Orthodox Reflections

The reprinted article below, titled Bombshell Film: Deep State $Millions For Woke ‘Scholars’ Subverting Orthodox Christianity in US (Part 1), appeared on Global Orthodox. While not a site we normally read, the link was sent to us by an Orthodox Priest. The father has personal familiarity with many of the individuals profiled in the video associated with the article. For those of you not familiar, Orthodox Reflections has been covering the topic of progressive “Orthodoxy” for years now, and was quite pleased to see that someone took the effort to compile all of this in one video.

You should really view this video as an Orthodox version of the “Libs of TikTok” – the video mostly just lets these people speak for themselves. The results are damning enough that commentary is hardly even necessary.

You can view our Orthodox Reflections articles on the subject of progressive infiltration of Orthodoxy here, including an expose on foundations funding “Orthodox” academics attempting to twist the Orthodox Faith. From our perspective, the video really should be titled “The Not So Secret Subversion of American Orthodoxy”. After all, the seminars, writings, and foundation sponsorships are all done quite openly, even if the true aim of this movement is obfuscated in a morass of double-talk.

As you view the video, see the screen captures, and read the transcript excerpts – please remember the term: Revolution within the form. The smarter academics, such as those from Fordham, pretend to be supporters of the traditional Orthodox Faith. (See quotes to that effect below in the transcript excerpts in bold.) They claim to support Orthodox “dogma”, as defined very narrowly to leave out Orthodox morals. They will support Byzantine music, the sacraments, monasticism, traditional liturgical practices, etc. They are smart enough to leave the externals of the faith alone, while transforming the nature of the faith behind the scenes through the never-ending process of “dialogue”. Please remember as well that the Anti-Christ will be seen as a “man of God” when he first appears. He will not champion atheism, many Orthodox leaders tell us, but rather a counterfeit form of Christianity.

Everything this interconnected, well-funded, highly credentialed group says about Orthodoxy, international relations, politics, environmentalism, economics, or any other topic should be treated as highly suspect.

The original video was published on YouTube. We copied this video to our Rumble account because as it gains attention, we can’t imagine that YouTube will leave it up. View the video here if the YouTube embed below is not available. Below the line is the original article from Global Orthodox.

—OR Staff

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Billion-dollar NGOs and Catholic organizations, all with deep-state ties, are spending big money on a handful of ‘Orthodox Scholars’ and clerics, including senior bishops and the senior archbishop of the Greek Church in the US.

These individuals are promoting LGBT, female priests, feminism, abortion, denouncing the Russian Orthodox Church and her Patriarch, criticizing Russia over the Ukraine conflict, and promoting every kind of radical left agenda.

Is this deliberate subversion by powerful interests?

The following is a transcript of an extraordinary 60 minute documentary film entitled ‘The Secret Subversion of American Orthodoxy’ which recently appeared on YouTube documenting how billion dollar NGOs and Catholic universities are providing lavish funding to a group of radical left ‘Orthodox’ ‘scholars’ and clerics and their organizations and publications.

The film profiles 14 prominent ‘Orthodox’ scholars and clerics, including bishops. A list of them, and other personalities featured in the film, has been provided at the beginning of the transcript. It includes well-known Orthodox personalities such as Sister Vassa Larin and the head of the Greek Church in America Bishop Elpidophoros, and left-radical publications such as ‘Public Orthodoxy’ and ‘The Wheel’.

(Editorial Note from OR on 11/19/2022: the YouTube version of the video has been removed courtesy of a copyright claim from Fordham.  View the Rumble version here.)

Much of the information in the film is screenshots of printed text, so we included a selection of them to get the general idea, but we couldn’t include everything, so for more details, please refer to the video. The text is transcribed by machine, so there may be inaccuracies.

At the time of publication of this article, the film had approximately 10,000 views. It appeared on an obscure channel called Varangian Counterintelligence, and is the only published video on the channel, which was started in 2017 and at the time of publication of this article had approximately 500 subscribers. There is no information on the channel about which individuals or organizations publish it, or who made the film.

So far, the film does not appear to be on any of the free-speech alternatives to YouTube, such as Rumble, Bitchute, Odysee, Bastyon, Gab TV, Brighteon, Banned.video, and others, and it is the sort of video which YouTube is likely to ban, so if you want to refer to it in the future, it is advisable to download it. It will undoubtedly eventually appear on these alternative platforms. (NOTE: Orthodox Reflections has added this to Rumble if needed and an Orthodox brother added it to BitChute here and added a download link here.)

The film cites major non-profits, Catholic and Jesuit universities, and government agencies which are funding these radicals, and judging from the number of events, careers, salaries, fellowships, conferences, podcasts, and publications involved the funding is substantial.

Funding sources cited in the film include: The Henry Luce Foundation, The British Council, Fordham University (Jesuit), ILGA-Europe (an NGO funded by the EU), Various EU agencies, St. Vladimir Seminary (OCA), Exeter University (UK), Cambridge University (UK), Loyola Marymount University (Jesuit), The US State Department, The Eagle River Institute, The Stockholm School of Theology (Sweden), The Huffington Ecumenical Institute (Jesuit), Northeastern University (US), and Leadership 100 (a NY City based NGO).

Another foundation which has hosted some of the people mentioned in the profile (Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, #14 on the list below) is The Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia at New York University. The center is funded by well-known American-Russian financier and ROCOR member, Boris Jordan.

An interesting fact which emerges is how closely networked these individuals are, frequently appearing together and promoting each other. Also interesting is how many of them are members of Orthodox Church in America (OCA) parishes, have graduated from OCA universities, and / or have links to Jesuit universities and organizations.

From the description of the film on YouTube:

A clique of highly-organized scholars has launched a multi-pronged attack on the moral teaching and dogma of the Orthodox Church.

 

This group is well-funded and well-trained, receiving support from powerful NGOs, academia, and even Western governments (who have national interests in severing Orthodoxy from Russia).
This is a sophisticated & coordinated assault. Firstly, they’ve managed to install their lackeys inside the Church to sabotage us from within. Secondly, they’ve simultaneously created a parallel Anti-Church through a diverse network of independent, pseudo-Orthodox organizations.

 

This parallel Anti-Church acts as an incubator for heretical ideas that are injected into the Church via the compromising lackeys. The lackeys and the Anti-Church link together and work in unison to slowly poison American Orthodoxy.

The following is a list of 16 of the personalities who appear in the film with a brief description of their activities:

1. Nick Jovcic-Sas– Living in the UK, Nick claims to be an Orthodox Christian while openly practicing homosexuality and advocating strongly for the worldwide acceptance of this sin. His YouTube channel reaches tens of thousands of young impressionable Orthodox Christians.

He has appeared on mainstream British television a number of times and he has lectured in some of the top Orthodox universities, conventions, and various other forums; teaching thousands how to twist Orthodox dogma to include perversion. He has also marched in the Belgrade Pride Parade with a desecrated image of the Mother of God with the “Pride Flag” as the halo.

2. Gregory Tucker– A close colleague of Jovcic-Sas and a practicing homosexual, Tucker is the editor of two major American “Orthodox” publications; The Wheel and Public Orthodoxy. He has lectured along with many on this list in numerous “Orthodox” conventions including internationally. He is currently living in the USA, is a graduate of St. Vladimir’s Seminary (OCA), is working towards earning a PhD at the Jesuit Fordham University, is legally married to a former monk, and is still allowed to be an active member of an OCA Orthodox Church.

Tucker with ‘husband’, a former monk.

3. Dean Brandon Gallaher– A graduate of St. Vladimir’s Seminary (OCA), Gallaher is a strong proponent of the Orthodox Church becoming “more inclusive to members of the LGBTQ+ community”. He has very negative views of the Russian Orthodox Church because of its upholding of traditional morality and for this reason, has compared it to the Nazi collaborators.

4. Sister Vassa Larin – While she is not specifically profiled in the video, she is ubiquitous in conjunction with the others profiled here and is clearly very close to them. Larin is a controversial ROCOR (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia – one of the most conservative Orthodox denominations outside Russia) nun who teaches liturgics at a Catholic university in Vienna, Austria.

She is also the host of a scandal plagued YouTube interview show where she promotes radical left theology.In 2017 the ROCOR synod made a public statement criticizing her for teaching that homosexuality is not a serious sin. In March of this year she signed a statement saying that Russia’s military operation in Ukraine is ‘evil’, that Putin is solely to blame, and that the Patriarch and the Russian Church are ‘heretics’ for not denouncing it. She then gave extensive interviews, including to Catholic media, promoting these views.

She is the daughter of Fr. George Larin, a senior ROCOR priest in Nyack, NY, USA, known for his conservative views, and the former sister-in-law of the former treasurer of ROCOR, Fr. Peter Holodny.

5. George Demacopoulos– As a professor of theology, Demacopoulos has co-founded and is co-director the successful publication Public Orthodoxy, the International Orthodox Theological Association (IOTA), and the Orthodox Christian Studies Center (OCSC) at the Jesuit Fordham University. He is strongly against any traditional family values, has spoken out against the core nuclear family as being the foundation for healthy Christian living, and has publicly condemned any who believe that the Eucharist does not transmit disease; a teaching that has been a part of the Orthodox Faith since its beginning.

6. Aristotle Papanikolaou– A close colleague of Demacopoulos, Papanikolaou is the other co-founder and co-director of Public Orthodoxy, IOTA, and the OCSC at Fordham University. He has advocated for the injection of Liberation Theology, moral relativism, and cultural Marxism into the Orthodox Theology.

He is strongly in favor of the feminist movement to install women deaconesses into the Orthodox Church and eventually women priests. And he believes that the LGBTQ+ community has a place in Orthodox Theology.

7. Bryan Massingale– One of the professors of Theology at Fordham University, he is a black Catholic priest and a Jesuit, who proudly flaunts his homosexuality. He is not profiled in the video, but makes colorful appearances. He has built a career denouncing white privilege, white-supremacy, and anti-black racism.

8. Carrie Frost– Co-Chair of the IOTA Women in the Orthodox Church Group, Frost is one the leading activists for women deaconesses and eventually women priests. She has written a number of books and has lectured at various conferences across the nation.

9. Fr. Cyril Hovorun– A close colleague of Gallaher, Hovorun is a Ukrainian priest, and an active member of IOTA (see point 4 above) and an internationally respected scholar. He is the largest proponent of the idea that the Eucharist can transmit disease, has been involved with numerous ecumenist organizations, and has strong ties with several Jesuit universities.

10. Fr. Nicholas Denysenko– Also a graduate of St. Vladimir’s Seminary and an OCA priest with Ukrainian roots, and a close colleague of Gallaher, Denysenko has a PhD in Liturgical Studies/Sacramental Theology. He has lectured at numerous conferences and has written articles for Public Orthodoxy.

He has claimed that the Ukrainian Church under the Moscow Patriarchate was never canonical. He has strongly advocated for the inclusion of homosexuals and women deaconesses. And he has also promoted the idea that the Eucharist can transmit disease.

11. Fr. Juvenaly Repass– An archimandrite in the Orthodox Church of America (OCA), Fr. Juvenaly runs a successful Orthodox Facebook group where he has openly advocated for the sexualization and grooming of children, abortion, and female altar servers. He has also openly slandered Abbot Tryphon. And yet, remains an active member in his Diocese.

12. Inga Leonova– As writer, architect, and professor, Inga has a lot of influence in shaping the opinions of new Orthodox Christians, she is also the founder of The Wheel; an Orthodox publication that in practice seeks to deconstruct Orthodox moral teaching and dogma. Along with writing articles and academic papers on the subject, she has spoken out in conferences against the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) for its traditional values and stance against abortion, comparing the ROC to “white nationalists”, mass shooters, terrorists, and fascists.

13. Katherine Kelaidis– A member of the Greek Orthodox Church in America and the resident scholar at the National Hellenic Museum, Kelaidis is very outspoken on her opinion of the ROC. She has published academic papers comparing them to fanatics, homophobes, and white nationalists. She has written numerous articles shaming women for wearing head scarves, claiming that by doing so they are regressing human society to a time where women were oppressed.

14. Sarah Riccardi-Swartz– Another member of the OCA, Riccardi-Swartz is a member of the Fordham Fellowship and a journalist who joined a rural Russian Orthodox community to gather data for her project on why people were converting to the ROC. She then left the community to write an NPR hit piece, where she portrayed the ROC as unpatriotic, white nationalists, and dangerous extremists.

From the online resume of Sarah Riccardi-Swartz

15. Fr. John Chryssavgis– Fr. John is a member of the Greek Orthodox Church, has a PhD in Patristics from Oxford University, and is considered a prominent Orthodox scholar. He has written articles claiming that the idea of the traditional family is unbiblical and that the Orthodox Church is undemocratic, anti-freedom, and “on the wrong side of history”. He also strongly supported the baptism of the children born to a surrogate mother for a homosexual “couple”.

16. Bishop Elpidophoros– As head of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, Elpidophoros has tremendous influence and authority in the Orthodox society in America. He has used his position to promote BLM, support defrocked and suspended Russian clergy, encourage ecumenical conversations, confuse the faithful on the matter of abortion, and baptize the children of a “homosexual couple”. We wish he was an outlier, a rogue data point, in Orthodoxy Christianity in America. Unfortunately, he is merely the culmination of an ever-growing movement with Orthodoxy in America towards liberalism, immorality, and ultimately heresy.

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Transcript Excerpts:

1. Nick Jovcic-Sas – Living in the UK, Nick claims to be an Orthodox Christian while openly practicing homosexuality and advocating strongly for the worldwide acceptance of this sin. His YouTube channel reaches tens of thousands of young impressionable Orthodox Christians.

He has appeared on mainstream British television a number of times and he lectured in some of the top Orthodox universities, conventions, and various other forums; teaching thousands how to twist Orthodox dogma to include perversion. He has also marched in the Belgrade Pride Parade with a desecrated image of the Mother of God with the “Pride Flag” as the halo.

Jovcic-Sas [00:00:55] I am an Orthodox Christian and I wouldn’t go walking in the street with an icon that I thought was blaspheming God. This image belongs to LGBT Christians as much as it belongs to anyone else. And I think we need to investigate this idea that icons or the church are against the LGBT community.

Jovcic-Sas [00:01:22] Hello, everyone. I’m just here at home in the UK and I wanted to take a second to talk to you about this. It’s a petition by someone called Elizabeth Dunbar, and it’s addressed to all Orthodox bishops in America to take action against false teachings.

I have a theology degree from King’s College London, published academic work and have been an Orthodox Christian my entire life. None of my haters can land any substantial criticism about what I’ve said, so they’ve had to resort to a childish campaign of ad hominem attacks.

Jovcic-Sas [00:01:54] So God created man in his own image. In the image of God. He created him, male and female He created them. It seems his interpretation is that this verse is proof that God created a strict gender binary and that there’s something wrong with anyone who falls outside or in between. Now, that is an absolutely terrible reading of that verse.

Sky News Interviewer [00:02:13] First, I speak to Nick Jovcic-Sas on an Orthodox Christian and LGBTQ activist in Bath and Mark Hill QC, who specializes in ecclesiastical law and religious liberty.

Jovcic-Sas [00:02:26] Well, I’m very shocked and disappointed by it. I think fundamentally the UK law shouldn’t protect racism, shouldn’t protection sexism and it shouldn’t protect homophobia. And I think I find it particularly alarming.

As someone who is a devout Christian themselves, I don’t understand what this has to do with the protection of my faith. At the end of the day, if you aren’t in favor of gay marriage, if you don’t want a gay marriage, don’t have one. And if you don’t like writing nice messages on cakes, then maybe you shouldn’t be a baker.

Sky News Interviewer [00:03:01] Contrary to what you’re saying, Mark Hill QC is saying this is supporting freedom of speech, this judgement.

Jovcic-Sas [00:03:07] Well, I think it’s kind of a little bit of double talk going on right here because I think sometimes fundamentalists will sort of say one thing, and mean another. So, for example, on the issue of abortion, people say they’re pro-life, but what they really mean is they’re anti-choice. I think in this instance, what’s being said is people are saying they’re freedom of speech.

We’re talking about is the freedom of people to hate and discriminate against certain groups. And I think the implications of this ruling shows that, you know, people still think that homophobia is an acceptable belief in this country, that minorities, gay people like myself, shouldn’t have equal rights to other people, and that should be protected by UK law.

2. Gregory Tucker – A close colleague of Jovcic-Sas and a practicing homosexual, Tucker is the editor of two major American “Orthodox” publications; The Wheel and Public Orthodoxy. He has lectured along with many on this list in numerous “Orthodox” conventions including internationally. He is currently living in the USA, is a graduate of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, is working towards earning a PhD at the Jesuit Fordham University, is legally married to a former monk, and is still allowed to be an active member of an Orthodox Church.

Tucker [00:06:29] The Orthodox Church is not a secret society. It does not possess special information or data which is unavailable to other people. It’s a discursive society in which truth is arrived at together. And so, it’s essential that the world and the wider church can see this conversation taking place on what are the most controversial and pressing pastoral issues of the contemporary age.

3. Dean Brandon Gallaher – A graduate of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, Gallaher is a strong proponent of the Orthodox Church becoming “more inclusive to members of the LGBTQ+ community”. He has very negative views of the Russian Orthodox Church because of its upholding of traditional morality and for this reason, has compared it to the Nazi collaborators.

Gallaher [00:08:51] So what our project means to do is to bring together Western policy makers from government as well as think tanks, as well as specialists in Eastern Orthodoxy, theologians and scholars and churchmen, so that they can talk about positive and constructive ways that Western governments can deal with cultures and governments that are formed by the Orthodox ethos.

Gallaher [00:09:21] However, very many different things have led in towards anti modernism, anti-secularism and anti-Westernism, which is one of the great themes of Dr. Kelly’s series. So, in what we are suggesting, therefore, is that Orthodoxy, like other non-Western religions and cultures, can construct an alternate modernity and secularism, a new post-modern Orthodox identity that respects its Eastern pre-modern heritage but is non-reactionary and in productive dialogue with Western modernity.

This would be a vision that does not capitulate to the privatization and individualization of so much Western religion and maintains Orthodoxy distinctives, including a refusal to separate into distinct spheres the secular and the sacred, a cosmic vision of creation in which Christ and the Church elevate and transfigure all of society, as well as an aesthetical and sacramental ethos, but at the same time being in dialogue with many things that we can learn from the West, including, for example, the tradition of human rights, the inviability of the will of the individual and self-determination with equal opportunity for all, regardless of gender, respect for nontraditional sexual diversity, and allowing for religious and non-Orthodox visions that challenge and are in contradiction to Orthodoxy.

Gallaher [00:10:59] Orthodoxy is encountering modernity. It is in its liturgical consciousness. It hasn’t really changed its basic liturgical texts, and its spirituality and its theology have, by and large, remain the same. And they were, in a way, put down into print and published in the beginning of the early modern period. And so, they reflect, as it were, a lost universe. And this still goes on.

But we are now, as it were, thrown or thrust into a late, modern, a late form of capitalism, which has all these different challenges. A hyper individualism, hyper rationalism; and Orthodoxy is no exception. It has to deal with these difficulties. And there are major, major controversies, because how do you remain true to the tradition of the Orthodox Church but still deal with the fact of these major issues and the existence of LGBTQ+ people who are Orthodox and who wish to be full members of that communion.

Gallaher [00:12:46] I have many close colleagues amongst which was Father Cyril Hovorun and as well as Father Nicholas Denysenko and others; you can see this systemically in the speeches of President Putin and in the homilies, as well as a long-time writings, of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and in a much, much softer version in Metropolitan of Hilarion.

And I explained this and I said in some of these webinars that I where I was speaking that really what was needed for the Orthodox Church was something akin to the Barmen declaration, which was initially drafted by Carl Barat, as well as the Confessing Christians against the German sort of well, Nazi church, to be frank.

4. George Demacopoulos – As a professor of theology, Demacopoulos has co-founded and is co-director the successful publication Public Orthodoxy, the International Orthodox Theological Association (IOTA), and the Orthodox Christian Studies Center (OCSC) at the Jesuit Fordham University. He is strongly against any traditional family values, has spoken out against the core nuclear family as being the foundation for healthy Christian living, and has publicly condemned any who believe that the Eucharist does not transmit disease; a teaching that has been a part of the Orthodox Faith since its beginning.

Joseph McShane [00:13:59] The Orthodox Studies Center at Fordham is, as you may know, it’s unique in all the world. It’s the only center for the study of Eastern Orthodox Christian Studies that is located in a Jesuit and Catholic University.

George Demacopoulos [00:14:12] I would say what makes the Orthodox Christian Study Center at Fordham University so unique is it’s the first research university to develop a center dedicated to the history and culture of the Orthodox Christian world.

Aristotle Papanikolaou [00:14:25] Because we’re in a university, we have a mission to the students to provide ways in which they can faithfully, but yet in a critical way, engage their Orthodox tradition together with worship, of course.

Sarah Riccardi-Swartz [00:14:36] Scholars are passionate about the center because they see in it a place where we can have dialogue about what Orthodox Christianity means in the world, what it means socially, politically, theologically, and how it’s impacted by and impacts different social structures in the United States and the world more broadly.

Kassandra Ibrahim [00:14:55] I think it’s really interesting to study Orthodox Christianity with art history and specifically with Byzantine artifacts. You understand art more and you understand culture more if you understand the faith backgrounds that support it.

Aristotle Papanikolaou [00:15:06] There’s no question that we are well known internationally, especially within ecclesial circles. I think we’re known as a place that is trying to promote Orthodox Catholic unity, but even Christian unity more broadly, I think within the Orthodox world, we’re definitely known as and I think provide encouragement to those who want to raise and discuss certain kinds of questions within the church.

Bishop Irinej Dobrijevic [00:15:26] One of the things that I like about this center and the way it approaches theology, specifically Orthodox Christian theology and studies in general, is that they do so with a certain boldness. And I like that boldness because it speaks to the fact that Orthodoxy is not something which is isolated. It is not something which is frozen in time, but it’s indeed a very living, viable study of Orthodox Christianity.

Bryan Massingale [00:16:00] Happy pride. I’m Bryan Massingale. I’m a professor at Fordham University in New York City. I’m obviously a Catholic priest. I’m obviously a black man. And not so obvious is that I’m also openly gay. You know black people come in every shade of the rainbow, literally a rainbow from albino white to jet coal black. And if nothing in that spectrum can turn you on. That’s not preference. That’s prejudice.

Sister Vassa Larin [00:16:37] Both of you are Orthodox Christians.

George Demacopoulos [00:16:40] Yes. We’re both Orthodox Christians. We were both raised in the church. Talley’s father was a was a rather famous priest in Chicago. My father in law was a priest for 50 years in New Jersey. So, we’re both graduates of the Orthodox Seminary.

We are about as Orthodox as it gets. I recite the creed. I believe in the creed. I, I, I’m so invested in this. I’ve spent my entire life studying the church fathers and the tradition of the church and so forth. I mean, both are personal commitments to the faith, and our teaching reflects the Orthodox tradition.

5. Aristotle Papanikolaou – A close colleague of Demacopoulos, Papanikolaou is the other co-founder and co-director of Public Orthodoxy, IOTA, and the OCSC at Fordham University. He has advocated for the injection of Liberation Theology, moral relativism, and cultural Marxism into the Orthodox Theology. He is strongly in favor of the feminist movement to install women deaconesses into the Orthodox Church and eventually women priests. And he believes that the LGBTQ+ community has a place in Orthodox Theology.

Papanikolaou [00:17:19] Both personally and the center itself is absolutely committed to the dogmatic tradition, and we consider the dogmatic tradition non-negotiable. We have a form called public Orthodoxy. And if someone wanted to write something for us that basically tried to argue against the divinity of Christ, we wouldn’t publish it.
Kind of an interesting thing because there are some people with an interest that call me a traditionalist in that sense because I do affirm Byzantine music and some other aspects of the church.

Papanikolaou [00:18:15] In light of this, the real target for Orthodox political rhetoric should not be certain moral issues, such as abortion or gay marriage, but hyper individualism. It may be the case that the kind of hyper individualism that one witnesses in the West is a product of unregulated capitalism, more than liberal democracy.

The Times Square experience, I think, indicates that hyper individualism and the buffer itself is fueled not so much by the anthropological presuppositions of liberal democracy per se, but by capitalism that is not motivated by the common good and its critique of the hyper individualism enabled by the illusory sense of the self as buffer. The Orthodox would find common cause with many other religious traditions as well, as well as some specialists within the social sciences and the humanities toward an understanding of the self as always and forever porous, even in the imminent frame that is the political space.

In doing so, you could open up the possibility of a relational cell and to a vision of the flourishing of the self in forms of relationships that are realized through the virtues. Rather than emphasizing the vague notion of values or morality. It could point to the value of virtue enabled forms of relationships. We can imagine the secularized space for realizing forms of virtue enabled relationality among peoples with diverse, ultimate commitments, even as it works toward an overlapping consensus on those values.

Could imagine that supporting the political legalization of gay unions as a way of affirming that committed long term relationships that even involve sex, no matter who the persons are, manifest the very virtues that St Maximus identifies with the presence of God and thus stop the very cruel and un-theosis-like and in that sense, heretical, identification of being gay with prostitution, perversity, and pedophilia, which is which is fueled by a Nestorian logic.

Papanikolaou [00:20:02] Issues of gender, sex, and sexuality are so controversial in the Orthodox Church, primarily because there’s been such an openness in Western countries, and the churches feel somewhat threatened that any kind of openness to discussing those issues would be a kind of watering down of their tradition and a kind of surrendering to perhaps atheist secularism.
There are also the political issues, the way the churches are using this, especially within the Eastern European countries, as this kind of red line, this kind of dividing line over and against a kind of an imagined sort of liberal secularism, in my opinion. We’re only beginning this discussion.

Papanikolaou [00:27:40] Now for 2012, the Russian Orthodox Church, together with Putin, seem to be projecting themselves in a particular way geopolitically as defenders of traditional values. And in fact, there even perhaps one could even say that a new geopolitical East-West divide has been carved out based on the traditional values agenda.

And even evangelical Christians in the West are looking to Russia, Russian government, the Russian Orthodox Church, as global leaders on these particular issues.

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There is a second part which continues the transcript and provides more image captures. Click here to read it. We plan to publish it on Orthodox Reflections at some point.