“Civil War” Has Broken Out In the Church of Greece

Maria Antoniadou
15/3/2011
Vema

“Civil War” has broken out in the Church of Greece between the self-proclaimed traditional Orthodox hierarchs and those hierarchs engaged in dialogues with other Christian Churches.

The battle has assumed such proportions that some believers signed a “Declaration and Confession of Walling-Off” which among other things warns Bishops that “to remain in the Orthodox Faith and Truth, we will abstain from ecclesiastical Sacraments and Acts performed by clergy who commune and mention heretics and heretical bishops, and we will request bishops and priests who do not commemorate them and who renounce Ecumenism.”

“Rebellious”

The “Declaration and Confession of Walling-Off” is only one of the neoconservative movements in recent years who voice in the most resounding way their views and positions on the Internet.

According to information from almost all over the country, there is being conducted a “guerrilla war” against hierarchs expressing a different position from their own views. It is indicative of the dominating climate which is said to have unfolded in the Church of Thessaloniki, where a well-known clergyman, having anathematized the Pope and urged the faithful to follow him, then criticized the position of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Church of Greece to hold dialogues with Roman Catholics and other Christians as well as their participation in the World Council of Churches.

Piraeus Strikes Again

Two bishops, the Metropolitan’s Seraphim of Piraeus and Seraphim of Kythera, have boosted the rebellion.

The Metropolitan of Piraeus requested the withdrawal of the Church of Greece from the World Council of Churches and reportedly managed with his position in the 12-member Holy Synod, on Monday morning, to spark an intense debate about the possibility of continued participation in dialogues by the Church of Greece.

And the whole issue will be discussed again on Wednesday morning when at the Holy Synod meeting there will also be the members of the Inter-Orthodox and Inter-Christian relations.

At the same time Metropolitan Seraphim of Kythera on the Sunday of Orthodoxy stated among other things:

“This pan-heresy of Ecumenism is undisturbed today even in the Orthodox world, since Orthodox Bishops consider those not in communion with the Orthodox in communion, against the Holy Canons; heterodox and heretics sometimes jointly-pray during the Divine Liturgy, dressed in the vestments of the Hierarchy.”

Translated by John Sanidopoulos

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