A BROTHERLY PLEA

A Brotherly Plea

13/26 July 2011

To the Holy Synod of the Russian True Orthodox Church

Your Eminence, Your Eminences the Holy Archbishops of the Russian True Orthodox Church,

We the True Orthodox Christians of Serbia are turning to You for help concerning the renewal of a canonical episcopacy in our much-suffering fatherland of Serbia.  As You know, after the Second World War and Communist overturn, the hierarchy of the Serbian Church fell into the apostasy of Sergianism and the pan-heresy of Ecumenism.  In the mid-90’s, a True Orthodox Christian movement appeared in Serbia under the leadership of Hieromonk Akakije, which turned for primary help to the Greek Old Calendar Synod, which was lead by Archbishop Chrysostomos of blessed memory.  We were given help from the Greek Orthodox Church in the form of the ordination of priests and sharing of antimins and holy chrism. Through the first years it was already clear to us that a bishop that is a thousand kilometers away  could not rule the life of the Serbian Church. For more than a decade, not one of the Greek bishops visited us.

Already by that time we requested the Greek Synod to ordain a Serbian bishop for Serbia.  The Greeks bishops, however, remained immobile. The conditions in Serbia, as a result, became worse as the years went by, and the mission of True Orthodoxy was averted by the fact that the Serbian people cannot accept that a Greek bishop rule Serbs and the Serbian Church. What is more, the cessation of communion with the Official Serbian Church and the entry into True Orthodoxy has been understood as the passing over from the Serbian to the Greek Church. Unfortunately, that perception has been confirmed by the irresponsible statements of the Greeks themselves.

Already now the official stance of the Greek hierarchs is that we have no kind of connection with the Serbian Church and that their help, which they give to us, means entering under the Greek Church, and that also the jurisdiction of the Serbian Local Church is now their missionary area. For us Serbs this is absolutely unacceptable.

 Due to this situation, and the Greek hierarchs’ unreadiness to meet our requests, we are turning to You:

With the hope that You will understand what a difficult situation the flock of the True Orthodox Christians of Serbia is in, we humbly ask of You, for the needs of the Serbian True Orthodox Church, that You ordain to the rank of Bishop for Serbia our candidate, the founder of True Orthodoxy in Serbia, Hieromonk Akakije [Stanković], who we have been suggesting for the episcopacy for more than a decade as the bishop for the Serbian True Orthodox Church.

The Governing Committee of the Serbian True Orthodox Church:

(Which is composed of the clergy, parishes and monasteries who for more than a decade have been struggling to be given a bishop for the Serbian True Orthodox Church)

Signatures:

Signatures of Priests:

Hieromonk Akakije Stanković

Hieromonk Nektarije Ivanković

Priest Stefan Nikolić

Signatures of the Representatives of Parishes and Monasteries:

Belgrade Parish

Novi Sad Parish

Niš Parish

Sts Methodius and Cyril Monastery

New Stjenik Monastery