Twenty years ago the charismatic Archbishop Christodoulos of blessed memory called out the faithful in dramatic fashion in two separate and well attended rallies that took place in Athens and Thessaloniki. The purpose for these rallies was to protest the plans of Prime Minister Costas Simitis which intended to remove religion from identity cards. The issue of religion on identity cards reflected the battle between faith and secularism, conservatism vs liberalism, and nationalism vs internationalism.
Within the Eastern Orthodox Church which consists of fourteen local autocephalous and self governing Churches are several Greek speaking Churches. The largest of these is the Orthodox Church of Greece which has around ten million faithful. Other Greek speaking Churches include the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and the Autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus.
Twenty years after Archbishop Christodoulos fought against secular encroachment on the rights of the Church, the Church of Greece is now under the influence not of the secular government of Greece but the secular government of the United States. American officials ranging from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to American Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt shamefully interfere with the functioning of the Greek Church.
In 1999, Archbishop Christodoulos was unrelenting in his condemnation of the Clinton administrations bombing of Serbia, an Orthodox country and historic ally of Greece. In 2004, Archbishop Christodoulos condemned the anti Serb pogroms that took place in Kosovo. The Archbishop condemned the European Union for adopting a constitution that made no mention of Christianity.
Furthermore, the Church of Greece during the tenure of the late Archbishop found itself being encroached upon by the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In 2003, two Metropolitans in northern Greece passed away. The Ecumenical Patriarchate in turn citing a 1928 agreement between the two Churches announced plans to elect new Bishops to those vacant bishoprics. This led to an angry response on the part of Archbishop Christodoulos and the Church of Greece. A settlement was reached which restored the status quo in which Metropolitans in Northern Greece were elected by the synod in Athens.
If the Church of Greece were still led by Archbishop Christodoulos or an Archbishop like him there would very likely be no canonical crisis within the Church of Greece today. The present Archbishop Ieronymos II has proven to be a moral failure as can be seen by the surrender on the part of both himself and the Holy Synod to western secular interests. In October 2019, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo travelled to Athens to ask Archbishop Ieronymos to recognize a schismatic “church” in Ukraine on the strictly political grounds that this entity is anti Russian. American Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt last fall gave a speech at the Athens branch of Foreign Affairs magazine and defended the Archbishops subsequent recognition of the Ukrainian “church”.
The American Ambassador had no business involving himself or commenting on Church matters, and the Secretary of State had no business asking the Archbishop or any member of the Church hierarchy to recognize the Ukrainian schismatics. The Holy Synod by establishing communion with a group of delusional lay people betrayed Christ, the persecuted hierarchy, clergy, and faithful of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and their very own faithful within the Church of Greece.
Adding to the spiritual tragedy that has engulfed the Greeks are the actions of some Monasteries on the Holy Mountain of Athos. Some of the Monasteries have received the imposter “bishops” of Ukraine and have concelebrated the liturgy with them. Other Athonites adhering to Orthodoxy have refused to receive the fake “bishops”. That any monastics on the Holy Mountain even received these evil people is a moral outrage.
American diplomatic officials have interfered on Mount Athos and have reportedly used their influence to block at least one Russian Bishop and some priests from visiting Mount Athos. The contempt of western officials for freedom of religion is openly demonstrated. Greek Orthodoxy is perceived by them as an instrument in their war on Russia. There is no freedom of religion when the Orthodox Church is being used as a political prop.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria likewise extended recognition to the Ukrainian lunatics masquerading as “bishops”. This only one year after his beautitude Patriarch Theodore II travelled to Odessa to concelebrate the liturgy with the canonical bishops of Ukraine and to urge the faithful to remain in the canonical Church. Orthodox Greeks everywhere should be weeping at the endless betrayals!
After the Council of Florence in 1439, the people of Constantinople took to the streets to express their moral outrage at the betrayal of the Orthodox faith by the Emperor and his Bishops. When in late 1452 the Church of Hagia Sophia was desecrated by the presence of Latin clergy who arrived in Constantinople to formalize the “union”, the faithful of the city refused to enter the Great Church. More recently, in the Greek City of Patra the faithful rose up to stop the visiting fake bishops of Ukraine from serving the liturgy in the Cathedral which holds the relics of Saint Andrew the Apostle.
At the Monastery of Saint Nektarios of Aegina, the Abbess of the Monastery defied the local Bishop and refused to permit visiting “bishops” and “faithful” of the fake “Church” to even set foot onto the Monastery grounds. Twelve Bishops of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece opposed the disastrous decision to enter into communion with a fake “Church”.
There are also priests, monastics, theologians, and lay people in Greece who expressed opposition to any recognition of the schismatic Ukrainian entity through a signed petition that was sent to the Holy Synod many weeks before their cowardly surrender to the dictates of the State Department. The Church of Cyprus has not recognized the schismatic entity but there have been signs the Archbishop of Nicosia has been wavering.
Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem has refused to recognize the schismatic entity and cancelled a meeting with the former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko who instigated this blasphemous politicization of the Orthodox Church. Patriarch Theophilos has formally banned all schismatic clergy from the liturgy at the Holy Sepulchre and enforced identity checks of all visiting clergy from Ukraine to ensure only canonical Bishops and Priests may serve at the most sacred site in Orthodoxy.
Furthermore, Patriarch Theophilos III hosted a minor gathering of Churches in Jordan last February. Although only a few Churches attended and no decisions were made hopes were raised that a future council will be held to formally pass judgement on the desecration of the canons of the Orthodox Church. Several Orthodox Churches have spoken of Jerusalem as the “Mother Church” of Orthodoxy.
It was Archbishop Germanos of Patras that raised the standard of revolt against the Ottoman Turks in 1821. Patriarch (Saint) Gregory V was executed (for refusing to inform the Sultan of Greek revolutionary activities) and Archbishop Kyprianos of Cyprus was hanged for supporting Greek independence. In 1922, Saint Chrysostom of Smyrna refused appeals to leave his Church and his flock and was butchered together with his flock after the Turkish entry into the city.
During the Nazi occupation of Greece, Archbishop Chrysanthos was deposed by the Germans for refusing to cooperate with them, and Archbishop Damaskinos was threatened with death for giving protection to the Jews of Athens. In 1955, Archbishop Spyridon of Athens defied the Greek Government and spoke on Greek radio to condemn the Turkish instigated pogroms against the Greek Orthodox faithful in Turkey and the refusal of America and Great Britain to criticize Turkey.
After the hijacking of the Greek War of Independence in 1833, a Roman Catholic King was imposed on Greece. An “autocephalous” Church was established that was in fact under the authority of the Papist King and his advisors. The use of the septuagaint version of the Old Testament was banned in favor of the Protestant one, Byzantine iconography was replaced by western religious art, Churches were built in a Protestant style, and seventy two Churches from the Byzantine era in Athens were destroyed in order to build the Cathedral of Athens!
All that was done to keep Greece away from the Russians. Russophobia has a long history. But even in those dark days there was resistance in Greek Orthodoxy. Voices such as that of the monk Christophoros Papoulakos preached the Gospel throughout Greece and spoke about the desecration of the Church by the western powers and the liberation of Greece. Once again in our day, the Greek Churches are being profaned by western secular interests.
Where are the Bishops of Greece to follow in the footsteps of Archbishop Germanos, the monk Christophoros Papoulakos, and Archbishop Christodoulos? Let us pray for the freedom of the Greek Churches and the restoration of the unity of Orthodoxy!
ORTHODOXIA I THANATOS!!!!!!!!
CHRISTOS ANESTI! CHRIST IS RISEN!