Old Calendarists
This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (November 2021) |
Regions with significant populations | |
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Greece | 250 000–2 million (1991);[1] 500 000–800 000 (2005)[2] |
Romania | 1 million (1991);[1] over 1 million (1999)[3] |
USA | at least 2,000 (2011)[4] |
Religions | |
Christianity (Eastern Orthodoxy) |
Part of a series on the |
Eastern Orthodox Church |
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Overview |
Old Calendarists (
Terminology
Mainstream Eastern Orthodox Christians which use the old (Julian) calendar are not what is designated by the expression "Old Calendarist", because they remain in communion with the Eastern Orthodox churches that use the new calendar (the Revised Julian calendar). Old Calendarists have severed communion with the mainstream Eastern Orthodox which follow the old calendar, because the latter maintained communion with Eastern Orthodox churches which had adopted the revised calendar. Thus, to be "Old Calendarist" is not the same thing as only following the old calendar. The Russian Orthodox Church, for instance, is not Old Calendarist, but follows the old (Julian) calendar.[10]
History
Background
Until 1924, the
1923 Congress
In May 1923, the
Birth
Greece
In 1924, the Church of Greece adopted the Revised Julian calendar, also called 'New calendar'. "At first, resistance to the New Calendar was muted". The Old Calendarists in Greece were at first a small number of laymen, priests and monks, whose number grew over the years.[9][13]
Before they were joined by bishops, the Old Calendarist movement in Greece was only composed of priests and laypeople, of which "several hundreds monks from Athos".[9]
In 1935, three bishops of the Church of Greece joined the movement and consecrated four new bishops for the movement.[13][9] Of those three bishops, Metropolitan Chrysostomos (Kavourides) of Florina became the leader of the Greek Old Calendarist movement. Of the three bishops who had joined, Chrysostom of Zakynthos soon left the movement after the consecration and went back to the Church of Greece. Of the four bishops consecrated, two joined the Church of Greece. This left the Greek Old Calendarist movement with four bishops: Chrysostomos of Florina, Germanos of Demetria, Germanos of the Cyclades, and Matthew (Karpoudakis) of Vrestheni. Those remaining four bishops created an Old Calendarist Holy Synod.[14]
While the Greek Old Calendarists were "[o]riginally perhaps a million strong", they were severely persecuted by the State of Greece; Metropolitan Chrysostomos was imprisoned in Lesbos in 1951 as part of those persecutions.[14]
Splits
The Greek Old Calendarists experienced schism in 1937, due to a disagreement on the validity of the
After this, Matthew ordained a number of bishops himself, and formed a separate Holy Synod of which he was the head as archbishop of Athens. Matthew died in 1950.[14]
After Chrysostomos' death in 1955, his group had no bishop until 1960, when two bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) consecrated Akakios archbishop. Akakios consecrated other bishops with the participation of another different ROCOR bishop. Akakios was succeeded by Auxentios . Under Auxentios, "complicated patterns of division and realignment occurred both within his own jurisdiction and among the followers of Archbishop Matthew". Due to this, in 1999 there were at least five different Greek Old Calendarist churches, each headed by a different archbishop of Athens. Additionally, there was also a 'Cyprianite' Greek Old Calendarist Church, whose adjective derives from its leader, bishop Cyprian of Oropos and Phyli.[14]
In 1971, the ROCOR tried to unite the factions of Greek Old Calendarists, but failed. In 1999, the most important groups of Greek Old Calendarists were the Chrysostomites, the Matthewites, and the Cyprianites.[9]
Romania
Also in 1924, the
By 1936, many parishes had left the Romanian Orthodox Church to become Old Calendarist, and more than forty new churches had been built for the use of Romanian Old Calendarist communities.[14]
From 1935 and onwards, the Romanian government enacted "drastic measures" aimed to "eradicate organized opposition" to the Romanian Orthodox Church. Due to this, Romanian Old Calendarist churches and monasteries "were razed", and Romanian Old Calendarists activists were incarcerated. "Many, like Abbot Pambo, were killed and Glicherie Tanase was repeatedly imprisoned." Those persecutions went on "until the collapse of the [Romanian] regime at the end of the
In 1955, one bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Galaction Cordun , joined the Old Calendarist movement in Romania.[14] Before they were joined by a bishops, the Old Calendarist movement in Romania was only composed of priests and laypeople, of which "several hundreds monks from Athos".[9]
Metropolitan Galaction, while under house arrest, consecrated other Old Calendarist bishops:[14] Evloghie , Metodie, and Glicherie Tanase.[15] Later, a Holy Synod of the Romanian Old Calendarists was "formally established".[14]
Since the
The Romanian Old Calendarist movement remained united, unlike the Greek Old Calendarist movement.[3]
Metropolitan Galaction was the first head of the Romanian Old Calendarist, until his death in 1959. Galaction was succeeded as head by Tanase, who became the second leader of the Romania Old Calendarist Church, from 1960 until his death in 1985.
Bulgaria
The
Ukraine
The
Intercommunion
In 1977, a declaration of
In 1994, an act establishing communion between the
The Cyprianite Old Calendarist Church severed its communion with the ROCOR in 2005, because they considered the ROCOR was going to enter into a
Demography
In 1999, it was estimated that "[t]here are probably over one million Old Calendarists in Romania, somewhat fewer in Greece, and considerably fewer in Bulgaria, Cyprus, and the [Eastern Orthodox] diaspora."[3]
Categories
There exists two trends within Old Calendarism. The first one is "resistance Old Calendarism", the second is "integrist Old Calendarism".[14]
The first position "expresses resistance to what it sees as unlawful innovation and walls itself off from churches using the
The second position "rejects all
In 1999, it was noted that "a more recent cause of division, especially among Matthewites, is the
Groups
Old Calendarist groups include:
- Greek Old Calendarists, composed of numerous churches of which are:
- Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece (Kallinikos Synod)
- Holy Synod of Milan
- Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of North and South America and the British Isles
- Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece (Matthew Synod)
- Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece (Gregorian Synod)
- Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece (Kirykos Synod)
- Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece of the Patristic Calendar
- Holy Orthodox Church in North America
- Orthodox Church of Greece (Holy Synod in Resistance) (defunct)
- Indonesian Orthodox Church
- Old Calendar Bulgarian Orthodox Church
- Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Romania
See also
- Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar
- Independent sacramental movement
- New Calendarists
- Old Believers
References
- ^ S2CID 144654988– via Springer Link.
- ^ Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | U.S. Department of State Annual Report on International Religious Freedom for 2005 - Greece". Refworld.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4051-6658-4.
- ^ HOCNA adherents, from Krindatch, A. (2011). Atlas of American Orthodox Christian Churches, p. 44. Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press
- ^ ISBN 978-1-85065-705-7.
- ^ "Περισσότερες από 500 επιθέσεις σε θρησκευτικούς χώρους το 2017". Η ΚΑΘΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
- ISBN 978-1-4051-6658-4.
- ^ "Independent Orthodox Churches or the Other Orthodox Family of Churches". Orthodoxy Cognate PAGE - Media Network. 2010-10-23. Archived from the original on 2021-09-06. Retrieved 2021-09-04.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4051-6658-4.
- ISBN 978-1-85065-705-7.
- ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 2018-02-18.
- ISBN 978-1-135-94206-9.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-85065-705-7.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4051-6658-4.
- ^ a b "Mitropolitul Glicherie Tanase va fi canonizat saptamina viitoare". Evenimentul Zilei. 20 June 1999. Archived from the original on 2013-07-05. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
- ^ "Alte stiri". Ziarul de Iași. 29 June 1999. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
- ^ "OCU switches to a new calendar". Istorychna Pravda (in Ukrainian). 24 May 2023. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
- ^ "Ukraine's Orthodox Church, Greek Catholic Church start dialogue on church calendar reform". Interfax-Ukraine. 26 December 2022. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
- ^ "The Holy Synod in Resistance and Her [sic] Attitude Towards the Union of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad with the Moscow Patriarchate" (PDF).
- ^ "Русская зарубежная церковь прекратила общение с греческим "Синодом противостоящих" и сделала еще один шаг навстречу Московскому патриархату". www.interfax-religion.ru. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
Further reading
- ISBN 978-0-911165-33-3.
- Moss, Vladimir (2001). A Short History of the True Orthodox Church of Greece (1970-2000).
- Епископ Атанасије (2004). Заблуде расколника тзв. "старокалендараца". Требиње – Врњци: Братство Св. Симеона Мироточивог.
- Слесарев А. В. [in Russian] (2009). Старостильный раскол в истории Православной Церкви (1924—2008). Moscow: Изд-во Крутицкого подворья. Общество любителей церковной истории.
- Бочков П. В., свящ. Обзор неканонических православных юрисдикций XX—XXI вв.: монография. В 4 т. — Т. 4: Греческий старостильный раскол. — 2-е изд., испр. и доп. — СПб.: Своё издательство, 2018. — 282 с.
- Speake, Graham (2021-01-31). "Old Calendarists". Encyclopedia of Greece and the Hellenic Tradition. Routledge. pp. 1169–70. ISBN 978-1-135-94206-9.
- Kurian, George Thomas; Lamport, Mark A., eds. (2016). "Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of America". Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States. Vol. 5. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 575–6. ISBN 978-1-4422-4432-0.
- Roberson, Ronald. "The Old Calendar Orthodox Churches". The Eastern Christian Churches: A Brief Survey (7th ed.). Retrieved 2021-12-02 – via CNEWA.
- "Report to the Episcopal Conference Concerning Accusations of ROCOR Interference in the Affairs of the Church of Greece". ROCOR Studies. 2021-03-15. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
Publications by Old Calendarist clergy on the subject
- Cyprian of Oropos and Fili (1982). "The True Orthodox Christians of Romania". The Orthodox Word. 18 (1 (102)). Platina, CA: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood: 5–15.
- The Struggle Against Ecumenism: The History of the True Orthodox Church of Greece from 1924 to 1994. Boston, MA: ISBN 978-0-943405-09-4.
- Chrysostomos; Akakios (November 1, 1991). "The old calendarists: A social psychological profile of a Greek Orthodox minority". Pastoral Psychology. 40 (2): 83–91. S2CID 144654988– via Springer Link.
- The Ecclesiological Position of the Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria Archived 2013-10-05 at the Wayback Machine, by Bishop Photii of Triaditsa