An Orthodox Hero Reposes (1992): Metropolitan Sylvestru

 

On March 18, according to the Church Calendar [sic: March 5/18], Metropolitan Sylvestru [Onofrei], Chief Hierarch of the some two million Romanian Old Calendarists, reposed at the Monastery of the Transfiguration in Slatioara, Romania. His sudden death brought tens of thousands of mourners from all over Romania for funeral services that began on the afternoon of the Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas. Metropolitan Cyprian of Oropos and Fili, a close friend of Metropolitan Sylvestru (indeed a spiritual brother), attended the funeral as a representative of our Church. Bishop Chrysostomos of Etna was unable to arrange for a flight to Bucharest in time for the funeral ceremonies, but the parishes of our Exarchate sent telegrams of condolence to the Sister Church in Romania. Representatives of the Romanian state also attended the funeral.

Metropolitan Sylvestru was a spiritual son of the Blessed Metropolitan Glycherie, former Abbot of one of the sketes of the famous Neamt Monastery and the first Bishop consecrated by Metropolitan Galaction, who stood up in resistance to the introduction of the Papal Calendar into the Romanian Church earlier this century. Under the holy Metropolitan Glycherie, who was falsely deposed, defrocked, imprisoned and persecuted for his fidelity to Holy Tradition, first under the pro-Uniate government of Romania and then later under the Communists, the True Orthodox Church of Romania grew to more than one million, mostly concentrated in Moldavia.

At the repose of Metropolitan Glycherie, Metropolitan Sylvestru assumed the guidance of the Romanian Old Calendar Church, leading it through the recent revolution, gaining government recognition of its status, and overseeing the construction of more than fifty new Churches. Under Metropolitan Sylvestru, the Romanian Old Calendarists also doubled in number.

His Eminence was deeply loved by our clergy and Faithful in Greece and in America. Bishop Chrysostomos of Etna, speaking at a memorial service in his honor following Sunday Vespers on the Feast Day of the St. Gregory Palamas Monastery, described Metropolitan Sylvestru as a "true hero" of Orthodoxy, a pillar to which he looked with the same awe and love that he has for his own spiritual Father, Metropolitan Cyprian. "The loss of Metropolitan Sylvestru," he observed, "is a great loss for traditional Orthodox. He was a man who suffered for his Faith and who thus taught us much simply by the presence that such suffering creates. Men like these are the Apostles of our days—sharp contrasts to the weak, sickly and compromising Shepherds who are leading the modernists into apostasy. Metropolitan Sylvestru went to a death camp because of his Faith and survived to instruct all of us by his example. ...His love for our own Metropolitan brought him near to us, just as he and Metropolitan Cyprian were brought near to one another by their enduring, Apostolic commitment to our unchanging Orthodox Faith. While I feel a deep sense of loss in my heart, I also feel great joy that such a man—as the former Princess of Romania, Mother Alexandra, said of Metropolitan Glycherie when I told her of his repose some years ago—'will shine among the Saints of the Church of Romania.'"

Metropolitan Sylvestru, at the request of Metropolitan Cyprian, was awarded the Diploma in Orthodox Theological Studies honoris causa from the Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies this past year, in recognition of his dedication to the Church, his sacrifices for its Holy Traditions, and his wise and deep knowledge of the theological truths of Orthodoxy.

On the Sunday of St. Thomas, following Pascha, a memorial service (μνημόσυνον) was held in the afternoon at the Monastery of the Transfiguration in Slatioara to commemorate the forty-day anniversary of the Metropolitan's repose. Representing our Church were Metropolitan Cyprian, Bishop Chrysostomos of Etna, Bishop Auxentios of Photiki, and Father Gregory Telepneff, pastor of the St. John Chrysostomos Church in Colma, CA.

The enthronement of the new Metropolitan, the former Bishop Vlasie, took place shortly before the memorial service for Metropolitan Sylvestru. In a simple, moving ceremony, His Eminence was taken to his throne, which was placed outside in the midst of the tens of thousands of worshippers present for the event. Bishop Gennady read the statement of election by the Holy Synod, and the new Metropolitan was given his staff by Metropolitan Cyprian of Oropos and Fili, on behalf of our Church in Greece. Bishop Demosthene and Bishop Chrysostomos of Etna then addressed the crowd, followed by a moving address by Metropolitan Cyprian, in which His Eminence noted that he saw in the face of the new Metropolitan the visage of his friend and brother, Metropolitan Sylvestru.

In his own address, the new Metropolitan, who possesses a profound knowledge of Patristics and Church history, spoke of the Apostolic foundations of the Church of Romania, calling to mind in his moving imagery the magnificent witness of his predecessors. Following a meal in the monastery refectory, in the company of the ninety members of the Brotherhood and numerous clergy, His Eminence, Metropolitan Vlasie announced the nomination of a new Bishop, the much respected Archimandrite Pahomie, Abbot of the Church's monastery in Cucova. With tearful thanksgiving, all present welcomed this news.

 

Source: Orthodox Tradition, Vol. IX (1992), No. 4, pp. 2-3.