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REGARDING THE RECENT VISIT OF THE POPE TO THE PATRIARCHATE OF CONSTANTINOPLE

Karyes, Mount Athos
The Sacred Community
Of the Holy Mountain Athos

Protocol No. F. 2/7/2310

Karyes, 30 December 2006

The recent visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the Ecumenical Patriarchate on the occasion of the feast-day of Saint Andrew (30th of November 2006) and thereafter the visit by His Beatitude the Archbishop of Athens Christodoulos to the Vatican (14th of December 2006) gave rise to a multitude of impressions, evaluations and reactions.  We shall bypass those things that the secular Press had evaluated as positive or negative, to focus on those things that pertain to our salvation, for the sake of which we abandoned the world to live in the barrenness of the Holy Mountain.

As Monks of the Holy Mountain, we respect the Ecumenical Patriarchate, under whose jurisdiction we fall.  We honor and respect the Most Holy Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and we rejoice in all that he has achieved and so diligently labored for, in his love of God, for the Church. We particularly commemorate the stolid and untiring defence of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, amid the many unfavorable conditions that exist, as well as the impoverished local Orthodox Churches and the care that is taken to project the message of the Orthodox Church throughout the world.  Furthermore, we the Monks of the Holy Mountain honor the Most Holy Church of Greece, from which most of us originate, and we respect His Beatitude the Primate.

However, the events that took place during the recent visits of the Pope to the Phanar and of His Beatitude the Archbishop to the Vatican brought immense sorrow to our hearts.

We desire and struggle our entire life to safeguard the trust of the Holy Fathers, which was bequeathed to us by the holy Founders of our sacred Monasteries and the blessed reposed fathers before us.  We strive to the best of our ability to live the sacrament of the Church and the unblemished Orthodox Faith, according to what we are daily taught by the divine Services, the sacred readings, and the teachings in general of the Holy Fathers which are set out in their writings and in the decisions of the Ecumenical Synods.  We guard our dogmatic awareness “like the pupil of our eye”, and we reinforce it, by applying ourselves to God-pleasing labours and the meticulous study of the achievements of the holy Confessor Fathers when they confronted the miscellaneous heresies, and especially of our father among the saints, Gregory of Palamas, the Holy Martyrs of the Holy Mountain and the Holy Martyr Kosmas the First, whose sacred relics we venerate with every honor and whose sacred memory we incessantly celebrate. 

We fear keeping silent, whenever issues arise that pertain to the trust that our Fathers left us. Our responsibility, towards the most venerable fathers and brothers of the overall brotherhood of the Holy Mountain and towards the pious faithful of the Church who regard Athonite Monasticism as their non-negotiable guardian of sacred Tradition, weighs heavily upon our conscience.

The visits of the Pope to the Phanar and the Archbishop to the Vatican may have secured certain benefits of a secular nature, however, during those visits, various other events took place which were not according to the customs of Orthodox Ecclesiology, or commitments were made that would neither benefit the Orthodox Church, nor any other heterodox Christians.

Patriarch Serves Divine Liturgy with the Pope Enthroned as one Presiding First of all, the Pope was received as though he were a canonical bishop of Rome.  During the service, the Pope wore an omophoron; he was addressed by the Ecumenical Patriarch with the greeting “blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord” as though it were Christ the Lord; he blessed the congregation and he was commemorated as “most holy” and “His Beatitude the Bishop of Rome”.

Furthermore, all of the Pope’s officiating clergy wore an omophoron during the Orthodox Divine Liturgy; also, the reciting of the Lord’s Prayer, his liturgical embrace with the Patriarch, were displays of something more than common prayer. And all of this, when the papist institution has not budged at all from its heretical teachings and its policy; on the contrary, the Pope is in fact visibly promoting and trying to reinforce Unia along with the Papist dogmas on primacy and infallibility, and is going even further, with inter-faith common prayers and the pan-religious hegemony of the Pope of Rome that is discerned therein.

As for the reception of the Pope in Fanarion, we are especially grieved by the fact that all of the Media kept repeating the same, incorrect information, that the troparion that was (unduly) sung at the time had been composed by Monks of the Holy Mountain.  We take this opportunity to responsibly inform all pious Christians that their composer was not, and could never be, a monk of the Holy Mountain.

Representing Himself in Rome Then there is the matter of the attempt by His Beatitude the Archbishop of Athens to commence relations with the Vatican on social, cultural and bio-ethical issues, as well as the objective to mutually defend the Christian roots of Europe (positions which are also found in the Common Declaration of the Pope and the Patriarch at the Phanar), both of which may seem innocuous or even positive, given that their aim is to cultivate peaceful human relations.  Nevertheless, it is important that all these do not give the impression that the West and Orthodoxy continue to have the same bases, or lead one into forgetting the distance that separates the Orthodox Tradition from that which is usually presented as the “European spirit”.  (Western) Europe is burdened with a series of anti-Christian institutions and acts, such as the Crusades, the “Holy” Inquisition, slave trading and colonization. It is burdened with the tragic division which took on the form of the schism of Protestantism; the devastating world wars, also the man-centered humanism and its atheist view.  All of these are the consequence of Rome’s theological deviations from Orthodoxy.  One after the other, the Papist and the Protestant heresies gradually removed the humble Christ of Orthodoxy and in His place, they enthroned haughty Man.  The holy bishop Nicholas of Ochrid and Zitsa wrote the following from Dahau: «What, then, is Europe? The Pope and Luther.... This is what Europe is, at its core, ontologically and historically». The blessed Elder Justin Popovitch supplements the above: «The 2nd Vatican Synod comprises the rebirth of every kind of European humanism.... because the Synod persistently adhered to the dogma on the Pope’s infallibility» and he surmises:

Saint Justin Popovich«Undoubtedly, the authorities and the powers of (western) European culture and civilization are Christ-expellers». This is why it is imperative to project the humble ethos of Orthodoxy and to support the truly Christian roots of the united Europe; the roots that Europe had during the first Christian centuries, during the time of the catacombs and of the seven holy Ecumenical Synods.  It is advisable for Orthodoxy to not tax itself with foreign sins, and furthermore, the impression should not be given to those who became de-Christianized in reaction to the sidetracking of Western-style Christianity, that Orthodoxy is related to it, thus ceasing to testify that it is the only authentic Faith in Christ, and the only hope of the peoples of Europe.

The Roman Catholics’ inability to disentangle themselves from the decisions of their pursuant (and according to them, Ecumenical) Synods, which had legitimized the Filioque, the Primacy, the Infallibility, the secular authority of the Roman Pontiff, ‘created Grace’, the immaculate conception of the Holy Mother, Unia.  Despite all these, we Orthodox continue the so-called traditional exchanges of visits, bestowing honors befitting an Orthodox Bishop on the Pope and totally disregarding a series of Sacred Canons which forbid common prayers, while the theological dialogue repeatedly flounders, and, after being dredged from the depths, it again sinks down.

All indications lead to the conclusion that the Vatican is not orienting itself to discard its heretical teachings, but only to “re-interpret” them – in other words, to veil them.

Roman Catholic ecclesiology varies, from one encyclical to the other; from the so-called “open” ecclesiology of the Encyclical «Ut Unum Sint», to the ecclesiological exclusivity of the Encyclical «Dominus Jesus».  It should be noted that both of the aforementioned views are contrary to Orthodox Ecclesiology.  The self-awareness of the holy Orthodox Church as the only One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church does not allow for the recognition of other, heterodox churches and confessions as “sister churches”.  “Sister Churches” are only the local Orthodox Churches of the same faith.  No other homonymous reference to “sister churches” other than the Orthodox one is theologically permissible.

The “Filioque” is promoted by the Roman Catholic side as yet another legal expression [theologoumenon] of the teaching regarding the procession of the Holy Spirit, and theologically equivalent to the Orthodox teaching that procession is “only from the Father” – a view that is unfortunately supported by some of our own theologians.

Moreover, the Pontiff is maintaining the Primacy as an inalienable privilege, as one can tell from the recent erasure of the title “Patriarch of the West” by the current Pope Benedict XVI; also from his reference to the worldwide mission of the Apostle Peter and his successors during his homily in the Patriarchal Temple, as well as from his also recent speech, which included the following: «...within the society, with the Successors of the Apostles, whose visible unity is guaranteed by the Successor of the Apostle Peter, the Ukrainian Catholic Community managed to preserve the Sacred Tradition alive, in its integrity» (Catholic Newspaper, No.3046/18-4-2006).

Uniatism is being reinforced and reassured in many and various ways, despite the proclamations by the Pope to the contrary.

This dishonest stance is witnessed, apart from other instances, by the provocative intervention of the previous Pope, John-Paul II, which led the Orthodox-Roman Catholic dialogue in Baltimore into a dead-end, as well as by the letter sent by the current Pope to the Cardinal Ljubomir Husar, the Uniate Archbishop of Ukraine.  In this letter dated 22/2/2006, the following is emphatically stressed: «It is imperative to secure the presence of the two great carriers of the only Tradition (the Latin and the Eastern).... The mission that the Greek Catholic Church has undertaken, being in full communion with the Successor of the Apostle Peter, is two-fold: on one side, it must visibly preserve the eastern Tradition inside the Catholic Church; on the other, it must favour the merging of the two traditions, testifying that they not only can coordinate between themselves, but that they also constitute a profound union amid their variety».

Seen in this light, polite exchanges such as the visits of the Pope to the Phanar and the Archbishop of Athens to the Vatican, without the prerequisite of a unity in the Faith, may on the one hand create false impressions of unity and thus turn away the heterodox who could have looked towards Orthodoxy as being the true Church, and on the other hand, blunt the dogmatic sensor of many Orthodox.  Even more, they may push some of the faithful and pious Orthodox, who are deeply concerned over what is taking place inopportunely and against the Sacred Canons, to detach themselves from the corpus of the Church and create new schisms.

Posted on 02/05/07. Filed under: Ecclesia • Ecclesiology: The Church and Ecumenism • • Email This Entry

Strange “forces of evil” have kept the Roman Catholics and Orthodox apart, and inventiveness born out of our mutual love will lead us onto new paths to overcome these forces. . .

These words of the Pope [see below] wonderfully express the great error of ecumenism and delusion of ecumenists. It is not anyone’s error or pride, nor dogmatic error, and certainly not heresy, that has created and maintained the division, nor will humility and repentance overcome it, but “inventiveness”, as if
Thomas Alva Edisonwe were called to imitate Thomas Edison in some laboratory. The Pope and those with him - including some Patriarchs and bishops - resemble technicians or mathematicians who are seeking after some formula for which to “discover” unity - a unity which essentially already exists, like some hidden power of nature, but which simply awaits the right “moment in history” to make its debut and revolutionize humanity, etc. No repentance is necessary. No repudiation of heresy or even admitting that heresy ever existed. Rather, we will “invent” a new path out of our great love for one another.

All of this is such nonesense it is simply astounding that some Orthodox bishops and theologians go along with it or even, at times, believe in it. It is precisely inventiveness - i.e. innovations - that the whole of Orthodox tradition and patristic witness work against. We “follow the Holy Fathers” and preach and proclaim “as the Prophets fortold, as the Apostles proclaimed, as the Fathers declared” etc. The spirit underlying the Pope’s words and the whole mentality on display in the Ecumenical Movement is totally one with the age and is chiliastic, promising new and ever greater things and a kingdom of this world. In the end the only ones at fault here are “forces of evil”. (One is reminded of Eve in the garden who essentially said that “the devil made me do it”. The only problem is that man is free and responsible for his actions, and, what’s more, if he is truly spiritual and of Christ not under the control or sway of the evil one.)

All who would save their soul in this day and age must fight this spirit and delusion with all his might - first in himself and then for the sake and love of the brethren.
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Pope: Catholics, Orthodox will find full unity
By Cindy Wooden
2/28/2006

Catholic News Service (http://www.catholicnews.com)
Pope Benedict XVI
VATICAN CITY – With deeper conversion and greater love, Catholics and Orthodox will find the path to full unity, Pope Benedict XVI told staff and students from a Greek Orthodox theological college.

Meeting the group from the Apostoliki Diakonia theological college of Athens, Greece, Feb. 27, the pope said that, despite “the forces of evil” that have kept Catholics and Orthodox from full unity, visits, cultural exchanges and joint projects have brought new hope to ecumenism.

Progress in dialogue, he said, brings hope for “a new dawn, that of the day on which we will understand fully that being rooted and grounded in the love of Christ means concretely finding a way to overcome our divisions through personal and communal conversion, the exercise of listening to the other and prayer in common for our unity.”

The pope said the exchange program with the Orthodox Church of Greece, which includes a scholarship program for Orthodox priests and seminarians to study in Rome and Catholic priests and seminarians to study in Athens, is especially important for preparing future church leaders for ecumenism.

“I am certain that mutual love will increase our inventiveness and will lead us to follow new paths,” the pope said.

Posted on 03/01/06. Filed under: Ecclesia • Ecclesiology: The Church and Ecumenism • The Contemporary World • The "New Christianity" • Neo-Roman Catholicism • • Email This Entry

The following encyclical was written by the new Metropolitan of Mesogia, NICHOLAS (Hadjinikolaou) and was issued on Thomas Sunday to be read in the churches of the Dioceses of Attica, in which the retreat center hosting the World Council of Churches conference is located.

Hellenic Republic
Holy Metropolis of Attica

Protocol no. 334

Thomas Sunday 2005

Encyclical No. 5

To the pious Christians of our Holy Metropolis

Beloved children in the Lord,

Christ is Risen!

As you most likely know, a conference of the World Council of Churches will take place, with the approval of the Holy Synod, in our province beginning tomorrow, the 9th of May 2005, and lasting until the 16th. This Council is mainly made up of the representatives of Protestant confessions, although representatives of many Orthodox Churches also participate. It is an accepted truth that its role is ambiguous and there are not a few who express their serious reservations about its methodology, function, and ultimate purpose in the contemporary world and its relation with the one truth. The Holy Synod has nevertheless decided on and proceeded with its decision. We respect its decisions, but are, at the same time, obliged to also take necessary measures in order to provide a witness in the best possible way, as well as to guard against influences which adulterate our ethos.

Having said this, I would like to also tell you the following:

If we receive the heterodox in order to impart to them the witness of our faith and tradition, this is holy. If we host them in order to express to them our respect and our freedom, this is noble. If, however, we extend an invitation to them in order to divvy up and pass around together with them the treasure of the true faith, this is impious. Unfortunately, the World Council of Churches is a syncretistic organization. It is a religious organization which struggles for the unity of Christians but with an earthly and worldly perception. The one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church does not “pray together” but does pray for the God-given and ordained union of all. It does not discuss and dialogue with the aim of reaching human agreement, but provides its obligatory witness in order to call all of us to conversion. Nor does the Church become passionately fanatical and intolerant, or, even more so, is it seized with panic because of heterodox practices and conceptions, but rather boldly and respectably offers its confession [of faith].

Next Sunday, the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearers, in accordance with the program of the conference, quite a few of the attendees will visit parishes of our area in order to observe our Divine Worship. One can perceive that the possibility of our liturgical order being disrupted and of some of the aforementioned heterodox asking to receive Holy Communion or antidoron is not insignificant. I would ask, therefore, that our clergy be especially attentive on this day.

As you also know, the Anglicans have in the recent past proceeded with the ordination of women, while a variety of Protestant confessions have gone further and ordained homosexuals. Moves such as these are not of secondary importance, since they are quite an offense to the most holy mystery of the Priesthood.

We will not drive anyone away. Maybe we will run into a few women who believe that they have the gift of the priesthood. Maybe people of an uncertain character will approach us and present themselves to us as priests. Maybe, furthermore, conference attendees with a worldly way of thinking and image will approach us and will appear to us as angels of the kingdom of God. We clearly contest their so-called ecclesiastical gifts, however we will not insult or offend them. We confess the delusion which exists, however the persons who express it we respect and encounter in a dignified manner.

It is, however, absolutely essential that we be careful that the constancy and solemnity of our witness not be infected; that the peace of our mystical worship not be disturbed; that the avowed truth of our Orthodox faith not be falsified within us. Perhaps these people are better than us as it concerns their character. Their faith, however, is dangerously unsound and ailing. It is so ill that we could assert that they believe in a Christ who does not exist.

Christ awaits conversion from them as a correction of their dogmatic faith and path. From us, he awaits it as the humble confession of our holy Orthodox faith and as a consistent and holy life. 

Posted on 05/12/05. Filed under: Ecclesia • Ecclesiology: The Church and Ecumenism • • Email This Entry

Pan-Hellenic Union of Theologians - Press Release
CONTACT: FR. GEORGE METALLINOS: 210.671.8445

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MAY 2, 2005

In Response to the Church of Greece’s Decision to Host the World Council of Churches’ Conference on World Mission and Evangelism (May, 9-15, Athens), the Pan-Hellenic Union of Theologians is sponsoring a one-day theological conference:

THE MISSION OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
AND THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES

Invitation-program

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Amphitheater of the War Museum

Vasilisis Sophias and Rizari 2, Athens

PROGRAM

Chairman: Archimandrite Sarantis Sarantos

17.30-17.50 Commencement of Conference – Greetings

17.50-18.10 Apostolos Katopodis, Th.D., Dean of the Pan-Hellenic Union of Theologians

Mission as an ecclesiastical event

18.10-18.30 Archpriest Constantine Stratigopoulos

Orthodox mission today: problems and prospects

18.30-18.50 Father Peter A. Heers

The missionary beginnings of contemporary ecumenism

18.50-19.10 Discussion

19.10-19:30 Break

Chairman: Archpriest Theodore Zisis

19.30-19.50 Archimandrite Avgoustinos Myrou, Th.D., Homilist, Diocese of Servia and Kozani

The “common mission” of the W.C.C.: 
To which Church does it call people and which Christ does it preach?

19.50-20.10 Stavros Bozovitis, Theologian, Homilist

The success of the Apostles and the failure of the missionaries

20.10-20.30 John Kornarakis, Professor Emeritus, Theological School of Athens

The W.C.C.: a dangerous threat to Orthodox theology

20.30-20.50 Discussion

20.50-21.10 Conference Findings

Posted on 05/12/05. Filed under: Ecclesia • Ecclesiology: The Church and Ecumenism • • Email This Entry

MEMORANDUM

On the World Council of Churches’
Conference on World Mission and Evangelism
to be held in Athens, Greece, May 9-16, 2005

To His Beatitude, the Archbishop
and the Most Reverend Metropolitans
of the Church of Greece

Your Beatitude,
Most Reverend holy Hierarchs,

The Church of Greece’s impending organization and hosting of the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism of the World Council of Churches (W.C.C.) brings sorrow, bewilderment and indignation to our souls. For this reason, permit us to communicate with you by means of the present memorandum, humbly setting forth the following thoughts, both from awareness of our responsibility towards the souls that we shepherd and instruct spiritually as well as from pain for the Orthodox Church, which, as a unique possessor of the revealed truth about God, cannot participate in inter-Christian activities of such a sort without altering her ecclesiological self-awareness, betraying her faith and scandalizing the multitude of her faithful.

Unfortunately, our nation is the first Orthodox country to dare to host such a conference, and we believe that this fact constitutes, not an excuse for boasting, as its organizers proclaim, but one more black page in the recent ecclesiastical history of Greece.

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Posted on 05/09/05. Filed under: Ecclesia • Ecclesiology: The Church and Ecumenism • • Email This Entry

An Inter-Orthodox Theological Conference:

Ecumenism
Origins – Expectations – Disenchantment

Ceremony Hall
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
September 20-24, 2004

Sponsored by:
The Department of Pastoral and Social Theology of the
School of Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
and the Society of Orthodox Studies

Conclusions

The Inter-Orthodox Theological Conference “Ecumenism: Origins – Expectations – Disenchantment” was convened on September 20th, 2004 in Thessaloniki, Greece and carried out its work until September 24th with great success. The conference was organized by the Department of Pastoral and Social Theology of the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Society of Orthodox Studies. Conference sessions were held in the Ceremony Hall of the University.

The conference commenced with a proclamation by His All-holiness Metropolitan Anthimos of Thessaloniki.  In attendance were many Metropolitans and Bishops, as well as the mayor of Thessaloniki (Mr. Panagiotis Psomiadis), members of the Greek Parliament, and university professors, who offered greetings to the conference attendees.

Over the five days of the conference, sixty respected speakers, including Hierarchs from various Orthodox Churches, analyzed every aspect of Ecumenism before a packed audience of the abbots of holy monasteries, clergy, monks, and laity, among which were many theologians, professors from both Theological Schools, and students of the Theological School of the University of Thessaloniki

Conference participants came to the following conclusions, based on the numerous presentations and accompanying discussions:

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Posted on 04/19/05. Filed under: Ecclesia • Ecclesiology: The Church and Ecumenism • • Email This Entry