Even I think Athenagoras was "wack." What's weird is that his spiritual father was Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Florina (founder of the Old Calendar movement) and he was his deacon, and that both of them were opposed to (but later repented of so being) St. Nektarios!
anastasios
Disclaimer: Many older posts were made before my baptism and thus may not reflect an Orthodox point of view.
Please do not message me with questions about the forum or moderation requests. Jonathan Gress (jgress) will be able to assist you.
Please note that I do not subscribe to "Old Calendar Ecumenism" and believe that only the Synod of Archbishop Kallinikos is the canonical GOC of Greece. I do believe, however, that we can break down barriers and misunderstandings through prayer and discussion on forums such as this one.
Judge and not be Judged!... I personally don't care if he was a heretic or traditionalist or not because that won't save me right? And who am I to declare that he is an Anathema to Orthodoxy?
“I shall judge the bishop and the layperson. The sheep are rational and not irrational, so that no layman may ever say that, ‘I am a sheep, and not a shepherd, and I give no account of myself, but the shepherd shall see to it, and he alone shall pay the penalty for me.’ For even as the sheep that follows not the good shepherd shall fall to the wolves unto its own destruction, so too it is evident that the sheep that follows the evil shepherd shall acquire death; for he shall utterly devour it. Therefore, it is required that we flee from destructive shepherds.” Apostolic Constitutions, 10:19 (PG 1, 633)
“As we walk the unerring and life-bringing path, let us pluck out the eye that scandalizes usÑnot the physical eye, but the noetic one. For example, if a bishop or presbyter,who are the eyes of the Church, conduct themselves in an evil manner and scandalize the people, they must be plucked out. For it is more profitable to gather without them in a house of prayer, than to be cast together with them into the gehenna of fire together with Annas and Caiaphas.” Saint Athanasius the Great (PG 26, 1257 C)
Ever rekindle this faith within yourselves and keep yourselves unblemished and undefiled, by neither having communion with the aforementioned [Nestorius], nor attending to him as though he were a teacher, so long as he remains a wolf and not a shepherd . . . We are in communion with those clergymen or laypeople that have separated themselves from him or who have been deposed by him on account of the right Faith, because we do not endorse his unjust sentence; rather, we praise those who have suffered, and we say to them, ‘Blessed are ye if ye are reviled for the Lord’s sake; for the Spirit and the might of God rest upon you.’ “A Letter of Saint Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria, to the Clergy and People of Constantinople [constantine wright are you paying attention?] before the convocation of the Third Ecumenical Council, which condemned Nestorius(Mansi IV, 1096)