What follows is an excerpt from Blessed Elder Philotheos Zervakos, Vol. 11 in the Modern Orthodox Saints series by Dr. Constantine Cavarnos (pp. 69-75). The title of this excerpt is not in the original, but was added by the webmaster for posting...
Blessed Philotheos reposed in the Lord at 6:00 in the morning of May 8 according to the New Calendar, and April 25th according to the Old [1980]. In accordance with the instructions he had given, both oral and in writing, his funeral service was performed in the church of the Monastery of Longovarda, and then his body was taken to the great Byzantine Church of Ekatontapyliani in Paroikia, the capital of Paros, to be saluted by his countless spiritual children and people in general. After this, his body was taken back to the Convent at Thapsana. There it was buried in the tomb which the holy Elder had constructed long before his repose adjacent to the Chapel of his Spiritual Father St. Nectarios which he erected in 1969-1970.
The burial was performed by Archimandrite Dionysios of the Athonite Monastery of Simonopetra—the same monk who had confessed him on April 25. Father Dionysios—now Abbot of Holy Cross Monastery in Jerusalem was asked to do this by Blessed Philotheos at the time when he was confessed. The reason for his choosing Archimandrite Dionysios for these two extremely important sacred events was not only the fact that Dionysios was a very dear and very devout spiritual son of his, but also the fact that as a monk of the Holy Mountain of Athos he followed the Old Calendar.
Here it must be explained that from the time when the New Calendar was introduced into the Church of Constantinople in 1924 by Patriarch Meletios Metaxakis and soon after into the Church of Greece by the Archbishop of Athens and of all Greece Chrysostomos Papadopoulos, the holy Elder strongly protested against this arbitrary innovation. He protested because it resulted in the split of the Church into hostile groups: the New Calendarists and the Old Calendarists. He wrote many personal as well as open letters of strong protest to Orthodox Church leaders and also a substantial pamphlet on the Calendar problem, asking them to bring back the Old Calendar into the Church and thereby unite it. But they ignored his strong protests and entreaties. He was deeply troubled as he saw year after year his hope of such a thing happening not being fulfilled; and seeing, moreover, that the calendar innovation had opened the door to other very serious innovations under the name of "Ecumenism"—such as despising holy canons of the Church and placing "sentimental brotherly love" or pseudo love in opposition to the Truth.
As a result, in his last years he decided to have the Monastery of Longovarda proceed to follow the Old Calendar. However, the ranking monk Father Leontios—who for decades had acted as abbot whenever Blessed Philotheos was away—unyieldingly dissented. He pointed out that this would have grave consequences for the monastery, would cause turmoil on the island, whose churches were all under the authority of a New Calendarist bishop, and would create serious problems for those of his spiritual children who were members of New Calendarist churches. There was the likelihood that the monks of the Monastery of Longovarda would be expelled from it by the police at the request of the local bishop, if they persisted in the return to the Old Calendar.
As a result, in his last years he decided to have the Monastery of Longovarda proceed to follow the Old Calendar. However, the ranking monk Father Leontios—who for decades had acted as abbot whenever Blessed Philotheos was away—unyieldingly dissented. He pointed out that this would have grave consequences for the monastery, would cause turmoil on the island, whose churches were all under the authority of a New Calendarist bishop, and would create serious problems for those of his spiritual children who were members of New Calendarist churches. There was the likelihood that the monks of the Monastery of Longovarda would be expelled from it by the police at the request of the local bishop, if they persisted in the return to the Old Calendar.
The holy Elder found himself in the painful dilemma of either introducing the traditional, Old Calendar into the Monastery and facing the anticipated disastrous consequences of this act, or letting the Monastery continue to follow the New Calendar, the introduction of which has split the Church into groups hostile to each other. He resolved the problem for himself personally by choosing as his final Confessor a very pious priest-monk who followed the Old Calendar as do all the monks of the Holy Mountain and also entrusting this same priest to bury his holy body, thus ending his earthly life as a follower of the traditional calendar.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment