Nikolaos Mannis, educator
November 14, 2025
[Written in response to the recent
arrest of a pseudo-old calendarist and pseudo-bishop in Greece (https://spzh.eu/en/news/88987-fake-priests-running-a-drug-lab-uncovered-in-athens)
and the attempts by some to associate him with the Church of the G.O.C. of
Greece, and our own responsibility in the matter by deviating from the vision
and intent of St. Chrysostomos the New Confessor.]
As is known, when in 1924 the
Synod of the Church of Greece introduced the new calendar, some people reacted
to this introduction and were contemptuously called “Old Calendarists.” These
people, unfortunately, were from the very beginning persecuted by ecclesiastical
and political authorities, [1] a persecution that lasted for decades; and the schism
that ensued (which has now surpassed a century) has still not been addressed by
a competent Synod, as provided for by Canon Law. When in 1935 Hierarchs joined
the Old Calendarist Movement (specifically Germanos Mavrommatis of Demetrias, Chrysostomos
Kavouridis, formerly of Florina, and Chrysostomos Dimitriou of Zakynthos),
episcopal ordinations were performed, and this Movement acquired an
ecclesiastical leadership with undisputed Apostolic Succession. That most Old
Calendarists placed special importance on Apostolic Succession, as much as on
Apostolic Faith, is also demonstrated by their refusal to recognize the
pseudo-bishops who were “ordained” solely (in violation of the Canons) by
Bishop Matthew of Vresthena in 1948, the founder of a new “Old Calendarist”
“Church” (known for the scandals of the Monastery of Keratea). But even later,
when in 1960 and 1962 Bishops were ordained by Hierarchs of the Russian
Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA), there were many who reacted out of fear that
there might not be canonicity (since the ordinations were carried out quietly
due to the then-existing persecution), until these ordinations were ultimately
recognized in 1969 by the Synod of ROCOR, so that no informed person could
henceforth doubt the validity of these ordinations—not even those of the
official Church (those, of course, who are not malicious)—as is also
demonstrated by the case of the late Fr. Dimitrios Kotsikonas, regarding which
I append the petition of then Metropolitan of Demetrias (and later Archbishop)
Christodoulos for his reception as a canonically ordained cleric, as well as
the positive response of the Synod through its then Chief Secretary (and
current Archbishop) Mr. Ieronymos.
Unfortunately, however, when the
persecutions against the Old Calendarists ceased and the free exercise of their
religious duties and the recognition of their Mysteries by the State were
legislated, the sorrowful phenomenon was observed whereby former clergymen of
the official Church, who had been deposed by it for issues unrelated to the
Faith—that is, for moral or other serious canonical offenses—continued to act
as “clergymen,” now posing as “Old Calendarists,” so that, by exploiting legal
protection, they might evade prosecution for the offense of “impersonating a
minister of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ.”
One of these pseudo–Old
Calendarists was also Dorotheos Tsakos, a New Calendarist Archimandrite (of the
Metropolis of Sidirokastro), who, after being convicted and deposed for sodomy
in 1968, was “ordained” “bishop” by Nikolaos Katsounakis of the Patriarchate of
Alexandria, who had been “ordained” a pseudo-bishop of “Venezuela” by
self-ordained Ukrainians! A few years later, Tsakos was “ordained” a second
time as “bishop” with the title “of Monemvasia and Sparta” [2] by the
self-proclaimed …“Ecumenical Patriarch” Theokletos Kantaris, also a New
Calendarist Archimandrite (and former protosyncellus of Metropolitan
Alexander Dilanás of Veria [3]), who, Theokletos, had been deposed in 1957
because he hastened to be “ordained” a pseudo-bishop by one of the bishops
“ordained” by the Matthewite group. [4] In 1984, Dorotheos Tsakos was
“ordained” again, as the supposed “Metropolitan of Patras,” by the Old
Calendarist Bishops (with Succession from ROCOR) of Maximos Vallianatos of Cephalonia
and Gerasimos Vrakas of Thebes, secretly from their Synod, which deposed
Bishops Maximos and Gerasimos for this pseudo-ordination and declared the
“ordination” as “non-existent and never having taken place.” [5] Gerasimos,
together with Tsakos, before departing from this vain world, [6] managed to
“ordain” new pseudo-bishops (thus creating a Lernaean Hydra), among whom was
Seraphim Michas, a New Calendarist Hieromonk (of the Metropolis of Kythira),
who had been deposed in 1981 for self-defrocking, as shown in the deposition
document:
As, therefore, not only an expert
canonist but even the most simple-minded believer can easily ascertain, the
self-styled “Metropolitan of Elefsina and Salamina” and “Archbishop of Athens”
Seraphim Michas (now deceased) was a pseudo–Old Calendarist pseudo-bishop,
without Apostolic Succession, just like Dorotheos Tsakos, from whom he received
the so-called “ordination.” The same holds for Parthenios Vezýreas, who is
likewise a pseudo–Old Calendarist pseudo-bishop, since, as we read in his
official biography, [7] on the one hand, he was raised not within the Old
Calendarist sphere, but in that of the New Calendar (as a catechist under
Chrysostomos Themelis of Messinia, deacon and great-schema monk under
Chrysostomos Papadopoulos of Carthage), and on the other hand, after his
deposition by the official Church, he was “ordained” by Seraphim Michas as
“presbyter” and pseudo-bishop “of Karyoupolis, Oitylon and all Mani,” with the
participation of other pseudo-bishops, who later, having split among
themselves, half of them “deposed” him, [8] while the other half “proclaimed”
him “Archbishop of Athens” before ultimately abandoning him! Therefore,
Vezýreas is neither an ideological Old Calendarist nor a true Bishop, since he
possesses neither the Apostolic Faith nor the Apostolic Succession, while all
the Old Calendarists of Greece consider him (as they hastened unanimously to
declare) a foreign body and do not recognize him, except only as a deposed
deacon of the official Church, just as Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus himself
had called him, very aptly comparing his case to that of the Ukrainian
Schismatics [9].
Therefore, the recent attempt by
a canonist clergyman [10], who, on the occasion of the Vezýreas case, issued a
verdict like a …vizier, against the validity of the Mysteries and the Apostolic
Succession of all Old Calendarists without exception, is not only arbitrary and
uncanonical (since he clearly usurps the role of a Pan-Orthodox Synod, whose judgment
he seizes), but also laughable, since, on the other hand, he recognizes as
“Canonical” every Vezýreas of the “autocephalous” pseudo-church of Ukraine, the
country in which he is active. Certainly, however, the great spiritual
responsibility of the Old Calendarists of Greece for the Vezýreas phenomenon
must also be mentioned here, since once again the spiritual law has operated. I
explain: If the Old Calendarists had remained faithful to the ecclesiological
legacy of Chrysostomos of Florina (+1955), who was never proclaimed
“Archbishop” and only sought the lawful resolution of the matter by a
Pan-Orthodox Synod, there would not be today so many “Archbishops”… As is known
(from the Holy Canons and Ecclesiastical History), every Hierarch who falls
into an offense must be judged by a Synod, and only if he is deposed is another
placed in his position [11]. The first among the Old Calendarists who trampled
this principle was Matthew of Vresthena, who, after “ordaining” “Hierarchs” by
himself, was then proclaimed by them as the supposed “Archbishop of Athens and
All Greece.” Unfortunately, even in the faction of the former Florina, after
his repose, this illegality was followed when Auxentios of Gardikion (elected
in 1963 uncanonically — with two votes out of four! — as “President of the
Synod”) gradually adopted the above-mentioned unlawful title of “Archbishop of
Athens and All Greece.” Thereafter, at every schism among the Old Calendarists,
new “Archbishops” would appear, since many wanted to become vizier in place of
the viziers… The result? God’s punishment falling upon their heads, having
become the laughingstock of all, with the existence of so many “Archbishops of
Athens,” even of the level of Vezýreas, and constantly striving so anxiously to
prove that they bear no responsibility.
May all, therefore, assume the
responsibilities that befit them with a spirit of humility and justice.
NOTES
[1] https://www.imoph.org/pdfs/2016/04/09/20160409eDiogmoi.pdf
[2] See Orthodoxos
Typos, 16-1-1981.
[3] Fr.
Timotheos Chalkias, The Beginnings of Old Calendarism in the Region of
Imathia (https://www.academia.edu/6005116/ΟΙ_ΑΠΑΡΧΕΣ_ΤΟΥ_ΠΑΛΑΙΟΗΜΕΡΟΛΟΓΙΤΙΣΜΟΥ_ΣΤΗΝ_ΠΕΡΙΟΧΗ_ΤΗΣ_ΗΜΑΘΙΑΣ).
[4]
Christodoulos Paraskevaïdis (Archbishop), Historical and Canonical
Consideration of the Old Calendarist Issue (http://www.myriobiblos.gr/books/book1/kef5_per3_fas2_meros5.htm).
[5] See The
Voice of Orthodoxy, November–December 1985.
[6]
Dorotheos Tsakos was murdered a few years later, in a disreputable area of
Athens.
[7] http://arxiepiskop-palaio.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_49.html
[8] http://ieramitropolixiou-pe.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_4560.html
[10] https://www.romfea.gr/katigories/10-apopseis/73027-i-ekklisia-tis-ellados-kai-oi-palaioimerologites
[11] The
16th Canon of the First-Second Council is revealing: “Because of the rivalries
and disturbances that occur in the Church of God, it is necessary also to
establish this: that by no means should a bishop be appointed in a church whose
presiding bishop is still alive and retains his own rank, unless he voluntarily
resigns from the episcopacy. For it is necessary first that the cause of the
one about to leave the episcopacy be removed, having been canonically examined
and brought to completion; and only then, after his deposition, should another
be advanced to the episcopacy in his place.”
Greek
source: https://exapsalmos.gr/o-vezyreas-kai-oi-vezyrides/
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