A Comment on the Objection to the G.O.C. Establishing a “Parallel Hierarchy” in 1935

Damianos, monk

July 14, 2022 at 12:13 p.m.

The observance of the exactitude of the sacred canons is, of course, the safest path for the resolution of ecclesiastical problems that touch upon the salvation of the faithful. There is, however, also the path of economy, which for a time overlooks exactitude for the sake of arranging matters which, if exactitude were observed, would have created greater problems than those already existing. Both paths certainly constitute the timeless tradition of our Church.

I think that the conflicting views concerning ordinations considered, or not considered, to be contrary to the canons move between exactitude and economy. If I have the tendency to incline more toward exactitude, while the golden mean lies on the side of economy, then exactitude ends up as attachment to the letter of the law. If I incline more toward economy, while the golden mean is toward exactitude, then my economy ends up as transgression of the law.

The golden mean that will make it possible to resolve such problems requires the most profound knowledge of ecclesiastical history, of the Acts of the Councils, and, above all, the gift of discernment, an indispensable prerequisite for the correct judgment of such delicate ecclesiastical matters. It is needless to say, of course, that the only authority that has the prerequisites and the competence to solve such ecclesiastical problems by one decision is a pan-Orthodox Council. Given, at least for the present, the inability to convene a Great Council, certainly something must be done.

Fathers and brothers, I submit the following question to your judgment. Should approximately one million faithful who did not follow the new calendar have been left without shepherds, with the admission that exactitude required the ordinations to be approved by the Synod of the State Church? Or do you believe that Chrysostomos Papadopoulos would ever have approved them? Does the fact that the triad of bishops ordained titular bishops say nothing to you?

What is greater: the flock, or precise argumentation concerning the ordinations of the bishops? Man, or the law of the Sabbath? You know the answer, and what it entails.

Perhaps you are unaware of the furious warfare by planted agents ([Eugenios] Tombros and [Athanasios] Sakarellos, the well-known ones), the exile of the leader of the struggle, trials upon trials, prohibitions against the church attendance of the faithful, and the merciless propaganda of the New Calendarist-Ecumenists. Do not take part in this as well, because, apart from the correctness of your walling off, here you are mistaken.

 

Translated from the original Greek.