Dionysios wrote:I think it is significant that this document is an encyclical and not a synodal decision.
Aside from this encyclical, I appreciate the history of Patriarch Germanos V. He kept the tradition of loyalty to the Ottoman Empire throughout the war, and he was an opponent of the ecumenist party. According to 'The Greek Minority of Istanbul and Greek-Turkish Relations 1918-1974' by Alexis Alexandris, the Patriarchate of Constantinople seems to have become divided into to schools of thought in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The westernizing faction was led by Joachim III (1834-1912) who was patriarch from 1878 to 1884 and again from 1901 to 1912. His opponent was Germanos V who was forced off the throne by the westernizing and nationalist faction (by that time called Venizelist) in late 1918 shortly after the Turks signed the surrender treaty on Limnos ending the war.
The Patriarchal seat was empty for several years until it was filled by the false patriarch Metaxakis. Germanos V was the last genuine Patriarch of Constantinople.
I know this is off the subject, but I was told by a Cypriot monk in Athos that when the British later forced Patriarch Photios off of the throne of Alexandria in 1926 in order to install Metaxakis, the British took Photios to a prison in Patra, Greece where he remained until he died. Is anyone able to corroborate this history about the Patriarchate of Alexandria?
This story might be related by way of analogy to Photios's contemporary Germanos V of Constantinople because although Photios was the legitimate Patriarch of Alexandria, he was not perfect without sin. According to Greek Masonic websites, this same Photios of Alexandria was one of their members.
I think this parallels the history of the Roman papacy of the tenth century which also became divided into two factions during the period prior to 1009 and the the open schism. I think John Romanides summarized that history very well by observing that it very often cooincided with the struglle between oppressive Frankish overlords who had adopted the errors of Augustine and Roman underclasses who largely continued to retain the theology and other traditions of their eastern Christian brothers. 999 A.D. was the year of three popes and the occsion in which the first Frankish cleric was forced onto the throne by the German emperor. This state of affairs ended the utility of economy which had hitherto been previously exercised towards the Franks concerning the Filioque for the sake of the faithful Christians who lived under their political rule. Thus, the names of the Frankish popes ceased to be commemorated in New Rome (Constantinople) after 1009 A.D.
Franks, Romans, Feudalism, and Doctrine Part I
By John Romanides
http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.03.en.f ... ine.01.htm
