Question 11

Despite the account of the Apostolic Succession of the Hierarchy of the Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece from the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, are not the Consecrations from the Russian Hierarchs still of questionable nature, since they were done in secret? How can these acts be justified?

It is actually quite hypocritical that the New Calendar Churches, which have transgressed every Holy Canon forbidding prayer with the heterodox and which split the Eastern Orthodox Church into Old Calendar and New Calendar halves through the very introduction of the New Calendar, demand exactness of the law from the Greek Old Calendarists in this matter. While this is a strategy of the adversaries of the Greek Old Calendar movement to prove that the Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece does not have legitimate Hierarchical Consecrations, the adherents of this position fail miserably in their proof, because they consider neither Church history nor the writings of the Holy Fathers. Strict application of the Holy Canons only applies to peaceful periods in the life of the Church and not to periods of persecution. There have been many instances throughout Church history when out of necessity, on account of heresies, there were deviations from canonical exactitude, as can be seen in the lives of Saint Eusebios of Samosata († 379), Saint John Chrysostomos, Saint John of Gothia († ca. 791), and many others. Throughout Church history, during times of need, even Consecrations held outside of a Hierarch’s territory and in a different ecclesiastical jurisdiction were fully justified and accepted….