A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 21 - Tuesday, May 25th, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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Churches Count Friends, Enemies By George Gilson ATHENS, (Athens News), May 14, 2004 -- The Crisis between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Church of Greece is slowly dragging in other Orthodox Church leaders, in one way or another, as each tries to show that the other is isolated. The latest was Patriarch Elias of Georgia, who finally came to Athens on May 13 after cancelling his scheduled trip on May 4. Elias had cited the unrest in the autonomous Georgian region of Adzharia, but patriarchal sources insist that the fact that the patriarchate broke off communion with Archbishop Christodoulos was the real source of the cancellation. Elias lavished praise on Christodoulos at Athens Cathedral on May 13, calling him a "grand protector of Orthodoxy". Patriarchal sources charge that Elias was offered "big money" to change his mind and go to Athens. "The story that the patriarch of Georgia supposedly changed his mind because the civil unrest ended is simply fairytales. A lot of money was put out by Athens, because it was a major slap when he at first said 'No'," the source said. "Christodoulos was invited to Serbia to participate in the opening of the Cathedral of Saint Savvas, but then they spoke to him saying that he could not be present with Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos after the problem arose and he wasn't able to go," a patriarchate source said. Two of the four top-ranking church leaders in Orthodoxy – Patriarch Petros of Alexandria and Eirinaios of Jerusalem - came out clearly in favour of upholding Constantinople's privileges in a letter to Christodoulos. Vartholomeos reportedly believes he can count on support from Ignatios of Antioch, with whom he will travel to Cappadocia on May 19. All three would join Vartholomeos in a major synod of church leaders should the patriarchate believe that Athens does not fully respect its privileges and deem it necessary to pass strong punishment on Christodoulos.
Aside from Elias, only Patriarch Alexei, of
Moscow, which makes no secret of its wish to
replace Constantinople as the highest-ranking
Orthodox Church, has supported Christodoulos
clearly. |
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