Concerning those who have walled themselves off...

Ioannis Paparrigas | May 30, 2025

 

"And now this so great disagreement and strife among the Christians takes place because of the contempt for the one, great, true, and only King of all and God. For each one departs from the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, and seeks to impose his own conclusions and rules in an authoritative manner, and prefers rather to govern contrary to the Lord than to be governed by Him."

St. Basil the Great, E.P.E., Vol. 8

 

Once again, we read and hear the following tragically comical things!

Fr. Savvas, formerly of Lavra, in order not to appear "excommunicated," justifies himself in a video from yesterday, saying:

"Our struggle is not carried out outside the Church, we are not creating a schism. We are not Old Calendarist groups, we are not schismatic groups, we are Orthodox Christians...." Indeed...

On the other hand, the newly-walled-off Fr. Dimos Serkelidis, in one of his talks, similarly stated that he is not an Old Calendarist, so that he too would not be stigmatized as a schismatic—and of course, he is not an Old Calendarist since he follows the new calendar, in contrast to Fr. Savvas.

But behold, Fr. Dimos writes a few hours ago: "It is now evident that the media not only promote almost exclusively ecumenist theologians, but when they ‘remember’ to also show the other side, they do so selectively and deliberately, inviting figures such as Savvas Lavriotis, known for certain anti-ecclesiastical practices and his opposition to saints, in order to ridicule the Orthodox resistance. If they want a real dialogue, let them finally invite Fr. Theodoros Zisis, a theologian of stature, ethos, patristic formation, and clear speech."

Because Fr. Savvas and Fr. Zisis were and are in conflict…

We will mention that we had previously referred to Fr. Euthymios Trikaminas, who also has no connection with the other two walled-off priests, even though he too is walled-off. We had pointed out that a struggle carried out by accusing their brothers will not be successful. God does not bless such “struggles,” because there is no humble mindset, and the walling off ends up being a display of egotistical pride. The difference is that the walled-off are worse than the Old Calendarists, because the Old Calendarists, during the time of their own struggle, faced truncheons from gendarmes, exiles, defrockings, cutting of beards and hair (Fr. Euthymios Trikaminas, in a personal conversation with us, had questioned those brutal persecutions!!!), and many other things. The walled-off, counted on the fingers of two hands, managed to become divided among themselves, having no communion with one another, resulting in each one having his own “group”—and for this reason, God will allow them to be stigmatized just like the Old Calendarists, namely as schismatics and outside the Church!

Very rightly had the renowned Fr. Theodoretos [Mavros] stated:

“There may be various Synods of the Old Calendar, but this does not touch upon the essence of their entirely traditional struggle, nor does it create any justification for the New Calendarists to remain in their heresy. Let them dare to carry out walling off, and let them not unite with them. Only then will they realize how difficult unity is in such struggles. Now [i.e., back then, before they walled off], their judgments resemble the admonitions of a well-dressed spectator in the stands of a stadium toward a sweat-soaked yet victorious athlete of the field…”

 

Greek source: https://entoytwnika1.blogspot.com/2025/05/blog-post_32.html