Archimandrite Roman Anastasiadis, cleric of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Crete
We have been informed, of course in an unpleasant way, by the holy Diocese of Montenegro that in this 21-st century, that regardless of the intense information flow and every possibility for checking and discovering of all the available historical data, there are still Bishops with distorted ecclesiological awareness! One cannot offer other explanation for the public Protestantism in the most recent statement of the Most Reverent Metropolitan of Montenegro, Mr. Amphilochios, given last Saturday, 26th October, at the sermon after the Divine Liturgy in the episcopal seat of the Cetinje Monastery. This is a pure authentic Protestantism. According to this statement, the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church is nothing but a “Confederation” of Local Autocephalous Churches, the “invisible head” of which is our Lord Jesus Christ? In all the past centuries, has there ever been an organization of the Church such as this? Certainly, the Church is the Body of Christ! Certainly, Christ is the Head of the Church, but every ecclesiastic community has its own primate, who is “in the position and image of Christ” and makes possible the unity in our Lord Jesus Christ. The logics of the Metropolitan of Montenegro conveys an equal confederation of Churches, in which the Phanar would be the first in the catalogue, solely for romantic and historic reasons, and in all this mess Christ should be the first! But which Christ! We, the Orthodox Christians, apart from the Gospel, have also the Holy Tradition, which defines even the books that enter the canon of the Bible! Therefore, every ecclesiastical community, the parish, the Diocese, the Local Church, has its own primate. If what His Reverence, Mr. Amphilochios claims is true, then in their Holy Synod there should be an icon of Christ instead of the Patriarch! The same thing goes for his own Diocese. He should not bless his faithful with his own hand, because Christ is the Head! If this is not Protestantism, I don’t know what is? Since every Local Church has its own primate, then all the primates should also have a primate among them. There can be no other way! That is how we have been taught. Being a primate means to serve the others, to be responsible, to bear a cross, not to have the authority “for the sake of it”. The authority in primacy is important just to those who act upon their own will. If the act of taking responsibility for the schism, for the unjustified, for the common interest of the Church, while all the others are indifferent, is considered authority, then so be it! This means to be a Primate! How could we be indifferent for the schism around us? How could we let people suffer, separated from the communion with the Church, just because of their different attitudes, not on the issues of faith, but on some other secondary matters? Because, for example, they didn’t want to be forcefully assimilated into Russians or Serbs, or something similar? The Local Churches were appeased with the creation of the parallel hierarchy, but can the ignoring of those in schism silence the voice of conscious? Most Reverent Bishop of Montenegro, In the Orthodoxy we have a primate, whether you accept that or not. Constantinople did not seize to exist in 1453, as you seem to claim. Fortunately, we have a confirmation of its existence in the documents after the fall of Constantinople, as well as in the Tomos for your Autocephaly from 1879, and the act of elevation to the rank of Patriarchate, certainly still awaiting the approval of the next Ecumenical Council, because only then you would be recognized as true Patriarchate. Until then, you should obey the word of the ancient Patriarchates and respect their decisions. Don’t be frustrated for receiving Christianity 1000 years later than them. That is where the problem lies. Everything should be according to the order of the Church, just as it was before the heresy of ethnophyletism came and distorted the awareness of many…