Holy Epiphany 2024
FESTAL MESSAGE
OF THE PRIMATE OF THE GENUINE ORTHODOX
CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF GREECE
TO THE PIOUS PEOPLE OF GOD
“For the grace of God has appeared that offers
salvation to all people.”[1]
My beloved children in Christ,
With the Grace and aid of the Triune God we celebrate today, according to the unconverted tradition of the feast days of the Orthodox East, the Baptism of the Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ. A wealth of Orthodox hymnology and the God-inspired writings of the Holy Fathers of the Church offer much in the way of theological content on this great Episcopal Feast, which we can delight in for our spiritual instruction and benefit.
Among this abundance of theological content we will limit ourselves to emphasising here that from the historical event of the Baptism of Christ stems the ecclesiastical tradition of the great Mystery of Holy Baptism, in reference to which the Lord said “Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned”[2] and through which man is introduced into the life of the Church and grafted onto the Body of Christ, becoming an heir of the Kingdom of God, as His genuine offspring. This one true Baptism of regeneration of man is offered only within the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, which holds and confesses unadulterated the Faith delivered -once and for all- to the Saints.
Today the Ancient of Days- Who became an infant is beheld as a perfect man, baptised in the Jordan River by St John the Baptist, receiving the witness on high from His Heavenly Father Whose voice the Righteous Forerunner heard saying: “This is My Son, Whom I love; with Him I am well pleased”[3] and the confirmation by the Holy Spirit, Which was seen to descend in the form of a dove upon Christ as He was being baptised. This singular event marks the beginning of the Lord’s public ministry and teaching to the Israelites and by extension to the entire world.
What is, however, the content and focal point of the Lord’s teaching? It is repentance! Since Christ is “the same yesterday, and today, and forever”[4], His teaching and the Gospels in their entirety neither change nor are subject to change throughout the various ages. This same teaching is preached diachronically, throughout time, and the Church of Christ invites people of all ages to repent. Repentance signifies the return of the human person to its condition before the Fall, the continuation of man’s journey from his Creation in the Image of God to his likeness towards the Image of God- which had been cut short due to its fall into sin- , in short, his return to God!
Repentance is a mystery, which, just as Baptism, is also experienced within the Church, which is the Body of Christ according to Apostle Paul. The Church is the noetic Jordan, which is neither discerned or affirmed through the human criteria and standards of greatness and worldly power, but rather through its lofty mission and its offering of Divine Grace. It suffices for us to remember from the Old Testament the miracle of King Naaman, Commander of the Syrian army, who was completely cured of leprosy when, under the instruction of Prophet Elisha, he washed seven times in the waters of the small and insignificant Jordan River!
The voice of the Church is the voice of St John the Forerunner and Baptist, whose voice is characterised in the Holy Gospel of John as the “voice of one crying out in the wilderness”[5], a voice which calls all people to repentance and which censures and rebukes even worldly authorities when the Law of God is, especially provocatively and publicly, trampled upon, crying out that fearsome “It is not lawful…!”.[6] It is this very voice and that of spiritual criticism that the Church of Christ today directs towards those who govern and represent the Greek people in Parliament in the face of passing legislation which is characterised by moral perversion and the subversion of the sacred institution of the family through the establishment of the so-called “Marriage” of “same-sex” couples and the recognition of their right to adoption (“child adoption”)!
Unfortunately, the bad imitation of foreign models and the corruption of rulers influences the people to be deceived in the name of so-called progress, rights and pseudo-freedom, gradually abandon “living according to the truth”, as St Maximos the Confessor calls it, preferring instead to live according to their whims and desires, in other words, living according to the flesh, which is not consistent with the Christian Faith, or with Hellenic Educational ideals.
The acceptance without any protest or tolerating with indifference the anti-evangelical, anti-christian and anti-ecclesiastical decisions and choices, irrespective of whether secular rulers or religious leaders decide and enforce them, have consequences for the people, the society and the nation that exhibits this attitude and mindset. Of tantamount importance is the fact that they bring about the abandonment of God, which leads to spiritual damage and destruction. Such a calamity was the imposition of the calendar Innovation,which took place one hundred years ago in 1924. It divided the flock of the Church, created a Schism and thereby facilitated the spread of the Church-fighting and anti-christian panheresy of Ecumenism.
Passing through fire and water, persecutions, harassments, and injustices, the pious “remnant chosen by grace”[7], those who are disparagingly labelled as “old-calendarists” continue to this day to bear witness to unadulterated Orthodoxy. They persist in their defence of the piety and faith of the Fathers. Despite their weaknesses and shortcomings, -belonging to the truth by virtue of being in the Church of Christ-, (according by the great St Gregory Palamas), they are of one mind and accord with the instructions of truly authentic Orthodox Synods and holy Hierarchs, such as: the Patriarch of Alexandria Meletios Pegas and the Archbishop of Athens Matthew (a modern-day holy Confessor of the Faith), who bravely fought against the Innovations of the heresy-plagued Occident.
It is our duty to continue this struggle for the piety and faith of the Fathers, shining with virtues and correct faith, being rest assured that the ultimate victory belongs to Truth itself i.e. Christ, who “came out conquering, and to conquer”[8]. We must preach and confess Christ and Him Crucified and Resurrected, unyielded against the sirens of the “new age” and its false messages. We will not be saved, nor will our life be truly transformed by any scientific accomplishment (such as so-called artificial intelligence) unless we acquire “the mind of Christ”[9] and a clean heart, which are acquired through the adherence to God’s Commandments, ascesis/spiritual struggle and our participation in the sacramental life of His Church!
Furthermore, we continue to wish a good
repentance to those who rule and those who are ruled. To those who have
apostatised from the Traditional Faith we wish a good return to it, by
-obviously- treading the path of the Holy Fathers. To the faithful we wish a
good spiritual struggle, "speaking the truth in love"![10]
With paternal wishes and blessings
Your fervent supplicant before the revealed
Lord of all
THE ARCHBISHOP
+ Of Athens and all of Greece
STEPHANOS
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