Contribution of the Zealot Athonites to the Holy Struggle of the G.O.C.

 

The Contribution of the Zealot Athonites to the Holy Struggle of the G.O.C.

Bishop Photios of Marathon | September 3, 2009

 

INTRODUCTION

The Holy Synod of the Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians, by its decision No. 5.S. BS of 12/25 May 2006, dedicated the year 2007 to the Zealot Athonites and their contribution to the Holy Struggle of the G.O.C. on the occasion of the completion of 80 years since the first organized mission of Athonite Hieromonks by the Holy Association of Zealot Fathers to Greece.

In this tribute, we initially refer to the very significant contribution of the Zealot Athonites during the period 1924-1935. Subsequently, we address their contribution from 1935 until 1972. Finally, we present the current contribution of the Zealot Athonites, particularly that of the Holy Monastery of Esphigmenou.

The information for the composition of this was mainly drawn from the historical "Ta Patria" of the late Metropolitan of Pentapolis, Kalliopios, as well as from other sources, and we must admit that the task was not easy due to conflicting information in certain cases. Therefore, if the description at any point is not accurate, we ask for the readers' understanding. If they happen to have knowledge of the precise details of the situation, we kindly ask them not to hesitate to point it out to us by letter. Any additions will be taken into consideration upon the publication of the tribute in the Voice of Orthodoxy.

We must also point out that the nominal references to the Zealot Fathers are illustrative and that we will limit ourselves to those who have fallen asleep, and not to those who are still living and active.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE ZEALOT ATHONITE FATHERS TO THE HOLY STRUGGLE OF THE G.O.C.

A. PERIOD 1924-1935

When the new calendar was forcibly imposed on the Church of Greece in 1924 by Archbishop Chrysostomos Papadopoulos, a significant portion of the faithful did not accept it. Not out of stubbornness or "narrow-mindedness," nor, of course, due to some backward perception, as we are accused by the defenders of the innovation. But because they immediately discerned that behind this uncanonical act lay the promotion of the Latinization of Orthodoxy.

Immediately, the pious who opposed the change organized themselves. Just two weeks after the calendar reform, many of them gathered in the hall of the Commercial Employees of Athens and founded the "Society of the Orthodox." Two years later, it was renamed the "Greek Religious Community of the Genuine Orthodox Christians." Since then, those who struggle for the traditional piety have borne the name G.O.C. They began to conduct liturgies and church services in private chapels, with their own priests.

The first heroic clergy of the G.O.C. were very few. The married priests were: Ioannis Floros (the celebrant during the vigil of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in 1925, during which the third appearance of the Holy Cross took place), and Spyridon Oikonomou, Vasileios Sakellaropoulos, Sotirios Souchleris, Georgios Mavridis, Andreas, Parthenios (both from Drama, surnames unknown), and Stergios (from Nikiti).

Additionally, during the first years following the calendar change, the liturgical needs of the G.O.C. were served by the Hieromonks: Anthimos Vagianos (on Chios) and Arsenios Sakellarios (in Phthiotis). The latter was an Athonite who, with a dismissal letter from the Monastery of Simonopetra, had been in the region of Phthiotis since 1907. He was there during the calendar change, which he did not accept, and thus became the first Athonite to join the Holy Clergy of the G.O.C. (It is worth noting about him that the gendarmes tied him behind their pack animal and dragged him on foot, publicly humiliating him through the villages of the area until they reached the police station, where they defrocked and shaved him!).

Certainly, these very few priests were unable to meet the liturgical needs of tens of thousands of faithful, especially as the resistance against the calendar innovation was growing.

This gap was called to be filled by the Zealot Athonite Fathers.

The Zealot Athonites had already founded (in 1926) the "Holy Association of Zealot Monks" on Mount Athos, whose charter was signed by 450 Hieromonks and Monks, opposing the innovation. This Holy Association was dissolved by law by the authorities the following year, but it continued to operate informally, coordinating the efforts of the Athonite Zealots with the Hellenic Religious Community of the G.O.C. The zealous and learned Monk Arsenios Kotteas greatly contributed to the founding of this holy association.

In 1926, the Athonite Hieromonks Gedeon Papanikolaou and Matthaios Karpathakis (later Bishop of Vresthena) left Mount Athos and settled in Attica, serving the G.O.C.

The following year, nineteen Zealot Monks (from the Monasteries of Vatopedi and Koutloumousiou) were expelled from Mount Athos by the police. Some were released across Greece, while others were confined to monasteries (in Mytilene and Serres).

In the same year, Elder Ieronymos Geroantonakis founded a monastery on Mount Parnitha. Likewise, Matthaios Karpathakis founded one in Keratea.

Around the end of 1927 (on Christmas Eve), following the encouragement of Monk Arsenios Kotteas, the first four-member mission of Hieromonks from Mount Athos arrived in Athens to support the Holy Struggle. It consisted of the Zealot Hieromonks: Parthenios Skourlis (later Bishop of the Cyclades), Eugenios Lemonis, Gerasimos Dionysiatis, and Artemios Nodarakis. In 1929, following the example of the previous group, the Hieromonks Akakios Pappas (later Archbishop of the G.O.C.), Hilarion Ouzounopoulos, Antonios Koutsonikolas, Artemios Xoungos (of Xenophontos Monastery), and Monk Nektarios Katsaros also joined.

In 1929, the married priest Nikolaos Anagnostou was added to the Holy Clergy of the G.O.C.

Thanks to the activity of the aforementioned Hieromonks (primarily) and their collaboration with the Governing Council of the Community of the G.O.C., within two years, 245 branches of the Community were established throughout Greece. Despite the persecutions and hardships, the branches of the G.O.C. multiplied even further, and by the beginning of 1934, they numbered 800 across the Greek Territory.

In the same year, in a record of the Religious Community of the G.O.C., primarily signed by the aforementioned Zealot Athonites, the G.O.C. renounced the official Church and stated that:

a) The Parliament has no right to legislate for the Church; therefore, a separation of Church and State must take place.

b) The introduction of the new calendar was done for ecumenical [ecumenist] reasons.

c) The practice of joint prayer with the heterodox is condemned, and

d) The election of bishops for the G.O.C. is requested.

(To satisfy the last request, they addressed Metropolitan Anthony of Kiev, the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, but without success).

From the above, the foresight of the G.O.C. is demonstrated, as they were the first to point out the danger of Ecumenism and joint prayers, and they indicated the only patristic way of responding: the cessation of ecclesiastical communion.

B. PERIOD 1935-1971

In 1935, three hierarchs of the Church of Greece decided to cease ecclesiastical communion and subsequently assumed the leadership of the holy struggle of the G.O.C. They proceeded with the consecration of bishops and formally established the Holy Synod of the Church of the G.O.C., with Germanos of Demetrias as its president. This event gave new momentum to the G.O.C., who were no longer merely a Religious Community but now represented the continuation of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church in Greece.

The leadership of the struggle was assumed by the hierarchs, who cooperated with the Athonite fathers, both those active in Greece and the Zealots remaining on Mount Athos. The Zealot cells of Mount Athos became the primary refuge for those G.O.C. faithful who sought the monastic life, and from then on, the G.O.C. hierarchs ordained the clergy of the Zealot Athonites, establishing a relationship of fraternal cooperation that continues to this day.

Athonite Hieromonks were elevated to the episcopal rank, such as Matthaios Karpathakis of Vresthena (who, unfortunately, caused the Matthewite schism), Akakios Pappas of Talantion, Parthenios Skourlis of the Cyclades, Paisios Finokaliotakis of Aegina, Petros Astyfides of Astoria, and Gabriel Kalamisakis of the Cyclades.

Athonite Monk Antonios Moustakas was one of the key figures in the Holy Struggle of the G.O.C., serving as a collaborator (from 1941 to 1955) of former Florina Chrysostomos, the successor of Germanos of Demetrias in leading the G.O.C.

Athonite Hieromonks occasionally joined the ranks of the Holy Clergy of the G.O.C., including: Chrysanthos Vrettaros, Meletios Ioannidis, Azarias Patsoudis, Longinos Hatzistefanou, Panteleimon Tsaloupis, Ephraim Karagiannidis, Gabriel Stamatellatos, Chrysostomos Theodoropoulos, Hilarion Vasiloglou, Gabriel Liveris, Anempodistos Botsis, Eumenios Tsimisiris, Gerasimos Skourtaniotis, Seraphim Papadimitriou, Ioannis Manidakis, Nikodimos Patris, Gerasimos Rogalis, Antonios Chalkias, Vikentios Ladas, Eugenios Klavdianos, Anthimos Proestos, Monk Chrysanthos Skourtaniotis, and others who fought the good fight of faith both inside and outside of Mount Athos. Many other commemorated Athonites, seeing the piety of the G.O.C. and the Zealot Fathers, were also favorably inclined towards them. They facilitated the enrollment of zealots in the Monasteries' registries, despite contrary directives from the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and many Athonite monasteries took G.O.C. monasteries and churches under their protection, shielding them under the status of dependencies to avoid demolition or sealing. Athonite Monk Gordios Karagiannis founded the Monastery of Axion Estin in Varibobi, and Ioasaf Bellas founded the Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos in Thrakomakedones, Attica. The latter, a master craftsman in ecclesiastical silver and goldsmithing, adorned many churches and monasteries in our homeland with his masterpieces.

The blind Monk Dositheos Paraskevaidis, an excellent musician and cantor, is the one who improved the system of Byzantine notation for the blind. He also began his first steps as a Zealot Monk on Mount Athos.

Almost all male members of the Church of the G.O.C. considered it their duty to visit—if possible—annually the Zealot cells of Mount Athos in order to receive spiritual strength.

Zealot fathers, such as the renowned Avvakoum the Barefoot, Achilleios of Agiannana, the monks Charalambos and Ephraim Tambakides, and the Hieromonks Matthaios Raptis, along with other champions of virtue "about whom time would fail us to recount," taught through their words and—most importantly—by their example to the visitors on Mount Athos.

The faithful of our Church learned to pray with the prayer rope, to conduct family services using the prayer book, and to frequently attend vigils and other church services—practices foreign to the New Calendarists, who were increasingly distancing themselves from Orthodox Tradition. This is largely due to the positive influence of the Zealot Athonite fathers.

C. PERIOD 1972 - PRESENT

The positive contribution of the Zealot Fathers to the Holy Struggle of the G.O.C. continued unabated during the last decades up to the present. We will only mention, as examples, the contributions of the late Hieromonks Georgios Georgiou (the well-known Father George of Provata), Athanasios Katsounotos, Euthymios Katsampasakis, Monk Paisios Palaskas, Hieromonk Bartholomew (in Rodopoli, Attica), and many others.

However, during the same period, significant changes occurred on Mount Athos.

First, organized brotherhoods from Greece began to flock to and settle on Mount Athos. The new Athonite monks were imbued with a more worldly mindset than their predecessors. Then, European money began to flow abundantly into Athos. As a result, the "commemorating" Athonites distanced themselves even further from the Zealots and the G.O.C.

However, in 1972, another significant development took place on Mount Athos. The ecumenist initiatives of Patriarch Athenagoras had caused a great wave of reactions. Many monasteries of Mount Athos then ceased the commemoration of the Patriarch. They reinstated it, however, after the repose of Athenagoras, despite his successor, Demetrios, declaring during his enthronement that he would continue the same policies. Except for the Holy Monastery of Esphigmenou. This monastery continued to refuse to commemorate the Patriarch's name and maintained communion with the Zealot Athonites and the G.O.C. This was followed by trials, condemnations, expulsions, sieges of the Monastery, and other persecutions, all of which failed.

Over time, the Holy Monastery of Esphigmenou developed into the largest monastic center on Mount Athos, with more than 100 monks, most of whom were young. Despite the financial warfare against it, this monastery became internationally known for its hospitality and the uncompromising character of its monks.

At a time when European gold weakened the Orthodox sensibilities of the commemorating monks, and the ecumenist fervor of the Ecumenical Patriarch had reached its zenith, the Holy Monastery of Esphigmenou, now the center of the Zealot Fathers of Mount Athos, became the living reproach to the commemorating Athonites. Like a burning coal, it sears their consciences, constantly reminding them of the duty they fail to fulfill.

For this reason, they are eager to eliminate every source of zealotry on Mount Athos, starting with the venerable Holy Monastery of Esphigmenou.

The Patriarchate of Constantinople and the "Holy Community" of Mount Athos, in cooperation with the political authorities of our homeland, are working together to carry out their unlawful plans. Once again, Annas, Caiaphas, and Pilate are collaborating to execute their crime.

CONCLUSION

At the beginning of the past century, immediately after the calendar innovation, fewer than twenty Athonite fathers, leaving Mount Athos, managed within a few years to greatly expand the movement in favor of the traditional practices of the G.O.C., leading to the establishment of 800 "branches," that is, communities of devout Orthodox Christians, throughout the country.

Let today's persecutors of the Zealots carefully consider the consequences of fulfilling their intentions. More than 150 Zealot Hieromonks and Monks will flood the Greek Territory, who, with the halo of a confessor, will preach against the Established Church. The Church of the G.O.C. will be enriched. Large gaps in parish ministry will be filled, and new monasteries will be founded. The exiled Athonites will become a magnet for many devout New Calendarists, who will join the ranks of the G.O.C.

Furthermore, once Mr. Bartholomew is freed from the resistance of the Zealots, he will rush with unrestrained zeal to implement his ecumenist plans. This will drive a large portion of the conservative New Calendarists to join the Genuine Orthodox Church.

Mount Athos will lose its living conscience. The monks will be reduced to mere caretakers of historical monuments. Their voice on matters of faith will no longer be taken into consideration.

Mount Athos will deteriorate from a place of asceticism and sanctification into a picturesque tourist destination, much like Meteora.

As Genuine Orthodox Christians, we desire that Mount Athos remain a place of sanctification and asceticism, and not meet the inglorious fate of other monastic centers of Orthodoxy. However, if this should happen, let those who pursue it know that the Church of the G.O.C. will benefit.

Eternal be the memory of the ever-memorable, departed Zealot Athonite Fathers, and for the living, may the Lord be their helper. Amen.

 

Greek source: https://sites.google.com/site/bishopphotios/%CE%B1%CF%81%CF%87%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AE-%CF%83%CE%B5%CE%BB%CE%AF%CE%B4%CE%B1/%CF%80%CF%81%CF%8C%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%B3%CE%BF%CE%B9/%CE%B7-%CF%83%CF%85%CE%BC%CE%B2%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%AE-%CF%84%CF%89%CE%BD-%CE%B6%CE%B7%CE%BB%CF%89%CF%84%CF%8E%CE%BD-%CE%B1%CE%B3%CE%B9%CE%BF%CF%81%CE%B5%CE%B9%CF%84%CF%8E%CE%BD-%CE%B5%CE%B9%CF%82-%CF%84%CE%BF%CE%BD-%CE%B9%CE%B5%CF%81%CF%8C%CE%BD-%CE%B1%CE%B3%CF%8E%CE%BD%CE%B1-%CF%84%CF%89%CE%BD-%CE%B3-%CE%BF-%CF%87