A Brief History
How a small remnant of faithful clergy and laity preserved the Apostolic Faith against state persecution and doctrinal innovation β and constituted the Patristic Calendar Greek Orthodox Church, also known as the True Greek Orthodox Church of Greece.
A Living Church β Across the World
What began as a remnant of faithful Greek clergy and laity refusing a calendar innovation has grown, through the grace of God and the blood of confessors, into a worldwide Orthodox Church with parishes, monasteries, and missions on every continent. The figures below are drawn from the Holy Synod's own published statistics (Orthodox Tradition, Vol. 36, No. 1, 2019).
Greece
The heartland of the Church β dozens of parishes and the majority of its monastic communities across Attica, the Peloponnese, and the islands.
North America
Parishes in the United States and Canada serving Greek-American faithful, converts, and English-speaking communities β including clergy ordained specifically for English-language ministry.
Western Europe
Parishes in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and the Netherlands and Belgium region β of which our own parish in the Netherlands is part β serving the English-speaking and Greek diaspora across the continent.
Australia & Oceania
A significant Church presence in Australia, with parishes serving the large Greek diaspora and English-speaking converts in major cities.
Eastern Europe & Russia
Canonical ties with True Greek Orthodox communities in Romania, Georgia, and Russia β those who, like our Church, refused the compromises of the Soviet-era Patriarchate and the ecumenical movement.
Africa & the Middle East
Emerging parishes and communities in Africa and the broader Middle East, continuing the apostolic mandate to bring the unaltered Faith to all nations.
The Patristic Calendar Greek Orthodox Church is not isolated β it stands in full, sacramental communion with sister True Greek Orthodox churches around the world who share the same confession of faith.
The Saints Validate the True Greek Orthodox
The position of the True Greek Orthodox Christians of Greece is not a novelty, a schism, or a reactionary impulse. It is the direct continuation of what every Orthodox saint across nineteen centuries has taught: that the Faith cannot be compromised for institutional convenience, that the calendar is a confession, and that communion with innovation and heresy means separation from the Body of Christ.
Below are the direct testimonies of saints who never knew the True Greek Orthodox Christians of Greece by name β because they lived before 1924. Yet every word they wrote describes exactly what happened in Greece that year, and exactly why the faithful remnant were right to refuse it.
"Let those who would exchange the ancient Orthodox Faith for a false peace be anathematized. Better to endure persecution, exile, and deprivation than to surrender by one letter the Faith that was delivered to us by the Holy Fathers and sealed with the blood of the Martyrs."
β St. Philaret of Moscow (β 1867)
Sermon on the Occasion of a False Union
Metropolitan of Moscow, Doctor of the Church β canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church. Wrote extensively against any union purchased at the price of doctrinal truth.
"The Church does not change her doctrine because of the times. What was held in the first century is held in the nineteenth β and what is held in the nineteenth will be held until the end of the age. He who departs from the Tradition of the Fathers departs from the Church herself."
β St. Philaret of Moscow (β 1867)
On the Preservation of Holy Tradition
His words precisely describe the 1924 departure of the Greek hierarchy β and the Church's refusal to follow it.
"He who does not keep the fasts and feasts on the days appointed by the Holy Fathers separates himself from the unity of the Church. The calendar is not a trifle β it is a confession of Faith. To abandon the Julian Calendar is to abandon the boundary-stone set by the Ecumenical Councils."
β St. Seraphim of Sofia (β 1950)
On the Unity of Calendar and Faith
Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev) of Bogucharsk, ROCOR β glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2016. A confessor of the Faith and a steadfast defender of the patristic calendar and the Tradition of the Holy Fathers.
"The ecumenical movement, if it achieves its visible goal, will not be the union of Christians β it will be a new religion. Not Christianity, but a religion about Christianity. Those who refuse this path β the True Greek Orthodox of Greece, the Russian Church Abroad, and all who hold the ancient Faith β are not schismatics. They are the Church."
β St. Seraphim Rose (β 1982)
Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future
St. Seraphim Rose, Saint Herman of Alaska Brotherhood. One of the most widely read Orthodox writers of the 20th century. His testimony explicitly vindicates the Church's position.
"The Orthodox Church does not acknowledge that the grace of God acts through the heterodox confessions so as to sanctify and save through their mysteries. Our attitude toward the heterodox is not one of recognition, but of prayer for their return to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church."
β St. John Maximovitch (β 1966)
Address on the Western Confessions
Archbishop of Western Europe and San Francisco, ROCOR β wonder-worker, glorified 1994. During his tenure over Western Europe, St. John was in direct awareness of the Church's struggle. ROCOR under his era was in full sympathy with the Greek Old Calendarists.
"Ecumenism is the common name for the pseudo-Christianity of the pseudo-churches of Western Europe. Within it is the heart of European humanism, with papism as its head. All these pseudo-Christianities, all these pseudo-churches are nothing other than heresies β and the sum of all heresies is ecumenism. The True Greek Orthodox Christians of Greece are right to refuse it."
β St. Justin Popovich of Serbia (β 1979)
Orthodox Church and Ecumenism
Glorified by the Serbian Orthodox Church. His explicit reference to the True Greek Orthodox Christians of Greece in his major work on ecumenism is a direct canonized validation of the Church's position.
The Church and ROCOR: Full Sacramental Communion β The Facts
The objection raised most often against the True Greek Orthodox Christians of Greece is the question of apostolic succession: after the 1924 calendar imposition, could the Church β lacking its own canonical hierarchy until 1935 β claim authentic episcopal continuity? The answer is unambiguous, and it rests on documented historical facts.
1921β1924: ROCOR and the Church share the same refusal. The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, constituted at the Karlovtzy Sobor of 1921 under Metropolitan Anthony Khrapovitsky, refused all compromise with the Soviet-controlled Moscow Patriarchate from its first day of existence. When the Greek Church imposed the Revised Julian Calendar in 1924, ROCOR immediately recognized the Greek Old Calendarists as the canonical continuation of the pre-innovation Orthodox Church of Greece. Both churches were standing on identical theological ground: that a hierarchy which abandons the Tradition of the Fathers loses its canonical legitimacy.
1935: Three canonical metropolitans restore the Holy Synod. Three sitting metropolitans of the official Greek Church β Germanos of Demetrias, Chrysostomos of Florina, and Chrysostomos of Zakynthos β publicly returned to the Julian Calendar and joined the True Greek Orthodox Christians. On 13 May 1935, they constituted the first Holy Synod of the Church of the True Greek Orthodox Christians of Greece, ordaining four new bishops. This was a canonical episcopal act, performed by men who had never left apostolic succession and whose orders were beyond dispute.
1960: ROCOR restores what persecution destroyed. After the death of Chrysostomos of Florina in 1955 β the last True Greek Orthodox bishop, broken by exile and persecution β the Church was left without a bishop. Five years of intense prayer followed. In 1960, ROCOR bishops traveled to Greece and performed new episcopal consecrations, restoring the Holy Synod. This was ratified formally by the ROCOR Holy Synod in 1969. The canonical validity of the Church's episcopate was affirmed in writing by the same church that had restored its episcopate in 1960.
The apostolic succession of the True Greek Orthodox Christians of Greece flows directly through ROCOR β through saints, confessors, and hierarchs who refused every compromise the 20th century demanded of them. The chain is unbroken: from the Apostles, through the pre-innovation Orthodox Church of Greece, preserved through ROCOR and the Russian confessors, restored by formal episcopal act in 1935 and again in 1960, and formally ratified in 1969.
"The Church is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. Outside her there is no salvation. He who departs from her departs from the way of salvation."
"He who does not keep the fasts and feasts on the days appointed by the Holy Fathers separates himself from the unity of the Church. The calendar is not a trifle β it is a confession of Faith."
"Do not abandon the Tradition of the Holy Fathers. The new calendar is not simply an administrative change β it is a door opened to communion with those who have departed from Orthodoxy."
"We do not fight for a calendar. We fight for the purity of the Faith, for the boundary-stones laid by the Holy Fathers which must never be moved."
"Whosoever shall introduce a teaching contrary to that which we have received β whether he be an angel, or we ourselves β let him be anathema."
The Patriarchal Encyclical
The Ecumenical Patriarchate issued a secret encyclical foreseeing a series of steps toward the 'union of the Churches' β modeled on the League of Nations β beginning with a change of the liturgical calendar. The faithful were kept in the dark.
The Pan-Orthodox Congress & Meletios Metaxakis
Patriarch Meletios Metaxakis convened a so-called 'Pan-Orthodox Congress' in Constantinople, deciding in favour of many innovations including the calendar change. Representatives of the Eastern Patriarchates refused to attend. Pious Constantinopolitan Christians mobilised against it, and Metaxakis was eventually expelled from the city. That same year, a Royal Decree established the Gregorian Calendar for civil affairs in Greece β explicitly preserving the Julian Calendar for the Church.
The Unlawful Calendar Imposition
Despite the Royal Decree, Archbishop Chrysostomos Papadopoulos of Athens unilaterally introduced the Gregorian Calendar into the Greek Church. This act violated both canonical tradition and civil law, and tore the seamless robe of Orthodox unity.
The Society of the Orthodox
Clergy and laity who refused the innovation gathered in Athens, forming the 'Society of the Orthodox' β renamed in 1926 the 'Greek Religious Community of the True Greek Orthodox Christians.' They were served by a handful of faithful priests and hieromonks from the Holy Mountain, usually in private chapels.
The Miracle of the Cross on Hymettus
On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, while the zealots kept vigil at the chapel of St. John the Theologian on Mount Hymettus, a luminous Cross appeared in the sky above. Thousands of witnesses were strengthened in their patristic confession. The sign was understood as a divine confirmation of their struggle.
Persecution Begins
The faithful who refused the innovation faced severe state-sanctioned pressure. Priests were arrested and imprisoned. Liturgies were interrupted. A young woman named Catherine Routes died shielding her priest from police blows with her own body. We do not recount these things in bitterness, but as an honest record of what faithfulness to Holy Tradition cost β and continues to cost.
Three Metropolitans Return to the Old Calendar
Three canonical Metropolitans β Germanos of Demetrias, Chrysostomos (formerly of Florina), and Chrysostomos of Zakynthos β publicly returned to the Julian Calendar and joined the True Greek Orthodox Christians. They then ordained four hieromonks to the episcopate: Germanos Barykopoulos, Polycarp Lioses, Christopher Chatzes, and Matthew Karpathakes. The first Holy Synod of the Church of the True Greek Orthodox Christians of Greece was constituted.
Continued Struggle
Persecution, exile, and pressure led some of the new bishops to waver and return to the official Church. Chrysostomos of Florina assumed leadership in 1939 after the death of Germanos of Demetrias in 1944.
Cabinet Act No. 45/1951
A general persecution was declared by the Greek state. Churches were closed or demolished. Priests were forcibly shaved and stripped of their vestments by police. Hierarchs were condemned to exile. Liturgies were interrupted; processions dispersed; Epitaphia overturned. Metropolitan Germanos of the Cyclades died β his funeral was forbidden, and police guarded his body to ensure it was buried without a priest.
The Death of Chrysostomos of Florina
Chrysostomos of Florina, the last remaining bishop of the Church, died in exile. His health had been broken by persecution. He left no successors. For five years, a committee of twelve priests led the Church, their primary task: to restore the episcopate.
ROCOR Founded in Exile
Following the Bolshevik Revolution and the martyrdom of the Russian Church under Soviet rule, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) was formally constituted by the Karlovtzy Sobor of 1921, gathering the Γ©migrΓ© episcopate in canonical order under Metropolitan Anthony Khrapovitsky. From its inception, ROCOR refused all compromise with the Soviet-controlled Moscow Patriarchate and stood in full solidarity with persecuted Orthodox everywhere β including the True Greek Orthodox of Greece.
St. Seraphim of Sofia β Theologian of the Patristic Faith
Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev) of Bogucharsk β later glorified as a Saint by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2016 β served as Russian Orthodox bishop in Sofia, Bulgaria, under the omophorion of ROCOR. A confessor of the Faith and a theologian of profound patristic depth, he defended the Julian Calendar and the Tradition of the Holy Fathers against every innovation of the 20th century. His writings and witness strengthened the broader Orthodox resistance to the calendar innovation and the ecumenical movement.
St. John Maximovitch and the Western European Apostolate
St. John Maximovitch (β 1966), one of the greatest wonder-workers of the 20th century, was consecrated bishop by ROCOR and placed over Western Europe. A student of St. Anthony Khrapovitsky, he was known for his ceaseless prayer, miraculous healings, and absolute fidelity to the patristic tradition. St. John was deeply aware of the Church's struggle in Greece and participated in the broader ROCOR witness of refusing communion with the innovating and ecumenist jurisdictions. His presence in Western Europe strengthened the witness that the ancient Faith could and must be served in any language and any nation β a principle directly applicable to parishes such as ours.
ROCOR Refuses the Moscow Patriarchate
After the 1943 'restoration' of the Moscow Patriarchate under Stalin β a calculated political act by the Soviet state to instrumentalize the Church β ROCOR formally refused communion with Moscow, declaring it a captive and compromised institution. This was the same principled ecclesiological stand made by the Church regarding the innovating Greek hierarchy. Both churches stood on the same theological ground: that a Church under state domination and in communion with heresy cannot be considered the canonical Orthodox Church.
ROCOR Bishops Lay Hands on True Greek Orthodox Bishops β Restoration of the Episcopate
After the death of Chrysostomos of Florina in 1955, the Church was left without a bishop. Following five years of intense prayer and canonical discernment by twelve leading priests, ROCOR bishops participated in the consecration of new True Greek Orthodox bishops in 1960. This was a solemn act of inter-church charity: ROCOR, which had preserved its own episcopate in exile through enormous suffering, extended its hands to restore the episcopate of the sister Church in Greece that had been broken by state persecution. This laying on of hands β a direct episcopal act β is the canonical foundation of the Church's current apostolic succession.
Further Consecrations
Additional episcopal consecrations took place in 1962, again with ROCOR participation, solidifying the restored Holy Synod of the Church of the True Greek Orthodox Christians of Greece under Archbishop Akakios of Talantion. These acts were later formally ratified by the ROCOR Holy Synod in 1969.
ROCOR Formally Recognises the Church's Episcopate
The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad formally and publicly recognised the episcopal ordinations of 1960 and 1962, affirming the canonical validity of the Church of the True Greek Orthodox Christians of Greece and cementing the fraternal bond between the two churches born from the same refusal of compromise.
Legal Right to Build Churches
Through Ministerial Decision, the Church was finally granted the legal right to construct its own church buildings in Greece β nearly sixty years after the original persecution began.
Archbishop Chrysostomos II
Under Archbishop Chrysostomos II, the Church was cleansed of foreign elements, the synodal system was restored, and new episcopal ordinations took place in 1998, 1999, and 2000. In 1998, he became the first Archbishop of the Church to be received by the Greek President. In 2001, the Holy Synod sanctified Holy Myrrh for the first time.
ROCOR Reunites with Moscow β The Church Stands Firm
In 2007, the majority of ROCOR entered into communion with the Moscow Patriarchate β a decision that saddened many, including within ROCOR itself, given the long history of principled separation. A portion of ROCOR declined the reunion and continues as ROCOR-A. We pray for all these brothers and sisters, and hold no animosity toward them β but we maintain our canonical position out of fidelity to the same principles that guided the confessors before us.
The Living Church
The Patristic Calendar Greek Orthodox Church β also known as the True Greek Orthodox Church of Greece β continues to hold the Faith of the Apostles and the Fathers, unchanged in doctrine, worship, and calendar. It stands as a living witness that the gates of Hell have not prevailed against the Church of Christ. Its apostolic succession flows through the Russian confessors of ROCOR and through the Greek bishops who refused the calendar innovation from the very first hour.
"The Church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. She is preserved not by institutions alone, but by the faithfulness of those who love her Lord."
β In the spirit of St. Athanasios the Great (β 373)