Funeral Oration for Father John Romanides (Delivered by Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

Funeral Oration for Father John S. Romanides 

(March 2, 1927 - November 1, 2001)

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

(Delivered on November 6, 2001 at the Metropolitan Church of the Annunciation of the Theotokos in Athens)

In this funeral service I represent His Beatitude Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece, who, despite his wishes, was unable to be present among us, and I convey his prayers for the repose of the soul of the ever-memorable Father John Romanides, who offered great services to the Church of Greece through his participation in inter-Orthodox and inter-Christian dialogues and meetings.

At the same time, I am also present as Metropolitan of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou, because in recent years the ever-memorable Father John had received a discharge from the Holy Archdiocese of America, where he served, and was included in the priestly staff of my Sacred Metropolis.

With these two capacities, I feel very keenly the very heavy task of bidding farewell during the funeral service to the ever-memorable Professor of the Theological Schools, teacher of the spiritual life, exponent of the Orthodox hesychast tradition, my beloved Cleric, Father John Romanides. However, I will take courage and complete my farewell.

The ever-memorable Father John Romanides was no ordinary personality. His colleagues will outline his writing and teaching work. However, what I can emphasize is that he was a serious researcher and scientist, a connoisseur and teacher of the Orthodox Tradition, who contributed greatly to the revival of theological education, but mainly and above all he was a sensitive man. He had dedicated both soul and body to the depth of Romiosini, which for him was the essence of genuine spirituality that frees man from self-love, eudaimonia and the manifestations of fallen man. He accomplished a great ecclesiastical, theological and national work. He represented Orthodox Theology in America, in the Theological Schools of Lebanon, Damascus, Europe, in Conferences, in Dialogues, as a representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Church of Greece, in halls, etc. Everyone listened to an original and at the same time traditional theologian. I hope that his great work, which was overlooked by some during his lifetime, will be appreciated now after his death.

I would like to highlight two points at this time that I think are interesting.

The first is a letter that he sent in 1958, 43 years ago, as a young theologian at the time, to the monk Father Theoklitos Dionysiatis, in which he wrote, among other things:

“I am very sorry that we will not celebrate Pascha together this year. My mind is always on the Holy Mountain and at every opportunity I try to enlighten my acquaintances about it... I would very much like to correspond. I think the devil will be sad that we do not like the Christianity he promotes, but what can be done? No one can please him when they want to please God.”

And Father Theoklitos Dionysiates, commenting on this letter of his, wrote:

“My good friend and most revered Presbyter John Romanides is not an ordinary theologian. He learned Orthodoxy in two or three Universities and with the help of asceticism that illuminiates the soul. A master of four languages with profound scientific development... He is literally a monk, nourished by the Holy Fathers and by the holy liturgical life of the Orthodox Church, praising God 'seven times a day'" (Athonite Flowers).

The ever-memorable Father John Romanides, while working on his doctoral thesis, came into contact with monks who lived noetic prayer and learned its secrets, the relationship between the nous and the heart. He visited the Holy Mountain, and gained certainty about the foundations of spiritual life, which is why in his texts he constantly spoke about the keys of the Orthodox Tradition, which are purification, illumination and theosis. His book of dogmatics is a model of Orthodox theology, so much so that a monk of Mount Athos could say that it is the best manual of Orthodox dogmatics, because it connected theology with Orthodox hesychasm.

The second point I would like to emphasize is what he wrote in his doctoral dissertation on the topic of death. Death is a result of sin and the overcoming of death occurs through the rebirth of man in Christ. He writes characteristically:

“Because the Greek Fathers have always taught that God did not create death, and closely linked the concepts of death, Satan, and sin, the piety of Orthodoxy has always had a heroic and militant character, following in the footsteps of the Martyrs and Confessors, for whom fear and retreat before death meant falling into the hands of Satan and being cut off from the faith. Orthodox Christians have always tried to trample the center of death and to acquire carefree freedom. Characteristic of the Greek Patristic Tradition is the constant struggle against the tyranny of death, the devil and sin through the life of selfless love in Christ” (Ancestral Sin, p. 158).

These were the teachings of the ever-memorable Father John Romanides. And this is how he lived, especially lately when I became closer to him. I visited him a few months ago in the intensive care unit of the Hospital, where he was suffering from a serious heart problem and was calm, possessed by the fearlessness of death. The only thing that occupied him was the theological and ecclesiastical life in our country. I visited him in his small and austere house. He had completely distanced himself from all ecclesiastical activity and lived calmly, quietly, just as he had begun his theological life. All he did was write various texts on his computer and put them on his website (Romanity.org). During the night he would wake up, light the candles in a small candelabra and pray with the prayer rope. A great theologian from an academic background who prayed as a monk. This way of life reminded me a little of Papadiamantis, known for being a monk in the world. He systematically avoided publicity and lived simply, humbly, and hesychastically!

I pray to God to grant him rest for the efforts he made to transmit Orthodoxy and to live its secrets. It is not possible for God to overlook people like the unforgettable Father John, who was on fire until the end of his life with zeal and love for Orthodox hesychast theology and tradition.

I pray that God will comfort his relatives according to the flesh (his sister, his daughters, his nephew, etc.) and his relatives according to theology. For the ever-memorable one had many friends in the faith.

Revered Father John,

Recently you had been expressing the complaint that your labors were wasted, because you saw things developing outside the criteria of the Orthodox Patristic Tradition that you taught. However, now you will know much better that the power of faith and authentic theological words are stronger than nuclear and chemical weapons and that the seed of your authentic teaching will bear fruit. We, your disciples, Bishops and Clergy, laity and monks, all the people of God, promise this.

We bid you farewell on your journey from the created temple to the uncreated temple, from the tent made with hands to the tent not made with hands, as you liked to say, with the hope of resurrection and our reunion once more.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.