Genuine GOC of America: A Proclamation on Ecclesiology

[Sean]

Sean, obviously if we take the Bible aswell as the teachings and experiance of the Church seriously Grace is uncreated but that uncreated Grace equally obviously either transforms the elements during the Divine Liturgy into the Body and Blood of Christ or it does not- there is no half way Eucharist. Orthodoxy transcends reason but it does not go aganist it- indeed our reasoning capacity is a gift given to us by God that we may be able to draw near Him.

I certainly agree that there is no "half-way Eucharist," and so would my bishops. No one in HOCNA is doubting that heretics are without the Holy Mysteries, but numerous schisms have occurred within the True Orthodox Church of Greece over pinpointing exactly when this happenned. When two surreptitious True Orthodox Churches exist who have identical ecclesiology but are perpetuating schism and fighting over "what year" this ecclesiological stance became valid, they are splitting hairs to say the least. This only serves the devil and his Ecumenist lackeys, and diminishes our witness.

We are most certainly rational sheep, but as the Nous is the "Eye of the Heart" as the Syriac Fathers have called it, the human mind must enter the heart in order to recieve Divine Revelation. Our theology and spirituality is cardio-centric. The light of human reason is a created light, and is subject to corruption.

HTM only broke away from the State Church of Greece after the lifting of the anathemas and not over the Calender question, after it did so it did not join with either branch of the Greek Orthodox Church. HOCNA comes out of ROCOR and not out of the Greek Old Calenderists and therefore feels that it does not have to take into account the anathema placed on the New Calenderists by the True Orthodox Bishops of Greece.

There are many of us who belong to the Greek Old Calendarists who have come to them via ROCOR or World Orthodoxy. That doesn't make us any less members of the True Orthodox Church of Greece. In 1987 our parishes in America joined the Synod of the TOC under Abp. Afksentios of Blessed Memory, whose Synod was the original Florinite Synod from which all of these schisms branched off. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I know of no such anathema proclaimed by any of the Old Calendarist groups prior to ROCOR's Anathema of 1983. I know that in 1935 a united GOC invoked the Canons of St. Basil the Great and proclaimed the New Calendarists to be schismatic, but in the versions I have read of the 1935 Declaration I never saw the word "anathema" used.

Similarily according to a translation of "Aganist False Union" I have that was published by HOCNA you believe that the MP fell away from Orthodoxy in 1970 therefore the anathemas of the Russian Church on the Sergianists also seem to be something that you are "beyond".

As many times as I've read Dr. Kalomiros' work, I've never come across such a passage. Also, keep in mind that although Dr. Kalomiros was a dear friend of many of our clergy in America, his own personal opinions expressed in his writings in no way constitute the official stance of our Church. I think it's safe to say that Dr. Kalomiros didn't have a lot of first hand knowledge of Church affairs behind the Iron Curtain, when he wrote that book in the 1960's. There was a footnote appended by the translator which explained the ecumenical abuses of the MP in the 1970's when he translated Dr. Kalomiros' work, but this is hardly an endorsement of the MP by HOCNA, especially when HOCNA didn't even exist in the 1970's.

However I believe that Christ gave His Bishops the power of binding and loosing and that these anathemas ( on the New Calenderists and the Sergianists) reflect the Will of Almighty God in cutting off piosoned branchs from the True Vine, that they are the vioce of the Church. This is not "second guessing God" but following the vioces of His shepards.

Again, I agree and so would my bishops. This is precisely what happenned when ROCOR under St. Philaret anathematized the ecumenists. Please don't interpret this as me saying that the ecumenists didn't lose their Grace until 1983, as you would be missing the point I've been trying to make above.

[ioannis]

I certainly agree that there is no "half-way Eucharist," and so would my bishops. No one in HOCNA is doubting that heretics are without the Holy Mysteries, but numerous schisms have occurred within the True Orthodox Church of Greece over pinpointing exactly when this happenned. When two surreptitious True Orthodox Churches exist who have identical ecclesiology but are perpetuating schism and fighting over "what year" this ecclesiological stance became valid, they are splitting hairs to say the least. This only serves the devil and his Ecumenist lackeys, and diminishes our witness.

Exactly. There are people, who seem to be concentrated into certain groups, who seem to believe they are Orthodox only in so far as they can prove the other True Orthodox group is wrong. It's like the scene in Holy Scripture where all of the apostles are arguing who is the greatest among them.

Of course there are genuine schismatics, and nobody should overlook this fact, but I think their cases are different from what you discribe above.

[GOCTheophan]

Exactly. There are people, who seem to be concentrated into certain groups, who seem to believe they are Orthodox only in so far as they can prove the other True Orthodox group is wrong. It's like the scene in Holy Scripture where all of the apostles are arguing who is the greatest among them.

Of course there are genuine schismatics, and nobody should overlook this fact, but I think their cases are different from what you discribe above.

The case of HOCNA is different from sad division of the Greek Church between "Matthewites" and "Florinites" in which there is right and wrong aswell as Holy people on both sides. Archbishop Auxentius as we have seen from a letter published recently on this message board deepened the already existing divisions or at least did nothing to heal them. He also according to Anastasios and Vladimir Moss was careless to say the least about whom he ordained. It was from him that HOCNA take their claim of being "Greek Old Calendarists" (by the way HTM were vocal in their attacks upon him before they had to leave ROCOR).

During the last century we saw and continue to see the Orthodox Church fighting for it's life aganist the waves of apostasy and Marxism. We will only be able in stand and not be knocked over by them if we stand on the Rock of Christ's Dogmas and Commandments. Every plant not planted by the Heavenly Father will eventually be rooted up.

HOCNA is not Orthodox. They are heretics as Alexander Kalimiros was a heretic despite the beautiful words that he wrote ( has anyone here ever read Bernard of Clairaux?). He was not a false ecumenist or a Sergianist but he did hold heretical beliefs about the nature of man, of our Redemption and Heaven and hell. He also was zealous in promoting the blasemphy of "evolution".

Why do you think the Lord let happen what happened in the 20 th century?

We must be zealous in safeguarding ourselves from such Spiritual infections which can clearly see are present in the True Orthodox Church ( just look at what websites link to Prof John Romanides' surreal nonsense!).

Theophan.