This is the clergy oath the traditionalist Archbishop +AUXENTIOS had his clergy take prior to becoming part of the True Orthodox Church. Since The Milan Synod is the last intact aspect of AUXENTIOS’ synod, all of us come under his protection, and hence are required to take this oath, which I did at my ordination to the Orthodox priesthood. It is proof of the sickness of our age where traditionalist clergy are called "graceless" by the ecumenists in SCOBA, who then in turn accept the priesthood of Anglicans and papists. MRJ


Archbishop +AUXENTIOS of Athens and All Greece (1912-1994)

The Orthodox Clergy Oath of those Under Archbishop +AUXENTIOS and the True Orthodox Church

WHEREAS,

(1) the introduction of the Gregorian calendar brought disastrous consequences into the liturgical order and harmony of the Church and created a schism;

(2) the acceptance of the secular calendar by the innovators and schismatic hierarchs stands in opposition to the law of God in that, according to Saint Theodore the Studite, "No authority has been given to the hierarchy to transgress in any matter whatsoever that which is the rule, but [it has power only] to continue in that which has been passed down and to follow in the steps of those who have gone before";

(3) the faithful people of God acted in a manner pleasing to God when it rejected this innovation, because, according to Saint Cyprian of Carthage, "He that separates and divides the Church of Christ cannot possess the robe of Christ";

(4) the Pan-Orthodox Councils (such as those of 1583, 1587, and 1593 under the Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremias the Illustrious, and the Council of 1848 under the Ecumenical Patriarch Anthimus) have forbidden and condemned the change or alteration of the calendar ("Whoever does not follow the customs of the Church . . . and wishes to follow the newly-devised Paschalion and new Menologion of the ungodly astronomers of the Pope, and sets himself in opposition in all these matters, and wishes to overturn and to destroy the doctrines handed down by our Fathers and the Customs of the Church, let him be under anathema, and let him be outside of the Church of Christ and the Assembly of the Faithful"--the Council of 1583);

(5) the Encyclical of 1920 of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, "To the Churches of Christ Wheresoever They May Be," proclaims that the union with the (heretical) churches of the West is not impeded "by the existing dogmatic differences" and that this union is desirable and seemly, and that one of the first steps towards its accomplishment is "the acceptance of a common calendar so that all the Churches may celebrate the great Christian feasts simultaneously . . .";

(6) the ecumenistic innovation of the calendar change also cultivated the ground for the steps that followed, such as the meeting of Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras in 1964 in Jerusalem, and all the subsequent acts and heretical pronouncements which were made "with bared head";

(7) the "lifting" of the Anathema against the Papacy in 1965 is not a true lifting, in that the Papacy has not renounced its heresies, but, to the contrary, it places under its Anathema even the "Orthodox," according to the dictum of the Fathers, "If anyone does not anathematize all heretics, let his portion be with theirs";

(8) the enrollment of a Church as a member of the World Council of Churches altogether constitutes an acceptance of the Branch Theory and a denial of Orthodox ecclesiology and faith, and the common prayers and pronouncements in themselves constitute a proclamation of heresy;

THEREFORE,

I confess that I reject every ecclesiastical and liturgical relation or association with the ecumenistic churches and those who are in communion with them. I confess and proclaim with the Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council: "We follow the ancient traditions of the catholic Church. We keep the institutions of the Fathers. We anathematize those who add anything to or subtract anything from the catholic Church."

I confess that I join and am united to the saving and true Church of the True Orthodox Christians under the jurisdiction of His Beatitude, the Archbishop, kyr Auxentius of Athens and All Greece, under whose spiritual guidance and pastorship I shall be.

(signed) Fr. Matthew Raphael Johnson, Ph.D.
Feast of St. John Chrysostom, 2006
Fayetteville, PA
Pokrov Chapel (Old Russian Rite)

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