Τhe need for internal purge of the Church
and the danger of demolition of the institutions
due to the systematic attack against Her
Address of His Beatitude Christodoulos,
Archbishop of Athens and All Greece,
in the Holy Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God
of the Holy Monastery at Penteli.
I feel the need to thank from my heart the Builder of our Church, Lord Jesus Christ, Saviour and Redeemer of our souls, who granted us this day of spiritual recreation, as the entire Holy Synod, other Hierarchs, the honourable Clergy, the Professors of our Faculties of Theology, the students of the Higher Ecclesiastical School of Athens and other people, pilgrims of this Holy and Venerable Monastery, have gathered around the Holy Altar for this Eucharistic Synaxis, and have been offered from the Lord the opportunity to eat and drink the blood of Christ for the remission of our sins and eternal life.
This is indeed not a unique but an exceptional opportunity, because this day of commemoration of the Holy Photios, Patriarch of Constantinople, Confessor and Equal to the Apostles, has been established by the Most Holy Church of Greece as a day dedicated to this Saint, who is regarded as a patron of the Church of Greece. Most particularly, it is an opportunity for the Synodal Hierarchs and other Bishops of our Church, the Clergy, the Most Learned Professors of our Ecclesiastical Schools to convene for the same purpose, so that we may all, with the people of God, pray together and then reflect together on topical and serious issues, which preoccupy the Church and our People. And of course we shall subsequently have the opportunity to reflect together, in the great Hall of the Inter-Orthodox Centre, so as to complete thus this day of celebration, which began with a Synodal Divine Liturgy and ends with the material meal, extended by the Holy Synod to Its distinguished guests.
However, this day is certainly overshadowed by a heavy climate, which, for almost a month now, has prevailed in our country over all other topics and issues, and is related to internal problems of our Holy Church and to sins of some of Her ministers of the highest rank but also of other ranks, something which fills our souls with grief and anxiety, with repentance, I would say, and with the urgent sense of a need for real purge within the realm of the Church, as this word is on the lips of most faithful. The word “purge” (catharsis, in Greek) and the notion it denotes represent an inner need of all men, and indeed of the faithful. As is known, the highest body of administration of our Church, namely the Standing Holy Synod, has already taken the appropriate first steps towards the internal purge of the people of the Church, because It believes that, in this way, It responds to the public request of our people, and of course to the request of our Lord, who gave us His Church with no taint nor wrinkle nor anything of that kind, for She is holy and immaculate.
Naturally, we, who study Ecclesiastic History, know that throughout the centuries there have been men who served the Church not only faithfully to their oath, as most, but in a manner befitting their high authority and their elevated positions in the Church. But throughout the centuries there have also been those who scandalized the faithful and caused problems within the Church, which affect the consciences of those faithful who have, in a way, identified the notion of the Church with the bearers of ecclesiastical ministration or even of ecclesiastical power.
However, even though the Holy Synod has taken, as I said, the appropriate measures, a heavy climate still lingers in our Church and in our country, indeed in an artificial or even provocative manner, by those who supposedly come, in the name of purge, to reveal all sorts of incidents, sometimes real and sometimes invented, by which they claim to seek the internal purge of the Church.
But the purge of the Church cannot of course go through the vilification of persons, because the persons, sinful though they may be, do not cease to have their personal dignity. This is particularly true of bishops, who preside over local Churches and are, they too, human beings, only flesh and blood, and live in this world, despite the fact that they should be distinguished from all other men, not by their saintliness or the absence of sin from their lives but by the attentiveness and the spiritual struggle that they must put up at every moment of their lives so that they may set a good example for imitation.
Even so, we all of us wonder what aim this daily traducement serves, this animosity not just against people of the Church but against the Church Herself. What is the point in announcing these so-called “revelations” which are about to be made? Do they not create an atmosphere of blackmail? Do they not raise as many questions in people’s hearts? Do they not make certain people hostages of those who announce scandals and the publicisation of these scandals? Is this how the purge will be achieved? Through the vilification of persons? And not by measures of “internal combustion”, so to speak, measures, that is, by which the Church Herself is able to purge Herself and has the ability to expel from among Her members those who have proved to be guilty. Because, my dear brothers, we live in times during which slander, calumny, the malignity of people often lead them to extremes, and it is only later that they realise how unjust, in certain cases of course, this animosity they showed was.
What we are dealing with here is a generalised, systematic, directed attack, I would say an assault, mounted against the Church, at a time indeed when this country and this people need spiritual support most and when the attempted demolition of faith both in God and in the people of the Church risks having fatal effects on people’s hearts. I first am the standard-bearer of internal purge, which I have also proposed to the Holy Synod, but this is one thing and what we live every day is quite another: what we live is the destruction, essentially, in people’s souls, of the spiritual symbol that the Church is, of a realm which is theandric and which the people of our times look up to. Naturally, after the event, when institutions will have been demolished, it will be pointless to weep on their ruins. It is now that one must react, not merely by invoking the law, which of course is provocatively broken by all those who surreptitiously tape and steal conversations and commit other offences condemned by the law, indeed explicitly referred to and qualified as criminal offences, but by invoking conscience, which is mercilessly attacked without anyone’s knowing where this evil will lead to and where it will end.
Moreover, you see that all this time, almost every evening, Greeks have to watch details and reportages from the private life of this or the other person of the Church and, as a result, have abandoned all other major topical issues. National issues, such as the Aegean or Cyprus, social issues, such as the agricultural, the journalistic, so many other issues which subsist and from which not only social peace but also our national integrity are threatened. This is where we have come to, to put forward the torments of the Church in order to disorient and distract the people from its everyday problems.
And who is hiding behind this attack against the Church at a time which is certainly critical, when unemployment is soaring, poverty is visiting many households, most of which are heavily indebted? At a time when we should be concentrating on ourselves in order to face and deal with our problems? Was this what this land was lacking? Was this attack one of paramount priority? Let me repeat at this point, so that I not be misunderstood, I first am the standard-bearer of internal purge and with me the entire Standing Holy Synod, which unanimously made the decisions known. For the rest, what is the point in following such tactics, which both demolish the institutions and vilify the persons, and finally weaken faith. Is this where they wish to lead us to, those hiding behind this staged affair? I mean, staged as regards its presentation. Because the Church possesses no convincing evidence on the basis of which She could take the course that is proper in such cases.
This is why a few days ago the Holy Synod renewed and reiterated one of Its older decisions, namely to invite those of the faithful who may know anything against any minister of the Church to come forward and denounce it responsibly and by name, instead of spreading rumours in coffee-houses or in squares or in social gatherings; by name and responsibly, and with their signature on written documents. Then, should the Church quail, should the Church remain indifferent, then we shall of course deserve this traducement. Nonetheless, our Church does not only have these few persons, which today figure and move in the limelight.
Our Church has hundreds and thousands of clergymen, who are dedicated to their activities, who offer spiritual, social and charitable services to our people. Our people goes to Churches and to its shepherds and confides its passions and its problems in us and we embrace it spiritually, so that our embrace may hold “the sufferings of the world”, as the Greek 19th-century writer Papadiamantis would say, so that we may give solutions to the problems, relieve families, feed the hungry, dress the naked and the homeless, preserve human personality unsullied, uphold the value of man as the image of God on earth. Why should all this be forgotten and why should no one speak of it?
Recently, on the occasion of the great biblical disaster which hit the countries of Southeastern Asia, the Church of Greece was the first to send out humanitarian aid and subsequently this aid, thanks to the support of our entire people grew into becoming tons of such aid. A first lighter left, carrying 700 tons, another left on the day before yesterday carrying another 700 tons, next week a third one will be sailing with another 700 tons of humanitarian aid, and is this all? This is recent and this is why we remember it, but there is a whole network of services offered to this people of ours, with which our Church has been moulded together, and all this must not be forgotten just because it is not referred to. Why indeed is this not referred to? Why has no television journalist ever been occupied with all this work in one of his or her programmes, I ask, why? Why should the world not know what the Church offers to this land? And if there are or there were some perjurers, should the entire fabric of the Church and the faith of the people collapse? Faith, of course, is so deeply rooted that it can neither fade away nor collapse. However, it is the people’s confidence in the holy Clergy that is in trouble at this moment. May I repeat, though, that it is unfair, when it is known that, in all ranks of the clergy, from the highest to the lowest, there are persons which are God-loved and God-loving and popular, that is with a disposition and a consciousness of popularity and familiarity towards our people, which often knocks on our doors. At this point I must tell you what I said at some other time, with reference to a certificate I issued when I was still Metropolitan of Demetrias, namely that we are neither public prosecutors nor lawyers or politicians; we are not policemen, we are spiritual fathers following the example of our Lord, who conversed with the sinners of His time, with whores, sinful persons and publicans and deemed a robber worthy of being the first to enter the Paradise.
Let them come forth and speak now, all those who have received our benefaction; let them come and speak up, all those to whom we found jobs, the ailing whom we sent to hospitals abroad so that they may be cured; let the young come forth and speak of the scholarships we have been granting to them for years now so that they may complete their studies; let them come forth and speak, who are sustained daily by the common meals of the Church. Who, among those who judge us, and indeed so unfairly, have ever offered anything of what I have just evinced to the men and women of our people?
We are not averse to criticism, as long as this latter is kept within certain bounds of decency. It is not decent to present reprehensible conversations on television, even with the hypocritical use of the indication “unsuitable for children”, just to cover oneself. Who do they present all this to? Are we so naive as to believe it? Are we so naive as to believe that they truly love the Church? Is this how one loves the Church? By vilifying Her all around the country and even abroad? The newspapers of Europe and of the Americas report that there is an earthquake going on here, that the Church collapses, that She is involved in financial and other scandals. Where didi they see all this? I repeat: we are not saints, there are certainly problems within the Church caused by people of the Church, but the Church is still here. With Her love and with truth, not with the prosecutor’s rod, She is willing to give solutions to these problems, this is what our Lord has taught us. Forgiveness and leniency are Her distinctive features and we should not abandon them. These are the weapons for our battle and it is with these weapons that we are able to face all situations, so that we may both satisfy the public sentiment and subsequently purify and cleanse ourselves innerly, with a view to expelling from inside our family those who may have sinned but do not repent.
My dear ones, I had to tell you all this, because, as I said to the Holy Synod as well, “my soul is mournful to death” and I mean this; you may often see it on my face, too, because I too, as Archbishop and President of this Church, am exposed to the sensory overload from what takes place around me. Even though I cannot be held responsible for other people and it is not possible for me to watch everything that happens over the entire extent of our Church, I would like to declare that I am determined to proceed to purge in the Church. If I do not see documents, if I do not see proofs, if I do not see signatures of people responsibly and consciously deposing any evidence that they allegedly possess, I shall not believe what is sometimes heard irresponsibly here and there about supposedly corrupted persons within the Church.
My dear ones, I would like to assure you of all that I have just told you but also to call upon all of you and upon those who are listening from the media. Lean upon faith and upon the Church. Come closer to us, now that we are fighting for the internal purge of the Church, together with us you too, who care for this land. Support the authority of the Church, because difficult times are ahead and when the institutions, first among which is the Church, will no longer stand at the appropriate height but will have received overwhelming blows, then we shall be mourning, because we shall no longer have the strength we need so as to face united this bout, this thrust of problems on our doorstep. I do not wish to be a prophet of disaster but just to analyse the events, as surely you are doing, too. I see difficult times coming. We must really preserve our conscience and thus united in faith to claim the support of this nation. I shall also call upon those who threaten and often blackmail and already announce for the future, what they will supposedly reveal, thus causing problems to the Eparchies of the Bishops and filling men’s hearts with anxiety, I ask those people to put an end to this tactics. Our people can take no more of this. Our people is religious. Our people believes. Our people must have confidence in its spiritual and ecclesiastic leadership, which fulfils its duty being always aware of the seriousness of the problems and of its responsibility to history, to the past, the present and the future.
Through the intercession of our Holy Father Photios, Patriarch of Constantinople, Equal to the Apostles and Confessor, may God’s Grace and great mercy be with you all. Amen.
