In every election for a high priest, mayor or…building manager, there are winners and losers. “Losers” are usually considered the fellow candidates. In the election of the new Archbishop of Crete, the collateral damages went well beyond the borders of the island. It was not only the fellow candidates who lost.
The election of the new Archbishop of Crete, unintentionally, provoked much of a stir in Phanar, Athens and Adrianople. Eugenios of Rethymno was elected, whereas Amfilochios of Kissamos and Gerasimos of Petra faced defeat. And that´s reasonable. Someone was supposed to lose and someone was supposed to win. At that time, no one assessed the role which the Ecumenical Patriarch was meant to play in the equation.
Bartholomew showed patience of a saint with the open revolt of Metropolitan of Adrianople for so many years now. Silent and motionless, like the hunter hidden behind the bush, when he comes accross the carelessly passing by wild boar, while waiting to open fire in one misstep. As soon as the new Archbishop of Crete was elected, he made the Metropolitan of Adrianople to “resign”. Whoever the newly elected Cretan was, the Metropolitan of Adrianople, Amfilochios, would be shunted aside.
The reason for the beheading was the Archdiocese of Crete. By the spring, Bartholomew had already decided who was the chosen one. Eugenios of Rethymno. He had also informed the Prime Minister about his choice.
However, the Metropolitan of Adrianople, fought against the desire of the Patriarch. Until the last minute. He formed a team, he “lobbied” as they say in the villages of Adrianople. Against Bartholomew and the “number two” in Phanar, Emmanuel of Chalkidona. He was frantically trying to pick up votes to have Amfilochios of Kissamos elected. Be gone.
Bartholomew is made of a mixture of steel and originally made of Contantinople. It takes a long time, but he does not forgive. He made it reality – in a difficult way though – for the man he desired to be elected in Crete.
He patiently overcame the disturbances caused by the Metropolitan of Adrianople in his relations with Athens. His inspiration, after all, was to pull the strings with the district Probonas and broach subject with the patriarchal stavropigia. He let it go, when Amfilochios dredged up all kinds of issues. The fight in favor of Amfilochios of Kissamos, however, was the beginning of the end. Metropolitan of Adrianople Amfilochios did not only build a small team in favor of Metropolitan of Kissamos.
I learn that he “informed” the Greek Foreign Minister N. Dendias that the Ecumenical Patriarch wanted the Metropolitan of Kissamos for Archbishop! When N. Dendias learned the real wish of the Patriarch, he was stumped. This was the last straw that broke the camel’s back in the Partriarchate.
“Pack it up and go!”
The Patriarch called in his office the Metropolitan of Adrianople and the chief secretary of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the spiritual child of the Metropolitan of Adrianople, Gregory. He chanted them in a patriarchal way of speaking, for their moves behind his back and they could clearly see his rage. The Metropolitan of Adrianople was forced to resign. The chief secretary is, they say, under appeal and assessment.
“It was a matter of time before he left after everything he did,” highlight members of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. “Emmanuel of Chalchidona caused all this”, claims, on the other hand, Amfilochios of Adrianople. He believes that Emmanuel led him to the exit. In order to be, as he believes, the only ruler in Phanar.
From the column of Greek edition orthodoxtimes.gr, Melchizedek
