To Metropolitan Paul of Astoria

[Jean-Serge]

Actually, the calendar was a tool to promote ecumenism, making all the christians celebrate the feasts at the same time. That's why there was a break upon this issue...

[Incognito1583]

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[drewmeister2]

Yes, but at that time the Church was not infected with ecumenism and heresy. So I think the old calendarists in their zeal went overboard in declaring the new calendarists without grace. I don't believe there was sufficient evidence to warrant such a position. The Church was never based or built on a calendar.

Actually, ecumenism started in 1920 with a patriarchal encyclical, which was made out to "The Churches of Christ wherever they may be". Is this not ecumenism?

Anyways, the changing of the festal calendar was the first point for reunion with the Latins.

[Cyprian]

3)...Plus, we had communion with ROCOR before--there were people coming from other Churches we were in communion with.)

Here you say that your synod under Met. Pavlos "had communion with ROCOR before".

First of all, when did this cease, precisely? When did your synod officially sever communion with the Lavrite faction of ROCOR?

Secondly, the Encyclical of Met. Pavlos from 2002 states:

In the face of this great danger, as your Bishop and Shepherd of the Orthodox Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of America, who is charged by God to protect His flock from the heretics and schismatics who have placed themselves outside the Church, I call upon the faithful children of our Church not to enter the churches of schismatics and heretics to take communion. You should communicate only in temples that belong to our Church, which here in America are only the Sacred Temples of the Holy Metropolis (GOC) of America.

So why would your Metropolitan Pavlos instruct his flock that they "should communicate only in temples that belong to our Church" when you inform us that your synod was in communion with the Lavrites?

If your synod was in communion with the Lavrites, then the flock ought to have been able to communicate in Lavrite parishes, no? Especially since there are only a handful of parishes under the protection of Met. Pavlos, mostly in the eastern portion of the U.S., but relatively few out here in the west.

Yet there are many Lavrite churches scattered all throughout the U.S.

If your synod was in communion with the Lavrites, then the clergy and faithful should have had no problem concelebrating and communing in Lavrite cathedrals and churches.

In fact, once in another forum, when I had written that Met. Pavlos served with Met. Lavr at the latter's enthronement, you corrected me and said that Met. Pavlos did not serve, but merely "stood in the altar with him" at Met. Lavr's enthronement.

If the synod headed by Met. Pavlos was in communion with ROCOR, then why didn't he serve or commune at the chalice?

When exactly did the synod headed by Met. Pavlos officially enter into communion with ROCOR? When was this communion officially severed? Documents?

I think it is common knowledge that the Auxentians severed communion from ROCOR in the late 1970's.

ROCOR herself will tell you that she was in communion with no Greek OC synods from the late 1970's up until the summer of 1994, when that ill-fated communion with the heretic Kyprianos of Oropos and Fili was established.

The Kyprianites were the only Greek OC synod that ROCOR was officially in communion with until that relationship was severed in 2006.

Seeing how your Metropolitan Pavlos derives his episcopacy and synod from the synod in Greece, headed by Abp. Chrysostomos (Kiousis), and seeing how he is a member of the synod, when did this restoration of communion officially occur?

Do you maintain that only Met. Pavlos in America was in communion with ROCOR, but the synod headed by Chrysostomos (Kiousis) has not been in communion with ROCOR since his enthronement in 1986 (was it?)?

If your Metropolitan Pavlos was in actual fact in communion with ROCOR (as you claimed in your post), can you provide some official documentation or some incidences of concelebrations between the two synods in recent years?

How would anyone know that your synod is no longer in communion with the Lavrites, who are now full members of the MP?

Is there an official document somewhere stating that the synod of Met. Pavlos is no longer in communion with any faction styling themselves ROCOR whatsoever?

Thank you for your attention to my questions.

Cyprian

[Incognito1583]

I still see no evidence showing the church was without grace just because of the singular event of a calendar. Christ did not build His church on a calendar. The Church is built on real dogmas.

Today however the situation has changed drastically with those churches concelebrating with ecumenists and being in the WCC.

[Anastasios]

Actually I didn't mean to suggest we were in communion with ROCOR officially under Metropolitan Pavlos's tenure, but rather, was trying to underscore that in the past we had been and that therefore priests at the Cathedral were accustomed to seeing people visiting and communing. Also, a point I should have also mentioned, is that as a Cathedral, we have people visiting from our parishes as well. The situation is very different than a small rural parish where the priest knows every face in the parish.

To briefly address a few of your points: we had been in communion with ROCOR officially for some time until the 1970's as you know, and unofficially communion continued, and then it was restored under Met Petros for a few months in 1995/6, but we continued to commune ROCOR members for some time after that. The reason I brought it up is to underscore that we had people coming to the Church at various points that were visitors who were able to commune due to our relations with ROCOR, not to outline any timeline for when we went in and out of communion.

Met Pavlos did not concelebrate to my knowledge with any ROCOR hierarch from 1996 on, and never as a bishop to my knowledge. He stood in the altar when Metropolitan Laurus was elected and a few other times he visited the ROCOR (now Aganfangel-ROCOR) parish in Astoria and stood in the altar.

Once it became clear that ROCOR was finally and completely headed towards union with the Moscow Patriarchate relations cooled off and that sort of thing stopped occurring.

[Incognito1583]

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