Question on Simony or some related practice

[dzheremi]

NB: I'm posting this here because I think it may lead to debate. I don't necessarily want one.

In another thread that is now locked, a user who is a guest to the EO forum basically accused the EO Church of trading canonical recognition of breakaway EO bodies for 'donation' money. I don't believe there's any truth to that accusation, but it did get me wondering: would this fall under the definition of simony, and be treated as such according to whatever canons govern the EO Church with regard to that corruption? From my admittedly weak understanding, simony involves the selling of positions within the Church (e.g., ordination to the priesthood), but I have never heard of it being extended to wholesale recognition of an entire group as being the Church/within the Church. You'd think if that were possible, then the newly-minted Ukrainian Church would've tried that, or the Macedonian Orthodox Church, or whoever else may be out there and seeking recognition as the legitimate EO Church of a given territory.

So it's a bit weird. Has there ever been anything like that in the history of the Chalcedonian Orthodox churches, and if so, how as it dealt with? Thanks for any input. I'm just curious, not really looking to argue.

 

[ArmyMatt]

not to my knowledge. I am sure it has happened under bad bishops, but that has never been endorsed by the canonical Church.

in fact, simony is one of the most common condemnations in the ecumenical councils.

 

[ArmyMatt]

and I would add, Nicaea has condemned simony, so that means that it was a problem loooooong before the Old Calendarist schism. so pointing out that there could be a bishop out there who would accept him with enough cash is a pretty shallow attempt at a cheap shot.

 

[dzheremi]

Yeah, I don't mean to publicize the accusation; it's just what got me wondering about this question.

Simony seems like it has been a problem throughout most/all of the life of the Church, off and on, I had just never heard that specific accusation before, and I can't think of any example of it off the top of my head (when the church to which I belong fought against simony in the time of Pope Yusab II in the 1940s and 1950s, they did so by gathering in Synod in 1955 and deposing the Pope in question and dismantling the circle of influence around him, not by accepting any bribes, but I didn't know if there was any specific case in your Church that might be alluded to by these 'true' groups), so I figured I'd ask about it. Thank you, Father.