On Metropolitan Cyprian’s Supposed Suspension and Deposition

 On Metropolitan Cyprian’s Supposed Suspension and Deposition

From the personal correspondence of Bishop Ambrose of Methone with Reader Vladimir Moss

The [deposition] judgement [of November 4, 1986, O.S.] points out that in September, 1984, after Cyprian had prayed with the ecumenist Patriarch Nicholas he had been summoned to give an account of himself, but had not appeared. Then, on September 19, he had been banned from serving for 40 days, but had continued to serve. Finally, on April 5, 1985 Cyprian and Giovanni of Sardinia had formed their own Synod and separated from the GOC Synod.

However, Bishop Ambrose of Methone writes: “The accusation of ‘praying with the ecumenist Patriarch Nicholas’ is delightfully absurd. As I was present, I can witness what happened: One Sunday, when the Liturgy had already begun, the door of the altar opened and in tottered, totally unexpected, Patriarch Nicholas [VI] of Alexandria. He sat there until the end (he was by then almost blind) and in the sermon the Metropolitan mentioned his presence and expressed a prayer that God would enlighten him to condemn the ecumenist heresy – otherwise no-one outside would have known he was there. Afterwards he tottered off again. Should we have thrown the old man down the steps? When one reaches such a level of silliness, how can one take anything seriously? As to the 40 days’ suspension, we knew nothing of such a decision until afterwards, when I was given a copy of the document in Kenya, of all places, by a priest of [Metropolitan] Paisios [of America], the Rev. David Palchikoff, who had been given it by Bishop Vikentios [of Avlon] during his visit to Africa a few weeks before.” [201]

The Cyprianites contested the decision on procedural grounds, in that they had not been given notification of the trial, [202] and could not be judged by the Chrysostomites anyway since they had never formed part of their Synod.

FOOTNOTES

201. Bishop Ambrose, personal communication, November 10, 2005.

202. Bishop Ambrose writes: “You also mention the fact that Archbishop Chrysostomos' Synod apparently deposed our Metropolitan in 1986. As now, almost twenty years later, no such document has ever been communicated to us, we are still in the dark. All we have seen is a text printed in their periodical, but the four then members of their Synod whom we asked (Petros of Astoria, Gerontios of Piraeus, Antonios of Attika, and Euthymios of Thessaloniki) all said that no such text had ever been shown to them, nor had they signed it; they regarded the whole affair as an invention on the personal animosity of Kalliopios.” (personal communication, August 12, 2005)

Source: New Zion in Babylon, Part 5: The Zenith of Ecumenism (1964-1990), by Vladimir Moss (2013 edition), p. 138.