A message of Metropolitan Cyprian II of Oropos and Phyle, sent in response to the greeting of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad [under Metropolitan Aganfangel] regarding his election as Primate of the Synod in Resistance. In this message, it is stated in particular that the Synod in Resistance fully adheres to the ecclesiology set forth by the Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria, which was included in an appendix.
To His Eminence, the Most Reverend Agafangel
First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad
Odessa, Ukraine.
October 11, 2013 (O.S.)
Phyle, Attica
Holy Apostle and Deacon Philip
A MESSAGE OF PEACE
Your Eminence, beloved in Christ
brother and our concelebrant, Vladyka Metropolitan Agafangel, First Hierarch of
the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, we embrace you with joy, and with the
conviction that Christ is in our midst, He is and ever shall be. Amen!
After our elevation, by the Grace
of God, through the vote and insistence of the Members of the Hierarchy of our
Holy Synod, at its recent 40th Session (October 4/17 2013), to the position of
Metropolitan of Oropos and Phyle and President of the Synod, we hasten with
this present Message of Peace to officially inform Your Eminence of this,
together with the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, our Sister Church, under your
leadership. We address you with a heartfelt greeting and a kiss of Love, Peace,
and Unity, with deep gratitude for the synodal congratulation received from
you, requesting your Holy prayers.
The sanctity of the person of our
Most Reverend Metropolitan and Father Cyprian, who reposed in Christ five
months ago, and his exceedingly important Legacy, makes our ministry
exceptionally responsible and difficult.
Considering our own weakness, we
rely on the help and support of God, through the intercession of the Most Holy
Lady Theotokos and all the Saints, and especially on the love in Christ
and the brotherly prayers of Your Eminence.
We consider it our duty, our most
honorable and Most Reverend Brother in Christ, to assure you that we stand
firmly and unwaveringly in the Orthodox Faith, by the Grace of God, believing
as our Spirit-bearing Fathers decreed at the Seven Ecumenical Councils, adding
nothing and taking away nothing, striving to observe unalterably the
prescriptions of the Holy Canons and Sacred Traditions, under the guidance of
which we proclaim that Ecumenism is an ecclesiological heresy, and the reform
of the Church calendar is an innovation subject to condemnation.
The Lord did not grant us the joy
of seeing you here at the Patronal Feast of our Metropolitan Center last week,
but we hope that the grace of our Lord will arouse in you noble zeal, so that
we may soon be deemed worthy of the blessing to proclaim our unity together, in
the union of our hearts in the common Confession of Faith, through the
concelebration of the Mystery of the Divine Eucharist, for the edification in
Christ of ourselves and of all.
We take the opportunity also to inform Your Eminence that our Holy Synod, sincerely desiring to put an end to the confusion regarding the misunderstanding of certain expressions of its ecclesiology—expressions which it certainly does not insist upon dogmatically and unyieldingly—declares that it agrees in principle [in principio] with the “Ecclesiological Position” of its Sister Orthodox Church of the Patristic Calendar in Bulgaria, headed by His Grace, Bishop Photii of Triaditsa. As is known, this document has been available for almost a year on the internet in Russian translation, a copy of which we attach to this message. These positions could serve as a satisfactory basis for a gathering/union of Orthodox anti-ecumenists of the Patristic Calendar throughout the world. [Emphasis added.]
We also assure you that our
official dialogue with the Church of the G.O.C. (Genuine Orthodox Christians)
of Greece under Archbishop Kallinikos is continuing, by the grace of God,
responsibly and seriously, in a spirit of mutual respect and with well-founded
hopes for positive results.
Hoping and fervently praying that
the Divine Steward of the Church, our Lord Jesus Christ, may grant us the
richness of His saving Truth, so that we may proclaim it to the whole universe
in peace and concord, we once again embrace Your Eminence, and in your
honorable person all the faithful with you, clergy and laity, in the Holy
Spirit, to the glory of God the Father, remaining with respect and sincere
love.
Your Eminence's loving Brother in
Christ and Concelebrant,
† Cyprian [II], Metropolitan of
Oropos and Phyle
President of the Holy Synod in
Resistance
The Ecclesiological Position of
the Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria (in English):
https://www.imoph.org/pdfs/2013/05/29/E20130519aEkklesTheseisBulgaria.pdf
Russian source:
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