What Is True Orthodoxy? | Sergianism & Ecumenism Explained
What is True Orthodoxy, and why do Genuine Orthodox Christians distinguish themselves from mainstream Orthodox jurisdictions?
This short introduction presents the True Orthodox understanding of several major developments in twentieth-century Orthodox history, focusing on Sergianism, modern Ecumenism, the calendar controversy and Orthodox resistance to ecclesiastical compromise.
The video examines events in both the Russian and Greek-speaking Orthodox worlds and introduces some of the people and documents that shaped the subsequent True Orthodox response.
The material below includes primary documents, official Church texts and historical resources so viewers can examine the sources and wider context for themselves.
Primary Documents
1. The True Orthodox Church and the Heresy of Ecumenism: Dogmatic and Canonical Issues
True Orthodox Churches of Greece and Romania and the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad · 2014
Prepared by the True Orthodox Churches of Greece, Romania, and the Russian Diaspora, this document sets out core ecclesiological principles and addresses Ecumenism, Sergianism, so-called “Official Orthodoxy,” the Genuine Orthodox Church, and return to Genuine Orthodoxy.
2. Unto the Churches of Christ Everywhere
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople · 1920
This encyclical is widely treated as a foundational document in the development of the modern Ecumenical Movement. It advocates closer fellowship between Christian churches despite doctrinal differences and includes proposals such as a common calendar, closer relations between representatives and theological schools, pan-Christian conferences, and other forms of cooperation. The World Council of Churches itself describes it as one of the foundational moments of the modern ecumenical movement.
3. Declaration on Recognition of the Soviet Regime
Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) · 16/29 July 1927
The primary declaration associated with what later came to be called Sergianism. In it, Metropolitan Sergius presents the Soviet Union as the civil homeland of the Russian Church and calls for loyalty to the Soviet state; the declaration also addressed clergy abroad and became a major point of conflict within the Russian Church. ROCOR Studies hosts the English text of the declaration itself.
Further Reading
1. ROCOR and the 1927 Declaration of Metropolitan Sergius
ROCOR Studies — History of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia
ROCOR Studies describes the Russian Church Abroad’s rejection of Metropolitan Sergius’s 1927 Declaration and records that hierarchs including Metropolitan Joseph of Petrograd and Metropolitan Cyril of Kazan also broke communion with Sergius’s administration. The account explains how the Declaration became a major point of division within the Russian Church under Soviet rule.
2. The 1923 Pan-Orthodox Congress and Calendar Reform
Orthodox History — The Nine Years That Almost Destroyed the Orthodox Church: 1923
A historical overview of the Pan-Orthodox Congress convened by Patriarch Meletios Metaxakis in 1923, including its adoption of the Revised Julian Calendar and discussion of other proposed reforms. This provides useful background to the calendar changes that followed in Greece in 1924.
3. Meletios Metaxakis and the Grand Lodge of Greece
Grand Lodge of Greece
The official website of the Grand Lodge of Greece includes Ecumenical Patriarch Meletios Metaxakis among its notable Masons and identifies him as a member of Harmony Lodge No. 44 in Constantinople. The same profile also identifies calendar reform among the major changes associated with his ecclesiastical career.
4. Patriarch Athenagoras and the Grand Lodge of Greece
Grand Lodge of Greece
The Grand Lodge of Greece also includes Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I within its collection of distinguished Masons. Its biography records his close association with Meletios Metaxakis and describes Athenagoras as a major advocate of the twentieth-century Ecumenical Movement.
5. Meletios, Athenagoras and St Nektarios of Aegina
ROCOR Studies — Timeline of the Orthodox Church, 1917–1927
The ROCOR Studies timeline records that in spring 1918, Metropolitan Meletios Metaxakis travelled to Aegina with his archdeacon, the future Patriarch Athenagoras, to investigate accusations against St Nektarios of Aegina. The account describes the accusations as false and states that Meletios sided with the saint’s accusers.
6. The Greek Old Calendar Movement and the Miracle of the Holy Cross in 1925
Bishop Ambrose — The Old Calendar Greek Orthodox Church: A Brief History
This True Orthodox historical account traces the development of the Greek Old Calendar movement following the calendar reform of 1924. It also recounts the reported appearance of the Holy Cross over the faithful near Athens on 14 September 1925 according to the traditional calendar, during a gathering that police had been sent to disperse.
Sources & Corrections
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