New Calls on Mt. Athos Announcing Ceasing of Commemoration
An “Open Letter” from Athonite Fathers to the Holy Community of the Holy Mountain of Athos is calling for an immediate convocation of the governing body of Mt. Athos in order to condemn the “false council” of Crete and cease the comemoration of the Patriarch of Constantinople on Mt. Athos.
OVER 60 Hieromonk and monks, with a disciple of Saint Paisios, Elder Gabriel of the Kelli of St. Christodoulos (Holy Monastery of Koutloumosiou) at their head, have written an open letter to the Holy Community of Mt. Athos calling upon the Abbots to reject the Council in Crete and stating their intention to cease commemoration of the Patriarch of Constantinople on account of his leadership in the “false council” at which the pan-heresy of ecumenism was given a green light and bolstered in word and deed.
The Athonite Fathers briefly list 12 points of divergence of the Cretan Council from Orthodox Tradition and Faith, promising to return in the near future with an extensive analysis of council and texts in question. Referring to the controversial section 6 of the text “Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World,” the Athonites see this as acceptance of the Papal-Latin parasynagogue as a “church”. Furthermore, as they point out, the text’s positive estimation of the decisions of the Dialogue with the Latins (especially the texts produced in Munich in 1982, Bari in 1987, New Valaam in 1988 and most particularly in Balamand in 1993) signifies acceptance, on the part of those bishops who signed the text in Crete, of the “ecclesial character, apostolic faith, authentic mysteries and apostolic succession” of the “Papal heresy.” “From this alone,” the Fathers write, “it is apparent that this Council has fallen away from Orthodox Faith and Confession.”
With regard to the role played by the Patriarch of Constantinople in the promotion both of “the pan-heresy of ecumenism and in particular of the false council of Crete,” and the need for the Athonite community to cease his commemoration “until such a time” as the heresy is condemned, the Athonite Fathers write characteristically:
