The Indonesian Orthodox Church (GOI; Indonesian: ''Gereja Ortodoks Indonesia'') is a

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...

which has been under the jurisdiction of the

Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece Old Calendarists (Greek: ''palaioimerologitai'' or ''palaioimerologites''), also known as Old Feasters (''palaioeortologitai''), Genuine Orthodox Christians or True Orthodox Christians (GOC; ), are traditionalist groups of Eastern Orthodox Chri ...

since 2019. The theology and praxis of the church is essentially the same as any other

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...

, though they are not in communion with the larger body of

Eastern Orthodox Christians Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

. The legal entity of the Indonesian Orthodox Church was founded and is still managed in day-to-day affairs by Daniel Bambang Dwi Byantoro, and its history is in many ways inseparable from his own.

History

The GOI was founded in 1991 after missionary work begun in 1988 by Daniel Byantoro, who converted to Christianity from Islam in the mid-1970s and discovered Eastern Orthodoxy through bishop Kallistos Ware's book ''The Orthodox Church'' while studying at a Protestant seminary in Seoul, Korea in 1982. He was chrismated into the Orthodox Church by Archimandrite Sotirios Trambas in Korea in September 1983. In 1984 he spent some time on

Mount Athos Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the peni ...

and then traveled to the US where he studied in various theological schools. He was ordained a priest by Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh, under the jurisdiction of the

Ecumenical Patriarch The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), New Rome and '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of th ...

, at some point between 1985-87 before returning to Indonesia to start putting down roots for the Orthodox Church there. In September of 1996, the Ecumenical Patriarch founded the Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and South East Asia, which became the de facto governing diocese in Indonesia. Through donations from parishes in the US and Greece, the GOI was able to construct their first permanent church building in

Surakarta Surakarta ( jv, ꦯꦸꦫꦏꦂꦠ), known colloquially as Solo ( jv, ꦱꦭ; ), is a city in Central Java, Indonesia. The 44 km2 (16.2 sq mi) city adjoins Karanganyar Regency and Boyolali Regency to the north, Karanganyar Regency and Su ...

, a culturally important city in the heart of Java. In the period between 1996 and 2004, the GOI was under the guidance of then-Metropolitan Nikitas Loulias. There were various struggles between the Metropolitan and Byantoro in regards to canonicity, financial propriety, and handling of Church properties which led to Byantoro being

defrocked Defrocking, unfrocking, degradation, or laicization of clergy is the removal of their rights to exercise the functions of the ordained ministry. It may be grounded on criminal convictions, disciplinary problems, or disagreements over doctrine or ...

by the Ecumenical Patriarch. In 2005, Byantoro was received into

ROCOR The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (russian: Ру́сская Правосла́вная Це́рковь Заграни́цей, lit=Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, translit=Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov' Zagranitsey), also called Ru ...

and appointed as Archimandrite by Metropolitan Hilarion. In May of 2007 ROCOR reunited with the

Moscow Patriarchate , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

after 80 years of separation following the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. In 2019, for reasons which are still unclear, but likely related to Byantoro's public wishes for the GOI to be more culturally Indonesian and more self-governing, the GOI was received into the Genuine Greek Orthodox Church, an Old Calendarist group which is not in communion with the rest of the Orthodox world. This caused a rift in the laity and clergy in Indonesia, and both the Moscow Patriarchate and the Ecumenical Patriarch founded new churches across the archipelago to receive those who were not willing to go along with the move.

Structure

Currently, GOI consists of 9 parishes and 6 communities spread across various cities in Indonesia.

References

External links

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Sejarah berdirinya GOI
{{Portal, Christianity Eastern Orthodoxy by country Christian denominations in Indonesia Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia Eastern Orthodoxy in Indonesia