TWO NEWLY CONSECRATED BISHOPS
IN THE SYNOD IN RESISTANCE
THE SACRED MONASTERY of Sts Cyprian and Justina celebrates its dedication festival on 2nd/15th October, which is also the nameday of the President of the Synod in Resistance, His Eminence Metropolitan Cyprian. Unfortunately, owning to failing health, the Metropolitan was unable to take full part in the celebration this year, although he did publish a letter to the faithful. It has become customary after the monastery feast for the hierarchs to hold a Synod meeting. This year they began their meeting on 4th/17th October under the chairmanship of Archbishop Chrysostomos of Etna, the next senior hierarch to the Metropolitan. During their sessions they elected two new Bishops. Archimandrite Cyprian, who for many years has been the spiritual father of the monastery, was consecrated as Bishop of Oreoi on the feast of the Holy Apostle Thomas, and Hieromonk Klemes (Clement) was consecrated as Bishop of Gardikion on the feast of Sts Sergius and Bacchus. Bishop Cyprian was immediately given the duty of Acting President of the Synod, and Bishop Klemes its Secretary. Both are long-standing members of the brotherhood of the Monastery. Full details of the consecrations with photographs may be viewed on the Synod in Resistance website: http://www.synodinresistance.org/index-en.html
Three decisions of the Synod will be of particular interest to our readers, and we give them in full below:-
Relations with the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad
• It was unanimously decided—following the union of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, under Metropolitan Laurus, with the Moscow Patriarchate,—that our Holy Synod should maintain communion with His Eminence, Bishop Agafangel of Odessa and Tauris, who disagrees with this union and has broken off relations with the Holy Synod under Metropolitan Laurus.
• Our communion with His Eminence, Bishop Agafangel remains in force, since it has never been ruptured; it will be maintained and further consolidated; we will coöperate with him in Consecrating Bishops, when requested to do so, in order to strengthen his jurisdiction; we will invite Bishop Agafangel to Greece as soon as possible, in order to formalize our communion with him through a synodal consultation and to sign a “Memorandum Regarding Principles of Coöperation.” Simultaneous communion on our part with the Synod of Archbishop Tikhon of Omsk and Siberia (in Russia) is at present out of the question, since the latter is not in communion with Bishop Agafangel.
Relations with the New Calendar Church
• Citing the precedent of an historic endeavor to inaugurate dialogue with the so-called “official” New Calendar Church of Greece (September 14, 1998-January 11, 2000 [Old Style]; see, also, the correspondence on this subject, published in [Greek text title scrambled in transit - ed.], No. 1557 [July 2, 2004], p. 5, and ‘Agios Kyprianos, No. 323 [November-December 2004], pp. 118-119), it was decided, on the basis of our ecclesiological principles, and also on the ground that the nature of Orthodox resistance is dynamic and not exclusivist, that efforts towards dialogue should be reactivated, in accordance with the content of the Epistle (Protocol No. B108/January 12, 2000 [Old Style]) of the then Archimandrite (now) Cyprian (of Orei) to the then Metropolitan Anthimos of Alexandroupolis.
Relations with the so-called True Orthodox Christians
• On the basis of a detailed report written by the then Hieromonk Klemes, entitled “‘True Orthodox Christians’ in Greece and Abroad: Synods, Independents, Factions, Marginal Groups” (September 27, 2007 [Old Style]), our Holy Synod has undertaken a preliminary evaluation of the extent to which their structures fulfill the criteria of valid ecclesiastical bodies, so that a rapprochement might be attempted and a dialogue be inaugurated for union, or coöperation, and for the strengthening of Orthodox anti-ecumenism in the context of the Old Calendar movement.
• Given, as stated above (eighth resolution), the dynamic and non-exclusivist nature of Orthodox resistance, and in accordance with the fundamental statement of our ecclesiology, “The Orthodox Resistance Against the Ecclesiastical Heresy of Syncretistic Ecumenism” (October 2, 2006 [Old Style], §5, “Divisions Among the Anti-Ecumenists”), the Holy Synod unanimously decided that the Standing Holy Synod should take steps towards rapprochement, beginning with a document to be entitled “An Appeal for Union or Coöperation Against Ecumenism.”
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