Three Historic Encyclicals and Confessions of Faith of the Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece 1935 – 1974

1935 PASTORAL ENCYCLICAL OF THE GENUINE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF GREECE

Unjustly condemned by the schismatic synod to deposition and a five-year imprisonment in monasteries, and seized by force by the government (which has become the executory arm of the [New Calendar] Archdiocese, which by a mere word has placed itself above the divine canons, the [Church’s] Charter, and the Constitution of Greece) because we had the courage and the spiritual strength to raise the glorious and venerable banner of Orthodoxy, we consider it our pastoral duty before we depart [for prison] to direct the following admonitions to you that adhere to the Orthodox festal calendar of our fathers:While faithfully following the Apostle’s admonition, “Stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or by our letter,” do not cease from struggling by every lawful and Christian means for the strengthening and triumph of our sacred struggle, which looks to the restoration of the patristic and Orthodox festal calendar within the Church; only this can re-establish the diminished Orthodox authority of the Greek Church and bring back the peace and unity of the Orthodox Greek people.By the judgments which the Lord knows, the majority of the hierarchy of the Greek Church, under the influence and initiative of its president, has placed the blot of schism upon what up until now had been its pure and truly Orthodox countenance, when it rejected the Orthodox festal calendar — which has been consecrated by the Seven Ecumenical Councils and ratified by the age-long practice of the Orthodox Eastern Church — and replaced it with the Papal Calendar.Of course, this schism of the Orthodox Greek people was created by the majority of the hierarchy, which forgot its sacred and national mission and the old Greek [revolutionary] slogan: “Fight for Orthodoxy and for Greek liberty,” and which, without the agreement of all the Orthodox Churches, introduced the Papal festal calendar into our divine worship, thereby dividing not only the Orthodox Churches, but also the Orthodox Christians into two opposing camps. In assuming the pastorship of the Orthodox Greek populace that follows the Orthodox festal calendar of our fathers, and being conscious of the oath of faith that we took that we would keep all that we have received from the Seven Ecumenical Councils, we abjure every innovation and cannot but proclaim as schismatic the State Church, which has accepted the Papal festal calendar which has been described by Pan-Orthodox Councils as an innovation of the heretics, as a global scandal and as an arbitrary trampling underfoot of the Divine and Sacred Canons of the ecclesiastical traditions.On account of this, we counsel all who follow the Orthodox festal calendar to have no spiritual communion with the Schismatic Church and its schismatic ministers, from whom the Grace of the All-holy Spirit has departed, since they have set at naught the resolutions of the Fathers of the Seven Ecumenical Councils and all the Pan-Orthodox Councils that condemned the Gregorian festal calendar. The fact that the Schismatic Church does not have grace and the Holy Spirit is confirmed by Saint Basil the Great, who says: “Even though the schismatics have not erred in doctrines, yet because Christ is the Head of the Body of the Church according to the divine Apostle, and from Him are all the members quickened and receive spiritual increase, the [schismatics] have been torn from the consonance of the members of the Body and no longer have the grace of the Holy Spirit abiding with them. And how, indeed, can they impart to others that which they have not?”While the Schismatic Church imposes oppressive and intolerable measures in order to violate our Orthodox conscience, we exhort you to endure all things and to preserve the Orthodox heritage intact and unstained, even as we received it from our pious Fathers, having us as luminous and fortifying examples, seeing we were not afraid — even in the waning years of our lives — to withstand with boldness and dignity the bigoted and medieval measures of our exile and imprisonment in monasteries, as it were in prisons. Esteeming this as honor and glory and joy, according to the Apostle, who enjoins us to rejoice and boast in our sufferings in behalf of Christ, we counsel you also to have endurance and persistence in these grief’s, and afflictions, and evils, and outrages to which you will be subjected by a Church that is Schismatic; and ever hope in God, Who will not permit that you be tried above what you are able to endure, and Who, in His infinite and unfathomable long-suffering, will be well-pleased to enlighten those who, out of innocence, have been led astray and follow the Papal festal calendar; and in the end may He grant you the triumph of Orthodoxy and the unity of those who bear the name of Christ, the Orthodox Greek people, for whom we struggle to the glory of Christ, Whose grace and infinite mercy be with you all.

June 21, 1935

+Germanos of Demetrias

+Chrysostom, formerly of Florina

+Germanos of the Cyclades Islands

1950 ENCYCLICAL OF THE GENUINE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF GREECE

13th EncyclicalTo the most reverend priests of our most Holy Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians in GreeceBeloved Children in the Lord, Grace, and peace be unto you from God, and prayer and blessing from us. Taking into consideration reports that some of our most pious priests are negligent in fulfilling the duties on the basis of the canons and the confession [of faith] we made in the year of Salvation, 1935, the Sacred Synod of our Most Holy Church undertakes to remind all of the following: In the year of our Savior 1935 we proclaimed the Church of the innovating New Calendarists to be schismatic. We reiterate this proclamation and in consequence ordain the enforcement of the First Canon of St. Basil the Great that the sacraments celebrated by the New Calendarists, in that the latter are Schismatics, are deprived of sanctifying grace. Therefore no New Calendarist must be received into the bosom of our Most Holy Church or be served without a prior confession by which he condemns the innovation of the New Calendarists and proclaims their Church Schismatic. As regards those who have been baptized by the innovators, they should be Chrismated with Holy Chrism of Orthodox origin, such as is found in abundance with us. We take this opportunity, to address a last appeal to all the True Orthodox Christians, calling on them in a paternal manner to come into union with us, which would further our sacred struggle for patristic piety and would satisfy our fervent desire.In calling on you, we remove the scandals which have been created by us through our fault, and to that end recall and retract everything written and said by us since 1937, whether in announcements, clarifications, publications or encyclicals, which was contrary and opposed to the Principles of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ and the sacred struggle for Orthodoxy conducted by us, as proclaimed in the encyclical published by the Holy Synod in 1935, without any addition or subtraction, and including the scientific definition ‘Potentiality and Actuality’”. These things we affirm this final time for the sake of the scandalized Christians, whose spiritual salvation we desire; and on this occasion we [again] proclaim that all of us must preserve intact even to the end of our days the confession we made in 1935, invoking God’s mercy for every deviation.Therefore, let us stand well.With fervent prayers,

The Sacred Synod

The President +Chrysostom, formerly Metropolitan of Florina

The Members

+Germanos, Metropolitan of the Cyclades Islands

+Christopher, Metropolitan of Christianopolis

+Polycarp, Metropolitan of Diavlia (May 26, 1950)

1974 ENCYCLICAL OF THE GENUINE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF GREECE 32 Kanigos St., Athens Protocol Number 1191    

Athens, June 5, 1974

ENCYCLICAL TO THE SACRED CLERGY OF OUR CHURCH

Most Righteous and Reverend Ministers of the Most High:

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God, and prayer and blessing from us. By means of this present Encyclical, we address ourselves to you, bringing to your remembrance of an imperative duty which should distinguish your course of action, in obedience to whatsoever was delivered unto us from of old by the God-bearing Fathers. Thus, we enjoin you yet once again to limit your ministrations only to the members of our Church, lest you set a stumbling-block before the brethren and, as ones who do not believe those things that are professed by us, draw upon yourselves the criticism of the common people. The celebration of a Mystery and the giving of Holy Communion to New Calendarists was forbidden from the time that the Schism created by the State Church began. Therefore, it is necessary that you uphold this position without deviation, in obedience to the understanding of all that has been handed down to us in the Church. Should any from the New Calendar desire to ender our ranks, it is absolutely necessary that they make a Confession of Faith in regard to all that has been transmitted unto us by our God-bearing Fathers, and that they renounce and condemn every heresy and innovation, among which is the New Calendar in the Greek Church, which became Schismatic from its acceptance thereof in 1924 until the present, according to the very confession of the innovator, Archbishop Chrysostom Papadopoulos, and, as a consequence, its mysteries are deprived of sanctifying Grace. Also, regarding those who have been baptized in the aforementioned Church and have not returned to piety, it is necessary that, according to the First Canon of Saint Basil the Great, they be re-Chrismated with Holy Chrism of canonical provenance. As a consequence of the above, we enjoin that, in conformance with the Holy and Sacred Canons, you henceforth cease any sacramental ministrations you might have tendered anyone coming from the New Calendar Church, unless the above-mentioned procedure is first implemented, since, otherwise, the sanctions predetermined by the sacred canons will be imposed upon those who transgress it.

The Sacred Synod

+ Archbishop Auxentios

+Akakios of Diavlia and Attica

+Gerontios of Piraeus and Salamina

+Paisios of Euripus and Euboea

+Chrysostomos of Thessalonica

+Kallinikos of Thavmakos

+Akakios of Canada

+Gabriel of the Cyclades Islands

+Anthony of Megara