Well-known theologian Archpriest Theodore

Zisis ceases commemoration of Metropolitan

of Thessaloniki

Moscow, March 15, 2017

Photo:
impantokratoros.gr

On March 5, the Sunday of Orthodoxy, well-known theologian Archpriest Theodore Zisis

announced from the ambo of his church that he was ceasing commemoration of Metropolitan
Anthimos of Thessaloniki, reports Credo.ru.

After years of involvement in the ecumenical movement, since the 1980s Fr. Theodore has
become one of Greeces strongest and most-trusted outspoken critics of ecumenism. Most
recently he has been a vocal critic of the June 2016 Pan-Orthodox Synod on Crete, both before
and after its convocation. Critics of the council have mainly focused on the text Relations of the
Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World, arguing that when the Church is coming
together to give voice to its dogmatic self-understanding, it cannot use the term church in
reference to any other confessions, but must strictly speak of the one Church confessed by the
Nicene Creed.

In November, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew called upon Archbishop

Ieronymos of Athens to defend the documents produced at the Crete Council and to quell
criticism of them, warning that he would break communion with those individuals who vocally
criticized the council, after which Metropolitan Anthimos of Thessaloniki instructed Fr.
Theodore to cease expressing any criticisms of the council.

After a time of prayer and discernment, Fr. Theodore has decided that his conscience will not
allow him to be silent about what he sees as a danger to the Church, and thus he has responded
by ceasing commemoration of his ruling bishop, stating, that the metropolitan has shown
bareheaded his alignment with the heresy of ecumenism through his acceptance of the Crete
Council and his push for a Church-wide acceptance of it at the Holy Synod meeting of
November 23-26, 2016.
In using the term bareheaded Fr. Theodore alluded to Canon 15 of the First-Second Council,
held in Constantinople in 861 and attended by 318 holy fathers, including St. Photios, the
Patriarch of Constantinople, which allows for a priest to cease commemorating a bishop who is
preaching the heresy publicly, and teaching it barehead in church. The canon notes that this
walling off is not an act of schism, but is indeed praiseworthy, done in defense of holy
Orthodoxy.

Fr. Theodore also stated that the Crete Council cannot be justified as it was neither holy, nor a
synod, nor representative of the mind of the fullness of the Church. Then directly citing Canon
15, Fr. Theodore announced that on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, when the Church proclaims its
triumph over all soul-destroying heresies, he would cease commemoration of his bishop, as he is
unable to commemorate all the great saints who have battled against heresy, while
commemorating a bishop he believes has fallen into heresy.

His announcement was met with cheers and applause from the congregation.

Both Fr. Theodore and another Thessaloniki priest, Fr. Nicholas Manolis, who has also ceased
commemoration, have been summoned to a spiritual court and face the possibility of being
defrocked from the holy priesthood. In his announcement, Fr. Theodore asked Metropolitan
Anthimos to defer to Canon 15 of the First-Second Council and to allow Fr. Theodore to
continue his work.

Note that among critics of the Crete Council there is disagreement over how to proceed. In
January, Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos), one of the most respected bishops and theologians
in the Church today, who has offered several weighty critiques of the council, urged others not to
cease commemoration of their hierarchs.

15 / 03 / 2017