What do the Matthewites believe?

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haralampopoulosjc
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What do the Matthewites believe?

Post by haralampopoulosjc »

The most common position among members of the mainline Matthewite synod (the GOC-Stephanos) is that only our synod has grace. The ROCOR is considered by most to have been a schismatic body, which we erroneously entered into communion with under the misapprehension that they were True Orthodox. As for the Catacomb Church in Russia, only the communities under Fr. Epiphanius Chernov, who entered into communion with the synod in the 1980s, are considered canonical. We are also in communion with some Seraphimo-Gennadites in Georgia. Esphigmenou is a touchy topic, since they've only ever been in communion with the Florinites, but there's a great reluctance to label them as graceless or "outside of the Church" since that would be very unpopular. 90% of the True Orthodox of Cyprus are of the Matthewite persuasion, since Bishop Spyridon of Trimythus was the first Genuine Orthodox bishop consecrated for the island by Saint Matthew the New Confessor. Today, the autocephalous Genuine Orthodox Church of Cyprus is composed of a minor synod of three bishops, who are in communion with the Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece under Archbishop Stephanos of Athens.

Keep in mind these are not necessarily my own personal views, just the general opinion, as far as I can tell, among most of the members of the synod.

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BenjaminMcCraw
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Re: What do the Matthewites believe?

Post by BenjaminMcCraw »

A few questions if you dont mind. Were you raised a part of this synod or did you join it later and why? Given your best guess how would priests from this synod treat a layman of a different synod visiting their church for example in America, Canada, the UK, Australia, Greece, or Cyprus? I expect to be travelling frequently due to my work and I have love for all true orthodox. Would I be welcomed or shut out? Why is your synod not in communion with ROAC? I know to the best of my knowledge that ROAC would have no issue at all agreeing to the statement of faith the Matthewites asked Rocor for in the 1970's. As far as I can tell there is no disagreement in faith.

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haralampopoulosjc
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Re: What do the Matthewites believe?

Post by haralampopoulosjc »

@BenjaminMcCraw

I was born, baptized, and raised in the synod. If a layman from a different synod wanted to visit one of our churches, they would be welcome to attend the divine liturgy, but would not be communed. I'm not even sure if they would be able to receive antidoron.

Out of all the other True Orthodox synods, I would say that the ROAC is the closest to us in our confession of faith and the most likely synod to unite with us in the future. What's preventing that at this point is that our former Metropolitan Anthony Gavalas of Blessed Memory had a falling out with his (then) close friend Fr. (now Bishop) Andrei Maklakov, who was a member of our synod at one point. I'm not sure what they disagreed on, but needless to say, Bishop Andrei is very much opposed to unity between our two synods. I'm not sure why.

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Re: What do the Matthewites believe?

Post by haralampopoulosjc »

It's also a misconception that the Matthewites have always been stricter than all the other TO synods on who they commune. I've read that several Matthewite clergy continued to commune laymen from the ROCOR and Florinites well after we broke communion with them in 1976. This probably continued well into the 1980s and even the early 90s.

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Re: What do the Matthewites believe?

Post by BenjaminMcCraw »

It's a shame that I wouldn't be able to commune, but due to church politics I understand and i dont hold it against anyone. It will be my joy to attend liturgy with your synod in my travels.

It would be great news to see your synods reunite! If it is God's will may it happen soon. Any unity based on truth and love among those that confess true orthodox is a joyful occasion to me.

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haralampopoulosjc
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Re: What do the Matthewites believe?

Post by haralampopoulosjc »

BenjaminMcCraw wrote: Tue 26 August 2025 2:16 pm

It's a shame that I wouldn't be able to commune, but due to church politics I understand and i dont hold it against anyone. It will be my joy to attend liturgy with your synod in my travels.

It would be great news to see your synods reunite! If it is God's will may it happen soon. Any unity based on truth and love among those that confess true orthodox is a joyful occasion to me.

Let's all pray for True Orthodox unity!

For reference, here's a website with a list of our parishes worldwide: gocinna.com

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Re: What do the Matthewites believe?

Post by sojourning_one »

haralampopoulosjc wrote: Tue 26 August 2025 2:03 pm

It's also a misconception that the Matthewites have always been stricter than all the other TO synods on who they commune. I've read that several Matthewite clergy continued to commune laymen from the ROCOR and Florinites well after we broke communion with them in 1976. This probably continued well into the 1980s and even the early 90s.

Would it be possible to get some verifiable testimonies of this?

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