Reactions against ecumenists from Mt Athos

Myrrh · Post by **Myrrh** » Sun 7 January 2007 11:23 pm

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/arti ... wsid=63099

Greek Orthodox monks criticize rapprochement with pope
Thursday, January 4, 2007

ATHENS - AFP

The monks of Mount Athos, an ancient spiritual home of the Greek Orthodox Church, on Wednesday criticized signs of rapprochement between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox hierarchy.

The community of Mount Athos had been "plunged into deep sadness" by a visit made in November by Pope Benedict XVI to the Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul, followed by one to the Vatican by the head of the Greek Orthodox Church Archbishop Christodoulos last month.

Attempts at reconciliation between the two churches were part of Benedict's visit to Turkey where he met with Patriarch Bartolomeos I of Constantinople, spiritual head of the Orthodox Church.

But the collegium representing 20 monasteries of the particularly anti-Catholic Mount Athos community said in a statement it was indignant at such signs of friendship "while the papacy has in no way retreated from its heretical teaching and policies."

They reiterated their opposition to the pope's claim to be the spiritual leader of all Christians, and to the expansion in Eastern Europe of the Uniate Church, a minority which acknowledges papal authority.

Eastern Europe has always been regarded by Orthodox churches as their traditional domain.

However, the admonition from Mount Athos was supported by only a very small majority of the 20 elders of the community there, according to one senior monastic source who wished to remain anonymous.

The source described the Istanbul meeting between Benedict and Bartolomeos as "very positive."

Greek Orthodox Church leader Archbishop Christodoulos, on a first-ever visit to the Vatican last month, joined Benedict in appealing for an end to religious intolerance and violence.

The two religious leaders also stressed their willingness to defend "the Christian roots of the European continent" and to promote "the sacred nature and dignity of each person."

Their joint statement marked the highlight of the first official meeting at the Vatican between Greece's top Orthodox cleric and the leader of the world's Roman Catholics, seen as a step toward healing a 1,000-year rift between the two churches.

Relations between the Greek Church and the Vatican have improved since a visit by the late John Paul II in 2001, during which he asked forgiveness for past wrongs by Catholics towards the Orthodox faithful.

These included the pillage of Constantinople, the seat of the Byzantine Empire, during the Crusades in 1204, the pope at the time said.

..................................................................................
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/ ... atican.php

The Associated PressPublished: January 3, 2007

Orthodox monks chide Greek church leader over Vatican visit

ATHENS, Greece: Monks at a reclusive Orthodox sanctuary criticized a landmark visit to the Vatican by Greece's church leader Archbishop Christodoulos last month as endangering centuries-old church traditions.

"We bear a heavy responsibility before the faithful people of Greece who regard (us) as being the inviolable guardian of holy tradition," the monks from the sanctuary of Mount Athos in northern Greece wrote. Their letter was published Wednesday in the Athens daily Ethnos.

"It is with anguish that we declare that Mount Athos does not agree with common prayers, participation in liturgies or other devotional meetings that give the impression that the Orthodox Church accepts the Roman Catholics as a full church," the monks wrote in the letter signed by all 20 monastic representatives on the self-governing peninsula.

Christodoulos met Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Dec. 14 and signed a joint declaration calling for inter-religious dialogue and reaffirming common opposition to abortion and euthanasia.

Since becoming pope in 2005, Benedict has taken steps to improve relations between the Catholic and Orthodox churches, which have been divided for nearly 1,000 years and are still split by long-standing questions of doctrine.

He visited Turkey Nov. 28-Dec. 1 and met with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians.

The Athos monks wrote that Benedict's efforts "may have had some benefits of secular significance, but included events which are contrary to the foundations of Orthodox practice."

Myrrh · Post by **Myrrh** » Sun 7 January 2007 11:46 pm

I think I've found the original letter in Greek, but it's in adobe and for some reason won't be copied. Any ideas?

It says it can be accessed on http://www.agioros.com

尼古拉前执事 · Mon 8 January 2007 2:33 am

From www.Esphigmenou.com

December 30, 2006 - All Twenty Monasteries of Mount Athos sent His All Holiness, Patriarch Bartholomew, a letter listing their objections to his actions which are in direct conflict with the teachings of the Orthodox Church. Some of the monasteries call for joining Esphigmenou Monastery in ceasing commemoration of Patriarch Bartholomew.
...
The Twenty Monasteries write: " ... we feel that we have a heavy responsibility to the faithful people . . . who see us as an uncompromising guardian of the Holy tradition . . . For this reason, with pain we declare that we do not agree with your praying together, with your participation in Liturgical and in worship gatherings, which give the impression that the Orthodox Church, accepts the Roman Catholics and the Pope as the Canonical Bishop of Rome..."

The letter continues "... the just concluded visit of the Pope to Fanar [neighborhood where Patriarchate is located in Istanbul] and His Beatitude the Archbishop [Christodoulos'] visit to the Vatican, was a cause of deep pain in our hearts.

Perhaps there was some worldly benefit from all these, but during these visits there took place actions which are in conflict with the practices of Orthodox Ecclesiology. Your receiving the Pope as though he were the Canonical Bishop of Rome. Also his presiding on the bishop's throne during the Orthodox Divine Liturgy while wearing an Omophorion; his reciting the "Our Father," the Liturgical kiss with the Patriarch, are actions which surpass the simple praying together, which are forbidden by the Sacred Canons.

And all these happenings, when the papal tradition has not changed in anything or any of its heretical teachings and politics..."

Then they continue and make their final declaration, — they declare the Papal Church to be bereft of Apostolic succession and without "grace."

The fathers tell the Patriarch that they are reverting to the resolutions of the 1980 Double Meeting of the Holy Community of Athos, Esphigmenou Monastery was part of this meeting, and all agreed, which declares: ". . . we believe that our Holy Orthodox Church is the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ, having the fullness of Grace and Truth and has had the Apostolic Succession without any interruption. Conversely, the Western "churches" and "confessions" have in many places twisted the Faith of the Bible, the Apostles and the Fathers, and are lacking sanctifying grace, they do not have true Mysteries (Sacraments) nor Apostolic Succession."

尼古拉前执事 · Tue 9 January 2007 6:12 pm

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SACRED COMMUNITY OF THE HOLY MOUNTAIN ATHOS
http://www.oodegr.com/english/oikoumenismos/athos1.htm
Karyae, 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 November 2006) and thereafter the visit by His Beatitude the Archbishop of Athens Christodoulos (14th 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 venerate 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 Fanarion and of His Beatitude the Archbishop to the Vatican brought immense sorrow to our hearts.

We desire and we struggle all of our 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 are afraid to remain 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 at Fanarion and the Archbishop’s visit at 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.

First of all, the Pope was received as though he were a canonical (proper) 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 psalms that were (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.

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 in Fanarion), 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: «Undoubtedly, the authorities and the powers of (western) European culture and civilization are Christ-expellers». This is why it is so important to project the humble morality 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 circular 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 (=overall) 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 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.

Besides, 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).

Unia 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 disaster, 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 Fanarion 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.

Thus, out of love for our Orthodoxy, but with pain as regards the unity of the Church, and with a view to preserve the Orthodox Faith free of all innovations, we proclaim in every direction that which was proclaimed by the Extraordinary, Double, Holy Assembly of our Sacred Community of the Holy Mountain on the 9th / 22nd of April 1980:

«We believe that our Holy Orthodox Church is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ, having the fullness of Grace and the Truth, and for this reason, an uninterrupted Apostolic Succession. On the contrary, the “churches” and the “confessions” of the West, having distorted the faith of the Gospel, the Apostles and the Fathers on many points, are deprived of the hallowing Grace, the true Sacraments and the Apostolic Succession...

Dialogues with the heterodox - if they are intended to inform them about the Orthodox Faith so that when they become receptive of divine enlightenment and their eyes are opened they might return to the Orthodox Faith – are not condemned.

In no way should a theological dialogue be accompanied by common prayers, participation in liturgical assemblies and worship by either side and any other activities that might give the impression that our Orthodox Church acknowledges the Roman Catholics as a complete Church and the Pope as a canonical (proper) Bishop of Rome. Such acts mislead the Orthodox as well as the Roman Catholic faithful, who are given a false impression of what Orthodoxy thinks of them....

With the Grace of God, the Holy Mountain remains faithful - as do the Orthodox people of the Lord - to the Faith of the Holy Apostles and the Holy Fathers, and also out of love for the heterodox, who are essentially helped, when the Orthodox with their steadfast Orthodox stance point out the extent of their spiritual ailment and the way they can be cured.

The failed attempts for union during the past teach us that for a permanent union, according to the will of God, within the Truth of the Church, the prerequisite is a different kind of preparation and course, than those which were followed in the past and appear to be followed to this day.».

By all of the Representatives and Superiors of the common Assembly of the twenty Sacred Monasteries of the Holy Mountain Athos.

(The Greek text can be found at the following address: http://www.agioros.com)
Monk Prodromos Gregoriates – Secretariat of the Sacred Community. Translation by: A. N. Article published in English on: 8-1-2007.
Last update: 8-1-2007.

Jean-Serge · Post by **Jean-Serge** » Fri 12 January 2007 1:20 pm

This is indeed a good text. However I doubt it will change anything as long as they keep on commemorating the current Patriarch. Only Esphigmenou had enough courage to break communion; if they were logical with this text, the other monasteries would also do the same because since 1980 (year of the first protest from Mount Athos), things had grown werse as reagrds ecumenism. Will they dare?

(By the way, I made a French translation available here : http://orthodoxie-libre.over-blog.com/a ... 20510.html )

Other translations in French (better than mine) can be found here :

http://www.forum- orthodoxe. com/_forum/ viewtopic. php?t=2149

and http://www.orthodox ie.com/2007/ 01/communiqu_ de_la_1.html

drewmeister2 · Post by **drewmeister2** » Thu 1 February 2007 8:19 pm

Just look at the amount of names at the bottom (from www.esphigmenou.com)

An Open Letter

Code: Select all

                                                                    December, 2006

To the Holy Abbots and the Holy Representatives of the Sacred Twenty Monasteries in the Sacred Community of the Holy Mount Athos

Holy Abbots and Holy Fathers,

Bless!

We desire at the present time to express our deepest concern and sadness for all that is taking place for years now, in our Holy Orthodoxy, the deconstruction of the teaching of the Holy Apostles and of the Holy Fathers and the antithesis to all the sacred canons enacted by the ecumenical and local synods. We wonder if some ecumenical synod has been assembled and abolished the canons which forbid the joint prayer with heretics, or if the Pope repented and renounced the heresies of the Filioque, of primacy, of infallibility, of unleavened bread, of the purifying fire [purgatory], of created grace, of the immaculate conception of the Most Holy Theotokos, and so many others, most of which he has been condemned and anathematized numerous times by Orthodox Synods and by the entirety of the Holy Fathers.

Heaven was angered and the Holy Fathers exceedingly saddened by the spectacle and by hearing about all that took place at the Phanar (neighborhood in which the Ecumenical Patriarch resides in Istanbul-Ed. note) during the feast of the Holy Apostle Andrew on the 30th of November of the current year.

Unprecedented and unheard of things in the two thousand year history of the Church. “The scornful marginalization of the dogmas of the Fathers, the annihilation of the Apostolic traditions, the introduction of novelties into the churches by contemporary personalities,” as St. Basil the Great says, regarding comparable events during his own time.

Everything happened literally upside-down.

Instead of the heretical Pope being cast down, as we see the heretics depicted in the Icons of the Holy Synods, and being ejected from the Divine Liturgy, as required by the liturgical command, “the doors, the doors, in wisdom let us attend,” we placed him on a high throne, where he sat and along with others, he too, wore an omophorion, the Orthodox deacons censed him, the Patriarch exchanged the Liturgical Kiss with him at the “let us love one another,” and he recited as though being the one in charge, the proestos, the “Our Father…,” and the chorus of the sacred cantors chanted to him the “Many Years,” and a specially composed hymn from an Athonite hymnographer – Lord, have mercy! – if, of course, the journalistic communications are true.

And he was permitted to give the congregation his blessing, rather, his madness according to the sacred canons.

We allowed the Church militant on earth to be divided from the Church triumphant of the Saints in heaven and to be united to churches and assemblies of evil heretics.

We insulted all of the holy martyrs and confessors who struggled to the point of blood against the heresies, because we present their struggles, their martyrdoms and their confessions as unbeneficial and useless.

Will not the blessed Holy Mountain Fathers who were martyred by [Ecumenical Patriarch John - Ed. note] Bekkos because they refused to receive him and to commemorate the Pope, be sorry, seeing us not only to reject their example with our silence, but to do the opposite?

Why then did all of the previous martyrs undergo martyrdom and why did the confessors stand fast in their profession of the Faith?

You know, Reverend Fathers, better than we do, of all the anti-Orthodox and blasphemous actions, statements, and decisions of the Ecumenical Patriarch and other heads of institutions, Abbots and Bishops who loudly and overtly advise – bareheadedly – the acceptance and teaching of the panheresy of Ecumenism.

It is the greatest ecclesiological heresy of all ages.

It rejects the uniqueness of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church and, equates it to the heresies, by accepting their Mysteries as having and communicating, sanctifying and saving grace.

Besides recognition of the baptism of Papists and Lutherans, we also have participation in the common chalice with Monophysites and in many instances with the Papists in the Cyclades [islands in Aegean Sea, Greece Ed. note] and in the Diaspora.

We have now realized with greater sadness, that the spiritual leadership of the Holy Mountain of the last years has not confronted with fortitude and confessional courage, these manifest appearances of apostasy, as the Athonite Fathers of bygone times did.

The Patriarch has gauged our responses and because they have been half-hearted, and many times non-existent, he proceeds without any obstacles into union with the Pope, who is unrepentant and remains in heresies.

He gauged us and was exceedingly glad also at his last visit to the Holy Mountain to make it appear that he came to receive the consent and blessing of the Athonites for all the things that he had already planned to do with the Pope a few days later.

We, the humble priestmonks and monks, in the form of confession disclose to you that we have been scandalized by the silence and inaction of our spiritual authorities on Mount Athos, and together with us, all the people of Greece and all Orthodox around the globe, as well as those who are sympathetic to monastics.

They all are waiting to hear the voice of Mount Athos.

From you, the wisest and most sage, we have learned that when the faith is endangered, we are all accountable if we are silent and shrink back, as St. Theodore the Studite says. Particularly, a monk must not allow the slightest innovation in matters of the faith, according to the same holy Father and great monastic leader and organizer of monastic life and the Elder of us all. He did not fear the threats and the persecutions of the iconoclastic, Emperors and Patriarchs, but even within the environs of Constantinople, within the enclosure of the Great Sacred Monastery of Studion, he organized a procession with a thousand torch bearing monks, who held the forbidden holy icons in their hands.

Ten thousand monks in Palestine, under leadership of Saints Savvas the Sanctified and Theodosios the Cenobite, these great monastic leaders, assembled together long before in Jerusalem, and saved Orthodoxy from the heresy of Monothelitism.

Who is going to save the Church today from the panheresy of Ecumenism and the deceit of Papism?

The letters of protest, which the Sacred Community has sent from time to time to the Ecumenical Patriarch did not bring about any results.

There is no more time for words. It is time for action.

We, unlearned and wretched sinners, do not want to teach you, nor do we want to present ourselves as confessors.

We just want to set at ease our Orthodox monastic conscience; We want to especially honor the holy martyrs and confessors, particularly those ones martyred by Bekkos.

We want to honor and follow their conduct.

To not shrink back and place the monasteries and our brotherhoods above the purity of the faith, above God, and the truth.

We believe that after so many oral and written protests and pleas, after so many retractions [i.e., going back one’s word], retreats, and compromises, the only thing which will gladden the Orthodox and shame the heretic, is a cessation of the commemoration of the Patriarch's name (as Esphigmenou Monastery has bravely done for decades now under its fearless Abbot Archimandrite Methodios and his ever-memorable predecessors the holy Abbots Athanasios and Euthymios - is currently being mercilessly persecuted by His All Holiness and the Greek Government and some in the Holy Community in Athos-Editor's Note) in the services and not only that, but the cessation of commemoration of the names in all the services, of all the bishops agreeing with him wherever they may be around the World who remain silent.

Gather together, holy Fathers, the monks of all the Monasteries, of the Sketes, of the Kellia, in a militant all monastic assembly, either within or outside the Holy Mountain and knock down the towers of heresy, of Papism, of Ecumenism.

Take on the good fight of the Faith.

We, if you remain inactive, will prefer doing things pleasing to God and not things pleasing to man.

May God enlighten us all, and may the Most Holy Theotokos cover and bless Her Garden and protect the Orthodox Church from those warring against Her and from those heretics warring against the Saints, as well as from cowardly shepherds who leave the flock unprotected from attacks of the wolves.

Finally, asking for your blessings, we conclude with respect,

Hieromonk Ephraim, former abbot, Elder of the Skete of Apostle Andrew and the brotherhood with me, of the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi.

Elder Hieromonk Eustratios, Great Laura Monastery.

Elder Hieromonk Poimen, Holy Monastery of Zographou

Elder Hieromonk Basileios, Holy Monastery of Zographou

Elder Hieromonk Bessarion, Holy Monastery of Zographou

Monk Nikodemos (Bilalis, Sacred Cell "of the Presentation" from Kapsala

Monk Artemios, Great Laura Monastery

Priestmonk Hilarion, Great Laura Monastery

Paisios Monk, Great Laura Monastery

Savvas Monk, Great Laura Monastery

Sacred Deacon Chariton, Great Laura Monastery

Chariton Monk, Karoulia, Great Laura Monastery

Athanasios Monk, Karoulia, Great Laura Monastery

Elder Vlasios Monk,Kserokalyvo Viglas, Great Laura Monastery

Akakios Monk Sacred Place of Holy Trinity (Kyr Isaiah) Great Laura Monastery

Elder Isaiah Monk, Kellion of the Birth of the Mother of God, Great Laura Monastery

Cherubim Monk, Sacred place of the Archangels, Great Laura Monastery

Hieromonk Damaskinos, Kellion of Holy Trinity at Karyes, Great Laura Monastery

Elder Nektarios Monk, Kellion of Holy Trinity at Karyes, Great Laura Monastery

Elder Theolyptos Monk and the fathers with him; Kellion of the Sacred Forerunner,St.Anne's Skete, Great Laura Monastery

Hieromonk Gabriel, Sacred Kellion of St. George(Kartsounaion) Sacred Skete of St. Anne, Great Laura Monastery

Hieromonk Chrysostomos Kartsonas, Great Laura Monastery

Elder Kosmas Monk,Sacred Hut of St. Demetrios, Skete of Saint Anne, Great Laura Monastery

Elder Panteleimon Monk, Sacred Kellion of St. Panteleimon, Sacred Skete of Holy Trinity, Great Laura Monastery

Elder Sophronios Monk, Sacred Hut of Entrance of the Theotokos, Sacred Skete of Holy Trinity, Great Laura Monastery

Parthenios Monk, Sacred Hut Entrance of Theotokos, Sacred Skete of Holy Trinity Great Laura Monastery

Athanasios Monk at Vouleutiria, Great Laura Monastery

Elder Hieromonk Serapheim, Kellion of All Saints, Skete of Saint Anne, Great Laura Monastery

Elder Daniel Monk, Saint Anne's, Great Laura Monastery

Elder Gerasimos Monk Sacred Hut of St. George, Katounakia, Great Laura Monastery

Elder Hieromonk Benediktos, Kellion of Ss Konstantine and Eleni, Vatopedi Monastery

Paisios Monk, Kellion of Archangels (Savvaion) Karyes, Hilandari Monastery

Silouanos Monk Sacred Hut of St. Nicholas, Nea Skete, St. Paul Monastery

Gabriel Monk Kellion of Koutloumousiou of Saint Christodoulos

Dositheos Monk, Koutloumousiou Monastery Place

Elder Nektarios Monk, Sacred Hut of Holy Trinity, Skete of Koutloumousiou Monastery

Paisios Monk, Kellion of Saint Barbara, Koutloumousiou Monastery

Elder Moses Monk, Kellion St. John Chrysostomos, Skete of St. Panteleimonos, Koutloumousiou Monastery

Elder Hieromonk Abraaham, Sacred Hut of St Gerasimos Kefalinias, Skete of St. Panteleimonos, Koutloumousiou Monastery

Elder Spyridon Monk, Kellion of St. Nicholas, Koutloumousiou Monastery

Theodoulos Monk, formerly of Koutloumousiou Monastery

Elder Hieromonk Chrysostom, Kellion of St. Spyridon of Kerkyra, Koutloumousiou Monastery

Hilarion Monk, Sacred Place of Doheiariou Monastery ( Platon area)

Elder Nikodemos Monk, Kellion of St. Nektarios Kapsala, Pantokratoros Monastery

Hieromonk Gabriel, Kellion of Quick to Hear Mother of GOD, Pantokratoros Monastery

Isaac Monk, Kellion of Birth of Mother of GOD, Kapsala, Pantokratoros Monastery

Elder Athanasios Monk, Kellion of St . Athanasios, Pantokratoros Monastery

Elder Meletios Monk, Birth of Theotokos, Kapsala, Pantokratoros Monastery

Elder Gregory Monk Kellion of St. Nicholas, Kapsala, Pantokratoros Monastery

Elder Onoufrios Monk, Kellion Dormition of Theotokos, Karyes

Elder Nicholas Monk, Kellion of St. Demetrios, Karyes

Hieromonk Gabriel, Kellion of Holy Archangels (Kombologas) Karyes

These are the names, thus far, of Fathers and Monks as of this publishing, who up to now commemorated Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.There are many others who are now asking to add their names to this list of Holy Mountain Orthodox confessors ...

Christophoros · Post by **Christophoros** » Sat 3 February 2007 9:07 am

An Open Letter

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                                                                    December, 2006

To the Holy Abbots and the Holy Representatives of the Sacred Twenty Monasteries in the Sacred Community of the Holy Mount Athos

Holy Abbots and Holy Fathers,

Bless!

We desire at the present time to express our deepest concern and sadness for all that is taking place for years now, in our Holy Orthodoxy, the deconstruction of the teaching of the Holy Apostles and of the Holy Fathers and the antithesis to all the sacred canons enacted by the ecumenical and local synods. We wonder if some ecumenical synod has been assembled and abolished the canons which forbid the joint prayer with heretics, or if the Pope repented and renounced the heresies of the Filioque, of primacy, of infallibility, of unleavened bread, of the purifying fire [purgatory], of created grace, of the immaculate conception of the Most Holy Theotokos, and so many others, most of which he has been condemned and anathematized numerous times by Orthodox Synods and by the entirety of the Holy Fathers.

Heaven was angered and the Holy Fathers exceedingly saddened by the spectacle and by hearing about all that took place at the Phanar during the feast of the Holy Apostle Andrew on the 30th of November of the current year.

Unprecedented and unheard of things in the two thousand year history of the Church. “The scornful marginalization of the dogmas of the Fathers, the annihilation of the Apostolic traditions, the introduction of novelties into the churches by contemporary personalities,” as St. Basil the Great says, regarding comparable events during his own time.

Everything happened literally upside-down.

Instead of the heretical Pope being cast down, as we see the heretics depicted in the Icons of the Holy Synods, and being ejected from the Divine Liturgy, as required by the liturgical command, “the doors, the doors, in wisdom let us attend,” we placed him on a high throne, where he sat and along with others, he too, wore an omophorion, the Orthodox deacons censed him, the Patriarch exchanged the Liturgical Kiss with him at the “let us love one another,” and he recited as though being the one in charge, the proestos, the “Our Father…,” and the chorus of the sacred cantors chanted to him the “Many Years,” and a specially composed hymn from an Athonite hymnographer – Lord, have mercy! – if, of course, the journalistic communications are true.

And he was permitted to give the congregation his blessing, rather, his madness according to the sacred canons.

We allowed the Church militant on earth to be divided from the Church triumphant of the Saints in heaven and to be united to churches and assemblies of evil heretics.

We insulted all of the holy martyrs and confessors who struggled to the point of blood against the heresies, because we present their struggles, their martyrdoms and their confessions as unbeneficial and useless.

Will not the blessed Holy Mountain Fathers who were martyred by [Ecumenical Patriarch John] Bekkos because they refused to receive him and to commemorate the Pope, be sorry, seeing us not only to reject their example with our silence, but to do the opposite?

Why then did all of the previous martyrs undergo martyrdom and why did the confessors stand fast in their profession of the Faith?

You know, Reverend Fathers, better than we do, of all the anti-Orthodox and blasphemous actions, statements, and decisions of the Ecumenical Patriarch and other heads of institutions, Abbots and Bishops who loudly and overtly advise – bareheadedly – the acceptance and teaching of the panheresy of Ecumenism.

It is the greatest ecclesiological heresy of all ages.

It rejects the uniqueness of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church and, equates it to the heresies, by accepting their Mysteries as having and communicating, sanctifying and saving grace.

Besides recognition of the baptism of Papists and Lutherans, we also have participation in the common chalice with Monophysites and in many instances with the Papists in the Cyclades and in the Diaspora.

We have now realized with greater sadness, that the spiritual leadership of the Holy Mountain of the last years has not confronted with fortitude and confessional courage, these manifest appearances of apostasy, as the Athonite Fathers of bygone times did.

The Patriarch has gauged our responses and because they have been half-hearted, and many times non-existent, he proceeds without any obstacles into union with the Pope, who is unrepentant and remains in heresies.

He gauged us and was exceedingly glad also at his last visit to the Holy Mountain to make it appear that he came to receive the consent and blessing of the Athonites for all the things that he had already planned to do with the Pope a few days later.

We, the humble priestmonks and monks, in the form of confession disclose to you that we have been scandalized by the silence and inaction of our spiritual authorities on Mount Athos, and together with us, all the people of Greece and all Orthodox around the globe, as well as those who are sympathetic to monastics.

They all are waiting to hear the voice of Mount Athos.

From you, the wisest and most sage, we have learned that when the faith is endangered, we are all accountable if we are silent and shrink back, as St. Theodore the Studite says. Particularly, a monk must not allow the slightest innovation in matters of the faith, according to the same holy Father and great monastic leader and organizer of monastic life and the Elder of us all. He did not fear the threats and the persecutions of the iconoclastic, Emperors and Patriarchs, but even within the environs of Constantinople, within the enclosure of the Great Sacred Monastery of Studion, he organized a procession with a thousand torch bearing monks, who held the forbidden holy icons in their hands.

Ten thousand monks in Palestine, under leadership of Saints Savvas the Sanctified and Theodosios the Cenobite, these great monastic leaders, assembled together long before in Jerusalem, and saved Orthodoxy from the heresy of Monothelitism.

Who is going to save the Church today from the panheresy of Ecumenism and the deceit of Papism?

The letters of protest, which the Sacred Community has sent from time to time to the Ecumenical Patriarch did not bring about any results.

There is no more time for words. It is time for action.

We, unlearned and wretched sinners, do not want to teach you, nor do we want to present ourselves as confessors.

We just want to set at ease our Orthodox monastic conscience; We want to especially honor the holy martyrs and confessors, particularly those ones martyred by Bekkos.

We want to honor and follow their conduct.

To not shrink back and place the monasteries and our brotherhoods above the purity of the faith, above God, and the truth.

We believe that after so many oral and written protests and pleas, after so many retractions, retreats, and compromises, the only thing which will gladden the Orthodox and shame the heretic, is a cessation of the commemoration of the Patriarch's name in the services and not only that, but the cessation of commemoration of the names in all the services, of all the bishops agreeing with him wherever they may be around the World who remain silent.