The Contemporary Problems of the Church According to Father John Romanides

 By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

The late Father John Romanides lived in the 20th century, then he died in 2001, at the beginning of the 21st century, and dealt with all the problems of his time through the empirical theology of the Church.

Precisely because he relied on the theology of the Saints, who did not talk about that which pertains to God, but about God, that is why he had acquired a spiritual sense to foresee the problems that exist in every age that need to be confronted by the shepherds of the Church.

In fact, he claimed that a theologian is also a spiritual father and a spiritual father is also a theologian. He said this because real theology, which is the essence of the pastoral ministry, distinguishes the created from the uncreated, the energies of God from the energies of the devil, which is characterized as discernment. Both the theologian and the spiritual father must have the patristic discernment to help their spiritual children.

Father John Romanides: His Life and Legacy

 

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

Today, 1 November 2021, marks the twentieth anniversary of the repose of the distinguished professor and teacher Fr. John Romanides, which took place on November 1, 2001 in Athens.

My acquaintance with him in the beginning was through his oral teachings and his texts of the 1970's, and then from 1987 until his repose I had close contact with him. After his retirement from the University of Thessaloniki he remained in Athens, almost alone, and we had frequent personal and telephone communication, because at that time I was serving as Preacher and Director of Youth Ministry of the Sacred Archdiocese of Athens.

In fact, in 1995, at his suggestion, we taught together at a seminar in Canada, presenting the therapeutic teaching of the Orthodox Church to Clergy that came from all the canonical jurisdictions of America. For three days we both delivered lessons in Orthodox theology. The same happened in 1997, near Atlanta, with the additional presence of Fr. George Metallinos.

Angels in the Teaching of Fr. John Romanides

- The time of the angels is in the ages without end, as angels are not restricted by matter. Thus angels move in intervals of time that do not resemble our own.

- Man has a slight conception of what time is, but he understands almost nothing about the ages, unless he reaches glorification and has spiritual insight, and sees an angel himself. Then he has experience of an angel.

- There is an interpretive rule that St. Basil the Great expresses very clearly: Wherever the Angel in the Old Testament is called God - because there are different kinds of angels, there are created angels as well - wherever the Angel who appears to the Prophets is called God, He is Christ.

The Sickness of Religion at Harvard (the Discovery of the Lost Correspondence Between Fr. John Romanides and Harvard University)

 

Between the years 1958 and 1965 Fr. John Romanides served in various parishes of the New England area, he was the Professor of Dogmatics at Holy Cross School of Theology in Brookline, and was a student at Harvard University under the supervision of Fr. George Florovsky, with whom he also lived with in a duplex in Cambridge, and was a colleague with at Holy Cross School of Theology. He resigned from his position at Holy Cross School of Theology in 1965, protesting against the unjust removal of Fr. George Florovsky from the School. Though he completed all the requirements he needed for a Ph.D at Harvard University, and was working on his thesis under the guidance of Fr. Florovsky, he took a professorship position in Greece, where he completed his thesis in Greek and developed it as a textbook for his dogmatics class that was republished several times. He failed from there to turn in his thesis at Harvard to receive his doctorate.

In the final months of his life, between 14 July 2000 and 4 July 2001, Fr. Romanides attempted to contact Harvard University from Greece to make a request that before he died he would be given the doctorate he worked on several decades earlier. The responses he received misunderstood his intentions, and instead of looking into the matter properly or even requesting his thesis from him to see if they could proceed with the matter, it appears after a small formal inquiry that he was just shrugged off like an annoying gnat, which obviously left him frustrated. He seemed to have believed that it was his controversial thesis that religion is a sickness which caused them to shrug him off. After all he went through at the University of Athens many decades earlier to get his doctorate, this reaction should not be a surprise. It appears that when Fr. Romanides died on 1 November 2001 it was without receiving his desired doctorate from Harvard.

The Theological Concerns of Father Ephraim, Abbot of Vatopaidi Monastery

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

The Abbot of the Sacred Monastery of Vatopaidi on the Holy Mountain, Archimandrite Fr. Ephraim, recently emerged from a major ordeal with the coronavirus, having escaped the jaws of death and is now in the process of recovery.

We glorify God for this development, because with prayer and medical science he will be kept alive to continue his work and his ministry in the Church.

We did not have a special communication with Fr. Ephraim of Vatopaidi from the beginning, but finally we met through Orthodox theology and specifically the theology of the Prophets, the Apostles and the Fathers.

This shows how there can be differences between mentalities, characters, events, yet communication and communion can exist through authentic Orthodox theology.

The Sunday of All Saints and the Purpose of Orthodoxy

“What is the purpose of Orthodoxy? It is clear from the calendar of feasts. We have Easter and we have Pentecost. Baptism in water takes place at Easter. Baptism in the Holy Spirit takes place at Pentecost… And what is the outcome? The Sunday of All Saints. In other words, that all Orthodox Christians may be numbered among the saints.”

 

- Fr. John Romanides 

Funeral Oration for Athanasios Sakarellos, A Good Brother

Athanasios Sakarellos, A Good Brother

(Delivered in Thermos on February 27, 2021)

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

When we chant the funeral service for an Orthodox Christian, in the beginning we say verses from the 118th Psalm in three stanzas, where the "testimony of God" is spoken of, or the "covenant of God" is spoken of, or the commandments of God are spoken of. All of these have the same meaning. That is, when one reads the 118th Psalm of David, then one sees there that there is a lot of talk about the commandments of God and of course many times the name changes, where somewhere they are called the commandments of God, somewhere they are called the statutes of God, and elsewhere they are called the testimonies of God with the meaning that the commandments of God testify to who God is and what is His will.

The Recent Repose of the Lay Theologian Athanasios Sakarellos

Few Orthodox Christians in the English-speaking world know who Athanasios Sakarellos was, which is one reason why I have neglected to write anything about his recent repose, which took place on Friday 26 February 2021. He was a lawyer by profession and a lay theologian out of Athens who wrote many things about the Orthodox faith. Those who do know him probably know him either for his close friendship with Fr. John Romanides or from his strong stance against anything that he perceived as a compromise against authentic Orthodoxy. It is the latter where many say he either went too far or did not go far enough.

My own thoughts of Athanasios Sakarellos have been very confused since I first learned of him, and they still are a bit. I had always thought he became an Old Calendarist at some point after the repose of Fr. Romanides, as his writings reflect he at least had strong leanings towards Old Calendarism and seemed to judge everyone he met based on how they approached the issue, but now that he died and some information about him has come to light, I have noticed that at least at the time of his death he was looked upon by other Old Calendarists as having been deluded and that he died unrepentant; of what I have no idea, though it may have something to do with him not fully becoming an Old Calendarist. Many Old Calendarists in Greece even seemed surprised when they found out that his private funeral was presided over, by request of Sakarellos himself before he died, by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos, who follows the New Calendar. When I found this out, not only was I happy to hear it, but it also inspired me to write something in his memory.

Romanism and Costes Palamas

 

PREFACE

The lecture herein published is being offered in English translation as a means of allowing the descendants of the West Romans to take a preliminary glance at people in South East Europe and the Middle East who still call themselves Romans and sing songs and write poetry about themselves as Romans.

Much in this lecture is a summary of sections of a larger study which among other things examines why the Franks decided that the East Romans should not be called Romans.

This decision had a peculiar impact on a town in Cappadocia which gave two emperors to the empire. In some histories the first one is a Roman emperor because he ruled before Heraclius (610-641) and the second is supposedly a Byzantine emperor because he ruled after.

The Romiosini of 1821 and the Great Powers (Fr. John Romanides)

The Romiosini of 1821 and the Great Powers 

 

Orthodoxos Typos

25 March 1978

 

 By Protopresbyter Fr. John Romanides

 

(Translated by John Sanidopoulos)

 

PART ONE

 

PART TWO

 

PART THREE

 

PART FOUR

 

PART FIVE

 

PART SIX

 

PART SEVEN

 

PART EIGHT

 

PART NINE

 

PART TEN

 

PART ELEVEN

 

 

The Orthodox: Arrival and Dialogue (Fr. John Romanides) - Part 5 of 5

 ...continued from part four.

VII

 

From an Orthodox point of view many aspects of Roman Catholic-Protestant differences are really divergent consequences of similar, sometimes identical, presuppositions. This means that on several key issues the Orthodox consider dialogue between Roman Catholics and Protestants really soliloquy which can become true dialogue only when the Orthodox are included.

Such three-way dialogue might help break down the thousand-year-old impasse between the Latin and Greek churches. Thus far two-way dialogue between those two groups has proved impossible because each has interpreted the other's theological language according to his own categories. For instance, the Greeks rejected the dogmatic formula of Filioque (that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son as well as from the Father) because, according to their categories - which are those of the First (325) and the Second (381) Ecumenical Councils - it is sheer heresy. On the other hand, the Latins in a legalistic way accepted the decisions of those Greek councils as authority, but with little understanding of the categories dominating the lengthy debates which provided background. One calls to mind St. Augustine's complaint that he could not understand what the Greeks meant by distinguishing between essence and hypostasis in the Trinity (De Trinitate, v, 8, 10), and this happens to be one of the foundation stones of Greek Trinitarian theology. When difficulties arose about the Filioque the Latins, consistent with their trinitarian categories, insisted that it is a dogma of faith necessary for salvation. The seventh century Greek theologian St. Maximus the Confessor calmed Greek suspicions by translating the Filioque into Greek categories. The enthusiasm of later Frankish and Latin theologians led the West to claim that the Filioque is consistent with and implicit in the decisions of the early Greek Ecumenical Councils, even that it was taught by the early Greek Fathers. For a while the Latins accused the Greeks of having removed the Filioque from the Creed and thus having betrayed their own tradition. Eventually they repeated that accusation in regard to other aspects of doctrine on which differences exist - such as grace, merits, sacraments, purgatory, authority, ecclesiology, even piety. The practical effect of many centuries of such anti-Greek propaganda has been to create a Latin image of the Greek as a stubborn and tricky churchman who because of pride refuses to be faithful to his own tradition.

The Orthodox: Arrival and Dialogue (Fr. John Romanides) - Part 4 of 5

...continued from part three.

VI

The transposition of the Roman Orthodox principles of ecclesiology and synodical administration to the American scene would mean the existence of a bishop in each Eucharistic Assembly, or at least in each city, town and village. The provincial synods within the Roman Empire would be equivalent to county synods presided over by the bishops of the county seats who would be called Metropolitans. These would be autonomous Churches as described above. The Roman dioceses would be somewhat equivalent to our States. The presiding bishop of that county which contained the capital city of the State would preside over his own provincial synod which would be autocephalous and at the same time he would preside over the ordination, but not the election, of the county Metropolitans within the State. The bishops of State capitals would probably be called Archbishops.

The Orthodox: Arrival and Dialogue (Fr. John Romanides) - Part 3 of 5

...continue from part two.

In the ancient Church each Eucharistic assembly was headed by a bishop. Very early these bishops organized themselves into synods whose jurisdiction was determined by the provincial divisions of the Roman Empire. The provincial synods gathered together at the ordinations of the bishops and at regular intervals at the provincial capitals. Since the bishop of the provincial capital was usually the host at the gatherings of the bishops, he was recognized as the presiding bishop of the provincial synod and became known as the Metropolitan. The bishops decided upon questions by vote in synod and not by the arbitrary rule of any one bishop. The Metropolitan was primus inter pares.

When the Roman provinces were later reorganized and grouped into dioceses, the bishops of the diocesan capitals were recognized as having a primacy of honor (primus inter pares) above that of the provincial Metropolitans. Then there was a higher scale of primacy of honor for those bishops of imperial capitals. Rome was given the first place (primus inter pares), Alexandria, the capital of the Ptolemies, was accorded second place, and Antioch, the capital of the Seleucid Empire, third place.

The Orthodox: Arrival and Dialogue (Fr. John Romanides) - Part 2 of 5

...continued from part one.

III

For several decades Protestants and Roman Catholics (particularly the latter) have emphasized the jurisdictional alignments along ethnic lines of Orthodoxy in America and elsewhere in order to point a finger at what they consider disunity and "nationalism." Limited by their own understanding of unity as involving merger (Protestant) or centralization (Roman Catholic), they fail to discern how the Orthodox themselves view unity, and to appreciate how oneness of the Orthodox in faith and worship constitutes a union which transcends such cultural diversities as exist, sometimes even within a single or ethnic group.

The Orthodox: Arrival and Dialogue (Fr. John Romanides) - Part 1 of 5

The following little-known and historically important text of Fr. John Romanides was included in a chapter for the book What's Ahead for the Churches? that was published in 1963. Originally it was published in the journal Christian Century that same year as part of a series of papers that were eventually to form the book by distinguished scholars of various faith backgrounds dealing with their representative faith and its future in the part of the world they knew best. At the time, Fr. John Romanides was a professor at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts, so he decided to write about the current and future challenges of Orthodoxy in America. Fr. Romanides takes his critical and prophetic task seriously and offers a fascinating look at how an Orthodox scholar viewed the current state of Orthodoxy in America and its future from the perspective of 1963. Because it takes up 19 pages in the book, I have divided it here in 5-parts.

 

The Orthodox: Arrival and Dialogue

By John S. Romanides

The appearance of Orthodox churches in the western hemisphere, particularly in the United States and Canada, could prove to be one of the most important factors in the current move toward Christian unity. That may seem a strange credit to impute to the relatively late insertion of 5 million or so Orthodox Christians into a religious and cultural complex made up of some 100 million Protestants and Roman Catholics. But to the Orthodox theologian it is obvious, and it will become more clear as Orthodoxy completes her evolution from the status of immigrant to that of native American church, a process that will render her capable of interpreting herself to her new neighbors.

The Christological Teaching of St. John of Damascus (Fr. John Romanides)

 

By Prof. John S. Romanides 

University of Thessaloniki

 

Having lived and written during the century following the Sixth Ecumenical Council, St. John of Damascus represents the Orthodox Theological Tradition, which was still living in the interpretive atmosphere created by the debates surrounding the Sixth Council. It is quite natural, therefore, that the Fathers of this Council, Sts. Maximus the Confessor and Sophronius of Jerusalem, should exercise a very strong influence on his teachings concerning the Person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

      

At the same time, the Damascene sees clearly from his vantage point the lines of terminological development from the Third Ecumenical Council through the Fourth and Fifth Ecumenical Councils within the framework of the Fathers of these Councils. At the same time, he is a master of the presuppositions of the Trinitarian debate enveloping the decisions of the First and Second Ecumenical Councils and sees clearly the complete interdependence or even identity, which exists between the doctrines of the Holy Trinity and Christology.

      

Recordings and Eulogies from the Funeral of Fr. John Romanides (November 6, 2001)

Protopresbyter Fr. John S. Romanides, among the greatest and most influential Orthodox theologians and historians of the 20th century, reposed in the Lord on Thursday, November 1, 2001. His funeral took place on Tuesday, November 6, 2001 at the Metropolitan Church of the Annunciation to the Theotokos in Athens. Among those who attended were the following: Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou (who represented Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece), Metropolitan Panteleimon (Rodopoulos) of Tyroloi and Serention, Metropolitan Eugenios (Politis) of Hierapytna and Sitia, Bishop John (Kallos) of Amorion and formerly the Bishop of Atlanta, Protopresbyter Fr. George Metallinos and other Priests, his family (his sister and nephew were absent), as well as students and friends. The funeral was chanted by the Association of Music Lovers of Constantinople.

Kratima Dedicated to Fr. John Romanides on the Anniversary of His Repose

 

 

Fr. John S. Romanides, among the greatest and most influential Orthodox theologians and historians of the 20th century, reposed in the Lord on Thursday, November 1, 2001. His funeral took place on Tuesday, November 6, 2001 at the Metropolitan Church of the Annunciation to the Theotokos in Athens.

Being a lover of the Byzantine musical tradition, Fr. John Romanides had a special love for the so-called "kratima". Stamatios-Nikolaos Kissas, President of the Association of Constantinopolitan Friends of Music in Athens at the time of Fr. John's repose wrote in regards to Fr. John's love of the "kratima" as follows: "In every meeting with him he would pressure us that we chant it [the kratima] in various tones in order to please the soul and bring spiritual benefit."

Elder Ephraim of the Holy Mountain and Arizona

Elder Ephraim holding Metr. Hierotheos' book on Saint Paisios the Athonite

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

On Saturday 7 December 2019 Elder Ephraim fell asleep in the Lord and the Holy Monastery of St Anthony in Arizona in the USA. His funeral service was held on 11 December 2019 at the same Monastery in the midst of many of his spiritual children, whom he brought to new birth spiritually: clergy, monks and laypeople of all ages and categories.

He was honoured by the Ecumenical Patriarch with a message that was read out during the funeral service by the Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Philotheou on the Holy Mountain, Archimandrite Nikodimos, who afterwards spoke on his own behalf, as well as by the presence of Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, who described his personality and the work that he had accomplished.

I have been linked with the ever-blessed Hieromonk Ephraim in many and different ways over many years, and in this article I shall set out some of my thoughts about the Elder of blessed memory.

The Relationship and Correspondence Between Fr. George Florovsky and Fr. John Romanides

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the repose of the great theologian Fr. George Florovsky, various conferences and lectures will be organized to study his work. For such a conference being organized by the Panhellenic Association of Theologians I am preparing a proposal, in which I will demonstrate the great relationship between Fr. George Florovsky and Fr. John Romanides. In fact, Florovsky considered Romanides the most astute of his students.

In a book I wrote in the past titled Fr. John Romanides: A Leading Dogmatic Theologian of the Orthodox Catholic Church (published by the Sacred Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos - Pelagia, Holy Metropolis of Thebes and Levadeia), I published twenty-five (25) letters Romanides wrote to Florovsky, which I discovered and analyzed to reveal this continuous relationship and communication between them.