2010/07/14

THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES

ΤHE TRANSMISSION OF THE CANONICAL APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION
BY THE CHEIROTHESIA OF Α NEW PRIEST

The Genuine Orthodox Christians across the land celebrated the feast of the Holy Apostles and by multiple-day fast to their honor, as the Holy Church of God has. We celebrate and honor the memory of them as they gave us particular two priceless gifts for the salvation of our souls; THE APOSTOLIC FAITH AND APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION. That is why the Holy Fathers in the 'Creed' call the
Church and “Apostolic” because It keeps the Orthodox faith as delivered to us by the Apostles, written and explicit, from the day of Pentecost. Apostolic Faith and Apostolic Succession are together, necessarily, as elements of a Canonical Church of Christ in which man survives mentally by the Holy Mysteries of It.

The Apostolic Succession is the transmission of Divine Grace through the Apostles to the successors, bishops and priests and later the Grace by the Sacrament of Ordination of the Hierarchs that continually transferred blessing of the apostolic office until now and in the end of time is called Apostolic Succession. Through the Apostolic Succession, the Church is always new and never aging remained the same as Christ: «He yesterday and today and He forever” remains from the beginning the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ. In the Apostolic Succession constants also the other main feature of the Church, the Apostolic Faith. Apostolic Faith, we mean the pure and authentic teachings of the Church as handed in the Apostles, preserved and interpreted by the successors of the Apostles in the Ecumenical Synods. It is highly essential feature of this Belief as it adjoins to the Apostolic Succession and it also adjoins this, because when the belief is adulterated, the Apostolic Succession is lost. In the orthodox teaching, as the heretics distort the faith, they lost
the Apostolic Succession and so they cut themselves of the Apostolic Church of Christ. (Irenaeus, Against sect. 11 113 and shrines. Letter 84). The unity of the Apostolic Succession and the Faith as says St. Irenaeus, who fetcher obedience to Presbyters (by this term it means the Bishops and priests) emphasizes that they have "the succession by the Apostles ... they unite and preserve truly the teaching of the Apostles”... Saint Cyprian in the Proceedings of the Cartagena Synod allegedly saying:" We came after the Apostles with the same power in which we lead the Church. (H.G.O. “ECCLESIOLOGY MATTERS” A’)

The Apostolic Succession keeps the Canonical Church of G.O.C. of Greece genuine and unaffected by blessed ordinations of Bishops in 1935, 1948, 2002 etc. But care of the Church of Christ is the transmission in the young clergy, whether clergy ordinations or to restore the priesthood to those clergy arising from Schisms. So in Thursday of the Ascension, in the historic Church of the Evangelist Matthew in Mandra Attica, His Holiness President of the Holy Synod of the Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece cherothetised the Reverend Father James Samakasvili giving to him the regularity. Father James comes from Georgia and was before in the Florinite Schism (of Mr. Chrys.Kiousis’ part) and now he serves as chaplain to the church of St. Evangelist Matthew. On this issue we will return after the publication of this happy event by the journal of the Church.

The Florinite schism occurred in 1937 through the distortion of the Orthodox Confession of 1935 by which were joined in the Church as coming from the New- Calendarism Bishops Chrysostomos, former of Florina and German of Demetrias using the term 'potential and are not practicing " schism of New papal calendar and the assumption of the invalid sacraments as valid against to the Church’s teaching on the sacraments of schismatic. Until his death, the leader of the movement of Florinites (former of Florina Chrysostom) continued procrastination in his belief and although he eventually accepted hypocritically the Orthodox Confession of the Holy Father Matthew, he died without ordain bishops and without joining with the Church of the C.O.C., faith to his 'Mother' New- calendarist Church and the his misbelief.

Now the headless supporters of deceased former bishop of Florina, having refused to join the Canonical Church of G.O.C. of Greece secured "ordinations" of bishops with irregular and in Simony ways from an old- calendarist Russian bishop and (possibly) from NEW- CALENDARIST Romanian bishop. On the facts will speak up the two bishops who ordained the first Florinite “Bishop” Akakios to understand how "authoritative" and "Canonical” are such ordinations and why they need rehabilitation through Cheirothesia.

THE EXPRESS REFUSAL OF THEOPHILOS

I accused that I took part in the ordination of Bishop, old calendarist, named Akakios Papas, this is entirely lie, not only I did not participate with the Russian bishop of Chicago in a such ordination, but I just hear these news. The reassurance that one, that they give me to have done, “scandalized many souls in Greece”, obliges me to make a clear, explicit and unequivocal, in my assured as bishop that the consecration as bishop of Akakios Papas is completely unknown to me and receives foreign to me. And therefore, there exists, for me, no reason for Greek Orthodox Christians to scandalize themselves.

1972