December 1, 2024

Timeline of the events related to the Cessation of Commemoration of the name of our Metropolitan Silouan Oner at the Divine Liturgy

December 6, 2023 – Open Letter from the Parish of St. Edward the Martyr and St. Paraskevi of Rome to Patriarch John X and members of the Holy Synod asking for His Beatitude’s position on: the withdrawal from the World Council of Churches (WCC), condemnation of the so-called Synod of Crete, annulment and condemnation of the so-called “Chambesy Agreements” (1989 and 1990) and the 1991 Synodal decision for intercommunion with the Monophysites, the adoption of anathemas that condemn all heresies and the reception of every heretic who comes into the Orthodox Church with Holy Orthodox Baptism. Link

December 12, 2023 – Open Letter from the Parish of St. Edward the Martyr and St. Paraskevi of Rome to Metropolitan Silouan (Oner), requesting the condemnation and anathematization of the synodal agreements and decisions of concelebration and intercommunion with Monophysites, as we pronounce these anathemas on the Sunday of Orthodoxy. Link

December 16, 2023 – Encyclical sent from Metropolitan Silouan (Oner) to the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland – in which the Metropolitan publicly teaches the baptismal heresy. Link

December 17, 2023 – Open Letter from the Parish of St. Edward the Martyr and St. Paraskevi Roman to Metropolitan Silouan (Oner) regarding Orthodox Baptism. Link

December 18, 2023 – Email to Fr. Matthew from Metropolitan Silouan with the Letter of temporary suspension of Fr. Matthew (where the motivation of suspension is the open letter regarding Orthodox Baptism from 17 December 2023) – in the letter it is stated that the suspension will be lifted from the moment when Fr. Matthew will have removed from his social media channels and personal websites all the articles related to Orthodox Baptism (the official letters to the Patriarchate of Antioch and the other letter related to the issue of communion with the Monophysites) with the threat that if he does not do so by December 30, 2023, he will be permanently deposed (suspended) (According to the statutes of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland, the ecclesiastical court protocols state that the Metropolitan can administratively suspend a clergyman for up to 6 months, during which time the court shall hear the charges and determine whether they are proved. This in fact did not happen). 

December 19, 2023 – Email to Metropolitan Silouan, from Father Matthew Vulcanescu in which he tells the Metropolitan that he is in obedience to His Eminence, and that he has removed all posts related to the Baptism from his personal website and social media.

December 20, 2023 – Email to Father Matthew, from Metropolitan Silouan with a Letter of Lifting the Suspension of Father Matthew Vulcanescu specifying that the lifting of the suspension takes effect from the moment when Father Matthew writes a letter of forgiveness to His Eminence and to all the priests of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland.

December 20, 2023 – Sending of the Letter of forgiveness (not for the statements made, but for the personal weakness and sinfulness) and cessation of the commemoration of Metropolitan Silouan (Oner) for preaching heresy based on Canon 15 of the 1st-2nd Council of Constantinople, by the Parish of St. Edward the Martyr and St. Paraskevi of Rome, together with Father Matthew Vulcănescu. Link

December 21, 2023 – Email to Fr. Matthew Vulcanescu, on behalf of Metropolitan Silouan with a letter in which the Metropolitan states that the suspension remains in place, invoking Apostolic Canon 55 regarding insulting the Bishop by using the term “pseudo-bishop” mentioned in Canon 15 of the 1st-2nd Council of Constantinople in the letter of the cessation of the commemoration.

December 23, 2023 – Live public broadcast on YouTube of the cessation of commemoration of Metropolitan Silouan during the Holy Liturgy in English. Link

December 23, 2023 – 9 hours after the live broadcast of the Divine Liturgy, publication on the Archdiocese’s website of the document of deposition of Father Matthew Vulcanescu, on the grounds that he ceased his Bishop’s commemoration according to Canon 15 I-II Constantinople. (The Archdiocese did not send any document or official letter of warning. There was no ecclesiastical court held before this decision.) Link to the website of the Archdiocese and Link to the deposition document.

December 24, 2023 – Live public broadcast on YouTube of the cessation of commemoration of Bishop Silouan during the Holy Liturgy in Romanian. Link

December 25, 2023 – Publication on the Orthodoxiacatholica website of the canonically null and void deposition and the declaration by the Parish of St. Edward the Martyr and St. Paraskevi of Rome, together with Fr. Matthew Vulcanescu that the Parish and Fr. Matthew Vulcanescu remain in the Church of Antioch. Link

December 28, 2023 – Open Letter to Metropolitan Silouan from the Parish of St. Edward the Martyr and St. Paraskevi of Rome, together with Father Matthew Vulcanescu of non-recognition of the deposition. Link

January 3, 2024 – Publication of the Narthex Newsletter, the January-February 2024 publication of St. Dustan’s Antiochian Orthodox Church in Poole, confirming that the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland communes Monophysite laity. Link

January 9, January 11, 2024 – Publication and amendment on the Archdiocesan website of the “Canonical Policies and Resources for the Reception of Heterodox” document (which changes the Orthodox definition of Salvation to the meaning of “spiritual health”, introduces the notion of the ubiquity of the grace of salvation outside the Orthodox Church, redefines the terms ‘economia’ and ‘akribeia’, and introduces a new “canon” that stipulates the excommunication of any lay person and the deposition of a clergyman who receives a “corrective” baptism). Link

January 17, 2024 – Open Letter to Metropolitan Silouan from the Parish of St. Edward Martyr and St. Paraskevi of Rome, together with Father Matthew Vulcanescu regarding the “Canonical Policies and Resources for the Reception of Heterodox” document. Link

August 21 and 29, 2024 – Re-sending of the open letter dated December 6, 2023 from the Parish of St. Edward the Martyr and St. Paraskevi of Rome to Patriarch John X and members of the Holy Synod. Link

October 16, 2024 – Open Letter to His Beatitude Patriarch John X and the members of the Holy Synod of the Church of Antioch from the Parish of St. Edward the Martyr and St. Paraskevi of Rome which declares that the Parish fences itself from all those who allow heresy to spread within the Body of Christ. Link

Contact us

@2023. All rights reserved by ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH ST. EDWARD THE MARTYR & ST. PARASKEVI OF ROME
Liverpool, UK, Registered Charity Number:  1196554