Nikolaos Mannis | December 22, 2016
Dedicated to those
who were persecuted,
to those who are being persecuted,
and to those who will be persecuted,
by false bishops (cf. Canon 15 of the First-Second Council of
Constantinople).
Having been studying the late
Metropolitan Basil of Smyrna (+1910) these days, I considered it necessary to
present certain details of his life and work, so that a comparison might be
made between a truly Orthodox Bishop and today’s so-called “Orthodox” bishops,
who, although they are supposed to have received, through successive
generations, not only Apostolic Succession but also the same Faith and the same
Zeal as the Apostles and the Holy Fathers, instead of bearing the Apostolic and
Patristic spirit, become persecutors of those who bear it! [1]
The late Metropolitan Basil
Asteriou of Smyrna [2] studied at the Theological School of Halki [3] and,
under the guidance of two great figures of the School, Metropolitan Constantine
Typaldos of Stavroupolis and the Teacher of the Nation Elias Tantalidis, [4]
men devoted to tradition and zealous for the Orthodox Faith, distinguished
himself, later also serving as its Rector.
In 1865 he was elected
Metropolitan of Anchialos in Eastern Rumelia. In 1871, following the repose of
Paisios of Caesarea, he was proposed as his successor, but Basil refused,
because he opposed the transfer of bishops from one see to another.
In 1875, as an early opponent of
ecumenism, he combated the views of Professor John Anastasiadis, who, after
participating that year in the Old Catholic Conference in Bonn, portrayed the
Old Catholics as being in complete agreement with the Orthodox Church. [5]
He wrote many noteworthy books,
including an excellent study of Saint Gregory the Theologian and two treatises,
one on the validity of Mysteries performed by deposed clergy or schismatics,*
and the other on excommunication. His discourses were also renowned and were
published in two volumes in Smyrna, where he was reinstated as Metropolitan in
1884, following his expulsion from Anchialos because of the Bulgarian Question.
[6]
(Two
representative excerpts from the late Basil of Smyrna’s study on the work of
Saint Gregory the Theologian in Constantinople, below)
It seems by no
means unlikely that even the few faithful who awaited the arrival of Saint
Gregory with heartfelt longing were dismayed by these appearances and doubted
whether he would succeed, especially when they saw the great contrast between
his illustrious reputation and his manifestly humble appearance, which his
extraordinary modesty and simplicity accentuated still further. The Arians,
possessing such abundant resources of worldly power and grandeur and asserting
their dominance through the weight of their political influence, immediately
grew insolent and mocked the newly arrived hierarch, perceiving that they had
before them a man of the countryside and the desert, wholly unversed in urban
manners and devoid of all the splendor and prestige conferred by the world and
its goods.
And yet, with
such an appearance and such resources, he undertakes undaunted the immense task
entrusted to him and, surrounded by those few faithful strugglers, wavering
though they are, prepares for the formidable struggle destined to determine the
fortunes of Orthodoxy. As though the obstacles arising from his own
circumstances to the accomplishment of such a task were not enough, his
external resources, too, prove exceedingly meagre and weak. For the faithful
are both few and unorganized, having no ecclesiastical organization, and not a
single church belongs to them, all having been occupied by their adversaries.
It was therefore necessary, before anything else, to establish an
ecclesiastical center suited to the purpose and the circumstances, where
worship could be conducted unhindered and the word of God preached with
complete boldness. Since the house in which he was staying belonged to
generous, devout and God-loving relatives of his, and its layout was suitable
for serving as a temporary gathering place for the faithful, Gregory first
gathers them there, preaching, admonishing and encouraging them all. Meanwhile,
fierce opposition immediately arises from the Arians under the leadership of
their bishop Demophilos, noisy and turbulent as a torrent, as they utter every
kind of threat. Yet these threats and attempts at intimidation do not daunt
this most holy man: his divinely inspired spirit rises, the zeal of the devout
is vigorously kindled, and a spark lying hidden in the hearts of many who are
timid, doubtful and lukewarm transforms them into fervent adherents of
Orthodoxy. From the very outset, victory appears to incline towards the great
teacher of piety, chiefly for two reasons: because he was fighting for the
truth, and because the weapons for close combat supplied by his extensive
learning were invincible. Then all, having taken courage and been inspired with
enthusiasm by their most wise shepherd, and hanging entirely upon his gracious
words, readily heed his exhortations and proceed with zeal to erect a proper
church within the grounds of that blessed house of his relatives, which had
first received the great teacher and his word.
This church was
built modest and small in comparison with the other churches of the Queen of
Cities, towards the southwestern side of the Hippodrome, “in the porticoes of
Domninos,” that is, beside a certain broad thoroughfare bearing this name,
according to the testimony of Kedrenos and the compiler of the Synaxarion.
Saint Gregory named it Anastasia so that its name might symbolically signify
the resurrection and revival within it of Orthodoxy, which until then had been
dead in Constantinople.
* *
*
It is indeed
worthy of the greatest attention and admiration that, while occupied with such
intricate and weighty studies, this holy man neglected nothing that would
contribute to the complete success of his work. With what speed and indomitable
zeal he organized and completed everything necessary to establish a fully
constituted Orthodox Church in Constantinople! It appears that, amid this
feverish activity, intensified by the raging fury of the heretics, he sought
the requisite assistance and cooperation from many quarters. At that time,
quite a few zealous clergy and laymen hastened to the battlefield to join in so
sacred a struggle and, though already well educated, to become disciples of the
great teacher, such as the previously mentioned Ieronymos and Evagrios of
Pontus, whom he also appointed archdeacon. They come to know this great
churchman personally, to marvel at his extraordinary breadth of learning in
theology and other fields, to learn something useful and beneficial from him,
but above all to be filled with zeal and to share in glorious struggles, in
which essentially one man alone contends against so many formidable adversaries
who dominate the Queen of Cities. Thus, while the widespread struggle continues
outside, the Church is meanwhile being organized, and before long we find
bishops, priests, deacons, monks, readers, chanters and the Church’s full
complement of clergy performing their duties. Since the preaching of the great
teacher attracts pagans, Jews, schismatics and heretics, particularly Arians,
Semi-Arians and Pneumatomachians, and many of them are captivated by the charm
and power of his words, a group of catechumens also takes shape and prepares
for baptism. So eager is the teacher to bring as many as possible into his
newly established Church that he also publicly expounds the mystery of baptism
and urges that it should not be postponed, but that even infants should be
sanctified through timely baptism. To understand more fully the magnitude of
Saint Gregory’s indomitable courage, we should observe that all his activities
took place amid savage persecutions, insults, disturbances, expressions of
contempt, stonings, denunciations, death threats, assassination attempts and
every other violent and insolent action on the part of the Arians. Indeed,
considering the raging savagery and bloodthirsty brutality of the Arians of
Constantinople under such a leader as Demophilos, his work there appears far
more difficult and dangerous than preaching the Gospel among pagans and
unbelievers. For the fury of the Arians, who had rested secure in their
successes thus far and in the favor of the civil authorities, had turned, in
the face of impending great danger and irreparable loss, into a terrible frenzy
that dared stop at nothing. Yet Saint Gregory’s zeal and strength grow all the
more, and amid manifold cares he invigorates and heartens everyone through both
his words and his example. He who until then had loved tranquility and solitude
is utterly transformed and emerges as a most courageous and invincible fighter,
retreating before no one until he successfully completes the work which God
blessed and the Orthodox Church entrusted to him.
Metropolitan Basil also
participated in drafting the Patriarchal Encyclical of 1895 against Papism, a
monumental Orthodox text. [7]
One of the principal
characteristics of his personality was the impartiality of his judgement,
regardless of friendship or enmity, which earned him considerable animosity,
especially in Phanar circles, to whose behind-the-scenes dealings he was a
stranger. [8]
Although in 1886, through his
pamphlet “An Appeal to the Piety of the Orthodox Faithful of Smyrna,” he asked
his flock to support the Metropolis financially, he demonstrated his freedom
from the love of money not only by abolishing the passing of collection plates
in churches, but also by putting his flock’s modest contributions towards works
worthy of a true Bishop, such as expanding the Greek Hospital of Smyrna,
establishing schools in Smyrna’s neighborhoods, founding the Smyrna Foundling
Home (1902), and founding the Ecclesiastical Music Society (1903).
We read in Wikipedia [9] that
“Metropolitan Basil of Smyrna was greatly loved by the people of Smyrna because
of his piety, as well as his ascetic character and freedom from the love of
money,” and that “he had the disposition of a bishop of the early years of
Christianity […] To the people of Smyrna, Basil was a saint.” The ever-memorable
Fr Chrysanthos Vrettaros [10] confirms this, adding that “because of his
boldness before the All-Good God, the Turks would bring all their sick to
Metropolitan Basil of Smyrna, and they would recover!” [11]
Fr Chrysanthos himself also
recounts the following incident, which took place in Smyrna and reveals the
holy zeal of the late Metropolitan:
“The followers of Luther and
Calvin, known to the common people as Evangelicals, established a hall and
secretly preached their heresies. One day they grew bold and wrote outside the
hall: ‘Greek Evangelical Church.’ When Basil of Smyrna read this, he went one
Sunday, when the Evangelicals were gathered, and taught them the truth of the
faith and the errors of Luther and Calvin. They, however, were not persuaded,
and a few days later he asked for a ladder, climbed up, erased ‘Greek
Evangelical Church,’ and wrote: ‘Lutheran-Calvinist Church, which is a church
of the devil and not of Christ.’ Such was his zeal for the Orthodox faith that
he often longed, if it were possible, to suffer martyrdom, just as many martyrs
before him had suffered for Christ.” [12]
The late Metropolitan Basil of
Smyrna reposed on 23 January 1910.
May his memory be eternal!
[* https://drive.google.com/file/d/17l86MwoulRuzBSKYLBm8c4mUmRavkSfO/view?usp=sharing]
FOOTNOTES
1. The latest example is the planned persecution of Fr
Theodoros Zisis and those with him, at the orders of the ecumenist Patriarch
Bartholomew and the ecumenist Metropolitan Anthimos of Thessaloniki.
2. Also found as Asteriadis.
3. Into which the spirit of Ecumenism had not yet penetrated,
as Fr George Metallinos observes in his article here.
4. Author, among other works, of the renowned two-volume work
“Refutations of Papism.”
5. Although the Old Catholics at that time signed the
Orthodox positions (on the Filioque and Primacy) in their dialogue with
the Orthodox, in dialogue with the Anglicans they agreed in favor of the
ordination of women to the priesthood (see also here).
7. The text of the Encyclical was written by the eminent
Germanos Karavangelis, while Philotheos of Nicomedia and Basil of Smyrna made
revisions and improvements. It is available here.
8. How many bishops today behave cowardly by condemning the
heresy of Ecumenism, yet not daring to rebuke their ecumenist fellow bishops
lest they “spoil their friendly relations.” Thus, today we witness various
scenes from the theatre of the absurd when, for example, we hear bishops one
Sunday hurling anathemas and vehement denunciations against the pan-heresy, and
the next Sunday festively concelebrating with its proponents!
10. On the late Elder Chrysanthos, see here.
11. Hieromonk Chrysanthos of Saint Anne’s, Recollections
and Narratives of an Elder, vol. I, published by the Holy Monastery of
Panagia Hodegetria in Molos, p. 137.
12. Ibid.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Vasileios Stavridis, The Holy Theological School of
Halki, vol. I, Athens, 1970.
2. Hieromonk Chrysanthos of Saint Anne’s, Recollections
and Narratives of an Elder, vol. I, published by the Holy Monastery of Panagia
Hodegetria in Molos.
Greek source: https://krufo-sxoleio.blogspot.com/2016/12/1910.html
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