Orthodox Reflections

Copyright © 2026 by Cassandra St. John, an Orthodox Christian. Follow her on X.

Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the 2026 Beacon of Hope attendees via recorded message instead of in person. Source: The National Herald

The Sept. 26 Beacon of Hope Award Dinner honoring Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine occurred, with scant in-person protest due to a rainstorm.

Notably, Zelensky did not attend the New York City ceremony, hosted by the bigwigs of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese (GOARCH). Zelensky instead sent Andrii Melnyk, Ukraine’s U.N. ambassador, to accept the award on his behalf.

Zelensky, the media darling and celebrity dictator, is lauded as Ukraine’s intrepid wartime leader. He was in NYC much of the week of Sept. 21, for the U.N.’s General Assembly activities. But he skipped the GOARCH event, whose planners had touted his leadership skills.

Zelensky jilted the sycophants gathered at the glitzy Casa Cipriani. They included the trustees of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church & National Shrine at the World Trade Center; the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate; GOARCH clergy; and community leaders. Reportedly, they had paid a minimum of $1,500 each to touch the hem of Zelensky’s garment.

In this madcap dinner drama, Zelensky, the main character, a pint-sized, drug-addled führer, went missing during the final Act. How does that happen? The official reason was that he was called back to his war room in Kiev.

For the sake of argument, however, consider the context: A nor’easter was barreling toward New York; Zelensky had delivered his Sept. 23 U.N. speech to a half-empty hall; and he was facing a protest outside Casa Cipriani, which both Orthodox Reflections and Helleniscope had called for.

But perhaps none of that mattered. Perhaps, in the end, the event was too Podunk for Zelensky to bother with, despite GOARCH’s hype.

If so, the sycophants got a fitting comeuppance. On the whole, however, I bet that his snub still does not even register. They are that oblivious.

Here is just a taste of the sorry program that they tolerated that evening:

Ambassador Melnyk, whose country gobbles up American largesse, harangued the audience: “What happened to the America that we once knew, admired, and looked up to?”

The award co-recipient, Olga Rudnieva, the co-founder of a Ukrainian war trauma center, complained about being labeled “resilient.”

Patriarch Bartholomew, in a prerecorded message, told the Ukrainian people as a whole: “The Church will not abandon you.” Which Church? That quotation, reported by The National Herald, was edited out of the highly produced video of the event, released on YouTube on Oct. 6. (See timestamp 12:36.)

Zelensky, in a prerecorded message apparently approved by the military-industrial complex, solicited help obtaining missiles.

The afterparty’s boozing and schmoozing was the first available video of the entire event.

Very few people actively opposed, or even paid attention to, this event. Grousing privately does not count. Recall that our citizen petition against the dinner should have had tens of thousands of signatures, not only 1,606. Everyone points fingers. But what do you, American Orthodox Christian, have to say for yourself?