... Throughout all his tumultuous life, he was
preoccupied with the heresies that attack the
weaker members of the Church, who are led into
spiritual delusion and confusion, apostasy from
God, and the jeopardizing of eternal life. He
displayed an apostolic zeal in this matter, as
well as a prophetic disposition. He reminded me of the Prophets and the Judges of the Old Testament, who
were deeply concerned with the spiritual health
of the people. After
all, the characteristic sign of the Prophets was
their struggle against every form of religious
syncretism. The war that the ever-memorable
Father waged for many years against heresies had
consequences on his person also, as he was
confronted by a multitude of various offensives,
tests, persecutions, just as all of God's
conscientious children are subjected, when they
struggle out of love for the sake of "His
appearing" (2 Tim.4:8) [...] He worked on
analyzing the teachings of the miscellaneous
heresies so that those who were weak in faith
would not be misled by the leader of heresies',
the devil; but he also showed concern for the
confession of the Faith, given that in all of
his books, he would quote the basic elements of
the Faith; he authored the marvelous book "An
Orthodox Handbook" and
he also created programs for "Orthodox
edification", in his attempts to catechize the
hundreds and thousands of people who approached
the Orthodox Church after painfully wandering
around demonic pathways. [...] Whenever I
approached Fr. Anthony - especially during his
last days - and would hear from his own mouth
the difficulties that he had faced, I was
astounded. I remember one time when he told me
that he wrote and read with the minimal sight
that was left in his one eye, since he could not
see at all with the other eye. It was then that
I was left speechless, and rejected even the
very few doubts that others had expressed about
his person. In his case applied the words of
Christ to the Apostle Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in
weakness.” (2
Cor.12:9) My admiration increased, when he
told me of his Presbytera's illness and his
family's difficulties in general. And yet,
despite the temptations, he worked tirelessly on
that difficult and responsible pastoral labour
that the Church assigned to him. I prayed
during the period of his sickness. When I was
informed of his passing, I felt deeply moved,
but also joyous from the point of view that a
servant of Christ had departed - a laborer of
the Church who confessed Christ and bore His
Name, "before Gentiles, kings, and the
children of Israel." (Acts 9:15)
---Rev.Metropolitan of Nafpaktos and Saint Vlasios, Hierotheos Vlachos
I believe that for many years to come, the voice
of our Church on the matter of heresies and para-religious
organizations will be "the voice of Anthony
Alevizopoulos". And I believe I am not exaggerating
when I maintain that if we, the "inadequate"
ones want to speak correctly in this sensitive
pastoral area, we should speak "according to
Alevizopoulos". He was the one who paved the
way, both for the preventive as well as the
therapeutic confrontation of the plague of
heresies. His apologetics works are of an
inestimable value and are acknowledged
internationally. His books will constitute, for
many years to come, a basic sector of
contemporary Greek and international
anti-heretical bibliography, as well as
invaluable aids that should accompany every
pastor and every parish in their pastoral labors.
---Fr.
Kyriakos Tsouros,
Secretary to the Church of Greece's
Synodical Committee on Heresies.
Ôhe
entire works of the Greek Father Anthony
testifies to a soul that is ablaze with zeal in
favour of Orthodoxy for that portion of
Christianity which, with the passing years and
despite all the terrifying offensives of its
enemies, has remained holy and untainted. God
has always preserved for Himself a remnant, a
holy portion, of great men, who would bring the
Truth to its final and overwhelming victory.
Father Anthony is numbered among them, and it
fills our heart with joy and hope, seeing that
Holy Orthodoxy always has Her own, blessed
champions.
---Fr. Dimitri Staniloae
We have acquainted ourselves well with him, and
we give witness that he bore within him the
genuine characteristics of an apostolic man - an
unashamed laborer of the Gospel. He lived for
Christ and the Church. A benevolent man, filled
with a holy spirit, modest, a proper caretaker
of his own house, untiring, unbending, militant,
uncompromising, ablaze with divine zeal, an
excellent pastor and a very caring father,
methodical and hard-working; a chosen vessel of
God and the sword of the Spirit against
soul-destroying organizations and movements."
---Archbishop of Athens and All Greece,
Christodoulos
