The Unrelenting Truth to a Deluded Theologian (1933)

On the anniversary of the repose in the Lord of the ever-memorable Bishop of Magnesia, Chrysostomos Naslimis (+ July 13, 1973 O.S.), we publish one of his first texts, which he wrote while still a layman, published in the then official organ of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece, The Herald of the Orthodox (issue no. 126, Sep 11/24, 1933).

The text is apologetic in nature and is addressed to a certain "deluded theologian" of the New Calendar, without naming him, who at that time, it seems, in the provinces, was expressing himself in writing and verbally against the followers of the Patristic Calendar, characterizing their true piety as "delusion."

At that time still a layman in Volos, Christos Naslimis, only 23 years old but venerable in mind, gives a fitting confessional reply, to the shame of the deluded accuser and for the strengthening of the Genuine Orthodox Flock. In certain points, the phrasing belongs to that early period following the Calendar Innovation, when there was still a strong expectation of rectification of the evil [reform/division] and a God-pleasing union of the Church.

The incurable New Calendarists, however, continued and do not cease from time to time to rage against the Truth; for this reason, the content of that noble text preserves, in the beauty of its style and in the simplicity and clarity of its arguments, a striking timeliness.

May the Lord grant rest to the soul of the blessed struggler for the Truth, Chrysostomos, Hierarch of the long-suffering, and may his prayers guide us in preserving the divine Deposit [of Faith]!

***

A multitude of clergy and a multitude of theologians (let us not mention the lesser ones, so as to judge other Christians who, as you also well know, all without exception approve the mindset of us so-called Old Calendarists), before the undisguised truth, covered their faces and stretched their hands toward heaven, uttering curses and anathemas against those who took the lead and still persist in the accursed Calendar Innovation, which has troubled the entire Orthodox Church.

We believe that you are in a position to know well that our mindset is spreading and being propagated day by day. Our mindset does not constitute a factional grouping, like others, aiming at the dominance of an opinion oriented toward worldly gain. Never did the adherents of the Old Calendar think to calculate days and seasons precisely, as their slanderers claim. The Old Calendarists aim to preserve all that the Church has received from the Holy Fathers—whether it be the Paschalion, or fasting, or the calendar, or the canons of marriage—for it is true that the Fathers of the Church taught all things rightly.

The Holy Spirit spoke through the Councils what is pleasing to God for the Christians to follow. If the calendar, if the Paschalion, if also all the other ecclesiastical customs were erroneous, we believe that the Holy Spirit would have informed the Holy Fathers, so that we might not follow them. Only if we admit that the Holy Spirit has not rightly guided the Church from the time of the Apostles until now, only then can we suppose that there are some errors within her. But this would constitute a dreadful blasphemy against Him, and it is known that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not forgiven, neither in the present age nor in the one to come.

Perhaps you will say to us that the Church has at times employed minor variations in matters of small importance, which also the present Church has done, and therefore you Old Calendarists should not have been scandalized. That the Church at times has introduced certain variations in her customs is true, but whatever the Church did, she did for the greater spiritual benefit of the Christians, and what was done was joyfully accepted by all. Now, however, we ask you: what have today’s Christians gained by being made to celebrate the feasts 13 days earlier? What good came to the Church after the alteration of the calendar? We at least do not see that any benefit has been brought about, except internal scandals, mutual conflicts among once brethren, division, schism, desolation in the Mother Church. It is therefore evident that the reform of the old ecclesiastical calendar tradition was not a fruit of the Holy Spirit. For it is written that the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, etc.

Please remember the past years, how the children of the Mother Church were in peace, and how now, being divided, they are tearing one another apart. Who is in the right is not difficult to discern. We have ecclesiastical Law, we have ecclesiastical History, and in addition, we also have the fruits from the works of each of the two contending parties. What remains now is to examine: What calendar did the Church have from the beginning? The Old one. Upon which calendar did She establish the Paschalion, the festal cycle, and the fasts? Certainly upon the Old one, and the proof is the irregularities occurring in the Church after its alteration, namely: abolition of the Fast of the Holy Apostles, the displacement of Pascha beyond April, general confusion in the Services, etc. What does Church history testify? Whichever such history we may open, we shall see that the issue of the calendar appeared around 1550, and that the Gregorian Calendar was three times condemned with anathema by the Orthodox Church through Pan-Orthodox Synodal decisions (1583, 1587, 1593). We do not consider it necessary to refer you to the pertinent chapters of history, for surely you know them better than we do.

Let us also examine what behavior was shown by the followers of the anathematized Gregorian Calendar. They employed truly anti-Christian means against those persisting in the Old. They imprisoned, exiled, beat, abused, murdered by the blows of gendarmes, dissolved (parishes and communities), and in various other ways pressured them to abandon the Old and follow the New. The conduct of the Innovators is indeed very characteristic. Whereas Christ compelled no one to follow Him, and neither the Apostles nor any of the Saints wished to violate the free will of man, the New Calendarists of today employed every unlawful means to win over those persisting in the ancient ecclesiastical custom. Christ gave the commandment that we should love even our enemies, but the innovators show not only no love, but not even a trace of sympathy toward their brethren. Christ said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Let these words suffice to answer us whether, from their works, the New Calendarists are even Christians. But we have said that we must also judge from the works of those following the calendar innovation whether those who introduced it were truly guided by the Holy Spirit.

I take the liberty to urge you to cease opposing the will of God. Our faith knows how to utterly crush those who wage war against it. Therefore, do not desire to war against it as well, for your end shall be pitiable. If you think that you possess the truth, it is necessary that you come forth into the arena, and not fight in secret and in hiding, unarmed with weapons and arguments. Do you not know whether the day is very near when peace shall come to the Church through the eradication of the wrongly wrought calendar innovation? And then, what shall become of all those who fought against the Church? What courage will they then have to preach the word of God from the pulpit—those who once renounced the sacred and the holy? All the more prudent have taken this into account, seeing the ever-growing number of the faithful, and they have already begun to retreat—some covertly and others openly. This too you ought to do, for your own benefit, unless indeed you truly believe that the Old Calendarists are in delusion. In that case, I repeat: if you will, come out to war. You are theologians; they are rustic. You are wise; they are foolish! Come forth, and let us see what the One who takes the wise in their craftiness will do.

The New Calendarist sophists say that they supposedly did not adopt the synodically condemned Gregorian Calendar, but simply added 13 days to the Julian and corrected its error. But we ask: what more ought we to have done in order to adopt the Gregorian? And it is not only about the calendar. They dare to say that they will also correct the Paschalion, as if that too were supposedly in error—despite the fact that at another time they wished to throw dust into the eyes of the people by claiming that the Church’s anathemas supposedly concerned the Paschalion and not the calendar. [But] they also wish to legislate unlawful marriage for both clergy and laity, to cut down fasts and services, and to establish many other innovations by synodal decree...

What do these shameless publications of theirs show, if not their sinful character?

- Chr. E. Naslimis

 

Greek source: https://iaathgoc.gr/index.php/blog/rthra/ntiairetik/853-adyswpitos-alithia