Metropolitan of Kythira responds to the Holy Synod of the Greek Church
Metropolitan Seraphim of Kythira explained his position regarding the decisions of the Council of Bishops of the Greek Church of October 12 on the “Ukrainian issue”.
On October 15, 2019, the Holy Synod of the Greek Church adopted a resolution stating that no attempt to interpret the decisions of the extraordinary meeting of the Bishops’ Council on the “Ukrainian issue” is allowed since they do not correspond to reality.
On October 16, in response to this decision of the Holy Synod, Met. Seraphim of Kythira and Antikythera made a statement, the full text of which was published by the Greek agency "Romfea" with reference to the site of the Kythira Metropolis.
In particular, the Bishop once again reminded the Synod members that “the Council did not follow the voting procedure in any way possible for a final decision on the issue (as Metropolitan Daniel of Caesarea requested, expressing the desire of other holiest brothers as well)”.
In addition, Metropolitan Seraphim also clarified his words regarding the power of attorney he received from the Metropolitan Kallinikos of Paronaxia (allowing Met. Seraphim to speak at the Council not only on his own behalf but also on behalf of Metropolitan Kallinikos – Ed.).
So, according to Met. Seraphim of Kythira, he talked with Metropolitan Kallinikos in front of the Council of Bishops, and he informed him that “he will be missing from the extraordinary convention of the hierarchy due to the scientific congress in Paros, and I expressed regret for his absence at such an important event. Then, in my memory, what he said to me was: I will authorize you to represent me, but that is not acceptable. Most likely, the Metropolitan of Paronaxia had in mind that this was not foreseen by the law, but at that important moment I thought that he probably asked the Secretary-General and received a negative answer”.
Be that as it may, says Metropolitan Seraphim, “that is a detail. The key to the position is that the Honorable One is aware of the criticality and difficulty of the Ukrainian issue. This is important for the restoration of the truth and the safeguarding of our prestigious credibility and dignity”.
At the end of his letter, the metropolitan of Kythira informed the hierarchs of the Church of Greece that their decision of October 12 was perceived in Ukraine, in particular by Metropolitan Luke (Kovalenko) of Zaporozhye as an act of “treachery”.
In turn, Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus thanked the hierarch of Kythira for his position on the OCU: “I feel the moral obligation publicly to express my immense gratitude to the Metropolitan of Kythira and Antikythera, Seraphim for his overwhelming, profound and precise testimony of the events that took place during the extraordinary convocation of the Church of Greece on 12/10/2019, which demonstrates the adamantine ethos and the immense spiritual quality of His Eminence the Metropolitan of Kythira.” “Consequently, these people are not only unholy, they are heretical and lacking the fear of God. Therefore, to ask the autocephalous Orthodox Churches to recognize them is at least outrageous,” Met. Seraphim writes.
