May 19, 2023

The Calendar Issue - St. Joseph the Hesychast

31 minutes

Hear about Christ's revelations to St. Joseph and his brotherhood on the difficult and often contentious issue of the calendar and true Orthodoxy. As a zealot of Athos once confessed, "Fathers, we must admit that Elder Joseph was right. It is not possible for a rotten root to produce such fruits [i.e. his spiritual children]. A tree is known by its fruit.’ Therefore, we must have been wrong, and Elder Joseph must have been right."

0:10 Background

5:14 Revelations from God

9:33 Exactitude with Obedience

12:19 The Encyclical of 1950

14:59 The Revelation (about grace with the New Calendarists)

16:19 Resistance

21:55 Geronda’s Revelation

25:42 More Grace With the New-Calendarists

Buy "My Elder Joseph the Hesychast" written by his disciple, Elder Ephraim of Arizona, here:

https://stanthonysmonastery.org/products/my-elder-joseph-the-hesychast

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For further study on the calendar issue, here is a short list of resources:

-Elder Sophrony of Essex on the Calendar Issue:

https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2016/08/elder-sophrony-on-calendar-issue.html

-Elder Paisios the Athonite on the Old Calendar Zealots:

https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2009/04/elder-paisios-athonite-on-old.html

-Elder Ephraim of Arizona Exposes Old Calendarism:

https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2016/03/elder-ephraim-of-arizona-exposes-old.html

-Ecumenism and Schismatic Old Calendarism, a letter by Blessed Elder Epiphanios Theodoropoulos:

https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2010/02/ecumenism-and-schismatic-old.html

-Elder Philotheos Zervakos on the Schismatic Old Calendarists:

https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2010/01/elder-philotheos-on-schismatic-old.html

-The Three Hierarchs and the Calendar Issue (Elder Cleopa Ilie):

https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2020/01/the-three-hierarchs-and-calendar-issue.html#more

-Schismatic Old-Calendarism is an Anti-Patristic Stance by Monk Basil Gregoriates (a few problems in this text, but overall good):

https://www.oodegr.com/english//ekklisia/sxismata/antipater1.htm

Fr. Peter Heers has some very helpful videos addressing the temptation on the right:

-The Zealot Jungle Which is Growing Up Around Us - Letter from Fr. Seraphim Rose

https://youtu.be/4nNsx5UJIfo

-On Canon 15 and Ceasing Commemoration of One's Own Bishop

https://youtu.be/NY-9baGX0Lc

-The Prophecy of St. Anatole the Younger (“Heretics will take over the Church”)

https://youtu.be/v_1vmlsNDl4

-Patristic and Canonical Treatment Toward a Local Church Whose Hierarch Preaches Heresy

https://youtu.be/jUM5ividbGE

*Not everything on the JohnSanidopoulos.com website is faithfully Orthodox

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St. Joseph’s revelation from God about the Calendar issue:

While I was praying, I saw a brilliant, beautiful church. It had a small exit on the side, and everyone was coming out of the church. In the courtyard, they were arguing. One person shouted, 'I am right!' Another person shouted, 'I am more right!' And a third person, 'I am with the true church!' This reveals that although they were arguing, they all belonged to a single church. They have dogmas in common, and they have grace, but they were arguing because they don't have an open mind and haven't achieved saint-hood. So how could I say now that the official Church of Greece is heretical and lacks God's grace? Should I call it heretical only because of the calendar? And should I say that their bishops are damned? I am with the old calendar, but I think differently from the old calendarists.

Indeed, the calendar issue does not affect the salvation of the faithful because it is not a dogmatic issue. There can be differences between local churches in non-dogmatic issues of a liturgical or administrative nature. This does not deprive them of God's grace.

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Orthodox Wisdom is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

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