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Chapter 43: The Falling Away of Archbishop Ambrose
The next six months proved to be a very peaceful period for the Church in America. Every Sunday there were concelebrations with the hierarchs of the Church. Then in June, a letter was discovered on the Internet, written, upon information and belief, by Archbishop Makarios, dated January 20, 2008, in which he denied his participation in the reception of Archbishop Ambrose!!!
Archbishop Gregory tried to confirm if this letter was indeed written by Archbishop Makarios. All attempts were fruitless for no answer was received. The letter was posted on an unofficial website of the GOC of Greece, which was operated by college students, but under the control, it is believed, of Metropolitan Christopher. Metropolitan Christopher as of this writing is the secretary of the Synod of Greece. Even though this letter was an obvious lie, the impious motives of which eluded Archbishop Gregory, it was a shock to the clergy here in America. Its only effect, however, was the shaking of Archbishop Ambrose‘s newly converted soul. He expressed his distress over a series of days, and eventually separated himself spiritually from his fellow clergy. Both Archbishop Gregory and Bishop John tried to present Archbishop Makarios‘ letter as of no effect on his status, because of the evidence of both the translator and the telephone recordings that confirm that Archbishop Makarios was deceitful, if indeed he wrote that letter, but Archbishop Ambrose would not accept it.
On July 27, 2008, a letter written and signed by Archbishop Ambrose was received by the Holy Synod in America, saying that he is no longer a member of the GOC of America. Archbishop Ambrose signed it as the Metropolitan of Kiev and the Exarch of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, thus reverting back to his former status as part of World Orthodoxy.
On July 29, 2008, a synodal meeting of the Genuine Orthodox Church of America was held, taking note of the unfortunate actions of Archbishop Ambrose, in which the Synod declared that he is no longer part of the GOC of America, having broken canons that forbid him from separating from his lawful Synod. Because of his intractable attitude, he was eventually deposed.
It is so hard to fathom the actions of man. What would make Archbishop Makarios sin against the unity of the Church and also against love? The “defamation letter” written by Archbishop Makarios to his only priest in America, as of this writing, is still on the unofficial web site of the GOC of Greece. Since Archbishop Makarios will not acknowledge our requests to confirm that he indeed wrote this letter, we objectively conclude that there is some mischief at work.
From all our personal contact with Archbishop Makarios over the years and from the testimony of people we know, this young Archbishop is a well mannered individual. The letter he wrote however, exhibited the very unchristian characteristics of deception, half-truths, lies, and no fear of God nor love for the Church.
The elevation of Archbishop Makarios was a serious mistake. It is one in a series of unfortunate character miss evaluations that the GOC bishops of Greece have succumbed to. They have accepted as bishops and ordained as bishops men who have become unworthy of their position. One may easily note the relatively recent falling away of Metropolitans Paisios, Vinkentios, Niphon, Arethas, and Angelos, and now we see Metropolitans Athanasios, Christopher and Ambrose of Drama have also fallen away.
The fall of these last three metropolitans from Archbishop Makarios’ synod could well have been the result of his betrayal of Archbishop Gregory. Many times in Church history, if a person in the exalted position of a bishop betrays the trust of his brother bishop to the injury of the Church, the betrayer may suffer the abandonment of God’s grace as punishment for his actions.
Regrettably we see this is what happened here, for after Archbishop Makarios’ betrayal of Archbishop Gregory, he immediately opened up a dialogue with the so-called “Holy Orthodox Church of North America”, (HOCNA) led by the homosexual Greek monastery of Holy Transfiguration in Boston. The clergy of this monastery were deposed for homosexuality by the bishops who ordained the bishops of the GOC of Greece.
Eventually, (in 2013) Archbishop Makarios entered into full union with the loathsome parasynagogue synod of HOCNA! This made the GOC of Greece not only a schismatic church but also a heretical church, because HOCNA has espoused the name worshiping heresy and the GOC of Greece has remained in communion with it! This we believe caused the three bishops to flee from Makarios.
Anyone who reads the letter of defamation against Archbishop Gregory should beware that this is a letter that contains poison, even for those who read it. The letter denounces Archbishop Gregory for lying that Archbishop Makarios had any participation or involvement in the reception of Archbishop Ambrose. To show that this is falsehood, we are providing below the link of the audio conversation of Archbishop Gregory and Archbishop Makarios, with the translator, Father Athanasios.
This is slightly edited audio. but if one wishes to read the whole transcript, they may go to this link where we have translated all of it into English.
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