Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Greek Archdiocese of America just gave what is, arguably, the most anti-Orthodox interview in history by an Orthodox hierarch. Truly a stunning performance, and one that will make the lives of faithful priests and laity in the Greek Archdiocese even harder than before. Which is impressive in a certain diabolical way, because their lives were almost unbearable to begin with.
This is Part 1 of our look into this interview. See Part 2 here: Archbishop Elpidophoros Lies About Baptism While Endorsing Surrogacy and Same-Sex Marriage
Before we dive in to look at some of this wreckage, we need to be clear on an important point. Archbishop Elpidophoros is not going anywhere, unless it is to Istanbul to become Patriarch. His Eminence is an essential tool of the American governing elite, and as such, will be protected at all costs. You can call and complain. No one will care. You can protest in New York. No one will care. You can withhold financial contributions. Maybe if you are a millionaire or a billionaire, someone will care. Otherwise, no one cares. Whole parishes can close. Maybe even a whole Metropolis. No one will care. What is happening in New York is not about you, your soul, the souls of your children, or the future of Orthodoxy in the United States.
What is happening in New York is about the preferences and power of the American governing elite. If the powers-that-be are willing to risk nuclear war to pursue their goals in Ukraine, what do you think they are willing to do to your Church? Or to you, for that matter, should you prove inconvenient?
Now, are we helpless and hopeless? Not at all. But we must be realistic. This is a spiritual battle and will not be won by the tools we learned in civics class (petitions, protests, meetings, voting at conferences, law suits, etc.) First, we must see to our own souls so that we don’t lose ourselves in the battle. Pray, fast, seek spiritual counsel. Do not surrender to anger, bitterness, or despair. Second, we need to understand our own Orthodox Faith so that we can articulate and defend it. Third, understanding our Orthodox Faith, we can then clearly see and demonstrate how counterfeit is the faith of a man like Archbishop Elpidophoros. Ultimately, of course, we must remember that God is in charge and these things will be resolved in His good time and in His chosen manner.
With all that in mind, let us look at the latest disastrous utterings of a deluded hierarch. Because of the length of the interview we have decided to cover it over several posts. This first one deals with his abortion response. The quoted text is from the article, with my comments interspersed.
Q: Six out of 10 American women now live in states hostile to abortion. Georgia Meloni, who will take over as prime minister in Italy, is against abortion. The Holy Synod of Greece recently circulated a statement against abortion that was read aloud in churches. What is your position?
The question is already a loaded one as the interviewer starts with the premise that being “hostile” to baby killing is a bad thing. If I were being interviewed, I would have corrected that before going any further. The Archbishop does not, which implies he agrees that it is a shame that 6 out of 10 Americans live in states “hostile” to abortion. Also, if the Holy Synod of Greece has already spoken, what does the opinion of a single hierarch matter? Is he more qualified than a Synod to speak on a moral issue?
A: My position is clear, and I expressed it in an address earlier this year. I unambiguously maintain the position of our Church, which believes in the sanctity of human life, born and unborn. Abortion has been in existence for millennia, and the church has never endorsed it. At the same time, however, we also believe in the fundamental freedom of every human person. As a general rule, women bear the full burden in giving birth and raising their children, while men, otherwise directly involved in the pregnancy, do not bear the same burden. Therefore, we must support women’s right to make reproductive decisions of their own free will, while at the same time—as Church and society—adopting every action and ensuring every provision that would render abortion unnecessary and supporting a woman to choose the birth of her child.
If you read Elpidophoros’ answer in light of the reality of abortion politics, what he is really saying is the following, “I am personally anti-abortion, but pro-choice as we must respect the right of women to make their own reproductive decisions. So abortion should be legal, but we should pursue policies to give women options other than killing their babies, especially since men seem to run off and refuse to support their offspring. I could condemn that, but I won’t. Fathers supporting their families would be inconvenient to my position, so we will pretend they don’t and only women can have a say in childbirth and child rearing. I will now throw out some Orthodox Theology about free will to try and cover up the fact that my position on abortion is indistinguishable from most pro-abortion politicians who claim some religious influence – personally opposed but leaving the decision to kill a baby up to the mother and Planned Parenthood.”
Archbishop Elpidophoros is simply pro-legalized abortion. The position he takes above is identical to the one he expounded at the March for Life, for which he has already been chastised by multiple fellow Orthodox hierarchs. Pro-abortion advocates in March 2022, and the Greek Archdiocese press office, correctly interpreted his words as an endorsement of legalized abortion.
Many faithful Greek Orthodox priests and laity attempted to explain away the Archbishop’s previous statement in early 2022. Understandably, they wanted to give the benefit of the doubt to a hierarch of the Orthodox Church. At this point, however, everyone needs to face the fact that Archbishop Elpidophoros is clearly in favor of legalized baby murder. If you have any doubts about that, you are being willfully blind.
You will notice, also, that while the Archbishop talks about provisions to reduce the need for abortion, he never mentions any specifics. Has he not thought through any actual provisions that could help women and children? Or read about any of the policies being pursued in other countries? Is he afraid to be specific because any policies that might successfully reduce abortions would enrage the pro-baby killing crowd? Regardless of why, he just pays lip service to the idea and then lets it drop. Which is a shame, because championing polices to help family formation is an area where Orthodox Christians, not as encumbered ideologically as our fellow Americans, could really lead the way. Too bad Archbishop Elpidophoros doesn’t really seem to care.
We support safe and effective birth control, which has been practiced in diverse ways since time immemorial. What we should strive to avoid is reducing women to mere “child-bearers,” as if this were their sole purpose in life. Let us remember that the Theotokos—who, as her title signifies, is the ultimate example and model of what it means to be a “bearer of God”—willingly and freely consented to receive the “incarnate” God in her sacred womb. She exercised her freedom when she said to the Archangel Gabriel, “Behold the servant of the Lord, let it be according to your will.” In other words, she did exactly the opposite of Eve, who—while also exercising her free will—refused to obey the divine will and violated the commandment. This is why the Church Fathers refer to the Theotokos as the “second Eve.”
The assertion that Orthodox Christians automatically support birth control is simply not true. Artificial birth control can be an abortifacient. Hormonal birth control can cause major harm to women’s health. Artificial birth control distorts the marital bond, and directly enabled the sexual revolution which is the root of so many of our problems. Many Orthodox saints and current leaders have opposed artificial birth control. Elpidophoros has no right to sound as if he represented anyone other than himself in this endorsement. This is not agreed upon Orthodox teaching.
Bringing the Most Holy Theotokos into this discussion, just as Elpidophoros did at the March for Life, is a grotesque attempt at providing Theological cover for his pro-abortion position. The Most Holy Theotokos said “yes” to God before she was with child. Women can choose to avoid pregnancy, except in the case of rape (fewer than 1% of all abortions), by simply saying “no” to sexual intercourse. That circumstance would be somewhat analogous to the Most Holy Virgin Mary possibly saying “no” to becoming the Mother of God. A woman, having freely consented to sex and the resulting pregnancy, deciding to murder her baby is not analogous to the situation of the Theotokos in any way.
The Archbishop is abusing both his position as a Theologian, and the natural Orthodox reverence for the Most Holy Theotokos, to make a case for allowing the murder of innocent babies. This is blasphemy.
The Archbishop said, “What we should strive to avoid is reducing women to mere “child-bearers,” as if this were their sole purpose in life.” That one sentence indicates so much about the Archbishop. First, he is steeped in feminist ideas. According to such ideas, women should self-actualize through soulless corporate work, not stay home and rear healthy, godly children. Such an idea benefits the Neoliberal economic order, which is why corporations are much more willing to fund abortions than maternity leave and child care. To see an Orthodox hierarch cribbing his lines from feminist corporate shills is very disheartening. Second, the Archbishop is steeped in pro-abortion rhetoric. The pro-abortion crowd refers to pro-lifers as “pro-forced birth” extremists who oppress women into pregnancy and care nothing for babies after they are born. One wonders if the Archbishop watches the Handmaid’s Tale and takes it seriously as social commentary?
In America, the issue of abortion has been completely politicized. It has reached the point where many consider the sole criterion for a politician’s election to be whether or not they are in favor of abortion. When addressing religious constituencies in particular, some political platforms argue that it is inconceivable for a proper Christian to vote for a politician who supports the right of a woman to a legal abortion, even if this ensures her health and her life. It is as if the only qualification for being a good Christian or a good politician depends on one’s stance on the issue of abortion. All other principles and doctrines of Christianity do not matter; you can be a crook, a liar, a swindler, a warmonger, violent, or a misogynist, but if you are against abortion, then you are a politician suitable enough for “pious people” to support.
This politicization of Christian principles disturbs me because we must not allow the teaching of the Gospel to be instrumentalized for secular and political purposes.
This is an Archbishop of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church providing moral cover for the consciences of those who want to vote for pro-abortion politicians. The vast majority of pro-life politicians are not, objectively speaking, “a crook, a liar, a swindler, a warmonger, violent, or a misogynist”. In fact, if you look at the situation with Ukraine right now, the most violent warmongers are also the most pro-abortion politicians. As for crooks and swindlers, no one can compare to Joe Biden and his crime family. Not even the Clintons, and that is stiff competition. Biden is the most pro-baby killing president in history, and easily the most corrupt.
There are pro-life politicians who have moral issues as well. But seriously, how bad does a pro-life politician have to be that you’d pick a baby killer over him/her? Even if a pro-abortion candidate were ideal in every other way, it is impossible to imagine a set of virtues that would outweigh baby murder. In all fairness, however, there is much pro-lifers could be doing better. We could focus on fielding candidates in all races that are good, wholesome people. We could do a better job of formulating and enacting pro-family policies. We could be more vocal in opposing destructive, foreign wars that soak up resources better spent on our own children. Even so, any shortcomings on the pro-life side simply do not justify voting for baby murder, regardless of what the Archbishop might think.
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The Archbishop is not engaging in good faith dialogue with the pro-life cause in this interview. His points are built around strawman arguments that are entirely disingenuous. The truth is, Elipidophoros does not want anyone voting for pro-life candidates, no matter how sterling their personal characters. He does not want to participate in crafting solid anti-abortion laws that could save babies while protecting the “life and health” of mothers. (A much abused talking point which usually conflates miscarriage / ectopic pregnancy with elective abortion of a viable child.) The Archbishop is also not really upset about the politicization of abortion. The Archbishop is more than happy to politicize this issue – if doing so gets votes for the Democratic Party, led by his friend Joe Biden. The Archbishop takes every opportunity he can to encourage you to vote for Democratic candidates and their Neoliberal, Globalist agenda, including abortion on demand up to the moment of birth. That is why he throws shade at pro-lifers, most of whom are Republicans, while giving a moral out to those who wish to vote for baby killers.
Why would a supposed Orthodox hierarch go to so much trouble to back baby murder? More than a few reasons, actually, but one important one stands out. The Patriarchate of Constantinople is an asset of the US National Security state. The Patriarchate believes that US power is essential to the survival of the “Mother” Church in its hostile home of Turkey. (It doesn’t hurt that serving American interests pays well in hard currency, and that far too many Orthodox bishops love the good life.) Pro-life politicians, in our current political climate, often have “America-first” leanings. If they took charge, they could endanger the unlimited flow of money and power that keeps the Military-Industrial-Intelligence-Complex in business. If America retreated from trying to run the world, who would “protect” the Patriarchate of Constantinople while backing its various plays around the world for more power and authority? Well, no one. A victorious “America-first” movement could derail the current gravy train, and so must be avoided at all costs. Elpidophoros is more than happy to see babies die if it means protecting and expanding the authority of the Patriarchate he hopes to inherit.
One final thought on abortion politics. Joe Biden’s Department of Justice is ramping up a war against Pro-lifers in the US. Many Orthodox Christians are involved in the Pro-life movement. We need to prepare ourselves for the fact that the leader of the largest Orthodox jurisdiction in America is firmly on the side of our oppressors and not on the side of our religious liberties.
Be careful whom you trust, even in Orthodox circles.
With the resignation of Metropolitan Joseph, who had lately emerged as a critic of Archbishop Elpidophoros, will anyone in authority be brave enough to call him to account for his horrific abandonment and abuse of the Orthodox Faith? It would be good for us all if someone did, even though it would not matter to Elpidophoros in the least. The Archbishop has been chastised by multiple fellow hierarchs and even a few Holy Synods over the gay baptism in Greece. Yet here he is, as completely unrepentant as ever. Almost as if his true employer is someone other than God…
Perhaps the best we can do is simply publicize his errors widely so that no one confuses the teaching of this Archbishop with actual Orthodoxy.
Nicholas – member of the Western Rite Vicariate, a part of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese in America
Follow the money. You will find Archbishop E there.
Stand up for the faith like Apostle Paul and the martyrs before you. You are a hypocrite and a coward.
Here I would submit something for all to discern. If I have by wonder and blunder stumbled into the mind of Christ on this, it will resonate with inner leaping for joy (like Jumping John the Baptist) in the hearts it was meant for.
In previous generations, the Greeks suffered unspeakable suffering at the hands of outsiders. The Greeks have born many yokes. During those times many, many praying Greek mamas (and papas) sent up to God the incense of their prayers for their children (some died anyway), for their countrymen, and their Church. At the time—it seemed—those prayers were not answered; God NEVER forgets a prayer; every tear is stored in a vial. All those prayers during those times of suffering created a cache in heaven’s bank, a credit in the economia. Everything in the kingdom of heaven seeks for equilibrium; God will never be indebted to His people—He will answer every prayer at the right kairos moment. It is Kairos—it is time. That cache of grace will soon be dispensed upon Greek Orthodoxy, but, of course, not all will be able to receive it. Where this lands, there will be a renewed vitality bringing grace and favor in the community in which they are and prosperity, and of course converts. God is one for settling old scores and this one is coming back with interest.
The Greeks have always thought of themselves as being something special; with what they have endured to be that people with that peculiar identity, I believe God honors that. Every culture has some redeeming quality and for Greek Christianity it has been joy, Opa! The Turks could not kill it, the Nazis could not destroy it. While the Turks and the Nazi’s are gone, I still hear opa! Joy that cannot be destroyed. (on a more important note: when are we going to see another movie?)
And the freak show in town, just ignore it. (please pass the gyros)
Where will this blessing land? On the grass roots, of course. The Church always grows from the bottom up. Think about this: in the Protestant world they have what is called “parachurch” organizations—things not related to the local parish but parallel to it. In Orthodox we have no concept of “parachurch” because ‘para’ means parallel (equal) to; the Church is without peer or equal, is she not? What we have is “quazi-Church” organizations, things NOT the church but alongside. This would include all education institutions, think tanks, and all the paraphernalia who all now seem to be controlled by faux-Orthodox. Bottom line; anything not based out of the local parish is quazi-church having no standing as “the Church” but are barnacles, parasites, blood suckers trying to suck the life out of everything. Just ignore that bunch of fruitcakes and just be the Church on the local level and watch God bless. Whatever vision God gives you, just do it, now is not the time to wobble.
From another point of view: think of the Church as an ark. But think of it in terms of a modern cruise ship. All these big boats are designed to sequester any portion that takes on water. By merely slamming some doors shut any compromised portion can be isolated from the rest and the boat just keeps on going, the band never stops playing.
While I will not call it the GOA or the Goarch because that assumes a lot of baggage that does not qualify as “The Church” (the barnacles on the boat do not define you), I will say this unequivocally, the boat is not going down. Why? When Jesus gets in your boat, the boat never goes down, never! Think: “Unsinkable Molly Brown” (hello Denver).
Bottom line: as long as we spend all our time, energy, verbiage, defending the Faith we’ll miss God’s plan altogether. The Church doesn’t need anybody’s defense, neither do the Fathers. As long as we are in defense mode, we are in danger of extinction. Since when does the Ark need Uzzah to steady it? It’s killing us all. All our cute words—and I have a few—mean nothing to God or those lost without God.
The Church never had a defense—never needed one—only an offence. The early Church just ran the offence again and again until so many were Christians it would have been dumb-stupid to not make it the state religion. God grows His Church through persecution and if you/we are being persecuted then you/we need to take the hint and start doing what pleases God. And glorifying Scratch (the devil) by how he is channeled by our hierarchs will not cut it; it’s just a distraction from job #1.
There is nothing more beautiful than a pregnant woman. With child, she is in her element, in her salvation. A barren woman gripes, complains, is overly concerned about looks. Jacob had two wives; it was the ugly woman who birthed the most patriarchs. We have beautiful praxis—do we not—but we are barren. While we voice so loudly our opposition to abortion, our churches—one after another—abort any chance of birthing another church by funding everything nonessential. When you get a church pregnant, everybody, everything, every resource is being repurposed toward that end; money comes out of the woodwork—just watch. Time to get churches off the pill, time to get our bishops off the pill, and start making and raising babies—converts and parishes. Here is what I like about Met. J. he does catechumen classes. I mean really, what self-respecting (conceited) bishops stoops to the Church’s nursery to change diapers, answer stupid questions.
Having become ingrown and in bread, we raise crazy children and the craziest of the crazies finds his way into office, every time. What we see in our hierarchy we have produced; they reflect who and what we have become.
I really, really, really fear standing before God having done NOTHING to multiply the talent—the traditions, the fathers, the corpus of literature—but bury it in the ground trying to protect what was meant to be put forth into the market place. If we risk nothing, we’ll get nothing and what we have will be taken from us.
We, the Orthodox in America, are at the cross roads. Either we seize the opportunity or we go the way of the dinosaur. Doing nothing to fulfill the Great Commission is a non-option if we want Orthodoxy for our children here; the future is now.
Here is how we move forward. If your church is blessed with lots of families, sent some out to start another parish. If you give out, you WILL receive more in return. If you clutch what you have, you will have less. To get more give it away. Get some circuit riding priests, like Fr. T. make the rounds, but only with churches that want to be indigenous.
Additionally, we equip the laity to plant churches. BTW, the largest early churches were all started by laity: Rome, Antioch, England. St. Tihkon only organized—set in order—what was already there in the immigrants, Uniates, disenfranchised catholics. When persecution hit Jerusalem the believers scattered; the Apostles stayed put (Acts 8:1, it always seems the clergy are last to get the memo). Here is how we do this:
1. We produce a “field manual” for families who want to gather a few more families in their homes. In the manual, we put all the Western Rite (ok, or Eastern) drills any lay person can do and they just start having services. If you drive more than 30 miles to church, this might be the rite way to go. Another part of the manual will be on spiritual warfare. Church plants fail or bog down because they fail to address the spiritual climate in that territory.
2. After a group has solidified over a few weeks or months of meeting, elect a representative to call up Met. J (Western Rite) or the other Met. J (Eastern Rite) and say, here we are, you are our bishop, come see us when you get a chance,” Don’t take no for an answer. If he was unjustly pushed out (either Met. J), he’s still Met J. With Met. J x2 we got it covered and will have a new all American jurisdiction before we know it. See there, God has this all figure out, time to start.
3. Before starting each new parish, we do spiritual warfare. Most church plants fail or stall out, because Scratch (Satan) and his hoards oppose anything we do—that is always a given. Every neighborhood, every city, every town has a spiritual dynamic that must be changed in order for the Gospel to go forth unhindered. We first bombard with the aerial assault before sending in the troopers. Demonic powers are also territorial in nature. We cannot disregard the spiritual dynamic in anything we do. Got any demons of there? (here, hold my beer).
BTW: John Wimber of Vinyard has arguably planted more churches in 10 years than perhaps any other human being. His model was that churches grow best in clusters. Actually, this was the original model where people started out meeting house to house. A bishop was over a city that had multiple meeting places and the presbyter only came about for those places further out (as I understand it).
BTW#2: everything in the Orthodox praxis done in faith is kryptonite for Scratch (the devil). Our problem is we never get it out from between the four walls to make the neighborhood, the city, the territory our parish, our temple. We fail in the dominion mandate; God gave us authority over every creep thing that slithers (Elpi slithers).
BTW#3. Some may ask how the man at the top can have any effect down on the parish level. Here is how this works: before his fall, Lucifer was the “Cherub the Covereth” (Ez 28). His office was to cover the presence of God as to not destroy the lesser created beings because of the intensity of the Fire; basically he buffered God to the weak. As a fallen creature, his gifting remains but is used against the Church. From the top, Scratch (Lucifer) covers by way of a degenerate bishop and everything down stream goes to sleep because they are not under an open heaven; no Son shine. Is your church asleep? How many converts in the last year? How many churches planted? If the font of baptism is dry, so is the womb. When Zion travails she brings forth. (“excuse me Mr. bishop, are you in menopause? Got hot flashes, visions of retirement?)
We don’t just need parishes, but Orthodox clinics, homeless shelters, etc. We need to build real community that provides for the people who live near us. Christ called sinners, the poor, the weak. If you want the church to grow, then be relevant by loving our neighbors as ourselves.
Of course. It just a matter of priority. With more parishes, those other things will come easier.
The movement to destroy Orthodoxy from the inside pushing ahead full force. I think of St. Athanasios during the onslaught of the Arian heresy; “Athanasios against the world.” Like St. Athanasios we must stand firm because we know that God is in control. Pray for me my brethren.
Your blessings. At best, he is miguided…but I think we all know otherwise…he’s a heretic, being what he chooses to follow and be obedient to, he’s a Satanist…and it is our duty to fight for The Church and remove him! It’s our duty.
He looks like Trudeau, thinks like Trudeau, and acts like Trudeau hand in hand with the Great Reset kissing the front and the back of the hand of the all-mighty Klaus Schwab…
In December 2017 when I was welcomed into the Orthodox Church through baptism I was so full of wonder. That has been replaced with inner conflict and deep sadness. I have wrestled with what appear to be contradictions, the latest from a post from another Orthodox organization who say there is a literal burning fire in which God intends to torture forever those He does not like. Believing anything differently is heresy, according to them. It took 3 questions and comments from me to have them cut me off. And then there is the intrigue from Istanbul and the covid surrender in North America. I have always stood against abortion and will never change my position. It is such an evil, heartless practice. I read about these men being ‘enthroned’, and indeed they wear a crown. Perhaps this is a big mistake because they seem inclined to believe they are really kings, above all others.
What a terrible shame it all is.
Who posted that about God torturing people he does not like? This is what we were taught and what we believe:
https://orthodoxreflections.com/love-as-hell/
For us, now is the time to fight harder. The miters are not the issue so much as the men in the miters and the imperial form of the current miter that was not used by Orthodox bishops until after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The typical miter in Orthodox churches is based on the imperial crown. We need better men and, perhaps, more humble miters to not give them too big an idea of themselves. We have many monks and priests comment that the office of bishop could stand to get smaller in stature. It is a conversation worth having.
The teaching for which you provide the link is one of the first doctrines which really attracted me to Orthodox thinking and understanding. The contrary teaching which sent me to the dog house this morning is advanced in a short post on Telegram from Ask About the Orthodox Faith. They called the ‘official’ view heresy. It disturbed me so much I had to challenge it.
And you were right to. So much bad teaching out there.
Please stay in our flock and fight satin. I was born Orthodox, and no one could ever convince me that our hierarchy would capitulate to this New World Order movement. With the chaos in the world, I was always comforted by the thought, we have the Orthodox Church. Sadly, now we have to fight another front in this dystopian world. Stay within the flock and help us fight dear brother in Christ.
If the ship is taking on water, the faithful can bail, but only for a time. But at some point, rather than go down with the ship, one must take the life boat.Especially, if you are rearing children. If you are in the GOA (Gomorrah Orthodox America), get out now! heed the angels urgency and never look back or be turned into a pillar of salt.Time to wake up and smell the sulfur.
The GOA is NOT the Church by any stretch of the imagination, it is a gate of hell disguised as a gate of heaven. This ship is not only going down, it has been deliberatley capcized to trap people inside; but the air is running out. If you have children get out for their sake, its worse than raising them in the public schools.