The Bishops of the Ecumenical Patriarchate

Introduction

This section on the bishops of the Ecumenical Patriarchate serves as a kind of brief supplement to the webpages on the Patriarchs themselves. These are the men who do the day to day work of carrying out their Patriarch’s apostate policies. Even if they do not get the amount of press coverage that their leaders do, they share their passion for uniting with heretics no less than Athenagoras, Demetrios, or Bartholomew. The following short article and photographs should serve to confirm the story of the apostasy told in the previous webpages and assure the reader that the Ecumenical Patriarchate is absolutely permeated with ecumenism from top to bottom.

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Above: Metropolitans Chrysostom of Austria,
Chrysostom of Myra, and Archm. Gennadios
take blessings from Pope Paul IV
at St. Peter’s (June 29, 1967).

Above: (Athens, February of 1994) - Hierarchs Damaskenos and Ambrosios (of Diavleia)
and presbyters Stephanos (Abramidкs) and Evangellos (Mantzouneas)
of the EP take blessings from the head of the Anglicans,
Archbishop George Carey of Cantebury
(who denies the Resurrection of Christ)!

Like their patriarch, the bishops of the Ecumenical Patriarch seek not to convert and unite those in error to Orthodoxy, but to convert and unite Orthodoxy to heresy and falsehood. That these men are not out to convert the erring to the path of salvation appears clear enough from statements like that of Metropolitan Nectarios of Kalymnos, Greece, who stated in March of 1992:

Above: Metropolitan Nektarios of Kalymnos [EP],
dressed, appropriately enough, like a Roman Catholic Cardinal.

“Even when hundreds of Roman Catholic priests abandoned the priesthood and their Church during the past three decades, the Orthodox Eastern Church systematically avoided receiving them into Her bosom in order to avoid poisoning Her relations with the elder Church of Rome. And when whole parishes in Europe, in Italy, for example, wished to embrace Orthodoxy, once again, we discreetly shut the door to them. Since Orthodoxy is persuaded that she does not need proselytism, she preferred to leave thousands of former Roman Catholics by themselves and without guidance....” (1)

Such a policy corresponds well not only to the words and deeds of Metropolitan Nectarios’ Patriarch, but also to those of his fellow hierarch, Archbishop Iakovos (Koukouzelis) of North and South America:

Above: Archbishop Iakovos of North and South America
with Pope John Paul II at their concelebration
on November 30, 1992.

“We do not want to leave this century divided...Dogmatically, sacramentally, historically, we are almost Roman Catholics. We are most [sic] close to them than any other church. Now we have to get rid of the misunderstanding caused by nine centuries.” (2)

The goals of such apostate policies are, as the reader knows, not limited to the union with Rome, nor is it desired by the Ecumenists that any of the heretics should convert to Orthodoxy, but rather as Archbishop Iakovos assures us:

Above: Gathering for the “Ecumenical Doxology of Peace”
(Washington, D.C., July 9, 1990),
Archb. Iakovos with fellow hierarchs worships
together with Roman Catholics, Protestants,
Jewish Rabbi Tzeпms Roъntin, Muslim Imam Feпsal Chбn, and others.

“The unity we seek cannot be Orthodox, Roman Catholic, or Protestant. It has a wider dimension, that of Catholicity.”(3)

For those who do not know, the Greek word katholike or ‘catholic’ means ‘universal’ or ‘according to the whole’; therefore, as the context of the statement demands, Archbishop Iakovos means “It has a wider dimension, that of Universality” [i.e. the unity embraces all groups or religions?!].

Above: Archb. Iakovos blesses the body and chants the “Trisagion”
as he co-presides at the funeral of Roman Catholic Cardinal Spelman
at the R.C. St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York
[Boston Herald, December 6, 1967].

And, as Bishop Damascene of Switzerland, would assure us, this unity also embraces the Monophysites. But what else could we expect from the co-president of the “Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox and Non-Chalcedonian Churches” that declared:

Above left: Bishop Damascene of Switzerland
with Monophysite Catholicos Patriarch Karekin
at the WCC Assembly. According to him,
the Monophysite doctrine of a
“single theanthropic nature”
in Christ is Orthodox.

Above right: Televised Monophysite-‘Orthodox’ Vespers Service in an Ecumenical Patriarchate Church of St. George in Germany (see “EleuQerh Wra”, May 13, 1996). Here Armenian Monophysite Patriarch Karekin I, at the royal doors between Met. Augustinos (Lampardakкs) of Germany and deacon, blesses with the “Peace be unto all”.

“[W]e now clearly realize and understand that our two families [Orthodox and Monophysites- editor] have always loyally guarded the same and authentic Christological Orthodox faith, and have maintained uninterrupted the apostolic tradition although they may have used the Christological terms in a different manner. It is that common faith and that continual loyalty to the apostolic tradition which must be the basis of our unity and communion... The two families accept that all the anathemas and the condemnations of the past which kept us divided must be lifted by the Churches so that the last obstacle to full unity and communion of our two families can be removed by the grace and the power of God. The two families accept that the lifting of the anathemas and the condemnations will be based on the fact that the Councils and the fathers previously anathematized or condemned were not heretics....” (4)

Above: Chrysanthos, the Metropolitan of Lemesou (Cyprus)
together with a Melkite Papist priest,
performs the ‘marriage’ of Pantelhs Crestos Solwmhs
and Noijwa Steir of Lebanon
in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Lemesou.

Apostolic Canon 45: “Let any Bishop, or Presbyter, or Deacon that merely joins in prayer with heretics be suspended, but if he has permitted them to perform any service as Clergymen, let him be deposed (sc. from office).”

One may wonder how these bishops would explain joint Uniate-‘Orthodox’ services and marriages like the one seen above to their flocks. Or, perhaps, the flock has already understood the meaning of the fact that from the mid-60’s onward the Pope has been regarded as first primate of the Church and his name has been commemorated at every Liturgy in the Phanar? After all, that was all that was required of the first ‘Orthodox’ Uniates at the Union Council of Lyons in 1274. Such events, then, are nothing unexpected then, since it is just one Uniate serving with another, one Uniate marrying another. But if you want Orthodoxy, if you want salvation, you will not find it with bishops like these.

Above and below: Chrysostom, Metropolitan of Kition (Cyprus)
participates in a Jewish festival
and lights their Menorah
[From “To Periodiko” Teukos 554 Sel. 44].

Apostolic Canon 70: “If any Bishop, or Presbyter, or Deacon, or anyone at all who is on the list of clergymen, fasts together with Jews, or celebrates a holiday together with them, or accepts from them holiday gifts or favors, such as unleavened wafers, or anything of the like, let him be deposed from office. If a layman do likewise, however, let him be excommunicated.”

Apostolic Canon 71: “If any Christian conveys oil to a temple of heathen, or to a synagogue of Jews, in their festivals, or lights lamps for them, let him be excommunicated.”

Above: A much younger Chrysostom of Kition
reverently kisses Pope Paul IV’s left hand
after seeking his blessing
[Orthodoxos Typos , March 1, 1975].

Above: Bishop Kallistos (Ware) of the British diocese of Diokleia (E.P.)
with Fr. Laurence Freeman, R.C. Benedictine monk and director of WCCM,
and others of the 300 participants in the seminar.

Bishop Kallistos (Ware) leads a prayer-meeting/conference (“Dom John Main (OSB) Seminar, 2002”, Nav Canada Center, Cornwall, Ontario, Canada; August 22nd-25th) of the World Center for Christian Meditation (WCCM). The organization promotes the use among ‘Christians’ of Buddhist and Hindu spirituality, but with a new-age Christian terminology for the concepts and techniques, which, according to Bishop Kallistos and the Center, are a common foundation for all Christian and Non-Christian religions and a means to reunion of mankind. The seminars sponsored by WCCM include joint liturgical worship as well as common mantra-meditation sessions in Hindu/yoga fashion. “The [most recent] seminar also included an Orthodox vespers service with Orthodox cantors at [Roman Catholic] Ste. Croix Church in Cornwall.” (WCCM Weekly Newsletter: “This Week in the World Community” [September 22-29, 2002 issue]).

Some bishops go quite far beyond simple ecumenism, such as Bishop Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia whose writings are unfortunately quite commonly found in the West. I say “unfortunately” because who would have ever expected even a nominally ‘Orthodox’ bishop to say what he has? In one of his books, which he has the audacity to call “The Orthodox Way”, he instructs us that “Evil must not be shunned, but first participated in and understood through participation, and then through understanding redeemed and transfigured ” (“The Orthodox Way”, p. 86). According to Bishop Kallistos evil is just as much a necessary part of existence as good is (another Eastern pagan idea), and so we should not be surprised to hear him encouraging us to moderate or withhold strong judgment even on the devil! For he says, the devil is “not as black as he is usually painted ”, and he has “a direct relationship with God, of which we know nothing at all and about which it is not wise for us to speculate” (ibid., p. 74). He further encourages us to “re-experience the meaning of Tradition in a manner that is exploratory, courageous, and full of imaginative creativity” (2nd ed. [1993], p. 198). But he plainly does not mean exclusively “Orthodox” Tradition, throughout his book, since Bishop Kallistos frequently offers his creative ideas (e.g., ‘Christ not only descended to the dead, but He even suffered the fate of a lost soul and was cut off from God’ !!!) buttressed by quotations from ‘traditional’ Roman Catholic mystics, Anglican pseudo-theologians, Gnostic apocryphal ‘Gospels’, Marxist ‘Christians’ like Berdyaev, and various earlier advocates of pan-religious syncretism from the Parisian Exarchate. He even brings forward as “Church Fathers”, no less, such ancient heretics as Origen, who, was proclaimed the ‘father’ of innumerable heresies rather than a “Father of the Church” by no less than the 5th, 6th, and 7th Ecumenical Councils. In his creative re-experiencing of ‘Tradition’, Bishop Kallistos has ‘courageously’ (?!) defied the Divinely-inspired collective decree of the Orthodox Church, which proclaimed in 553 A.D.:

“If anyone does not anathematize Arius, Eunomius, Macedonius, Apollinaris, Nestorius, Eutyches and *Origen*, as well as their impious writings, as also all other heretics already condemned and anathematized by the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and by the aforesaid four Holy Synods and if anyone does not equally anathematize all those who have held and hold or who in their impiety persist in holding to the end the same opinion as those heretics just mentioned: let him be anathema.” (5)

Such impious teachings, of which we have given but a few examples, make it practically frivolous to cite his pro-Rome ecumenical activities. One need only read his latest books to see, for instance, how ‘uniate’ his mind has become. (6) -----But, enough of Bishop Kallistos, let us move on to the other E.P. bishops.

Above Three Photographs: As he did in 1988, on January 10, 1993,
Bishop Chrysostom of Hanover (Germany) blessed the waters
and concelebrated Theophany with Roman Catholic
and Protestant clergy on national television.

On the basis of their recognition of heretical baptism, (i.e., any self-proclaimed ‘Church’ bestows grace-filled Baptism on its members), the Ecumenists come to the logical conclusion that, there being one Baptism among Orthodox and non-Orthodox, there is also one Body, one Church shared between them [cf. Eph. 4:4-5].Therefore, the pseudo-theologians can confidently say:

“Even as there is one God the Father, and one Christ, and one Holy Spirit, in like manner, by the power of this unity, the Church also is one, and unique, and united in the presence of the Triune God, in Whose name all her members are baptized, thereby gaining justification for themselves, * regardless of what confession [of Faith] they belong to *, united with Christ and one another in one Body, which cannot be divided.” (7)

Thus, as “members” of the common “Body”, it is only ‘natural’ that they should be worshipping together as you, the reader, see here.

Above: Metropolitan Michael (Staпkos) of Austria and a Lutheran minister
perform a Protestant-Orthodox marriage in the Lutheran church
in Lints, Austria, in October of 1987.
[See the periodical STIGMES, Larisa, Greece, October 13, 1987.]

One of Archbishop Iakovos’ priests, Fr. George Gregory, in the official Greek Archdiocesan publication Orthodox Observer (June 30, 1982) gives the following statement:

“Q: Does the Orthodox Church recognize the validity of non-Orthodox Baptism?

A: Yes. We follow the example and maintain the practice of the ancient Church on recognizing the validity of the baptism of the heretics and schismatics. However, these baptisms, to be regarded as valid, must have been celebrated in the name of the Holy Trinity and must have involved the use of water.”

Above: After completing yet another interreligious prayer service
to the supposed ‘Common Father’,
Archbishop Stylianos (Charkianakкs) of Australia
poses for this photograph with the rest of the participants
(Roman Catholics [Bishop E.B. Clancy of Sydney],
Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, etc.)
[Sydney, Australia, May, 9, 1988 ].

Archb. Stylianos lead one of the prayers: “Lord, the King of Peace, show the way to the minds and hearts of those here in this house, working to carry out Your holy will, towards service of the needs of Your People, not discerning distinct communities....”

Archbishop Stylianos of Australia, despite his erudite background, irrationally and blasphemously maintains that the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church has never yet existed:

“‘[T] he individual and even the whole Church has never received the gifts of the Spirit sufficiently’ ‘This is precisely why the well known characteristics of the Church, being “one, holy, catholic and apostolic” remain until the day of the Parousia [i.e., 2nd Coming of Christ] both gifts and postulates [i.e., unproven claims!] at the same time’ ”. (8)

To say that the Church’s traits of being “One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic” are (potential) gifts and unproven claims is to affirm that the Church has never yet been One, Holy, Catholic, or Apostolic! However, Archb. Stylianos goes much further than this, as one (now-excommunicated) E.P. layman has had the boldness to describe:

“[Archb. Stylianos]... preaches Christ’s participation in sin,... maintains that the notorious film by Kazantzakis and Scorcese “The Last Temptation”, portraying our Lord as a debauchee, contains no blasphemy,... declares that Orthodoxy and Papism are in no way different and constitute one Church; that man has descended from an ape; and that Holy Scripture is a great fabrication! ”(9)

Truly, these men “have thrust away faith and a good conscience and suffered shipwreck concerning the Faith” [1 Tim. 1:20].

Above and below: Metropolitan Augustinos (Lampardakкs) of Germany
participates in a Lutheran church service
along with various papist bishops and cardinals.

The Ecumenist ‘Orthodox’ at the ‘Pan-Orthodox’ Geneva Conference of 1968 announced “the general desire of the Orthodox Church to be an organic member [i.e., bodily member] of the World Council of Churches and its decision to contribute in all ways to its progress, theological and otherwise, to the promotion and good development of the whole of the work of the World Council of Churches” (10). In becoming “an organic member” of the World Council of Churches ‘Body’, they necessarily expressed to the other Protestant, Nestorian, and Monophysite “organic members” their consent to the WCC’s 1950 Toronto Statement (Points #2-3):

“The member Churches of the World Council believe on the basis of the New Testament that the Church of Christ is One; the member Churches recognize that the membership of the Church of Christ is more inclusive than the membership of their own Church body” .

In doing so, they formally denied that the Orthodox Church is the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church confessed every day in the Creed, and recognized heretical bodies as being part of Her! The common worship shown above is a natural consequence of such apostasy.

Above: Athanasios of Heliopolis and Thera
leaving a concelebration with Pope John Paul II
(June 28, 1994).

Below: Athanasios, Pope John Paul II, and Anglican Archbishop George Carey
kneel in common prayer before the ‘holy’ doors of the Papal basilica of St. Paul’s
Outside the Walls (Rome) as part of the Ecumenical concelebration
featured on the first day of the Pope’s Jubilee and
annual “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity”
(Tuesday, January 18, 2000).
All ‘Orthodox’ Patriarchates sent representatives
and participated in the service.

Such manifestations of union with Rome, as the ones pictured above, are the logical consequences of the Ecumenist confession of Faith, as was for example most recently declared by all the Patriarchates and sister autocephalous Churches at Balamand Theological Academy in Lebanon. For instance, there is the affirmation that:

“[T]hat which Christ has entrusted to His Church -- profession of apostolic faith, participation in the same sacraments, above all the one priesthood celebrating the one sacrifice of Christ, the apostolic succession of bishops -- cannot be considered the exclusive property of one of our Churches [i.e., both Papism and Orthodoxy have the same (correct) profession of Faith, the same Mysteries, the same Priesthood, the same Apostolic Succession] . In this context elimination of any re-baptism is obvious.” (11)

Although there is much, much more that could be shown here of the ecumenical activities of other hierarchs, past and present, of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, we hope this webpage sufficiently demonstrates that not only is Apostasy publicly taught and exemplified by the Patriarch, but it is freely and readily accepted by the rest of the hierarchy, which has also shared in the ratification and fulfillment of the E.P.’s actions, decrees, ‘lifting of anathemas and excommunications’ on heresies, and establishing of communion with them. These occurrences are not just one-time only, irregular, or exceptional events, but a day-to-day, year-to-year continual practice among the Ecumenist jurisdictions. Ecumenism permeates the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Regardless of one’s personal convictions, one can no more be Orthodox within her fold, than one could be actually Orthodox within the modern-day ‘Church of Rome’. Flee them, dear reader, as the Holy Fathers exhort you , flee them as Lot fled Sodom.

Above: A Buddhist monk chants a traditional prayer for the soul’s success
in merging with the “All” and escaping the cycle of reincarnation
for the participants in the Pope’s “Day of Prayer for World Peace”
in Assisi, Italy, 2002. All religions participated together in this insane event,
followed by a separate communion service for all ‘Christian’ participants.
All the Patriarchates sent their representatives,
some of whom can be seen behind the Buddhist above.

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ENDNOTES

(1) Newspaper: Bema , March 1, 1992, Athens, Greece.

(2) The Russian Orthodox Journal , Nov. 1981; cited Against False Union ,..., pp.115-6.

(3) Orthodox Observer , March 15, 1988.

(4) “Joint Declaration of the 3 rd Meeting of the Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches”; see Episkesis , No. 446 (Oct. 1, 1990).

(5) Capitula of the 5th Ecumenical Council, XI.

(6) For instance, Bishop Kallistos considers the Bishop of Rome to be “first among equals” and chief primate of the Church, holding certain canonical rights in the Orthodox Church (“The Orthodox Church”, 1993 edition, p. 27). He makes the ludicrous analogy that “just as in the Trinity the Father enjoys preeminence as source and fountainhead of the deity, so within the Church the Pope is ‘first among equals’”!!! (ibid., pp. 240-241). Further, he says that, although though some “hawks” (i.e. the Holy Fathers) had in the past considered Papism’s Filioque Triadology heresy, the “doves” (his party, apparently) more moderately consider it a “ theologoumenon ” which “is capable of being interpreted in an Orthodox way” (p. 213). Further: “[I]f an Orthodox today felt impelled to believe in the Immaculate Conception, he could not be termed a heretic for so doing”! (ibid., p. 260). The Papist dogma of the “Immaculate Conception” of the Theotokos simply cannot be accepted by any Orthodox person, not only because it is pure fantasy, inextricably bound up with the Papist doctrines of “Created Grace” and “Original Sin”, but more than this because it makes the Virgin Mary, and consequently Christ, of a different nature than the rest of humanity, i.e. the Theotokos and the Lord are not human.

(7) Prof. John Karmiris ( School of Theology of the University of Athens [E.P.]), Ecclesiology , Athens, 1973, p. 241.

(8) Archbishop Stylianos (Charkianakкs) of Australia, Sermon: “Orthodox Liturgy” (World Council of Churches, Seventh Assembly, Canberra, Australia, 7-20 1991. Document No. WO 10.1, p. 3).

(9) Nicholas Sotiropulos; Orthodoxos Typos, No. 1057, January 7, 1994.

(10) Address to the WCC, June 30th, 1968; cited in the 1st “Sorrowful Epistle” of St. Met. Philaret of New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Church Outside of Russia, July 14/27, 1969.

(11) “Balamand Accord”, Paragraph 13.

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