Archbishop Elpidophoros started a controversy at the 2022 March for Life with his remarks. We would refer to his remarks as “studied ambiguity”. If you read them one way, they are actually an endorsement of abortion rights. Read another way, you can excuse the Archbishop for a “lack of clarity” but argue that he “means well”. This is a common tactic among progressives in the Orthodox Church, one that the Archbishop has often deployed. Here is the crux of his remarks:
Here was our complete response to his speech. Below is an excerpt from that response:
For most Orthodox Christians, the first part is not controversial. Except that it’s phrased interestingly, isn’t it? The Archbishop does not call for a ban on abortion. He points out that all are made in the image and likeness of God, and so children are worthy of our protection. How are we supposed to protect them? The Archbishop doesn’t say. That part is left vague. If you want to read it as a call to legally protect the unborn, you certainly can. Given the context of the March for Life, that would be a rational supposition. But you don’t have to assume that at all. The paragraph ends with a kind of “it takes a village” sentiment that could mean anything.
Weak sauce really. But even so, whatever pro-life sentiments the Archbishop expresses in the first paragraph are quickly undone in the second when he says, “At the same time, we also affirm our respect for the autonomy of women.” After that paragraph he followed up with, “We march not for coercion.” You can find all remarks here. I’m going to ignore the fluff in the second paragraph about the Most Holy Theotokos and Our Lord Jesus Christ. Archbishop Elpidophoros, or his speech writer, only put that in to make it all seem more “Orthodox.”
For anyone having paid attention to the abortion debates over the past 40 years, what the Archbishop is saying is crystal clear. It is yet another version of “personally opposed to abortion” but “support a women’s right to choose.” If the Archbishop had been completely honest, he would have expressed himself thusly,“As a Christian, I am personally morally opposed to abortion. We should take steps to help women and children through social programs and, hopefully, that will reduce demand for abortions. But we can’t coerce women into childbearing against their wills. We must trust women to make their own decisions and we must respect their bodily autonomy.”
The Archbishop’s words were approvingly shared and reshared by pro-abortion social media accounts. The GOARCH Press Office triumphantly retweeted a pro-abortion interpretation of the Archbishop’s words:
The Greek Archbishop’s speech also drew attention from the mainstream media and Orthodox academics. One example is The Washington Post which wrote: “Comments like Elpidophoros’ argue for the theological right of women to bodily autonomy and health and say it’s theologically wrong to uniformly choose a fetus over a woman.”
“It’s a Christian truism that you can hold seemingly contradictory views. Christian moral teaching isn’t black and white,” said George Demacopoulos in support of legal abortion. Demacopoulos is the co-founder of the Fordham Orthodox Christian Studies Center and official historian for the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle (the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in America)
Normally, “studied ambiguity” works. North American hierarchs are loathe to criticize each other. They tend to live and let live, as long as there is a plausible way to do so. Orthodox priests are also frequently averse to criticizing hierarchs, even across jurisdictional lines. Of course, if you are subject to Elpidophoros’ authority, criticism is likely to get you in serious trouble. So even outspoken, conservative, pro-life priests in the Greek Archdiocese usually put the best possible spin on such comments. Or ignore them altogether.
We have a whole section on Leftist Infiltration of the Orthodox Church. These folks have raised “studied ambiguity” to an art form. Plausible deniability of what you really mean is the order of the day. The usual suspects gripe online or send letters, but the controversies always die down. Like we said, ambiguity usually works.
Until now. This time, it didn’t work at all. Four faithful Orthodox hierarchs (Met. Joseph, His Grace Bishop Longin, His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae, His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph) took Elpidophoros to task precisely because of his ambiguous presentation of Orthodox teaching on life. In a statement published on the Antiochian Archdiocese Website, the four hierarchs state: “The Orthodox Church is, and always has been, unabashedly pro-life, regarding abortion as the killing of another human being.” The full statement is reprinted below.
This is a most welcome turn of events, and thanks be to God for it. What does it mean going forward? We don’t know. The Greek Archdiocese may have finally gone too far for faithful Orthodox hierarchs to ignore. This may be the start of a trend in issuing public corrections. It could also portend a serious rift between jurisdictions, particularly given the strains over the Ukrainian situation and the UOC. Most jurisdictions in the US and around the world still recognize Metropolitan Onuphry as the head of the canonical church in Ukraine. It is simply too early to tell if this is the start of a backlash against Elpidophoros and his progressive minions, or a one-off, sorely needed correction on an extremely important issue.
Regardless of how things progress, we are extremely thankful to these four faithful Orthodox hierarchs for their words. Especially at a time when it seems that all the power in society belongs to those who despise human life in general, and children in particular.
– OR Staff
Scroll Down for the Bishops’ Statement and a Prayer for the Sanctity of Unborn Life.
FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 2022
A Statement on the Sanctity of Life
Four presiding hierarchs currently participating in the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America, including His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph of the Antiochian Archdiocese, are responding to controversial remarks made at January’s “March for Life” in Washington, D.C. that received attention in traditional and social media.
Orthodox Pro-Life Statement
The Orthodox Church has consistently and unequivocally recognized the full humanity of every person beginning at the moment of conception. This position is informed by Scripture and Holy Tradition and is validated by modern science, which confirms that a new, distinct human organism comes into existence at conception. The Orthodox Church is, and always has been, unabashedly pro-life, regarding abortion as the killing of another human being.
In recent weeks, this position has been called into question, and, consequently, we, Orthodox Presiding Hierarchs representing several canonical jurisdictions in the United States of America, are compelled to proclaim the only true and correct teaching of the Church on this matter. We reiterate the words of the Lord’s Teaching through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations (the “Didache”), which dates to the earliest generations of the Church: “Do not murder a child by abortion or kill a newborn infant” (οὐ φονεύσεις τέκνον ἐν φθορᾷ οὐδὲ γεννηθέντα ἀποκτενεῖς).
The Orthodox Church strives to stand above politics; yet, the Church also stands for order, against the forces of chaos and lawlessness. All civilized societies prohibit the intentional taking of the life of one human being by another human being, except under extreme and unusual circumstances. The United States of America is certainly no exception: in every state, intentional homicide is outlawed. Yet our laws are inconsistent, banning the killing of some humans but not others. There is no basis in either law or science, and certainly not in morality or religion, to draw a distinction between a human who is in the womb and a human who is outside of it. Thus, the Orthodox Church calls upon the civil authorities, not only in the United States but globally, and especially in traditionally Orthodox lands, to treat all humans equally under the law, and thus to forbid the evil practice of abortion.
It is true that the Most Holy Theotokos gave her consent to the Incarnation of the Uncreated Word of God. The Lord did not impose Himself on humanity, but took on our nature with the permission of us humans, represented by the greatest of us, the Virgin Mary. Once this consent was given, the Incarnation took place: the Word became flesh at that moment. The Orthodox Church embraces this paradox of the Incarnation, of the Uncreated becoming one of His creatures. Yet while paradoxes of this kind are essential to our faith, so too is clarity: the clarity that the newly-conceived human – including the Lord Himself at the moment of His conception – is a full human. Here, then, the consent of the Theotokos ends, and her duties as a mother begin: once she conceived the Lord, she had the sacred responsibility of nurturing and caring for Him, which she fulfilled perfectly.
This same Lord Who became incarnate of the Virgin Mary on the Feast of the Annunciation loves every human being He creates, from the moment of their conception. He loves their mothers, along with the fathers, who suffer and sacrifice for their children. The Church, and, indeed, all of humanity, has a duty to care for and support these children and their mothers.
No less equally, the Lord also loves the mothers who, victims of deceitful pressures from this world, make the tragic choice to have their children killed. For these mothers, the Church offers forgiveness, compassion, and healing through repentance and reconciliation both to God and to their lost children.
The Lord loves those fathers and other men who, failing in their duty to provide and protect, instead pressure and even force mothers to have their children killed.
The Lord loves those physicians and other practitioners who, themselves victims of deceit, have allowed themselves to become instruments of evil in the murder of innocent children.
Finally, let us all implore the same Lord, Who desires that all people be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, that His all-encompassing love and mercy will enfold all who are affected by the tragedy of abortion and bring healing to our land.
Metropolitan Joseph
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
Bishop Longin
Serbian Orthodox Church in North and South America
Metropolitan Nicolae
Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of the Americas
Metropolitan Joseph
Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese of the USA, Canada, and Australia
A PRAYER FOR THE SANCTITY OF UNBORN LIFE
O our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, Who in the beginning fashioned man out of the dust of the earth and breathed into him the breath of life so that he became a living soul, Who knowest the time of life and name of each even from his mother’s womb, Who numberest even the hairs of our heads, and Who keepest a watchful eye over every living thing in Thy creation, do Thou now look upon Thy creation which Thou hast fashioned according to Thine own image, and grant to those who are in their mother’s wombs and to their mothers the protection that Thou gavest Thine own Virgin Mother when she carried Thee, and fill them with the Holy Spirit even as Thou once filled Elizabeth such that John the Forerunner leaped in her womb at encountering Thee.
As Thou becamest incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became true man, hidden within the veil of Thy Mother’s flesh, joining Thy divinity with our humanity, join Thyself now with us and all Thy human creation through Thy grace. As Thou didst enter into the womb of Thy Mother, be present also in the wombs of all mothers, with them and with their children. Protect them from all assaults of the evil one and his foul spirits, that in due time all may come unto Thee, as Thou didst say, “Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come unto Me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
O Thou Who at Thy birth heard the weeping of Rachel in lamentation, who would not be comforted for her children were no more, crying out at the slaughter of the innocents by the wicked Herod for Thy sake, hear also the weeping of all those who lament the deaths of Thy little children, who cry out for Thy love and peace in the midst of terror and inhumanity.
As Thou once granted true contrition of heart to David and to Manasseh and to Peter, who sinned against Thee, grant true repentance to all who in malice or greed or desperation or hopelessness or ignorance sin against Thee and Thy creatures in the untimely taking of their lives. Receive their tears as the tears of the Publican, which flow from the depths of their hearts, as Thou didst receive David, who had taken life unjustly, and Manasseh, who had permitted the worship of idols, and Peter, who thrice denied Thee. Receive them as the Prodigal, with eagerness and rejoicing, clothing them with the robe of holiness and glory and celebrating with them the feast of faith.
Speak words of justice into the hearts of our rulers, that they may be guided by divine wisdom in protecting and nurturing life in every good way. Give strength and love to those who minister to all who suffer in desperation and need, granting through them every spiritual and earthly blessing. Protect the widows and orphans and the abandoned, be Father to the fatherless and hope to the hopeless, raise the young, protect the bond of marriage in peace and concord. Remember the forgotten and bring them to mind in all of us who pray unto Thee. Grant eternal rest to the fallen, and raise them up at the last day.
O Christ our God, Who knowest us all in our depths and receivest the supplications of Thy servants who call out to Thee in our own transgressions and imperfection, hear this our humble prayer and give us all Thy divine blessing from on high, for Thou are ever glorified with Thy Father Who is from everlasting and Thine all-holy, good and life-creating Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
[…] “Orthodox Bishops Correct Pro-Abortion Comments from Archbishop Elpidophoros,” 2022, https://orthodoxreflections.com/orthodox-bishops-correct-pro-abortion-comments-from-archbishop-elpid…; […]
The correction and calling out of Archbishop Elpidophoros for his remarks by these Bishops is commendable but why so few?
It is far past time for Bishops, Priests, Monastics and Laity to step forward to challenge those in the Church who promote or defend positions contrary to the plain teachings of Holy Scripture and Tradition.
We are at war with the enemies of Christ so we must, in His name and by His strength, stand with Him…. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having belted your waist with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having strapped on your feet the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” – Ephesians 6:12-16 (NASB)
As with all politicians and spies, he has been well trained in the art of “plausible deniability.” This slippery technique allows him to deny that he said anything offensive, even when he really did. He can claim you misunderstood him, every single time.
I do not believe that Elpidophorus is smart enough to come up with a “studied ambiguity”, he memorized well a paid blurb handed down to him. Typically politicians like Elpidophorus are second class intelligence, second class integrity, and first class power hungry.
Away with the likes of him, we have the monetary power to disarm him and send him packing to work for the Turks.
He already works for the Turks. He is an infiltrator cosplaying his way through the role of ‘archbishop’:https://www.veteranstoday.com/2018/08/08/greece-a-high-ranking-cleric-turned-out-to-be-an-agent-of-turkish-intelligence/https://www.helleniscope.com/2021/09/21/did-ab-elpidophoros-kiss-erdogans-hand-if-so-he-needs-to-go-back-to-turkey-asap/
The trouble with these people like him has started long ago with the Communist infiltration in Greece in order to be delivered to he Soviets. Only in Kalavrita, I visited in 2006, 1,000 men were killed by Germans who had enough of the Communist guerillas. One has to read the book written by Papa Dimitri Gagastathis to find out how vicious were those people trying 6 times to kill him for his strong faith. However, at Yalta, Churchill donated Romania to Stalin on a scrap of paper but the ideology stayed behind in Greece. This is why, there it is a nursery of fake Orthodox Christians. Georgios Papandreou had to get rid of some of the hardliners who were exiled… in Romania. I had their kids for colleagues in the university. No wonder that we see their of-springs like Archbishop Elipidophoros blessing the BLM to become their beloved St Phosphor, the patron of arsonists and looters, as well as blessing the vaccines and abortion in a very cunning way. He is a Pervezan like many others like him. Note: Perveza became after the war the most corrupt and un-Orthodox metropolis of Greece. One has to read the book “Beauty from Ashes” to understand the extent of the damage done to the faithful. GOA needs a faithful hierarch to lead the flock in the right direction.
Why, here we go bashing BLM with people racists rhetoric again. You don’t like black people being angry and assume all looting or fighting must be there fault when it isn’t. You don’t even care why BLM came into existence. Typical, racist Orthodox. Done. Will not be back.
And OR staff, don’t bother responding, I’m not coming back ever.
Well thanks for stopping by. BLM and black people are not synonyms. In fact, BLM ripped black people off. The entire board skipped after raking in millions in donations. The riots disproportionately hurt black neighborhoods. The professed aims of BLM are Marxist. In fact, the whole thing is a distraction from pursuing economic justice for all working people in this country.
And yes, everyone is aware that Antifa bears a huge responsibility for the riots.
Here is our response to Archbishop Elpidophoros:
https://orthodoxreflections.com/did-a-greek-archbishop-march-to-destroy-icons/
Here is an article we ran that was written by an African American contributor.
https://orthodoxreflections.com/african-americans-must-look-to-orthodoxy-for-peace-in-a-violent-america/
He is not a fan of BLM or rioting or violence. He also includes some awesome information about African saints.
Thanks for commenting.
As for Elpi, as I said before, when he comes to town don’t forget to hide the children, or better yet, plan to be out of town. And for Pete’s sake don’t give them any money!!! When you fund them, you are particapant in their sin as an enabler. Stop it! The four hiearchs who signed the anti-abortion statement–send your money over there; they’re going to need it to plant churches for the new diaspora; those disenfranchised by the apostates.
As for those priests who really detest working for this guy and guys like him, if it just chaps your hide, if the inner-man is repulsed at the thought, then get in contact with one of the four mentioned above and get an application on file so that when push comes to shove, you can transfer credentials overnight and show up next day just a block away ready to greet the faithful. Even now, the Titanic is listing; not everyone is ready to go down with the ship to preserve an ounce of culture. Save yourself, save your children.
Just a side note: congratulations to those who made “Man of God” possible. While the story was fantastic it was set in the context of corrupt Greek hierarchs–yeah, over a century ago. Thanks for having the courage to show that. Ya gotta love the scene where the metropolitan (or whatever he was) was seated at his usual table with St Nektarios with the table spread edge to edge with food as he stuffs it in. While the Met first approves his request for a monastery, he later retracts it; just jerks the carpet out from underneath him, yet, Nektarios finds a work-around to build the monastery without official approval.
If you get anything out of the movie, it is this. St Nektarios, did what he felt empelled to do by God and the need in starting a monastery even without the “proper approval”. Some times you gotta go it alone (and God will meet you there), of be crushed.
St Nektarios, here our prayer. “Dear father of courage, mediate your perseverance that we may also withstand evil in the hierarchy to get done what needs to be done, so the Church will stand strong in another generation. Oh, St Nektarios, here our prayer.”
Unfortunately, John, you are only too right. I found it interesting that the name Tikhon did not show up on the letter.