1924-2024 This year marks 100 years since the change of the calendar.
March 10, 1924 will remain in the Modern Ecclesiastical History of Greece as a dark day, a harbinger of many evils in the Church, because of it the people of Christ became split. On the previous Sunday following a decision of the Select (Άριστα) Synod, an encyclical of the Archbishop of Athens signed by Archbishop Chrysostomos Papadopoulos was issued by which the 10th of March was named the 23rd of March. The calendar reform was imposed in a coup d’état manner.
The change of the calendar is not focused on the 13 days and is not limited to this alone, since it subverts the order of the Church of Christ and violates the Holy Canons of the Holy Apostles and the Holy Fathers. A part of the Orthodox Greeks saw in this action the first conspiratorial attempt against Orthodoxy and reacted immediately. The most ardent ones spoke of “becoming Franks”.
On the very next Sunday, seven days after the imposition of the change of the calendar, a historic gathering took place in the Hall of the Merchants of Athens, which led to the first organized reaction against the innovation of the State Church, and the “Association of Orthodox” was founded, which undertook the sacramental service of the faithful throughout Greece with zealous clergymen coming mainly from Mount Athos.
Focal points of reaction against the change of the liturgy were created throughout Greece. In some places, divine celebrations took place, through which the non-innovating Orthodox Christians were assured that they had correctly prayed and did not follow the New Calendar. Numerous testimonies of ordinary people, who received divine signs, have been anonymously noted, which, if systematically recorded, would constitute a whole volume.
As an indication, we mention some miraculous events that occurred from the fateful day of the change of the calendar in 1924 onwards.
A few days after the change of the calendar on the day of the Feast of the Annunciation with the old calendar, the Metropolitan Church of Athens was overwhelmed by people who wanted to celebrate the great feast of Christianity. The Archbishop, Chrysostomos Papadopoulos had imposed a ban on all the churches on that day! The faithful alone sang the service and three miracles were performed. The newspaper “Vradini” (7-7-1924) reports:
“In spite of all the measures taken, crowds of believers overflowed the Metropolitan Church from afternoon until deep into the night, and the persistent demand of these believers led the priests to make a request to “give in, as they said, to the threats of the people”. The trustees wanted to close the church, but before the religious zeal the church remained open until night. Three miracles took place in the Metropolis this year. At 5:00 in afternoon the 7-year-old Stasinopoulos, paralyzed and deaf and dumb from birth, carried by his mother in front of the icon of the Virgin Mary, was seized by spasms and after a few hours in the middle of general consciousness he stood up and uttered the words “mommy-grandmother-daddy” and started walking at the same time.
A little later, a 17-year-old paralyzed girl was healed, and at 7 p.m. she was healed from being deaf and mute. A 30 year old man spoke for the first time yesterday, stating that he would not go to work today. The names of the latter two the church trustees, although they knew them, refused to announce what had happened, claiming that no miracles have been performed, while on the contrary they are confessed by the whole congregation.”
The “SKRIP” newspaper of the same day has more detailed descriptions and gives names of witnesses:
“The Priest who made the request for the mute child, told us the following, being very moved:
-I was reading the Supplicatory Canon upon the mute child, when at one moment I heard his mother cry out that ‘her child has spoken’ and I heard the child say it distinctly: “Mama, Mama.”
My emotion was indescribable for the miracle, so great was my emotion that I could not understand more.
The priest’s name is Fr. George, he is a refugee, he did not want to tell us his surname because he was afraid that something bad might happen to him. The miracle was also confirmed to us by those present at that hour in the Cathedral, Mrs. Sophia Panagoulopoulou or Kaliosiotou from Patras, Eleni Bakopoulou, who resides on Alexandra Avenue, Giannoula Mantariotou and others.”
The next day “Kathimerini” reported in a relevant article a confirmation of the previous ones but also two more miracles:
“Despite all the efforts made by the Archbishop of Athens, the Annunciation of Theotokos was celebrated yesterday by fellow citizens, even without ceremonies. Also, the Canon concerning the “consumption of fish” was also observed by the faithful yesterday. The demand for fish in the market was great.
On the contrary, the Archbishop issued strict orders to the priests that they should not celebrate yesterday or perform other rites under penalty of excommunication. Also, because there was information that there would be a service at a church near Pagrati, the Metropolis notified the police to take appropriate measures to prevent any gathering of believers.
Furthermore, the trustees of the Metropolitan Church asked the First Police Department last night to send a force and expel the worshippers remaining in the church, as well as to guard the Church and forbid the entrance of the faithful. But the police, reasoning better than the trustees, refrained from intervening, lest the people, not wanting to recognize the change of the religious calendar, should become enraged.
ORIGINAL LITURGY
Yesterday throughout the day the faithful continued to attend the Metropolitan Church, and its receipts from the sale of wax candles far exceeded the receipts of previous years, although many women used candles purchased from the candle shops because they thought that the Archbishop would have forbidden the sale of wax candles by the church trustees. In the morning the people waited in vain for the start of the service, but because there was no priest, different young women chanted the hymns of the service solemnly.
Subsequently, and throughout the day, young women, replacing the priests, recited the prayers of the Great and Small Supplicatory Canons, while the crowds in the temple, kneeling down, repeated the hymns ‘Save your servants from danger, O Theotokos’.
In front of the Icon of the Mother of God, which was located below the Temple, the existing candelabrum was removed, and many, distressed by this, remained kneeling in front of the Icon, holding lit candles. The religious zeal of the multitude had reached such a climax that a man who dared to say that the feast of the Annunciation had already passed 13 days ago, was forcibly expelled from the temple by the women.
The Archbishop, empathizing with what was happening, at the insistence of the people, allowed one of the priests of the Metropolis to read the prayers of the Supplicatory Canon at 6 in the evening.
TWO OTHER MIRACLES
Despite the Metropolis’ denials as to the miracles performed in the Temple, two more miracles took place yesterday. At 2am on the day before yesterday, Maria Markea, was healed who had been deaf and dumb for a year from meningitis, and Ekaterini Karydaki, who has been suffering from epilepsy since birth, had been ill for three years, but during the night she could not discern any illness at all.
Markella, aged 23, is a native and lives in the house of Mr. Lalaounis on Eleftherias Square, while Karydaki, also a native, aged 40, lives in the house at 23 Dipylou Street.
The latter was seen by our editor in the Temple yesterday morning surrounded by a number of women. Karydaki, when asked about the miracle, said the following:
-“At night I saw nothing and after midnight yesterday I suddenly saw the Church and the icons and it seemed to me that a smoke came out of me. Since then I have been well.”
At the hearing of the miracle, the women present crossed themselves and knelt down, and many weeping women thanked the Virgin for what had happened.
The landlady of Karydaki, who was present, confirmed the illness of her parishioner, and she gave correct answers to those who asked questions and seemed to be completely knowledgeable.”
The newspaper SKRIP of the same day (8-7-1924) mentions the desperate effort of the Archbishop to refute the miracles and in its reports from other cities of the country it mentions another miracle that occurred in Nafplio:
“The Holy Metropolis was destroyed yesterday, according to what we wrote, which is true to the core. And subordinating faith to politics, it issued a communiqué, which no one expected to be signed by the Office of the Archbishop. And the Archdiocese, in order to obscure the truth, has, in its own statement, abounded in abuse of it. It denies that thousands of believers crowded the church of the Metropolis on Sunday night, the eve of the Evangelism against the Greek-Christians. He should be distressed because the faithful went to the Christian Church! And using the phraseology of well-known Venizelist publications, the clerical author of the thesis further adds that the Christians were not recruited to be converted… to the Church! But if the Archbishop’s Writings did not want to distort the truth, and if those in them were more Christian and less Venizelist, they too would have followed the beautiful and Christian pilgrimage on Sunday night. It seems, however, that the conscience of the author of the communiqué did not allow him until the end not to tell the truth. And after writing the above he adds:
“It is certain and ascertained that after the arrival in the church of the deacons of the St. Catherine’s Sunday School, the cries and protests of the deacons in the church have been incorporated…” But how did they protest, since you told us that no one went to the church?
But the greatest shock against the Church and the Faith is found in the second part of the communication. The Archdiocese is tempted to deny the miracle performed on the five-year-old child Stasinopoulou, which the ladies mentioned yesterday affirmed in a state of extreme emotion, as did Pope George, who performed the invocation. The clerical author of the communiqué, with a request for the benefit of the statesmen, wants to shake the faith in the omnipotence of God and for a long time he deals with it and just at the end he wants to end the outrage by the phrase: “Miracles certainly do happen, but the noise created was unrelated to a real miracle” (52).
There was also Orthodox Christian resistance in favour of the Patriotic Calendar in the Province. We mention here some characteristic newspaper reports from the Province.
NAYPLION, April 7 – An immense crowd of pilgrims believers in Patria religious customs flocked to the temple of the miraculous Evangelistria in Providence, to the Icon, to which precious votive offerings and candles were dedicated, all of which were blown with the stature of the pilgrims. The Corsair refugee from Thrace, Sophia Gasparis, paralysed and deaf and dumb, was completely cured. The emotion of the world from this miracle on the actual feast of the Annunciation, despite the profane change of religious traditions, is great. (…)”
But the GODLY CONFIRMATION, is the most shocking theosis of the bright appearance of the Holy Cross in the Attic sky on the feast of the World Exaltation of the Holy Cross according to the old calendar on the night of September 13th to 14th, 1925. The event took place in the chapel of St. John the Theologian on the outskirts of Mount Hymettus, while a vigil was held with the holy priest Fr. John Floros as the officiant, in the presence of 2,500 believers and police forces assigned to drive away the gathered crowd. The event was published in the approved newspaper “SKRIP” and in other publications of the time, including
The miracle was repeated again on September 13-14, 1937, when the persecuted Genuine Orthodox Christian Zealots of the villages of Psiloritis in the Great Island of Crete, decided to celebrate the great feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in the chapel on the summit of Kofina at an altitude of 1,630 meters.
Due to severe bad weather and fog, the hundreds (about a thousand) of believers could not continue their march but stopped at the chapel of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, at an altitude of 800 metres. They decided to celebrate the vigil with the priests Papa-Demitri from Krusonas and Papa-Charalampi from Kapetaniana. The Fathers of the Holy Monastery of Koudoumas were also present. At 10 o’clock in the evening, the men of the police force also arrived for order, as they said.
At midnight the chanting of the greetings of the Holy Cross began. Then suddenly the wind stopped blowing, the fog disappeared and night became day. At the same time the Holy Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ appeared on the top of Mount Kofina, bright as day, shining its rays over the whole region.
After some time the Holy Cross, as it appeared, disappeared, but again the strong wind and the dense fog began in the area. The solemn vigil lasted all night and the hundreds of pilgrims, together with the men of the police, recounted the miraculous event of the Fourth Divine Appearance of the Holy Cross in Crete on the 13th to the 14th of September 1937, according to the Patriotic Calendar.
Extensive publications about the previous miracles were published in the historical “TA PATRIA” by the late Metropolitan of Pentapolis, Mr. Kalliopios, from which the present information was taken.
Some miracles that are less known and have consolidated the faith of those who follow the traditions are the following
In 1925 in Piraeus and specifically in Gallipoli, during a discussion between the sisters Olga and Despina from Aivali, Asia Minor, about whether to remain with the Old or to follow the New, they experienced a shocking miraculous event. At three o’clock in the morning they heard loud knocks in their room, got up and saw the icon of St. Mary hanging on the wall shaking, they were frightened but immediately remembered that it was the dawn of her memory.
In 1942, in the Holy Monastery of Saint Irene Chrysovalantou in Lykovrisi, Attica, after the Vespers of the Assumption of Saint Anne, when the nuns put out all the cloaks, (at that time there was no oil in quantity) leaving only the Lord, the Virgin Mary and Saint Irene burning, a loud voice was heard from within the icon of Saint Anne: now that you have extinguished my candelabrum and you will be hungry and thirsty, immediately all the candelabrums were lit by themselves. The nuns, frightened, informed the Reverend Mother Meletia, who was in prison, saying to the nuns, you will not eat oil but the mantles will all be lit. The other day outside the monastery’s container where the empty jars for the oil were kept, the sisters saw the miraculous event, the oil was flowing from the jars and the extracted oil was flowing, down in the earth. To this day, oil from the miracle of St. Anne is kept in the monastery.
Miraculous event the Holy Icon of the Lord in the parish of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary in Pyri Thebes. In 1949, the image of the Lord was revealed to Mrs. Maria K…, after a three-day fasting period, which the whole family took at the suggestion of their spiritual director, Father Gerasimos, so that the Lord could show them what to follow, old or new calendar.
The Lord not only enlightened them, but His image came out of the icon, spoke to them and said: ‘With what you are with, with what you remain, all have fled from me and are far from me. Stay as you have been all these years, and I with you!
The form of the Lord came back as it was in the image. Mrs. Maria hadn’t spoken for three months.
In 1952, she attended the Epiphany with the “paleo” at the Holy Monastery of Panagia Kosmosotiros in Kryoneri, Attica, after the harsh persecution of Archbishop Spyridon Vlachos against the “paleo” after the end of the Epiphany service, where the monks begged the Lady Theotokos to send them a priest (the priests did not move around because Spyridon Vlachos’ order was to excommunicate any clergyman they met) or a layman to bring them holy water to sanctify the monastery, at that moment under the icon of the Zoodochos Pigi, the marble was torn from top to bottom, gushing Holy water. The crack exists to this day.
A miraculous and unexpected event, which took place in 1935, was the decision of three high priests: the former Chrysostomos of Florina, Germanos of Demetrias and Chrysostomos of Zakynthos to take over the spiritual administration and the ecclesiastical pastorate of the Genuine Orthodox Christians.
The local authorities, both Church and State, launched unprecedented and long-lasting persecutions against the clergy and the laity, who did not accept the illegal introduction of the Gregorian calendar and remained firm in the commandments of the Holy Apostles, the Holy Fathers and in the observance of the Holy Canons.
“Stand fast and keep the traditions which you have been taught, whether by word or by letter” (2 Thess., b, 15).
A number of dark pages of modern Church history could be written about the persecutions suffered by the unconverted Orthodox Christians, who have always been called by the contemptuous and derogatory epithet ‘Old Testament Christians’. The systematic recording of them would add another volume to the history of the Holy Struggle for Orthodoxy of the Genuine Orthodox Christians.
Sad and unfortunate events took place. By order of the State and the State Church, clergymen were arrested and placed under arrest, taken to the courts, imprisoned, reformed, sanctified. Chiefs were exiled. Laymen were taken to the court, beaten, injured, and Catherine Ruti lost her life to police beatings. The persecutors in extreme cases did not respect not only the celebration of the Holy Mass and the Divine Liturgy, but also the Blessed Sacrament.
The consequences for the common people were manifold. Theological School students who were old-schoolers were not admitted to the examinations unless they signed a livello, while School students were punished if they did not attend church services. Admirable, however, was the attitude of the persecuted Orthodox Christians, who proclaimed in practice: “Thou art not denied, Thou friendly Orthodoxy”.
For ninety consecutive years, those who follow the old calendar – church and people – have been fighting and guarding the Patristic Traditions, putting up a strong resistance to Ecumenism.
We sincerely wish and pray that all those who love the Church, which the Lord founded “in His honorable blood”, will fight for the restoration of the Orthodox Calendar by applying the request of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Heavenly Father during the High Priestly prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane: “That they may all be one.” (John 17:21).