TO THE SACRED CLERGY OF OUR CHURCH
In Athens June 5, 1974
Protocol Number 1191
Most Righteous and Reverend Ministers of the Most High:
Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God, and prayer and blessing from us.
By means of this present Encyclical we address ourselves to you, bringing to your remembrance an imperative duty which should distinguish your course of action, in obedience to whatsoever was delivered unto us from of old by the God-bearing Fathers.
Thus, we enjoin you yet once again to limit your ministrations only to the members of our Church, lest you set a stumbling-block before the brethren and, as ones who do not believe those things that are professed by us, draw upon yourselves the criticism of the common people.
The celebration of a Mystery and the giving of Holy Communion to new calendarists was forbidden from the time of the beginning of the schism created by the State Church. Therefore, it is necessary that you uphold this position without deviation, in obedience to the understanding of all that has been handed down to us in the Church. Should any from the new calendar desire to enter our ranks, it is absolutely necessary that they make a confession of Faith in regard to all that has been transmitted unto us by our God-bearing Fathers, and that they renounce and condemn every heresy and innovation, among which is the new calendar in the Greek Church, which became schismatic from its acceptance thereof in 1924 until the present, according to the very confession of the innovator, Archbishop Chrysostom Papadopoulos, and, as a consequence, its Mysteries are deprived of sanctifying grace.
Also, regarding those who have been baptized in the aforementioned Church and have not returned to piety, it is necessary that, according to the First Canon of Saint Basil the Great, they be rechrismated with holy chrism of canonical provenance.
As a consequence of the above, we enjoin that, in conformance with the holy and sacred canons, you henceforth cease any sacramental ministration you might have tendered anyone coming from the New Calendar Church, unless the above-mentioned procedure is first implemented, since, otherwise, the sanctions predetermined by the sacred canons will be imposed upon the transgressors.[1]
The President The Sacred Synod
+Archbishop Auxentius +Akakios of Diavlia and Attica
+Gerontios of Peiraeus and Salamina
+Paisios of Euripus and Euboea
+Chrysostom of Thessalonica
+Kallinikos of Thavmakos
+Akakios of Canada
+Gabriel of the Cyclades Islands
+Anthony of Megaris
[1] The original text of this Encyclical has the following footnote: “The present Encyclical was ready to be issued on April 4, 1973. It has been postponed until now awaiting His Eminence, Bishop Peter of Astoria, who, though invited repeatedly to endorse the Encyclical, refused to do so. On this account, in its meeting of June 5, 1974, the Holy Synod struck him from its membership and removed him from the exarchate of the True Orthodox Christians of America.”
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Ἐγκύκλιος 1974
Ἀριθ. Πρωττ. 1191
Έν Ἀθήναις τῇ 5ῃ Ἰουνίου 1974
ΕΓΚΥΚΛΙΟΣ
Πρός τόν Ἱερόν Κλῆρον τῆς καθ’ ἡμᾶς Ἐκκλησίας
Πανοσιολογιώτατοι καὶ Αἱδεσιμώτατοι Λειτουργοὶ τοῦ Ὑψίστου, Χάρις Ὑμῖν καὶ ἔλεος καὶ Εἰρήνη παρὰ Θεοῦ, παρ’ ἡμῶν δὲ εὐχὴ καὶ εὐλογία.
Διὰ τῆς παρούσης Ἐγκυκλίου ἡμῶν ἀπευθυνόμεθα πρὸς ὑμᾶς ὑπομιμνήσκοντες ὑμῖν καθῆκον ἐπιτακτικὸν, ὅπερ δέον νὰ χαρακτηρίζῃ τὴν ἡμετέραν πορείαν πειθαρχοῦσαν εἰς τὰ ἀνέκαθεν παραδεδομένα ἡμῖν ὑπὸ τῶν Θεοφόρων Πατέρων.
Οὕτω: Ἐντελλόμεθα ἐπαναληπτικῶς ὅπως περιορίζεσθε εἰς τήν ἐξυπηρέτησιν μόνον τῶν μελῶν τῆς καθ’ ἡμᾶς Ἐκκλησίας, ἵνα μὴ προτίθεσθε σκάνδαλον τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς καὶ ἐπισύρετε τὰς ἐπικρίσεις τοῦ κοινοῦ ὡς μὴ πιστεύοντες εἰς τὰ ὑφ᾿ ἡμῶν πρεσβευόμενα.
Ἡ τέλεσις μυστηρίου τινὸς καὶ ἡ θεία μετάδοσις εἰς νεοημερολογίτας ἔχει ἀπαγορευθῇ ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς τῆς δημιουργίας τοῦ σχίσματος ὑπὸ τῆς Κρατούσης Ἐκκλησίας· δέον δὲ ὅπως τηρῆτε ἀπαρεγκλίτως τήν γραμμήν ταύτην πειθαρχοῦντες εἰς τὸ φρόνημα καὶ τὰ Ἐκκλησιαστικῶς παραδεδομένα. Προκειμένου δὲ νὰ εἰσέλθῃ τις ἐκ τοῦ νέου ἡμερολογίου εἰς τάς τάξεις μας, ἀπαραίτητος προϋπόθεσις τυγχάνει ὁμολογία πίστεως εἰς τὰ ὑπὸ τῶν Θεοφόρων Πατέρων ἡμῶν παραδεδομένα ἡμῖν, ἀποκήρυξις δὲ καὶ καταδίκη πάσης αἱρέσεως καὶ καινοτομίας ἐν οἷς καὶ τὸ νέον ἡμερολόγιον ἐν τῇ Ἑλλαδικῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ ἥτις δεχθεῖσα τοῦτο κατέστη σχισματική ἀπό τοῦ 1924 καὶ ἐντεῦθεν κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ὁμολογίαν τοῦ μεταρρυθμιστοῦ Ἀρχιεπισκόπου Χρυσοστόμου Παπαδοπούλου καὶ ὡς ἐκ τούτου τὰ μυστήριά της στεροῦνται Ἁγιαστικῆς Χάριτος.
Προκειμένου ὡσαύτως περὶ βαπτισθέντων ἐν τῇ ὡς ἄνω Ἐκκλησίᾳ καὶ ἐπιστρεφόντων εἰς τὴν εὐσέβειαν δέον ὅπως ἀναμυρώνονται οὗτοι δι’ Ἁγίου Μύρου κανονικῆς προελεύσεως συμφώνως πρὸς τὸν Α´ Κανόνα τοῦ Μ. Βασιλείου.
Συνεπείᾳ τῶν ἀνωτέρῳ ἐντελλόμεθα, ὅπως τοῦ λοιπῦ παύσητε τὴν τυχοῦσαν μέχρι σήμερον μυστηριακὴν ἐξυπηρέτησιν τῶν ἐκ τῆς Νεοημερολογητικῆς Ἐκκλησίας προσερχομένων ἄνευ τῆς προμνησθείσης διαδικασίας συνωδᾷ πρὸς τοὺς Ἁγίους καὶ Ἱεροῦς Κανόνας, καθ’ ὅσον ἐν ἐναντίᾳ περιπτώσει θέλουν ἐπιβληθῇ κατὰ τῶν παραβατῶν αἱ ὑπὸ τῶν Ἱερῶν Κανόνων προβλεπόμεναι κυρώσεις.
Η ΙΕΡΑ ΣΥΝΟΔΟΣ
† Ὁ Ἀθηνῶν Αὐξέντιος, Πρόεδρος
† Ὁ Διαυλείας καί Ἀττικῆς Ἀκάκιος
† Ὁ Πειραιῶς καί Σαλαμῖνος Γερόντιος
† Ὁ Εὐρίπου καί Εὐβοίας Παΐσιος
† Ὁ Θεσ/νίκης Χρυσόστομος
† Ὁ Θαυμακοῦ Καλλίνικος
† Ὁ Κυκλάδων Γαβριήλ
† Ὁ Μεγαρίδος Ἀντώνιος