Church of the True Orthodox Christians of Greece (Chrysostom Synod)
The Church of the True Christians of Greece (Chrysostomos Synod) (Greek Ἐκκλησία τῶν Γνησίων Ὀρθοδόξων Χριστιανῶν Ἑλλάδος) is the largest ancient calendar Orthodox church in Greece . It has parishes in many other countries but is not recognized by most of the Orthodox churches.
Structures
The Church is organized in 12 metropolises in Greece and three dioceses in Europe , America and Australia . It has 355 churches and parishes and 128 monasteries, it maintains six training centers and publishes six magazines.
The Church of the True Christians of Greece (Chrysostomos Synod) is in church fellowship with the Orthodox Old Calendar Church of Romania , the Bulgarian Orthodox Old Calendar Church and the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (under Agathangelos) .
history
In 1924 the Orthodox Church of Greece introduced the New Julian Calendar . The Society of the Church of True Orthodox Christians of Greece was born , which rejected the reform and kept the old Julian calendar .
In 1935 Metropolitan Chrysostomos Kavouridis of Florina and two other Metropolitans joined the movement. They consecrated four bishops and thus created the canonical basis for a separate church (apostolic succession). Thereupon the three metropolitans were sentenced by the Orthodox Church to five years in a monastery. After King George II came to power , they were released five months later.
In 1937, Metropolitan Chrysostom and other bishops asked for re-entry into the Orthodox Church and declared that all sacraments of the Orthodox Church would be recognized. The resumption was refused. A separate church of true Orthodox Christians split off under Bishop Matthaios, which rejected these rapprochement efforts.
In 1946 two other Orthodox bishops joined the Chrysostomos Church. Metropolitan Chrysostom died in 1955 and the church no longer had a canonically ordained bishop. At that time the church consisted of about 800,000 to 1,000,000 believers.
In 1969 the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad recognized the Church of True Christians in Greece and entered into communion with it. With their help, new bishops could be ordained who formally conformed to the canonical regulations.
In 1979 the metropolitan Callistus of Corinth and Antony of Megara were removed from their offices because they had accepted new calendar priests without re-ordination in their dioceses. They formed the synod in the resistance as a new church of their own.
In 1985 Archbishop Auxentios left the church after 22 years as leader and created his own church . The metropolitan area also broke away from Western Europe and became independent. In 1995 another new church was built under Metropolitan Kallinikos.
In 2007 the Russian Orthodox Church abroad dissolved the church fellowship again in order to be able to merge with the Russian Orthodox Church.
In 2014 the Greek Orthodox Church - Synod in Resistance rejoined the Church of the True Orthodox Christians of Greece (Chrysostomos Synod) . Since 2015 there have been talks about a reunification with the Church of the True Orthodox Christians of Greece (Matthaios Synod) .
Web links
- Ἐκκλησία Γνησίων Ὀρθοδόξων Χριστιανῶν Homepage (Greek)