The ecclesiological importance of the memory of Saints and Spiritual Fatherstranslated

Answer to the reflection on the "public reputation" of modern Elders

of Fr. Ioannis Chrysavgi

The recent organization of the International Theological Symposium for the blessed Elder Emilianos Simonopetritis provoked the intervention of Fr. Although every theological dialogue is legitimate, the approach of Fr. The Orthodox Church, however, never honored its Saints in order to promote people, but because in their lives the uncreated energy of the Holy Spirit was manifested.

Honoring an Elder is not public recognition or advertising, but a confession of faith that Christ is still active in His Church. The Church is a community of liturgical memory, which is not a reminiscence of a lost past, but an experience of a lasting reality. Already from the apostolic era, the Apostle Paul exhorts: "Remember your pastors... imitate the faith" (Heb....