Zealot

 

We present to you the minutes of the trial of the Athonite Zealot Monk Theokletos Germanos (in the world, Thomas Vasileiou), which took place in 1973. The reason for the trial of Fr. Theokletos was his cessation of the commemoration of the name of the then Patriarch of Constantinople Dimitrios. The dialogues are particularly revealing regarding persons and views, and Fr. Theokletos' boldness is most impressive, reminiscent of the ancient Fathers in times of heresy.

PATRIARCHAL EXARCHY

1) President: Metropolitan Maximos of Stavroupolis

2) Exarch: Metropolitan Dionysios of Drama

3) Exarch: Metropolitan Titus of Rethymno and Mylopotamos

 

COMMITTEE

4) Protos: Elder Archimandrite Mitrophanes of Hilandar
5) Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Dionysiou, Archimandrite Gabriel
6) Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Philotheou, Archimandrite Papa-Ephraim [later Abbot of St. Anthony's Monastery in Arizona]
7) Former Abbot: Archimandrite Bessarion of the Holy Monastery of Gregoriou
8) Secretary: Archimandrite Panteleimon Davos

DEFENDANT

9) Monk Theokletos Germanos, Zealot of Mount Athos

 

President: Father Theokletos, why do you not commemorate our Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios I?

Theokletos: Because, according to his statements in his enthronement speech, he declared that he would faithfully follow the heretical line of his predecessor Athenagoras I, and because he continues to commemorate in the diptychs of the Great Church of Christ the heretical Pope of Rome.

President: This, Father Theokletos, is a malicious slanderous defamation.

Theokletos: Holy President, we write and say what the newspapers publish. In the event that His All-Holiness is innocent, let him respond in writing that what is published against him is false and unfounded.

President: I am fully aware of the entire situation, and the Patriarch will give an account to no one.

Papa-Ephraim: Father Theokletos, I will ask you something.

Theokletos: What?

Papa-Ephraim: Are the Mysteries of the New Calendarists valid or invalid?

Theokletos: God knows.

President: Father Theokletos, you must answer specifically to the question posed to you by Papa-Ephraim.

Papa-Ephraim: Father Theokletos, I will ask you another question. If someone violates Tradition, are they condemned?

Theokletos: Of course, they are condemned.

Papa-Ephraim: So you admit that the Mysteries of the New Calendarists are invalid.

Theokletos: Won't you stop this legalistic quibbling, Spiritual Father?

Papa-Ephraim: Holy President, he is the one who wrote a letter to Abbess Makrina of the Holy Monastery Panagia Odigitria in Volos and urged her to wall off from me.

Theokletos: Yes, it was I, Holy President, because the current Holy Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Philotheou, Papa-Ephraim, was my spiritual father back when I was still at the Holy Monastery of Saint Paul, and he urged us not to commemorate his predecessor, Patriarch Athenagoras I, because he aligned with the heretical Pope of Rome. Furthermore, when he travels to the Holy Monastery Panagia Odigitria in Volos, which belongs to the jurisdiction of Archbishop Auxentios of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece, he commemorates Auxentios; but when he returns to Mount Athos, he commemorates the Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I.

President: Father Theokletos, leave your personal matters aside.

Papa-Ephraim: He, Holy President, is the cause of the entire situation.

Theokletos: Yes, Spiritual Father Papa-Ephraim, it is I. I am not to blame, but His Beatitude Auxentios is, who, after my revelations about you, still tolerates you and has not removed you from his records.

Papa-Ephraim: I do not recognize any Auxentios.

President: Father Theokletos, with whom are you in communion?

Theokletos: Holy President, administratively, we belong to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, but now, since the Patriarch is not walking in the Orthodox way, we are in spiritual communion with Archbishop Auxentios of the Genuine Orthodox Christians, with the Russian [Metropolitan] Philaret of the Church Abroad, and with the Tikhonites of the Catacombs in Russia.

President: Father Theokletos, leave aside these fabrications. Do you not know that you are obligated to commemorate the Patriarch? You are in his house, yet you insult him?

Theokletos: Holy President, is Ecumenism a heresy?

President: No.

Theokletos: Holy Abbot of Dionysiou, I ask you, is Ecumenism a heresy, yes or no?

Abbot Gabriel: Holy President, he goes around with his bag and has left his repentance.

Theokletos: Leave those things aside and answer what I am asking you. Holy Former Abbot of Gregoriou, what do you say, is Ecumenism a heresy, yes or no?

Former Abbot Bessarion (in a low voice): I do not want to get involved.

Papa-Ephraim: It is not the Ecumenism that you mean.

Theokletos: What is it, Spiritual Father? Isn’t it the one Archimandrite Charalambos Vasilopoulos writes about in his book titled "Ecumenism Unmasked," and others?

President: Father Theokletos, I see so much vitality in you, and you should use it more profitably in missionary work in Uganda, rather than being confined within the four walls of your cell and writing pamphlets against the Patriarch.

Theokletos: I sought that in the year 1967, when I left Mount Athos and went to the Holy Metropolis of Thessaliotida and Fanariofersala, and I asked the then-Metropolitan Kyrillos to grant me permission to preach the word of God in the villages, but he did not allow me, and I was forced to return to Mount Athos following his official letter.

Dionysios of Drama: Father Theokletos, did you perhaps intend to preach Old Calendarism?

Theokletos: Yes, Holy Exarch.

President: Father Theokletos, do you follow the line of the late former Metropolitan of Florina, Chrysostomos? Why did he not leave a successor?

Theokletos: Yes, Holy President, I faithfully follow his line, and he was the most prudent and conservative of the hierarchs of the Innovating Church of Greece. He did not leave a successor, fearing that he might also rebel, like the late Matthew...

President: You previously said that you have spiritual communion with the Russian Philaret of the Church Abroad. Are you aware that he concelebrates with both the New Calendarists and the Old Calendarist Serbs, who are in spiritual communion with us?

Theokletos: Yes, Holy President. As the Serbian hieromonks Atanasije Jevtić and Irinej Bulović informed me, they concelebrate with him — both studied Theology at the Theological School of the University of Athens, along with others whose names I cannot currently recall. However, Holy President, please note that Philaret does this out of sensitivity and gratitude towards the Serbian Church, as the Russian Church Abroad was hosted in Serbia for twenty years.

President: Very well, but Elder Mitrophanes, the Protos, can tell us even better as he is competent and a member of the Serbian Church.

Protos Elder Mitrophanes: Yes, Holy President, Philaret has fully canonical spiritual relations with the Serbian Church.

Theokletos: Holy President, I also have a written Orthodox confession, which I wish to read to you now, so that you may form an even clearer understanding of the Sacred Struggle of the Zealot Fathers of Mount Athos.

President: Father Theokletos, since it is quite lengthy and time has passed, you may hand it to me personally or to the Secretary of the Committee tomorrow morning.

Theokletos: Holy President, the World Council of Churches is a council of heresies, and you should not participate in it because you are praying together with heretics.

President: Father Theokletos, it is not joint prayer if we say an "Our Father" together with the heterodox.

Theokletos: Holy President, the Holy Canons of our Church forbid joint prayer with heretics.

President: In the W.C.C., we present Orthodoxy to the heterodox, and the "lamp should not be put under a bushel," or do you question my Orthodoxy?

Theokletos: Holy President, the distinguished Professor of Canon Law at the Theological School of the University of Athens, Mr. Konstantinos Mouratidis, calls the W.C.C. "a World Council of Heresies," and you are "Orthodox" in quotation marks.

Dionysios of Drama: Father Theokletos, how do you follow and listen to Mr. Konstantinos Mouratidis since he follows the New Calendar?

Theokletos: Holy Exarch, I do not follow Mr. Konstantinos Mouratidis in the innovation of the New Calendar, but I listen to what he rightly preaches in accordance with the Holy Canons of our Church.

President: I see, Father Theokletos, that despite all the tolerance and leniency we have shown you, you have deviated in your behavior.

Theokletos: Yes, Holy President, if I have indeed acted improperly, I ask for your forgiveness, but not for my Orthodox views.

President: We have no shared opinion on this matter. You should respect the house that hosts you and not insult its master, because Mount Athos belongs to the spiritual jurisdiction of the venerable Ecumenical Patriarchate.

Theokletos: Mount Athos, Holy President, does not belong to you, nor to me, but it is the portion of the Most Holy Theotokos and belongs to the Greek Nation and our Orthodoxy. Only the Orthodox remain in it; the Ecumenists have no reason to exist within it...

President: Enough of this, Fr. Theokletos. Do you have anything else to say?

Theokletos: Yes, Holy President, I have to say that what the Latin-minded Patriarch John Bekkos demanded of the Athonites back then, you have officially recognized today, namely: 1) the primacy of the heretical Pope of Rome, 2) his commemoration, and 3) the right of appeal, which you now hold.

Papa-Ephraim: We, Father Theokletos, are walking the good path.

Theokletos: Yes, Spiritual Father, just as your Elder [Joseph the Hesychast] walked it, having renounced his Zealotry [from 1924 to 1951] for the sake of temporary material goods and for the sake of economia.

President: Father Theokletos, you are free to go.

Theokletos: Good night to you!

 

After this trial, the verdict was condemning: expulsion from Mount Athos.

 

Greek source: http://krufo-sxoleio.blogspot.com/2013/05/blog-post_31.html