Archbishop Leonty (+1971) and the Greek Old Calendarists [part 4]

 (Continue from here)

Archbishop Leonty at the river Zygactes (in which St. Lydia of Philippi was baptized by Apostle Paul), May 14/26, 1962.

Tour of Northern Greece and the Restoration of the Hierarchy of the Old Calendarists

Archbishop Leonty expressed his desire to visit Thessaloniki, Philippi, and Mount Athos. However, before his departure, he requested a clerical assembly, saying, "Gather the leaders of the clergy and laity, choose someone unanimously, anyone, and I promise to consecrate him." [1] The clerical and lay leadership assembled and convened at the offices of the Old Calendarists (32 Kaniggos Street, Athens), and unanimously elected the Athonite Hieromonk Fr. George of Provata. [2]

A relevant protocol was drafted, which was signed by Bishop Akakios of Talantion and the clergy and lay representatives of the P.T.E.O.K., and it was entrusted to Komnios (who had been appointed as Archbishop Leonty’s companion on the trip to Northern Greece) for its delivery to Fr. George.

Left: The Blessed Father George of Provata (+1997). Right: The late Constantine Komnios (+1992). 

In the meantime, the secret of Archbishop Leonty’s arrival had started to spread, and there was a risk of his being apprehended by the police, which could have led to the cancellation of the consecrations, which was to give new life to the Church of the True Orthodox, something neither the New Calendarists nor the Matthewites wanted (each for their own reasons).

Taking this into consideration, Archbishop Leonty, seeing that the proposed candidate was outside of Athens, agreed with Bishop  Akakios of Talantion to secretly consecrate Fr. Parthenios so that in case he is arrested and deported, there would be a safety net, and his trip to Greece would not be in vain. The ordination of Fr. Parthenios, with the title "of the Cyclades," took place at the Holy Chapel of Saint Menas in the Monastery of Saint Nicholas in Paiania on the evening of Wednesday of Mid-Pentecost, the eve of the commemoration of Holy Hieromartyr Mocios (Thursday, May 11/24). On that evening, Fr. Petros Astyfides, who was literally on the other side of the world (in Astoria, USA) and completely unaware of the event, had a significant dream that revealed the joyous occasion of this consecration. In a letter to Akakios of Talantion (dated May 11/24, the day after the consecration!), Fr. Petros wrote: "Yesterday, on Mid-Pentecost, I saw you in my dream. You were performing a service, and I was present in the church. During the recitation of 'Let us love one another,' you embraced me ten times. A strange dream."

The beginning of Fr. Petros' letter to Bishop Akakios (May 11/24, 1962). 

On Saturday, May 13/26, Archbishop Leonty and Constantine Komnios arrived in Thessaloniki, where they were welcomed by the President of the local Community of Old Calendarists, Elias Nikolopoulos, along with the blessed priest and struggler, Fr. Stylianos Mousas. [3]

Outside the byzantine church of the Holy Apostles of Thessaloniki (May 1962). From the left: The vicar of the church Fr. Constantine Papagiannis (known for his relationship with Byzantine Music), Archbishop Leonty and Fr. Stylianos Mousas.

Immediately after arriving in Thessaloniki, Komnios hurriedly departed for Mount Athos. On the one hand, he intended to deliver the Protocol to Fr. George, and on the other hand, he aimed to find a way to fulfill the desire of Archbishop Leonty to enter Mount Athos or at least to go on a tour around the Holy Mountain. He returned to Thessaloniki on Monday evening, while Archbishop Leonty had also come back from Ancient Philippi, where he had gone with Fr. Stylianos for a pilgrimage to Saint Lydia, who was baptized there by the Apostle Paul in the river Zygactes.

On Tuesday, May 16/29, Archbishop Leonty, along with Constatine Komnios, departed from Thessaloniki for Tripiti in Halkidiki. There, they boarded a motorboat for their tour around Mount Athos. At the Monastery of Saint Paul, Fr. George of Provata also boarded with Fr. Panteleimon Nannopoulos, who prevented the captain from approaching the arsana (harbor) because there were gendarmes there. After a brief stop at the cell of Mylopotamos, the tour was eventually completed, and they returned to Thessaloniki. [4]

The next day Archimandrite Chrysostomos Naslimes called from Volos to the offices of the Community in Thessaloniki to have a conversation with President Elias Nikolopoulos. By a happy coincidence, Archbishop Leonty was also at the Offices, who asked to speak with him "and promised him that on his way down he would pass through Volos". [5]

Indeed, on their way back, they passed through Volos, where Archbishop Leonty had the opportunity to meet Fr. Chrysostomos Naslimes and assess his character, which endowed him with many gifts. For this reason, he decided to ask him to come down to Athens with him, with the intention of consecrating him as Bishop.

Meanwhile, in Athens, there were certain proceedings regarding the issue of consecrations. The three theologians of the Old Calendarists, Stavros Karamitsos, Dionysios Batistatos, and Panagiotis Vrettakos, had sent a letter (May 13/26) to Bishop Akakios of Talantion in which they requested the convening of the Boards of Directors of the Organizations to nominate 5 archimandrites and other suitable candidates, and some names were proposed.

Archbishop Leonty, on the one hand, taking into account both the resolutions of the Clerical Conferences and the above proposal (given that neither the one he proposed, Komnios, nor the one elected by the clergy and the people, Archimandrite George of Provata, agreed to be ordained [6]), and on the other hand, based on his own judgment, decided to proceed with three consecrations.

He arrived in Athens from Volos, together with Fr. Chrysostomos Naslimes, on Thursday May 18/31. At the Railway Station, he was welcomed by Old Calendarist clergy, with whom he went to Komnios’s house, while he sent Fr. Chrysostomos to the Monastery of Saint Nicholas in Paiania to prepare. From Komnios’s house, in the early hours of Friday, Archbishop Leonty sent Fr. Akakios the Younger to the hesychastarion of Archimandrite Auxentios Pastras with the instructions to bring Fr. Auxentios to his house to meet him, which he did.

In the early hours of Saturday, May 20 / June 2, after a vigil in the chapel of Saint Menas at the Monastery of Saint Nicholas in Paiania, Fr. Auxentios Pastras was consecrated as Bishop of Gardikion (the consecration being administered by Archbishop Leonty and Bishop Akakios of Talantion, with the consent of the ailing Bishop Parthenios of the Cyclades).

Left: From the consecration of Bishop Auxentios of Gardikion. Archbishop Leonty can be seen behind him and Fr. Chrysostomos Naslimis with the candle. Right:  Bishop Auxentios' consecration certificate.

The following day, Sunday, May 21 / June 3, during the vigil in memory of Saints Constantine and Helen in the same Holy Chapel, Archbishop Leonty consecrated Father Chrysostomos Naslimes as Bishop of Magnesia. Immediately afterward, the newly consecrated Bishop departed for Volos, and instructions were given to the Vice President of the P.T.E.O.Κ., Constantine Komnios, to inform Fr. Chrysostomos Kiousis to come to the monastery for consecration that evening. However, the appearance of gendarmes at the Monastery led Archbishop Leonty to decide to leave our country in haste to avoid any possible arrest.

Left: From the consecration of Bishop Chrysostomos of Magnesia by Archbishop Leonty. Right:  Bishop Chrysostomos' consecration certificate.

Although this circumstance canceled the planned consecration of Fr. Chrysostomos Kiousis that night, Archbishop Leonty nevertheless instructed Bishop Chrysostomos of Magnesia to be notified so that together with Bishop Akakios of Talantion and Bishop Auxentios of Gardikion, they could proceed with his consecration as soon as possible.

Then, accompanied by Bishop Auxentios of Gardikion, Fr. Akakios the Younger, Demetrios Mouratides, as well as the couple Constantine and Maria Komnios, he headed to the airport and departed from our homeland. Before leaving, however, he handed over to Fr. Akakios the Younger, a letter to Bishop Akakios of Talantion, with which he also recommended the consecration of Fr. Akakios the Younger as Auxiliary Bishop.

 Note of Archbishop Leonty to Fr. Akakios the Younger, written behind a photo of them together in the Acropolis of Athens. Archbishop Leontius exhorts him to remain faithful until death.

NOTES

1. Letter of the P.T.E.O.K. to Larissa Branch, op. cit.

2. Hieromonk George, Elder of the Cell of Saint George in Provata on Mount Athos, was born in 1910 in Lavrio, Attica. He became a monk at the age of fifteen on Mount Athos. He was ordained a deacon by Saint Chrysostomos of Florina and a priest by Bishop Germanos of the Cyclades. In 1974, he was briefly exiled from Mount Athos because he refused to have church communion with the Ecumenical Patriarch due to the heresy of Ecumenism. He fell asleep in the Lord on Christmas Day (according to the old calendar) in 1997 (see “Christian Route" (in Greek), Jan.-Feb. 1998).

3. Protopresbyter Stylianos Mousas was born in 1923 in the village of Agio Pnevma, Serres. During the Bulgarian Occupation (1941-44), he, too, suffered at the hands of the occupiers. In 1948, he was elected parish priest by his fellow countrymen, and by the end of that year, he was consecutively ordained a Deacon and Priest by Bishop Christopher Hatzis of Megara. He also suffered during the great persecution against the Old Calendarists (1951-1952). In 1955, he was appointed as parish priest of the Holy Church of the Three Hierarchs in Thessaloniki, where he carried out significant and diverse work for 25 years. He fell asleep, only aged 56, on January 7, 1979 (old calendar).

4. Letter of Constantine Komnios to Monk Symeon of Karoulia, dated March 27, 1964 (old calendar).

5. Constantine Komnios, Speech at the 3rd Pan-Hellenic…, op. cit.

6. And Father George also refused to be ordained because of his great humiliation! This is how the Saints felt about themselves...

[Be continued].