Old calendar churches in Greece

Old calendar churches are some small Orthodox churches in Greece that follow the Julian calendar . They are not recognized by most of the other Orthodox churches.

history

In 1924 the Orthodox Church of Greece introduced the New Julian calendar in place of the previous Julian calendar. Some clergy and believers rejected the reform and founded the Society of the Church of True Christians of Greece . In 1935 three metropolitans joined the new church. They consecrated four new bishops as the basis for an independent church. The Metropolitans were then sentenced to five years in monastery imprisonment by the Orthodox Church, but were released after five months after the intervention of King George II .

In 1937, Bishop Matthaios founded his own church after Metropolitan Chrysostomus of Florina asked to be accepted back into the Orthodox Church, but this was rejected.

Further communities split off from both churches. In 2014 the Chrysostomos Synod and the Synod in Resistance reunited, and since 2015 there have been talks about the reunification of the Chrysosotomos and Matthaios Synods.

Practice and teaching

The churches follow the Orthodox rite in liturgy and spiritual life. They condemn the Orthodox Church of Greece for introducing the New Julian calendar as a deviation from canon law . The Matthaios churches therefore do not recognize any of the sacraments of the Orthodox Church such as priestly ordination and baptism.

All old calendar churches reject the ecumenism of the Orthodox Church with the Catholic Church . This applies to the calendar, but also to joint services and other approaches.

Old calendar churches

Florinites

The Florinites (English Florinites ) go back to the first old calendar church in Greece under Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Florina.

• Church of the True Christians of Greece (Chrysostom Synod) , since 1924
• Church of True Orthodox Christians of Greece (Synod in Resistance) , split off in 1979, reunited in 2014
• Church of the True Orthodox Christians of Greece (Auxentios Synod) , split off in 1985
• Church of the True Orthodox Christians of Greece (Kallinikos Synod) , split off in 1995
• Holy Metropolitan Synod of the Fatherly Calendar of the Church of True Christians in Greece , split off from the Synod of Kallinikos in 2007

Matthew Direction

The Matthewiten (English Matthewites ) go back to the Church of the true Christians of Greece under Metropolitan Matthaios (English Matthew ).

• Church of the True Christians of Greece (Matthaios Synod) , split off from Chrysostomos Synod in 1937
• Church of the True Christians of Greece (Kirykos Synod) , split off in 2005

literature

• Vladimir Moss: A Short History of the True Orthodox Church of Greece (1970-2000) . Originally published in The Guildfordian , 2001.
• Dimitri Kitsikis : The Old Calendarists and the Rise of Religious Conservatism in Greece . Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, Etna, California 1995, ISBN 978-0-911165-33-3 .
• The Struggle Against Ecumenism: The History of the True Orthodox Church of Greece from 1924 to 1994 . Holy Orthodox Church in North America, Boston MA 1998, ISBN 978-0-943405-09-4 .