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From: Letter 8 - September 23, 1975
...Let's also see about the Old Calendarists from the self-titled "Genuine Orthodox Christians."
The genuine Orthodox Christian is the Christian who has steadfast Faith and fervor towards God; love from all his heart and soul towards God and neighbor; humility and meekness, truth and sincerity. When our Lord Jesus Christ sent the disciples into the world He told them to preach the Gospel. He didn't tell them to preach the Old Calendar.
He told them, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved," that is, the one believing in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and not the one baptized in the Old Calendar. The beloved virgin and eagle of theology, St. John the Evangelist said:
"God is love and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him” (Jn. 4:8).
He did not say the Old Calendar is God and the one abiding in the Old Calendar abides in God.
Our Lord Jesus Christ--perfect God and perfect man--said, "Learn from Me for I am meek and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls"(Mt. 11:29). He didn't say learn from Me for I am an Old Calendarist--as some Old Calendarists say that Christ was an Old Calendarist out of their excessive zeal.
O Lord, deliver us from such a foolish mindset.
He said, "Learn from Me For I am meek and humble in heart and you have to become this way in order to find rest in your souls." He didn't say become Old Calendarists.
And so, the Old Calendarists falsely boast and claim that they are ‘genuine Orthodox’.
They are genuine CACODOX because they don't have Faith in God, they have faith in the Old Calendar.
St. Paul the Apostle - the mouth of Christ — says: "Without faith it is impossible to be saved."
The Old Calendarists say, "Without the Old Calendar, it is impossible to be saved.”
The Lord orders us to love not only our loved ones but also our enemies.
The Old Calendarists and the adherents of the Old Calendarists hate and curse each other...
They should neither be called genuine Orthodox, nor Christian nor logical people because even unbelievers, the impious and the last rank of people...are shy and timid inside the Church and don't dare to quarrel. In the Church of the Annunciation in Halkidi, the bold presumptuous Bishops, Presbyters, etc, of the self-titled ‘Genuine Orthodox' raised their hands and hit their brothers. They ought to repent and be self-deposed because if they don't cease their priestly functions, the 27th Apostolic Canon deposes them [Note: The canon states: "If a Bishop, Presbyter, or Deacon shall strike any of the faithful who have done wrong, with the intention of frightening them, we command that he be deposed. For our Lord has by no means taught us to do so, but, on the contrary, when He was smitten He smote not. When He was reviled He reviled not, when He suffered He threatened not"].
The Orthodox Church accepts that all the Saints were sanctified and saved through faith, love, humility, the observance of God's commandments and good works. However, the more fanatic of the O1d Calendarist zealots and super zealots unfortunately accept (the belief) that without the Old Calendar, there is NO salvation. But some of them preach and write that if any Christian has many sins and he is plunged in sins up to his neck, if he only keeps the Old Calendar, he will be saved!...
In all the Mysteries, the priests supplicate the Holy Spirit to descend and perform the Sacrament. But to the repentant one confessing, the priest says:
"The Grace of the All-Holy Spirit has loosened and forgiven you in this present age and the age to come."
The fanatical zealots and super zealots of the Old Calendarists - worshippers of the Old Calendar - believe and say that the New Calendar Sacraments are invalid and the Holy Spirit doesn't descend because the Old Calendar is absent. There is no greater deception, impiety, and insanity than this. The Great Theologian St. Gregory says: "The Holy Spirit doesn't always ordain, but He operates through all."
The Divine St. John Chrysostom says that the Sacraments are performed even by the unworthy; the Holy Spirit sanctifies and performs them not for the unworthiness of the Liturgist, but for the sanctification of the faithful and the communion which the faithful receive with God through the Mysteries.
As such, all the Holy Fathers agree with this opinion of the three greatest luminaries of the world; Ss. Basil, Gregory and Chrysostom. Only the fanatic zealots and super zealot Old Calendarists and the Abbess of the Monastery of the Ascension in Kazani don't agree. And wanting to show that they are superior and wiser than the Holy Fathers, they think and preach that the communicants of Holy Communion in the New Calendarist Churches eat bread, wine, chaff and grass...
O foolish Old Calendarists. Who bewitched you?
Who taught you to think and believe that the Old Calendar is of equal strength with the All-Holy Spirit or even higher? And who taught you to believe and think that when the New Calendarists supplicate God to send the Holy Spirit and sanctify their Sacraments the Old Calendar doesn't permit it to descend because they are New Calendarists and it is only allowed to descend for the accurate keepers of the Old Calendar--the fanatic zealots and super zealots?
When the Holy Fathers gave us the Old Calendar, they told us:
"We give you the Julian Calendar, upon the basis of which we regulate to always celebrate the Feast of Pascha in conformity, peace and harmony on the same day so that some don't celebrate earlier and others celebrate later and thus become quarrelsome, disputers and divided."
They didn't tell us that whoever keeps the Old Calendar is saved and upon this hangs all the Law and Prophets. This is the teaching of the very wicked devil.
The All-Sneaky One - just as he trampled upon Adam and Eve in Paradise - trampled upon you to self-title yourselves as ‘Genuine Orthodox’. And as heedless ones, you received his counsel and not God's counsel which He gave to His disciples and all of the Faithful:
"When you do everything, namely, when you keep My law, commandments and orders, say that you are useless servants, we have done what was our duty to do" (Luke 17:10). He didn't order us to say that we are ‘Genuine Orthodox’.
By receiving the Hater-of-Good's counsel and being self-titled "Genuine Orthodox" and by rejecting our Lord Jesus Christ's counsel, who ordered: "When you do everything to say you are useless servants” - you reject humility.
God, Who resists the proud and gives grace to the humble, the Holy Spirit, Who rests in the hearts of the meek, has left from your hearts; He took off.
Rather, you chased Him off/drove Him out, preferring the spirit of pride which taught you anger and internal agitation; but the heart of the agitated is the throne of the devil. It taught you not to have love but rather to have hate, to insult and to smite. And you wildly beat each other even inside the Holy Church. It taught you to think and preach that the Holy Spirit which the New Calendarist Archpriest and priest invoke...doesn't descend because they're not Old Calendarists.
Thus, you also think that from the Apostolic times until the year 325--when the 318 God-bearing Fathers gave us the Old Calendar--the Holy Spirit did not come down for the Christians because they didn't have the Old Calendars! Consequently [Note: according to their theory] they ate bread, drank wine in the Sacrament of Holy Communion and remained unbaptized!...
My spiritual child...from the above, it's obvious that both the New Calendarists and the Old Calendarists are found to be transgressors of the Apostolic and Patristic Traditions; more so the Old Calendarists as they scorn the most Apostoloic and Patristic Traditions and especially love for which the St. Paul the Apostle says: "If anyone doesn't love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. O Lord come!” (1 Cor. 16:22) and, "Though I speak with tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burners but have not love, I profit nothing” (l Cor.13:1-3).
By not having love, the Old Calendarists are neither benefited nor have good. They boasted and self-titled themselves as ‘Genuine Orthodox’. But by not having love, they are genuine cacodox. The absence of love and humility...blinded their spiritual eyes and they don't see.
Closing the present paternal epistle, I pray that our All-Good God and Heavenly Father safeguards you from the numerous and manifold snares of the crafty devil. St. Anthony the Great saw these snares spread out upon all the earth. Groaning, he said: "How is it possible for someone to escape them?" And he heard a voice, "Humility." As a spiritual father, I counsel you to pray ceaselessly and beg God to give you humility and love. And when you beg Him with faith and devoutness, then He Who orders us to ask will give to you. And when God gives you humility and love, then He will dwell in you, He will shatter the devil's snares and He will save you.
Your doubts about the calendar issue are undone/solved by the teachings of the Bible, the wise and Holy Fathers of our Church as well as prudence and discretion. The New Calendar was introduced into the Church lawlessly, and it broke the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church into two - the O1d Calendarists and the New Calendarists.
The Old Calendarists fell into many great delusions in order to keep the Old Calendar, greater and worse delusions than the New Calendarists. They abolished the first and great commandment of love; introduced new dogmas; introduced the calendars in worship, and dogmatized that the Holy Spirit without the Old Calendar doesn't sanctify the Sacraments of the New Calendarists, etc.
Consequently, the delusions of the Old Calendarists are greater in number and worse than the deceptions of the New Calendarists.
With paternal love and heartfelt prayers,
Archimandrite Philotheos Zervakos
...Let's also see about the Old Calendarists from the self-titled "Genuine Orthodox Christians."
The genuine Orthodox Christian is the Christian who has steadfast Faith and fervor towards God; love from all his heart and soul towards God and neighbor; humility and meekness, truth and sincerity. When our Lord Jesus Christ sent the disciples into the world He told them to preach the Gospel. He didn't tell them to preach the Old Calendar.
He told them, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved," that is, the one believing in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and not the one baptized in the Old Calendar. The beloved virgin and eagle of theology, St. John the Evangelist said:
"God is love and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him” (Jn. 4:8).
He did not say the Old Calendar is God and the one abiding in the Old Calendar abides in God.
Our Lord Jesus Christ--perfect God and perfect man--said, "Learn from Me for I am meek and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls"(Mt. 11:29). He didn't say learn from Me for I am an Old Calendarist--as some Old Calendarists say that Christ was an Old Calendarist out of their excessive zeal.
O Lord, deliver us from such a foolish mindset.
He said, "Learn from Me For I am meek and humble in heart and you have to become this way in order to find rest in your souls." He didn't say become Old Calendarists.
And so, the Old Calendarists falsely boast and claim that they are ‘genuine Orthodox’.
They are genuine CACODOX because they don't have Faith in God, they have faith in the Old Calendar.
St. Paul the Apostle - the mouth of Christ — says: "Without faith it is impossible to be saved."
The Old Calendarists say, "Without the Old Calendar, it is impossible to be saved.”
The Lord orders us to love not only our loved ones but also our enemies.
The Old Calendarists and the adherents of the Old Calendarists hate and curse each other...
They should neither be called genuine Orthodox, nor Christian nor logical people because even unbelievers, the impious and the last rank of people...are shy and timid inside the Church and don't dare to quarrel. In the Church of the Annunciation in Halkidi, the bold presumptuous Bishops, Presbyters, etc, of the self-titled ‘Genuine Orthodox' raised their hands and hit their brothers. They ought to repent and be self-deposed because if they don't cease their priestly functions, the 27th Apostolic Canon deposes them [Note: The canon states: "If a Bishop, Presbyter, or Deacon shall strike any of the faithful who have done wrong, with the intention of frightening them, we command that he be deposed. For our Lord has by no means taught us to do so, but, on the contrary, when He was smitten He smote not. When He was reviled He reviled not, when He suffered He threatened not"].
The Orthodox Church accepts that all the Saints were sanctified and saved through faith, love, humility, the observance of God's commandments and good works. However, the more fanatic of the O1d Calendarist zealots and super zealots unfortunately accept (the belief) that without the Old Calendar, there is NO salvation. But some of them preach and write that if any Christian has many sins and he is plunged in sins up to his neck, if he only keeps the Old Calendar, he will be saved!...
In all the Mysteries, the priests supplicate the Holy Spirit to descend and perform the Sacrament. But to the repentant one confessing, the priest says:
"The Grace of the All-Holy Spirit has loosened and forgiven you in this present age and the age to come."
The fanatical zealots and super zealots of the Old Calendarists - worshippers of the Old Calendar - believe and say that the New Calendar Sacraments are invalid and the Holy Spirit doesn't descend because the Old Calendar is absent. There is no greater deception, impiety, and insanity than this. The Great Theologian St. Gregory says: "The Holy Spirit doesn't always ordain, but He operates through all."
The Divine St. John Chrysostom says that the Sacraments are performed even by the unworthy; the Holy Spirit sanctifies and performs them not for the unworthiness of the Liturgist, but for the sanctification of the faithful and the communion which the faithful receive with God through the Mysteries.
As such, all the Holy Fathers agree with this opinion of the three greatest luminaries of the world; Ss. Basil, Gregory and Chrysostom. Only the fanatic zealots and super zealot Old Calendarists and the Abbess of the Monastery of the Ascension in Kazani don't agree. And wanting to show that they are superior and wiser than the Holy Fathers, they think and preach that the communicants of Holy Communion in the New Calendarist Churches eat bread, wine, chaff and grass...
O foolish Old Calendarists. Who bewitched you?
Who taught you to think and believe that the Old Calendar is of equal strength with the All-Holy Spirit or even higher? And who taught you to believe and think that when the New Calendarists supplicate God to send the Holy Spirit and sanctify their Sacraments the Old Calendar doesn't permit it to descend because they are New Calendarists and it is only allowed to descend for the accurate keepers of the Old Calendar--the fanatic zealots and super zealots?
When the Holy Fathers gave us the Old Calendar, they told us:
"We give you the Julian Calendar, upon the basis of which we regulate to always celebrate the Feast of Pascha in conformity, peace and harmony on the same day so that some don't celebrate earlier and others celebrate later and thus become quarrelsome, disputers and divided."
They didn't tell us that whoever keeps the Old Calendar is saved and upon this hangs all the Law and Prophets. This is the teaching of the very wicked devil.
The All-Sneaky One - just as he trampled upon Adam and Eve in Paradise - trampled upon you to self-title yourselves as ‘Genuine Orthodox’. And as heedless ones, you received his counsel and not God's counsel which He gave to His disciples and all of the Faithful:
"When you do everything, namely, when you keep My law, commandments and orders, say that you are useless servants, we have done what was our duty to do" (Luke 17:10). He didn't order us to say that we are ‘Genuine Orthodox’.
By receiving the Hater-of-Good's counsel and being self-titled "Genuine Orthodox" and by rejecting our Lord Jesus Christ's counsel, who ordered: "When you do everything to say you are useless servants” - you reject humility.
God, Who resists the proud and gives grace to the humble, the Holy Spirit, Who rests in the hearts of the meek, has left from your hearts; He took off.
Rather, you chased Him off/drove Him out, preferring the spirit of pride which taught you anger and internal agitation; but the heart of the agitated is the throne of the devil. It taught you not to have love but rather to have hate, to insult and to smite. And you wildly beat each other even inside the Holy Church. It taught you to think and preach that the Holy Spirit which the New Calendarist Archpriest and priest invoke...doesn't descend because they're not Old Calendarists.
Thus, you also think that from the Apostolic times until the year 325--when the 318 God-bearing Fathers gave us the Old Calendar--the Holy Spirit did not come down for the Christians because they didn't have the Old Calendars! Consequently [Note: according to their theory] they ate bread, drank wine in the Sacrament of Holy Communion and remained unbaptized!...
My spiritual child...from the above, it's obvious that both the New Calendarists and the Old Calendarists are found to be transgressors of the Apostolic and Patristic Traditions; more so the Old Calendarists as they scorn the most Apostoloic and Patristic Traditions and especially love for which the St. Paul the Apostle says: "If anyone doesn't love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. O Lord come!” (1 Cor. 16:22) and, "Though I speak with tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burners but have not love, I profit nothing” (l Cor.13:1-3).
By not having love, the Old Calendarists are neither benefited nor have good. They boasted and self-titled themselves as ‘Genuine Orthodox’. But by not having love, they are genuine cacodox. The absence of love and humility...blinded their spiritual eyes and they don't see.
Closing the present paternal epistle, I pray that our All-Good God and Heavenly Father safeguards you from the numerous and manifold snares of the crafty devil. St. Anthony the Great saw these snares spread out upon all the earth. Groaning, he said: "How is it possible for someone to escape them?" And he heard a voice, "Humility." As a spiritual father, I counsel you to pray ceaselessly and beg God to give you humility and love. And when you beg Him with faith and devoutness, then He Who orders us to ask will give to you. And when God gives you humility and love, then He will dwell in you, He will shatter the devil's snares and He will save you.
Your doubts about the calendar issue are undone/solved by the teachings of the Bible, the wise and Holy Fathers of our Church as well as prudence and discretion. The New Calendar was introduced into the Church lawlessly, and it broke the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church into two - the O1d Calendarists and the New Calendarists.
The Old Calendarists fell into many great delusions in order to keep the Old Calendar, greater and worse delusions than the New Calendarists. They abolished the first and great commandment of love; introduced new dogmas; introduced the calendars in worship, and dogmatized that the Holy Spirit without the Old Calendar doesn't sanctify the Sacraments of the New Calendarists, etc.
Consequently, the delusions of the Old Calendarists are greater in number and worse than the deceptions of the New Calendarists.
With paternal love and heartfelt prayers,
Archimandrite Philotheos Zervakos
J.S.,
ReplyDeleteAre most of the people who follow your blog Greek Old Calendarists? I ask because you keep on posting only the writings of Geronda Philotheos which address the issue of Greek old calendarism. If, on the other hand, you have a reasonable cross section of Orthodox under different jurisdictions and calendars, would you please consider posting some of Geronda's writings on the issues surrounding the introduction of the new calendar? Greek Old Calendarism is a sub-topic of this larger issue, after all.
Thanks for what you have posted thus far.
In IC XC,
DB
Not necessarily, but I think there is a great confusion on this subject and I too often find people taking these quotes out of context to justify positions the Elders often didnt really hold, especially when schismatics quote them. Look under the tab "Orthodox Extremism" under the Topics section and you will find other Saints and Elders Ive quoted in the past. I have many many more for the future as well.
ReplyDeleteYou have accused others of taking things "out of context," yet you have chosen to post only certain writings of Geronda Philotheos that agree with your own opinion. There are previously translated letters stating he approved of (and justified) certain spiritual children who joined the Old Calendarists. He also recognized that Old Calendarists were not monolithic in their views on the calendar issue itself (and never have been), and denied the validity of depositions for adherence to the old calendar. So let's be honest - you have an anti-Old Calendarist agenda, and you're selecting texts which agree with that position and exclusing those which don't. It's your blog, and you have every right to do this, but be intellectually honest about it.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, Old Calendarists have often done the same thing in defense of their positions. I think your posting of articles critical of the Old Calendarists is valuable in gaining a diverse view of the situation, and, frankly, exposing the irrational sectarianism of some Old Calendarists.
Of course, I can also appreciate that those who don't care about the calendar issue are probably getting tired of this discussion!
No doubt Elder Philotheos had many errors on this issue and he is known for going back and forth on different issues regarding this. Of course I'm going to avoid those and stick to the essential points he made and expose the propaganda of certain schismatics who quote him out of context, which I am not doing.
ReplyDeleteBut I have only just begun to take on this issue, and if anyone doesn't want to read about it they can always read something else.
I should mention that if you read the Elders letters from the 1940's on this issue, then proceed to the 1960's, you get differences of opinion. And then the last five years of his life he pretty much exclusively took on the Old Calendarists extremists.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's proper netiquette to criticize a blogger's choice of content. Like he said, you can just read something else.
ReplyDeleteI for one consider this material highly valuable for setting the record straight. The consensus patrum of the 20th Century over the calendar issue needs vindication for English speakers, especially since the fanatics (all dozen of them) have an entirely disproportionate web-presence-- this should come as no surprise, since their last sacrament has become argumentation. The great saints and elders of this past 100 years did not consider this a dogmatic issue, did not rend Christ's seemless garment over their own political ambitions, and focused instead upon cultivating and handing down genuine Orthodox life and faith.
Thanks John. Keep these posts coming! I for one deeply appreciate this understanding of the new calendar from a traditional and canonical perspective.
I'd also appreciate, later on, some of your thoughts (or the thoughts of Greek elders, etc) on the introduction of pews. Some see it as absolutely wrong, but we in the Russian Church have benches all along the walls, and set up chairs for various things like weddings. Even in monasteries there are the famous "stasidia." I was looking the other day at a Greek Orthodox cathedral in Cairo, and noticed pews. Such an adaptation is not entirely bad, is it? (conversely, however, I really don't like when pews are used to sit through nearly the entire service, as sometimes happens here in America).
Thanks again.
Im not aware of any Greek elders saying anything about pews. It is a difficult issue to tackle as no one really knows why Orthodox churches in America started having pews. It seemed to have started with the Greeks in the 1920's or so and early on there was some controversy, but it seems it was just one way the Church in America "Americanized" through inculturation. Stasidia in Orthodox monasteries and parishes are usually reserved for the elderly only or used by all to help stand during vigils and get a little rest. In Greece today most parishes have chairs at least. One of the early controversies with pews was figuring out when people should stand or sit, and this is still its most controversial aspect. I personally dislike them, but accept them. People do sit way too much during services though. I'll try and get into more details on this in the future as new studies come out regarding its history in America through the SOCHA website.
ReplyDeleteBut to make this relevant to my post, I don know a lot of Old Calendarists like to call pews "horse stalls" where people are confined like horses. I must say, I somewhat agree with it. I also know that at its most sentimental and liberal justification, someone like Fr Anthony Coniaris sees them as "symbols of the two arms of God" holding us in a loving embrace. This is a bit too sentimental for me. I see it as a concession to our weak wills that in the future should be done away with slowly and with mutual consent by a parish with a bit of education on the subject.
ReplyDeleteSt. Markella's Cathedral in Astoria, probably one of the largest if not the largest Greek Old Calendarist Cathedral in America, has chairs in the church for sitting, and not just around the outer perimeter of the church. I don't know of any other Old Calendarist churches in the US, however, that have chairs or pews aside from what is usually placed around the perimeter. It is very rare to find pews in ROCOR but they can be found. I at least know of one parish in Mayfield, PA that used to be OCA that has kept its pews. Many Greek Old Calendarists in the US were at one time in ROCOR, so the absence of pews in these churches is likely a result of this past affiliation, though most of the Old Calendarist churches in the US are also rather small physically so pews also tend to be impractical and unweildy when in a smaller structure. The photos of Old Calendarist churches in Greece that I have seen do not have pews or chairs in the interior of the churches, but perhaps there are some exceptions. It would make sense that Orthodox churches in the US would have pews if the buildings formerly belonged to Protestants. However, it is not always the case that churches with pews used to be Protestant. The OCA parish I used to belong to was built in the 1970s and a conscious decision was made to install pews with kneelers. In this parish, its latest priest who doesn't care for the pews encourages those who can to stand for the entire service, so people tend to sit who are elderly or who just need a rest, and while I do not like pews for a number of reasons, when handled in this way there is a somewhat natural feeling to it. I contrast this with a GOARCH parish I attended with pews, where standing and sitting and even kneeling during the Sunday Divine Liturgy (!) was done in unison, such that one would stand out and perhaps be reprimanded later if they chose to disobey these rules and remain standing instead. The synchronized standing and sitting just doesn't feel right, it seems Protestant. I have also known of former Protestant buildings where pews were removed to accomodate Orthodox worship. In our ROCOR parish, which is one such formerly Protestant building, most sit for the homily but some continue to stand, and in general if someone needs to sit because of age or infirmity, they can do so in the pews along the church's walls and nobody will question them. As we approach the season of Great Lent, it saddens me that many in pew-filled churches will be deprived of soul-benefitting prostrations that are such an valuable component of the Lenten services.
ReplyDeleteOne Old Calendarist I know who was a monk in the Holy Land for a few decades said the anti-pew bias was more of a Russian tradition, pointing to the fact that monasteries often have seating for long vigils. But where in the US will you find a parish that performs a Vigil that actually lasts all night, or at least more than 3 hrs or so?
Isaac,
ReplyDeleteI'm sure we all have rights and responsibilities with respect to netiquette and blogging that we should try to adhere to. However, I think we have a higher responsibility as Orthodox Christians to mutually support and educate each other in the Faith in a spiritually and intellectually honest way. If that means that someone points out the blatantly lopsided treatment of a topic by an Orthodox blogger, then so be it.
It is not inherently illegitimate or dishonest to "selectively" quote someone. All quotes and posts are selective, after all, unless you plan to post an author's complete works. However, it concerns me that J.S. - without citing other Elders and Saints of the 20th century Church for support - himself describes Elder Philotheos as wrong, erroneous, or wishy-washy anytime the fullness of the Elder's views on the subject of the calendar switch are pointed out. Are we really greater than our Fathers?
How about this: if J.S. can quote any elders/saints of the 20th/21st centuries who saw the SWITCH to the new calendar (not the calendar itself, but the SWITCH) as God-pleasing, beneficial to the Church & salvific, then he should post it as soon as he can. Until then, let us keep away from the danger of disregarding our Fathers when they have hard words for us weak Christians.
In IC XC,
DB
Neither Calendar is ever proclaimed God-pleasing, beneficial to the Church and salvific. Your just trying to silence the fact that Elder Philotheos condemns your views who condemns this type of outlook towards the ecclesiastical calendar.
ReplyDelete"The consensus patrum of the 20th Century over the calendar issue needs vindication for English speakers."
ReplyDeleteYes, Isaac, which is why I am appealing to J.S. to post the full, well-rounded & holistic views of Elder Philotheos and virtually every other modern elder/saint on the subject of the calendar change (in reality, a sub-topic of the larger issue of ecumenism). Otherwise, reading this blog will be no different in its onesidedness than the old calendarist extremists: taking quotes out of context to support personal opinions and agendas.
"The great saints and elders of this past 100 years did not consider this a dogmatic issue, did not rend Christ's seemless garment over their own political ambitions, and focused instead upon cultivating and handing down genuine Orthodox life and faith."
Glory to God! However, allow me to nitpick by pointing out that defending 1500 years of unity under the Church calendar falls squarely under "cultivating and handing down genuine Orthodox life and faith."
J.S. I will continue reading your blog because it's generally outstanding. I just hope that you will balance out your treatment on this subject for the sake of your readers. I will no longer take up your time on this subject either. Thanks for all you do!
In IC XC,
DB
Fair enough. Read my tab "Orthodox Extremism" under the TOPICS section to the left for other posts Ive made on this issue in the past and what other Elder have said. I have many more as well, so stay tuned.
ReplyDeleteDo you know that Father Filotheu blessed his spiritual son, now Metropolitan Chiprian, to go to old-calendarists?
ReplyDeleteDo you know that Holy Sinod in Resistance doesn't recognize him as THE CHURCH OF GREECE like the other sinods (infact, Metropolitan Chiprian hasn't the tile, "Bishop of Athens and all the Greece..."!
Do you know that us don't denny the misterie's validity of the Official Church?
Our struggle is for the union of the Church, now divised in new-calendarists and old-calendarists!
What do you think?