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Archbishop Gregory was born in 1944 and baptized with the name Robert George George into the Antiochian Orthodox Church in America. His family immigrated to America from Lebanon because of the Moslem massacres of Christians in that country at the turn of the century. He was educated in Boston, going through grade school, technical High School, and attended three years at Northeastern University, studying electrical engineering.
He remained in the Antiochian Church until 1965. When the “Lifting of the Anathema” was proclaimed that year by Patriarch Athenagoras, he then joined the Russian Church Abroad under Metropolitans Anastassy and Saint Philaret. He was twenty-one years old at that time when he left the University and entered a monastery of the Russian Church Abroad in Boston, where he remained for thirteen years.
Seeking a more quiet life, he left the monastery in 1978 to start a small skete away from the world. He was blessed to do this by the clairvoyant Elder Archbishop Andrew (Rymarenko) of Novo-Diyevo, New York. He was also given a written release by Bishop Constantine (Jesenski), who was at that time Bishop of Boston. He stayed for three months at Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York, and then another three months with Archbishop Vitaly in his monastery of Saint Seraphim of Sarov in Montreal, Canada. After that he finally settled in Colorado in 1979.
By the mercy of God, he was given 10 acres of mountain property to build a small monastery. Archbishop Seraphim (Ivanov) of Chicago blessed him to start a monastery in his diocese, and to be ordained a priest.
He was ordained a deacon on the Feast of Holy Protection in 1979, and then a priest on the Sunday of All Saints of Russia in 1980 by Bishop Alypy (Gamanovich). He remained in the Russian Church Abroad for thirty-one years.
He left the Russian Church Abroad, because of the ecclesiastical union and communion with the deposed Greek Metropolitan Cyprian of Fili. He remained five years with the Genuine Greek Old Calendar Church. In 1996 he was made Archimandrite in Athens on the Feast of the Holy Protection of the Virgin Mary.
He petitioned and was received back into the Russian Orthodox Church under Metropolitan Valentine. He was ordained a bishop on December 2, 2001, in Suzdal by Metropolitan Valentine, Archbishop Theodore, and Catacomb Bishop Anthony. He was raised to Archbishop on Pentecost in 2004 by Metropolitan Valentine per the desires of the Holy Synod of the ROAC.
Beloved Archpastors, pastors, and faithful of the Russian Orthodox Church:
“Great and fearful is this dignity of the episcopacy, and it requires an angel as a pilot. For this reason, I am afraid and count myself miserable, because I know myself, that I am not worthy to take up the care of so many souls.”
I echo these words of Saint John Chrysostom; yet, because the Church needs shepherds, I am persuaded and do not resist the call to accept. This is because Christ says that the harvest is great, but the laborers are few; therefore, we pray that God will grant shepherds.
Wonderful and mysterious are the ways of God. The path of the spiritual life leads those who seek righteousness in mysterious ways. True Orthodoxy came to America from Russia. Then, because of Communism, America became a home to the Russian Church Abroad, which was exiled until such time as the Church could be freed in Russia. By the providence of God, the banner of pure Orthodoxy was brought back to Russia before the collapse of the Russian Church Abroad. Now the banner is held high by our Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church, which has not compromised its confession of Faith amidst a world of apostasy.
There is God-revealed Orthodoxy, and also a man-created heterodoxy. Today this heterodoxy is embodied in the ultimate union of all heresy, called Ecumenism. Ecumenism mocks the words of St. Paul, which say that the Church is without blemish. Yet, “without blemish” describes how the Church must be in regard to Her Faith. Now that the Russian Church, by the mercy of God, again has given to America the mantle of true Orthodoxy, pure and without blemish, those who desire canonical order, and who will not permit blemishes on the garment of Christ, will follow us and join our Church. I express my heartfelt gratitude that our Metropolitan Valentine has recognized the need to establish, once again, a bishopric, which will proclaim Orthodoxy in America in the spirit of St. Tikhon and St. Philaret the Confessor.
Such activity is possible because religion is not openly persecuted in America. There is therefore no reason why a bishop in America should not proclaim openly the uniqueness of Orthodoxy. Neither does anything prevent a bishop in America from saying with great sincerity that the Church of Christ has no communion whatsoever with heretics or schismatics, whether they be Ecumenists, Zionists, Communists, Masons, phyletists, modernists, materialists, scholastics, or any other person, persons, institutions, or organizations opposed to sound doctrine.
Oh, how important it is to have a bishop for the faithful! The Church is built most swiftly with the presence of a bishop. In similar fashion, but with tragically different results, nothing can destroy the Church more quickly than a bishop’s actions in falling away from the truth. This calamity has been, in large measure, the story of our time. The Orthodox Church all over the world has been devastated by heresy over the past 100 years. This situation is an indicator of the terrible times we live in. This time of the great apostasy, of which St. Paul spoke, must come before the advent of antichrist. In this era, persecution of the faithful, for their Faith, is a prospect for which we must prepare. Should persecution come, we will never deny our beloved Savior. The condition for such persecution today is manifest in the evils so plainly present in all societies. Great is the work that is before us.
The Russian Church has honored me with the task of “cutting in a straight line the word of the truth [2 Tim. 2:15]” (that is, disseminating and correctly explaining) the word of God’s truth for those in America. With that task in mind, I call upon the prayers of the All-holy Virgin Mary with all the Saints in heaven, and ask as well the prayers of all the bishops of our Holy Synod and the faithful here on earth, to sustain me in preaching and building up the Church of Christ. Those in America, who are not ashamed of the words of the holy Fathers, will be drawn to our holy Church. For we say, as do the holy Fathers, in opposition to the spirit of Ecumenism, that there is one God, and one Christ; one hope, and one Faith in the one Church; and one Baptism with the one chalice sanctified only in the one true Orthodoxy, from which whosoever will depart is found to be in the company of heretics. May God grant us, despite our many shortcomings, always to be found within this one Ark. The Church of God must live and will continually give birth to those who desire to be saved. I have been given the privilege to serve Her. I will, if necessary, accept the honor of dying for Her.
In addition to thanking Metropolitan Valentine, and the Holy Synod for entrusting me with this dignity, I wish to thank those in America who besought me to accept this responsibility. There are many others to whom I must express gratitude, even if they are now at rest in the Lord. They include especially my parents David and Agnes, who were born into the Russian Church and, as devoted parents, sacrificed themselves for their twin sons. I also thank Archbishop Andrew (Rymarenko) of Novo Diyevo, the disciple of Saint Nectary of Optina, who greatly helped me when I was in need and who prophesied of this moment over 20 years ago.
I pray that, God helping me, their efforts on my behalf shall bear fruit a hundredfold. Amen.
To Contact Archbishop Gregory Directly and Confidentially:
Archbishop Gregory
Dormition Skete
P.O. Box 3177
Buena Vista, CO 81211-3177
U.S.A.
Telephone: (719)395-6395
Fax: (719)395-9376
E-Mail: ArchbishopGregory@starband.net
Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Reverend and dear Fathers, and Faithful;
It is with great joy that I write to you from the grace filled Paradise of Dormition Skete into which I have been accepted and numbered among the struggling monastic fathers. My greatest joy is that I have been accepted as a brother in the episcopate by His Eminence, Archbishop Gregory. You should know that this occurred because of the prayers of St. John Maximovitch who tonsured me a Rassophore monk and made provision for me to receive the Great Schema on Mt. Athos. He foretold that I would end my days in a grace filled monastery. This too has come to pass. I have been in conversation with the monastery brethren for over three years and through their encouragement I have been brought into communion with true confessing Orthodox Christians. Pray for me dear Fathers that I may live up to the expectations of my monastic Father, St. John Maximovitch and fulfill God’s Will for me in defending the Genuine Holy Orthodox Faith.
I come to you in humility having been tonsured into monasticism over forty years ago and having served in the episcopate for over thirty years. I have served as Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Synodal Jurisdiction and as Archbishop Exarch of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, and later as Epitropos of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Please keep in mind that in actuality I maintained in this country an Old-Calendar jurisdiction of the elderly clergy who served faithfully and not in communion with papal calendarists or with ecumenist heretics. Since, however, while in actuality remaining to ourselves, I did have recognition of the Patricarchates. Therefore, having sought, and by God’s Grace, found a confessing Hierarch in the person of His Eminence, Archbishop Gregory, I was received into communion, in humility, following profession of Faith, repentance for any association, knowing or unintentionally, with ecumenists. Having received the anointing with Holy Chrism and the laying on of hands of Archbishop Gregory, with the approval of Archbishop Makarios of Athens and all Greece, I ask for your prayers that I may remain a faithful monk in this grace filled monastery for the rest of my days and that I may serve all of you as a confessing hierarch no matter what the cost with God’s Assistance and your prayers. I am unworthy to have such a faithful brother hierarch and such faithful Orthodox Christians. Archbishop Gregory and I are one in mind and heart. I have never been happier or more peaceful than I am now in your midst. I thank you all for your prayers and best wishes. I look forward to hearing from you and to visiting with you in the future, God willing. I pray that we all may remain faithful to Holy Orthodoxy.
I, the least of all monastics, am so unworthy to be numbered among you and to take up residence in this holy grace filled monastery. As Jesus tells us, “Without Me, you can do nothing.” But as St. Paul tells us, “I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.” Pray for me Fathers that this unworthy hierarch in communion with all of you will be able to say with St. Paul, “I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.”
With Archpastoral blessings, I remain,
+Archbishop Ambrose
of New York City and New York State
Bishop John was born in 1971 in Concord, New Hampshire. A rudimentary introduction to the teachings of the New Testament finally found their fulfillment in his life when his family discovered the Orthodox Church when Bishop John was fifteen years of age. After two years of catechetical instruction in the ecumenical “Orthodox Church of America”, the entire family of nine persons realized that the true teachings of Orthodoxy lay elsewhere, which they found at that time in the Russian Church Abroad.
Very early on in his exposure to Orthodoxy, Bishop John took an interest in the monastic way of life. When his family was received into the Russian Church Abroad, the parish priest provided the young man with literature about the monastic life, and even gave him an opportunity to visit a monastery of the Russian Church Abroad. After a second visit to this skete, Bishop John was moved by divine mercy to promise his life to the Virgin Mary through the monastic path.
After graduating from William J. Palmer High School in Colorado Springs, Bishop John received the blessing of his spiritual father, now Archbishop Gregory, to attend Holy Trinity Seminary, Jordanville, New York. Bishop John completed one and a half years of study at the Seminary, participating actively in the monastery’s daily life in every aspect. However, when the time came to fulfill his promise of monasticism, he choose to settle at Dormition Skete in Colorado, with the blessing of the then Archbishop Laurus.
Bishop John fulfilled the canonical requirement of maintaining monastic obedience for three years at Dormition Skete before being tonsured into the Great Schema on January 8th, 1995, the Synaxis of the Theotokos, at age 24. Four years later he was ordained to the diaconate by kyr Metropolitan Kallinikos of Thavmakou and Lamia, President of the Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece. Two years later in 2001, on the Feast of the Protection of the Virgin Mary, he was ordained to the holy priesthood by Metropolitan Valentine, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church. At that time he was also nominated as a candidate for the episcopacy.
Bishop John has spent fifteen years at Dormition Skete and is an accomplished iconographer.
In 2008, he was again nominated to the episcopacy and elected and consecrated as Vicar Bishop to Archbishop Gregory for the city of Colorado Springs.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
To find the words appropriate for this day of momentous import is indeed difficult. Let us first begin by offering glorification and thanks to God for His merciful loving-kindness and protection, and secondly to our most holy, Lady Theotokos, who is never remiss in her intercession on our behalf.
Of all the many duties that are imposed upon a hierarch, perhaps the most important is that he bequeath to the generation coming after him the sacred treasury of the Faith, that he pass on the gift that was given him by God, to one able to accomplish the same task. Today, our hierarchs, our fathers and teachers, Archbishop Gregory and Archbishop Ambrose, have fulfilled their sacred trust. They have passed on to the generation coming after them that gift of grace which God bestowed upon them through the laying on of hands. Our heart quivers at the responsibility that has been placed in our hands, for perhaps one day, God will also require us to pass on what we have received. When we have done all that was commanded us, our Lord instructs to think humbly of ourselves, to consider that we had only done that which was our duty to do. Nevertheless, we cannot decline to offer our profound thanks to Archbishop Gregory and Archbishop Ambrose, for having! done the works they were appointed to.
My life as a monastic began over fifteen years ago this day, as you all know, here at Dormition Skete. I count not the time beforehand as a time to be considered, for the only life worth living is the life of repentance. I have known my spiritual father since the tender age of seventeen, and have observed his manner of life day by day, as few people have had the opportunity so to do. Of all the lessons God has shown me through Archbishop Gregory’s life, I believe the most important at this moment is the lesson self-sacrificing love. Our Lord Jesus Christ came not to be served, but to serve, to give His life as a ransom for many. He told us that the one who would be first among us, must be the servant of all. Therefore, I rejoice that God has appointed me to be your servant. I rejoice that our Savior has found me worthy to become the slave of His chosen flock. I rejoice that God has called me to follow the path of our hierarchs, the path of self-! sacrificing love.
During the preceding days I have tasted some of the most joyous moments of my life, as I beheld the joy of so many faithful servants and handmaidens of Christ at the news of my elevation. This joy will remain with me for the rest of my life; it will be a staff of strength to me, sustaining me beyond the lifetime of those who showed this love.
There have been a few key moments in my life when I understood the will of God very clearly. However, the manner in which God’s will was accomplished at these times has rarely been through the means expected. At the age of nineteen, I left my family and parish church of the Holy New Martyrs of Russia in Colorado Springs for a seminary education at Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, New York, with the intent to return to serve my family in that parish. Seventeen years have passed since that decision; that desire is now being fulfilled, not as I planned, but in a manner that could never have been expected, in the manner that God willed, for the flock has expanded far beyond that family I once left behind in my pursuit of monasticism.
God shepherds His sheep through the episcopacy. God commands His presbytery to feed His little lambs. God appoints His bishops to nourish His flock on the green pastures of the dogmas of Orthodoxy. A bishop is not a private individual, entitled to a personal opinion, a personal interpretation. His mind must be the mind of the Church; his life must be the life of the Church. As the moon reflects the light of the sun, illumining the darkness of night, so also Christ commands His hierarchs to be pure mirrors of Himself, a clear reflection of the divine rays emanating from our Savior Himself.
An angel is a light for a monk; a monk is a light for those living in the world. But for those outside the sacred fold of the Church, the faithful are set as a light, and their bishop stands in their midst. Where the bishop is, there is the Church, said St. Ignatios of Antioch; where the faithful are, so there must the bishop be.
I wish to make mention of and give thanks for the care and labor of a select few persons in addition to my spiritual father, those instruments whom God used to rescue me out the nets of the fallen world. First, I must make mention of my father and mother, through whose help my family came to the Church, and who graciously brought me to Dormition Skete. I must also render thanks to my grandfather, James Patrick Egan and my grandmother, Mary Egan, for the moral foundations they helped implant in my soul, and the love and care they have continued to show me till this present day. Two further individuals that perhaps were unaware of the positive impact on my life they had that I wish to make mention of, one of whom is with us in the Spirit, and another who is with us here today: the late Mr. George Lizardos, and Richard George. Finally, I offer my sincere thanks to Abbess Mariam, who has become a second mother to me, after the Theotokos.
I thank all those who made the great sacrifice to travel here for this consecration, and with love remember the many precious souls who were not able to come, but who are indeed with us in the Holy Spirit.
Many years ago, God planted a tree in the midst of stony ground, on the side of a mountain, as a refuge where the weary would find rest. He sent His servant to cultivate that earth, to cultivate that earth with care, to water that earth with his tears, to nurture that tree with his own blood. And in the course of time, according to the will of God, the tree put down roots and grew. And then the beasts of the wild wilderness came and rested beneath the tree, and the birds of the air came and found shelter in its branches, and from it, a beautiful river poured forth and gave life to many nations and peoples. Brethren, today that fountain of grace has opened its cataracts, and already the force of its waters is being heard in far away places. This monastery is that tree planted by God, and that river is the grace of the episcopacy.
May God bless you all and keep always in His grace. Amen.
Your servant in Christ,
+ Bishop John of Colorado Springs
The Genuine Orthodox Church of America, (GOCA) is the only legitimate continuation of the Russian Church Abroad, (ROCOR). The legacy of the ROCOR has always been the sound confession of Faith in the face of the onslaught of the heresy of Ecumenism. ROCOR was in communion with all Orthodox Churches up until the moment of betrayal, which put the rest of World Orthodoxy in the pit destruction, by the espousing of Ecumenism. This all destructive heresy, this invention of the devil, seeks to destroy the Church of Christ. It found its foothold in the Church through bishops who were portraying themselves as Orthodox hierarchs outwardly, but inwardly were secret members of Masonic Lodges. Masonry is the father of Ecumenism, for Masonry accepts all religions and all gods into its membership; Ecumenism accepts the idea that all religions and all gods lead to salvation. The uniqueness of Orthodoxy is denied by this heresy, and therefore it is called the heresy of all heresies, because it seeks to unite all heresies into one, and thereby pollute the Church of Christ with all manner of false beliefs.
In 1965, the Masonic patriarch of Constantinople, Athenagoras, in agreement with all the Orthodox Patriarchates, participated in the mutual lifting of anathema with the pope of Rome. On December 7th of that year, the Patriarch lifted the anathema against the Latins, and the Pope lifted the anathema against the Orthodox. This was the first open, bearheaded proclamation which was signed, sealed and disseminated, that the Orthodox Church was now, for the first time in its history, going to embark upon a new road of "love", which is called Ecumenism. The espousal of the heresy of Ecumenism was the infamous moment of betrayal not only by all Orthodox bishops who professed it, but also by those who maintained communion with the Ecumenists.
In 1965, the ROCOR broke all communion with Ecumenists and eventually acknowledged that they were only in communion with the Catacomb Church in Russia and the Greek Old Calendarists, who received their episcopacy from the Russian Church Abroad. In 1983, the ROCOR under Saint Metropolitan Philaret issued its anathema against Ecumenism. In 1994 the ROCOR under the lamentable Metropolitan Vitaly committed a catastrophic error by espousing the heretical theology of, and going into communion with, the Ecumenist heretic Cyprian of Fili (Greece) and his Synod of Resistors. This renegade group was deposed by the Greek Old Calendarists precisely for their espousal of ecumenical ideas which put them under the 1983 ROCOR Anathema against Ecumenism. When ROCOR committed this act of betrayal, the Greek Old Calendar Church broke communion with ROCOR. The bishops in Russia who were ordained by the ROCOR also at this time broke communion with ROCOR. Also, many other priests and laypeople around the world broke communion with ROCOR, among whom was Archbishop Gregory (then Fr. Gregory) of Dormition Skete and those with him.
Archbishop Gregory was consecrated a bishop in Russia by those bishops who had separated from the ROCOR,some of which were from the Catacomb Church. After his consecration, he visited Greece and was received as a true hierarch and participated in the services of the Greek Old Calendar Church, presently the Church under Archbishop Makarios. Archbishop Gregory has always maintained communion with this Church, because it is the only true confessing and canonical Church in Greece.
The GOC of America, as we said above, recognizes the GOC of Greece under Archbishop Makarios and his Synod, and we have the deepest respect and love for them. However, since they have no official representation on the internet, and their exposure there is only through the unofficial "Omologitis" website, run by a team of young laymen, which has printed many inaccurate statements about Archbishop Gregory, a clarification is necessary.
1. In its news section, this website has repeatedly misrepresented Archbishop Gregory, stating that he traveled to Greece and petitioned the Synod to be received as part of their Church. This is inaccurate. Archbishop Gregory never petitioned to be received as a bishop of the Greek Church.
2. Since Archbishop Gregory was consecrated a bishop, he traveled to Greece on many occasions. He was welcomed as a true bishop by the GOC and concelebrated with their hierarchs in the divine services, received holy communion and even given a large vial of holy chrism from one of their bishops, which was consecrated in 2004 (it is this chrism, along with chrism from the Russian Church Abroad from before Met. Philaret, that Archbishop Gregory distributed to the clergy of the Congo and Uganda).
Archbishop Gregory has always maintained communion with the GOC of Greece since the 1960's, when the Russian Church Abroad gave them their hierarchy. When that Greek Church broke communion with the Russian Church Abroad in 1994 because of the latter's Cyprianite union, it broke communion only with those who were in communion and accepted the heretic Cyprian of Fili. Since Archbishop Gregory, (then Fr. Gregory) himself broke communion with the Russian Church Abroad and did not accept this union with heresy, therefore logically, the GOC did not consider him as separated from the Church. Thus according to logical Church procedure, when Fr. Gregory joined the GOC as a priest, he was received as part of their Church without any formal reception rite, because they were never separated with regard to the Faith. Our understanding is that the same existence of communion has lasted until now, because the GOC of Greece and the GOC of America have no canonical reason to be separated from each other. One is the continuation of the Greek Church and the other is the continuation of the Russian Church, and their Faith has never changed. Thus we maintain the unity of the Faith and sin not against our Savior's commandment.
Unfortunately in the past, the GOC of Greece ordained certain bishops (who have now fallen away from the Church) Niphon of Piraeos and his disciple Arethas of Crete, who have caused much dissension within the Synod with regard to Archbishop Gregory. Niphon added the United States and Canada as his 3rd and 4th dioceses to give him more territory than the Byzantine Empire which he then gave to be administered by one of his ill priestmonks! The confusion which he has caused, especially in this country within the lower clergy and lay people still exists.
3. The Agreement of the Reception of Archbishop Ambrose was only between Archbishop Gregory and Archbishop Makarios. Archbishop Gregory did not ask for a synodal decision, deeming it unnecessary, because no one was asking to be received into the Synod of the GOC of Greece. According to the tradition of the Church, two bishops have the authority to receive another bishop in his rank. Needless to say, all the pertinent documents concerning Archbishop Ambrose were mailed/faxed and received by Archbishop Makarios before any decision was made. His consent via the telephone with a translator, witnesses and the recording itself are proof enough to silence any detractors. Archbishop Gregory and Archbishop Makarios are not responsible in any way to the adverse reaction of any laypeople who wish to criticize the good order of the Church.
Although we have the omologitis web site as a recommended link on our websites, yet it is solely because this is the only internet exposure of the GOC of Greece.
In Buena Vista, Dec. 15/28 2007
Press Office of the Chancellery of the GOC of America