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Orthodox Christian COVID Heroes

December 1, 2021

To say the office of bishop is important in the Orthodox Church might be something of an understatement:

…The Bishop is the visible head of the Church, of the Body of Christ. He is the one who will speak the word of truth and be the criterion of truth. The sacred Canons, therefore, regard the Bishop as the eye of the Church. The Bishop is obliged to lead and teach his flock, including the monks, on the basis of the ecclesiastical tradition, so that they may walk in the way of salvation. (Source: Orthodox Monasticism as the Way of Life of Prophets, Apostles, and Martyrs by Metropolitan of Nafpaktos Hierotheos).

One QA response on the OCA website referred to the office of bishop this way, “The bishop is the highest office since the bishop is the one responsible to guide the life of the church, to guard the faith and to preserve the unity of the churchly body in truth and love.”

There is no Orthodox Church absent the office of bishop. Yet, the past almost two years have led to an unprecedented conflict and mistrust between many of our Orthodox faithful and their bishops. We have covered that in gruesome detail on this site – acquiescence to government mandates (including mandatory jabs), outright promotion of the experimental jabs, “absentee” fatherhood, changes to the practice of Orthodoxy, and extreme acts of ecumenism are just some examples of episcopal actions that alienated large numbers of faithful Orthodox Christians. There has been a stunning incongruity between the necessity of the office and the exercise of that office by many who hold it. That has resulted in some leaving the church, others have begun speculating on life in the catacombs (possibly without even the Holy Eucharist), still others are switching jurisdictions, while more than a few fight on for Christ in their own quiet ways.

The situation has gotten so bad that we almost take it for granted when Orthodox bishops do things that only a short time ago would have been shocking. The Church of Greece has mandated ineffective, harmful, and demonic jabs for all Greeks over 60. Greece announced on Nov. 18 that churchgoers must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test, proof of vaccination or proof of a previous infection to attend worship. Not too long ago, we would have expected the Synod of Greece to have pushed back forcefully on such government tyranny. Now? We are not even surprised when bishops simply go along. For example, Zakynthos Metropolitan Dionysios suspended 14 priests who refused to be “jabbed.” He permanently removed one of the 14 priests and gave the rest a deadline to get jabbed. Being jabbed with an experimental mRNA “vaccine” is now a requirement to be a priest, according to His Eminence.

The news out of Greece joins the previous announcement from His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros and his synod as a betrayal of the Orthodox faithful. GOARCH priests have been instructed to refuse support to parishioners who are seeking religious exemptions for the COVID jabs. In their hour of great need, parishioners in the Greek Archdiocese are being told to look for help elsewhere.

Fortunately for us in the United States, clergy support is not usually needed for a religious exemption (see religious exemption explanation here and click here to address HR questions on exemptions). Even better, courts are now striking down the mandates from OSHA affecting employees of larger companies and from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) targeted at health care workers. Thank God for courageous judges!

Such relief from the relentless drive to vaccinate every human is especially important as we continue to discover how harmful the jabs really are – both physically and spiritually. In mid-November 2021 came a report in the medical journal Circulation that two doses of the mRNA jab more than doubles your chances of Acute Coronary Syndrome – an umbrella term covering heart attacks and a range of other conditions involving abruptly reduced blood flow to your heart. Think COVID was hard on the health system? What about when 1 out of every 4 of the double-jabbed end up hospitalized with heart conditions? Such adverse effects may explain why research has found that the higher the vaccination rate in an area, the higher the excess mortality. Spiritually, we are being warned that taking the jab embroils us in the demonic and threatens to alter our very nature as humans.

Despite all the evidence and warnings, we are still suffering a lack of Orthodox episcopal leadership. One Orthodox priest, who serves under a bishop with whom he profoundly disagrees on the jabs and COVID restrictions, sent us the following:

Respected Bishop, you are called to defend your flock! When will you, who vowed “to lay down my life for the Orthodox faith/truth and my flock,” speak out! Even if Ab Elpidoforos and Patriarch Bartholomew don’t like it, being as they and the Pope are together in LOCKSTEP with the Global Elites? Where is your leadership? Can you see we are being scandalized because you still seem too timid to go against the current of sin? Are you a hypocrite who says to some with families, “Don’t be so concerned about monies” when you have no wife or children but show signs of being not much more than a scared rabbit?

Which bishop can any God-seeking looking into Orthodoxy trust when you certainly don’t want to risk your comforts? We need LEADERS with at least some level of a pure & courageous heart like Cardinal Vigano. We need somebody to have the courage for us that a “heretic” bishop [Vigano] has. He is, in this respect, far more like the Church Fathers than you are. We need a HERO! Won’t one of you miter wearers, be one?

Before we get too despondent as Orthodox Christians, we should pause a moment and understand that we have real episcopal heroes (and possible future saints) fighting for us right now. God has assured us, “The prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (Jam 5:16) Even better for us, thanks be to God, we have more than just one.

Orthodox COVID Heroes

Metropolitan Makarios of Kenya – His Eminence has built over 150 churches in Kenya. He lives in a small room in an orphanage. Despite his age, he maintains a full schedule of tending to his ever growing flock. His Eminence has strongly advised against taking the COVID jabs. His Eminence believes the jabs are not necessary and are immoral due to their connection to abortion. We highly recommend this video interview of His Eminence. His Eminence has also rejected the jab mandates, “No government or Church can force vaccinations!” Everyone, Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike, should listen to His Eminence and think deeply, prayerfully upon his words. While you are at it, you might also prayerfully consider why Africa, where less than 5% of the population has received even one COVID jab, is actually doing much better than any other continent.

Metropolitan of Kythera & Antikythera Seraphim – Metropolitan Seraphim of Kythira was arrested on March 21st, 2020 in Greece. His crime? He was accused of opening the doors of the temple to everyone wanting to attend, and of having the bell rung before the service. His Eminence has continued to decry constraints put on the Orthodox Church. In a March 2021 sermon at the Church of the Mother of God in Myrtidiotissa, Metropolitan Seraphim noted that “just as we do not close hospitals and sanatoriums, we must not close churches. Indeed, who has calculated the spiritual damage that believers endure when they live outside the Divine Eucharist? Who can rate this?”

Metropolitan Seraphim has been quoted as saying the COVID epidemic has intensified due to the closure of churches. His Eminence has also publicly stated, “I, as your Bishop, tell you that I will not vaccinate.”

Bishop George of Canberra Auxiliary Bishop Australia-New Zealand Diocese Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia – In an epistle, His Grace had this to say:

“There are some Orthodox hierarchs who condone taking the vaccines, even though they contain fetal cells, or are derived from fetal cells, thereby being a direct product of abortion. In good conscience, as an Orthodox Christian, I cannot agree with this view and cannot condone it. However, considering that there are some Orthodox hierarchs who do allow these vaccines, and considering the great fear campaign that is being waged by the governments and the media, I can understand if people do decide to get vaccinated. People also need to know that many of those who are getting vaccinated are dying or experiencing severe side effects. We must be aware of what we are doing. Whatever our personal choice is in this matter, we must still live as Orthodox Christians, loving and encouraging one another, being an example of Christian love and piety both to those in our Church communities and to others. Let us re-focus our priorities and focus more on our own spiritual life, not just on preserving our physical life in this sinful world, so when the time comes that God summons us to the next life, we may be able to give a good account of our life here on earth, time in which we should be repenting and preparing ourselves spiritually for eternity. We should remember that whether we get sick from the virus or not is up to God, and when and how we die is up to God, not determined by a virus. Let us ask God to give us repentance, the “vaccine” for eternity, as Metropolitan Onouphry of Kiev has expressed it, so that we will be able to live and die as good Orthodox Christians.

Bishop Siluan the Bishop of the Metropolitante of Australia and New Zealand of the The Serbian Orthodox Church – In an Archpastoral Reflection, His Grace had this to say concerning the jabs and jab mandates:

Orthodox Christians, for example, have a moral issue accepting vaccines that have been developed from cell lines that were obtained from tissues harvested from aborted fetuses. The issue of ethical concerns for such vaccines was raised last year by some of the major Christian jurisdictions in Australia, such as the Roman Catholic, the Anglican and Greek Orthodox Archdioceses.

Therefore, the moral concerns of Christians should be taken into consideration, as they are not simply subjective views, but derive from the fundamental positions and core beliefs of the Church.

That is why our faithful may appeal to this, our Archpastoral letter, and other statements of the Orthodox Church as to why they are unable to receive these particular vaccines.

I would also like to mention as a great concern the alarming prospects of the introduction of Vaccine Passports. I believe that this will lead to a two-tiered society, it will divide people, families, and friends and will provide a basis for acts of discrimination and ostracization…

In relation to this, media reports have also mentioned that “Churches will be required to use Vaccination Certificate Systems for Vaccinated-ONLY Worship”?!?

This is totally foreign to the Spirit of the Church, to the ecclesiology, the Holy Gospel and Tradition of the Church. We could never accept or adopt such a practice! It would entail discrimination against those who are members of the same Body, The Body of Christ, His Holy Church. How can we go against the Gospel? Against Christ who exclaims: “Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mathew 11:28).

We cannot accept the polarisation of the faithful, it goes against the very nature of the Church and we will not be implementing this system in our churches.

The Church embraces all who seek Christ, those vaccinated and unvaccinated. It will seek to heal a wounded and heavy-laden society, not inflict new wounds and burdens.

Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou – In December 2020, Met. Neophytos explained that he would not accept the state’s order to close churches in Greece, as the Law of God is above the law of man. The government attempted to fine His Eminence and 10 others in connection with the Liturgy and Blessing of the Waters served at the Church of St. Marina in the village of Evrychou on January 6 after police showed up and found attendees unmasked and more than 75 people in the church, in violation of the state’s restrictions in force at that time. Leading up to Pascha in 2021, His Eminence said this about the jabs and masks:

They’re using this illness, which does exist and we’re all living it, it is the result of all our sins, all people and all nations. They’re scaring people with masks, double & triple masking maybe tomorrow, also with vaccines that haven’t been properly researched.

Many scientists are talking about Genetically modified vaccines, what does this mean? Children will be injected, girls injected will become sterile and babies being born will have many different abnormalities, physical disabilities, respiratory disorders, Down syndrome, anemia and many more.

Do you realize what the Fear of God is? We only need the Fear of God and whatever other fears we have about how and when we’ll leave Earth, it’s up to God. God tells us during our funeral service.

Please note that His Eminence was speaking at a time before the jabs were approved for children.

Metropolitan of Kalavrita and Egialia Ieronymos – In a sermon at Vespers at the church of the Entry of the Virgin, His Eminence Metropolitan Ieronymos was interrupted by applause twice as he decried the testing requirements to enter church. His Eminence appeared determined not to accept further state restrictions on how the faithful would enter the temple, even if he needed to go to prison.

Those who rule us must now realize that this is the Greece of Saints… The Greeks gave their blood to glorify the name of the Triune God. We can no longer live this suffering, this mockery, this lie. Let those who govern our Homeland understand that Greece is Orthodoxy and the Greeks are always united with Jesus Christ (…) We live in difficult times. Our faith is persecuted, we did not want to believe it but we see that the family is dissolved, Christ is persecuted, our children are led to loss and sin. And instead of saying that in the church they will find the “precious treasure”, they come and tell us that in order to enter we have to do a rapid test! But we, the priests, the monks and the despots, also turned our backs on God. We do not believe him, we became traitors to our Church.

These words are especially important because His Eminence originally complied with much of the government’s program of anti-COVID mitigation measures. His Eminence clearly demonstrates that it is possible for the governing authorities to push too far.

Abbot Tryphon – While we may be short on hero hierarchs in North America, we still have heroes. Abbot Tryphon is one of the most followed Orthodox clerics in America. Abbot Tryphon has equated taking the COVID jabs with abandoning his faith in God. This was probably the last straw that cost him his popular presence on Ancient Faith Radio. Fortunately for all of us, the Abbot has moved on to another platform.

There are more heroes behind-the-scenes in North America. We have learned that there is at least one bishop in the United States that has been quietly assisting Orthodox Christians in getting religious exemptions. Plus, a priest wrote in recently indicating that he personally knows of priests and bishops who have serious moral objections to the jabs. This continues the reports we have had from OCA clergy and from the Burning Bush Brotherhood that many clergy do not support making Pfizer more billions at the expense of our souls and bodies.

Why Listen to Those Hierarchs?

You might be under the jurisdiction of a bishop that totally disagrees with what the men above are saying. That might lead you to question – why listen to these men and not to your own pro-jab hierarch? Within Orthodoxy, all bishops are equal in respect to their office. All are successors to the apostles. But while the office may be equal, the men holding the office are not. Some are more spiritual. Some are more discerning. Some are better speakers. Others are better writers. And some are really more akin to church bureaucrats than to saints.

Father Kosmas wrote in his article For the Orthodox Faithful who are Confused About COVID Vaccines:

Today, the majority of bishops are administrators, as they have not reached at least a state of illumination. Therefore, they are not able to properly discern right from wrong in many theological and moral issues. As such, these administrators should humbly follow the grace-filled bishops and elders who have reached a high level of spirituality. Unfortunately, so many do not (due to their pride), and this would explain why so many bishops have easily accepted Ecumenism, Covidism, mass vaccination and very soon, vaccine passports.

Bishops with less grace and discernment are supposed to listen to those who are more illumined. This is obviously not happening, as you can tell by the fact that this article was even necessary. If the world’s Orthodox synods were either full of men like those above, or at least listening to such men when making decisions, then we, the truly faithful Orthodox, would follow them to the Gates of Hell.

Irrespective of the failings of any hierarchs, the Holy Spirit is speaking to us loud and clear. Both through these heroes of the faith, and through other Holy Fathers – both alive and reposed. Our Lord said we would know a tree by the fruit it bears. The fruits of Covidism and the jabs are physical injury, death, bitterness, division, hatred of the unvaxxed, loss of natural rights, and oppression of God’s Holy Church.

With the rise of “Omicron” it should be clear to everyone that there is no intention on the part of the demonic forces of letting up their relentless march towards an anti-Christian New World Order. Going forward, there will always be a new “variant,” a new “crisis” to justify ever tightening control over society. The demands will only escalate as they have in places such as Austria and Australia (with military-enforced internment camps).

There may still be bishops and priests who, though they see the truth, think they can wait this out. Rest assured, you can’t. Those who want to transform our society and even our very bodies will not stop. Unless we stop them. This is a spiritual battle, and we need our spiritual leaders.

May these men inspire all bishops and priests to take their rightful place at the head of millions of warriors for Christ.

Nicholas – member of the Western Rite Vicariate, a part of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese in America

We have relied greatly on Orthodox Talks in the preparation of this article.

Tags: Abbot Tryphon, aborted fetal cells, anti-christ, Archbishop Elpidophoros, Archbishop Vigano, Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops, authentic Orthodoxy, Bishop George of Canberra Auxiliary Bishop Australia-New Zealand Diocese Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Bishop Siluan the Bishop of the Metropolitante of Australia and New Zealand of the The Serbian Orthodox Church, Branch Covidianism, Branch Covidians, bribery, causes of death, church closings, clergy / laity rift, communion, conspiracy, Constantinople, corona conflict, coronavirus, Covid, Covid booster shots, COVID hypocrisy, Covid profits, covid religion, covid treatments, COVID vaccine, COVID vaccine adverse reactions, covid vaccine ethics, COVID vaccine exemptions, Covid-19, Covid-19 vaccines, death, demonic, demons, Faucism, fear, free will, government corruption, greed, Greek Archdiocese, Greek Orthodoxy, Greek politics, Metropolitan Makarios of Kenya, Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou, Metropolitan of Kalavrita and Egialia Ieronymos, Metropolitan of Kythera & Antikythera Seraphim, Orthodox fundamentalism, pandemic, transhumanism, vaccine, vaccine freedom, voluntary informed consent

Is the Patriarchate of Constantinople an Enemy of the American People?

November 5, 2021

9 Comments

The Patriarch of Constantinople, HAH Bartholomew, styles himself as the first bishop of the Orthodox Church – primus inter pares (first among equals or maybe even without equal) and the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians worldwide. In the United States, Archbishop Elpidophoros represents the Patriarch as head of the Greek Archdiocese. His Eminence clearly presents himself as the leading Orthodox hierarch in the country. Since the Greek Archdiocese is the biggest single Orthodox jurisdiction in America, the leading position of the Greek bishop has rarely been seriously contested.

To further its own ambitions, the Patriarchate of Constantinople needs both a global flock and the support of powerful global interests. Each must be willing to take the Patriarch’s pretensions to leadership seriously. Orthodoxy being a minority in the West, it also helps if the Patriarch, and his subordinates such as Elpidophoros, command some public admiration outside the Orthodox Church. Good public relations matter for a global non-profit based in a hostile environment.

The current actions of the Patriarchate are the opposite of good PR. In fact, the Patriarchate is busy making enemies of both Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike all over the globe, including at least half of the American people.

The Biden / Democratic Party Cuddle

The office of the President of the United States is powerful and important, regardless of who holds it. It would be expected that top Orthodox bishops would try to cultivate at least a good working relationship with such a political figure. Politeness, civility, and sincere prayers are to be expected. Obsequiousness, lies, and outright endorsements, however, are not.

After meeting with President Biden in the White House, Patriarch Bartholomew praised President Biden as “a man of faith and man of vision … we know that he will offer to this wonderful country and to the world, the best leadership and direction within his considerable powers.”

Actually, we don’t know anything of the kind. Joe Biden is the most anti-family, pro-abortion president ever. Nominally Roman Catholic, there is an active debate as to whether his policies on moral issues should preclude him from receiving communion. Biden has never had a real job. He got rich off selling political influence as a shill for corporate interests. First for domestic financial corporations, then later he worked with his son Hunter to expand his grift internationally. Biden is a serial liar. The man had to drop out of the 1988 presidential race because of plagiarism. He’s done worse since. There is nothing in Biden’s past or present that would indicate he is a man of faith or vision or even common decency.

Biden’s disapproval rating at this point in his term is higher than all but one president’s since the advent of modern polling. Over half of all Americans, many stridently, disapprove of the direction the nation is heading in. Biden, in just a few short months, is already responsible for: vaccine mandates, the collapse of our supply chain, an energy shortage, a catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan, skyrocketing gas prices, a possible war with China over Taiwan, federal support for transgenderism, federal opposition to state restrictions on abortion, harmful anti-climate change policies, ruinous inflation, unchecked government spending, a completely collapsed Southern border, interference in local education, weaponization of federal law enforcement against critics, expansion of Critical Race Theory, a slew of unconstitutional executive orders…. Just a partial list. We could keep going.

Americans are facing bare shelves and crushing anxiety. States are openly positioning themselves to oppose the overreach of the Biden Regime. Extreme rhetoric on all sides is now becoming common place. American society is in danger of tearing itself apart. Into this volatile situation steps the successor to the Apostle Andrew in order to praise the man whose reckless incompetence, dementia, and greed are at the heart of our precipitous national decline.

Nor is it just florid rhetoric at the White House that shows how all-in for Biden the Patriarchate of Constantinople is. Even before Biden took office, the Patriarchate published FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church which promoted open borders:

Nor are borders anything more than accidents of history and conventions of law. They too may have at times a useful purpose to serve, but in themselves they are not moral or spiritual goods whose claim upon us can justify failing in our sacred responsibilities to those whom God has commended to our special care… In the United States, the most powerful and wealthiest nation in history—one, in fact, born out of mighty floods of immigrants from around the world—we have seen political leaders not only encouraging fear and hatred of asylum-seekers and impoverished immigrants, but even employing terror against them: abducting children from their parents, shattering families, tormenting parents and children alike, interning all of them indefinitely, denying due process to asylum-seekers, slandering and lying about those seeking refuge, deploying the military at southern borders to terrify and threaten unarmed migrants, employing racist and nativist rhetoric against asylum-seekers for the sake of political advantage, and so forth. All such actions are assaults upon the image of God in those who seek our mercy. They are offenses against the Holy Spirit. In the name of Christ, the Orthodox Church denounces these practices, and implores those who are guilty of them to repent and to seek instead to become servants of justice and charity.

Biden’s open border policies have created a humanitarian crisis as hundreds of thousands of people risk their lives in unsafe crossings, only to find themselves in horrid conditions an overwhelmed border agency can do nothing to alleviate. Biden’s policies have created a law enforcement crisis all over the country as drugs, guns, and criminals cross unchecked and spread out to every corner of the United States. The flood of illegals is worsening an ongoing fiscal crisis in the world’s largest debtor nation.

But according to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, if you favor border security, then you are assaulting the very image of God. You are a racist and a nativist in need of repentance. Does that need for repentance also apply to Texas Hispanics who are increasingly voting Republican out of a desire for increased border enforcement? Are they racists and nativists, or do they just want to live in a normal, safe, free country?

The Social Ethos document, by the way, also included tremendous support for combatting man-made Climate Change. The document, plus the type of rhetoric employed by the Patriarch and his subordinates, led us to consider whether or not the Patriarchate is a globalist tool shilling for The Great Reset.

Vaccine Mandates and COVID Protocols

Archbishop Elpidophoros has endorsed everything from lockdowns to masking toddlers to closing churches to vaccine mandates. The Archbishop said this in an interview recently, “We do advocate for the proper use of the masks, and we support vaccination as a means of protecting ourselves and as our moral obligation, as Christians, to protect others.” Over 19 months in with a fully endemic virus and current low rates of negative outcomes (hospitalizations and deaths), His Eminence and the other bishops seem to have learned nothing. They continue to advocate policies and vaccines which have clearly made no difference based on real-world data. GOARCH’s obsessive dedication to “pandemic protocols” led one Orthodox writer to label “Religious Covidism” a new heresy within Orthodoxy. This dedication is why in some areas of the country, two-year-olds are still wearing masks to attend Divine Liturgy in Greek Orthodox parishes. Even in Florida.

Not content to merely morally bully Orthodox Christians into taking experimental mRNA jabs to “protect others”, Archbishop Elpidophoros went even further in support of Biden’s vaccine mandates. The archbishop outright declared that Orthodox Christians can have no religious objection to any vaccine – ever.

Fair Orthodox observers can identify at least three distinct bases for religious exemptions from vaccine mandates: use of aborted fetal cells, free will as granted by God (and enshrined in the concept of voluntary, informed consent to medical procedures), and the prophecies of recent saints. Even some Roman Catholic bishops have endorsed freedom of conscience for their flocks. But not Archbishop Elpidophoros, for whom loyalty to Joe Biden appears to be far and away more important than fidelity to the Christian Faith.

The Patriarch and the Archbishop also recently presided over giving the Athenagoras Human Rights Award to three men, including the CEO of Pfizer, responsible for the COVID “vaccines.” We have have covered the corruption involved in our pharmaceutical industry (here and here). We have also covered the true physical effects of these experimental injections here. Not content to merely make money injecting adults and older children with experimental, harmful, and ultimately worthless “vaccines,” Pfizer is fresh off rigging a disgraceful “trial” to “prove” it is okay to inject small children.

There is no risk from COVID for healthy children in this age group. In fact, to prevent one death in the 5-11 age group from COVID you must inject 1,261,550 children. The data indicate for every one child saved by the shot, another 117 would be killed by the shot. This is the worst cost / benefit ratio in the history of vaccination. It is absolute madness, but we are going to do it anyway.

Pfizer CEO Bourla must be licking his chops to expand his market by over 28 million new victims with the added financial benefit of “booster” shots as far as the eye can see. It is no wonder that a company making $36 billion dollars a year off the “vaccines” is willing to lie, cheat, and harm children. Especially when Pfizer, at $2.3 billion dollars, held the record for the largest health care fraud settlement and the largest criminal fine ever imposed in the United States. Nor is it surprising that deeply corrupt regulatory and media organizations are willing to abet these crimes for their own benefit.

But a shocking question is – why would successors to the apostles put the CEO of such a sociopathic corporation on a stage and praise him?

For whatever reason this happened, it needs to be made clear that the Greek Archdiocese has now firmly planted itself in opposition to at least 50% of the parents in this country who are terrified of what vaccine side effects can do to their children. The unpopularity of coercive policies is not just showing up in opinion polls. The recent state and local elections were a Red Wave that swept through many “blue” areas. The results prove how angry normal Americans really are, and much of that anger centers around protecting their children.

Republicans, capitalizing politically off parental discontent with the state of education in VA, swept all three statewide offices and flipped the legislature. Voters chose Winsome Sears, a US Marine veteran, as both the first female and the first African American woman to be elected Virginia lieutenant governor. Archbishop Elpidophoros, since Summer 2020, has seized multiple opportunities to lecture Americans about how “systemically racist” we are. Perhaps His Eminence should at least take note of such a development?

We should expect similar Red Wave results nationwide in November 2022. Parents are not just angry in Virginia. And the effects of the Red Wave won’t stay confined to politics either. Can you expect parents to write checks to Greek parishes, or even attend a Greekfest, when it is clear that the Patriarchate and the Greek Archdiocese support the people hurting their children?

The Patriarchate of Constantinople clearly thinks there is political benefit in being closely aligned with the polices of Joe Biden and the Democrats as a whole. In an interview on the 20-year anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, Archbishop Elpidophoros had this to say about President Joe Biden:

As I am sure you know, President Biden started his career in politics over 50 years ago with the warm support of the Greek-American community in his home state of Delaware. Greek Americans were always among his staunchest supporters, and throughout his career in the Senate, he took a special interest in the developments in Southeastern Mediterranean. I first met President Biden as early as 2013. At the time, I was serving as the abbott of the Theological Seminary of Halki, and the Metropolitan of Prussia. We met again after I arrived in New York, as the newly enthroned archbishop of America, in 2019. In July 2020, after the reconversion of Hagia Sophia to a mosque, he was quick to call me on the phone to reconfirm his unequivocal support to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, while this past March, he honored us by speaking through video at the celebration of the bicentennial of Greek Independence Day. I know that in President Biden, our Church and Hellenism has a friend in the Oval Office.

As always, the “survival” of the Patriarchate in its current home of Istanbul seems to blot out all other considerations. Unfortunately for the Patriarch and his subordinates, all morality of the situation aside, their embrace of Joe Biden shreds their moral credibility in the eyes of tens of millions of Americans. By sucking up to Biden, Big Pharma, and the Democratic Party – they are busy alienating the very people whose church attendance, tax dollars, and military service are vital to their future plans.

Are there really enough progressive academics and millionaires to replace them when they turn their backs?

Betrayal of Orthodoxy

It’s not just “politics” that has brought us to a point where supporting the Patriarchate of Constantinople is unconscionable. Elpidophoros’ actions and innovations regularly spark protests from the Orthodox Faithful against his secularism, his globalist Ecumenism and his abandonment of Holy Orthodox Tradition and practices. When the pandemic arrived, he aligned with Black Lives Matter, a movement fostering communism in the name of anti-racism. He supported anti-Christian pro-abortion politicians such as Cuomo and Giannaris. He abandoned basic human and Christian values like personal freedom of choice over one’s health in the name of “science.” He openly advocated that unconverted spouses of Orthodox Christians can share in the Holy Eucharist. He instituted liturgical innovations such as multiple spoons. He conducted Divine Liturgy under the LGBTQ+ flag. He openly denigrated concerns over the COVID “vaccines” having used aborted fetal cells.

In addition to what he has done, we can also compile a huge list of things he should have done but hasn’t. He has not been a forceful advocate for Christian morality. He has not supported Christian parents in their fight to protect their children in public schools from filth and degeneracy. He has uttered not a peep as inflation ravages the paychecks and savings accounts of the poor and working class. As our social, medical, and economic freedoms have been eroded, Archbishop Elpidophoros has either been silent or wrong, but never on the correct side of common Orthodox people on whom his power relies.

Modern Day Janissaries?

It isn’t just American patriots and concerned parents who have growing issues with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Greek Americans and those who support Greece are openly questioning the loyalty of hierarchs who are based in Turkey and have Turkish citizenship:

My question is – are these hierarchs of ours simply modern-day Janissaries? Were they trained by their Turkish “father” and then sent back to the Greek Orthodox people to “help” govern them? Are they advancing Turkish interests by also hearing, and relaying to Turkish intelligence, the confidences and confessions of prominent Hellenes and others? And when they send money to the Phanar, to supposedly support our “poor, persecuted Patriarchate,” where does it end up? Is it “just” maintaining Bartholomew’s position at the Phanar or is it doing more than that? Turkey may no longer be taking our children, but that does not mean they cannot be on the receiving end of our church donations. Is this blackmail? Treason? Both? Or is there something even worse going on? What exactly is Bartholomew funding?

The Patriarch Doesn’t Give a “S**T” About Orthodox Unity

The Patriarch of Constantinople likes to pretend that his office is a source of unity. If only! His ambitious exercise of power in the Ukraine has been the cause of the most important schism in a 1,000 years. When asked about the Russian Church no longer commemorating him, Bartholomew replied in Greek “Skasila mou” which best translates as “I don’t give a s…t”.

Reporting on this incident, Helleniscope had the following to say about what “not giving a s**t” really means in the context of Ukraine and even across the globe:

“Σκασιλα μου” / “I don’t give a s..t” – that because of my decisions and actions in Ukraine, neo-Nazis, the descendants of former Nazis among others, are taking away or destroying the Churches of the 70% of the Ukrainian Orthodox who chose to stay under the Moscow Patriarchate.

“Σκασιλα μου” / “I don’t give a s..t” – that this 70% of Ukrainians who chose to stay under the Moscow Patriarchate are suffering harsher religious freedom suppression than the Patriarchate is suffering under the neo-Ottoman Turks.

“Σκασιλα μου” / “I don’t give a s..t” that I was specifically warned that my decision about Ukraine would cause violence. I went ahead anyway because the teachings of Christ mean nothing to me. I prefer to act as an obstinate mule from Imvros and kick in every direction using my rear legs, than as a descendant of Andrew the First Apostle.

“Σκασιλα μου” / “I don’t give a s..t” that I caused havoc in Ukraine because I care more about the millions of $$ that I received from America for that purpose (and you Archons and the rest of the faithful will never learn exactly how I received them – unless you investigate former Ukrainian President Poroshenko…).

“Σκασιλα μου” / “I don’t give a s..t” that I minimized Orthodoxy – one of the four “ecumenical legs of Hellenism”, along with Diaspora, Navigation and Cultural Heritage). I care more about material indulgence. My predecessor Pat. Demetrios lived in a small room in the Patriarchate – but I live in a multi-million dollar villa overlooking Vosporos paid for by one of you – the late Alex Spanos. I teach my subordinates, the “Hierarchs of the Throne”, to do the same: AB Makarios of Australia bought a $6.5 million apartment overlooking Sydney harbor, and recently, my second-in-command Emmanuel of Chalcedon bought a $1 million house in the glitzy northern suburbs of Athens, and then he stole all the furniture of the Metropolis of France where he used to serve for twenty years to furnish it!! I surely lead by example!!

“Σκασιλα μου” / “I don’t give a s..t” that I undermine the second ecumenical leg of Hellenism, Diaspora, by instructing the Archbishops of America, Australia, England and Canada to put a lid on any political action against Turkey by the Greek communities under their command. I am a Turkish citizen, all my hierarchs are Turkish citizens, we have taken an oath of allegiance to Turkey and we all intend to keep it!! I blessed the Turkish troops as they invaded Syria to kill the fighting Kurds and I may even bless them again if they invade any Greek island. Anyway, the Greek Islands along the coast of Turkey are already under my ecclesiastical jurisdiction and “Σκασιλα μου” / “I don’t give a s..t” if either Turkey or Greece has sovereignty over them!

We can also add that apparently neither HAH Bartholomew nor His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros give a s**t about average Americans.

Given any objective comparison between the two, it is no wonder that a “local” and persecuted Metropolitan Onuphry of Ukraine is so much more popular globally than the “worldwide head” of the Orthodox Church. For all that we Americans, and our tax dollars, have done to persecute the true church in Ukraine, we should be heartbroken with repentance.

What Now?

There is a petition which we strongly encourage all Greek Orthodox Christians in America and Canada to sign. It begins, “The undersigned Greek Orthodox Americans hereby declare an unwavering and unconditional commitment to our faith and to its self-governing independence in our beloved American homeland.” For all the reasons in this article, it is past time for the Greek Archdiocese to be free from Istanbul, to clean house, and to chart her own course.

As that process either plays out or doesn’t, those of you who plan to stay in the Greek Archdiocese need to face a hard fact – 50% or more (being conservative in the estimate, probably more like 70%) of your countrymen view your hierarchs as outright enemies. You can’t just sweep all this under the rug and pretend it is not happening. We are not talking about just politics as usual. For many of your neighbors, the Patriarchate of Constantinople is now openly, vociferously, and unquestionably aligned with positions that attack our children while putting the future of our nation at risk. Not to mention our ability to freely exercise our Orthodox Faith.

Do not expect to simply wait for this to all go away and for things to return to normal. We all have decisions to make now, whether we would prefer to avoid them or not.

May God have mercy on us all.

Demetrios – former member of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, currently attending a Serbian Orthodox parish

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Modern-Day Janissaries

September 28, 2021

4 Comments

Click here to skip to the Greek language version of this article.

In the summer of 2012, my family and I took a Mediterranean cruise to Constantinople. There, we found ourselves on a tour of the Topkapi Palace where the Sultans used to live. In response to a question about the Janissaries, our Turkish tour guide proudly informed us that the Sultans would “adopt” approximately 200 Greek boys each year (multiply that by 400 years of Ottoman occupation, roughly 80,000 young boys altogether, although other sources indicate a much higher number) to “save” them. These boys were “educated” and “trained” at the Topkapi palace and taught to view the Sultan, not as their military commander, but as their “father”.

We, who were of Greek descent, already knew that these boys were not adopted, but abducted from their Greek families, forcibly Islamized, brainwashed and trained militarily to become the famous “Janissaries,” the elite Turkish army. The Sultans used the Janissaries to fight against their enemies, which included the boys’ own Greek relatives. Fearless and fierce, both in combat and in loyalty to their Sultan, the Janissaries were sacrificed in battle by the Ottomans to spare the shedding of Turkish blood. According to our Turkish tour guide, however, these boys were not used to fight against their own Greek brothers but were sent back to Greece to “help” govern their people.

Fast forward to September 20, 2021, and the appearance of an article on Helleniscope by Nick Stamatakis. The introduction to the article is eye catching:

The Greek-American community lives the ultimate schizophrenia: It seeks to support Greece and Cyprus, while the Church, the most powerful of our organizations, is controlled by the enemies of Hellenism.

I would add to this “and the enemies of Orthodoxy.” Who are these enemies of Hellenism and Orthodoxy? It seems that her enemies of the present are the same as those of the past. According to Stamatakis, Archbishop Elpidophoros is one of these enemies, which is why many don’t call him Elpdophoros (hope-bearer) but “Elpidoktonos” (hope killer).

According to Helleniscope, there first appeared a report in 2018 from a credible source, that Elpidophoros and Patriarch Bartholomew (both born in Turkey, both served in the Turkish armed forces) were also both agents of MIT – the Turkish Intelligence Service. “At the minimum, this meant that they were “compromised”, meaning that the Turks knew anything they needed to know to blackmail them…” Well, this background might explain a few things.

Prior to his enthronement as Archbishop of the US, Elpidophoros wrote an essay titled “Primus Sine Paribus” (“First Without Equals”) This was published on the Ecumenical Patriarchate website, to support Bartholomew, the Patriarch of Constantinople, as “the Pope of the East” – an ideology that copies heretical Western doctrine, which led to the Great Schism of 1054. Just a few months prior to arriving in America he also wrote a geopolitical essay on “Religion and Geopolitics in Ukraine.” This was to gain the approval of the US State Department, which has geopolitically controlled the Constantinople Patriarchate since President Truman (1945).

The day after his enthronement as Archbishop, Elpidophoros promoted Father Alexander Karloutsos to Vicar General of GOARCH. Prior to this, Karloutsos was involved in all the scandals of GOARCH and is the reason for the federal investigations still going on today. Since then, Elpidophoros’ actions and innovations regularly sparked protests from the Orthodox Faithful against his secularism, his globalist Ecumenism and his abandonment of Holy Orthodox Tradition and practices. When the pandemic arrived, he aligned with Black Lives Matter, a movement fostering communism in the name of anti-racism. He supported anti-Christian pro-abortion politicians such as Cuomo and Giannaris. He abandoned basic human and Christian values like personal freedom of choice over one’s health in the name of “science.”

Mr. Elpidoktonos indiscriminately supported everything from endless lockdowns to Church closures; from testing the faithful with multiple spoons to liturgizing under the LGBTQ+ flag; from vaccine mandates to denying the faithful “religious exemption letters,” because evidently, coercion and vaccines made from aborted fetal cells do not bother this Greek Orthodox hierarch.

This extensive damage, even though it turned the lives of the Orthodox Faithful upside down, still did not incense the average person of Greek descent nearly as much as his recent attendance and behaviour at the inauguration of the Turkish House in New York City on September 20, 2021. Sadly, only about 15% of Greeks are members of the Church, and even fewer attend regularly. But ALL Greeks, regardless of which country they reside in, are very much united in support of their ancestral homeland.

So, when Elpidoktonos went out of his way to attend the inauguration, to “bow” to Turkish President Erdogan (to kiss his hand?), and offer his subordination as to a spiritual father – everyone noticed. How can a Greek Orthodox hierarch pay homage to the Turks whose hands are stained with Cypriot blood, who keep violating Greek territorial waters and air space, who keep the Halki Seminary closed, and who turned Hagia Sophia back into a mosque?

At a time when even President Biden refused to meet Erdogan, Elpidoktonos sought him out like a puppy running to its master. Small wonder the Prime Ministers of Greece and Cyprus, Mr. Mitsotakis and Mr. Anastasiades, canceled their planned meetings with Elpidophoros later that week. While many Greeks and Cypriots have spent decades and much money trying to support Greece and Cyprus, Elpidoktonos undermines all these efforts with a gross display of public Turkophilia.

Suddenly, things are starting to make sense. The Patriarchate may stubbornly insist on remaining in Turkish Constantinople in the name of tradition, but is it more for protection? Who can charge you for treason against Greece when you live in Turkey? And why would Bartholomew make such a generous donation to Turkish Erdogan to “manage the pandemic”, but not to his own Orthodox people in Greece, who had the same problem? Each year, Archbishop Sotirios extracts huge sums of money from every Greek Orthodox Church and organization in his Canadian jurisdiction. He sends these millions of dollars to the Phanar – maintaining a four decade reputation as one of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s most generous donors. On the surface this “just” appears as shameful groveling. Elpidoktonos groveled for his promotions using heretical, geopolitical essays. Not having the same talent for literary theological perversion did not prevent Sotirios from using extorted church money to grovel for his promotions. Why such a steady stream of money each and every year? What gave it all away was the way Elpidoktonos salivated all over Erdogan and his cronies for their attention and approval.

My question is – are these hierarchs of ours simply modern-day Janissaries? Were they trained by their Turkish “father” and then sent back to the Greek Orthodox people to “help” govern them? Are they advancing Turkish interests by also hearing, and relaying to Turkish intelligence, the confidences and confessions of prominent Hellenes and others? And when they send money to the Phanar, to supposedly support our “poor, persecuted Patriarchate,” where does it end up? Is it “just” maintaining Bartholomew’s position at the Phanar or is it doing more than that? Turkey may no longer be taking our children, but that does not mean they cannot be on the receiving end of our church donations. Is this blackmail? Treason? Both? Or is there something even worse going on? What exactly is Bartholomew funding?

Conspiracy theory? There is a saying that where there is smoke, there is fire. Therefore, when someone sees smoke, they do not ask if there is a fire. They ask WHERE is the fire? How thick does the smoke have to get before we wake up and start looking for the fire so we can put it out before it consumes us?

Right now, I can’t breathe because there’s so much smoke. Even if one could stomach multiple spoons, or tolerate Ecumenism, how could any red-blooded Greek not see these corrupted and heretical hierarchs as modern-day Janissaries who treacherously betray our motherland and the Faith of our forefathers to our enemies?

I can already hear these traitors’ rebuttals accusing me of being a Church schismatic. Unfortunately, many schisms have already been actualized by our internal enemies (who pretend to be our friends) even if these schisms have not yet been finalized by formally signed, mutual anathemas. In the past, our Holy Church fathers did not shrink from boldly anathematizing the enemies of Christ and His Holy Orthodox Church. They knew how dangerous they were. Now that many of our own hierarchs have turned out to be, not just heretics, but also position-hijacking treasonous traitors of Faith and Country, who will kick them out? What an irony it would be if it’s the unbelieving secular politicians who do just that. In the meantime, there will be no more dollars from me for any church overseen by Sotirios or Elpidoktonos. I just can’t handle the smoke.

Mihalis Papaconstantinou

Note: Archbishop Elpidophoros has issued an unconvincing apology for his behavior. The Archbishop has created such a scandal, that Helleniscope is actively speculating that Elpidophoros is done and who his replacement will be.

Το καλοκαίρι του 2012, βρέθηκα στην Κωνσταντινούπολη, σε μια περιοδεία στο παλάτι Τοπ Καπί όπου ζούσαν οι Σουλτάνοι. Σε απάντηση σε ερώτηση για τους Γενίτσαρους, ο Τούρκος ξεναγός μας ενημέρωσε με υπερηφάνεια ότι οι Σουλτάνοι «υιοθετούσαν» περίπου 200 Ελληνόπουλα κάθε χρόνο (πολλαπλασιάστε αυτό κατά 400 χρόνια Οθωμανικής κατοχής, περίπου 80.000 νεαρά αγόρια συνολικά, αν και άλλες πηγές αναφέρουν μεγαλύτερο αριθμό) για να τους “σώσουν”. Αυτά τα αγόρια «σπούδασαν» και «εκπαιδεύτηκαν» στο παλάτι Τοπ Καπί και διδάχτηκαν να θεορούν τον Σουλτάνο, όχι ως στρατιωτικό διοικητή τους, αλλά ως «πατέρα» τους!

Εμείς, που ήμασταν Ελληνικής καταγωγής, γνωρίζαμε ήδη ότι αυτά τα αγόρια δεν υιοθετήθηκαν, αλλά απήχθησαν από τις Ελληνικές οικογένειές τους, εξισλαμίστηκαν βίαια, πλύθηκαν εγκεφαλικά και εκπαιδεύτηκαν στρατιωτικά για να γίνουν οι περίφημοι «Γενίτσαροι», ο ελίτ Τουρκικός στρατός. Οι Σουλτάνοι χρησιμοποίησαν τους Γενίτσαρους για να πολεμήσουν εναντίον των εχθρών τους, στους οποίους περιλαμβάνονταν και οι Έλληνες συγγενείς των αγοριών. Ατρόμητοι και άγριοι, τόσο στη μάχη όσο και στην πίστη στο Σουλτάνο τους, οι Γενίτσαροι θυσιάζονταν στις μάχες των Οθωμανών για να τους γλιτώσουν από την αιματοχυσία. Σύμφωνα με τον Τούρκο ξεναγό μας, ωστόσο, αυτά τα αγόρια δεν χρησιμοποιήθηκαν να πολεμούν εναντίον των Ελλήνων αδελφών τους, αλλά στάλθηκαν πίσω στην Ελλάδα για να «βοηθήσουν» την κυβέρνησή τους.

Προχωρήστε τώρα στις 20 Σεπτεμβρίου 2021 και στην εμφάνιση ενός άρθρου στο Helleniscope του Νικολάου Σταματάκη. Η εισαγωγή στο άρθρο είναι εντυπωσιακή

Η ελληνοαμερικανική κοινότητα ζει την απόλυτη σχιζοφρένεια: Επιδιώκει να υποστηρίξει την Ελλάδα και την Κύπρο, ενώ η Εκκλησία, η πιο ισχυρή από τις οργανώσεις μας, ελέγχεται από τους εχθρούς του ελληνισμού.

Ας προσθέσουμε σ’αυτό «και τους εχθρούς της Ορθοδοξίας». Ποιοι είναι αυτοί οι εχθροί του Ελληνισμού και της Ορθοδοξίας; Φαίνεται ότι οι εχθροί της στο παρόν είναι ίδιοι με εκείνους του παρελθόντος. Σύμφωνα με τον Σταματάκη, ο Αρχιεπίσκοπος Ελπιδοφόρος είναι ένας απ’αυτούς τους εχθρούς, γι ‘αυτό και πολλοί δεν τον αποκαλούν Ελπδοφόρο αλλά «Ελπιδοκτόνο».

Σύμφωνα με το Helleniscope, το 2018 ο κύριος Ελπιδοφόρος εμφανίστηκε για πρώτη φορά σε έκθεση σε αξιόπιστη πηγή, ότι ο Ελπιδοφόρος και ο Πατριάρχης Βαρθολομαίος (οι οποίοι γεννήθηκαν και οι δύο στην Τουρκία και υπηρέτησαν και ορκίστηκαν στον Τουρκικό στρατό) ήταν και οι δύο πράκτορες του MIT – της Τουρκικής Υπηρεσίας Πληροφοριών. «Τουλάχιστον, αυτό σήμαινε ότι ήταν «συμβιβασμένοι», πράγμα που σημαίνει ότι οι Τούρκοι γνώριζαν οτιδήποτε έπρεπε να γνωρίζουν για να τους εκβιάσουν …» Λοιπόν, αυτό το υπόβαθρο μπορεί να μας εξηγήσει μερικά πράγματα.

Πριν από την ενθρόνισή του ως Αρχιεπίσκοπος των ΗΠΑ, ο Ελπιδοφόρος έγραψε ένα δοκίμιο με τίτλο “Primus Sine Paribus” («Πρώτος Άνευ Ίσους») Αυτό δημοσιεύτηκε στον ισότοπο του Οικουμενικού Πατριαρχείου, για να υποστηρίξει τον Βαρθολομαίο, τον Πατριάρχη Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, ως «τον Πάπα της Ανατολής» – μια ιδεολογία που αντιγράφει το αιρετικό Δυτικό δόγμα, που οδήγησε στο Μεγάλο Σχίσμα του 1054. Λίγους μήνες πριν από την άφιξή του στην Αμερική έγραψε επίσης ένα γεωπολιτικό δοκίμιο με θέμα «Θρησκεία και γεωπολιτική στην Ουκρανία». Αυτό έλαβε την έγκριση του Αμερικανικού Υπουργείου Εξωτερικών, το οποίο γεωπολιτικά ελέγχει το Πατριαρχείο Κωνσταντινουπόλεως από τον καιρό της Προεδρίας του Τρούμαν (1945).

Την επομένη της ενθρόνισής του ως Αρχιεπίσκοπο, ο Ελπιδοφόρος προήγαγε τον Πατέρα Αλέξανδρο Καρλούτσο σε Γενικό Εφημέριο της Ελληνορθόδοξης Αρχιεπισκοπής Αμερικής (GOARCH). Πριν από αυτό, ο Καρλούτσος συμμετείχε σε όλα τα σκάνδαλα του GOARCH και είναι ο λόγος για τις ομοσπονδιακές έρευνες που συνεχίζονται μέχρι σήμερα. Έκτοτε, οι ενέργειες και οι καινοτομίες του Ελπιδοφόρου πυροδότησαν τακτικά διαμαρτυρίες από τους Ορθοδόξους Πιστούς κατά της κοσμικότητάς του, του παγκοσμιοποιημένου Οικουμενισμού του και της εγκατάλειψης του της Αγίας Ορθόδοξης Παράδοσης και πρακτικών. Όταν έφτασε η πανδημία, ευθυγραμμίστηκε με το Black Lives Matter, ένα κίνημα που προωθεί τον κομμουνισμό στο όνομα του αντιρατσισμού. Υποστήριξε αντιχριστιανικούς πολιτικούς υπέρ των εκτρώσεων, όπως ο Cuomo και ο Giannaris. Εγκατέλειψε τις βασικές ανθρώπινες και χριστιανικές αξίες όπως η προσωπική ελευθερία επιλογής έναντι της υγείας κάποιου στο όνομα της «επιστήμης».

Ο κ. Ελπιδοκτόνος υποστήριξε αδιακρίτως τα πάντα, από ατελείωτους αποκλεισμούς έως κλεισίματα των Εκκλησιών, από τη δοκιμή των πιστών με πολλαπλά κουταλάκια μέχρι τη λιτανεία κάτω υπό τη σημαία του LGBTQ, από τις εντολές εμβολίου έως την άρνηση των πιστών «επιστολών θρησκευτικής απαλλαγής», επειδή προφανώς, ο εξαναγκασμός και τα εμβόλια που γίνονται από τα αποβληθέντα εμβρυϊκά κύτταρα δεν ενοχλούν αυτόν τον Ελληνορθόδοξο ιεράρχη.

Αυτή η εκτεταμένη ζημιά, παρόλο που ανέτρεψε τις ζωές των Ορθοδόξων Πιστών, δεν ενέπνευσε τον μέσο ελληνικό πληθυσμό όσο η πρόσφατη παρουσία και συμπεριφορά του στα εγκαίνια του Τουρκικού Σπιτιού στη Νέα Υόρκη στις 20 Σεπτεμβρίου 2021. Δυστυχώς, μόνο περίπου το 15% των Ελλήνων είναι μέλη της Εκκλησίας και ακόμη λιγότεροι παρευρίσκονται τακτικά. Αλλά ΟΛΟΙ οι Έλληνες, ανεξάρτητα από τη χώρα στην οποία κατοικούν, είναι πολύ ενωμένοι για την υποστήριξη της πατρίδας τους.

Έτσι, όταν ο Ελπιδοκτόνος βγήκε από το δρόμο του για να παρευρεθεί στα εγκαίνια, να «υποκλιθεί» στον Τούρκο πρόεδρο Ερντογάν (να του φιλήσει το χέρι;) και να προσφέρει την υπακοή του ως πνευματικού πατέρα – ΟΛΟΙ το παρατήρησαν. Πώς μπορεί ένας Ελληνορθόδοξος ιεράρχης να αποτίσει φόρο τιμής στους Τούρκους των οποίων τα χέρια είναι βαμμένα με Κυπριακό αίμα; που παραβιάζουν συνεχώς τα Ελληνικά χωρικά ύδατα και τον εναέριο χώρο; που κρατούν κλειστή την Σχολή της Χάλκης και που μετέτρεψαν την Αγία Σοφία ξανά σε τζαμί παραβιάζοντας την απόφαση της UNESCO;

Σε μια εποχή που ακόμη και ο πρόεδρος Μπάιντεν αρνήθηκε να συναντήσει τον Ερντογάν, ο Ελπιδοκτόνος τον αναζήτησε σαν κουτάβι που έτρεχε στον κύριό του. Δεν είναι καθόλου περίεργο που ο Πρωθυπουργός Ελλάδας και ο Πρόεδρος Κύπρου, κύριοι Μητσοτάκης και Αναστασιάδης, ακύρωσαν τις προγραμματισμένες συναντήσεις τους με τον Ελπιδοφόρο αργότερα την ίδια εβδομάδα. Ενώ πολλοί Έλληνες και Κύπριοι έχουν ξοδέψει δεκαετίες και πολλά χρήματα προσπαθώντας να υποστηρίξουν την Ελλάδα και την Κύπρο, ο Ελπιδόκτωνος υπονομεύει όλες αυτές τις προσπάθειες με μια σιχαμερή προβολή δημόσιας Τουρκοφιλίας.

Ξαφνικά, τα πράγματα αρχίζουν να βγάζουν νόημα. Το Πατριαρχείο που επιμένει πεισματικά να παραμείνει στην Τουρκική Κωνσταντινούπολη στο όνομα της παράδοσης, μήπως είναι περισσότερο για προστασία; Ποιος μπορεί να χρεωθεί για προδοσία κατά της Ελλάδας όταν μένει στην Τουρκία; Και γιατί ο Βαρθολομαίος να κάνει μια τόσο γενναιόδωρη δωρεά στον Τούρκο Ερντογάν για να «διαχειριστεί την πανδημία», αλλά όχι στους δικούς του Ορθοδόξους στην Ελλάδα, που είχαν το ίδιο πρόβλημα; Κάθε χρόνο, ο Αρχιεπίσκοπος Σωτήριος αντλεί δια της βίας τεράστια χρηματικά ποσά από κάθε Ελληνορθόδοξη Εκκλησία και οργάνωση της Καναδικής δικαιοδοσίας του για να στέλνει εκατομμύρια δολάρια στο Φανάρι – διατηρώντας τη φήμη τεσσάρων δεκαετιών ως έναν από τους πιο «γενναιόδωρους» δωρητές του Οικουμενικού Πατριαρχείου. Επιφανειακά αυτό “απλώς” μοιάζει με ντροπιαστικό τρίξιμο. Ο Ελπιδοκτόνος ασχολήθηκε με τις προαγωγές του χρησιμοποιώντας αιρετικά, γεωπολιτικά δοκίμια. Το να μην έχει το ίδιο ταλέντο στη λογοτεχνική θεολογική διαστροφή δεν εμπόδισε τον Σωτήριο να χρησιμοποιήσει εκβιασμένα χρήματα των Ελληνοκαναδών εκκλησιών για να γλιστρήσει για τις προαγωγές του. Γιατί μια τέτοια σταθερή ροή χρημάτων κάθε χρόνο; Αυτό που τα εξήγησε όλα ήταν ο τρόπος που ο Ελπιδοκτόνος σάλιασε πάνω από τον Ερντογάν και τους κολλητούς του για την προσοχή τους και την έγκρισή τους.

Μήπως αυτοί οι ιεράρχες μας είναι οι σύγχρονοι Γενίτσαροι; Εκπαιδεύτηκαν από τον Τούρκο «πατέρα» τους και στη συνέχεια στάλθηκαν πίσω στον Ελληνορθόδοξο λαό για να «βοηθήσουν» την κυβέρνηση της Τουρκίας; Μήπως προωθούν τα Τουρκικά συμφέροντα ακούγοντας και μεταδίδοντας στην Τουρκική μυστική υπηρεσία, τις εμπιστοσύνες και τις εξομολογήσεις επιφανών Ελλήνων και άλλων; Και όταν στέλνουν χρήματα στο Φανάρι, για να υποστηρίξουν δήθεν το «φτωχό, διωκόμενο Πατριαρχείο» μας, αυτά πού καταλήγουν; Διατηρούν “απλώς” τη θέση του Βαρθολομαίου στο Φανάρι ή κάνουν κάτι περισσότερο από αυτό; Η Τουρκία μπορεί να μην αρπάζει πλέον τα παιδιά μας, αλλά αυτό δεν σημαίνει ότι δεν μπορεί να λαμβάνει τις δωρεές της Εκκλησίας μας. Πρόκειται για εκβιασμό; Προδοσία; Και τα δυο; Η μήπως συμβαίνει κάτι ακόμα χειρότερο; Τι ακριβώς χρηματοδοτεί ο Βαρθολομαίος στην Τουρκία;

Θεωρία συνωμοσίας; Υπάρχει μια παροιμία ότι όπου υπάρχει καπνός, υπάρχει και φωτιά. Επομένως, όταν κάποιος βλέπει καπνό, δεν ρωτά αν βρίσκεται φωτιά. Ρωτά ΠΟΥ βρίσκεται η φωτιά! Πόσο πυκνός πρέπει να γίνει ο καπνός για να ξυπνήσουμε και να βρούμε τη φωτιά και να την σβήσουμε πριν μας καταναλώσει;

Αυτή τη στιγμή, υπάρχει τόσο πολύς καπνός που δεν μπορώ να αναπνεύσω. Ακόμα κι αν κανείς θα μπορούσε να χωνέψει τις πολλαπλές λαβίδες, ή να ανεχτεί τον Οικουμενισμό, πώς θα μπορούσε κάνεις ερυθρόαιμος Έλληνας να μην θεώρει αυτούς τους ορκισμένους Τούρκους και αιρετικούς ιεράρχες ως σύγχρονους Γενίτσαρους που προδίδουν την Πίστη και την Πατρίδα των προγόνων μας στους εχθρούς μας;

Ακούω ήδη τις αντιρρήσεις αυτών των προδοτών που με κατηγορούν σχισματικό της Εκκλησίας. Δυστυχώς, πολλά σχίσματα έχουν ήδη πραγματοποιηθεί από τους εσωτερικούς μας εχθρούς (που προσποιούνται ότι είναι φίλοι μας) ακόμα κι αν αυτά τα σχίσματα δεν έχουν ακόμη οριστικοποιηθεί με επίσημα υπογεγραμμένα αμοιβαία αναθέματα. Στο παρελθόν, οι πατέρες της Αγίας Εκκλησίας μας δεν απέφευγαν να αναθεματίσουν τολμηρά τους εχθρούς του Χριστού και της Αγίας Ορθόδοξης Εκκλησίας Του. Ήξεραν πόσο επικίνδυνοι ήταν αυτοί οι εχθροί. Τώρα που πολλοί από τους δικούς μας ιεράρχες αποδείχτηκαν, όχι μόνο αιρετικοί, αλλά και προδότες Πίστεως και Πατρίδας που αναξίως άρπαξαν κύριες θέσεις της Ελληνορθόδοξης Εκκλησίας, ποιοι θα τους διώξουν; Τι ειρωνεία θα ήταν αν οι άπιστοι κοσμικοί πολιτικοί ήταν το τέλος τους. Εν τω μεταξύ, εγώ δεν πρόκειται να δώσω ούτε δολάριο σε οποιαδήποτε εκκλησία του Σωτήριου ή του Ελπιδοκτόνου. Απλώς δεν αντέχω την κάπνα.

Μιχάλης Παπακωνσταντίνου

Σημείωση: Ο Αρχιεπίσκοπος Ελπιδοφόρος ζήτησε μια χλιαρή συγγνώμη για τη συμπεριφορά του. Ο Αρχιεπίσκοπος δημιούργησε ένα τέτοιο σκάνδαλο, ώστε το Helleniscope εικάζει ενεργά ότι ο Ελπιδοφόρος τελείωσε αλλά ποιος θα τον αντικαταστήσει;

Tags: Black Lives Matter, BLM, Constantinople, Elpidoktonos, Erdogan, Father Alexander Karloutsos, First Without Equals, Fr Alexander Karloutsos, Greek politics, Hagia Sophia, Helleniscope, Janissaries, Leftist Infiltration, MIT, New York City, Nick Stamatakis, occupation Cyprus, Ottoman Empire, Patriarch Bartholomew, Patriarchate Constantinople, Phanar, Primus Sine Paribus, Religion and Geopolitics in Ukraine, Turkish House, Turkish Intelligence, Turkophilia

Changing of the Guard – Times and Seasons of the Church

September 9, 2021

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God’s Church is Permanent

One thing is for sure, the Orthodox Church will always be here. Nations come and go, but the Church remains. Those nations, political ideologies, that sought to destroy her have failed, and will fail until the end.

If the Church is the permanent thing, other questions rise to the surface. What will it look like in terms of leadership five or ten years from now? Where will be its center of gravity? What is the current season?

If the Church is the only permanent thing in the world, how does it retain its resilience against corruption over the centuries? It does so, because as corruptions sets in (we are in denial if we see no corruption), purging, siftings, and separations come in order to keep it true.

In the first three chapters of Revelation, St John delineates the sorting of that time; it is a mistake to think it does not happen from time to time. The handwriting is now on the wall, and things hidden are now being revealed.

Obviously, what is happening now in our Church is very different from, say, five or ten years ago. Something has changed. We know that much for sure. But what, and for what purpose?

A Time of Sorting

“Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it—those who do know history, repeat it anyway.”[1]

A wise man once said:

A time to give birth, a time to die.

A time to plant, A time to pluck up what is planted.

A time to pull down, a time to build up….

A time to throw stones, A time to gather stones…

A time to tear, And a time to sew (Ecclesiastes 3).

So it seems, the Church is in uncharted territory, but is it really? Is there anything new under the sun? Some suppose, the whole COVID storm is very different than anything we have seen in history—but not so much. During the Iconoclasm controversy, kissing icons became a sign to all which side folks were on—it was the defining issue of the day. For those who refused to kiss the icons, their status was clear. They were iconoclasts. While we would think some churches would go one way and others the opposite, often that line of division ran right down the center of many parish communities.

There was clear division among the faithful, unavoidably and painfully in plain sight. No matter how hard some strove for unity, it was not to be. One side had to win and the other had to lose; a divided house cannot stand. Through that battle, we have some glorious things to remember, like the Sunday of Orthodoxy.

At the time, there was confusion; brother was set against brother, bishop against bishop, bishop against parishioner, parishioner against bishop. In all of this came true the Lord’s words,

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household (Matthew 10:34-5).

This sword sorts. It separates based on ideals, not outward appearances. It is part of the Gospel (red in KJV). Why would God bring this about, or allow this to happen? Whenever we see this happening, God is trying to get His Church to deal with something, something important, something germane to her existence, something in her constitution.

Interestingly, before the controversy, the abuse of icons by some was prevalent. They were employed as talismans, good luck charms, some form of Christian magic. In reality, the image had become what non-Christians (like modern Protestants) said it was; idol worship. In the misuse, icons do become idols and there was an element of truth in the accusations. Purification took place, and the correct usage was restored, when Islamic pressure to eschew images came to bear. The faithful had to rethink their loyalty towards the icon as more than an amulet, but as an avenue of worship that it was meant to be.

No doubt, some of my readers will recoil at the suggestion that the questions of to vax or not to vax, to mask or not to mask, rise to the level of iconoclasm. Do they? At the same time, I know other readers will say, they most certainly do rise to that level and future generations will see that also. Our current controversy embodies the state pirating Church Sovereignty. Viewed in hindsight, it is obvious to us who, during the iconoclasm controversy, was on the right side of history and consistent with the Fathers. In the middle of such a controversy, we have only history as a guide. We must sort what is really going on and take the steps to preserve the Church from alterations. Future generations of Orthodox will stand in judgment of what we are doing right now.

There Is Only One Issue

If Orthodox Church history teaches us anything, it is that when the Church falls into conflict with itself, there is only one issue. No matter whether it’s homousious vs homouosious, Iconoclasm or Vaccine mandates (or recommendations) the question always is—what is the True Orthodox Faith of the Church? Answering that question always settles everything. This is called Vincentian Canon.

Do mask mandates pass muster with the Vincentian Canon? Does closing churches pass muster with the Canon? How has the Church behaved during the pandemics of the past? Actually, the Orthodox of old, jumped right in the middle of every pandemic joining the effort to minister to the afflicted risking their own health.

The Testimony of the Church

If we are to understand the Church and its relationship to the world as God’s representative, we must understand the “Testimony” of Christ, which is the testimony of the Church, and the testimony of the Saints. If we don’t get this, we miss God’s working in our day and how it relates to the past.

Often in the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant (the symbol of the Theotokos equating to God’s good will toward His people at that moment) was often called the Ark of the Testimony. What is meant by that term, “Testimony”? Ark means keep, vault, or cache, but keep of what? Of course, the “keep” of Christ, but in terms of the “Testimony” what does that mean? What does it mean to keep the “Testimony,” the Testimony of Christ, or the Testimony of the Faith?

We know from Hebrew history, when the Ark of the “Testimony” left the people of God, it was a sign that God had abandon them. Whatever formalities of worship they engaged in, something was not right. This was not to say there were no longer genuine believers there, but that God’s working at the location differs. While they had form, they lost something else: God’s presence as the Lamp Stand of God’s light to the world.[2]

It is not just in the Old Testament; it is in the New Testament as well, especially in the St John Revelation of Christ.

And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelation 12:17, bold added).

And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10, bold added).

God loves mankind so much, He vows to have His voice made present, made real, among men at all times in every generation. Not just as something of the past but something in the now. How does this work? God elevates a location as a light bearer to the entire world – a city on a hill.

Consider: St Vladimir sent representatives to Constantinople to “witness” the Christian Faith. They returned with the report that in the Hagia Sophia, they thought themselves to be in Heaven. What they encountered there was—as St John put it—a working of the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of Prophecy testifying to Christ as the True Faith. This “Testimony” was so powerful it converted an entire nation. Every Russian Orthodox knows this story by heart. It is their emancipation from pagan tribalism into viable Christian civilization. God had forged Himself a people for the world to see. Like Abraham, in them, all nations would be blessed.

The Testimony is this: that any pagan, secularist, or unregenerate in the world who sought to know the True Faith, could find it wherever the “Testimony” was. This Testimony is not just forms of worship, praxis, or the ancient ethos (though those are included) but it is the Life of the Holy Spirit animating the community of God to the point that others take note. This church becomes a people magnet by nature.

How does that relate to now? If any seeker went to Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) seeking the same experience as Vladimir’s ambassadors, would they find it? The ever glorious Hagia Sophia is now a mosque. Is that not a statement in itself that Constantinople has fallen? What Constantinople was in the past—the light to the whole world—Istanbul is not even remotely. The “Ark of the Testimony” has left and no longer resides there. Whatever genuine Orthodoxy may still be there, the former glory is gone. What is now there is of a different spirit, just like the Old Rome. It’s no wonder the Pope and the EP are so close. They both preside in jurisdictions that were at one time the torch bearers, the standard bearers, the flagships of the Faith. Now, they grasp for power, becoming predators and not shepherds. Tell me this is not true. The handwriting on the wall is so clear. Each has been weighed in the balance and found wanting. God is animating a remnant elsewhere. So we must ask: where is the Orthodox center of gravity now?

What happens when we lose the Testimony? We are no longer God’s voice to a dying world; missionary outreach is replaced with territorial aggression. We no longer reprove the world of sin, or speak prophetically into society, culture, or government, but become obsessed with control of territory. Here is an axiom of the Faith: when you spend all your time defending your office, your time is over.

Without the Testimony, we are no longer the witness to the world. We are an organization that has a form/s of godliness, but is denied the power to change the world, one man at a time.[3] The signature characteristic of this kind of church is that it stops growing, a sure sign something has died as all living things grow.

Ecclesial Center of Gravity

Earlier in Christendom, deference was given to the Bishop of Rome—“first among equals” (not first among subordinates). What was the basis for labeling the Pope of Rome first in anything? Why was this honor given? It was because for the first few centuries, after Jerusalem, Rome was the center of gravity for the Faith. It was a missions center from which the Church reached out to the world.

But Rome drifted, then the Great Schism.

Historically, this center of gravity moved from Rome to Constantinople. This is not an just an organizational change, or a political change but a change in the center of gravity of the True Christian Faith. But where is it now? Like the first Rome, the second Rome succumbed to drifting from the True Faith. Some claim, Moscow is the Third Rome. In that claim what are they saying? That the center of gravity of the Orthodox Faith, that the “Testimony” to the entire world, has shifted to Moscow. Is this true? Perhaps.

Who Is Cleaving Whom? Revealing the True Schismatics

Without boring my reader (and exposing my ignorance) we’ll pluck only a few choice facts from the Great Schism. In the final slash of the cleaver that severed East and West, it was the West that “went nuclear” by placing a Papal Bull on the altar of the Hagia Sophia. More often than not, it is the schismatics that separate themselves from the Church even when it is done by a hierarch. They cut others off from themselves.

But here, we need to clarify our thinking. What is the True Church? Is it the hierarch who drives others out with mask mandates, or is it the young family with young children who are driven out? Think of it this way: a hierarch who does such things has “left the reservation” and the families raising their children in church are the real Church. If the bishop is not channeling the true Faith of the Fathers, what is he channeling? The anti-Christ spirit of government?

The assumption, that the hierarch is always “THE Church” does not carry water in history. Just look at the prime examples of Arius (a bishop) and Nestorius (a Patriarch). With the Conciliar Controversies, the True Church won out and finally preserved the unity, but in the Great Schism the outcome was different. At some point the East had to get over the fact that the West had drifted so far that reconciliation was impossible without doing violence to the True Faith. St John put it this way:

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. (1 John 2:18-9).

By the time St John wrote this, he had seen everything. What he noted was that those in error were the ones quick to sever relations. They opt for divorce to defend their pseudo-authority. They cut off anyone who disagrees or tries to bring light to their senses. Those that depart are in error. But this begs the question: who is the one departing the True Faith? Could it not be the bishop who by fiat does things never before seen in the Church?

The correct question always is: who is abandoning the classic practice of the Faith?

I dare say: by St John’s rule of thumb, in the most recent COVID melee, some bishops left for things inconsistent with the Faith. They channeled more a belief in government than in God.

The question will then become for the rank and file: when bishops make void the Faith by consorting with and giving validation to heretics and apostates – what are the options?

As long as there is a unity at any cost, there will be this monkey business tampering with things Holy. But when the people have had enough, then the rogue hierarchs will have to submit themselves back to the legacy Church.

Going back to the Great Schism another interesting fact appears, in the final approach toward schism, the pope closed Greek (Eastern Rite—non-Latin) churches in his jurisdiction. Of course, in a gesture of reciprocation, the Eastern Patriarch closed some Latin churches in his jurisdiction. How does this relate?

Because the action by the pope to close churches was uncalled for and an action of obvious bias. He was the obvious schismatic. This raises the question: is a modern bishop who closes a church to certain individuals who refuse to wear a mask likewise a schismatic? How is he not modeling the Pope who did not like the way the Greeks were doing Liturgy (not the Latin Mass)?

These are things to think about. How long will we put up with non-canonical actions? How is this not a vacating of the True Church as St John said?

Our Liturgy

I have a burning question: regarding the liturgy of the Holy Orthodox Church; was it a creation of man or did it come down to us from heaven? (note: Luke 20:4) Was it a pagan assimilation as Protestants claim, or is it Divine modeled after worship in heaven? Is this the worship that Moses saw? (note: Exodus 25:9). And, is this the worship St John saw in Revelation? If it is what the Fathers have always claimed it to be (if it is from Heaven—not man) then why would anybody want to tempt the Almighty by tampering with what, for generations, men feared to change even an iota? I ask you: does Caesar govern heaven? How can it be unless men make it so?

Changing of the Guard

When we say there is coming a changing of the guard to the Church—as well as societies with their governments—we must ask ourselves, what is that going to look like? Will it be like Arius, whose entrails became his extrails in the bottom of the latrine? Will it be like the Great Schism, where divorce is necessary in order to preserve a remnant of the True Faith?

We would rather God intervene, with rogue hierarchs going away and being replaced with those more true to the Faith. But that scenario does not appear to be taking place.

In order to preserve the “Testimony”—God’s living, current, witness on earth to all mankind—we know God will have His way through this sifting. God is testing us through what is being revealed. COVID does not make anyone different from who or what they are. It only reveals what they have been for some time. We know the true shepherds from the bad, we know those willing to give all for the Faith, and those who have too many political alliances to properly lead the flock. All is above board, out in the open.

[1] While the first part has been universally known, the second was a quote from Anglican Bishop Ray Sutton of Dallas.

[2] Revelation 2:5

[3] 2 Timothy 2:5

John Lee – an Orthodox Christian, jurisdiction withheld by request

Tags: church closings, clergy / laity rift, corona conflict, coronavirus, correct faith, COVID mandates, COVID victims, Covid-19, ecumenism, finding true faith, Great Schism, Hagia Sophia, Orthodox Bishops, Orthodox fundamentalism, parish life, re-open parishes, schism, single spoon, St. Mark of Ephesus, St. Vladimir of Kiev, true Orthodoxy

Isolated Priests and the Opportunities for the Burning Bush Brotherhood

August 16, 2021

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The epistles from the Burning Bush Brotherhood were controversial. You can read them here and here. This is a link to the Brotherhood’s official Website. The Brotherhood’s statements gathered a lot of support. Many Orthodox Christians are desperate for clergy, any clergy, to speak out about the issues within American Orthodoxy. With controversies raging from ecumenism to an all too-enthusiastic embrace of Covid mitigations / vaccines – many Orthodox Christians are hurting. As His Eminence Metropolitan Ambrosios (of Greece) said, “Wherever there is Orthodoxy there are wounds.”

But not every one was happy to read the epistles from the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood is publishing anonymously. This upset Orthodox Christians who feel that priests should be going on record with their opinions. Hiding behind anonymity struck them as a form of cowardice, especially since members of the laity are putting their careers on the line to make many of the same points. Others criticized the flowery writing style of the epistles. Still others criticized the wordiness. The first epistle is quite long, and the word “succinct” does not come to mind when reading it. Another point was the idea of a “movement” within Orthodoxy seemed strange, particularly for clergy.

Of course, no controversy in American Orthodoxy would be compete without the dreaded “P” word – Protestantism. Priests speaking out about their bishops’ actions will always be labeled by some as Protestantism. The bishop could be celebrating a divine liturgy in an Episcopal Church with a giant rainbow flag on the front, during Pride month – but some Orthodox are of the mindset that you are the problem for pointing out the issues with that. Repent and be obedient, you heretical Protestant! Don’t you know that you must be obedient to the bishop, no matter what? Obviously, anonymous clergy taking their bishops to task for poor leadership must be inherently wrong.

There are more than a few historical and theological problems with claiming that Orthodox bishops are to be always obeyed, whether they are are adhering to Holy Tradition or not. Please see St. Mark of Ephesus, additional saints, and modern hierarchs such as His Eminence Metropolitan Ambrosios, the former Metropolitan of the Metropolis of Kalavryta and Aigialeia in northern Greece or Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou.

Priestly Isolation

Regardless of whether you liked the epistles or hated them, one key issue was completely lost in the discussion. Being a traditionalist-minded Orthodox priest in the United States, particularly one who questions the “Covid narrative”, is extremely isolating. You can literally feel like you are the last priest (or deacon or monk) with objections to what you see.

This is a typical cry from the heart of one such traditionalist Orthodox priest that we received during the height of the “pandemic:”

I am going to leave a comment here, but I am NOT going to leave my name. Why, you may ask? Because I am an Orthodox priest. You may call me a coward if you want to. That’s OK with me. I am writing anonymously because I cannot trust my fellow priests OR lay people OR the hierarchs. On a few occasions I have made comments about injustices done to priests by their bishops and was then threatened by my bishop. The priest was guilty of simply speaking the truth. Guilty of speaking the truth about what the Scriptures teach, guilty for asking questions of the bishops about their compromises with sin, their turning a blind-eye to the scandalous behaviors of wealthy, politically connected laypeople who support abortion and gay marriage and family members who live in open homosexual relationships. There are many hundreds of priests who are afraid to speak the truth because if they do their hierarch will suspend them, or remove them from their parish. In other words, deprive them of their livelihood! There are many good and pious priests who are trying to care for their people and protect them from the secularist agenda of the present political administration. Instead of being supported by their bishops they are censured, ridiculed and labeled as bigots, racists, narrow-minded, malcontents, trouble-makers and rabble-rousers.

Imagine you love God and His Church. Imagine that you feel that things have gone dangerously off-the-rails. The Church has bowed down to secular authority in ways you could never have dreamed of. The leadership of the Church is making compromises with sin under the guise of neighborly ecumenism. But you are afraid to talk about all that with your people, lest someone rat you out to the bishop for unapproved attitudes. You are afraid to confide in your fellow clergy, because unless you are bosom buddies, they could also denounce you to authority for your crimethink.

On the other hand, if you are a priest who supports ecumenism, progressive politics (abortion, LGBTQ, BLM, CRT, unchecked immigration, etc.) and the official Covid narrative (NPIs work, we can stop the virus if we all work together, we must follow the law as the government just wants to help, get vaccinated you sinners, questioning Big Pharma is a conspiracy theory, communion has historically changed so changing it now is no big deal, Fauci is a genius, etc.), then you can write blogs, post on social media, march with BLM, or just generally do or say anything you wish.

We saw that fact fully on display with the Fr Mark Hodges suspension for attending the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington. Fr Mark is a political and social conservative who had been active on social media and as an author. His overall activism seems to have figured into his suspension. During the controversy, Orthodox bloggers uncovered multiple cases of very progressive priests who post inappropriately on social media but are left in peace by the bishops. Archpriest Gregory Hallam provided a scathing response to the Burning Bush Brotherhood under his own name and even provided a link to his parish in the UK. The good priest’s response could have been written by the BBC. It was the epitome of endorsing the “official line” on all things. Which is why he has no fear of writing under his own name.

There are some traditionalist priests, with objections to the “official” line on Covid and progressive politics, that are in secure situations affording them the opportunity to speak out as they see fit. They are lucky, few, and far between. At least in the jurisdictions I am most familiar with. For most, it is keep silent or run the risk that persecution won’t come from the government, it will come from your fellow Orthodox Christians.

In terms of freedom of speech, some clerical animals are more equal than others.

Even in the best of times, being a priest in America often leads to loneliness, frustration, and isolation. Add in the current fear factor, and things get especially difficult. During the past year, an Orthodox Church census (Pdf) found that 45% of the OCA clergy and 36% of GOA in the survey considered leaving pastoral ministry. 33% of the OCA and 24% of the GOA clergy at some point even doubted if God had called them to ministry at all. Having been close friends with multiple Orthodox priests, I do not doubt that these figures hold true across-the-board.

Clearly our priests need fellowship and support – particularly from other priests. But that can be tricky, because trust is an issue as we already noted. Traditionalists can find themselves feeling isolated, and the hierarchy can be guilty of reinforcing that isolation for their own ends.

In an article titled The Broken Covenant, an anonymous group of OCA clergy (see a trend?) described how dissenters from the Covid narrative were psychologically manipulated:

As the priests, one by one, objected they were told that they were the only priest having the problem. Some priests who objected were told they might need a psych exam. After all, if someone doesn’t care if people die and are continuing in practices leading to death and are therefore guilty of murder, the priest must be crazy! Lock him up for his own good!

In unity there is strength, which is why authoritarian power structures always try to convince dissenters that they are alone. You have a problem, everyone else is fine. Just shut up and get back in line before someone notices that you are mentally disturbed. After all, we wouldn’t want anything bad to happen that priesthood of yours, now would we?

What the Burning Bush Brotherhood Can Contribute

The Burning Bush Brotherhood is not a perfect approach. There are some definite flaws. But I think it should be seen as an overall positive development. Frankly, I am surprised it took us being 18 months into our current crisis before such a movement arose. In any case, here is how I think the brotherhood can make a real difference:

Help traditionalist clergy feel less alone, less crazy, and more emboldened to stand firm for the Faith. Everyone needs encouragement, even clergy. They are human, after all, and they have been given a very large burden to carry.
Provide a forum for traditionalist clergy to network and “find” each other. Perhaps the brotherhood will expand and bring more like-minded men into the fold. When they go public, hopefully it will be in an organized fashion and with such numbers that attention will have to be paid.
Remind us of the need for our own repentance. All of us have sinned and come short of the Glory of God. Sometimes in our zeal to contend for the Faith, we all get too carried away and real harm is done. Humility is called for, and nothing teaches us to be humble more than confronting our own sins.
Call attention to very real issues in the Church, even if done in a way that is too “wordy” or too “flowery.” This intrudes on the “echo” chamber that many progressive laity and clergy (of all ranks) tend to live in. A common progressive strategy is to “manufacture” consent by stifling any and all opposition. The Brotherhood makes that harder. It also complicates the ongoing attempt by some in power to bring forth a “revolution within the form.”
It reminds us laity to be less judgmental. The priests are carrying real burdens. Especially the good ones. It is easy for us to criticize them for insufficient martyrdom from the comfort of our own couches. If we want to encourage them to greater boldness, then we must support their efforts.

My prayer is that if the brotherhood is not up to realizing the above goals, then may God bring forth a group of men who are.

Nicholas – member of the Western Rite Vicariate, a part of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese in America

Tags: anonymous, authentic Orthodoxy, BBB, Burning Bush Brotherhood, clergy / laity rift, clergy brotherhood, clerical isolation, corona conflict, coronavirus, Covid narrative, Covid-19, ecumenism, episcopal power, fanatics, fear, heresy, isolation, Leftist Infiltration, lock downs, lockdowns, martyrs, modernism, modernity, Orthodox fundamentalism, Orthodox Karen, orthodox priests, parish life, priests, progressive, progressives, traditional Christianity, traditional orthodoxy

Mark of Ephesus and the Uprising of the Orthodox Laity

August 12, 2021

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Saint Mark of Ephesus (c. 1392-1444) lived in times similar to ours. The Orthodox hierarchs were under pressure to modify their Orthodox beliefs at the Council of Florence (1438-1439) in order to secure a short-term advantage. The Orthodox laity, aghast at the betrayal of Sacred Tradition, rose up in protest and blocked the false ecumenism. The recent activities of Archbishop Elpidophoros and Patriarch Bartholomew bear an unsettling resemblance to the false ecumenism of the Council of Florence and have provoked criticism and opposition among the Orthodox laity.

Expedient Ecumenism

In the early 1400s, Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, had fallen on hard times. It had been attacked by Western Christians in the Fourth Crusade in 1204, who pillaged and raped the venerable Christian city. Then it suffered five decades (1204-1261) of Latin rule, during which the laity refused to attend churches served by Roman Catholic priests. When the Byzantines retook Constantinople, it was greatly enfeebled–a shadow of its former self. In contrast, the fortunes of the Roman Catholic West were on the rise with the affluence of the Italian Renaissance and the intellectual vigor of Aristotelian Scholasticism.

Even with the embittered relations between Catholics and Orthodox, there was a greater threat in the east. The Muslim armies were slowly conquering their way across Asia Minor towards Constantinople. The Byzantines were in desperate need of military assistance from the Catholic West. However, there was a catch—they needed to patch up their differences with the Catholic Church.

An Orthodox delegation comprised of the Patriarch of Constantinople, the Byzantine Emperor, and other Orthodox hierarchs sailed to the reunion council at Florence (1438-1439). When the two sides met, it became apparent that they had drifted apart in matters of doctrine, worship practice, and theological method. The delegates clashed on the legitimacy of the Filioque clause in the Nicene Creed, the Catholics’ use of azymes (unleavened bread) and their practice of serving Communion in one kind to the laity (bread, but not the wine), the teaching on Purgatory, and the mandatory celibacy for Catholic priests. The differences were aggravated by differences in theological method. Where the Orthodox continued to rely on patristic sources, the Catholics relied heavily on the syllogistic style of argumentation favored in Thomist Scholasticism. Overarching all these issues was Rome’s claim to papal supremacy.

Being under considerable pressure, the majority of the Orthodox delegation made outright and implicit concessions to the Catholics and affixed their signature to the decree of union (Geanakoplos p. 334). The one holdout was Mark of Ephesus.

Mark of Ephesus and the Uprising of the Laity

When the delegation returned to Constantinople, they were met by a populace that was outraged that their hierarchs had yielded to the Roman Catholics. The people of Constantinople from the beginning sided with Mark of Ephesus. The pro-unionists found themselves in the minority. The laity shunned the churches where pro-union priests celebrated the Liturgy. Those who went to pro-union churches even out of curiosity found themselves ostracized. Mark of Ephesus led the anti-unionist forces until his death in 1444. In the face of ferocious lay opposition, the majority of hierarchs quickly repudiated their signing of the reunion documents. The remaining pro-union bishops fled to Rome.

In time, the Council of Florence would be rejected by wider Orthodoxy: by the Synod of Moscow in 1441, the Synod of Jerusalem in 1443, in the Apology of the Clergy of Constantinople in 1443, and the Synod of Constantinople in 1484 (Angelakopoulos, Cherniavsky). In addition, Florence was condemned through the special acts of the Churches of Moldavia and Moldavlachia, and Serbia and Iberia (Angelakopoulos). Thus, the repudiation of Florence by the Orthodox laity in Constantinople was later ratified by the Orthodox hierarchy in various church councils. In this way, the whole of the Orthodox Church repudiated the false union of Florence. The stature of Mark of Ephesus is such that his Encyclical is listed among the major doctrinal statements of the Orthodox Church (Ware p. 203).

False Ecumenism Today

In order to make sense of Archbishop Elpidophoros’ recent ecumenical activities, it is proposed that we examine American Orthodoxy, not just theologically, but also sociologically. Despite the small but growing stream of converts, Orthodoxy in America is still predominantly ethnic in character. Many of the ethnic parishes struggle with nominalism. This is the problem of people being Orthodox in name only—rarely going to church, but insisting on having an Orthodox wedding or an Orthodox funeral. Many of the descendants of the first-generation immigrants have assimilated into mainstream American society and along the way have abandoned Orthodoxy for the mainline Protestant denominations or Roman Catholicism. This puts pressure on the hierarchs and priests to keep the numbers up. Oftentimes, someone who grew up Orthodox wants to marry someone who is not Orthodox and who has no desire to become Orthodox. Rather than have the person leave Orthodoxy, the priest will allow for mixed marriages, despite the fact that this is contrary to Orthodoxy (see Farley’s article below).

As mixed marriages become widespread, the perception grows that Orthodoxy is just one denomination among many. This leads to awkwardness and tension when people learn of Orthodoxy’s claim to be the one true Church. A similar awkwardness arises when the priest is obligated to enforce the Orthodox Church’s position on closed Communion—that only those who are Orthodox may partake of the Eucharist. This puts pressure on the priest and his bishop to downplay Orthodoxy’s rigorous, exclusivist stance. Ecumenical engagement by the hierarchs in which historic doctrinal differences with the non-Orthodox are minimized or even eliminated can alleviate this awkwardness. Theological relativism makes it easier for the nominal Orthodox and their non-Orthodox spouses and children to participate in parish activities without having to commit to Orthodox doctrines and spiritual disciplines. What is to be noted is that, while theological rigor falls by the wayside, the traditional markers of ethnicity are retained, e.g., ethnic festivals, the language of the ethnic homeland, the name ‘ethnic’ Orthodox Church. These practical concerns can tempt Orthodox clergy to sell their spiritual birthright for the short-term benefits of ecumenism with the heterodox.

Another possibility to consider is that closer ties with the two major American denominations can give Constantinople a geopolitical advantage in its rivalry against the Patriarchate of Moscow. While Archbishop Elpidophoros heads the largest Orthodox jurisdiction in the U.S., the fact remains that Orthodoxy is a tiny fish in a huge lake. Closer ties with the Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic Church would enhance the Orthodox Church’s political influence. Elpidophoros’ superior, Patriarch Bartholomew, like Byzantine Emperor John VIII who initiated the failed Council of Florence, finds himself surrounded and beleaguered by hostile forces. The Patriarchate of Constantinople, after years of decline, finds itself confined to a few blocks in the predominantly Muslim city of Istanbul, Turkey. It was only last year (2020) that the Turkish state converted Hagia Sophia into a mosque over Patriarch Bartholomew’s feeble protests. In 2019, in an impetuous exercise of quasi-papal power, Bartholomew unilaterally issued a tomos granting autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine leading to ruptured relations with Moscow. Currying the favor and good will of the United States can give Constantinople an added advantage against Moscow. Conversely, Constantinople’s rivalry with the Patriarchate of Moscow over Ukraine provides an opportunity to be exploited by the United States as part of its Great Game against Russia.

Lessons for Today

The Council of Florence fiasco yields lessons that apply to today’s situation. Geanakoplos notes that the failure of the Council of Florence can be attributed to the fact that union between Catholicism and Orthodoxy was viewed as a means to political ends while religious sincerity was overlooked (p. 325). Also overlooked was the formative impact of the Latin occupation of Constantinople following the Fourth Crusade. The Orthodox laity remembered vividly life under papal rule and so their fear and hostility to Roman Catholicism was very real and existential (Geanakoplos, pp. 332-333). It seems that Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Elpidophoros have forgotten the lessons of Florence. They are fixated on the short-term benefits from rapprochement with the West. They fail to take into account the experience of the recent converts to Orthodoxy, who converted out of religious sincerity, not with the expectation of material gain. The converts know from first-hand experience the problems of Western Christianity and its deviant teachings. It is no surprise then that they are deeply distressed by the false ecumenism being espoused by the hierarchs. It is hoped that today’s Orthodox laity will take a stand for Holy Orthodoxy as did Saint Mark of Ephesus and the laity of Constantinople.

The Danger of Complicit Silence

In the 1400s, the threat to Orthodoxy came from the outside. Today the threat is coming from within, from our hierarchs who are promoting false ecumenism by means of stealth and creeping change. This stealth strategy has proven to be effective in mainline Protestantism and also in Roman Catholicism. It worked because most people are reluctant to stand up vocally to their church leadership. In addition, there is the fear of losing friends or employment.

Another danger is complacency. This is the attitude of smug satisfaction with the present situation or a reluctance to face up to the fact that there is a crisis. In present circumstances, quiet passivity will be taken as endorsement. It will then be interpreted by the hierarchs as license to take more flagrant steps away from Holy Tradition. We are in a situation similar to an apartment complex where there is a burning odor in the air. People ought to be pulling on the fire alarm or at least knocking on their neighbors’ doors, asking if they smell something funny. The time has come for the laity to raise the alarm—to call out “Fire!” Express to your priest your concerns about this false ecumenism and ask if he plans to voice this concern with others. Contact your Orthodox friends and let them know your concerns. Let us work together and mobilize to block this false ecumenism, just as the Orthodox laity did in the time of Mark of Ephesus. If enough Orthodox laity take a stand for Holy Tradition, we can help restore stability to our Holy Mother Church.

by Robert Arakaki, M.A., Church History; Ph.D. Political Science, Asian-American convert to Orthodoxy. Originally published at Handwritings on the Wall.

Resources

Angelos Angelakopoulos. “How Orthodoxy Overcame the False-Synod of Ferrara-Florence.” In SotiriosNaus. Lecture delivered in Sofia, Bulgaria, 9-10 June 2017.

Michael Cherniavsky. “The Reception of the Council of Florence in Moscow.” Church History, vol. 24 no. 4 (1955), pp. 347-359.

J.D. Flynn. “Analysis: Why ‘Pachamama’ took a dip.” (CNA) Catholic News Agency, 26 October 2019.

Lawrence Farley. “Mixed Marriages.” In No Other Foundation blog, 4 May 2020.

Deno J. Geanakoplos. “The Council of Florence (1438-1439) and the Problem of Union between the Greek and Latin Churches.” Church History, vol. 24 no. 4 (1955), pp. 324-346.

Mark of Ephesus. “The Encyclical Letter of Saint Mark of Ephesus.”

OrthodoxChristian. “Patriarch Bartholomew Tells Athonites Reunion With Catholics is Inevitable, Reports UOJ.” In OrthodoxChristian.com 27 November 2019.

Steven Runciman. The Fall of Constantinople 1453, pp. 16-18.

Timothy Ware. The Orthodox Church, pp. 70-71.

Lawrence B. Wheeler. “Really, Your Eminence?” Handwritings on the Wall (weborthodox.com), 26 June 2021.

Tags: anaxios, Archbishop Elpidophoros, authentic Orthodoxy, Bishop Dean E Wolfe, Bp. Dean E. Wolfe, Byzantine empire, clergy / laity rift, council Florence, Ecumenical Patriarch, Ecumenical Patriarchate, ecumenism, Episcopal Church, eucharist, false council, GOARCH, Greek Archdiocese, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, greek orthodox bishop, heresy, Metropolitan Onuphry, Moscow Patriarchate, Orthodox Bishops, overcoming heresy, Patriarch Bartholomew, Patriarchate Moscow, Roman Catholic, St. Bart's, St. Bartholomew's, St. Mark of Ephesus, TEC, Theology, tomos, Ukraine

WHO IS THE BURNING BUSH BROTHERHOOD?

August 6, 2021

19 Comments

AUGUST 5^th + The Year Of Our Lord 2021

www.burningbushbrotherhood.com

“The crisis of modern man is arrhythmia,”[1] Fr. Roman Braga

Who is the Burning Bush Brotherhood? We are indeed a real brotherhood of priests brought together by the grace of God. Yet formal organization is not the essence of the Brotherhood. As it has been said before by others under the same name,[2] it is not a mass movement in the secular sense or a political expression. It is a call for “an interior revolution,”[3] a rededicating of ourselves to the eternal life of the Church in Christ Jesus. This Brotherhood is convinced by the Holy Orthodox Tradition that one of our main ailments is spiritual arrhythmia. Our impure hearts have lost the beautiful harmony of beating in time with the heart of the Church. We see this happening at an unprecedented rate due to the brokenness of our times.[4]

The Burning Bush Brotherhood is a call for all faithful Orthodox Christians to look deeply within and ardently seek to re-harmonize our beating hearts with Christ and His Church. This, we confess, will only be possible through a faithful clinging to the Holy Traditions of the Faith. For too long have we allowed the beat of worldly reasoning to dictate the rhythm of our hearts. If we, one by one, will re-attune our hearts to Life in Christ, then this interior revolution will spill over into our world. Our Lord has said, “The one who believes in Me, even as Scripture said – rivers of living water shall flow out of his belly.”[5] This Divine Spring, ever-flowing from the inner life of the Saints, is the only hope in this epoch of the last times.

Words written in Romania after the Second World War need little adjustment to describe the spirit of our age: “Suddenly we found ourselves in the presence of Communism, this beast with an apocalyptic stench, with an odor of vodka and military sweat, filling the country with posters announcing carnivals and meetings; it was a time of yellow press, political prostitution and a reversal of values. We were overwhelmed with the fear that these waves of evil would transform us all into an anonymous mass without form, without conscience, without responsibility. Where could we hide if not in the chambers of our soul? And here the miracle happened – man searching for himself met God; he entered into the realm of the Holy Spirit.” [6]

Here, in the depths of our souls, we begin to hear the voice of the Lord crying out “Fear not! I am with you. Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Only in our Lord Jesus Christ will we find life and truth. Only through giving our hearts over to Him will we find peace and renewal in the midst of the storm.

We have spoken out and will continue to speak, and we call you to join this fold mystically. The enlisting will be one made in collective prayer and struggle, by taking a firm resolution to stand firm in the Faith against the evil one and the attacks being made upon the Bride of Christ, the Church. Our battle is best fought on the battlefield of the heart. So, we share the sentiments of those confessors in Romania who first chose “Burning Bush” for their movement. “The name Burning Bush was selected not simply because it is a familiar symbol of the Mother of God but, more specifically, because she is a type of perfect prayer, as the Akathist of the Burning Bush says, ‘…in her for the first time the heart of God and the heart of man beat and remain beating together’ (Kontakion 8).”[7]

We ask all those who would join this movement to:

First, firmly resolve no longer to align your heart with the sinister, arrhythmic beat of this world that is infecting the faithful through secular-humanistic reasoning and ecumenism and undertake to cultivate deeper repentance. The heart must be turned away from sin and love of the world and back to love for God, who is calling the world to repentance through the crisis of the past eighteen months. Spiritual struggle must become the priority of our lives if we ever hope for God to deliver us from the current tragedy we experience. Every action should relate itself to the heart, “that existential center in us; otherwise it becomes superficial and loses authenticity.”[8]
Second, make a simple offering to the Lord of praying daily, in addition to your regular rule of prayer, saying the Jesus prayer three-hundred times and to the Panaghia one-hundred times (“Most Holy Theotokos, save us”). For, “during prayer, man enters into a divine rhythm, the rhythm of the Holy Spirit.”[9] Acquire an icon of the Theotokos of the Burning Bush, take the upcoming Akathist of the Burning Bush off our website,[10] and pray it once a week with us. Choose a number of prostrations to do each day to humble yourself before God in seeking His grace and mercy. He gives both in abundance to the humble who cry out to Him. This small rule helps us cultivate an interior life, the only way we will find healing from the insanity around us.
Third, gather together with fellow Christ-minded believers and offer the above prayers together, study books from a recommended reading list we will post, and encourage one another in Christ the Lord. We are seeking to ignite, by God’s grace, interior revolutions. Now is the time, for the day is far spent and night is at hand.[11]

Brother clergy, resolve to uphold the Faith and feed Christ’s sheep at all costs. Faithful laity, likewise uphold the Faith. Pray for your bishop and priests, that they may stand firm in the one Faith in these difficult times. Encourage your clergy to uphold the Faith without compromise. Let us all firmly reject the wolf in sheep’s clothing, humanistic-ecumenism, that is infiltrating the Church.

As a brotherhood, we have discerned it best to remain concealed at this time. For, “It is not the noise or religious demagogy that strengthens the faith; these are rather a manifestation of vainglory, because the Church does not have heroes—the Church has saints—and saints do not beat their drums on the streets. The Burning Bush [is] not a mass movement, but an individual conversion, and interior revolution.”[12] This movement is not about our identity, but calling to the remembrance the Divine Spirit that ignited the fiery zeal that engulfed the Saints. We do not promote anonymity for personal gain, but for the continuation of this work.

These meager offerings we hope serve as tinder for a consuming divine fire, “I have come to cast a fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled”[13]! Our hope is that we all may begin to burn ever more with the divine fire that does not consume, as is imaged in the Burning Bush.

We have heard the pain and witnessed the tears of the Church suffering from spiritual malnourishment, and call all hearts to beat together in an ignited voice, petitioning the Lord to “grant us with one mouth and one heart to glorify and praise [His] all-honorable and majestic name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages.”[14]

Click here for a PDF version of this letter.

[1] Fr Roman Braga, Exploring the Inner Universe, HDM Press, p. 112

^[2] The original Burning Bush Movement was founded in 1945 in Romania by Sandu Tudor.

[3] Fr Roman Braga, 121

^[4] Please see our “Open Letter” in which we elaborate some deep concerns of the times.

[5] Jn. 7:38

[6] Fr Roman Braga, 115

[7] Fr Roman Braga, 114

[8] Fr Roman Braga, 112

[9] Ibid, 114

^[10] We will have this Akathist available soon.

^[11] Cf. Romans 13:12

[12] Fr Roman Braga 121

[13] Lk. 12:49

[14] The Holy Anaphora

Tags: apocalypse, apostasy, authentic Orthodoxy, BBB, burning bush, Burning Bush Brotherhood, Christian persecution, clergy speak out, corona conflict, covid persecution, Covid-19, divine fire, Divine Spring, Fr. Roman Braga, heresy, Holy Spirit, interior revolution, Orthodox spirituality, personal devotion, repentance, spiritual nourishment, spiritual renewal

Burning Bush Brotherhood Epistle to All

August 2, 2021

91 Comments

TO OUR BELOVED HIERARCHS, BROTHER CONCELEBRANTS, AND OUR FAITHFUL FLOCKS,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

We write this letter in anguish and pain of heart, carrying a burden we have borne in silence for too long. Today we write with boldness, a boldness that is found not in ourselves but in our desire to hold fast to the Holy Traditions of our beloved Orthodox Faith—the true medicine of the world. We write as a brotherhood of clergy in America not bound by jurisdiction or diocese. The fires of current trials have brought us together, and our brotherhood has been forged in tears, brokenness, and prayer. It is in the ashes of what this past year and a half has wrought that we have felt the disruption of the Church at many levels, but have found like-minded brother priests whose resurrectional joy, silent suffering, and confessor-like endurance kept the spark of zeal ignited. Sadly, because of the nature of our testimony, we cannot publicly disclose ourselves, but we judge our voice to be a necessary voice crying in the wilderness out of love and pain for the Church. We are keeping anonymity not on account of cowardice but for the reason we have been silent for many months: we have deep concern what may happen to our flocks if we are identified. Truly, a lamentable predicament to be in! It is the suffering cries of the laity and our flocks, however, that have inspired us to speak out with a necessary tone of repentance and healing. We will address the laity whom we have neglected, exhort our brother priests to awake, and exhort our beloved fathers and chief hierarchs to fervent apostolic witness.

Firstly, to the faithful. The past year has revealed much in our hearts. It would be easy to place the blame on some outside circumstances or some other person—society at large or authorities in the government or in the Church. Yet we acknowledge that, above all else, sin starts in our own hearts. Above all else, we are personally responsible for the shortcomings and failings that the Lord has laid bare. It is He who has allowed the many tribulations and temptations of the past year on account of our many sins. These trials are for our chastisement and healing; they are for the turning of our hearts back once again to the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe, as the saints testify, “Because of your sins the Lord has allowed this trouble to come upon you, because you keep forgetting God” (St. John of Kronstadt).

As clergy, we take responsibility for the many stumbling blocks set before the flock of Christ the Lord, especially in the turbulent year 2020. We acknowledge that, in many ways, we, the clergy, acted out of weakness and ungodly fear. We humbly ask for forgiveness. We know that the actions of clergy made dire prophecies ring true. “The time will come when we will not find even a tiny piece of antidoron, and we will say to ourselves, ‘Where can I get a little antidoron? I used to have it every day. I took and ate it by the handful. Where are you my little antidoron, that I might partake of you?’ The time will come when we will not have either antidoron or holy water.”[1]

Forgive us for not sounding a clear call to repentance. Forgive us for closing churches in a time of deep spiritual need. Forgive us for limiting services and restricting attendance. Forgive us for turning the people of God away from Church and the Holy Mysteries in a time of profound need, effectively “not allowing those who are entering to go in.” Forgive us for allowing the altering of the mode of Holy Communion for fear of the spread of illness, such as the use of multiple spoons and the wiping of the communion spoon in a disinfectant. Forgive us for refusing in-person holy confession during a time of great crisis. Forgive us for forbidding the proper veneration of icons held by the Holy Fathers of the 7^th Ecumenical Council, a veneration our forefathers and mothers shed blood for. Forgive us for making face-masks a requirement for entering the Holy Temple of our Lord. Forgive us for placing secular narratives above the teachings of the Holy Orthodox Faith.

Forgive us, for we should have served more services. We should have had public repentance, prayer and fasting. We should have had processions with holy icons and fervent supplications. We should have served the service of blessing of holy water and the sprinkling of the people of God therewith. We should have served Holy Unction, for the healing of soul and body. We should have called, in both word and action, the people of God first and foremost to a hope, trust, and faith in God above all else. We should have shown forth steadfast courage and faith in the holy things of the Faith. Forgive us for failing to walk in the way of our Holy Fathers. Forgive use for blurring the divine lines of the Holy Liturgy with the dark ink of fleshly reasoning and justification.

Forgive us for neglecting your children and reversing their catechism, asking them to experience God through a screen and forcing them to conceal their angelic faces behind an iconoclastic mask. We did not heed the words of our Savior, Who calls your children to Him, and we allowed the millstone of directives to drag us into the dark depths of a burdened conscience. We beg for your forgiveness and for theirs, seeking the life giving breath of repentance.

We firmly resolve never to abandon you or your families again, no matter the circumstance or the cost—to the shedding of our blood.

Secondly, to our brother priests and deacons. We must confess, in the words of the New Hieromartyr Peter, “But this is our grief – we have invented all the wrong means by which we think to be saved from this terrible sickness that has mercy on no one. We try to utilize various serums and vaccines … and the vast majority of people almost completely leave out the spiritual starting point in a person—his soul.” We started from externals and not from the spiritual starting point. Our weakness and sin, manifest in the past year, are but symptoms of a more profound ailment, one that surpasses COVID in gravity and it appears has infected a large amount of people.

We have led Orthodox Christians to reason more according to the spirit of the fallen world than by the Life and Spirit of Holy Orthodoxy. Our hearts have gradually grown accustomed to worldly thinking rather than having the mind of Christ. The past year was not the ailment, it but revealed in a more acute light the ailment already afflicting us. When, as priests, we received the Holy Body of our Lord into our unworthy hands at ordination, we pledged to preserve it whole and unharmed until our last breath, acknowledging our accountability at the Second Coming. How have we slipped so far as to forget our promise before God and become so foreign to the ways of our holy fathers who served worthily before us?

We have permitted a humanistic ecumenism to supplant the Divine One Holy Catholic and Ecumenical Church, which is the very Body of the Theanthropos. The predominance of our placing faith in the resolutions of men reveals that we have begun, in the words of St. Justin Popovic, “to replace faith in the God-man with a belief in man, to replace the Gospel of the God-man with a gospel according to man, to replace the philosophy of the God-man with a philosophy according to man, to replace the culture of the God-man with a culture according to man. In brief, they [we] seek to replace life according to the God-man with life according to man.”

In many places we allowed our liturgical life to cease, depriving the world of the sacred power of the divine liturgy which restrains the power of the evil one. “Do you know how much this guards us? An elder once told us that when a person carries the Gospel with him, it protects everyone in the surrounding neighborhoods. Just imagine then, the power of Christ’s sacrifice that happens every day.”[2] Today, clergymen stand in awe at the evil that has escalated over this past year but have neglected to see the cosmic significance that our vocation plays in it. “The Divine Liturgy is the way we know God and the way God becomes known to us,” says St. Sophrony. It is the Church’s greatest mission, and we laid it aside! In this great work, the Lord’s work, the same Saint says, “We feel His Divine presence within us, outside of us, at the highest grandeur of the universe, in the face of man and in the radiant intellect. And in the hours that the unwaning light illumines, our hearts we realize we will not die.” However, many of us allowed the divine presence of God that is imprinted on the dear faces of our people to be concealed under a mask and abandoned them to be pursued by the jaws of wolves without participation in divine services. Furthermore, we let down the world and ceased to sanctify it, allowing evil to unmask itself and act more openly.

Much of this was done under the guise of love—but it was not Christian love. It was a “love” defined by politicians and slick spokesmen who also advocate for the “right” to murder unborn children, who bomb our Orthodox countries on Pascha, and who will not even lift a finger for the poor of their own cities. Some of our people died without the Holy Mysteries, without the faithful by their bed, without proper burial. Others withered away in loneliness, battled thoughts of suicide, and were lost to the clutches of this world.

Open and common prayer with heretics and schismatics, contrary to the canons, has become all-too common. And this sad sin has widened its wound now to encompass prayer with non-Christian groups. “What harmony,” we ask, “has Christ with Belial? Or what portion has a believer with an unbeliever.”[3] Blatant rejection of the clear Orthodox teaching on morality is permitted in broad daylight, bareheaded, and those who uphold the Orthodox Faith remain silent. The broad and easy path of compromise is continually sought and the healing traditions of the Holy Fathers are neglected.

For these things, we ought to offer the world our public repentance. We have forgotten God by trusting more in the powers of this world. The world now needs priests and deacons who are confessors, men of prayer, and who strive for an austere life of asceticism. If we are lukewarm, not only will we be spit out by our Lord, but also by the world—for it knows all too well the wretched stench of a compromising clergyman.

Lastly, to our beloved shepherds, the bishops. Often when we look back upon the deep wounds experienced by the Church throughout history, we see the abnormal break between the people and their shepherd as the cause of that wound. We, as a brotherhood of your priests whom you endearingly call sons, have now experienced such a break and suffer feelings of orphanhood. The biggest anguish this year has brought is the absence of courageous apostolic shepherds.

The voice of your fatherly guidance and protection became to us the voice of a stranger, for no longer did we hear the consoling voice of the Lord, the Holy Fathers, or the healing medicines of the Church, but the voice of the world, corrupt politicians, and medical advisors that are now profiting off a dire situation. The wolves in politicians’ dress co-opted Christian morality, and the same that teach our women to murder their children in their womb pontificated “love for neighbor”—and the hierarchy parroted this shamelessly. “Love for neighbor” became not burying our dead properly and isolating our flocks to the point of suicide. It contributed to the escalating rise in household abuse, and more. Fear and this pseudo “love for neighbor” led our bishops [you!] to instruct us not to allow our people into the temple for healing. All of us in this brotherhood began to realize that your voices had become foreign worldly, full of fear, and not the voice of Whom we pledged our lives to serve—our One Good Shepherd.

We love you and we long for your care, but if you continue to be strange voices we cannot do anything but heed the One True Voice that leads us to the pastures of life. We do not see this path as disobedience, but the ultimate obedience to our Lord and His Bride—the Holy Church. For, under the guise of obedience, we were told to follow this strange new path that is unprecedented in our history as a people of God. In many cases, we have silently resisted this new strange voice that we have heard and have led our people as best we could—struggling on our own in silence. In heartache and despair, we have watched our shepherds become drunk with the drink that this world offers and uncover themselves; we have labored to hide your nakedness from your sheep. They love you—they thank you in their prayers for not shutting them out, not forcing masks upon them, not changing the method of communion, etc., when in reality you told us to force these deadly ideas upon them. Forgive us, but we had to find the Voice of the Master and in grief we had to resist the strange path we have seen you sadly forge because there is no life in it—all we saw in the parishes from these worldly measures was spiritual death.

Please return to us once again as loving shepherds with the Voice that brings us life. We have felt orphaned, without apostolic guides, and have suffered the unnatural severance between father and son. Whether you have been silent or have outright supported the deterioration of our parishes through worldly mandates, you have grieved us and have shaken the innermost depths of our hearts. We cannot fully express in words how this betrayal has affected us—you saw the wolf and ran, you have scattered the sheep, but there is time to return to care for the flock. In great sadness we have watched you now pat yourselves on the backs, congratulating yourselves and boasting that the impositions over the past year were right and correct. Yet, when your people for long months were deprived of the medicines of the Church, were pushed to the brink of darkness, were seized in the clutches of the children of hell, and forced to participate in the liturgy through a screen like starving children watching a feast through a window, you must admit that this truly was not a victory.

As your sons, we must tell you that we cannot be obedient to the voice of the murderous spirit of this age and that we have found it coming from your chanceries in the form of mandates, sermons, political conferences, and zoom meetings. We have great love for you and reverence your office, but sadly cannot follow you down a foreign road so we beg you to return to bold apostolic speech. We know that obedience is discriminate, not indiscriminate, from both our Holy Fathers and the divine Scriptures, for both speak of true and false shepherds. We know the holy examples of St. Maximus the Confessor and the erring hierarchy who aligned with the impious Emperor. We remember St. Athanasius and the heretical presbytery who opposed him. We recollect the faithfulness and boldness of St. Mark of Ephesus and how the compromising hierarchy were shamed by the laity on the docks of Constantinople. We are inspired by the recent boldness of the Russian martyrs who were imprisoned and suffered under Sergianism and its allegiance to an atheistic regime. The path of schismatics is riddled with disaster, and this path we will never take, but we discern in the lives of these holy ones the painful path of blessed disobedience. “Obedience makes the subordinate one with the one he obeys. The Holy Writ says: ‘and the flocks conceived before the rods’ (Gen. 30, 39) […]. One may say: the subordinate’s faith can replace the elder’s inadequacy. Wrong! Faith in truth saves. Faith in lies and in diabolical deceit harms!”[4]

St John of the Ladder writes, “Above all, you should leave the integral faith and the pious dogmas as a legacy to your children, so that not only your children but your grandchildren too will you manage to guide towards the Lord by walking the path of Orthodoxy.”[5] This is the legacy that is not foreign, and in these times it is impossible to be silent as a shepherd in the face of treachery. Teach us, lead us, and leave us the legacy of Truth and Life. St Paisios warned us saying: “If Christians don’t begin to witness their faith, to resist evil, then the destroyers will become even more insolent. But today’s Christians are no warriors. If the Church keeps silent, to avoid conflict with the government, if the Metropolitans are silent, if the monks hold their peace, then who will speak up?” Truly, we must recognize that it is because of the Church’s silence that evil has all the more prevailed in these times.

Speak, beloved hierarchs! Speak out against the mandates that have deprived us of spiritual life, speak out against the immoral agendas of the LGBTQ movement that publicly seeks to snatch your children, speak out against false unions! Embolden your priests and do not deprive us of shepherds for the sake of ease, of legal immunity, or out of indifference. We are the prey of this current age, save us! We feel as the prophet wrote, “As I live, saith the Lord God, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock. Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I shall visit the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock…”[6] Return to feed us, your poor priests and people.

To all, in humility before God, we vow not to return to the strange path of the past year that so many have experienced and are still suffering under. We will not return to practicing the following.

We will not deprive the people of the life-giving sacraments of the Church out of fear.
We will not change the method of Holy Communion.
We will not limit the occupancy in the Temple of God.
We will not deprive the faithful of the veneration of holy icons, relics, and other holy objects or vessels.
We will not require the iconoclastic masking of our people.
We will not urge or require our people to inject themselves with experimental injections, especially those manufactured and/or tested on aborted fetal cell lines.

We therefore resolve to uphold the Holy Orthodox Faith of our Fathers and we call upon all faithful Orthodox to do the same. First and foremost, this is a call to deeper repentance and spiritual resolve. We all have a responsibility to identify the sickness of the modern age and to heal it by calling on the sweetest name of our Lord Jesus, saying, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.”

Your Servants,

THE BURNING BUSH BROTHERHOOD – Click here for a PDF copy of this letter.

July 31^st/July 18^th P The Year Of Our Lord 2021

[1] Gerondissa Makrina Vassopoulou, Words of the Heart, pg 504. She said these prophetic words on the 19th of December, 1992.

[2] Gerondissa Makrina Vassopoulou, Words of the Heart, pg 504. She said these prophetic words on the 19th of December, 1992.

[3] 1 Corinthians 6:15

[4] Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, op. cit., tome I, pp.141.143.146ff

[5] Saint John of Sinai, On the Shepherd 97, edition Holy Monastery of Paraclete, Horopos Attica, 19946, p.402 (PG 88, 1201A).

[6] Ezekiel 34, 8-10 (KJV)

Update 8/3/2021 – We received the following email from the authors of the epistle.

“The Lord’s blessing!

Thank you for publishing the letter. After months of prayerful consideration, we all decided to remain anonymous. We already knew the consequences and predicted this type of response from many—especially of those whom the letter would provoke. We maintain it is wise to conceal ourselves in order to continue to work more freely. It is not about who we are, but about the message and call to repentance. If we were to reveal our identities and our parishes throughout North America, we would be attacked nonetheless and be dismissed ad hominem. We will address this more on our website in coming days. Taking council together, we chose not to engage in comment threads that many times have meaningless outcomes. Your readers may message us privately if they’d like to. You may share this in the comments if you’d like. Forgive us and may God bless your ministry, a number of the Fathers are regular readers.

BBB”

Tags: Archbishop Elpidophoros, authentic Orthodoxy, Bishop Dean E Wolfe, bishops, church closings, common spoon, communion, corona conflict, corona virus, coronavirus, Covid, covid persecution, covid vaccine ethics, Covid-19, ecumenism, fear, heresy, LGBTQ, LGBTQ movement, LGBTQ propaganda, lockdowns, love, modernism, modernity, New Hieromartyr Peter, repentance, sacraments, schismatics, sergianism, St John of the Ladder, St. Bartholomew's, St. John of Kronstadt, St. Justin Popovic, St. Sophrony, Theanthropos

Orthodoxy Needs Communication and Repentance

July 30, 2021

20 Comments

Fr. Demetrios has decades of experience as a priest. During his career, he has served under several bishops in more than one jurisdiction. He had reached out to us for technical assistance with a project he was working on. While we had him on the phone, we couldn’t help but ask him about the state of our Orthodox Church in the United States.

His response caught us by surprise. Fr. Demetrios said, “All we need in Orthodoxy is communication and repentance. That would fix everything.”

During the rest of the conversation, he explained what he meant. In his experience, most bishops were at least difficult, if not impossible, to communicate with. Often they have, at most, a small group of trusted advisors to whom they listen. Sometimes they only listen to a chancellor playing the role of “gatekeeper.” When mistakes are made, they are rarely acknowledged and repented of. Usually the goal is to just quietly “move on.”

As we talked, the truth of what Fr. Demetrios was saying became more and more apparent. Many of the problems we see around us are directly attributable to lack of communication and repentance.

Bishops are Largely Incommunicado

Fr. Demetrios explained to us that, in his experience, bishops are rarely interested in the opinions of their priests or the laity. We have seen multiple public confirmations of this. For example, most bishops did not ask for any input on how to deal with Covid at the parish-level. Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon was thrilled that Bishop Anthony, via an administrative assistant, contacted him for his ideas 10 months into the pandemic:

As far as I know, this is also the first time, during these ten miserable months, an Orthodox bishop has asked for “creative ideas addressing this issue” from the local pastors of our congregations.

His advice was not heeded, but at least he was able to tender it. Via email. To an assistant. Did Bishop Anthony even read it? Or even a summary of it? Who knows?

A group of OCA priests wrote this in an article The Broken Covenant about the church lockdowns:

Without the sacramental rudders and moorings of the Church, the OCA bishops were cast adrift, as they tried to navigate the political landscape. They seemingly closed their minds to reason, as they closed the doors of the Church and they wanted no input from the priests fearing it would undercut their point of view.

The bishops didn’t want any input from the men directly serving in the parishes among the people. Or the people themselves. These bishops would rather be wrong in their suppositions, than to hear the truth from the local parishes. They were very out-of-step with many sheep in their flocks over the Church’s Covid response, and most still seem totally oblivious to that fact. You cannot govern in truth, if you refuse to hear it.

In addition to ignoring emails, phone calls, letters, and petitions, more than one Orthodox hierarch is known for blocking / unfriending anyone on social media who asks an unwelcome question or “steps out of line” in even the slightest way. On Twitter, whoever runs Archbishop Elpidophoros’ account is notorious for quickly blocking users, even priests, over seemingly trivial comments / questions. His Eminence even blocks accounts that have never contacted him on the basis of those accounts having interacted with blocked accounts.

Those wanting to have their concerns heard end up writing blogs, posting on their own social media, and signing petitions – all in the hopes of getting some episcopal attention. Orthodox Reflections came into existence for this very reason. As all private avenues of communication are cut off, there is not much choice besides going public. The lack of meaningful engagement and cooperation hurts and divides the Church. It also makes the men charged with making decisions and representing the Church look and sound completely tone-deaf.

Tone-deafness

In the secular world, before we issue a statement to clients or put out a press release, the text goes through multiple layers of vetting by different departments. Everyone brings their own expertise to bear. Much of our review effort is geared towards identifying ways any statement can be misconstrued. Anything you say or publish can instantly turn into a public relations nightmare. We could paraphrase Murphy’s Law a bit to say: Anything that can be misconstrued, will be. A good rule – don’t say and do things which can reasonably be misunderstood (or understood if that really is your point) as being contrary to your values and/or your previous commitments. Doing so provides ammunition to your enemies and demoralizes your supporters. In the Orthodox context, souls are literally on the line, so you had better be careful with what you say and do.

On a regular basis, bishops ignite firestorms. Sometimes it seems to be accidental. At other times, it is clear that they took controversial positions and steps on purpose, but it is hard to believe they were in any way prepared for the severity of the backlash that followed. If they listened to anyone at all in the preparation of their controversial texts or planning some of their controversial actions, then it was to individuals who agreed with them completely and looked at everything from the same perspective as the hierarchs. An echo chamber does not prepare you for contact with the real world.

The latest example was Archbishop Elpidophoros seemingly endorsing “many paths to God” and rejecting Christ as the only way to salvation: “When you elevate one religion above all others, it is as if you decide there is only one path leading to the top of the mountain.” We covered the speech here and here.

Of course, the unfortunate “new age” wording has already spawned many negative responses. Among them are humorous memes such as the one to the right.

In the best case, this speech was a blunder based on being completely tone-deaf to easily anticipated public reaction:

In my opinion, Archbishop Elpidophoros could have done a better job of bracketing his comment about having only one path leading to the top of the mountain, i.e., that he was talking about state-religion relations, not about theology in the usual sense. Loosely read, Elpidophoros’ mountain metaphor can be construed as an allusion to a universalist soteriology—an affront to Orthodoxy.

The Greek Archdiocese, so far, has not even attempted to explain the comments. At best, a major blunder. At worst, a case of using plausible deniability to advance heresy publicly. Either way, in a healthy organization with proper checks and balances, this speech would never have been given.

One has to pity priests and deacons in the Greek Archdiocese. Their own hierarchy makes their difficult jobs even harder, and then won’t even listen to their cries of pain.

More examples of tone-deafness abound. We’ll cover just a few:

Bishop Benjamin of the OCA sent a letter to his priests mandating that anyone not wearing a mask could not receive communion, and warning his priests, “If I learn you are not strictly observing these directives and one of your parishioners dies of COVID 19, I will not hesitate to suspend you.” This letter was received so badly in his parishes, that six months later members of the Diocese of the West are still complaining about it. Some referenced that letter as the last straw in their leaving the OCA.
Archbishop Paul (Gassios) of the Diocese of the Midwest suspended Fr. Mark Hodges after he legally participated in a Constitutionally protected rally, and suggested in a letter to the priest that he was “guilty by association” for having been in the presence of illegal activity. When contacted repeatedly, the chancellor of the diocese finally responded to state that Fr. Mark Hodges was not suspended for participating in the rally. Despite the fact that this suspension had become an international news story, the chancellor refused to comment on why Fr. Mark was suspended, if not for participation in the rally. So of course, as you can see from the comments on our coverage, a huge fight ensued among the Faithful all over the Internet concerning the justness of the suspension and the underlying causes. The diocese never clarified the reasons for the suspension. A few months later, it was quietly announced that Fr. Mark’s suspension had been lifted. No explanation was given as to what, if anything, had changed. All that bad blood between faithful Orthodox Christians, all that bad press coverage internationally, and just like that – it all gets dropped down the memory hole. The lack of transparency harms the witness of the Orthodox Church, and seems to be driven by bishops not realizing or not caring how much controversy their actions stir up among the Faithful.
Archbishop Elpidophoros publicly endorsed extending Orthodox communion to unconverted spouses to help keep those in interfaith marriages from leaving the Church. That might help those in that particular situation, though in a way that actually harms those unworthily receiving communion. However, even discussing opening communion to the non-Orthodox caused faithful Greek Orthodox to denounce the idea as heresy. The Greek Archdiocese has already lost a large number of attending members in the past year (maybe as high as 30% in some surveys). If this change is implemented, doubtless more will leave. Priests and Faithful in other jurisdictions quickly began openly discussing the possibility of full-blown schism. If the Archbishop is trying to keep ethnic Greeks in the “fold” of the Church, this is going to backfire horribly. How could the Archbishop possibly be so isolated that not one faithful Orthodox Christian was there to tell him, “This is a terrible idea!”
On the Feast Day of St. Bartholomew, June 11th, Archbishop Elpidophoros presided over a Divine Liturgy at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Manhattan. On July 3, he was back at St. Bart’s in a more personal capacity to visit with their rector, Bp. Dean E. Wolfe. St. Bart’s has been criticized as “ground zero for the queering of Manhattan.” This level of engagement looks very much like an endorsement of the Episcopal Church’s homosexual-friendly agenda. As one commenter summed up this pattern of behavior by Archbishop Elpidophoros, “We cannot but conclude that the archbishop is sending the wrong message to his faithful followers.” Not only did the Archbishop do these things, but he highly publicized them. Does no one at the level of the Archdiocese understand how badly these actions are received among faithful Orthodox Christians? Or what ridicule the Orthodox Faith is being subjected to by those outside of the Church?
A recent encyclical from Archbishop Sotirios of Canada asserted that supporters of a single communion spoon are “pagan.” That was not received well by the long-suffering Greek community in Canada, and will likely drive away even more people.
Archbishop Elpidophoros famously marched with Black Lives Matter over a year ago. At the time, we wrote an article questioning the Archbishop lending his moral authority to a group associated not only with violence but also with abortion on demand, Marxist economic policies, homosexuality, transgenderism, and the disruption of the nuclear family. Not surprisingly, the progressive Orthodox over at Fordham University roundly applauded the Archbishop for his march. Many faithful Orthodox Christians were scandalized by his words and actions. The Archbishop’s support for BLM has never looked good, but it looks especially bad now since the group issued a statement siding with the
Cuban Communist dictatorship against the brave people of Cuba who are in the streets demanding their freedom.
Even worse, in the middle of the pro-freedom protests, the Ecumenical Patriarch announced an official visit to Cuba this November at the invitation of the communist regime. This will be the EP’s second visit to Cuba. There is an Orthodox Cathedral in Cuba with the mosaic you see to the right of the EP receiving a key from mass murderer Fidel Castro. The plaque says, “THIS CATHEDRAL IS A GIFT FROM THE PEOPLE OF CUBA TO THE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH AND TO ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW, FIDEL CASTRO RUZ -NOVEMBER 2003” Partnering with communists is not really a good look for Orthodox hierarchs, particularly when immortalized in a mosaic. A fact most normal parish priests and/or laypersons would be happy to inform the hierarchs of, if only they could.
His Eminence Metropolitan Ambrosios, the former Metropolitan of the Metropolis of Kalavryta and Aigialeia in northern Greece, recently published a lengthy list of abuses of the Orthodox Faith including: sacraments of heretics being recognized, donating the Qur’an as a sacred book, common prayers and concelebrations of bishops with heretics, metropolises locking churches and threatening priests, masks in front of the Holy Altar, single-use disposable spoons for distributing of the immaculate Body and Blood of our Christ, and bishops prohibiting the sacrament of Confession. It was a blistering call to change course and repent.

Repentance is Needed

His Eminence Metropolitan Ambrosios also said in his article, “Wherever there is Orthodoxy there are wounds.” That is true all over the globe. But despite those wounds, most of the hierarchy simply goes on with business as usual. Most acknowledge only the pandemic, while ignoring any of the pain and suffering caused by the hysterical, harmful responses to it. The one exception we have seen is Archbishop Mark of Philadelphia and Eastern America (Orthodox Church in America) who at least seems to “feel our pain“:

The past year has truly been a rollercoaster ride for all of us and we need to be mindful and considerate of those suffering from isolation, fear, anxiety, depression, substance abuse and loneliness, as well as those who have lost loved ones. Additionally, divisions occurred as people lost the ability to discuss differing opinions on a variety of matters.

While a welcome acknowledgment that bad things have happened, the archbishop’s statement is hardly repentance for the role he, and his fellow bishops, played in the “rollercoaster ride.” This lack of repentance over the Covid responses, the political missteps, and the ecumenist scandals is frequently discussed among Orthodox Christians. The attitude of the bishops has caused some Orthodox Christians to stop attending liturgy or to switch jurisdictions.

This really can’t continue. The most sincere and holy hierarchs will find it within themselves to set a public example of repentance for their mistakes. We also recognize that there appear to be Orthodox hierarchs who are intentionally trying to change the Orthodox Faith – either out of conformity to the world (weakness) or under demonic influence. They need to be called to repentance and held to account, particularly by other hierarchs.

The people will forgive hierarchs who embrace public repentance and flock to them. To minimize future mistakes, the best hierarchs will commit themselves to open communication, accountability, and transparency. They will not always take the advice of their priests and laity, but they will at least give them a fair hearing and avoid openly scandalizing them.

Fr. Demetrios was quite right, all we need is communication and repentance.

Nicholas – member of the Western Rite Vicariate, a part of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese in America

Tags: anaxios, Archbishop Elpidophoros, Archbishop Paul, authentic Orthodoxy, Bishop Benjamin, Black Lives Matter, BLM, Bp. Dean E. Wolfe, clergy / laity rift, common spoon, communication, corona conflict, Ecumenical Patriarch, encyclicals, Fordham, Fr. Mark Hodges, Greek Archdiocese, guilty by association, homosexual propaganda, Leftist Infiltration, LGBTQ propaganda, memes, Orthodox Bishops, Orthodox jurisdictions, Orthodox PR, pagan, parish life, pride, repentance, Russian missionaries, St. Bart's, St. Bartholomew's, tone deaf, tone deafness, Twitter ban

Shepherd, Know Your Sheep – Open Letter to Archbishop Sotirios

July 27, 2021

19 Comments

Below is a response from a Canadian Orthodox Christian to a recent encyclical from Archbishop Sotirios asserting that supporters of a single communion spoon are “pagan.” The full text of the Archbishop’s encyclical in Greek and English is published below this response. Click here to skip ahead and read it.

Your Eminence,

First and foremost, please do not combine the people that do not accept the existence of a Corona Virus or do not want to be vaccinated, together with the people that refuse to receive Holy Communion from multiple spoons. We are not the same. Most of the people that refuse to take Holy Communion with multiple spoons understand the Covid-19 problem and are fully vaccinated.

This brings us to the main issue. You are calling us idolaters because, to use your words, we have made the Lavida God and we worship the Lavida. You are wrong. We do not worship the Lavida. Worship belongs to God and God alone. Having said that, Christ’s body and blood cleanses the Lavida every time it is dipped into the Chalice. If you believe that anyone can get the virus from the Lavida, come out and say so. It looks like you are avoiding this issue because you know it is not true. Just like you cannot get the virus from Holy Communion because it is the true Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, you cannot get the virus from the Lavida because it is cleansed every time it touches the Body and Blood in the Chalice. This is not just an opinion; it is clearly stated in the New Testament:

Matthew 8:2, Mark 1:40, Luke 5:12:

A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. Jesus did not become a leper – the leper was cleansed.

Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:25, Luke 8:43-44:

Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped . According to the law (Leviticus 15:27) the woman was considered unclean and any one that she touched her was also unclean.Yet, instead of Jesus becoming unclean, it was the woman that was cleansed.

St Dosetheos of Jerusalem in his Apology against the Protestants explains what we get with Holy Communion. In Holy Communion we have the same body of Christ, the one that was conceived by the Virgin Mary, the one that was born in Bethlehem, the one that was baptized in the Jordan river, suffered, was buried, resurrected, ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

The conclusion is this: Anything that touches Jesus or, anything that Jesus touches, is cleansed. Therefore, when the Lavida touches Jesus’ Body and Blood, it is cleansed even if it has a virus. You cannot get a virus by using the Lavida – unless you believe that Holy Communion is not the true Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. But again, when the clergy prays during the Divine Liturgy, he is asking God to “make this bread the precious Body of Your Christ” and “that which is in this cup the precious Blood of Your Christ”. Later he continues: “I believe and confess, Lord, that You are truly the Christ, the Son of the living God, who came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first. I also believe that this is truly Your pure Body and that this is Your precious Blood….” If you truly believe that, then you should not doubt that Holy Communion is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

If Paul’s handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them (Acts 19:12) and if the shadow of Peter was enough to heal the people (Acts 5:15) how can the Lavida which touches Christ’s Body spread a virus?

Now that we know that you will never get a virus from the Lavida the question is why change things? Why the introduction of multiple spoons?

Here are some possible explanations. You circulated the first two:

First, the government dictated it. They will issue fines or even close churches. This is wrong. The government has no authority to tell us how to take Holy Communion. It is called freedom of religion. They told us this over and over again. They insist we wear masks and keep proper distances in the church and we do that. If it was dictated by the government, then all Orthodox would have the same issue. How is it that the Old Calendar Orthodox, the Serbian, the Russian churches and so on, have no problem using the same Lavida ever since we had the virus and nobody is doing anything about it?

Second, nobody reported those other churches. This is wrong again. Not too long ago, the Toronto Public Health department visited one of the Old Calendar Orthodox churches here in Toronto and they only wanted to make sure they were wearing masks and keeping proper distances. Someone from the church asked them, “What about taking Holy Communion with the same spoon?” They answered, ”This is beyond our jurisdiction. We cannot tell you how to take Holy Communion.” In plain English, this means, “How you take Holy Communion is none of our business.”

Here is a third explanation: You, alone, wanted to change how Holy Communion is distributed and you used the virus as an excuse. Isn’t it true that this discussion was made in the Archdiocese cafeteria long before the virus came? Isn’t it true that in one of your speeches you proposed that the ladies who prepare the prosphoron should use some wine in the dough, thereby even changing the process of the Divine Liturgy? Isn’t it true that you have done all this and more because you are an Ecumenist and a decorated Freemason?

In your encyclical, you say: “By your selfishness you deprive yourselves of the Body and Blood of Christ.” You are wrong again. We do not deprive ourselves of the Body and Blood of Christ. We refuse to accept that you can get the virus from the Lavida. We take it from the other Orthodox churches that have kept the same method for thousands of years and there is nothing you can do about it. By the way, if some left the New Calendar Orthodox churches and went to the Old Calendar churches, consider yourself responsible for this. It was your unorthodox actions that drove them to this change.

Corona virus is not only a Canadian problem – it is all over the world. Can you explain why not thousands but millions of Orthodox continue to use one Lavida throughout the whole pandemic, and thank God they are doing just fine? Or is it true that we, in Canada, became the guinea pigs to see if the use of multiple spoons will be accepted by some and then you try to impose it on every Orthodox?

If you still believe that you can get a virus from the Lavida, ask yourself who the idolater is?

You are asking us to confess our sins and find the right spiritual father. We already do that. Thank God not all spiritual fathers are allowing themselves to follow your ideas. Confession is still private and you cannot pretend to know what goes on behind closed doors.

Also, let us not forget that most heresies started from the clergy and even patriarchs. You claim that archbishops, priests, elders, monks, nuns do not follow the right Orthodox spirit but that you do follow it. Isn’t that your own egotism?

Finally, you are asking us to repent and obey you. We repent every day, every hour, we never consider ourselves above anything or anyone. As for obeying, sorry but “We ought to obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29). If you fear the Triune God, and not the Luciferian god, you, your Eminence, would do the same.

Respectfully,

Christopher Papadopoulos – Member of the Orthodox Church of Canada

June-July 2021 Viewpoint

Θεοποιείς την λαβίδα; Είσαι ειδωλολάτρης.

Do You Worship the Communion Spoon? Then You Are a Pagan.

Τι κρίμα; Δεν το καταλαβαίνεις και νομίζεις, ότι είσαι ο πιο ορθόδοξος. Φωνάζεις προς όλες τις κατευθύνσεις, ότι κατέχεις την αλήθεια. Χωρίς να το καταλαβαίνεις θεοποιείς τη λαβίδα. Η Θεία Κοινωνία είναι Σώμα και Αίμα Χριστού. Είναι φάρμακο αθανασίας. Η λαβίδα είναι ένα όργανο. Όργανο μετάδοσης της Θείας Κοινωνίας και τίποτε άλλο. Θεοποιείς τη λαβίδα; Είσαι ειδωλολάτρης.

Όλοι οι νεοφανείς αλάθητοι είναι ειδωλολάτρεις και δεν το καταλαβαίνουν. Φωνασκούν. Εμείς έχουμε την αλήθεια. Εμείς γνωρίζουμε καλύτερα. Εμείς είμαστε οι πραγματικοί ορθόδοξοι. Κανείς άλλος δεν ξέρει τίποτε. Ούτε οι κυβερνήτες. Ούτε οι γιατροί. Ούτε οι πατριάρχες. Οι αρχιερείς . Οι ιερείς. Όλα είναι σκευωρία. Όλα είναι του σατανά. Εμείς έχουμε την αλήθεια. Δεν χρειάζονται τα εμβόλια. Όλα είναι ψέματα.

Όλα είναι προπαγάνδα. Μην ακούτε τους επιστήμονες. Ακούστε μόνο εμάς. Εμείς είμαστε αλάθητοι. Ξεπεράσαμε τον Πάπα κι ας υποστηρίζουμε, ότι είμαστε ακραιφνείς ορθόδοξοι.

Τι κρίμα; Που είναι η ταπείνωση; Δεν βλέπετε, ότι έχετε εωσφορικό εγωισμό; Αυτά διδάσκει η ορθόδοξη πίστη; Αυτά εμπνέει το Άγιο Πνεύμα; Όχι. Όλα είναι της δικής σας φαντασίας. Όλα είναι γεννήματα του εωσφορικού σας εγωισμού. Δεν βλέπετε πως πολλοί που υπεστήριζαν αυτά προσεβλήθησαν από τον κορωνοϊό και πόσοι πέθαναν; Τίποτε δεν μπορεί να σας συγκρατήσει; Κρίμα.

Αρχιερείς, ιερείς, γεροντάδες, μοναχοί, μοναχές, άνθρωποι απλοί που νομίζετε, ότι είστε ακραιφνείς ορθόδοξοι, καιρός να το ξανασκεφτείτε. Όλοι πρέπει να ενεργείτε υπεύθυνα. Αυτό σημαίνει, ότι αναγνωρίζετε, ότι ο κορωνοϊός είναι πραγματικότητα. Αναγνωρίζοντας αυτό πρέπει να δίνετε το καλό παράδειγμα. Πρώτοι εσείς να εμβολιαστείτε. Να γίνετε το παράδειγμα και να οδηγείτε όλους στον εμβολιασμό. Να σωθούμε από την επάρατο αυτή ασθένεια του κορωνοϊού.

Με τον εγωισμό σας στερείτε τον εαυτό σας από το Σώμα και το Αίμα του Χριστού. Σκανδαλίζετε τους πιστούς τρέχοντας σε παλαιοημερολογίτες και σε άλλους που δεν ακολουθούν το σωστό ορθόδοξο πνεύμα για να εξυπηρετηθείτε. Αυτό εκτός από ασέβεια είναι και μη εμπιστοσύνη στον Σταυρωμένο και Αναστημένο Χριστό.

Συνέλθετε. Μετανοείτε. Αναλογιστείτε το κακό που κάνετε. Οδηγείτε τους εαυτούς σας στην κόλαση και παίρνετε κι άλλους στο λαιμό σας.

Ταπείνωση και σύνεση. Η ταπείνωση είναι η βάση όλων των αρετών. Η σύνεση είναι η συνισταμένη όλων των αρετών. Προσευχηθείτε. Ζητήστε τον φωτισμό του Αγίου Πνεύματος. Βρείτε σωστούς πνευματικούς. Εξομολογηθείτε. Κλάψτε για τις αμαρτίες σας. Ζητήστε από τον εύσπλαχνο Θεό την συγχώρεσή σας. Θα σας συγχωρέσει. Είναι πολυεύσπλαχνος. Αυτή είναι η πραγματικότητα. Όλα τα άλλα είναι δημιουργήματα του εωσφορικού εγωισμού σας.

What a shame that you refuse to understand this. You continue to think that you are more orthodox than others. You shout in all directions that you possess the truth. Without realizing it, you deify the spoon. Holy Communion is the Body and Blood of Christ. It is medicine for immortality. The communion spoon is merely an instrument. It is a vehicle through which Holy Communion is given and nothing else. Do you worship the communion spoon? Then you are a pagan.

All of the newly proclaimed infallible are pagans without even realizing it. They howl that they have the truth. That they know better. That they are the genuine orthodox believers. That no one really understands what is happening in the world. Not the governments. Not the doctors. Not the patriarchs. Not the hierarchs. Not the priests.

For these people, conspiracy is everywhere. Everything comes from Satan. Only they have the truth. Vaccines are not necessary. Everything is a lie. It is all propaganda. They do not want us to listen to the scientists but to listen to what they have to say. They are the infallible. They have even surpassed the Pope, yet they claim to be genuinely Orthodox.

What a shame! Where is the humility? Can you not see your luciferian egotism? Is this what the Orthodox faith teaches? Is this what the Holy Spirit inspires? No. All of this is in your imagination. All of this is a product of your luciferian egotism. Do you not see that many who supported these ideas were infected with the coronavirus and some have died? Can nothing restrain you? What a pity.

Hierarchs, priests, elders, monks, nuns, ordinary people, all of you who think that you are more genuinely orthodox than the others, it is time to think again. You need to act responsibly. You need to recognize that the coronavirus is a reality. In recognizing this, you must set a good example for others. Be the first to get vaccinated. Become an example and lead everyone to get their vaccines. So we could finally save ourselves from this accursed coronavirus disease.

By your selfishness, you deprive yourselves of the Body and Blood of Christ. You scandalize the faithful by running to old calendarists and others who do not follow the true orthodox faith. This is not only disrespectful but also distrustful to the Crucified and Risen Christ.

Get a grip on yourselves. Repent. Think about the evil you are doing. You are leading yourselves to Hades and dragging others with you.

Think about humility and prudence. Humility is the basis of all virtues, and prudence represents the broader coherence, the resulting outcome of the virtues. You need to pray. To ask for the Holy Spirit to enlighten you. Find suitable spiritual fathers and confess. Cry for your sins. Ask the merciful God to forgive you. He will forgive you. He is merciful. This is the reality. Everything else is a product of your luciferian egotism.

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For more information on multiple spoons in Canada, please visit this category page.

Tags: anaxios, Archbishop Sotirios, authentic Orthodoxy, clergy / laity rift, common spoon, communion, corona conflict, Covid-19, fear, heresy, lavida, Leftist Infiltration, mia lavida, multiple spoons, pagan, single lavida, single spoon, Sotirios, Theology, Toronto

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