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"We have concluded that when the principle of racial division (i.e. phyletism) is juxtaposed with the teaching of the Gospel and the constant practice of the Church, it is not only foreign to it, but also completely opposed, to it. We decree the following in the Holy Spirit: 1. We reject and condemn racial division, that is, racial differences, national quarrels and disagreements in the Church of Christ, as being contrary to the teaching of the Gospel and the holy canons of our blessed fathers, on which the holy Church is established and which adorn human society and lead it to Divine piety. 2. In accordance with the holy canons, we proclaim that those who accept such division according to races and who dare to base on it hitherto unheard-of racial assemblies are foreign to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and are real schismatics." Constantinople...1872 * Pray and Work for Orthodox Unity in North America!!! * St. Andrew House announces Agreement to fund Orthodox Unity effort for years to come - see www.orthodoxdetroit.com * Welcome to the St. Andrew House Discussion Forum * Coming Soon - Orthodox Business Directory * Visit our Home Page at www.orthodoxdetroit.com

    The Double Thinking Standard

    Posted by dan Email on 8/19/2007, 12:42 am

    I’ve recently discovered that even some high ranked hierarchs under the Ecumenical Patriarchate jurisdiction speak against nationalism in the Orthodox Church. Such an example is Damaskinos Papandreou, former Metropolitan of Switzerland; a very important figure in Europe.

    He wrote: "The normal institution of autocephaly in the administrative organisation network of the local orthodox churches has been stripped of its functional relation to the ecumenical conscience of each local church and it has been used in the reinforcement of introversion on the part of the state authority. This autocephaly has nourished the enthusiasm of the new orthodox states during the 19th century every form of nationalism or national racism and it has caused its formal condemnation by the Great Synod of Constantinople (1872)". Damaskinos Papandreou, Metropolitan of Switzerland (currently of Adrianople). Orthodoxy and the World. "Tertios" Publications, Katerini 1993, page 82 (in Greek). Apud www.churchofcyprus.org.cy/docs/English_article.doc

    So, if this is what His Eminence thinks, do we have a double thinking standard in the Ecumenical Patriarchate?

    Responses:

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