The Consecration Address of His Grace, Bishop Auxentios

Sunday, January 7/20,1991 Holy Monastery of Sts. Cyprian and Justina, Fili, Greece

 

 

Your Eminence, Most Holy Bishops, Fathers, Mothers, Brothers, and Sisters in Christ:

In the Evevgetinos, we read the story of a spiritual disciple whose Elder, a wise and experienced guide in the path toward Christian perfection, directed him to go into the Church, seize the holy book that was being read there by one of the brothers, and throw it into the furnace. Trained in obedience, the monk did not hesitate for a moment to do as he was told. Though such an act might seem to some blasphemous, the disciple's obedience was pleasing to God. Thus, the book was recovered from the fire, untouched by the flames.

Assuming today the awesome rank of the episcopacy, I could be accused of blasphemy, in thinking myself worthy of such a calling. What reasonable person would think it possible that the fullness of the priestly Grace of the Holy Spirit should come and rest on him? However, like the monk who threw something holy into the furnace, I believe that obedience will save me from the accusation that I am defiling something holy by my unworthiness and will thus deliver me from the flames of self-condemnation.

Only out of obedience to Metropolitan Cyprian and to my spiritual Father, Bishop Chrysostomos— whose voice, through the mystery of his own obedience, is one with that of the Metropolitan—, do I accept this awesome service to the Church. I affirm no faith in my own abilities to fulfill the demands of the episcopacy and the Will of God. I rely, again, on the spiritual power of holy obedience, trusting, as Abba Moses once told a young man, that obedience "aids the good disciple in keeping all of the commandments for the whole of his life."

I have read that in the Early Church, as late as the fourth century, Bishops could still be found who, together with perhaps only one Presbyter, served a single community of believers, even a small village. St. Ignatius of Antioch says that "there," in such communities, "is the Catholic Church," since in these communities Christ makes Himself known in the immediate and intimate manifestation of obedience and the love between Christians which prompts true obedience. Obedience, then, also establishes us in the Orthodox Church.

In times such as ours, when apostasy and confusion reign; when wolves in the guise of sheep use slander and every form of deception to cloud the witness of God's true servants; when "officialdom" dares to usurp the privileges of truth and lays false claim to authenticity; when those in error falsely condemn and revile those who have risen up in lawful resistance against innovation and betrayal of the Faith; and when impostors and seekers after personal glory take our name and exploit even the resistance that we True Orthodox, the so-called Old Calendarists, have undertaken—in such days, there are those who may wonder where the Church Catholic actually is.

In serving the Church, may my obedience also tell others where the Church is. May our small missions and Churches, formed in obedience and love, call our errant Orthodox brothers back to the standard of the Faith, in these days of such confusion, and back to an earlier and purer image of the Church. To this end I devote my episcopal service and aim my obedient work for God's Church.

Since I am a convert to the Orthodox Church, as a Bishop I could be likened to a guest who has taken the seat of the host. This is not the case. Since the Church Catholic lies in obedience and love, there comes to be no ultimate distinction between the guest and the host. Obedience to one another engenders love. And where there is love, things which are distinct and separate are made one and the same. Indeed, Christ Himself, the Master of all, by obedient love became one with us, His own creation, allowing us, therefore, to share in his mastery over all. Though remaining God above and beyond what we are, He nonetheless lifts us up and grants us by Grace to take part in His very divinity.

In obedience, therefore, to Metropolitan Cyprian and Bishop Chrysostomos, I would ask that you here in Greece, in the holy bosom of Orthodoxy, accept my love, making me, your guest, also your host. I would ask that you pray for me that I may worthily serve the Holy Synod and our Exarchate in America and bring others to a vision of the Church as I have portrayed it.

I would also ask that you pray to God that, as a Bishop, I will always remain faithful to the Canons and Traditions of Holy Orthodoxy. Today, many clergy are tempted by the lure of the demonic "officialdom" of which I have spoken. Others are too weak to endure the scorn of those who call us True Orthodox schismatics, fanatics, and "antiques" from a past age of ecclesiastical narcissism for believing that we hold in our hands the pristine teachings which "the Lord gave, the Apostles preached, and the Fathers preserved." And some, Priests and Bishops alike, have reckoned the very Canons and Traditions of the Church— which demand that we separate from error, endure unjustified reproach, and stand firm in the Faith given to us by Christ—to be man-made and expendable.

Yet, St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite tells us that the "Canons of the Holy Ecumenical and Regional Synods" and all of the customs and Traditions attached to them are inspired by God. "For," he writes, "the Holy Synods and the divine Fathers did not utter words of their own, nor did they speak with the spirit of this world, as do worldly men, but they spoke with the illumination and Grace of the Holy Spirit, and their words are Divine teachings that lead men to the Kingdom of God." Pray that, seeing this, I will remain firm in my resistance to the apostasy which now eats away at the Orthodox Church worldwide and that, ignoring the epithets, evil threats, and perhaps even persecution of the modernists, I will heed rather the call of love which thunders so quietly in the virtue of obedience.

Since the Scripture calls us to honor our fathers and mothers, I would like, on this most auspicious day—perhaps the most significant of my worldly life—, to thank my father and mother, who are here today, for the love and care with which they reared me. I would also like to thank my four brothers for their affection and for their support. Though they are not Orthodox, I owe much to my family for laying the Christian foundation of morality, dedication, sacrifice, and upright living upon which the zenith of Christianity, our Orthodox Faith, is built.

But since the Scripture also warns us that nothing, even father and mother, must stand in the way of our love of God, I must also thank my spiritual family, given to me by God, for its prayers, patience, guidance, and affection. I would like to thank, above all, Metropolitan Cyprian, who is my primary spiritual guide. He is such, first, because obedience to the command of my spiritual Father, Bishop Chrysostomos, makes him so; he is such, second, because my affection, loyalty, and respect for him permit nothing less. In these two "masters" I serve only one, for they are made one themselves, again, by obedient love. By thanking one, therefore, I also thank the other.

I would also like to thank Archimandrite Akakios, Abbot of the St. Gregory Palamas Monastery, of which I am a brother and in which I will remain a simple brother, for his fatherly guidance and his holy and selfless example, together with the Fathers and Brothers of our synodia. I can only hope one day to rise to the stature of Father Akakios and hope that, through their prayers, I can emulate the spiritual growth of the brothers under his able hand.

To Mother Elizabeth and the Sisters of the Convent of St. Elizabeth the Grand Duchess of Russia I likewise owe a great debt for their exemplary lives of self-denial and self-sacrifice. They have served as an inspiration to me and have shown me the fullness of the witness of the Church, which exalts both men and women and makes of them brothers and sisters in the Lord.

The clergy of our missions in America are like the air. Without them, I would have no life. It is in their service, with deep appreciation for their sacrifices, that I will work in America.

And finally, I would like to thank Bishop Chrysostomos of Christianoupolis and the Fathers of the mother monastery of our monastery in Etna, the Holy Monastery of Sts. Cyprian and Justina, of which I am also a brother and in which I will also remain a brother, for their guidance and example. If, in serving the Church as a Bishop, I can add to the vessel of my soul even one drop of the humility, kindness, sacrifice, obedience, and brotherly affection that I have seen in the monks here in Fili, I will have added an ocean of virtue to myself. In taking the high position of a Bishop, I am not worthy to reach up and touch the soles of their feet. They are always for me "angels in the flesh" who have soared to lofty heights on the wings of their spiritual Father, Metropolitan Cyprian, to whom, in imitation of my spiritual Father, I say "Many Years," seeing my episcopacy only in the shadow of his.

Through the prayers of our Holy Metropolitan and with the protection of the Most Holy Theotokos, may I prosper in this service.

 

Source: Orthodox Tradition, Vol. VIII (1991), No. 1, p. 13.