Interview with His Eminence Metropolitan Photios of Demetrias and Locum Tenens of Indonesia

Concerning the participation of the Orthodox Church of Indonesia in a Paschal event with heterodox Christians

Ioannis N. Paparrigas | May 9, 2026

 

 

Your Eminence, Christ is Risen!

During your visit to Indonesia, at the Priestly Assembly that took place, you explained to the clergy there the relevant canons which prohibit joint prayers with heterodox Christians. After your departure, we see that Orthodox clergy again participated in the event for the National Celebration of Easter, organized by the Forum of Christian Churches of Indonesia. Could you answer the following questions for us:

Was their participation in this meeting known to you?

Beloved Ioannis, Truly He is Risen!

I answer your questions:

I must be absolutely honest, and therefore the answer is yes: the meeting in question was known to me. On the very same day on which the Priestly Assembly of the Indonesian Orthodox Church [IOC] was taking place, the meeting of the Forum of Christian Churches of Indonesia [FCCI] was also taking place, without a representative of the Orthodox because of the Assembly, and it decided the manner of celebrating Indonesia’s National Easter. This was a multi-day sequence of various events, which was to include voluntary blood donation, the collection of humanitarian aid for the poor, even free ophthalmological cataract surgeries, as well as other charitable and social activities. It was also determined that the presidents of the legal entities participating in the FCCI would each individually, one by one, deliver a brief greeting with wishes for the people of Indonesia and a common blessing of the people present, while their secretaries would each give a lecture on the theme of the Resurrection. The limit of our relations with the heterodox, as had also been determined during the Assembly, is non-participation in common prayer. Consequently, I had permitted participation in the charitable activities, the individual greeting, and the lecture, but of course not participation in the common blessing; and I had given the instruction to avoid every kind of joint prayer.

How would you describe the basic pastoral goal you had in mind when you decided to accept such meetings?

The basic pastoral goal served by these meetings, especially the so-called National Feasts of Easter and Christmas, which are held on different days from the corresponding religious feasts of both the Orthodox and the Latins, is to establish in the consciousness of the Indonesian people that Christians too are an accepted and inseparable part of Indonesian society. For this reason, they were instituted by the government of the country, and either the President of the country himself or a high-ranking government official always participates, as in the present case the Minister of Religious Affairs. The Orthodox of this country have a great interest in the establishment of this mindset, which is opposed by fanatical Islamists, and for this reason they participate in the events. I did not disagree with this, but I set the “red lines” that must be observed.

Was there some specific need?

The specific need that meetings of this kind address is the healing of wounds from bloody conflicts, chiefly between Muslims and Christians. More specifically, on the island where this meeting took place this year, Sulawesi, bloody conflicts had occurred a few years earlier between Muslims and Christians, costing the lives of approximately 1,000 people. With a simple search on the internet, one can find detailed information about this.

Do you consider that these events correspond to a broader mission of the Church of Indonesia? If so, how do you define it?

The participation of the IOC in the FCCI is obligatory, necessary, and useful, not only for the faithful who are spiritually under our Church, but even more broadly for the faithful who have chosen to be under the Patriarchates of Constantinople and Moscow. The Metropolises of Singapore of the two Patriarchates, to which the parishes that spiritually belong to them in Indonesia are subject, do not participate in the FCCI, although the Metropolis of the Patriarchate of Moscow participates as an observer in the organization PGI, which is represented in the FCCI. Nevertheless, their old parishes function with operating permits that they had from earlier times, when they still belonged to the Indonesian Orthodox Church. Initially, from 1987, when the then Fr. Daniel began his missionary work from nothing in Indonesia, all the Orthodox parishes that were being formed operated under the legal coverage of the legal entity IOC, which was established in 1991 and was then under the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Under the legal coverage of the IOC, lawful operating permits for places of worship had been issued by the authorities. After the IOC came under the ROCOR[-MP] in 2005, certain clergy with their parishes continued to be under the Metropolis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, but they retained the operating permits for their places of worship which they had secured from the previous status through the IOC. And since no report was made to the authorities concerning the severance of their relations with the IOC, which also makes their return to the IOC easier whenever they wish, as the Orthodox Community of Medan did last year, they continued to operate lawfully. The new parishes founded by the IOC while it was under the ROCOR received lawful operating permits from the Indonesian authorities. When the IOC came under the Church of the G.O.C. of Greece in 2019, again a portion of the clergy and parishes remained under the ROCOR. But immediately, the Patriarchate of Moscow removed the jurisdiction over Indonesia from the ROCOR and placed it under the Russian Metropolis of Singapore. The parishes that had been licensed under the legal coverage of the IOC were not reported to the authorities as having severed their relations with the IOC, and they continue to operate with the old permits they had from before. Any new parishes or communities that were created by the Singapore Metropolises of the Patriarchates of Constantinople and Moscow do not have a lawful operating permit for a place of worship from the authorities, but operate in private chapels, usually rooms inside houses, and it is forbidden for public worship to be conducted in them. If it is discovered, following a complaint, that public worship is being conducted in them, then the authorities close those places.

Consequently, the participation of the IOC in the FCCI serves the broader mission of the lawful operation of places of worship for all Orthodox Christians active in Indonesia.

If you found that a large portion of your faithful had difficulty understanding or accepting these actions, would you reconsider your stance? By what criteria?

I believe that you are referring to the faithful outside Indonesia, because those within Indonesia fully understand the conditions of their country and the necessity of the IOC’s participation in the FCCI and in its activities. Naturally, this participation must take place with discernment, and certainly in some of the FCCI’s activities there must be no participation, such as in the Week of Prayer for the Unity of the Churches. This has already been discussed, and it remains to be implemented. Now, in the remaining meetings there must be participation, but without condemnable joint prayers and rituals.

The snapshot photographs which you recently published from the events of the National Feast of Easter on the island of Sulawesi must be investigated in accordance with the broader circumstances of what was taking place at the moment when they were taken. That is, in which of them the persons depicted were standing together simply for a common photograph, in which they were standing while waiting for something or someone, and in which there was indeed some common prayer taking place. The matter has already begun to be investigated, but certain details must be cross-checked, and a Holy Synod will certainly be called to evaluate them. In this process, your cooperation would be very valuable.

In any case, however, I already ask forgiveness for the scandal that was caused, because I understand that common photographs of Orthodox clergy together with heretics, even in the most favorable version, outside a prayerful context, create unfavorable impressions.

In closing, I state that I remain at your disposal to answer any additional question you may have.

We thank you, Your Eminence, for the time and the clarifications you have granted us. Christ is Risen!

 

Greek source: https://entoytwnika1.blogspot.com/2026/05/blog-post_9.html