Repose of His Beatitue Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and of All Hellas

Fr John Salter writes:

Archbishop Christodoulos died on 28th January 2008. He had been suffering ill health for some time and in 2007 he underwent a liver transplant which was not successful. Whilst in hospital in Athens he was visited by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I. The Primate of Greece was the only Head of an Orthodox Church who had the privilege of living under a benevolent Christian government, with the possible exception of the small Orthodox Church in Finland. But there were tensions with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which had jurisdiction in Greece over Mount Athos and certain institutions in Northern Greece not properly resolved after World War I liberated that territory from the Turks. The Ionian Islands ceded by Great Britain to the new Kingdom of the Hellenes was not exactly approved of by the Phanar, because the Orthodox in those territories were placed under the Archbishop of Athens. Another problem was the existence of the quite numerous Palaiohimerologites or The Old Calendarist Church of Greece, which came into existence as a separate entity from the State Church after 1924 when the Greek government pressurized the Church of Greece to adopt the Gregorian Calendar and to abandon the Julian. The Old Calendarists have recently received into their protection or under their omophorion those members of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia who could not accept the union with the Moscow Patriarchate. The Old Calendarists have never stood at the forefront of the ecumenical movement and in that they are at one with the monasteries of Mount Athos. Nevertheless Archbishop Christodoulos was the third Primate of an Orthodox Church to invite the Pope to visit his Church, despite disapproval by some of his own flock, not to mention the Old Calendarists.

Archbishop Christodoulos was born in Northern Greece in the town of Xanthi at the outbreak of World War II in 1939. His childhood was spent in his country torn by war and by the Civil War which followed the expulsion of the Germans. He served the Church as Bishop of Volos before succeeding Archbishop Seraphim of Athens in 1998.

His Beatitude died of cancer aged 69 years. May his memory be eternal!

The Visit to the United Kingdom of His All Holiness The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos of Constantinople, January 2007

After visiting Switzerland and France His All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos of Constantinople arrived on Monday 29th January at Luton Airport at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.The Patriarch was greeted at the airport by His Eminence, our patron, Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira and Great Britain and his bishops, together with Canon Jonathan Goodall of the Council for Foreign Relations at Lambeth Palace and diplomats from the Greek Embassy, the Cypriot High Commission and British diplomats.

In the afternoon, at Lambeth Palace, the Patriarch received in audience a group of scientific ecologists, who were in London for a preparatory meeting of the 7th Ecology Symposium organized under the patronage of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and which will be held this summer at the North Pole. His All Holiness also received in audience His Royal Highness The Prince Paul of The Hellenes and his wife Marie, who are concerned with the same ecology question.

That evening, His All Holiness presided at Vespers sung in the Cathedral of the Divine Wisdom, Moscow Road, Bayswater, for the feast of the four Hierarchs. Following the service the Patriarch and his suite were entertained to dinner by the Association of Greek Orthodox of the Archbishopric of Thyataira and Great Britain.

On Tuesday, 30th January, His All Holiness presided at Mattins and the Divine Liturgy of the Three Hierarchs, celebrated at the church of the Dormition of the Holy Virgin at Wood Green, North London, and preached the homily on the feast. The Bishop Athanasios of Tropaion, responsible for the parish, had addressed a welcoming address to the Patriarch, which was followed by an exchange of presents.

In the afternoon, the Patriarch visited Lambeth Palace, where with the Archbishop of Canterbury he gave a press conference in the course of which a document, the Cyprus Agreed Statement, was made public. This document consisted of the fruit of bilateral theological contacts and the academic debates of more than fifteen years. This was followed by a service at Westminster Abbey at which presents were exchanged. In the evening the Nikaean Club gave an official dinner for the Patriarch and his suite.

On Wednesday 31 January, His All Holiness received in audience at Lambeth Palace, in the presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, dignitaries of the Church of England, at which were discussed the question of common interest, such as intensification of inter-Christian co-operation, inter-faith dialogue, the ecology problem, and developments in various parts of the world.

Afterwards, accompanied by the Archbishop of Thyateira, His All Holiness was received at the Foreign Office by the Secretary of State the Right Honourable Geoffrey Hoon. He was then entertained to luncheon by the Ambassador of Greece. M. Basile Pispinis. Following this reception His All Holiness paid a courtesy visit to the Turkish Ambassador. In the afternoon the Patriarch visited the residency of the Archbishop of Thyetaira where he received and blessed the Orthodox clergy. In the evening His All Holiness was entertained to dinner in Hampstead by His Majesty King Constantine II of The Hellenes, where He was joined by the Orthodox Bishops.

The following day His All Holiness and His suite left London for Paris.