Death of Archbishop Chrysostomos

ORTHODOXY IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP CHRYSOSTOMOS

ARCHBISHOP CHRYSOSTOMOS, who until May, 1967, was Archbishop of Athens and Primate of the Church of Greece, died on Pentecost Sunday, May 27 (June 9), 1968. One of the last strongholds of uncompromising Orthodoxy in the Church of Greece, he devoted his life to the defense of Holy Orthodoxy and the service of the Greek people, revealing himself especially in his last years, when Primate, as a vigorous opponent of modernism and apostasy in the Church.

Born Themistocles S. Hadjistavrou, the son of an oil merchant, in 1880 in Aydin (Asia Minor), he graduated with honors from the Orthodox Theological Seminary of Halke. After ordination he volunteered for service in Eastern Macedonia, then under Turkish rule, and while there he helped organize Greek fighting bands. He was sentenced to four years in prison by the Turks, but he escaped to Lausanne, Switzerland, where he studied for 18 months.

At the age of 30 he was consecrated bishop, and three years later he was given his first see, Philadelphia (now Alaschir, Turkey). His continued patriotic activities angered the Turks, and in 1914 he was condemned to death on a charge of maintaining secret contacts with Circassian rebels. Intervention from abroad led to a commutation of the sentence to a year of house arrest.

In 1922, when the Greek army was defeated by the Turks in Asia Minor, Archbp. Chrysostomos (then Metropolitan of Ephesus) was captured by Turkish irregulars, but he escaped with the aid of the captain of a British cruiser. Two years later he served briefly as Metropolitan in Veria-Naousa, and later he took over the newly-created Diocese of Kavalla, the main port of East Macedonia, where he served for 38 years.

In 1962, at the age of 82, he was elected Primate of the Church of Greece, and for five years he occupied a leading role in the Orthodox fight against the unionizing and apostate policies of Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople. When he first heard of the meeting of the Patriarch with the Pope in Jerusalem in January, 1964 (which involved joint prayer and other uncanonical acts), he immediately protested and called for vigils and services to be held throughout the city of Athens as a protest, himself presiding at the vigil at Petraki Monastery in Athens. He appealed to the Holy Mountain and received in reply a Proclamation signed by numerous Abbots and monks in support of his strong stand on behalf of Orthodoxy (printed in Against False Union).


† Archbishop Chrysostomos


He protested again against the Patriarch's "lifting" of the Anathema against the Latin church in December, 1965, stating officially that "the act of the lifting of the excommunication on the part of the Ecumenical Patriarch has no validity for the Ecumenical Orthodox Church. The excommunication of the Roman church as heretical is a pan-Orthodox act, having been confirmed according to the canons of the Orthodox Church by all the Orthodox Churches.."

The Archbishop's enemies caricatured him as a hard, narrow-minded fanatic; but in actual fact he preserved to the end the fiery enthusiasm and open-heartedness of his youth. When he received a Greek translation of the eloquent letter of protest of Metr. Philaret (Russian Church Outside of Russia) against the lifting of the Anathema, he was so pleased that he jumped up from his desk and went out into the halls shouting with joy for all at the Archdiocese to come and see it. Again, in his correspondence with Cardinal Bea he set forth his position courageously and politely, yet not with that false politeness that would demand a betrayal of the Faith. He quoted Latin documents that prove the insincerity of the Latins themselves, and proved from the Pope's encyclicals why a "dialogue" is impossible, since a prerequisite for this must be the recognition of the Papal primacy.

In Greece itself, unlike some of his predecessors who persecuted them, he was sympathetic to the Old Calendarists. From the point of view of the strictest Orthodoxy, his adherence to the New Calendar (required by the Church of Greece) and his contacts with the Moscow Patriarchate may be considered his chief failings.

One of his last official acts was to swear in the new cabinet after it seized power in April, 1967. A few days later, as he was leading the Great Friday procession in Athens, he collapsed with a heart attack and was hospitalized. Within a month he was uncanonically removed by the new government. He recovered quickly from his illness and spent the last year in the seclusion of his home near Athens.

His successor, Archbishop Ieronymos, has pursued an actively ecumenical line and has already done much to undo the work and influence of Archbishop Chrysostomos.

And thus the Orthodox Church has lost one of her modern-day champions – in fact, almost the last major hierarch outside the Russian Church Abroad to speak out openly against contemporary ecumenism and apostasy. May God grant that, in the Church of Greece as elsewhere, there may yet be others!

MONKS OF MT. ATHOS BEING FORCED TO COMMEMORATE PATRIARCH ATHENAGORAS

"On Nov. 10, 1967, the [secular] governor of the Holy Mountain sent a document to the holy community of Mt. Athos, complaining that in certain monasteries the commemoration of the Ecumenical Patriarch had ceased since the beginning of the philopapal gallantries and perilous leaps of the Patriarch, and drawing attention to the fact that this commemoration would have to be imposed by force... In conclusion he said that if the holy community did not impose this upon itself he would intervene himself, for as superintendent of the observance of the customs foras of the Holy Mountain, I cannot allow this illegal situation to continue, thus making myself the accomplice instead of the chastiser of those who deviate. Therefore if Your Reverence hesitates or is unable to make decisions that might be painful, I shall be obliged by the law to extinguish the revolt by taking the necessary measures.'" (As translated from The Voice of Orthodoxy, July 1, 1968.)

According to a more recent unofficial report, six monks have been expelled by the Government from the Holy Mountain for refusing to commemorate the Patriarch and others are about to be expelled. To this the voice of faithful Orthodoxy replies (Fr. Basil Sakkos in La foi transmise): "Fear nothing, brethren, for by the grace of God our monks know not only how to live Orthodoxy, but also how to die for her. On Oct. 10, 1274, 26 monks were burned alive by the Latinophiles at the monastery of Zographou [see The Orthodox Word, 1967, no. 4, p. 138]... According to the 15th canon of the First and Second Council, Orthodox Christians are obliged, as soon as a hierarch manifests heretical ideas, to separate themselves from him, without waiting for him to be judged by a council. Such separation is not considered schism but rather a safeguard against the real schism and heresy that menace the Church. Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle (II Thes. 2:15)." (La foi transmise, Geneva, Aug., 1968.)