To the Bishops of the Church of Greece: “The Highest Duty” (1960)

Greek source: The Voice of Orthodoxy, No. 350, October 24, 1960 (O.S.), pp. 1-2.

 

 

The present article, with great respect, we dedicate to the Most Reverend Hierarchs of our homeland, whether they occupy episcopal sees, or are without sees and live in quietude.

Most Reverend and Right Reverend Fathers,

A contentious issue has existed, as is also known to you, since 1924: the Old Calendar question. This issue the official Administration of the Autocephalous Greek Church faced with an inexcusable haste; it treated it as a matter of order and discipline, wherefore it also drew the punitive sword of authority against the Old Calendarists, whom it regarded as enemies of the Church. And against them it marshaled its severest wrath, such as it certainly did not display against the variously named heretics, who ravage our Homeland and daily steal rational sheep from the flock.

Driven on by this wrath, it proceeded to acts that were outright anti-Christian, such as the violent stripping of clergy of their clerical garb, the tyrannical shaving of their beards, or to acts manifestly anti-canonical, such as the reordination of clergy because they had received the priesthood at the hands of Old Calendarist bishops!

Such conduct on the part of the Administration of the Autocephalous Greek Church is neither in accordance with the principles of the Gospel, nor in harmony with the divine and sacred canons, nor does it satisfy the sentiment of the people!

The Gospel, proclaiming the immortal teaching of our Savior, recommends love, longsuffering, meekness, peaceful settlement, and wishes the Church to be not a center of forceful and tyrannical authority, but a safeguard of peace and blessing.

The Divine and Sacred Canons at no point define as a punishable act the desire of the members of the Church to seek the opinion and authority of an Ecumenical Council, for the unanimous establishment of a condition different from that which has prevailed until now within the sphere of the universal Orthodox Church. Nor is the right given to Autocephalous Churches to reform established orders which refer, either indirectly or directly, to the unity of the Orthodox Catholic Church. Since, therefore, there is no designation of a punishable act by the Divine and Sacred Canons, neither can penalties be imposed, given that no penalty is imposed without law.

The people also disapproved of the tactic of persecution employed by the Administration of the State Church. Thus its deputies, government ministers, newspapers, intellectuals, associations, and private individuals censured this tactic and expressed their sympathy toward the Old Calendarists.

But also, leading men of the Church, of the Church of Greece, expressed their opposition to the tactic of violence and persecutions. Thus the ever-memorable Archbishop of Athens Dorotheos [+1957] denounced with abhorrence the measures of his predecessor and began to seek points of rapprochement between the official Church and the Old Calendarists, so that a compromise might be found until the convocation of a Pan-Orthodox Council.

Most Reverend and Right Reverend Fathers,

If the Administration of the Church acted as it acted, your responsibility is not thereby wholly removed. The Administration is a Body; and the Body is impersonal in the exercise, well or badly, of an authority! You, however, are persons, with your personal responsibility intact before God, the Church, and the Flock.

You are therefore called by the facts themselves to take a position; many rodents are gnawing away at the roots of the God-planted vine, many disturbances are shaking the calm of the Church. The Old Calendarists constitute conservative elements, useful to the work of Orthodoxy. Why, then, do you drive them away, or at least tolerate their sufferings? It is known that “he who sees injustice and remains silent himself commits the sin.” And it is a supreme and glaring injustice that the Hebrew-appearing Chiliasts [i.e., Jehovah’s Witnesses] should enjoy social privileges and constitutional protection, while the genuine children of Orthodoxy are regarded as fornicators, as adulterers, begetting illegitimate children, insofar as the Administration of the Church opposes the legal recognition of the marriages of the citizens.

Beyond this, however, you ought to consider that the activity of the Old Calendarists without the care and paternal interest of shepherds does not benefit the Church, in the broader sense of the word. The Ecclesiastical Committee with difficulty restrains the situation so that it may not deviate into reckless adventurism. And it is praiseworthy for this. But until when?

If the loss of one man constitutes a sorrowful event, what must indifference toward so many thousands of pious and genuine children of Orthodoxy constitute?

It is time, therefore, for you to think about the fate of this flock, which, suitably guided, will constitute the anti-heretical army.

And the way was opened by the blessed soul of the ever-memorable former Shepherd of Madeta, Chrysostomos Kavouridis.

Forward, then!

No Hierarch was honored by his flock as much as he was. All men die and are buried; the ever-memorable Chrysostomos was honored even dead!

Does this not move you?

The Great Chief Shepherd did not give you engolpia and episcopal staffs for the grave and the museums, but for action.

Most Reverend, Right Reverend Fathers,

Weigh the matter according to your conscience and measure your responsibilities. The shifting of responsibilities onto the chief culprits and those more competent does not make you irresponsible, but betrays moral cowardice.

Take care, for the engolpia are transformed into millstones that drag men down!

A numerous flock asks you to perform your highest duty.

What will you do?