Below is the letter which was sent to His Beatitude Patriarch John X and the Holy Synod of the Church of Antioch, by Father Matthew (Ion-Valentin) Vulcanescu and the members of the parish of Saint Edward the Martyr and Saint Paraskevi of Rome in Liverpool, on the 16 October 2024.

ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF SAINT EDWARD THE MARTYR
AND SAINT PARASKEVI OF ROME
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland

His Beatitude Patriarch John X
And the Holy Synod of the Church of Antioch
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East
Patriarchal Residence
Balamand
Koura
Lebanon

16 October 2024

Our Father, Your Beatitude the Patriarch,
And Your Eminences, the Metropolitans, Members of the Holy Synod,

We have waited with all love and patience for the response to the open letter that we sent to Your Beatitude and the Holy Synod, dated 6 December 2023[1], signed by Father Matthew (Ion-Valentin) Vulcanescu and the members of our parish of Saint Edward the Martyr and Saint Paraskevi of Rome in Liverpool. The same letter was re-sent on 21 August 2024 and 29 August 2024, but we have not received any response.

It has been brought to the attention of Your Beatitude and the Holy Synod the burning issues arising from our Orthodox conscience in relation to the struggle to preserve the Truth of the Faith unaltered. This struggle needs concrete actions such as: withdrawal from the “World Council of Churches” (WCC), condemnation of the heterodox ecclesiology of the so-called Synod of Crete[2], annulment and condemnation of the so-called “Chambesy Agreements” (1989, 1990 and 1993) and the 1991 synodal decision for inter-communion with the Monophysites[3], as well as the adoption of anathemas that condemn all heresies (including Miaphysitism/Monophysitism, Papism, Protestantism, the pan-heresy of ecumenism) and the implementation of the synodal decision of the Holy Synod of the Church of Antioch of 1933 to receive every heretic who comes into the Church by Holy Orthodox Baptism with triple immersion[4].

The same issues were also brought to the attention of our Metropolitan, His Eminence Silouan Oner, in a letter sent on 12 December 2023[5]. Unfortunately, instead of providing support and counsel in resolving these issues of Orthodox conscience, His Eminence Silouan responded in an unexpected manner, by initiating persecution against Father Matthew (Ion-Valentin) Vulcanescu, which led to his suspension and deposition[6]. We do not recognise this deposition, which is canonically null and void according to Canon 3 of the Third Ecumenical Council[7].

Due to the public preaching of heresy by His Eminence and His refusal to publicly confess the Orthodox Faith (by not proclaiming anathemas against heretics), our parish has unanimously voted to cease the commemoration of the name of His Eminence at all the holy services of the Church on 20 December 2023[8], in accordance with Canon 15 of the 1st-2nd Council of Constantinople[9]. The public preaching of heresy can be demonstrated in the following public documents of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland: the letter to the clergy of the Archdiocese dated 16 December 2023[10], the “Canonical Resources and Policies for the Reception of the Heterodox” document[11] and the article from “The Narthex” newsletter[12] which confirms the practice of communing Monophysites in our Archdiocese.

The document mentioned above, the “Canonical Resources and Policies for the Reception of the Heterodox” issued by the Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland, was brought to Your attention on 3 October 2024. This document blasphemes Holy Baptism,  describing it as “the exceptional remedy”, redefines the Truth of Salvation in an unorthodox manner, creates new canons without synodal approval and forbids the baptism of the heterodox, recognising their “baptism” done in the name of the Trinity (but which would need to be “perfected” by the sacrament of Chrismation).

Saint Gregory Palamas said that there are three kinds of atheism: classical atheism, heresy, and silence at times of heresy[13]. We do not want to be atheists, rather we want to confess the Orthodox Faith. At the same time, we see how the agreements with the Monophysites, the inter-communion with them and all the other ecclesiological deviations continue to work within the Church like a cancer. Faced with this situation, the silence of Your Beatitude and of Your Eminences, the Metropolitans, Members of the Holy Synod, is not just a type of atheism but also the way in which heresy spreads in the Church.

Professor Dimitrios Tselengidis says that when “others do not have the same opinion regarding faith, it is better to disagree than to agree with evil. It is then preferable to obey God rather than men and not to pass over in silence those things that God has commanded us to confess.”[14]

The Holy Apostle Paul says: “A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject; knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.”[15]

Unfortunately, when the shepherds are asleep, the wolves devour the flock. Yet, our intention was to bring Your attention to this danger with all love, waiting for Your public confession of the Orthodox Faith. The lack of pastoral care for our souls shows that You have turned from being our Fathers into step-Fathers whom we can no longer trust. Until Your Orthodox Faith is restored, any action against Father Matthew (Ion-Valentin) Vulcanescu and against us, either synodal or archdiocesan, is not canonical and therefore we cannot recognise it.

We remain in the Orthodox Church of Antioch, in the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland, continuing to be in communion with all those who confess the Orthodox Faith and fencing ourselves from all those who allow heresy to spread within the Body of Christ.

With all love and prayer in Christ, we remain faithful to the Church in which the disciples of Christ were first called Christians[16] and we await the moment when Your Beatitude and Your Eminences, the members of the Holy Synod, will publicly reject and anathematise the participation in the “World Council of Churches” (WCC), the Agreements with the Anti-Chalcedonians [the so-called Chambesy agreements (1989, 1990 and 1993), and 1991 synodal statement of the Church of Antioch on the relations with the ‘Syriac Orthodox Church’, that decided to allow inter-communion and concelebration with heretics that have been condemned by the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Ecumenical Councils] and the “Canonical Resources and Policies for the Reception of the Heterodox” Document of Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland.

Remaining faithful to the Orthodox Church of Antioch,

With all our love in Christ,

Protopresbyter Matthew (Ion-Valentin) Vulcanescu

Parish of Saint Edward the Martyr and Saint Paraskevi of Rome
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland

The letter continues with the signatures of the parish members and endnotes.

Endnotes

1.  Protopresbyter Matthew Vulcanescu and Parish of Saint Edward the Martyr and Saint Paraskevi of Rome in Liverpool, Open Letter to Patriarch John X and the Holy Synod of the Church of Antioch, 6 December 2023, accessed 13 October 2024, https://orthodoxchurchliverpool.co.uk/2023/12/12/open-letter-to-patriarch-john-x-and-the-holy-synod/.

2.  Holy and Great Council, ‘Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World’, 2016, accessed 13 October 2024, https://www.holycouncil.org/rest-of-christian-world/.

3.  Joint Commission Of The Theological Dialogue Between The Orthodox Church And The Oriental Orthodox Churches, First Agreed Statement, 20-24 June 1989, accessed 13 October 2024, https://orthodoxjointcommission.wordpress.com/2013/12/14/first-agreed-statement-1989/;Joint Commission Of The Theological Dialogue Between The Orthodox Church And The Oriental Orthodox Churches, Second Agreed Statement, 23-28 Sep. 1990, accessed 13 October 2024, 

https://orthodoxjointcommission.wordpress.com/2013/12/14/second-agreed-statement-1990/.

Joint Commission Of The Theological Dialogue Between The Orthodox Church And The Oriental Orthodox Churches, Recommendations On Pastoral Issues, 23-28 Sep. 1990, accessed 13 October 2024, https://orthodoxjointcommission.wordpress.com/2013/12/14/recommendations-on-pastoral-issues-1990/.

Joint Commission Of The Theological Dialogue Between The Orthodox Church And The Oriental Orthodox Churches, Communique: Proposals for Lifting Anathemas (1993), 1-6 Nov 1993. accessed 13 October 2024, https://orthodoxjointcommission.wordpress.com/2013/12/14/proposals-for-lifting-anathemas-1993/.

4.  Decision no. 8, 1933: J. Lacombe, Échos d’Orient, vol. 33, no. 173 (in French) (Paris, 1934), p. 99; Orthodox Ethos, On the Reception of the Heterodox into the Orthodox Church (Uncut Mountain Press, 2023), p. 299.

5.  Protopresbyter Matthew Vulcanescu and Parish of Saint Edward the Martyr and Saint Paraskevi of Rome in Liverpool, Open Letter to Metropolitan Silouan of the British Isles and Ireland, 12 December 2023, accessed 13 October 2024, https://orthodoxchurchliverpool.co.uk/2023/12/12/open-letter-to-metropolitan-silouan/.

6.  Metropolitan of the Orthodox Christian British Isles and Ireland, Silouan. Letter to Father Matthew Vulcanescu, 18 December 2023; Metropolitan of the Orthodox Christian British Isles and Ireland, Silouan. Encyclical to Archdiocese December 2023, 23 December 2023.

7.  Canon 3 of the Third Ecumenical Council, “And if any of the clerics in any city or village were stopped from the priesthood by Nestorius and those with him because they thought rightly, we have entitled them to be restored to their own rank. And in general, we decree that those clerics who think alike with the Orthodox and the Ecumenical Synod are not to obey in any way whatever the bishops who have apostatised, or those who remove themselves (ἀποστατήσασιν ἤ ἀφισταμένοις Ἐπισκοποις), or think differently from the Synod.”:
Agapios, Hieromonk and Nicodemus, Monk, The Rudder (Pedalion) of the Metaphorical Ship of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Orthodox Christians (The Orthodox Christian Educational Society, 2005), p. 228; Protopresbyter Matthew Vulcanescu and Parish of Saint Edward the Martyr and Saint Paraskevi of Rome in Liverpool, Response Letter to Metropolitan Silouan of the British Isles and Ireland, 28 December 2023, accessed 13 October 2024, https://orthodoxchurchliverpool.co.uk/2023/12/28/official-letter-to-his-eminence-metropolitan-silouan-oner-we-do-not-recognise-and-do-not-accept-the-deposition/.

8.  Protopresbyter Matthew Vulcanescu and Parish of Saint Edward the Martyr and Saint Paraskevi of Rome in Liverpool, Letter of Cessation of Commemoration of Metropolitan Silouan of the British Isles and Ireland, 20 December 2023, accessed 13 October 2024, https://orthodoxchurchliverpool.co.uk/2023/12/20/the-parish-of-st-edward-the-martyr-and-st-paraskevi-of-rome-together-with-father-matthew-vulcanescu-ceases-commemoration-of-the-heretical-bishop-silouan-oner-and-communion-with-all-ecumenists/.

9.  Canon 15 of the 1st-2nd Council of Constantinople, “[…] But as for those who on account of some heresy condemned by the Holy Councils, or Fathers, withdrawing themselves from communion with their president, who, that is to say, is preaching the heresy publicly, and teaching it barehead in church, such persons not only are not subject to any canonical penalty on account of their having walled themselves off from any and all communion with the one called a Bishop before any conciliar or synodal verdict has been rendered, but, on the contrary, they shall be deemed worthy to enjoy the honour which befits them among Orthodox Christians. For they have defied, not Bishops, but pseudo-bishops and pseudo-teachers; and they have not sundered the union of the Church with any schism, but, on the contrary, have been sedulous to rescue the Church from schisms and divisions”:  Agapios and Nicodemus, The Rudder, p. 471.

10.  Metropolitan of the Orthodox Christian British Isles and Ireland, Silouan. Letter to Clergy December 2023, 16 December 2023.

11.  Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland, Canonical Resources and Policies for the Reception of the Heterodox, 11 January 2024.

12.  St Dunstan’s Antiochian Orthodox Church, The Narthex: The Newsletter of St Dunstan’s Antiochian Orthodox Church, Poole BH14 9JG, January-February 2024.

13.  Saint Gregory Palamas, “Letter to the most pious Monk Dionysios” Saint Gregory Palamas – Complete Works, Vol. 4. [Αγίου Γρηγορίου του Παλαμά Άπαντα τα Έργα, Τόμος Δ’] (in Greek) (Thessaloniki: Paterikai Ekdoseis “Grigorios o Palamas”, 1983), p. 404.

14.  Professor Dimitrios Tselengidis, “The Importance of dogma in dialogues with the heterodox for the unity in Christ” (lecture, Conference House of Culture in Constanța, 1 June 2010).

15.  Titus 3:10

16.  Acts 11:26

The featured image source https://antiochpatriarchate.org/en/page/statement-of-the-holy-synod-of-antioch-2023/2617/

The document “Canonical Resources and Policies for the Reception of the Heterodox” (made public on 9 January 2024, and updated on 11 January 2024) from the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland ruled by Metropolitan Silouan Oner, contains the following grave theological errors:

1. The change of the Orthodox definition of Salvation to the meaning of “spiritual health.”
   
   When quoting Saint Cyprian of Carthage in the preface, the document states the following: “There was ‘no salvation outside the Church.’ ‘Salvation’ in this context meant spiritual health. This approach mandated the exceptional remedy of baptism, NOT as some rigorists today suppose, for ALL heretics or schismatics, but for some of them.” This new interpretation and redefinition is contrary to the actual meaning of Salvation: being united to Christ in His One and Unique Body, the Orthodox Church. Also in the statement: “There was ‘no salvation outside the Church’”, the past tense is used, which presents the teachings of Saint Cyprian of Carthage as obsolete.
   
   This redefinition of Salvation is blasphemy against Christ Who was crucified for us in order that we may be united to Him, not for a vague notion of “spiritual health”. Baptism is not “an exceptional remedy” but is the only door of entry into the Kingdom of God, which is the Orthodox Church ( Mark 16:15-16, Matthew 28:18-20, John 3:5 ).

2. The ubiquity (state of being everywhere at the same time) of the Grace of Salvation outside the Orthodox Church (as condemned by the Synod of Carthage 258), which states that salvation exists outside the One and Unique Body of Christ.
   
   The idea of “incomplete baptism” is corroborated by the term “ubiquity” of the Grace of Salvation in the preface of the policy document. The term “ubiquity” of the Grace of Salvation is in direct contradiction to the Holy Gospel and the teachings of the Holy Fathers(e.g. St. John Chrysostom, St. Cyprian of Carthage, St. Diadochus of Photice, St. Theodore the Studite and St. Ignatius Brianchaninov). There is only the One and Unique Church that is complete (catholic), where regeneration in Baptism and Salvation can be found. 
   
   
3. The redefinition of the terms ‘economia’ and ‘akribeia’ contrary to their well-established meanings according to the teachings of the Holy Fathers and to the Holy Canons.
   
   The document states that “Two common misconceptions are to think that economia means a dispensation and that akribeia is the norm. In fact, economia means ALL the possible rules of the household, akribeia being the strictest of those.” In fact, there is no misconception, as according to Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite, the well-established definition for ‘akribeia’ is exactitude, meaning the use of the formally valid canons, and the definition for ‘economia’ is tolerance regarding the temporary, exceptional adaptation of the Holy Tradition for the spiritual benefit of persons who find themselves in exceptional situations. In other words, ‘akribeia’ is in fact the rule whereas ‘economia’ is the exception.
   The transformation of economia into rule of the Church is not in the spirit of the Holy Fathers.
   
   
4. A new “canon” that stipulates the excommunication of any lay person and the deposition of a clergyman who receives a “corrective” baptism.
   
   According to the abovementioned policy document, a new “canon” of the Church was promulgated without any synodal approval in Section F, which states that: “Any lay person who receives a ‘corrective’ baptism will be excommunicated and a clergyman will be deposed. This is a serious offence breaking the unity of the Church and as such, is dealt with in an uncompromising manner,” where “corrective” baptism is when a person receives an Orthodox baptism after being received by Chrismation only. The “canon” also states that a person who receives a “corrective” baptism is not eligible for ordination. An accusation is also made against the laity and clergy who desire the Orthodox Baptism of all non-Orthodox, as “a minority and often schismatic tendency in the Orthodox Church” and “extremists”.
   
   It is a misnomer to call it “corrective” baptism, it is actually the one and unique Baptism in the Orthodox Church. According to Saint Cyprian of Carthage, “we declare that no one can be baptised outside of the [Orthodox] Church, there being but one baptism, and this being existent only in the [Orthodox] Church.“ This means that the Sacrament of Chrismation can neither replace an Orthodox Baptism, nor “perfect whatever was lacking in [a] non-Orthodox baptism.”
   

A bishop cannot make decisions against the Holy Gospel and the Holy Canons of the Orthodox Church. This policy document has also misinterpreted and misused the Holy Canons, ignored Apostolic Canons 46 and 47, and misquoted the Holy Fathers Saint Cyprian of Carthage and Saint John of Damascus.

By adopting this Anti-Gospel policy document, the Doors of the Kingdom of God have been closed to the heterodox in the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland.

Please see the attached “Canonical Resources and Policies for the Reception of the Heterodox” document, from 11 January 2024 and the “Open Letter in Response to the Archdiocesan Policy on the Reception of the Heterodox” from 17th January 2024. 

Speakers: Michael Goh and John Walsh – members of the Parish of Saint Edward the Martyr and Saint Paraskevi of Rome in Liverpool
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland

The main reasons for the cessation of commemoration of our bishop Metropolitan Silouan Oner:

1. The agreements with the Anti-Chalcedonians, the so-called Chambesy agreements (1989, 1990 and 1993) and 1991 synodal statement of the Church of Antioch on the relations with the ‘Syriac Orthodox Church’, that decided to allow inter-communion and concelebration with heretics that have been condemned by the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Ecumenical Councils, and their implementation in our Archdiocese[1].
2. The heresy of the ubiquity[2] of the Grace of Salvation outside the Orthodox Church (as condemned by the Synod of Carthage 258), which states that salvation exists outside the One and Unique Body of Christ. The idea of “incomplete baptism” as found in the Encyclical to the Clergy dated 16 December 2023, is corroborated by the term “ubiquity” of the Grace of Salvation in the Archdiocesan policy document for the reception of the heterodox dated 9 January 2024.
   The term “ubiquity” of the Grace of Salvation is in direct contradiction to the Holy Gospel and the teachings of the Holy Fathers. Whatever is in contradiction with the Holy Gospel and the Holy Fathers is called opinion or heresy. There is only the One and Unique Church that is complete (catholic), where regeneration in Baptism and salvation can be found. The idea of “incomplete baptism” (that is found in the aforementioned policy document) which leads to the idea of “incomplete Churches” is in contradiction to the Holy Gospel and the Holy Fathers.[3]

The agreements with the Anti-Chalcedonians and Archdiocesan statements mentioned above are in direct contradiction to the Holy Gospel and the teachings of the Holy Fathers. Further details of these contradictions can be found in the correspondences linked below.

Open Letter to Patriarch John X and the Holy Synod
https://ortodoxiacatholica.com/blog/2023/12/16/open-letter-to-patriarch-john-x-and-the-holy-synod/?lang=en

Open Letter to Metropolitan Silouan Oner
https://ortodoxiacatholica.com/blog/2023/12/17/open-letter-to-metropolitan-silouan-oner/?lang=en

The Response Letter of Father Matei Vulcanescu to the Letter of Metropolitan Silouan Oner to Clergy
https://ortodoxiacatholica.com/blog/2023/12/22/the-response-letter-of-father-matei-vulcanescu-to-the-letter-of-metropolitan-silouan-oner-to-clergy/?lang=en

Letter of Apologetics and the Cessation of Commemoration
https://ortodoxiacatholica.com/blog/2023/12/20/letter-of-apologetics-and-the-cessation-of-commemoration/?lang=en

Open Letter in Response to the Archdiocesan Policy on the Reception of the Heterodox
https://ortodoxiacatholica.com/blog/2024/01/17/open-letter-in-response-to-the-archdiocesan-policy-on-the-reception-of-the-heterodox/?lang=en

References:

1. January-February 2024 issue of The Narthex, the newsletter of St Dunstan’s Antiochian Orthodox Church (Poole, UK) <https://ortodoxiacatholica.com/blog/2024/03/17/confirmation-that-the-antiochian-orthodox-church-in-the-uk-communes-monophysite-laity/?lang=en>

2. Ubiquity means the state of being everywhere at the same time, being omnipresent

3. Saint John Chrysostom. Ἅπαντα τά ἔργα 16 Β, Ὑπόμνημα στήν πρός Ρωμαίους ἐπιστολή, Ὁμιλία ΣΤ΄ [Complete Works 16 B, Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans, Homily VI], ΕΠΕ 71 (in Greek) Greece, 1984, pp. 448-459.

Saint Cyprian of Carthage: “Outside the Church there is no salvation” (Liber de Unitate Ecclesiae 6 PL 4:503A) [Migne, J.-P. Patrologia Latina, Vol. 4, 1841-1855. (PL)]

Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov. Ascetic sermons and letters to the laity, Volume IV, “On the “salvation” of heretics”, “Hanul Coltei” Parish Newsletter 176 (in Romanian), 31 July 2016. accessed on 14 Mar 2017 <https://sfantul-ilie.ro/www/wpcontent/uploads/2016/08/buletin-nr.176-31.07.2016.pdf> ,

Saint Diadochus of Photice, Ascetic Word 76, Philokalia, vol 1 (in Greek) Athens, 1982, p. 258

Saint Theodore the Studite: “Τό γάρ κοινωνεῖν παρά αἱρετικοῦ ἤ προφανοῦς διαβεβλημένου κατά τόν βίον, ἀλλοτριοῖ Θεοῦ καί προσοικειοῖ τῷ διαβόλῳ” (Letter 220 to the Spatharian named Mahara 2, PG 99:1668D) [Migne, J.-P. Patrologia Graeca, Vol. 99, 1857-1866. (PG)]

Synodicon of the Holy and Ecumenical Seventh Synod for Orthodoxy, Anathema 50 (4th against Barlaam and Akindynos and the 9th chapters), in the Triodion Katanyktikon, Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece (in Greek) Athens, 2017 (5th edition), p. 364. [Συνοδικόν τῆς Ἁγίας καί Οἰκουμενικῆς Ζ΄ Συνόδου ὑπέρ τῆς Ὀρθοδοξίας, ἀναθεματισμός 50ός (4ος στά Κατά τοῦ Βαρλαάμ καί Ἀκινδύνου θ΄ κεφάλαια), στό Τριώδιον Κατανυκτικόν, ἔκδ. Ἀποστολικῆς Διακονίας τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τῆς Ἑλλάδος, Ἀθήνα 2017 (ἔκδοση 5η), σ. 364.)]

The open letter sent by the Parish of Saint Edward the Martyr and Saint Paraskevi of Rome, on the 6th of December 2023, to Patriarch John X and to the Synod of the Antiochian Orthodox Church has remained unanswered.

Since the answers to the questions raised in the open letter are intended to clarify the teaching of the Faith of the Patriarchate of Antioch, the parish decided to resend the letter on 21 August 2024, but again no response has been received.

Furthermore, Mr. Michael Goh, a member of the parish, with the blessing of Father Matei Vulcănescu, resent the letter on 29 August 2024, addressed personally to each member of the Synod, and he has neither received any response.

Below, you can read the follow-ups to the open letter, addressed to Patriarch John X and to the members of the Synod of the Antiochian Orthodox Church.

ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF SAINT EDWARD THE MARTYRAND SAINT PARASKEVI OF ROME
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland

21 Aug 2024

Your Beatitude John X, the Patriarch of Antioch and all the East,
And Your Eminences the Metropolitans of the Holy Synod,

With reference to our open letter that was sent to Your Beatitude and to the Holy Synod, dated 6 December 2023, signed by our parish of Saint Edward the Martyr and Saint Paraskevi of Rome in Liverpool, my humbleness would like to bring to Your attention that we are still awaiting Your response to the important theological matters raised in the open letter.

As the least and smallest in our big Antiochian family, our parish and my humbleness neither have pretensions that we are “rescuers” of the Church, nor do we have an exalted image about ourselves but our Orthodox conscience compels us to raise these questions for the salvation of our souls.

We have confirmation from the postal courier that You received the letter on 13 December 2023. However, we have not yet received a response from Your Beatitude. With all humility and eagerness, we await the response of Your Beatitude.

My humbleness has enclosed copies of our open letter for Your convenience.

With all my love in Christ,

Protopresbyter Matthew (Ion-Valentin) Vulcanescu

Parish of Saint Edward the Martyr and Saint Paraskevi of Rome

Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland

Enclosure: Open Letter to Patriarch John X and the Holy Synod of the Church of Antioch, dated 6 December 2023

Link to the Open Letter to Patriarch John X and the Holy Synod of the Church of Antioch, dated 6 December 2023

---

His Beatitude Patriarch John X
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East
Patriarchal Residence Balamand
Koura
Lebanon

29 August 2024

Your Beatitude John X, the Patriarch of Antioch and all the East,

My name is Michael Goh and I am one of the members of the Parish of Saint Edward the Martyr and Saint Paraskevi of Rome in Liverpool, UK, of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland. I work as a civil engineering consultant and am involved in major infrastructure projects such as the design of hydropower dams, airports and railways. I am very grateful to be baptised into the Orthodox Church in this Antiochian parish after a long journey to find the One and Unique Body of Christ.

With all my love in Christ and in all obedience, I humbly address this letter to Your Beatitude. With all pain of heart, my Orthodox conscience compels me to take the initiative, with the blessing of my spiritual father, to write directly to Your Beatitude humbly requesting Your response to questions which are crucial for the salvation of our souls.

These questions were raised in an open letter written by our parish with its shepherd, Protopresbyter Matthew Vulcanescu, to Your Beatitude Patriarch John X and to the Holy Synod on 6 December 2023. I was one of the co-signatories of the letter. To date, there still has been no response from Your Beatitude nor from the Holy Synod. In case Your Beatitude has not received the original letter, please kindly see enclosed a copy of the letter for Your convenience.

A letter with similar questions was also sent on 12 December 2023 to our Metropolitan, His Eminence Silouan, whom I deeply love and respect as one of the bishops of our Antiochian family. However, His Eminence has not responded to the questions raised in the letter addressed to Him.

In light of this, with all humility and eagerness, I look forward to the response and guidance of Your Beatitude as these questions and their answers are important for our salvation.
In all obedience and with all my love in Christ,

Michael (Wei Jin) Goh
Civil and Environmental Engineer
Chartered Geographer and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society

Enclosure: Open Letter to Patriarch John X and the Holy Synod of the Church of Antioch, dated 6 December 2023

Link to the Open Letter to Patriarch John X and the Holy Synod of the Church of Antioch, dated 6 December 2023