The struggle for Orthodoxy
requires selfless courage. This is evident from the centuries long history of
the Church. Thanks to the struggles of martyrs and confessors of faith, whole
countries at times were saved from invasion of false teachings, heresies, and
impiety.
The Holy Mount Athos has always
been a "barrier against which the waves of heresies would break" [532].
From ancient times this sublime institution, the domain of the Mother of God,
which lived in accordance with Divine principles, has been the stronghold of
Orthodoxy. In guarding the faith of the Holy Fathers, Athonites (hagiorites),
for centuries, have been an example of piety to all Christians of the world.
Having renounced the world and entirely dedicated himself to serving God, "a
true monk fears neither the imperial purple, nor the mitre of a patriarch, and
is prepared to endure anything joyfully and happily for the love of the Orthodox
faith, which is his greatest treasure . ... Monastic hood does not bow before
any masters who disdain the Divine Law and the Sacred Tradition, and who subject
the Faith to sinful people desirous of worldly things, to people obedient to
Satan." [533]
From the time when St. Athanasius founded the Great Lavra
in 963, Mt. Athos was protected by Byzantian Emperors and was given into the
possession of Orthodox monks who inhabited it. Beginning with the 10th century,
Mt. Athos had become the all-Orthodox center of monasticism, the place of
ascetic struggle not only for Greeks, but other Orthodox monastics as well --
Russians, Bulgarians, Georgians, Serbs, Rumanians, and others.
In the
course of centuries, spiritual and theological authority of Mt. Athos was very
remarkable and it rose particularly in the 14th century due to the development
of hesychasm, the spiritual essence of which made a deep impression on the
culture and character of the peoples of Russia, Balkans, and the Middle East.
During the Turkish occupation Mt. Athos was practically autonomous, and
only in 1917 did it fall under the control of Greece. Since that time the Greek
government, exercising its power over this new territory, began to pursue a
chauvinist policy, trying to make the Holy Mount exclusively Greek, i.e. to get
rid of the monastics of other nationalities [534]. However, the realization of
this plan was hindered by international agreements which defended the rights of
monastics of non-Greek origin [535].
On the other hand, the events
following the turmoil of 1920's caused by the calendar reform, which was
instigated by one of the most odious personalities of the 20th century --
"Patriarch" Meletius (Metaxakis), served the purpose of this policy, and the
Greek government did not fail to take advantage of them. Since that time the
government began to rudely interfere in the internal affairs of Mt. Athos and
the persecute of the uncompromising ascetics whom it found objectionable. The
Patriarchate of Constantinople, to which jurisdiction Mt. Athos belongs, and
which at the present time is traditionally comprised, as we have seen, of
modernists-masons, has been staunchly supporting civil powers, helping them to
undermine Athonite traditions and principles. This apostatic "symphony", which
has nothing in common with the Justinian symphony of the Emperor and the clergy,
judging by the present situation, directs its efforts to a gradual destruction
of the Holy Mt. Athos. This assertion is proved in particular by the sharp
decrease in the number of Athonite inhabitants. Thus, the celebration of the
millennium of Mt. Athos in 1963 was marred by the announcement of the fact that
during about half a century the number of monks was reduced from 7500 in 1903 to
1560 in 1963 [536].
From 1970's Mt. Athos has been gradually populated
by ambitious young men agreeable to the government authorities, the so called
"New Athonites" [537]. Many of them are university graduates, who, contrary to
the age-old hagiorite decrees and under the pressure of civil powers, have been
appointed abbots of monasteries. They are precisely the ones who help to
implement the policy agreeable to both the civil authorities and the Phanar
[538], by destroying monasticism and being accessories to persecution against
those who remain faithful to Orthodoxy.
On observing the anti-canonical
actions and deviations from the Holy Tradition and Orthodox Ecclesiology of
Constantinopolitan hierarchs-renovationists and ecumenists, hagiorites wrote
open letters to them on frequent occasions and censured them, openly expressing
disagreement with the stand of the Phanar.
The election of Patriarch
Athenagoras, a high-ranking member of an American masonic lodge, and an adherent
of the "branch theory", has made the difficult situation even worse. It should
be noted that Athenagoras' election was dictated by the USA which wanted to
ensure the improvement of relationships between Greece and Turkey (the latter is
a country to which USA is especially attentive, because of its strategic
position). Athenagoras' predecessor, Patriarch Maximos V, who proved to be a
much stronger traditionalist than Athenagoras, was deposed without any reason
and confined as a mentally ill person in Switzerland, where he was deprived of
the right to officiate in divine services or to act in a capacity of a hierarch.
Several people, who managed to visit him at the end of the 1950-ies, have
testified that he was neither mentally ill, nor of unsound mind [539].
Everyone is familiar with Patriarch Athenagoras' policy: rapprochement
with the Vatican and a willful lifting of anathemas from the Papists,
accompanied by an active adogmatic ecumenical activity, which has been continued
by his successors.
"Much less is known, however, about the wave of
profound indignation at the destructive action of Athenagoras, which had surged
in all the Orthodox world, particularly in Greece and Mt. Athos. All the
monasteries of the Holy Mount had categorically refused to commemorate him
during Liturgy. In Northern Greece several bishops, who belonged to the
jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, followed the Athonite
example, some expressed a decisive protest. Among them were Metropolitans --
Ambrose of Eleutheropolis, Paul of Paramythie, Polycarp of Sisianos, and also
Siatistis and Augustine of Florma. At the same time the persecution against the
old-calendarists (adherents of the Church calendar of the Holy Fathers -- L.P.)
was redoubled. All these monks, priests, bishops had an absolute right to
express their protest; on the one hand according to the Canons of the Orthodox
Church, and on the other - according to civil laws which, presumably, permit
pluralism." [540]
There were many who protested at that time, perceiving
the danger of a new "Florentine disgrace". In the course of time, however,
despite the fact that their exhortations had no effect, some monasteries began
once again to commemorate the Patriarch. However, there still remained more than
half of the Athonite monasteries who suspended communion with Athenagoras and
stopped commemorating him at their services.
But during the years
1970-80, in the reign of Patriarch Demetrios, who continued and even expanded
the apostatic practice of his predecessor, all monasteries, except the
monks-zealots and the monastery of Esphigmenou, re-established their communion
with the Patriarch. This happened due to the intrigues of the patriarchal
exarchate who managed "to seduce... even the elect" (Mark 13,22). The
periodically occurring mysterious "suicides", or disappearances of monks [541],
threats, pressure and simply persecution to which the monks who were disobedient
to the heretical Constantinople were subjected, have also had their effect.
From time to time, it is true, the Athonite monasteries censured the
Patriarch of Constantinople in the appeals which they have sent him. Thus, after
the regrettably notorious concelebration of Patriarch Demetrios with Pope
John-Paul II, which was an unprecedented act of rapprochement of the
Patriarchate of Constantinople with the Papists, the Sacred Council of Mt. Athos
sent a letter to Demetrios. "We have no other form of action left to us -- they
wrote -- we place this into the hands of God. We now embrace silence, leaving
all to Christ our God, and await the solution of this problem from Him. The
Sacred Council can no longer tell hagiorites and other faithful about the
strictness of Your confession and the steadfastness of Your faith, because You
personally are openly professing the opposite. The Holy Mount, inasmuch as it
firmly adheres to the precepts of faith and piety, cannot express its respect
and devotion to the Ecumenical See" [542].
Nevertheless, the silence
embraced by those commemorating the Patriarch-heretic, "not being the silence of
hesychasts" [543], has since yielded to enthusiastic welcome with which the
Sacred Council of Mt. Athos honored both the late Demetrios and his successor
Patriarch Bartholomeos [544]. Since then Phanar has undertaken even more
insolent steps and developed unprecedented ecumenical activity when in June of
1993 it concluded the Balamand Agreement with the Vatican, and in November of
the same year -- the Chambesy Agreement with the Monophysites.
The open
letter concerning the Balamand in which the Kinot (Sacred Council) appealed to
Patriarch Bartholomeos [545] expressed in particular the idea that the
ecumenical movement has turned into all-embracing syncretism. As an
illustration it quoted the blasphemous words of Patriarch Parthenios (Koinidis,
died 1996) of Alexandria about Mohammed [546].
The Memorandum of the
Sacred Council of Mount Athos regarding the Chambesy Declaration [547] stated
that the ecumenist acknowledgment of heretical churches as "sisters" casts doubt
on "the continuity of the consciousness of our Church, which is but the One,
Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church" [548].
However, both in this
Memorandum, as well as in the letter regarding the Balamand Agreement, the
impious and decisive role of Patriarch Bartholomeos himself is passed over in
diplomatic silence. These two documents, which prove that the monasteries,
brotherhoods and monastics of Mt. Athos who did not discontinue their prayerful
communion with the Patriarch-Apostate, and have continued to commemorate him as
their ruling hierarch, are well aware of his crime against Orthodoxy. "So many
ravages has the Holy Mount endured, and still continues to endure! -- comments
an Athonite ascetic -- So many monks have left monasteries and refuse to return
because of the anti-Orthodox and anti-monastic acts of the Patriarch which have
caused division! Today it is not the monks who are in search of a monastery, but
the monasteries which are in search of monks; from all sides, monasteries are
crying out loud, for they are faced with desolation... The Ecumenical (i.e.
Constantinopolitan - L.P.) Patriarchate has brought all these misfortunes
upon the Orthodox Church, including division and desolation on Mt. Athos." [549]
Why is it, then, that despite everything those that "commemorate" the
Patriarch continue to communicate with the heretic? How can one explain that
today the majority of them is silent about one of the most scandalous events in
the history of Mt. Athos, reminiscent of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages --
i.e. the expulsion of Russian monks from their Skete of St. Elias on May 20 of
1992, just because they refused to commemorate the Phanar apostate? [550]
The St. Elias Skete, which was built with the donations of pious Russian
compatriots and became famous for the ascetic struggle (Russ. podvig) of its
great elder Paisius Velichkovsky, had been attracting thousands of Russian
pilgrims before the Bolshevik Revolution. In our time, before the eviction of
its monks, the Skete belonged to the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, the
legitimate heir of the historical Russia.
Beginning in 1957, the monks
of St. Elias Skete ceased commemorating the Patriarch of Constantinople because
of their disagreement with the pro-Catholic policy and ecumenical heresy of the
Patriarchate. Their Abbot and Superior of the Skete, Archimandrite Seraphim
(Bobich), who over 20 years (since 1970) had been leading the life of an ascetic
on Mt. Athos, and the brethren of the Skete had spent a great deal of money and
labored heavily in order to re-establish and improve this large sacred abode.
From 1985 onwards the Skete was being subjected to all kinds of pressure, in
order to force the monks to resume the commemoration of the Patriarch, but they
would not yield.
Finally, on May 7/20 of 1992, on the feast-day of
Mid-Pentecost, Abbot Seraphim and seven other inhabitants of the Skete were
forcibly evicted from Mt. Athos without trial and investigation. This criminal
and shameful act was committed by the Commission of the Patriarchate of
Constantinople, headed by the patriarchal Exarch, Metropolitan Athanasios of
Heliopolis. The eviction was carried out with the help of the representatives of
the civil authorities of Mt. Athos and numerous armed police.
The
request of the fathers of St. Elias Skete to be granted at least two or three
days for preparations, was rejected. "Because they were under escort and strict
police supervision, the monks were unable to collect not only the most necessary
personal belongings, but documents as well" [551]. These Russian zealots were
forcibly ushered into military vehicles and brought to Daphne via Karyes
(capital of Mt. Athos). From Daphne a motor-boat delivered them to Uranopolis
(outside Mt. Athos) where they were heartlessly abandoned on the pier without
money or documents.
But persecution of these Russian monks on the part
of the ecclesiastical and civil authorities did not end with this improbable,
unchristian treatment: their request to have their passports returned to them
was rejected (Archimandrite Seraphim and his fellow monks are American
citizens). Moreover they were not even presented with a copy of the decision of
either the Sacred Council, or of the civil authorities testifying to their
eviction. All this was fabricated later. Immediately following the eviction of
the Russian monks this rich Skete was plundered and occupied by the "monks"
acceptable to Phanar and to the government [552].
The silence of
"commemorating" hagiorites has greatly alarmed the Orthodox faithful who love
Mt. Athos and who are historically accustomed to see Christ's warriors in
Athonite monks, fearlessly struggling for the Orthodox faith and fearing God
above all. The adherents of the Patriarch of Constantinople cannot but be aware
that for many years, especially since 1970, "a silent and secret religious
persecution has been taking place on the Holy Mount against the monks who remain
faithful to Orthodox traditions." [553] Apart from the forcible measures already
mentioned, they are not allowed to either tonsure Athonite zealots, or have
novices in obedience (this is not permitted even to the eldest zealot monks).
They are not allowed to buy cells for themselves and they cannot acquire the
most necessary items for their existence [554].
It often happened that
many monks-ascetics who had vowed never to leave the Holy Mount until they died
were evicted from Athos. This was the fate, for example, of ascetic-hesychast
Fr. Theodorite, the author of numerous books on theology and piety, and of
monk-zealot Fr. Damian [555]. In other words, the plan of finally eliminating
Athonite zealots is being actually carried out, and in such a manner as to make
the believers think that no one on Mt. Athos opposes the betrayal of Orthodoxy
which is being committed there [556].
Will the Holy Mount Athos, "the
garden of the Mother of God," become what the subjects of the prince of this
world want it to be -- a tourist spot with hotels, beaches, entertainment
centers and... a Museum of Eastern Monasticism ?!
...The sacred
Esphigmenou monastery has in all respects become a zealot religious community.
Along with the other monks-zealots, the monks of Esphigmenou steadfastly refuse
to have any communion with the apostate Patriarch. For more than 20 years the
tower of Esphigmenou monastery has displayed the flag with the words: "Orthodoxy
or Death". This God-loving monastic community, which is often cut off from the
rest of the world [557] and which has been more than once in danger of being
seized by force or with the aid of perfidy. However, with the help of God and
the protection of the Mother of God, the monastery keeps resisting those who
exert every possible pressure upon it. "Its steadfastness bore fruit: police
themselves were ashamed of the anti-Christian task which they were forced to
perform." [558]
The Esphigmenou community has not only given hope to all
the Orthodox world, and become a symbol of resistance to the anti-Christian
evil, but has also become an example to be emulated.
The fact that the
Esphigmenou monastery is a model of fidelity to Christ the Savior has a profound
meaning for Russia, because the father of Russian monasticism, St. Anthony of
the Kiev-Caves Lavra (+1073, commemorated July 10) was tonsured and practiced
asceticism in that monastery, and brought from there "the rule of faith" and the
image of true piety to the Russian land.
Following the example of the
Esphigmenou community, all Orthodox Christians and their monasteries should
inscribe on the tablets of their hearts the words of love and faithfulness to
Christ: "Orthodoxy or Death".
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