Greece
In 1924, the Bishops of the Church of Greece implemented the
calendar change discussed at the pan-Orthodox congress. In protest, the former
Primate of the Church of Greece, Germanos of Demetrias, retired in protest. Lay
groups and brotherhoods formed to keep the use of the Orthodox calendar alive,
despite state persecution (Greece was an Orthodox country, and the Church
enjoyed certain privileges from the state) and finally, in 1935, three Bishops,
certain that waiting for a reversal of the calendar change was irresponsible to
their flocks, immediately declared their separation from the official Church
and declared that the calendar change was a schismatic act.
The Florinite/Matthewite Schism. By the 1940′s, two parties
had formed within the Church of Greece: the Florinites (under Metropolitan
Chrysostom of Florina) and the Matthewites (under Bp Matthew of Bresthena). The
issue had been the former’s vacillation on whether the mysteries of the State
Church were still grace-filled. Both sides had their respective justifications
for their positions, and both were violently persecuted by the state. In actual
fact, the Matthewites were holding the Church’s position consistently. That
they labelled the Florinites as a whole as opportunists who were trying to
ingratiate themselves with the state was unfortunate, and not altogether true
for the followers of Metropolitan Chrysostom, and so the parties became
psychologically distinct.
In the end, a real physical division was formed, whereas a
real doctrinal division ended: Bishop Matthew singlehandedly consecrated
another Bishop, and together they made more new Bishops. After the death of
Bishop Matthew, however, Chrysostom of Florina reaffirmed the decision of 1935
declaring the New Calendar State Church as schismatic. (The reasons for this
are unclear, and speculations give various answers.) In any case, the
Matthewites proceeded to elect Archbishop Agathagelos to the rank of Primate of
Athens in 1958.
After the death of Metropolitan Chrysostom, the Florinites
had no Bishops, and it is said that Metropolitan Chrysostom advised his flock
to go under the protection of the Matthewite Bishops. Fearing the
repercussions, however, the Florinites opted to seek a new hierarchy and
appealed to Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) to
help them.
In 1960, Archimandrite Akakios (Pappas) was made a Bishop
for these communities without the official blessing of the ROCOR by Archbishop
Leonty of Chile and Bp Theophilos Ionescu, a Romanian New Calendar Bishop under
the ROCOR. Later Bp Akakios and Bp Theophilos made 5 more Bishops, and they
proceeded to elect Auxentios of Patras to be their new leader as Archbishop of
Athens. The ROCOR under Metropolitan Philaret eventually recognized the validity
of the secret consecrations in 1969.
Unfortunately, the splits between the True Orthodox
continued to the present day. In disobedience to the blessed Archbishop
Auxentios of Athens (+1994), new factions continued to form and continues
to the present day. Sadly, the Matthewites also continued to split into
different groups. All the groups continued to act in defiance of the canons,
leaving the True Orthodox people divided and confused.
A New Change
In 2008, Metropolitan Anghelos of Avlonos headed an
initiative to stop factionalism by forming the True Orthodox Synod of the
Patristic Calendar [TOC-PC], which aims to end factionalism by calling for
a resolution of the remaining True Orthodox factions to reunite in council and
finally make a unified decision towards resolving the divisions. Until that day
comes, however, the TOC-PC continues to reach out to provide pastoral care to
the True Orthodox and preach the Gospel of Christ to all nations.
Russia
With the Declaration of Metropolitan Sergius in 1927
attempting to submit the Church to the godless authorities, Orthodox Bishops in
Russia began to apply Ukaz 362 of Patriarch St Tikhon and became
administratively independent until such time as they could operate freely.
Ukaz 362 was written to preserve the Orthodox Church in
times of persecution so that the Churches could survive. It gives the Bishops
of the Russian Church, temporarily, the right to self-govern apart from each
other until such time as they can organize. It is a masterpiece of
self-preservation in a time where the rules of canonical order could not be
followed to the letter due to the difficulty of travel, etc.
The number of Catacomb Churches in Russia is to date fairly
large and to this day, no one knows where all of the catacomb Churches are. The
history of the different catacomb Episcopates since 1927 is still not
completely documented. There are also questions as to the legitimacy of certain
catacomb Bishops. Sadly, these questions will have to be determined by a future
all-Russian Council.
The Russian Church Today
Today the situation is considerably clearer than it was 20
years ago; many of the groups that exist today have either been merged into
other jurisdictions or have formed small, independent groups, administratively
separate from the rest of the Church. Much of their current history was tied
together with ROCOR, as many of the original Catacomb Bishops had been killed
during state persecutions or died in hiding. But ROCOR did not make the
situation better: in some cases they denied the truth of Holy Orders in the
Catacomb Churches that survived during the Soviet period and caused confusion.
Finally, in 2007, much of ROCOR joined with the Soviet Moscow Patriarchate,
leaving scattered ROCOR communities under other Bishops.
In 1998, groups of isolated and Catacomb Communities united
in Council to become the True Orthodox Church of Russia [TOC-R],
headed by Metropolitan Raphael (Prokofiev) of Moscow. Like their sister
Church in Greece, they reach out to those in other True Orthodox communities
and former ROCOR parishes to unite the Church and provide a unified witness to
Christ against the Soviet Moscow Patriarchate.
In The Americas and Western Europe.
Being a missionary-minded leader, the blessed Archbishop Auxentius
of Athens (+1994) (with the approval of the TOC of Greece synod) created an
ecclesiastical body of Western European bishops for all Western Europe on
September 14, 1984 old style; at first headquartered in Portugal later
in Milan, Italy. Until very recently, the largest True Orthodox group
specifically commissioned for Western Europe was the Autonomous Metropolia
of Western Europe and the Americas headed by Metropolitan Evloghios of
Milan (often called the “Milan Synod”), which was not only in communion with
the True Orthodox Church of the Patristic Calendar, but also the Mother Synod
of the North American Metropolia.
In February 2011, with the approval of the entire Milan
Synod, Metropolitan Evloghios of Milan elevated its Archbishop of New York to
be His Beatitude Metropolitan John of New York and president of the new
autonomous synod known as The True Orthodox Metropolia of North and South
America and the British Isles [TOC-ABI)
Due to confusion which reigned among the subordinates of
Metropolitan Evloghios of Milan over the years, a number of parishes and
dioceses transferred their allegiance. After Metropolitan Evloghios and
Archbishop Abundius of Lecco declared their intentions to join the Soviet
Moscow Patriarchate, communion was broken with the sister Churches throughout
the world.
Therefore, Western Europe is currently (until the election
of a new Primate for Milan and Italy) administered by two jurisdictions: the
American Metropolia (through the Deanery of the British Isles) and the Church
of Greece (through communion with the Dioceses of Arles and Laussanne).
Latin America
Currently Latin America is administered by three
jurisdictions of the True Orthodox Church, who, while administratively
separate, are in full communion. There are approximately 25 open parishes of
the True Orthodox in Latin America and approximately 30 who meet privately due
to state support of the Roman Catholic Church, and their “sister Church”, World
Orthodoxy, which generally agrees not to missionize the largely Roman Catholic
populace.
The largest organization of parishes is under two Bishops of
the True Orthodox Church of Greece. There are also a Metropolitan and
three ruling Bishops of the True Orthodox Church of Russia in Latin
America. The Metropolia of the Americas & British Isles also has a vicar Bishop assigned to Latin
America. The current highest-ranking Hierarch is Metropolitan Chrysostomos
of Ecuador, ruling with jurisdiction granted over all of Latin America. The
senior-ranking Hierarch is Metropolitan Theodosios of Santiago and Chile
of the True Orthodox Church of Russia. And His Grace Bishop Christodoulos of
Miami and Cuba (American Church) is assigned as a Synodal representative
for Latin America and currently has a mission in Miami and Cuba, as well as
missions forming in other regions.
True Orthodox Christians Elsewhere
Bulgaria.
It is with great joy that the Holy Synod of the True
Orthodox Church of Russia has announced the election of Archbishop Daniel
(Mogutnov) of Plovdiv to the headship of the True Orthodox Church of
Bulgaria by decision of the Synod meeting of February 7/20, 2012. Vladika
Daniel’s see will be in Plovdiv, the second largest city in Bulgaria. His
leadership now adds yet more administrative protection for True Orthodox
Christians throughout the world.
Abkhazia.
Abkhazia currently has one Bishop who is part of the True
Orthodox Church of Greece of the Patristic Calendar, H.E., Metropolitan
of Abhazia and Sconditsky IOTAM.
Belarus.
Belarus currently has one Bishop who is part of the True
Orthodox Church of Russia, H.E., Metropolitan EPIPHANY of Minsk and
Byelorussia.
Georgia.
Georgia currently has one Bishop who is part of the Synod of
the True Orthodox Church of Greece of the Patristic Calendar, H.E.,
Archibishop CHRISTAFOR of Mshieta Tbilisi and Vseia-Hartlinsky.
Serbia.
Serbia has two parishes with priests currently under the
omophor of H.B, Metropolitan JOHN of New York, True Orthodox
Metropolia of North and South America and the British Isles.
Ukraine.
Ukraine has seven Bishops who are part of the True
Orthodox Church of Russia, headed by H.E, Metropolitan ANDREI of Kyiv
and all Ukraine.
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Source: gleaned and compiled from THE TRUE ORTHODOX CHURCH website.
