“Follow the Old Calendar!” A wondrous revelation to Elder Philotheos Zervakos

Letter of Elder Philotheos Zervakos to Metropolitan Augoustinos Kantiotis of Florina in Defense of the Old Calendar

 

 

At the Holy Summit of All Saints, June 6/19, 1968

Most Reverend Holy Bishop of Florina, Augoustinos,

Since the eve of All Saints, I have been at the Holy Summit. The day before yesterday, we celebrated their most sacred feast, and recalling that last year, on the day before the feast, I was prepared to ascend the summit and perform the celebration, you telephoned me to come to Athens and be present at your ordination (as your first spiritual father from your early years), which was to take place in the Church of Saint Constantine at Omonia. I obeyed you and came eagerly, and I rejoiced exceedingly, because the Lord deemed me worthy to see one of my first spiritual children ascend, by the grace and good pleasure of God, to the highest rank of the Hierarchy. I believe that it was not by chance that your ordination took place on the day of All Saints. It happened by the good pleasure and economy of God, who providentially governs all things for the benefit of each one. It happened so that you may remember and celebrate and honor this day, remember all the Saints, and become an imitator of them, become holy—for this is also the will of our heavenly Father: “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” And the Saints themselves are not pleased only that we celebrate them; they are more pleased when we imitate them and follow in their footsteps. The God-bearing Holy Fathers, who convened the Holy Ecumenical and Local Synods, besides the other written and unwritten traditions they handed down to us, also handed down the Old Calendar, on the basis of which the entire Orthodox Church celebrates all the movable and immovable holy feasts, and which it followed, revered, and preserved for approximately fifteen centuries.

In the year 1924, Ecumenical Patriarch Meletios Metaxakis—who did not enter through the gate into the sheepfold, but entered as a thief by an adulterous, Masonic, and political manner, and climbed up to the thrones: first that of the Archbishopric of Athens, and afterward the patriarchal thrones of Constantinople, Alexandria, and finally attempted to enter, not through the gate but by another way, even into that of Jerusalem, “in order to defile that also,” as the venerable monk Paul of Chozeva writes (“Orthodoxos Typos,” issue no. 87)—but death came upon him, and all his hope vanished and was lost.

He, who according to the unwavering testimonies of many held the highest 33rd degree of Masonry, most recklessly, unpreparedly, uncanonically, and unlawfully, with only six hierarchs of unorthodox mindset, abolished the old, patristic Orthodox calendar and introduced the new papal one, and divided the one Orthodox Church into two: that of the Old Calendarists and that of the New Calendarists.

The Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council decreed: “If anyone rejects any tradition, written or unwritten, anathema,” and “All things innovated and done contrary to the teaching and pattern of the blessed Fathers, or that shall be done hereafter, anathema thrice.” Since the Old Calendar is a written tradition, and since the New one is an innovation of papal and Masonic origin, all those who despise the Old Calendar and follow the New are subject to anathema. Every pretext and justification is inexcusable and are “escuses in sins.” The Holy Apostles handed down to us that from the Sunday of Holy Pentecost for one week until the Sunday of All Saints there is no fasting, and after the feast of All Saints, for one week we are to fast. With the introduction of the new calendar, whenever Pascha falls late, the Fast of the Holy Apostles is completely abolished, and at other times it is reduced to one or two days!

None of the hierarchs, except the ever-memorable holy Metropolitan of Kassandreia, protested at that time—only certain Old Calendarists, the most devout Mr. Tomaras, former Member of Parliament, and a few other laypeople. I, from the very beginning, never ceased to protest to Patriarchs, Hierarchs, Kings, and Prime Ministers, and to say and to write that, since the introduction of the new papal calendar into the Orthodox Church of Greece was done improperly—because it at times abolishes the Fast of the Holy Apostles, brought disorder into the order of the Church, tore it apart, and was condemned twice by Orthodox Holy Synods—it ought to be cast out and the old, the Orthodox, be reinstated. But my protests fell on deaf ears.

This past Sunday, I was compelled to ascend the summit of All Saints and of the Prophet Elias, in whose names I have built churches, to the honor and glory of God and of His glorified Saints. Kneeling before their most sacred icon, I tearfully entreated them to reveal to me which calendar I, the least of all, along with my brethren, my spiritual children, and all Orthodox Christians, ought to follow. Before I had even finished my wretched and humble supplication, I heard a voice within me saying: “Follow the Old Calendar, which was handed down to you by the God-bearing Fathers who convened the seven holy Ecumenical Councils and upheld the Orthodox Faith, and not the new one of the popes of the West—those who tore the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church and despised the Apostolic and patristic traditions!”

Such emotion, such joy, such hope, such courage and magnanimity did I feel at that moment, as I have felt only in the rarest moments of my entire life during prayer!…

From that moment—the evening of All Saints—the civil calendar, which as foreign and alien and as uncanonically, wrongly, and unlawfully introduced, I had never accepted, and against which I had struggled for 48 years, even undertaking long journeys to Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Constantinople to persuade the Patriarchs to cast it off and lawfully restore the Old Calendar to the Orthodox Church—from that sacred moment, the new calendar departed like lightning from my mind, my intellect, my soul, and my heart. And I now follow the patristic Orthodox calendar—the Old one—on which I was born, baptized, raised, became a man, an elder, aged to the last stage of life, and on which I shall depart this life, giving thanks, praising, glorifying, and blessing Almighty God, who did not allow me to fall into delusion or to turn aside to the left or to the right, but, walking always the middle and royal path, the path of repentance and of the divine Fathers, by His help and grace, I hope to reach and find rest in His heavenly dwellings, where the abode of all who rejoice is.

I, Your Eminence, listened to you—when, a few months before you were ordained Metropolitan, I handed you the Memorandum which I had submitted to the King, the Government, and the Holy Synod regarding the restoration of the Old Calendar—when you told me that it must be restored, since the introduction of the new was done improperly, and since nearly all the Orthodox Churches follow the Old Calendar, you would also make efforts with certain hierarchs known to you so that it may be restored. But when I reminded you of it again, you told me once more that we should leave it for later—and again, I listened to you.

Indeed, the ever-memorable Archbishop Chrysostomos [Hatzistavrou], who departed this temporal life just a few days ago, had told me that he would make it his concern to restore the patristic calendar to the Church before he died—but he did not have time. Since we too do not know the hour and moment of death, we are obliged, before that fearful hour comes, to make it our concern to repent—not only for all our sins, but also for the patristic calendar, which we abandoned, and we now follow the papal calendar, which was improperly, erroneously, and unlawfully introduced by a Masonic Patriarch with six hierarchs, and which the hierarchs of Greece accepted, fearing more the sword of the then-leader of the revolution, [Nikolaos] Plastiras, than the fear of God!

Let us not consider it a trivial matter that we follow the papal calendar. It is a tradition, and as a tradition we are obliged to preserve it, for we are subject to anathema. “If anyone rejects any tradition, written or unwritten, let him be anathema,” decrees the Seventh Ecumenical Council.

I obeyed you—now you must also show obedience, not to me, but to the God-bearing Holy Fathers. And just as you once strove as a preacher, and now as a hierarch, against all corruption, malice, indecent theaters, cinemas, carnivals, and yet did not strive as you ought concerning the Old Calendar—now the time has come for you to struggle. If we remain silent and do not strive for the restoration of the patristic calendar in the Church, our silence means that we accept the new papal one as more correct.

And so long as we follow the new papal calendar without opposing it, we will consequently and easily accept whatever else the modernist hierarchs and certain clergy of America and Europe serve us—namely, that the traditions, the dogmas, the holy Canons, and the Mysteries have become outdated and need to be replaced with new ones, because the youth do not accept them.

A certain priest dared—O the arrogance and impiety of him!—to say that even Christ Himself has become outdated. Therefore, it is no longer time for you to remain silent. You must recommend to the Holy Synod that it acknowledge the fact that the new calendar was not introduced canonically, that it was not established by an Ecumenical or Local Council, so that it may be cast out and the Old Calendar restored—the one which the Orthodox Church followed for approximately fifteen centuries.

So then, delay no longer. Hasten!

The Most Reverend Metropolitan of Paronaxia, to whom I had sent a petition and a letter stating that from the Feast of All Saints I have been following the calendar which the Orthodox Church handed down to me, came to the Monastery, brought me the petition, and told me that the time is not yet. But I said to him: the will of the Lord shall be done.

Fr. Epiphanios had told me: if the Metropolitan of Paronaxia does not permit us to follow the Old Calendar, I should write to him, and he will report to the Synod that there exists a legislative decree which permits all who wish to be free to follow the Old Calendar. Today I shall write to him.

With respect,
Archimandrite Philotheos Zervakos

 

Greek source: O Αγιορείτης, Issue 31, January 1985.

Online: https://krufo-sxoleio.blogspot.com/2017/06/blog-post_11.html