January 18/31, 2006

Protocol No. 3223
To: His Eminence Kirikos
Koropi, Attica, Greece

Dear One:
Giving ear to the word of the great Apostle Paul, who said, "I have become all things to all men, that I may save some," (I Cor. 9:22), and bearing always in mind our Episcopal responsibility as least of the Bishops of the Genuine Orthodox Church, we do not make any excuse even if this excuse were true, to ignore or reject your letter, Protocol No. 201/26-10-2005, even though we should have.

We therefore answer this letter after studying what you have written and having discussed it in the Holy Synod of 14 December 2005, and with the unanimous decision of the Bishops, we inform you of the following:

In words, you assert that you defend piety and that indeed you struggle for unity and peace more than anyone else!  But in reality, you are simply commending yourself that you do these things, ignoring the wise assertion of the Apostle Paul concerning "those who commend themselves" which states, "They, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise." (II Cor. 10:12)

We remind you of the words of the Divine Gregory the Theologian who, speaking precisely concerning piety and peace, which you assert that you are struggling for, says these things appropriate in this occasion: "They belong to God and are found close to the Divine who accept and honor the luminous good of peace and despise and grieve for its opposite, that is strife.  But to the opposite party (of the evil one) belong they who are aggressive in their manner and attempt to succeed using strange arguments, and are proud in their shame." (Sixth Sermon on peace)

These things describe you, who, while you appear as the only one who has and maintains purely the Apostolic succession, which you received by our unworthy hands, you forget or are ignorant of, and you hide in any case, the fact that piety, that is, the unchanged faith of the Holy Apostles and the Holy Fathers precedes, and after it follows Apostolic succession.  Without the first, that is Apostolic Faith, the second, that is Apostolic Succession, cannot exist.

Behold, what the same Godbearing Father of the Church and great theologian teaches in this matter, "Truly this is the par excellance succession, the identity of faith and the identity of the Throne.  The one is in the name (Throne), while the other is the true succession (faith).  And the successor is not he who forced others to accept him, but he who was forced to accept.  He is not legitimate who transgressed, but he who was placed.  Neither he who believes the opposite, but he who has the same faith.  He who does not understand in this manner the succession, then we have a succession of health from illness, of light from darkness, of peace from dizziness, of prudence from imprudence." (Twenty-first sermon to Athanasius the Great)

And you, beloved, can claim only the name of successor (throne), but not the fact (faith).  For, as we shall say further on, unfortunately you are not any longer of the same faith, neither with us, nor with the Holy Fathers.

To begin with, therefore, (henceforth) we do not name you with any Ecclesiastical title, which you had so long as you were in spiritual and ecclesiastical communion with the rest of the Bishops of the Church of Christ as an Orthodox Bishop yourself.  Besides, you, yourself, refer to us and to the rest of the Bishops of the Church as "former brethren in Christ."

We certainly do not do this out of spite.  Besides all of this, while reading your letter and in our answer to this letter, we overlook that for one more time the former Bishop of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki, kyr Kirikos, is the self-called District Attorney and Examiner of the Bishops of the Holy Synod.  However, we are not able to overlook, and we do remind you of the fact, that the Synod of Bishops is the appropriate authority to deal with Ecclesiastical matters, upon the suggestion of the Archbishop or other Bishop or Bishops, and having placed these matters before the Holy Synod makes decisions in each matter and in each case.  The Holy Synod does this using the rule of the Canons and the Tradition of the Church, having always before them the protection of the rational flock, and acting conscientiously and with fear of God.

Nor can the Synod of the Bishops give an account to self-called District Attorneys, a role which, for some time now, the former Metropolitan of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki and those around him have assumed, while they serve, through you, their own profit and purposes.

Beyond, however, and above the matters which you call upon in a diversionary manner, the main matter which exists, and which concerns you, yourself, is your quarrelsome support of the innovation concerning "The Communion of the Three Divine Persons as the First Beginingless Church."  This is a matter of Faith, which even in this letter before us you assert is your own confession of faith. For the Holy Synod's decree concerning this innovation, go here.

We remind you, therefore, of the decision of the Holy Synod of Bishops of 4 February 2005, by which your "Confession of Orthodox Faith" was rejected Synodically for the main reason, as the decision states, that by this confession "there is supported the ecclesiological and Trinitarian innovation 'concerning the Communion of the Three Divine Persons' as 'the First Beginningless Church' in support of which you misquote and misinterpret Scriptural passages and Patristic texts, while adopting further heresyologies of persons from New Calendarism and Ecumenism."  You were called upon to publicly withdraw "the text of your confession of Orthodox Faith, and within three months, at the latest, to reject the aforementioned innovation, confessing the pure faith of the Holy Fathers, ceasing thereby to scandalize the faithful, and nullifying the danger of self-separation from the Body of the Church."

Instead of this, and as an answer, at the expiration of this period, you chose to reject not the innovation, as you should have, but the Holy Synod, underlining in that manner your remaining in a cacodoxy as "your Orthodox confession of faith" thereby essentially cutting yourself off as a heretic from the Body of the Church.

We tell you, therefore, that already according to the teachings of the Holy Fathers, you have ceased to be Orthodox because you have taken as your own the heretical opinion concerning the Holy Trinity as "First Beginningless Church" of your co-worker and the initiator of this heretical opinion in our Church, who, foolishly and demonically is leading you to destruction.  Despite the repeated invitations of the Holy Synod, you never wanted to reject these teachings and come to yourself.  You did not wish, in other words, to reject the heretical and ecumenistic theory concerning the Holy Trinity and "the Communion of the Three Divine Persons as the First Beginningless Church," and to return to the Orthodox teaching of the Holy Fathers of our Church.

If, according to St. Athanasius the Great, he who has fallen from the Orthodox Truth "is not and cannot be called a Christian."  (PG 26, 596A)  even more can he not be called a bishop.  This is self-evident.  For as St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain writes, "Heretics have no priesthood.  Therefore, their services are but common acts without grace and sanctification". (Pedalion, pg.91)

But there is yet another reason.  After your condemnation of June, 2005 by the Holy Synod, and your tearing away from the Church, you are without any priestly grace and authority, no longer able to serve the Divine Mysteries, to ordain clergymen, or in general any priestly act.

It is a basic dogmatic teaching of the Church that outside of Her, the Grace of the Holy Spirit does not act.  The Church has always rejected all mysteries served outside of Her.  Not only those, which are served incorrect in form, but even those which have kept, unchanged, their external form.

The unanimous opinion of the Holy Fathers was that wherever is the Church, there also is the Holy Spirit; and that whoever does not have the Church as Mother, cannot have God as Father.  The Church is the Ark of salvation as was the Ark of Noah, and outside of Her there is no life or salvation.

Concerning the above, the Great Basil orders that whoever shall dare to receive ordination from a bishop who has fallen into heresy, as is your case, is not worthy to ever be considered an Orthodox bishop. (Letter VI, P.G. 32, 897AB)  A heretical bishop is not a bishop, but a "wolf-shepherd" according to St. Ignatius the Godbearer.  In one of his letters he writes, "He who says anything other than that which is accepted, though he be trustworthy, though he fast, though he be chaste, though he perform signs, though he prophesies, is but a wolf in a sheep's skin working for the destruction of the sheep." (Letter to Heron, 1-3)

If, according to St. John Chrysostom, "True teachings concerning God sanctify the soul." (P.G. 59, 443) then false teachings, heresies and schisms separate from Christ and lead unto death.  The Great Photios says, "In matters of Faith, even a small error is a sin leading to death."  (P.G. 102, 604) and St. Maximos the Confessor councils, "Let us guard the great and first medicine of our Salvation, which is the inheritance of Faith, confessing it with our souls and bodies with boldness as our Fathers have taught us."  (P.G. 91, 465D) as well "as every man is sanctified by the exact confession of Faith." (P.G. 90, 165A)

We have received from God this inheritance and confession through our Holy Father Matthew, and we have kept it until today.  And we must keep it until the end, by the Grace of God.  But you have distorted it and betrayed it, that there might be fulfilled the words of the Holy Apostle Paul that say, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own desires shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears; and they shall turn away their hearing from the Truth and shall be turned unto fables."  (II Tim. 4:3)

Wherefore, only by returning to the Orthodox Faith and Confession concerning the Church and concerning the Holy Trinity, and by rejecting the heretical position concerning the Holy Trinity as "the First Beginningless Church," which is supported by those who advance the pan-heresy of ecumenism, will you be able to return to the Unity of Faith with the rest of the members of the Holy Synod and of the Church in general.  Only then will you have the right to call upon our Ever-memorable Confessor, Hierarch and Father Matthew, and to say that you follow his teachings "which are the one direct and unwavering line of the Holy Fathers."  For he struggled for the Traditional Faith and against all innovation without compromise, and no one was ever found who was able to accuse him in a matter of Faith.

Contrary to this, you hide or appear to forget that in the Holy Synod you were accused as supporting a heresy: the ecclesiological and Trinitarian innovation "concerning the Communion of the Three Divine Persons as the First Beginningless Church," which, as mentioned before, you were called upon to reject, confessing the unchanged Faith of the Holy Fathers; but that you, instead of this, chose to reject the Holy Synod essentially cutting yourself off as a heretic from the Body of the Church.

We say these things not to shame you, but from love and a genuine caring for you and in respect towards the truth which we must confess.

This is the reason that the Church never wanted to minimize your heresy, despite your frequent attempts to hide them and to misdirect in this manner the attention of the faithful, in this way imitating the heretics of the time of the Great Athanasios, concerning whom he writes, "For they have not the courage to say it aloud, but rather, they hide their blasphemous words, it being obvious that they know that this heresy is strange and the opposite of the truth.  But because they hide and are afraid to say it out loud, it is necessary for us to uncover the impiety and to show forth the heresy."  (St. Athanasios the Great, EPE 10, pg. 51)

Therefore, as a schismatic and as one who supports a heresy, you are responsible and stand condemned before the Church, which you dare to replace, declaring yourself as supposedly Her only representative, as did all who before you, by God's permission, fell away from the truth of the Faith.

You, your director, and your followers, are not the Church.  But "a synagogue of evil-doers" as says the Great Photios as he writes, "One is the Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ, no more, not two."  All gatherings and synods, which gather outside of Her, are but "synagogues of evil-doers.  Thus do we true Christians think, thus do we believe, and thus do we preach."  (St. Photios, Against the Heresy of the Theopaschitae, Letter 284)

This fall of Kyr Kirikos does not surprise us.  It is the consequence of the Grace of Christ having abandoned him as the result of his repeated and persistent support of the heresy concerning the Holy Trinity as the First Beginningless Church.

From the time that the Grace of God abandons someone, as in the case of Lucifer who fell because of his pride and ambition, such a one is led to schisms as the golden-tongued divine Father says, "Nothing can divide the Church as a desire to lead.  Nothing so incurs the wrath of God as the division of the Church.  Even though we do myriads of good works, those who divide his Body, shall give account as having divided the ecclesiastical pleroma."  (P.G. 62, 85)

Who would disagree that all of the faithful, but especially the Shepherds, have the responsibility to remember and to act according to the exhortation of the Holy Apostle Paul who says, "Now I beseech you Brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.  For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." (Romans 16:17-18)

We have written enough concerning the matter of the former Metropolitan of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki, kyr Kirikos and unless we receive a letter of your repentance and confession of the Orthodox Faith, we are not inclined in the future to revisit this matter, obeying the word of the Divine Apostle who orders, "A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition reject, knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself."  (Titus 3:10)

Dear one:

"The Lord says, remember therefore, from where thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly."  (Revelations 2:5)