Telegram of Ecumenical Patriarch
Photios [II] (1929-1935) to Archbishop Chrysostomos Papadopoulos:
"Please inform the former Metropolitan of Florina,
Chrysostomos, that the participation of His Eminence in a movement against the
peace and unity of the Church and the pious nation has deeply saddened us and
the Mother Church. Reminding him of the sacred oaths he took before the Church
in the all-holy Patriarchal Church, regarding lifelong devotion and obedience
to the Church, oaths which we still hear resounding, we, together with the Holy
Synod around us, call for obedience and discipline towards the Church,
declaring that the violation and breaking of these oaths will result in the
erasure of his name from the book of life, because his audacity and that of
those collaborating with him is directed against the God-established Mother
Church and the unity of the pious people."
Patriarch PHOTIOS
- Newspaper Νέος
Κόσμος, June 7, 1935
+++
The former Metropolitan of Florina, Saint
Chrysostomos, in response to the letter sent to him by Ecumenical Patriarch
Photios, sent the following letter:
Your Holiness, Master, Holy and Sacred Synod,
With a sorrowful soul and righteous indignation in my heart,
I have received the telegram of Your Holiness transmitted to me through the
Synod of the Church of Greece. In response, submitting the attached printed
protest, I proceed to briefly declare the following:
A) We are not transgressors of the oath of faith and
obedience to the Mother Church, but rather it is those who have violated the
Traditions of the Holy Seven Ecumenical Councils and the centuries-old practice
of the Orthodox Church through the calendar innovation.
B) We did not tear apart the Orthodox Church nor divide the
Orthodox Greek people, but rather the innovating Bishops, who, in disregard of
the centuries-old Orthodox institutions, introduced a foreign calendar
tradition, reeking of Papism, serving the hidden desires of the Western church,
and exposing the Orthodox Church as lacking unity and cohesion in matters of
faith and Divine Worship.
C) We, Your Holiness, remaining faithful to the Traditions
of the Seven Ecumenical Councils and the venerable Ecumenical decrees that
constitute the unity of Orthodoxy and form the simultaneous and uniform
expression of faith and divine worship, are worthy of praise and blessings from
the Mother Church, and not of criticisms and threats, in contrast to those who,
despite their oath of faith and the venerable Traditions of the Holy Seven
Ecumenical Councils and the divine and sacred canons, trampled upon them
through the unilateral and uncanonical implementation of the Gregorian calendar
in Divine Worship. The Gregorian calendar, as is well known, was characterized
by the great Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremias II at a Pan-Orthodox Synod in
Constantinople as an innovation of Old Rome, as a global scandal, and as an
arbitrary violation of the Synodal decrees and Ecclesiastical Traditions.
D) We, Your Holiness, believe that the [current] resolution
on the calendar issue is not only not canonical but also entirely contrary to
the canons, because, apart from the fact that it did not stem from a decision
of an Ecumenical Council, which alone is justified by the spirit of the divine
and sacred Canons and the centuries-old practice of the Orthodox Eastern Church
to resolve matters of a general ecclesiastical nature, it also lacks the
ecclesiastical authority of the Ecumenical Throne. It was decided solely by a
twelve-member Synod and not by the entire hierarchy of the Throne assembled in
Synod and making decisions in the Holy Spirit, in accordance with the 34th
Apostolic Canon. In the attached printed protest and clarification of the
calendar issue, we extensively demonstrate the ecclesiastical and national
reasons that encouraged us to take this great and historic step: and we are
confident that, when Your Holiness and the Synod around you carefully read
this, you will justify us. Perhaps, Your Holiness, you will ask us why, before
declaring the governing Church schismatic and cutting all relations and
spiritual communication with it, we did not present these reasons to the Synod
of the Hierarchy? In response, we assure you that for twelve whole years, in
all the Synods of the Hierarchy, we, together with other like-minded bishops,
appealed to the sound judgment and Orthodox sentiments of the Hierarchy,
earnestly exhorting them in the name of the unity of Orthodoxy and the peace
and tranquility of the Church to restore the traditional calendar, the only
thing capable of uniting what had been divided, as it had caused the division
in the first place. Unfortunately, not only were we not heard by the majority
of the Hierarchs, but we were even ridiculed as being out of touch and as
clinging like barnacles to a rock to what, according to them, was an outdated
and useless ecclesiastical tradition. Thus, when we saw that the schism had
already been created without us, initially by a few Christians and now by over
two million, and that the Hierarchy had no intention of restoring the Orthodox
calendar, we embarked on this sacred and Holy Struggle, sustained by the hope
that sooner or later, under the pressure of the people, the Hierarchy would be
compelled to restore the Orthodox calendar for the sake of the unity of
Orthodoxy and the peace of the Church. If the Archbishop is passing contrary
information to you, do not believe him, for he has often been caught lying by
his own signature. We know that the Archbishop, using falsehood and abusing the
power of the Revolutionary Government, of which he was a blind instrument, then
misled the Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, pushing it toward this
calendar innovation, thus jeopardizing the authority that the Ecumenical
Patriarchate exercises over all Orthodox Churches as the palladium of
Orthodoxy. The same Archbishop is again attempting to mislead the Patriarchate
through lies and slander, his only weapons, to push it into anti-Orthodox and
uncanonical decisions that will have an impact on all Orthodox Churches
standing on the foundation of the Holy Seven Ecumenical Councils and
Ecclesiastical Traditions. We draw the attention of Your Holiness and the Holy
Synod around you to this serious issue, for we must not forget that the primacy
of the Ecumenical Patriarchate over spiritual matters is at stake due to the
calendar innovation, and that the golden seals of Orthodoxy, acquired through
rivers of martyrdom, are being nullified. Our bold and Orthodox stance protects
these ancient rights and the primacy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, as it
absolves it from responsibility before the other Orthodox Churches for the
audacity of the calendar innovation, placing it instead on the twelve-member
Synod of the Patriarchate, which exceeded the limits of its jurisdiction,
having been misled by the Archbishop, as is evident from the testimonies of
respected persons, including the late Patriarch Constantine [VI], and from the
official documents exchanged between the late Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory
[VII] and the Archbishop of Athens. Let us not hide behind our fingers, Your
Holiness. The calendar innovation, of which the Archbishop of Athens and his
like-minded and equally responsible ally, Patriarch Meletios [Metaxakis] of
Alexandria, are the instigators and primary agents, not only jeopardized the
Orthodox prestige of the Ecumenical Patriarchate but also opened in the heart
of the Orthodox Church of Greece a festering wound of a malignant nature,
which, unless healed by the restoration of the Orthodox calendar, will bring
decay and gangrene to the entire organism of the Autocephalous Church of
Greece, which will have a terrible impact on the unity and vitality of the
Greek nation. Be careful, Your Holiness, not to be misled again by the
Archbishop, who, for reasons unknown, serving anti-Orthodox and anti-national
purposes, has moved every stone to present us as underminers of ecclesiastical
and national unity, portraying us as schismatics within the Church, while it
was he who tore it apart with the calendar innovation. This is why the entire
Greek people, fervent devotees of the Ecclesiastical Traditions, have disavowed
him as an enemy of Orthodoxy and embraced us as pillars and defenders of the
sacred and national traditions. And just as he falsely presented the calendar
innovation to the late Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory as a pan-Hellenic desire
and as serving the highest national interests, as events have shown, so now he
will likely present to you that we, through our saving and historic initiative,
provoked the wrath of the Orthodox Greek people. Yet we have received thousands
of telegrams from all regions expressing their devotion to us as pillars of
Orthodoxy and declaring that they are ready, fighting at our side, to shed their
blood in defense of the Orthodox institutions and Ecclesiastical Traditions. We
make these things known to you in advance and earnestly entreat you not to give
any credence to what the Archbishop, the leader of falsehood and intrigue,
writes to you. The Orthodox calendar will be restored in the Greek Church
because respect for the Seven Ecumenical Councils and Ecclesiastical Traditions
demands it, and because the Orthodox Greek people, the fervent devotees of
religion and vigilant guardians and custodians of Ecclesiastical Traditions,
have made this issue a matter of life and death.
What will save the unity of the Church and the Nation is
only the return of the Church to the Orthodox Calendar, which must happen as
soon as possible through the personal sacrifice of those who have caused this
accursed division among the Orthodox Churches and Christians. Any other
solution is excluded as dangerous to the peace and tranquility of the devout
Greek people and to the Orthodoxy of the Church. This we deemed appropriate to
communicate to Your Holiness and the Synod around you in response to your
telegram, and we are pleased to believe that the Mother Church, caring for the
unity of Orthodoxy and the peace of the Orthodox Greek people, will not only be
inclined to restore the Orthodox Calendar but will also recommend to the
Archbishop the personal sacrifice imposed by the unavoidable necessity of the
situation, for the restoration of the Orthodox calendar institution and the
appeasement of the devout Greek people who have risen against him.
With that,
I remain with brotherly love,
The former Metropolitan of Florina, CHRYSOSTOMOS
Source: Τὰ Πάτρια,
Metropolitan Kalliopios (Giannakoulopoulos) of Pentapolis, Volume VII, Piraeus,
1987, pp. 162-166.
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