Saint Gregory the Great the Dialogist on the title “Ecumenical”

Nikolaos Mannis | February 4, 2020

Within the framework of the anti-heretical struggle against the Neo-Papism of the Phanar, [1] and because its supporters claim that the Patriarch of Constantinople “as Ecumenical Patriarch, is first without equal (primus sine paribus),” [2] I publish below a few excerpts from some very important letters of Pope Gregory the Great of Rome (+604), which he composed on the occasion of the additional title “Ecumenical,” which had just been assumed at that time by the Patriarch of Constantinople, Saint John the Faster (+595).

At that time, it was indeed a misunderstanding, since the title “Ecumenical” was understood by those of the Church of Constantinople merely as an honorary title (since Constantinople was the capital of the “Oikoumene,” as the Empire was called)—that is, a “hollow and insignificant word” [3]—and not a title intended to indicate some supposed primacy of authority and governance over the entire Church, as Saint Gregory feared.

However, because in our time this fear is justified—since the heresy of the Neo-Papism of Constantinople is spreading like a cancer, [4] and because of this heresy new schisms are being created—and old ones reinforced—within the Church, the texts of the Saint are timely and will aid the truly Orthodox in confronting this deviation in a patristic manner.

These letters of Saint Gregory the Great are a thunderbolt against the primacy of authority [5] of any Bishop who believes he has the right to rule over the entire Church. For this reason, they were first used by the Orthodox to combat the Primacy of authority of the Pope of Rome.

For their translation, I took into account the original Latin text of the letters from the monumental edition of Mansi, [6] as well as their English translation from an equally important edition. [7]

Thus, Saint Gregory the Great writes in a letter in 595 to Saint John the Faster of Constantinople, misunderstanding—as we mentioned—the title and fearing that his fellow bishop was taking it literally [8]:

“When you, my Brother, were ordained to the episcopacy, you remember the peace and concord among the Churches that you found. But I do not know with what boldness or swelling of pride you have sought to appropriate a new title, by which the hearts of all your brethren might be led into scandal.

“And I am exceedingly astonished by this, since I remember how you once deliberately avoided accepting the episcopal office, though you desired it. And yet now that you have received it, you wish to exercise it as though you had attained it through ambitious desire... For truly (and I say this weeping, with the deepest sorrow in my heart) I ascribe it to my sins, that this Brother of mine, who received the rank of bishop with the chief aim of bringing the souls of others to humility, has not yet succeeded in returning to it himself; that he who teaches truth to others has not consented to teach it to himself, even when I implore him.

“I pray that you will consider how, through your senseless arrogance, the peace of the Church is disturbed—and this is in opposition to the Grace which is poured out equally upon all, a Grace which undoubtedly has the power to increase according to what you yourself determine. And it will indeed become much greater, the more you restrain yourself from usurping a proud and foolish title: and you will make proportionate progress, if you do not yield to the excessive claim made by your brethren.

“Therefore, beloved Brother, with all your heart, love humility, through which the concord of all the brethren and the unity of the holy ecumenical Church may be preserved. Indeed, the Apostle Paul, when he heard some saying, ‘I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ’ (1 Cor. 1:12), was horrified at such a division of the body of the Lord, whose members were being placed under other heads, saying: ‘Was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?’ (1 Cor. 1:13).

“If, then, that man avoided subjecting the members of the Lord partially to other heads—even when those were the very Apostles—what will you say to Christ, Who is the Head of the whole Church, on the day of the final Judgment, having attempted to place all His members beneath yourself through the appellation ‘Ecumenical’?

“Whom else, I ask, does this corrupt title propose as a model for imitation, if not him who, despising the legions of angels with whom he was joined, strove to ascend to the height of uniqueness, so as to be subject to none and to appear as alone above all? He who also said: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit upon a high mountain, upon the lofty mountains toward the north; I will ascend above the clouds; I will be like the Most High’ (Isaiah 14:13–14).

“For what else are your brethren, the bishops of the ecumenical Church, but stars of heaven, whose life and word both shine amidst sins and human failings, amid the shadows of the night? And when you desire to set yourself above them, with this proud title, and to diminish their name in comparison to yours, what else are you saying, if not: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of God’?

“Are not all the bishops together clouds, who, like rain, send forth the word of preaching, and like lightning flash the light of good works? And when Your Holiness scorns them and places them beneath yourself, what else does he say, if not what was said by the ancient enemy—namely: ‘I will ascend above the clouds’?” [9]

Two years later (597), he writes to Emperor Maurice:

“Who is this who, contrary to the Gospel decrees and the ordinances of the Canons, appropriates to himself a new name? Truly, it is he who diminishes the rest—desiring to be ‘Ecumenical.’ And yet we know that many bishops of the Church of Constantinople had fallen into the error of heresy and had become not only heretics, but even heresiarchs.

“Such as Nestorius, who divided Jesus Christ, the Mediator between God and men, into two persons, because he did not believe that God could become man, adopting thereby the unbelief of the Jews.

“From that Church also comes Macedonius, who denied that the Holy Spirit is God and consubstantial with the Father and the Son. If, then, anyone in that Church assumes such a name by which he makes himself head of all, it follows that the ecumenical Church would fall (which God forbid) [10] every time the so-called ‘Ecumenical’ should fall. But let this blasphemous name (nomen blasphemiae) be removed from the hearts of Christians, which takes away the honor of all the brethren, when it is unjustly adopted by one.” [11]

In another letter to the Emperor, he noted that “whoever is called or desires to be called ‘Ecumenical Hierarch’ is—by that self-exaltation—a forerunner of the Antichrist, for he places himself with arrogance above all others.” [12]

He had also sent a similar letter to the other Eastern Patriarchs, Saint Eulogios of Alexandria (+607) and Saint Anastasios of Antioch (+599), in which he also wrote the following: 

“As Your Holy Reverences know, this title of ecumenicalism was offered by the Holy Council of Chalcedon to the See of the Apostolic Throne, which by God’s providence I serve. But none of my predecessors ever consented to use this profane title (profano vocabulo), considering that if one Patriarch is called ‘Ecumenical,’ then the very meaning of the title ‘Patriarch’ is abolished for the others… And while we do not desire to accept this honor when it is offered to us, consider how shameful it is for someone to seek to usurp it for himself. Therefore, let Your Holinesses never call anyone ‘Ecumenical’ in your letters, so as not to degrade your own rank by granting to another what is not owed to him… For if the use of this title be accepted, the honor of all the Patriarchs is stripped away; and when the one who is called ‘Ecumenical’ happens to fall into error, then no Bishop would remain who has preserved the truth.” [13]

Patriarch Eulogios of Alexandria, in his response, “wrote to him that, in accordance with his instruction, he no longer used the title ‘Ecumenical’ in his letters to the Patriarch of Constantinople, and he addressed Gregory as ‘Ecumenical Pope.’” [14]

However, Saint Gregory, in his reply, vehemently rejected this compliment, writing among other things the following:

“Your Holiness has also stated that you will no longer use proud titles—stemming from the root of vanity—in writing to certain persons, and you mention it to me saying: ‘as you have commanded us.’ This word—command—I beg you to remove from my hearing, for I know who I am and who you are. In office, you are my brethren; in worth, you are my fathers... I have therefore said that nothing of the sort ought to be written either to me or to anyone else; and behold, in the preface of the letter you sent me, you judged it proper to use a proud appellation, calling me ‘Ecumenical Pope.’ But I implore your kind Holiness to do so no more… I do not regard as an honor that by which I know my brethren lose their honor. My honor is the honor of the universal Church; my honor is the firm standing of my brethren. Then am I truly honored when the honor due to each is not denied to him. For if Your Holiness calls me ‘Ecumenical Pope,’ you deny your own title, since it is implied that I am the Bishop of the whole world. But far be from us words that inflate vanity and wound charity.” [15]

The above texts of Saint Gregory the Great constitute a fearful rebuke—not only against the luciferian Papism, but also against every form of Neo-Papism that may attempt to be hatched within our Holy Church, whether by a Pope, or by a Patriarch, or even by an Angel from heaven!

In the face of the real and present Neo-Papism of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, we exclaim together with Saint Gregory the Great: “But in this pride, what else is indicated if not that the times of the Antichrist are already near?” [16]

May we Orthodox, with the Saints as our guides, resist with all our strength the forerunners of the Antichrist and preserve unadulterated the Faith once delivered to our Fathers! So be it.

[1] See indicatively:
a) UKRAINIAN ISSUE: SAINT NIKODEMOS AGAINST THE NEO-PAPISTS OF THE PHANAR (AND A COMMENT): http://krufo-sxoleio.blogspot.com/2018/11/blog-post_3.html
b) The New Rome following in the footsteps of the Old?: https://spzh.news/gr/zashhita-very/62794-novyj-rim-v-svete-starogo-kuda-privedet-primat-vselenskogo-patriarkha
c) Is Patriarch Bartholomew “Ecumenical”?: http://krufo-sxoleio.blogspot.com/2014/07/blog-post_5.html
d) The Heresy of the Papism of Constantinople: https://www.romfea.gr/katigories/10-apopseis/26628-airesi-tou-papismou-konstantinoupoleos

[2] Primus sine paribus: Response to the Document on Primacy by the Patriarchate of Moscow by His Eminence Metropolitan Elpidophoros of Bursa:
https://www.patriarchate.org/el/-/primus-sine-paribus-hapantesis-eis-to-peri-proteiou-keimenon-tou-patriarcheiou-moschas-tou-sebasmiotatou-metropolitou-prouses-k-elpidophorou

[3] Chrysostomos Papadopoulos, The Primacy of the Bishop of Rome, Athens, 1964, p. 140.

[4] The elevation of the “Ecumenical” above all his fellow bishops was institutionalized even at the Pseudo-Council of Crete (see https://www.holycouncil.org/-/rest-of-christian-world?inheritRedirect=true&redirect=%2F, §§10 and 14).

[5] The only Primacy recognized by the Church of Christ is the strictly formal Primacy of Honor, which consists, according to Makarios of Ancyra, in “presiding, sitting first, speaking first, opining first, signing first in synodal gatherings and acts, and moreover, having his name proclaimed in the Diptychs” (Dositheos of Jerusalem, History of the Patriarchs in Jerusalem, Bucharest, 1715, p. 954).

[6] Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova Amplissima Collectio, Vol. 9, Florence, 1763.

[7] Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 12, Buffalo NY, 1895.

[8] All these titles and forms of address customary for ecclesiastical figures (e.g., Ecumenical, Most Holy, Most Divine, Beatitude, Eminence, Very Reverend, etc.) are honorary titles and do not have a literal meaning, nor do they represent an actual status (cf. Chr. Papadopoulos, The Primacy..., op. cit., pp. 153–155).

[9] Gregory the Great, Epistolarium, Book V, Letter 18.

[10] Cf. Matt. 16:18.

[11] Gregory the Great, op. cit., Letter 20.

[12] Gregory the Great, op. cit., Book VII, Letter 33.

[13] Gregory the Great, op. cit., Book V, Letter 43.

[14] Chr. Papadopoulos, The Primacy..., op. cit., p. 140.

[15] Gregory the Great, op. cit., Book VIII, Letter 30.

[16] Gregory the Great, op. cit., Book V, Letter 21 (To Empress Constantina).

Greek source: https://www.romfea.gr/katigories/10-apopseis/35051-o-megas-grigorios-o-dialogos-gia-ton-