Protopresbyter Theodoros Zisis
Emeritus Professor of the Faculty of Theology
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki

To the Reverend
Protopresbyter Matthew Vulcănescu
Orthodox Parish of
Saint Edward the Martyr
and Saint Paraskevi of Rome
Liverpool

Thessaloniki, 31 March 2025

Beloved brother in Christ and concelebrant, Father Matthew,

I thank you warmly for informing me in a fraternal spirit, by sending the relevant documents regarding the persecutions which Your Reverence is undergoing, due to Your fully justified canonical action of ceasing the commemoration of the name of Your bishop, Silouan, Metropolitan of the British Isles and Ireland of the Patriarchate of Antioch.

I support and praise Your courage in confessing the Orthodox Faith and Tradition, following the Holy Gospel and the Holy Fathers, against all heresies, both old and new—among which are the anti-Chalcedonian Monophysites, with whom, unfortunately, the Patriarchate of Antioch has been in communion for many years, thereby mixing what should remain unmixed: Orthodoxy with heresy, Truth with delusion.

In particular, the cessation of commemoration of a bishop who publicly promotes heresy (αἱρετίζοντος ἐπισκόπου) is endorsed and upheld by the 31st Apostolic Canon and the 15th Canon of the First-Second Synod (861) of Saint Photios the Great. The latter Canon describes bishops who publicly promote heresy as pseudo-bishops, and this is not an insult—as Metropolitan Silouan claims that Your Reverence has insulted Him—but is an act of rebuking heresy. In the New Testament and in the writings of the Holy Fathers, we frequently encounter references to false prophets, false apostles, and false teachers. This is not an insult, but a necessary rebuke for the return of those led astray and for the protection of the Orthodox faithful.

From the beginning, the Metropolitan reacted with anger and wrath rather than with fatherly understanding. His Eminence acted hastily and decided by Himself on Your deposition, although this is forbidden both by the Holy Canons and by civil law, since it is neither permissible for the accused to judge the accusation made against them, nor for the accused to judge themselves, nor for the accused to pass judgment on their accuser. Canon 107 of the Council of Carthage states: “It has pleased the Synod to decree that a single Bishop shall not be his own judge.” And Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite, interpreting this canon in the Pedalion explains: “The present Canon decrees that a bishop shall neither pass judgment on the case of another bishop who has a dispute with him, nor of a presbyter who has any dispute with him, nor of any other cleric, according to Canon 9 of the Fourth Ecumenical Council; as a presbyter accused by someone else or a deacon, cannot be defrocked by one bishop alone according to Canon 12 of this Council.”

Now, through a more recent decision—as His Eminence informed Your Reverence by letter on March 16, 2025, (case reference: 2024-02)—He refers Your Reverence to His own episcopal court, the members of which are appointed by Him and follow whatever the bishop decides. Therefore, nothing changes in essence. Instead of Himself judging Your Reverence, it is those whom He has appointed that now judge Your Reverence and they have decided without proper scrutiny that it has been proven that You have violated the Holy Canons, even though nothing has actually been proven. The communion with the Monophysites and the baptismal theology adopted by the Patriarchate of Antioch are indeed heterodox and heretical teachings, as Your Reverence has imputed to the Patriarchate, and they must be corrected, not regarded as insults.

As for the Metropolitan’s proposal for making an appeal within thirty (30) days to the Patriarchate, the Metropolitan should forward the case file to the Patriarch, so that the Synod, the synodal court, may decide accordingly. The Patriarch has already been informed of Your positions through a detailed text Your Reverence has sent His Beatitude on December 6, 2023. In any case, whatever the decision of the synodal court—even if it is Your deposition—since this is not a matter of administration or morality, but a matter of Faith and doctrine, Your Reverence will not accept the decision and will continue Your priestly duties, as Your Reverence has already stated. Woe unto us if the Orthodox were to obey the decisions of heretical bishops or heretical synods or of those who promote heresy[1] — there would be no Orthodoxy left today! This is what many Saints taught and practiced: Saint Athanasius the Great did not accept his defrocking by Arian synods, neither did Saint Gregory Palamas as a hieromonk accept it from the Barlaamite Patriarch John Kalekas; nor did Saint Theodore the Studite accept it from the iconoclasts; nor Saint John Chrysostom and many others who continued to serve despite their unjust and uncanonical defrocking. Saint Isidore of Pelusium writes in a letter that it is better to be defrocked than to be associated with scandal-causing clergy: “It is better to be persecuted and defrocked than to be counted among such men.” (PG 78, 1608B).

Saint John Chrysostom, the pride of Antioch, in the third discourse of his classic work On the Priesthood, says that a worthy priest must always be ready, as it is fitting for Christian men, to have his priesthood removed, knowing that an unjust defrocking carries no lesser crown than the priesthood itself: «Ἡ τοιαύτη καθαίρεσις οὐκ  ἐλάττονα φέρει τῆς ἀρχῆς τὸν στέφανον.» Moreover, when someone is defrocked without having done anything unworthy of the priesthood, this brings condemnation on those who unjustly defrocked him, and brings a greater reward to the one who was wrongfully removed. (On the Priesthood 3, 11, PG 48, 648).

The cessation of the commemoration of bishops—known as walling off —as Your Reverence know well, dear Fr. Matthew, when they fall into heresy and are in communion with heretics, is a God-given act and tradition of the Holy Fathers of the Church, practiced by many Holy Fathers and modern Saints, whom we confidently and assuredly follow as clergy who are concerned for our own salvation and for the small flocks we shepherd. The Church of Antioch, which from Apostolic times has offered Christianity many spiritual treasures and great figures among the Fathers and Teachers, has unfortunately, in recent decades, tarnished her Orthodox character by the decision of inter-communion with the Monophysite heretics. For Your Reverence, walling off was the only way—the only Orthodox way—since Metropolitan Silouan supports this decision. According to the Holy Canons, we must flee from communion with heretics, and furthermore, it is the bishop’s duty to labour in every possible way to bring them back to Orthodoxy. Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite, interpreting the 122nd Canon of the Council of Carthage, writes: “Bishops ought not to neglect the heretics residing in their diocese, because they shall have to render an account of them and be held responsible for them; but they ought to make every effort to win them and to return them to the catholic unity, that is the Church”. In general, both the bishop and the presbyter are obliged to teach the pious and Orthodox dogmas to the clergy and the laity, in opposition to heresies. Otherwise, they themselves should be excommunicated and defrocked, not those who teach the Orthodox Faith. As the 58th Apostolic Canon says: “If any bishop or presbyter neglects the clergy or the laity, and fails to instruct them in piety, let him be excommunicated: but if he persists in his negligence and indolence, let him be defrocked.”

Nevertheless, since it is possible that Metropolitan Silouan may have been well-intentioned and that His harsh attitude towards Your Reverence stemmed from lack of knowledge, I would advise him to read two short works of mine on the matters in question: one is titled: «Δὲν εἶναι σχίσµα ἡ Ἀποτείχιση. Ὀφειλόµενες ἐξηγήσεις» (“Walling Off is Not Schism: Necessary Explanations”), and the other: «Ἡ Ὀρθοδοξία τῶν Ἀντιχαλκηδονίων Μονοφυσιτῶν» (“The Orthodoxy of the Anti-Chalcedonian Monophysites”). Your Reverence may send them to His Eminence for information. I believe He knows Greek, since He studied in Thessaloniki.

We, my dear Fr. Matthew, have ceased communion with and the commemoration of our bishops in order to be in unity with the Holy Apostles and the Holy Fathers because, as the great confessor and pillar of Orthodoxy—who walled off himself from the papist-minded Patriarch Mitrophanes of Constantinople—says, all the teachers of the Church, all the synods, and the Holy Scripture counsel us to flee from those who have a heretical mindset and to have no communion with them: «Ἅπαντες οἱ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας διδάσκαλοι, πᾶσαι αἱ σύνοδοι καὶ πᾶσαι αἱ Θεῖαι Γραφαὶ φεύγειν τοὺς ἑτερόφρονας παραινοῦσι καὶ τῆς αὐτῶν κοινωνίας διΐστασθαι». We are assured, as the same great struggler affirms, that the more we distance ourselves from them, the closer we come to God and to all His Saints; and when we wall off from them, then we unite ourselves with the Truth and with the Holy Fathers, the Theologians of the Church. Saint Mark gave the command shortly before his death that neither the patriarch nor any other philo-papist clergy should be present at his funeral, saying: “For I am absolutely convinced that the more I distance myself from him and from those like him, the more I draw nearer to God and to all the Saints; and just as I separate from them, so do I unite myself with the Truth and with the Holy Fathers, the Theologians of the Church.”

I pray that Christ, the source of Truth, through the intercessions of the Most Holy Theotokos and of all the Saints, may sustain and strengthen us on the one and only Orthodox way, in fleeing from the delusion of other religions and heresies, for Christ alone is the Life and the Truth, the only true Light, and only the Orthodox Church is the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

With much love and appreciation for our common struggles for the Truth
and with heartfelt wishes for a blessed journey toward Pascha,

Protopresbyter Theodoros Zisis

Endnotes

1. Translator’s note: Presbyters, bishops or synods not yet condemned, who preach heretical teachings which have been condemned or not yet condemned.