The war of words between Father Elefterios Tatsis (Papa Lefteris) and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese has continued following Papa Lefteris’ resignation from the church on Sunday after weeks of turmoil.
The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese issued a statement, explaining the reasons behind the Ecumenical Patriarch’s decision to remove Father Lefteris’ title as Oikonomos of the Ecumenical Throne.
For his part Papa Lefteris disagreed with the imposition of the penalty by the Archdiocese, making counterclaims against the Archdiocese, to his large congregation of followers at Panagia Kamariani in Red Hill, Victoria, as he announced his resignation from the church at his final liturgy last Sunday.
The matter may yet end up in court with the Archdiocese issuing a statement saying that Fr Eleftherios Tatsis has made claims “against our Archbishop, for which justice can be sought.” And in a statement received today to Neos Kosmos Papa Lefteris says, amongst other things, that “You will be informed about the rest soon, and via my lawyer.”
Archdiocese statement
An extract from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese statement received Tuesday 4 October said that, “With great sadness, we feel the need to take a position on the issue concerning the inappropriate behaviour of our fellow brother priest of the Holy Archdiocese, Fr Eleftherios Tatsis, who for a series of months has been publicly attacking both our Patriarch and Archbishop, as well as us – the Bishops and clergy who serve in Melbourne and in the State of Victoria – essentially attacking the whole of the Church and having fallen into a series of canonical offenses.
Our Holy Archdiocese recently released a statement informing the faithful about Fr Eleftherios’ attitude and behaviour and detailing the events that took place in the last few months as well as some indicative public stances that document his sad deviation from Church canons and from an Orthodox ethos and mindset.”
The statement continued with the wish that “God enlighten him and grant him a repentant mind and that he returns to the fold.”
“His Eminence, our Archbishop, reflecting on Fr Eleftherios’ many years of ministry in the local Church – not, of course, greater in comparison to the ministry of many other clergymen who have contributed the same, or even more, without fanfare and without deifying themselves and without discrediting Bishops and other clergy – from the beginning, showed a sincere disposition of understanding for the sake of harmony.”
The statement from the Archdiocese proceeded to claim that Papa Lefteris conducted himself with “inappropriate and offending behaviour” up until the priests final liturgy on Sunday.
The Archdiocese continued, “However our Archbishop’s disposition collided with the constantly escalating […] behaviour on the part of Fr Eleftherios, typical of which is the letter he sent to His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, falsely denouncing his ecclesiastical authority. The said letter was returned by the Patriarch to Fr Eleftherios as unacceptable and contrary to the canonical order of the Church. It was the Patriarch’s decision to then impose Fr Eleftherios with the penalty of the removal of his title as Oikonomos of the Ecumenical Throne. It is clear, therefore, that Fr Eleftherios himself, with his inappropriate and offending behaviour, caused the developments that led to the imposition of the penalty from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, while our Holy Archdiocese and our Archbishop showed patience and were silent, waiting for his repentance and return.
“As a consequence of the above developments, His Eminence our Archbishop was led to the decision to suspend all the honorary titles of Fr Eleftherios, the removal of the authority to spiritual fatherhood and preaching the divine Word, and calling for a written apology for the canonical offenses into which he had fallen, as they are defined by the regulations of the Holy Archdiocese,” the statement said.
“In conclusion, the announcement of his resignation from duties, as much as it saddens us that a member is removed from the Body of the Church, nevertheless, we consider it to be the most appropriate solution for the sake of peace and for maintaining the spirit of unity, given the conditions caused by Fr Eleftherios, who for a long time behaved and acted as a foreign body to the Orthodox Church, having consciously chosen the path of autonomy.
We, the Bishops and clergy who serve the Greek Orthodox people of Victoria, renew our commitment to work with dedication for the needs of the Christ-loving plenitude of our Holy Archdiocese, to follow the holy Canons and to obey the decisions of the Mother Church and our Archbishop and, above all, to show due respect towards each other, as well as to all those who throughout time have laboured for the progress of Orthodoxy and Hellenism on the fifth continent. Since in this struggle, no one is spared and no one is excluded, we declare that we will not stop praying for Fr Eleftherios, beseeching God to enlighten him and for his steps to be directed to return to the canonical Orthodox Church, in a spirit of love, unity, and mutual respect.”
Papa Lefteris responds
In a written statement to Neos Kosmos Papa Lefteris has responded to the Archdiocese. In his statement, sent in Greek and translated here, he makes several claims amongst which he states:
“With great sadness, following the recent episodes at Panagia Kamariani, matters have forced me following the latest statement provided to you by the Archdiocese, to answer all the claims made against me by the current Archbishop of Australia Makarios who has attributed, and by a joint decision of Bishops, clergy, deacons, and I don’t know from whom else he asked to be included in the list, this specific attack against me.”
“First allow me to say, that for everyone and for everything history will be the judge and decide the future.”
“We can see here in my case, an archbishop, who up until recently was a simple assistant bishop in Estonia, appears out of nowhere in Australia and introduces himself as the leader of all Greeks.
“It appears that the ‘glory’ and the ‘riches’ which he found here, somehow have made him dizzy and is making him see enemies and nightmares in front of him.
“One of his nightmares is me, who he wanted by any means, but via ‘remote control’, as most of his time has been spent outside of Australia, to banish me from the Church after 55 years presence here in Australia as a cleric, and with decisions which were taken in the dead of night, he forced me to abandon Panagia Kamariani, which everyone knows how much effort I made to create it.
“Although I should not respond to all the accusations against me, as that is the work of my lawyers, I will limit myself to a few words.
“He accuses me of deviating from the church’s holy cannons. However he fails to mention if the specific canons apply only to me, or do they also apply to the clerics who have been hunted down by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, yet brought back with glory and honour into the church from which they had been expelled on serious grounds.
“There is also the legal cases for other clerics. In the statement by the Archbishop he failed to mention and make known to the Greek community, how many legal cases within Australia and overseas he is the protagonist and for what reasons, so that Greeks can have an idea first hand.
“The saddest thing however, is that in his statement, he writes that he recognises my many years of service to the ministry of the church, and note this, he says there are other clerics who have contributed many more years without ‘beating their drum’, and without discrediting other clergy and high priests.
“However, the Archbishop does not mention who these clerics are who have contributed to the Archdiocese without ‘beating their own drum’.”Maybe it is those clerics that did not register weddings from community members?
“Are these the canons of the church the Archbishop is talking about?
“As to who we are as people only history and the community will judge, who are well aware what exactly happens within the confines of our church and who is who. And it would be good for the Archbishop take a look at Facebook, so he can get an understanding of the “love” the Greek community shows me. The rest you shall be informed very soon, and via my lawyers. The community knows and judges, and everyone will understand very soon.”
