Genuine Orthodoxy in Patristic and Ecclesiastical History

Fount: http://www.genuineorthodoxchurch.net/gocpatristic.html

According to the Acts of the Apostles, the disciples of Christ and the first converts to the Apostolic Faith became commonly known as the Christians. St. Ignatius of Antioch and many other early Church Fathers began using the term Catholic Church in reference to the Universal Body of Christ. The First Ecumenical Council affirmed the belief in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church: One just as God the Holy Trinity is One; Holy because God is Holy; Catholic as the Church is Universal and for all tribes and tongues; and Apostolic because Christ founded the Church on the confession of His Apostles.

Due to heresies (i.e., false teachings) which began to arise almost immediately, in the first and second centuries, and continue to rise even in our times, the Church took on the name Orthodox (right-believing) to distinguish Itself from the false believing heretics. Unfortunately, many times in the history of the Church, the heretics were in power, taking control of the Patriarchal Sees and falsely calling themselves "Orthodox." In such cases, the true Orthodox were persecuted and sometimes driven underground or into the wilderness for the sake of preserving their pure confession of the Orthodox Faith. But our loving and compassionate Lord has always given signs of hope and assurance to the true Orthodox Christians, strengthening them, so that they may endure until the end and stand fast and keep their confession, even until their last breath.

One such sign was the Holy Cross which appeared in the heavens over the Holy Land during the reign of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, at a time when the Church was plagued by the Arian controversy. Such dark times were those of St. Gregory the Theologian. At this point in time, St. Gregory and his followers severed ecclesiastical communion with the heretical Arians, so as not to be corrupted by them. The heretics however, having control over all the ancient churches and being recognized by the Roman Emperor, continued to call themselves "Orthodox," and claimed to be the real Orthodox Church, even though they were not. Therefore the followers of St. Gregory the Theologian called themselves Genuine Orthodox Christians or True Orthodox Christians, so as to distinguish themselves from the false so-called "Orthodox." In reply to why the Genuine Orthodox Christians warded themselves off from the heretics, St. Gregory the Theologian wrote: "For we are not striving to conquer, but to bring our brothers - separation from whom brings us great distress - to our side." (Patrologia Graeca, Vol. xxxvi, col. 440B, Oration 41: "On Pentecost").

Another True Orthodox hierarch who was a contemporary of St. Gregory the Theologian was St. Basil the Great. Although the period of his lifetime is called the Golden Age of Orthodoxy, he nevertheless lived during a time when the Arians and Semi-Arians were in control of most churches in the East, with government sponsorship and recognition. Thus, St. Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea and all Cappadocia, wrote: "A Church pure and untouched by the harshness of our times is not easily found and from now on rarely to be seen - a Church that has preserved the apostolic doctrine unadulterated and inviolate!... Beloved brethren, we are small and humble, but we have not accommodated our faith according to changing events. We do not have one faith in Seleucia, another in Constantinople, another in Zelis, another in Lampsake, and a different one for Rome. The faith that is professed today is not different from the one that came before; it is the one and same faith." (St. Basil the Great, to the Evaisenians, written in A.D. 376).

Yet another great champion of Orthodoxy against Arianism was St. Athanasius the Great. In his letter to the fourth century Genuine Orthodox Christians, he wrote, among other things, the following words: "May God console you! ... What saddens you ... is the fact that others have occupied the Churches by violence, while during this time you are on the outside. It is a fact that they have the premises - but you have the apostolic faith. They can occupy our churches, but they are outside the true faith. You remain outside the places of worship, but the faith dwells within you. Let us consider: what is more important, the place or the faith? The true faith, obviously. Who has lost and who has won in this struggle - the one who keeps the premises or the one who keeps the faith? ... No one, ever, will prevail against your faith, beloved brothers, and we believe that God will give us our Churches back some day. Thus, the more violently they try to occupy the places of worship, the more they separate themselves from the Church. They claim that they represent the Church but in reality they are the ones who are expelling themselves from it and going astray. Even if Christians faithful to tradition are reduced to a handful, they are the ones who are the true Church of Jesus Christ."  (Coll. Selecta SS. Eccl. Patrum, Caillu and Guillou, Vol. 32, pp 411-412).

But following the Second Ecumenical Council, the memory of these heretics was cast out of the services, and these false Patriarchs, Archbishops, Metropolitans and Bishops, Acacius, Eunomius, Macedonius, et alia, were anathematized, while the memory of the persecuted, right-believing Fathers, St. Athanasius the Great, St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian, et al., has remained in great honor by the Church, even until our times, and shall remain so for time everlasting. The ancient historic churches were also taken away from the heretical usurpers, and restored to their rightful owners, the Genuine Orthodox Christians.

Another terrible apostasy occurred during the life of St. Maximus the Confessor. Although only a monk, he severed communion with all those who fell into the heresy of Monotheletism. When questioned as to why he was not in communion with the heretical Patriarch of Constantinople, St. Maximus replied: "Even if the whole universe holds communion with the Patriarch, I will not communicate with him. For I know from the writings of the holy Apostle Paul: the Holy Spirit declares that even the angels would be anathema if they should begin to preach another Gospel, introducing some new teaching." (The Life of St. Maximus the Confessor, Boston, 1982, pp. 60-62.) When the Sixth Ecumenical Council was finally convened, the previous four Ecumenical Patriarchs of Constantinople, namely, Sergius, Pyrrhus, Paul and Peter, and the heretical Popes Honorius of Rome and Sergius of Alexandria, were all anathematized. During all those years, that one simple unordained monk, St. Maximus the Confessor, was right; and all those notable Patriarchs, Popes and Bishops were wrong.

Among the most well-known times of apostasy are the dark years of the Iconoclastic Periods. The Iconoclasts were condemned by the Seventh Ecumenical Council, but Iconoclasm was not brought to a final end until the Council of the Triumph of Orthodoxy was convened under Empress St. Theodora. Thus, the heresy lasted for over 200 years, and during that time the heretical iconoclasts styled themselves as the "Orthodox Church", while the true faithful, popularly known as "iconodules" called themselves Genuine Orthodox Christians. But after that 200 year period of confusion, Orthodoxy triumphed, and the heretical iconoclast Emperors, Patriarchs, Popes and Bishops were anathematized, and continue to be anathematized every year on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, while the persecuted, Genuine Orthodox Hierarchs are remembered today as Saints and Confessors of the Faith. Other confusing times include those of the false councils of Lyons and Florence. At Lyons, all of the Orthodox delegates signed the heretical declaration of union with the heretical Pope of Rome. However, several of the delegates retracted their signatures upon returning to their dioceses. At the false council of Florence, however, St Mark of Ephesus was the sole bishop that refused to submit to the heretical Pope.

Regarding the Latin-minded "Patriarch" Gregory III (1392-1445), St. Mark of Ephesus wrote: "For I am absolutely convinced that the more I distance myself from him and those like him, the closer I draw to God and all the faithful and Holy Fathers; and to the extent that I separate myself from these people, even so am I united with the truth and the Holy Fathers and theologians of the Church." (St. Mark of Ephesus, Patrologia Graeca, Vol. clx, cols. 536c and 537a.) It is interesting that St. Mark of Ephesus not only resisted communion with the heretical Patriarch while alive, but even after death he refused any form of communion. "I neither desire," this Atlas of Orthodoxy declares, "nor accept communion with him [i.e., the Latin-minded Patriarch] or his lackeys, in any manner whatsoever, whether during my lifetime or after my death; Just as throughout my life I was separated from them [viz., the Latinizers], so also at the time of my departure from life, and even after my death, I reject communion and union with them; and I adjure, I command, that none of them approach either at my funeral or at memorial services for me, nor even those of anyone else belonging to our faction, so as to attempt to associate and concelebrate with our clergy. For this is to mix what cannot be mixed. For it is necessary that they [viz., the Latinizers] be completely separated from us, until God grants the good amendment and peace of His Church." (St. Mark of Ephesus, Patrologia Graeca, Vol. clx, col. 536c.)

However, the greatest apostasy of all times was definitely that of the early 20th century. In the past, the Church has been attacked by several Christological heresies [viz., regarding Christ's person, divinity, humanity, etc]. However, the turn of the 20th century marked the manifestation of ecclesiological heresies [viz., regarding the Church, Divine Grace, the Mysteries and Holy Tradition.] These modern ecclesiological heresies include Modernism, which first appeared in 1922 in Russia as Renovationism, but later appeared in 1924 in Greece, Romania, Cyprus, and other parts of the world, in the form of New Calendarism. The introduction of the new calendar is especially unorthodox because it defies the harmony created by the First Ecumenical Council, and violates the tomes and canons of several Pan-Orthodox Councils, such as those of 1582, 1587 and 1593, that had anathematized the new calendar from the moment of its adoption in the West.

The propagator of these heresies was the Ecumenical Patriarch, Meletius Metaxakis, who gave his support to the Renovationists as soon as they appeared in Russia, and called the "Pan-Orthodox Congress" of Constantinople in 1923. This "Synod" of five freemason bishops, together with a small group of laymen and an heretical Anglican bishop, was far from Orthodox, let alone Pan-Orthodox. It favored all the changes the Renovationists had espoused, such as a married episcopate, a second marriage for priests, shortening of the services, etc, while in addition, it also proposed the introduction of the new calendar and condoned a form of unity and intercommunion with the heretical Anglicans. This false "Synod" soon led to riots in the street, and "Patriarch" Meletius Metaxakis was forced to resign. Less than a year later, in March 1924, a local Synod in Greece (with only five bishops in attendance) put the "Pan-Orthodox Congress" into practice by implementing the new calendar, which was followed by riots among the faithful in Greece and abroad and protests from the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Jerusalem. But rather than correcting this error, in October of that year the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Churches of Romania, Poland and Finland, also adopted the new calendar, the latter also adopting the papist date for Pascha. After Meletius Metaxakis used his freemasonic connections to get himself "elected" Patriarch of Alexandria, he forced the Alexandrian Patriarchate to also adopt the new calendar in 1928, which was followed shortly by the Church of Cyprus, at the behest of the British Government which controlled Cyprus at the time, and had strong ties with the Anglican-minded, Freemason "Patriarch" Meletius Metaxakis. Within decades, the Patriarchate of Antioch and the Church of Bulgaria also adopted the new calendar, being forced to do so as a prerequisite for joining "World Orthodoxy" (they had been separated due to nationalist reasons since the end of the previous century).

However, both of these heresies, Renovationism and New Calendarism, were followed by more subtle heresies, namely, Sergianism in Russia, and Florinism in Greece. Sergianism was formed by Metropolitan Sergius Stragorodsky, who had been a Renovationist, but returned to the Genuine Orthodox Church. However, in 1927 he declared, on behalf of the Church, his complete loyalty to the antichristian Bolshevik Communist State, declaring the Communist State's joys to be the Church's joys, and the Communist State's sorrows to be the Church's sorrows. A similar subtle heresy also arose in Greece. Known as Florinism, it is named after the retired former Metropolitan of Florina, Chrysostom (Kavourides), who had been a New Calendarist, but returned to the Genuine Orthodox Church. When Chrysostom of Florina joined the Genuine Orthodox Church in 1935, he confessed openly in two official Encyclicals he signed together with his fellow bishops, that the New Calendarist State Church had fallen into schism in 1924, both potentially and actually, and that the mysteries performed by clergymen of the New Calendarist State Church are invalid and bereft of sanctifying grace. However, only two years later, in 1937, he began preaching his Florinite heresy. Thus he declared that the heretical New Calendarists were not only grace-filled, but also the source of grace, and the "Mother Church" from which the Genuine Orthodox Church supposedly receives its grace and its mysteries! This he prated merely because the New Calendarist Church of Greece was the one recognized by the State. In 1948, Chrysostom also openly praised Stalin and glorified Sergius Stragorodsky's declaration of 1927 as the "perfect harmony between the Church and the State," thereby sealing the sisterhood of Sergianism in Russia with Florinism in Greece. Both of these heresies served the purpose of deceiving even the very elect. For if many pious Orthodox Christians in Russia or Greece had not managed to fall into the clear heresies of Renovationism and New Calendarism, many of these pious Orthodox Christians were yet unable to be protected against the far more subtle and cunning deceptions of Sergianism and Florinism.

Finally, the greatest heresy of our times is that of Ecumenism, which did not begin in 1965 as many (in an attempt to justify themselves), prate. This heresy rather first entered the realms of the Orthodox Church on an official level in 1920, when the Ecumenical Patriarchate issued the notorious Patriarchal Encyclical "To the Churches of Christ Wheresoever They May Be," addressed to the Papists, Anglicans and all the Protestant denominations. The said Encyclical proposed an eleven-point plan of renovation and reformation of the Orthodox Church to meet the desires of the said heretical denominations. The first of the 11 points suggested to promote unity of all Christians "By the acceptance of a uniform calendar for the celebration of the great Christian feasts at the same time by all the churches." Thus the very cornerstone of Ecumenism within the Orthodox Church was the adoption of the new calendar which indeed occurred in 1924, only four years after the Patriarchal Encyclical was written. Ecumenism was also effected in practice as early as the 1920s, as "Patriarch" Meletius Metaxakis held joint services with Anglicans repeatedly throughout his tenure in each of his posts, as Metropolitan of Citium, as Metropolitan of Athens, as Patriarch of Constantinople, and as Pope of Alexandria. Furthermore, as stated earlier, at the "Pan-Orthodox Congress" of Constantinople in 1923, an Anglican bishop was permitted to attend as a valid member of the "Synod," despite him being a heretic.

To gain an understanding of how far "World Orthodoxy" actually plunged into the ecumenical movement right at the dawn of the 1920s, let us look at the account of Meletius Metaxakis' life as recorded in an Encyclopedia: "His entreaties to the Anglican Church courted controversy within Orthodoxy. On December 17, 1921, the Greek Ambassador in Washington sent a message to the prefect at Thessaloniki stating that Meletius "vested, took part in an Anglican service, knelt in prayer with Anglicans, venerated their Holy Table, gave a sermon, and later blessed those present." Under pressure from Meletius, the Patriarchate of Constantinople accepted the validity of Anglican orders in 1922—an act against which even Rome protested. Then, in 1923, Meletius initiated the "Pan-Orthodox" Congress (May 10–June 8). On June 1, clergy and laymen who were dissatisfied with the innovating Patriarch held a meeting which ended in an attack on the Phanar with the goal of deposing Meletius and expelling him from Constantinople." (OrthodoxWiki, Meletius IV (Metaxakis) of Constantinople, "Ecumenism and Anglican outreach," link here.)

The ecumenical activity between "World Orthodoxy" and the heretical Anglican and Protestant denominations was sealed in 1948, when the so-called hierarchs of "Word Orthodoxy" became founding members of the World Council of Churches, the main organ and vessel of the Ecumenical Movement. Although the so-called Churches of "World Orthodoxy" did not begin working on ecumenical unity with the Papists until the 1960s, it was not the hierarchs of "World Orthodoxy" who were hostile to such an idea. It was rather the Papists who were against Ecumenism (and its parents, Zionism and Freemasonry) until the Council of Vatican II, at which the Papists announced their desire to join the World Council of Churches, of which "World Orthodoxy" was already a founding member for several decades prior to 1965. Thus, although the Papists did not fall into the error of Ecumenism until the 1960s, "World Orthodoxy," on the other hand, espoused it as early as 1920.

Therefore the Genuine Orthodox Church emerged at that time, to wit, at the very inception of the Pan-heresy of Ecumenism itself, when the heretical Encyclical was issued in 1920, and when its first point, to change the calendar, was put into practice in Greece only four years later, in 1924. The faithful Orthodox Christians who were opposed to the heresies of Zionism, Freemasonry, Ecumenism, Modernism, Renovationism, New Calendarism, Sergianism and Florinism, took on the name Genuine Orthodox Christians, just as in the time of St. Gregory the Theologian, so as to distinguish themselves from the heretical so-called "Orthodox."

In Greece, and in the regions traditionally belonging to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, thousands of pious Genuine Orthodox Christians stood up against the new heresies and preserved their Orthodox Confession, their souls, and the Church from corruption. They received divine reassurance, just as in the time of the Arian controversy, as the sign of the precious cross once again miraculously appeared in the heavens, in this instance, above a chapel on Mt. Hymettus, in Athens, Greece, in 1925, where the faithful were gathered for the celebration of the feastday of the Exultation of the Precious Cross according to the old calendar. This miraculous Assurance from God (Greek: "Θεόθεν Βεβαίωσις") comforted the faithful Genuine Orthodox Christians and strengthened them in their pious and sacred struggle to preserve the Orthodox Confession. The same miracle also occurred in 1937, in Crete, to reassure the faithful who were rightly combating the much more subtle heresy of Florinism, which had emerged months earlier through the false teachings of Chrysostom (Kavourides).

One of the Champions of Orthodoxy against all of these heresies was the clairvoyant elder, the holy hierarch St. Matthew (Karpathakis), Bishop of Bresthena (+1950). In 1936, in an open epistle, he wrote: "Orthodoxy or death! Blessed is he who desires to preserve and hold fast our pure and holy Orthodox Faith until the end, the Faith of our Mother, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ, and patiently endures the various accepted woes, imprisonments and even exile and other misfortunes. For such a one is want to be crowned and numbered with the Confessors and Martyrs... Let us shed tears and  mourn day and night over the pitiful, tearful and mournful situation of contemporary mankind. And such a sorrowful and tear-worthy situation has not appeared since the beginning of the world, namely, the situation of the Church being under attack by: a) the warring atheists, b) the Freemasons, and, c) the Bolsheviks, to wit, the Communists..." (Bishop Matthew of Bresthena, as quoted in Epistolai tou Aeimnestou Archiepiskopou Athenon kai Pases Hellados k. Matthaiou, Athens, 1962).

In 1937, in another open epistle, Bishop Matthew of Bresthena wrote: "If anyone rejects any ecclesiastical tradition, written or unwritten, anathema thrice (Seventh Ecumenical Council)... Not only have the deceased ones, Basil III of Constantinople, Meletius (Metaxakis) of Alexandria, etc, prepared a place for themselves in eternal hell by their cacodoxy, but so have the living ones, namely, Jacob of Mytilene, Jacob of Kozane, Cherubim Aninos of Paronaxia, Irenaeus, Ambrose of Phthiotis, as well as Damascene of Corinth, Gennadius of Thessalonica, Alexander of Cercyra, Joachim of "Demetrias," Philaret of Syrus, and many others, and even their leader, Chrysostom Papadopoulos of Athens. All of the above bear the hierarchical vestments fraudulently, because they are inscribed in Masonry, they are followers of Freemasonry. A frightful thing! Masonic hierarchs! Wake up, O genuine children of our Christ and our Orthodox Church! Wake up, for a great danger threatens Orthodoxy, apart from and above all other heresies, namely, awful Freemasonry, which is nothing other than Judaism in disguise. And all the hatred and passion of the Jews against our Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Great Orthodox Church continues. Through this fearful and awful system of Freemasonry, the former Orthodox clergy are continuously adulterated by the spirit of corruption and delusion; the Orthodox Dogmas and Mysteries are slowly and unnoticeably being abolished; and the cacodoxies of delusion are being introduced... Therefore... flee from every modernism, including the modernism of the papal calendar, for it is a creation of the devil; and flee from clergymen who follow it, for they are betrayers of the faith of our Christ. Let each of you deny antichristian Freemasonry, delusional Spiritualism, heretical chiliasm, impious Communism, and generally every sin and cacodoxy. 'Strive for the truth unto death, and the Lord shall fight for thee.' (Wisdom of Sirach 4:28)." (Bishop Matthew of Bresthena, as quoted in Epistolai tou Aeimnestou Archiepiskopou Athenon kai Pases Hellados k. Matthaiou, Athens, 1962).

His current successor and the First-Hierarch of the Genuine Orthodox Church in Greece and the regions traditionally belonging to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, is His Eminence, Metropolitan Cerycus (Kontogiannis) of Mesogaea and Laureotica. Being the locum tenens of the Archdiocesan Thrones of Constantinople and Athens, he is the first-among-equals in the hierarchy of Genuine Orthodox Bishops throughout the world.

The Genuine Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate under Metropolitan Cerycus currently has communities in the following regions of Greece: Attica, Continental Greece, Thessaly, Macedonia, Thrace, Peloponnesus, Ionian Islands, Crete and Aegean Islands. Metropolitan Cerycus is currently also the exarch for several communities outside of Greece, including Italy, Croatia, Germany, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Brazil, Japan and Australia. Metropolitan Cerycus is also in full ecclesiastical communion with the following Genuine Orthodox Churches: The Genuine Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria under Metropolitan Matthew of Nairobi, who has several communities in Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia, and missions in Egypt and South Africa; The Genuine Orthodox Catacomb Church of Russia under Metropolitan Seraphim of Kiev, with communities in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Finland, Georgia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan; The Genuine Orthodox Church of Cyprus under Metropolitan Parthenius of Citium; and the Genuine Orthodox Catacomb Church of Romania under Metropolitans Cassian of Bacau and Gerontius of Vrancea.

These Genuine Orthodox Churches are currently in theological dialogue with other traditionalist Synods in Russia and elsewhere, for the sake of strengthening the holy and sacred struggle against Ecumenism. If you are a Church group or even a priest or layman, and would like to enter into theological dialogue with the hierarchs of the Genuine Orthodox Church, please send an email to: genuineorthodoxchurch@live.com