Below is an open letter to the Hieromonk Dositheos of the Sacred Monastery of the Holy Protection in Parapotamos that was sent by His Eminence Metropolitan Makarios of Sidirokastro, in whose Metropolis Elder Dositheos resides.
In his letter, His Eminence referred to the attitude of Elder Dositheos towards the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Bishops of the Church, Archbishop George of Cyprus and the former Metropolitan Tychikos of Paphos, who recently received disciplinary action by the Holy Synod of Cyprus.
On May 22, 2025, the Holy Synod of the Church of Cyprus decided to depose the now former Metropolitan Tychikos of Paphos from the post of Metropolitan due to his choice of "walling" (Gr. “apoteichisis”) himself from being in communion with other bishops who are canonical members of the Church yet he personally considers heretical. One who does an “apoteichisis” considers himself a guardian of the Orthodox Faith and does it to protect himself from the error of heretics while remaining within the Church and not forming a schism as a means of pressure that he uses to initiate a synod that will condemn the heretics. The majority of the Holy Synod did not agree to justify his position, and therefore deposed him from his role as Metropolitan. The decision further states that he remains a Bishop of the Church of Cyprus and a member of the Holy Synod. He is placed at the disposal of the Church that will utilize him, and he will be given a title and position by the Holy Synod.
There is also the case of a priest of the Metropolis of Paphos, who was allegedly sent to Thessaloniki but instead of commemorating the relevant Metropolitan, he commemorated Metropolitan Tychikos, which is considered a great disgrace within the Church.
Many have condemned this decision of the Holy Synod of Cyprus, taking extreme positions and saying they are persecuting the former Metropolitan Tychikos. Among them is Elder Dositheos, who is popular on YouTube and put out a public video stating his position, among other things, thus prompting his Metropolitan to respond with an open letter that is also public.
In his letter, His Eminence referred to the attitude of Elder Dositheos towards the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Bishops of the Church, Archbishop George of Cyprus and the former Metropolitan Tychikos of Paphos, who recently received disciplinary action by the Holy Synod of Cyprus.
On May 22, 2025, the Holy Synod of the Church of Cyprus decided to depose the now former Metropolitan Tychikos of Paphos from the post of Metropolitan due to his choice of "walling" (Gr. “apoteichisis”) himself from being in communion with other bishops who are canonical members of the Church yet he personally considers heretical. One who does an “apoteichisis” considers himself a guardian of the Orthodox Faith and does it to protect himself from the error of heretics while remaining within the Church and not forming a schism as a means of pressure that he uses to initiate a synod that will condemn the heretics. The majority of the Holy Synod did not agree to justify his position, and therefore deposed him from his role as Metropolitan. The decision further states that he remains a Bishop of the Church of Cyprus and a member of the Holy Synod. He is placed at the disposal of the Church that will utilize him, and he will be given a title and position by the Holy Synod.
There is also the case of a priest of the Metropolis of Paphos, who was allegedly sent to Thessaloniki but instead of commemorating the relevant Metropolitan, he commemorated Metropolitan Tychikos, which is considered a great disgrace within the Church.
Many have condemned this decision of the Holy Synod of Cyprus, taking extreme positions and saying they are persecuting the former Metropolitan Tychikos. Among them is Elder Dositheos, who is popular on YouTube and put out a public video stating his position, among other things, thus prompting his Metropolitan to respond with an open letter that is also public.
to Elder Dositheos of Holy Protection Monastery
Most Venerable Father Dositheos,
1st) Again and again, I have asked you to limit yourself to your strictly monastic duties and to benefit, with good words, those who come to the Sacred Monastery of the Holy Protection in Parapotamos.
It is no small task. Shouldn't we work, you in particular and I as co-assistant, for the arrival of other monks so that our monastery can function properly?
You alone with your weak strength and the illnesses that afflict you, it would be beneficial to have two or three other monks to take care of you and to take care of the premises and the pilgrims, whom, by the grace of God, you, with your spirituality and the excessive zeal that distinguishes you, become the reason for visiting us.
2nd) Father Dositheos, in the first years of your establishment in the Sacred Metropolis of Sidirokastro, after the positive suggestion and guarantee of the venerable and much-respected Father Ioannikios Kotsonis, you were "calm and quiet and trembling at the words of God," but also advisory to everyone.
You did not have the outbursts that you have, lately, and I am amazed that you see demons and enemies everywhere? Did not we as the Sacred Metropolis, your Bishop, our clergy and lay Christians, show you love and kindness? We did not abandon you, nor the Monastery.
Do I not regularly send you a Priest for the Friday vigils and did I personally not officiate dutifully, by the grace of our Panagia? Did we not forgive your human mistakes and passions?
Why then do you behave hostilely towards everyone, at a time when everyone is subject to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church? Honorable members of the body of the Lord. Simple and humble people of the province, who with prudence and seriousness but also obedience, submit to each of us who wears the honorable cassock, despite any problematic behaviors of ours?
You consider one of the biggest problems to be something irrelevant!!! Maybe we should correct the attire and grooming of our hair, if it really needs it, but it should be approached with caution, and not do it with attacks and fanaticism.
On the contrary, with good speech and the proximity of souls, when does this speech, according to the popular saying, "draw out the snake from its hole"? And of the Lord, "those who come to Me I will in no way cast out." Not all can become monks and nuns. Therefore, prudence, caution, and discernment are necessary.
3rd) Father Dositheos, you criticize the internet and the modern inventions of people, but you are the first to use it abundantly, so that you have thousands of "followers", from the ends of the world and supporters and followers from Greece and abroad, prominent and great, important and insignificant. Those who are good and others who are not. Personally, I believe that much can be done with the grace of God.
Those who follow us are not deceived, but see the man of God, the follower and faithful child of Saint Paisios, as we argue, who you should be the first to imitate in his behavior, simplicity and calmness. Our people, our Christians often do not know the what and the how or even many things about the Church.
Revolutionary behaviors and outbursts disappoint, repel and do not benefit anyone. And especially those who come to us when they are even slightly uncatechized. You have qualities that you should utilize, not with attacks, but with a calm mental disposition, so that all who enter the House of our God may benefit.
4th) Father Dositheos, with responsibility towards you and towards the flock of our Sacred Metropolis, but also towards all those who follow you, both near and far, allow me publicly, as you do, to correct some things concerning your attitude towards our Patriarch first, the Bishops of our Church second, and third Archbishop George of Cyprus and the former Metropolitan of Paphos Tychikos.
On the latter issue, you took a tough position, with unfamiliar expressions, before the ink of the condemnatory decision of the Holy Synod of the Church of Cyprus had dried.
5th) Really, Father Dositheos, have you considered what harm you are doing to our Patriarch and to the institution of the Patriarchate, as well as to the ecumenical role it has towards Orthodoxy as a whole?
You are giving food to those who want to diminish it and bypass it and abolish it. You are out of place and time, don't you realize it? And you become a prey to those who work evil against our pure Orthodox faith.
Do you really know our Patriarch? To our Metropolis he came four times - unprecedented!!! He loves us and we love him, but we have also been following his stances, his positions, his words and writings for 30 years, his crucifixion-like path through complicated stones, a sleepless guardian of the gladsome light of the Phanar.
Where did you discover that he is an Ecumenist and so many other accusations that you hurl against him? He never gave us such an image. Nor did he say anything. He is always prudent, consistent, always attentive, always faithful to the traditions and dogmatic teaching of our Church. A follower of the Fathers. Always present with prudence and responsibility. Who did he betray and whom and when? Do you read things holistically? Or do you attack such a prudent Patriarch as you see fit, in order to create more noise?
Are you really not ashamed to attack our Patriarch, who would easily come to have a coffee with you at the Monastery of Parapotamos, so that he may honor you, the humble one, and not to drown yourself alone in the verbiage and the crowns that you broadcast on the Internet and elsewhere, at any time, to convince by intimidating your listeners with supposedly heretical teachings and ideologies and enemies and traitors, who constantly spring up before you from the Latins, the Vatican, the Pope and the Roman Catholics and the Freemasons and I do not know who and how many others you use as an alibi, to support your positions.
Father Dositheos, I have told you in particular and informed you many times about our Patriarch. He lives in a difficult place and an even more difficult country. Why do you crucify him again and again?
Respect the fact that he highlighted Orthodoxy, which through his actions is universally respected, without changing one jot or one tittle. Does this not tell you anything?
You should also know that our Patriarch lives very simply, far from palaces and luxury or gluttony. His house is small, simple and humble, and his father's house in Imbros, even humbler. Our Monastery in Parapotamos is even larger and more beautiful.
So where do you see a monster Patriarch, who betrayed everything and destroyed Orthodoxy? Do you not see that he is a true father?
Do you not realize that the exact opposite is happening and that enemies are lurking? But beyond this, we all owe respect and obedience to the eternal institution of the Patriarchate, as well as to our much-respected Patriarch.
I do not seek and do not want to gain anything with praise. You are attempting to spoil our relations with the Patriarch and to sow the weeds of discord and apostasy.
I humbly owe obedience and respect to the Patriarch and to the Holy Synod and to every superior and greater than me. I will express my opinion, even if it is contrary, with seriousness in the competent bodies and not on the sidewalk or on the Internet.
Father Dositheos, the Bible says and you overemphasize it without reading it: "Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account." Let us not be afraid, nor let our hearts be troubled; others have responsibility as those who must give an account.
6th) Secondly, you are fighting with all the Bishops collectively. We are to blame for everything. The Bishops.
Don't you have a responsibility to calm down in your Monastery with repentance, compunction and humility and to pray and recite the prayer rope for us, the wretched and incapable and sinful and unworthy?
Saint Paisios did this, prayers and more prayers. Prayer ropes and isolation. And while you promote him, you do not follow him. And while you present him to your listeners as the perfect example, you are far removed from his words and life.
You have known me, Father Dositheos, for so many years. You see how I deal with you. You see the struggles, the anxieties, the labors, my running back and forth and my works, for our faithful, for our Metropolis.
Do you think I am lagging behind? Am I not doing my duties well? Am I a heretic, an ecumenist, a freemason? What am I in your opinion? I do not leave our Metropolis.
I have been fighting in the Sacred Metropolis of Sidirokastro for 24 years. Have you ever seen me lead a secular or a luxurious life? Do I live aristocratically, arrogantly and richly? Night and day I fight, I run, I get tired.
I fight and agonize, in the lands and wild places and the peculiarities of a borderland Province.
All our Bishops and Metropolitans do the same. They fight day and night and we do not eat a single plate of sweet food, due to our worries and anxieties. But you easily criticize us all and condemn us.
While you do not even do the obvious things for your humble monastery. While it should be the center of your interest. Increase it, let it bear fruits of repentance.
If you have something against us, submit it to the competent bodies and to our Synod and denounce us and summon us and let us be condemned. But if not, why do you beat us? Isn't it a sin?
Why do you become a priest-accuser? Are we ecumenists? Are we immoral? Are we freemasons? Tell us. With evidence and not with blather and words of fanaticism and extremism.
7th) Finally, I would like to tell you about your latest statements about the former Metropolitan Tychikos of Paphos, about whom yesterday it was decided and rightly to depose from the throne of the Metropolis of Paphos.
Do you know him? Do you know about the accusations that weigh on him? Or did you hear something, they told you something and you went ahead to add your crowns and whoever the charon gets, to create a bang and noise and to stimulate fanaticism among other things.
But so that you know things firsthand, I inform you that the Archbishop of Cyprus, George, visited us last November.
He came to our Metropolis and to Rodopolis, to highlight the Cyprus problem that has been burning us all for 50 years and we held events at the monument of the hero Grigoris Afxentiou, in Rodopolis. You must point out all this.
The injustice and everything that the enemies of our homeland weave against our Cyprus. We are grateful to Archbishop George.
So I ask you: Did you see the Archbishop how simple he was, how he moved? What did he eat? How did he dress and how did he behave? Simply, more simply than all of us, so that everyone is surprised and admires what a man he is.
But you accused him of being an ecumenist, an atheist and a freemason. Who gives you this right, to insult rather than bless? And especially an Archbishop?
Who told you that such a kind and good Archbishop and above all a human being, is everything that you accuse him of? But do you really listen to what you say or do you say it to impress.
If he sues you in court for what you have hurled against him, you will be found guilty until you die. He is also a leader in the Church who shepherds in Cyprus and knows more than us.
The Holy Synod did not condemn Tychikos by chance. He himself condemned himself with what he did.
I refer you to the beautiful interview of the Mayor of Paphos, Mr. Phaedon Phaedonos, so that you can see who is responsible for all that has happened in Cyprus. Do you consider Metropolitan Tychikos to be uninvolved?
The Mayor is not, in the strict sense, a child of the Church, but he spoke better than even clergymen, monks, and Synods. Let us also listen to the little flock.
I do not know the man Metropolitan Tychikos, but you consider the Church and a Synod are deceived and not the one Metropolitan, the youngest in age, who should be on his knees, evening and morning and noon and praising God, who made him the first Metropolitan of the Church of Cyprus, without having done many things in his life or having worked or been tired?
Father Dositheos, you do not know many things at all. You ignore the truths, the essence of things and become a judge and criticize everyone.
By chance did the Holy Synod of Cyprus deal with one of its Metropolitans? By chance did the Ecumenical Patriarch? By chance did the Minister of Education of Greece? By chance did the Embassy of Cyprus in Athens? Prudence and fear of God are needed, and above all silence and prayer, when we see and when we face people, things and situations that are essentially not within our competence.
Nor is it necessary to stick our tail wherever and however it may be. Do our interventions benefit or scandalize our Christians? Do we calm them down or do we fanaticize and enrage them?
Father Dositheos, "Glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."
With the fear of God, faith and love, kneel down and let us all pray to our all-merciful Lord and His Holy Spirit to breathe into us a spirit of love, kindness and humility, saying: "Lord and Master of my life, give me not a spirit of idleness, curiosity, lust for power, and idle talking. Bestow on Your servant instead a spirit of temperance, humility, patience, and love. Yes, Lord King, grant me to see my own offenses, and not to condemn my brethren, for You are blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen."
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
