Official GOC-K Celebrations of St. Catherine the New Martyr
November 29, 2014 (Source: http://www.imab.gr)
On November 15th on the Church (“Julian”) Calendar, which is November 28 on the Civil Calendar, the GOC-K held the first official celebration of the St. Catherine the New Martyr. On the website of the GOC-K Metropolis of Attica and Boetia (whose ruling hierarch is Metropolitan Chrysostomos), St. Catherine is called “a shining diamond” for not only the local Orthodox of Attica, but “throughout the world”. Her testimony in martyrdom is a “witness in times of confusion and spiritual indifference, bottomless moral mitigation and intellectual distance, that ‘the Lord God liveth’ and against the Church ‘the gates of Hell do not prevail’.”
An icon was made of St. Catherine the Martyr and an akolouthia composed and sung. Present at the celebrations were many of the GOC-K bishops; among them were Archbishop Kallinikos (who led the celebrations), with Metropolitan Chrysostomos, Metropolitan Cyprian, Metropoliton Gerontios, Bp. Clement of Gardikon, Bp. Photios, and Bp. Gregory.
St. Catherine was martyred in the 1920s by Greek New Calendarist police forces, who, on the orders of the wicked heretic New Calendarist Archbishop of Athens, Chrysostomos Papadopolous, had ordered several True Orthodox priests to be beaten (and even killed) for refusing to go along with the Masonic-inspired ecumenist-modernist agenda. As New Calendarist police were attempting to beat to death a True Orthodox (“Old Calendarist”) priest, St. Catherine used her body to shield the priest, saving his life, and was instead beat to death herself by the New Calendarist heretics. St. Catherine was thus to become one of many witnesses to the True Orthodox Christian Faith in the 20th century, joining the other Martyrs of True Orthodox in earlier ages (more persecution would follow against the True Orthodox in Greece in the 20s and 30s, and continue for their refusal to accept the new calendar, joint prayers with non-Orthodox, ecumenism; persecution still viciously continues on Mt. Athos against Esphigmenou).
The “Official Patriarchates” of World Orthodoxy, which are mired in the heresy and schism of ecuemnism, modernism and new calendarism, refuse to recognize her martyrdom since it would testify against their cold indifference to the Orthodox Faith and rejection of it. They still maintain the rightness of the actions of the New Calendar Archbishop of Athen, Chrysostomos Papadopolous, praising him for his persecution of the True Orthodox for their refusal to accept the New Calendar and Ecumenism.
It should be mentioned the priest she was protecting was the Hieromonk Matthew the Athonite, the Future Bishop of Bresthena and archbishop of Athens. Fr Christopher was present as well and was arrested, but Fr Matthew escaped.
It seems no bishop from GOC-K wants to mention that…
They know though. Archbishop Kallinikos is a former Matthewite and he even commemorates archbishop Matthew in the names for the deceased. I am sure he knows the story. And they haven’t denied it, so I just assume they are being cautious.
“he even commemorates archbishop Matthew in the names for the deceased.”
Really? That’s interesting. A possible Union maybe?
Can you read GREEK? One of our bishops mention that Fr Eugene Tombros said in 1961 that Hieromonk Matthew was present. According to google translate anyway.
http://www.hsir.org/pdfs/2014/11/28/20141128aEisigisisNeomAikRoutti.pdf
In her life I read, it is written that she was shot. So shot or beaten?
I’ve always read how the police killed her through hitting her with the rifle butt (i.e., she was beat to death). Jean-Serge, where did you read she was shot?
I thought what killed her was a strike to the head with the butt of a rifle?
She was beaten because it took her seven days to die in a hospital I believe.
What evidence is there that the “New Calendarist Archbishop of Athens, Chrysostomos Papadopolous, had ordered several True Orthodox priests to be beaten (and even killed)”. In other words, how do we know that the violence against the Old Calendarists was ordered by the Church rather than by the State?
Probably with the same ‘evidence’ you asked about the ‘isolated’ incidents of the Phanar commemorating the Pope in liturgical services!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rb8Gr_tI5TI#t=1092
So there’s no evidence?
There is evidence; every historical study I’ve seen, although it mentions the state as the mechanism, always includes the ‘official church’ as deeply involved in the matter:
http://books.google.com/books?id=r55lAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA65&dq=persecution+of+old+calendarists&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pmd_VM-rBMGfNtiPg6gP&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=persecution%20of%20old%20calendarists&f=false
Thank you for the links. Perhaps someone else can provide clearer evidence that “New Calendarist Archbishop of Athens, Chrysostomos Papadopolous, had ordered several True Orthodox priests to be beaten (and even killed)”. I haven’t been able to see from the accounts I have read, including the links you provided, exactly to what extent the Church of Greece, or Abp Chrysostomos of Athens, was directly responsible for the beatings or the few deaths which allegedly occurred. Did the state initiate the persecution because the Old Calendarists were viewed as political rebels for not accepting the state-imposed calendar, or was the state simply taking directives from the Abp of Athens and the synod? If the police were following orders from the Abp of Athens or the synod, what were the orders exactly? Did the police follow orders when acting violently or did they initiate the violence on their own? Was the violence on account of or despite the directives of the synod? Certainly, the Abp didn’t order any killings, as the text I quoted above seems to say.
He was not directly responsible (that would mean he’d have to be there or specifically ordered assassinations, which no one’s claimed), but it’s a little disingenuous to imply he wasn’t involved.
I’m not implying that the Abp or synod had no responsibility for what took place, I’m only seeking more information about what took place (who gave what orders, the involvement of the state/police vs. the Abp/synod, etc.).
Hmmm, let’s see, a bunch of Police are going for a joy ride and decide to attack Frs. Matthew and Christopher at a church for no apparent reason.
How did they know what Church to go to? Why this particular Church? Well Fr Matthew’s presence there is most telling, considering he was fast becoming the leader of the GOC after he left Athos in 1926.
So, the police show up at the church that happens to be hosting the priest who was perhaps the most active and most widely travelled in the Entire GOC and who is considered by this time to be a key leader. Sorry, the rancid stink of Chrysostomos Papadopolous is all over this.
And let’s not forget, Fr Matthew, Archbishop Chrysostomos and Meletius Metaxakis were all classmates in Jerusalem. They w
“Old Calendarists were harassed by both the official church and the state under the republican government.” From the below linked to book. Also, in the video above is another example of the common practice in Istanbul of commemorating heretical leaders (which you said was only an ‘isolated’ incident, when video footage of it was exposed a few years ago).
Also, if you ever read the Greek wiki article on it, which confirms what I’ve always heard, what was mentioned in the historical study that touches on it, it mentions that, just as often, the government didn’t want to have any violent intervention, but the ‘official church’ was often involved in getting police to engage in violent behaviour.
http://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%9F%CF%81%CE%B8%CF%8C%CE%B4%CE%BF%CE%BE%CE%BF%CE%B9_%CE%A0%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%B1%CE%B9%CE%BF%CE%B7%CE%BC%CE%B5%CF%81%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%B3%CE%AF%CF%84%CE%B5%CF%82
There’s plenty of evidence. We’ve been reporting on it for the better part of a decade.
Not so isolated, it seems.
Can you point out when in the video the Pope is commemorated in the Divine Liturgy?
It is time indexed at 18:12. You can clearly hear the commemoration of Francis before Bartholomew.