The Repose of a Contemporary Saint: A Holy Man Adorns the Romanian Church (1985)

Archimandrite Chrysostomos (future Metropolitan of Etna)

Source: Orthodox Tradition, Vol. II (1985), Nos. 3-4, pp. 7-11.

 

 

Until some ten years ago, when a Romanian clergyman from Moldavia visited the Holy Monastery of Sts. Cyprian and Justina in Greece, few Orthodox Christians knew of the existence of the Church of True Orthodox Romanians of Greece, the some one million Faithful in Moldavia who resisted the change in the Orthodox Calendar by the Romanian Church some decades ago and remained faithful to Church Tradition. Once these people became known, so too did the holy reputation of their Metropolitan, the beloved and blessed Metropolitan Glycherie, a man of such holy stature that, at his repose on Saturday June 16/29, half of Moldavia turned out for his funeral. Little known to the rest of us, that day marks the loss of one of the greatest Orthodox confessors in modem times, a man so transformed in holiness that his very presence — as I myself know from my visit to his cell in Romania — would provoke tears.

The tragic history of the Church of Romania is set against the holiness of this little man. Some five or more decades ago, the Romanian Church was beset by modernism, ecumenism, and such ecclesiastical turmoil that its very structure was shaken. Seeing this, the retired secretary of the Synod, Metropolitan Galaction, a courageous and holy man himself, began to resist these trends, undertaking his mission in the form of the restoration of the Old Calendar. Chief among his supporters and co-workers was the then Hieromonk Glycherie, a man already recognized for his holiness.

As the Romanian Church took precipitous steps toward modernism, Metropolitan Galaction, being unable to find any co-Consecrator, Consecrated Hieromonk Glycherie to the Episcopate in 1956, requiring of him that he find, eventually, a true-believing Bishop to correct the Consecration, which done out of absolute necessity. (We will not discuss here, out of propriety, some statements made by certain clergy in America about this act of “economy.” Let it suffice to say that such individuals lack both the charity and theological education to understand such things and that their vulgar comments about Metropolitan Glycherie, a man of manifest holiness, say about as much as need be said.) It was in 1979, after contacts with the Synod of Bishops now under Bishop Cyprian (and then under Bishop Kallistos of Corinth), that Metropolitan Glycherie’s promise to the Blessed Metropolitan Galaction was fulfilled; in this year, Bishop Cyprian’s Synod and the Synod of Bishops of the Old Calendar Romanian Church came into full communion. This communion exists to this day.

Metropolitan Glycherie is succeeded by three Bishops, the senior among them being Bishop Sylvestros, a man of great energy and piety. They are left with a million Faithful, sixty huge parishes, five immense monastic communities (three for women and two for men), and numerous, smaller monastic hermitages. The Metropolitan bequeathed to them an order which is astounding, all services being many hours in length and conducted according to the oldest typica. Many of the parish Churches, destroyed during the persecution of the Old Calendarists, were personally rebuilt by Metropolitan Glycherie, who is as much the “grandfather” of Moldavia as their beloved Saint.

Metropolitan Glycherie died in his 100th year, having communed and having conversed, in the presence of all in his cell, with the Apostles Peter and Paul – one of endless miracles witnessed by those who knew this holy Father. For reasons that one can easily understand, given the situation in Romania today, Metropolitan Cyprian, much to his bitter disappointment, was unable to obtain a visa to be present to take part in the funeral of Metropolitan Glycherie. Hieromonk Ambrosios and Monk Dionysios, who were granted visas and sent as his representatives, were turned back at the border and also kept from entering Romania. Nonetheless, communications from Moldavia indicate that half of the province was at the funeral and that the government could do nothing to stop this massive display of religious fervor.

What can one say about a Saint like this and about the Orthodoxy which he preserved? When I went to Romania, I thought that in Moldavia I had been transported to another planet, or that I had returned to Byzantium. At every Church, literally thousands upon thousands of people greeted us, singing and throwing flowers on us. The Services were astounding. The piety of the people was something one sees only in the very best Old Calendarist communities in Greece. The Churches, built without approval, were beautiful, stately, and huge. The bravery of the people was obvious. And everywhere the Churches were filled with young men and women, as were the monasteries and convents, while the State Church institutions, with few exceptions, looked like museums. And at the core of all of this? Metropolitan Glycherie.

When I entered the Metropolitan’s cell (he was quite ill at the time and not expected to live then, some five years ago!), my heart stopped. I thought of all of the filth and slander I had heard from so-called traditionalists in America, who had told me about this uncanonical Bishop. Indeed, I thought, what fools these smug people are. For a moment, so profound was the presence of Grace in the room, I thought that my breathing also had stopped. Here in front of me this frail, old, tiny man was emanating a power that the world’s greatest conquerors could never have hoped to have. For one of the few times in my life, I had some idea what tangible Grace really was. The experience is one of which I can no longer even speak.

It would be fruitless to tell of the holiness of this man. Books will be written in Romania about him for years now. And undoubtedly these will be translated into Greek and English. One small miracle, so delicate and beautiful, however, tells us how much he pleased God and how much God loved him. Once, while escaping persecution, he and some spiritual children went deep into the forest. As they were fleeing, it began to snow. His spiritual children became very frightened, noting that their pursuers would see their tracks in the snow and follow them. Metropolitan Glycherie simply looked up and prayed to the Theotokos. Within minutes a flock of birds flew down and pecked at the snow, obliterating their tracks! Such was the love of God for this man.

There is no doubt that this holy man is now in the choir of Saints. I would be so bold, therefore, as to ask that he pray for us, who are now daily losing those who are our links to the great spirituality of the Fathers. As Mother Alexandra, retired Abbess of the Holy Transfiguration Sisterhood in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, and former Princess of Romania, told me on hearing of this holy man’s death, “We now have another Saint to pray for us in Heaven.” May God raise us up, in our unworthiness, to be worthy of preserving what such holy Fathers as Metropolitan Glycherie have given us!