The Second Letter of the Holy Synod
to Us
Prot. No. 112
Athens, September 20, 1984 (Church Calendar)
THE HOLY SYNOD OF THE
GENUINE ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS OF GREECE
25 Koumoundourou Street
Athens
To His Eminence
Cyprian, Metropolitan of Oropos and Phyle
Holy Monastery of Saints Cyprian and Justina
Phyle, Attica
Your Eminence,
At its recent meeting of
September 19, 1984 (Church Calendar), the Holy Synod, as you know, awaited your
appearance before it to answer the charges brought against you in its document Prot.
No. 111, dated September 7, 1984. Instead, you sent your document Prot. No.
110, dated September 18, 1984 (Church Calendar), which the Holy Synod received
in a fraternal spirit, although this action of yours demonstrated contempt for
the ecclesiastical authority presiding over you. Unfortunately, this document
not only failed to provide the required explanations concerning the charges
brought against you, but deepened the existing chaos still further. From its
very outset, its author makes a desperate attempt to avoid answering the
principal charges: a) through the paltry device of “wordplay” concerning
civil-service terminology; and b) through the exceedingly ill-conceived
purported argument concerning the “breaking of communion” for reasons of Faith,
which proclaims a method of new Ecumenism—this time within the ranks of the
G.O.C.
All the Reverend Members of the
Synod rejected both the action and the contents of the document in question,
which is hereby returned to you as unacceptable.
The Holy Synod then proceeded in
your absence to examine the charges brought against you, which it unanimously
found to be substantiated. Thereafter, acting as a Synodal Court, it decided to
impose upon you a forty-day suspension from all sacred ministrations, beginning
immediately upon receipt of the present letter. It expressed the hope that,
reflecting prudently, you will rise to the demands of the circumstances and,
for the benefit of the grievously storm-tossed Orthodox Church, repent and
return to the Orthodox order.
By order of the Holy Synod,
The President,
† Anthony of Attica and Megara
* * *
Our Fourth Letter
Prot. No. 114
Phyle, September 23, 1984
Feast of the Conception of the Honorable Forerunner
To Their Eminences the Hierarchs:
1. Anthony of Attica and Megara
2. Kallinikos of Achaia
3. Matthew of Oinoe
4. Kalliopios of Pentapolis
Your Eminences,
I had hoped that your synodal
responsibility would rectify what had been set forth in your reprehensible
document, Prot. No. 111, dated September 7, 1984. Nevertheless, I find that
your new document, Prot. No. 112, dated September 20, 1984, chaotically mingles
false doctrines and canonical transgressions in a futile attempt to evade
responsibility and avoid acknowledging your errors. You have repeatedly failed
not only to understand my full and extensive reply, but have also deliberately
passed over in silence the fundamental issues raised—above all, the formal
canonical accusation brought and lodged by me.
The breaking of communion with
you for reasons of Faith and Justice is a real and accomplished fact. This is
evident from your document Prot. No. 111, dated September 20, 1984, which cries
aloud that you have both violated your synodal duty and dealt a devastating
blow against the Orthodox Church. For through your actions and deeds—such as
the imposition of anti-canonical and invalid penalties—your Synod has been
degraded into an unlawful assembly and has consequently rendered itself null
and void.
It goes without saying that,
since you have trampled underfoot the Orthodox Faith concerning the
ecclesiological issue and the Canonical Order through your violation of the
Sacred Canons—thereby striking at the Apostolicity of the Church—you stand
under judgment.
Consequently, until a definitive
decision concerning my formal canonical accusation is rendered by the future
Holy Orthodox Synod of the united Orthodox Church, I canonically and completely
sever my synodal ties with you.
The least among hierarchs,
† Cyprian of Oropos and Phyle
* * *
Editorial Epilogue
We believe that all the foregoing
texts demonstrate with the utmost clarity the serious work and effort
undertaken by His Eminence Cyprian of Oropos and Phyle to place the sacred
struggle against the festal-calendar innovation of 1924—and, more generally,
against the pan-heresy of Ecumenism—on a sound ecclesiological footing.
The patristic foundation of this
God-pleasing endeavor ought to have prompted wholesome reflection and pleased
those who remain steadfast in “the Faith handed down.” Unfortunately, it
displeased them and led them to anti-canonical decisions and actions devoid of
brotherly love.
The positions of His Eminence
Cyprian are clear and well substantiated:
a) The view that the Mysteries of
the innovating New Calendarist Church are invalid is not Orthodox, because She
has not yet been judged and condemned by a Pan-Orthodox or Ecumenical Council.
b) Since, however, She is answerable before God and an Orthodox Council, Her decisions against the Orthodox in resistance to the pan-heresy of Ecumenism—the so-called Old Calendarists—are invalid and without standing.
We pray and hope that those who
oppose and combat the correct Ecclesiological Positions of His Eminence Cyprian
will realize, even if belatedly, how grievously they have sinned against their
former fellow bishop, but above all against the Orthodox Truth, and will
endeavor to embrace “the preaching of the Fathers,” to the glory of God and the
unity of the Church.
Part 1: https://orthodoxmiscellany.blogspot.com/2026/08/in-defense-of-metropolitan-cyprian-2013.html
Part 4: https://orthodoxmiscellany.blogspot.com/2026/09/in-defense-of-metropolitan-cyprian-2013.html
Greek source:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cNQ_49N3gnkpfJb3BkTpUBeR9V05BPqx/view?usp=sharing
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