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6 December 2015, St. Nicholas the Wondermaker, Archbishop of
Mra
Open letter from the Genuine Orthodox Christians in Bulgaria to
the entire
Genuine Orthodox Church, the Holy Synod, Clergy, Monks and all
faithful
Christians
Your Beatitude, Most Reerend Bishops, Reerend !riests, Monks,
Brothers
and Sisters in Christ,
"ith your #lessing$
"e, the Genuine Orthodox Christians in Bulgaria, gathered today
in the
church of Saint Matthe% the Confessor, &rch#ishop of
&thens and all Greece,
are asking you to defend, each and eery one according to his
rank and place
in the Church, the orthodox creed, %hich is to #e put in
%riting, to #e made
eident and to #e preached in all our churches, thus helping
those people %ho
hae dou#ts and unclear understanding a#out the One Holy Catholic
and
&postolic Church and the Salation that is only possi#le
inside it'
(he reason for our appeal is our deeply felt resentment caused
#y the
exchanged em#races and kisses #et%een our #ishops and
theologians %ith the
schismatic and heretical )#ishop* Cyprian, %ho is from the
so+called Opposing
Synod, during a diine serice held in Cyprus on the occasion of
consecrating a
ne% #ishop there' (he a#oe mentioned )pseudo+#ishop* %as allo%ed
to stay
inside the altar, %hich rendered the situation een more
scandalous' (aken
alone, een his personal presence in the church %earing #ishops
estments
and signs %ould hae #een unaccepta#le and disgusting enough$
&ccording to
the canons of the Church, the entrance of a heretic into the
altar of a church
desecrates this church and re-uires that prayers #e read #y an
Orthodox #ishop
#efore any further religious serice could #e held there' (his
deed had a
perplexing e.ect on the conscience of the faithful %ho attended
the ceremony
or heard a#out it, and %ould hinder the conersion of the ones
that are still
outside of the Church and to %hom the Church ought to #espeak
the truth' "e,
#eing ourseles Orthodox Christians, neither accept greetings for
the ne%
calendar cele#rations, nor greet the follo%ers of the ne%
calendar for their
)feasts*' (he said schismatic and heretic )#ishop* has o#tained
his
consecration from the ne% calendar schism, %hich makes him the
same as the
follo%ers of the ne% calendar/ and een %orse than them, #ecause
he pretends
to #e a follo%er of the old calendar' 0s it not true that an
exchange of em#races
and kisses %ith a heretic inside the Church is e-ual to, and een
%orse, than
accepting a greeting for a ne% calendar cele#ration1 Yet, Saint
Matthe% the
Confessor, has thought us that for such greetings %e must
profess the 2aith
ane%' (he &postles says3 !"f there come an onto o#, and
brin$ not this
doctrine, recei%e him not into o#r ho#se, neither bid him
&od speed'45 6ohn
789' (hese %ords mean that in addition to the follo%ers of the
ne% calendar %e
should also not greet the ecumenists %ho follo% the old
calendar'
"e here#y appeal to eery Christian conscience, #e it a #ishop or
a
layman3 please help rectify the replacement of the truth and cut
o. the
attempts to disgrace the authenticity of our Church' :et the
doers inoled in
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the a#oe deed o.er an apology and express their regret for %hat
they hae
done'
(he -uestion of %ho has inited the a#oe+mentioned
pseudo+#ishop
Cyprian still remains unans%ered ; %e demand that the person %ho
has inited
him assumes responsi#ility for such an action and proides an
explanation' "e
point out that een the fact of our #ishops haing #een inited to
attend the
ceremony cannot excuse their omission to profess the Orthodox
2aith' "e heardthat amongst the faithful in Greece there is an
opinion that there %ould #e
nothing %rong if %e unite %ith the 2lorinites' Ho%eer, the
Church does not
recognise the notion of uniected to the Church
mysteries' Ho%eer, there remains the -uestion on %hat grounds %e
%ould #e
a#le to accept any#ody in our Church considering the current
ague state of
our confession on many aspects of the 2aith' 0n other %ords, the
Confessionheld #y Saint Mathe% needs to #e rea?rmed on all of the
aspects concerning
our 2aith, for the peace of our conscience and as a testimony to
the outsiders of
the Church'
"e therefore address the Holy Synod %ith the follo%ing re-uest
and urge all
faithful Christians to support it so that the follo%ing actions
can #e taken3
7' (o declare once again anathema on the ne% calendar schism
in
accordance %ith the ancient anathemas laid on it, thus con
