A Vesperal Homily of Patriarch Diodoros I
The following address, translated from the Greek, was
delivered by His Beatitude, Patriarch Diodoros I of Jerusalem at
the Sunday afternoon Vespers on the Feast Day of the Holy
Monastery of Sts. Cyprian and Justina in Fili, Greece, October 2
(15), 1989. It is an inspiring message of encouragement to our
Synod [The True (Old Calendarist) Orthodox Church of Greece;
St. Gregory Palamas in Etna, CA and the Center for Traditionalist
Orthodox Studies, etc.] and its President, Metropolitan
Cyprian. Patriarch Diodoros has recently added his voice to those
of us resisting the erosion of our Church's witness in the face
of political ecumenism and its threats against the integrity of
our Faith. His strong and courageous stand is one which we must
all admire, and his generous praise of our Synod's efforts for
the Church gives us hope that he will continue forth in his
protest and stand with us in spirit in our difficult struggle.
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Most Reverend Metropolitan Cyprian, Right Reverend Hierarchs
of the Church, beloved children in Christ:
It is with special joy and emotion that I find myself in this
holy place, on the occasion of the celebration of the Feast Day
of Saints Cyprian and Justina. My joy and emotion are especially
great because I am in the midst of Bishops and Priests who, in
the course of the last decade, have spread the light of Orthodoxy
to nearly every continent: to Europe, Africa, America, and
wherever there exists an opportunity to proclaim the Orthodox
Church. Thanks to the labors of the Most Reverend Metropolitan
Cyprian and his Bishops, the voice of Orthodoxy has reached the
most distant corners of the world.
My dear Christians, I arrived here in our beloved homeland a
few days ago for personal reasons and because of certain concerns
of the Patriarchate. I considered it my duty, therefore, to come
today to celebrate with you and to congratulate Metropolitan
Cyprian on his Name Day.
Certainly you know the situation in Jerusalem today. Jerusalem
is struggling. Jerusalem is the Church from which the Holy
Apostles were sent to preach the Gospel of our Lord to all the
world. She is the mother of the Churches, having as her sacred
duty the maintenance of Orthodox teaching, which she received
from the Lord, in pure and unadulterated form. As you know, she
is the only Church which can boast in the Lord of having been
established by the Founder of our religion. He celebrated the
first Liturgy in Jerusalem at the Mystical Supper. He sanctified
its land by His presence; through His teaching in its abodes, He
saved the human race, cleansing mankind from the sin of Adam
through His death on the Cross. Yet the Holy Land is always in
the midst of persecutions. For almost two thousand years, the
Church of Jerusalem has been struggling to keep pure the
teachings and Traditions of Orthodoxy, to hold to the Canons of
the Church, and to preserve the teachings which we received from
Christ and the Apostles.
The ecumenical movement, with its dialogues—the only aim
of which is to eat away at our Church—, today seeks to
subjugate Orthodoxy to the commands of Papism and ecumenism. It
has for many years been working to destroy Orthodoxy in the Holy
Land. But the Holy Sepulchre and God—Who has protected the
Church of Jerusalem for so many centuries in the face of so many
perils—have always saved Orthodoxy from every danger. Never,
during its two thousand years of Christian history, has Jerusalem
known a permanent ruler or conqueror. There have passed satraps,
kings and governors. But all of these have gone, and there remain
but the one hundred Greek Orthodox monks who act as vigilant
guardians of our holy heritage.
It is regrettable that, for decades now, nominally in order
not to disturb the unity of the Orthodox Church, Jerusalem has
followed the other Churches by participating in ecumenical
dialogues, though without, of course, having been influenced or
dominated in any way. Nonetheless, her presence in these
dialogues provided certain parties with an opportunity to stress
that the Patriarchate of Jerusalem was also a participant. What
we have observed with sadness is the fearful exploitation of
these dialogues by heretics. They exploit our Faithful, trying by
every means to convert them. They produce photographs showing the
Pope with our Patriarchs and Bishops, claiming that union has
already been achieved: "Do not listen to your Bishops. The
union has already been accomplished and the Orthodox Church has
joined the Roman Catholic Church"—union, perhaps, in
the sense that the ecumenists understand it: as subjugation.
We have thus pondered our responsibilities toward God, toward
the Church, toward Orthodoxy, toward history itself, and toward
our traditional right to the Holy Land. And with enlightenment
from God, we have decided to cease every dialogue between the
Patriarchate and the heterodox churches, since no positive result
has emerged from so many years of contact. We have announced this
decision to our Sister Churches. And we are obliged and committed
to hold to this decision and to continue, as far as possible,
until the other Orthodox Churches acknowledge, before God, their
responsibilities to Orthodoxy and to history and cease every
contact with the heterodox.
As you know, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem follows the
traditional Old Calendar. It has never changed, and will never
change, in the slightest the teachings, Canons, and doctrines of
our Church. It will preserve them at any price. We will labor,
even with sacrifice, to maintain them. The threats which are
every day directed against us and the actions of our opponents do
not frighten us. We shall remain unshaken guardians, faithful to
the doctrines of the Church.
I thank the Most Reverend Metropolitan and I pray that God,
through the intercessions of St. Cyprian, will grant him
strength, health, and patience in carrying his Cross for the
glory of Orthodoxy. I bring to all of you the blessing of the
Holy Sepulchre, Golgotha, and the Sacred Cave, and I pray that
God may always strengthen protect, and establish you in the Faith
of our Fathers. Many Years!
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