Author: admin

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political

What do Republicans and Democrats Have in Common-Russophobia

The Trump years were good for many reasons but chief among them from an Orthodox Christian standpoint was the fact that Trump wanted better relations with Russia. Unfortunately, the Democrats blocked his administration from working with the Russians in matters of common interest. The neocons are working overtime to promote hysteria in the aftermath of Biden’s stupidity.

Commentators on FOX News, talk radio, and neocon publications such as National Review have been warning about the evil Russians and the “fascist” Putin. The anti Russian hysteria that the Democrats carried for four years is being taken up by the neocons in the Republican Party. The Republicans were good for a while serving as an opposition to the Marxist lunatics in the Democratic Party.

While the Republicans are on target on cultural issues, the rising anti Russian and pro war sentiments are problematic and one has to wonder if the Republicans are reverting away from Trump’s policies to the Bush-Cheney policies. Time will tell, but from an Orthodox Christian standpoint Russophobia is a threat to all of Orthodoxy (Greece and Cyprus included).

The neocons were never entirely dislodged from the Republican Party. They even served in the Trump administration. Mike Pompeo, an otherwise good Secretary of State stuck his noise in Orthodox Church affairs by asking the Church of Greece to recognize the Ukrainian schismatic entity. Washington wants to ensure that Greece remains under Washington’s influence and wants Greece to be anti Russian.

“Ambassador” Geoffrey Pyatt contributed to the chaos with his own meddling in Orthodox Church affairs by backing Patriarch Bartholomew’s actions in recognizing a schismatic entity in Ukraine. The anti Russian policies of Washington are likely to make Washington tilt toward Turkey in the event of a Greek-Turkish war.

When the British Empire was anti Russian in previous centuries, London backed the Ottoman Empire. As long as NATO exists, Turkey will get preferential treatment over Greece. Athens appealed to NATO to restrain Turkey in its aggressive actions against Athens and Nicosia, and NATO refused to do so.

The lamentation from so many “conservatives” for the possible demise of the anti Orthodox NATO is sickening. NATO member Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974 and has never left. NATO bombed Serbia and took Kosovo from that Orthodox nation. NATO instigated the brief war that occurred in Ukraine 2014 by trying to absorb Ukraine and move to the Russian border.

Make no mistake about it, NATO is a threat to Orthodox countries. Good riddance to this nefarious alliance. And good riddance to the Russophobes of both political parties.

Categories
faith

The Ecumenical Patriarch Visits Ukraine

Under normal circumstances the visit of the Ecumenical Patriarch to Ukraine would be a wonderful thing. Over a thousand years ago, Kiev which was the center of Russia was converted to Christianity by the Great Church of Constantinople. Circumstances are not normal however and so the visit of Patriarch Bartholomew to Ukraine is one of controversy rather than a display of Orthodox unity.

Patriarch Bartholomew was invited to visit Ukraine on the thirtieth anniversary of that country’s independence by President Vladimir Zelensky. The Patriarch met with the fake bishop Epithany Dimenko and the false bishops and clerics. The Patriarch completely avoided the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its legitimate synod and faithful.

An organized group of laypeople who are part of the legitimate Church sent a “tomos” of their own to Patriarch Bartholomew. This “tomos” is a response to the artificial “tomos” that Patriarch Bartholomew granted to the fake church in Ukraine in 2018. The faithful of the suffering Ukrainian Church wrote in their tomos that they have a love for the Church of Constantinople and the Greeks from whom they received the Christian faith over one thousand years ago.

It is a moving letter that acknowledges past Patriarchs of Constantinople who were solid in the faith. The contents of the tomos include references to the current persecution that the canonical Church is enduring. The faithful of Ukraine also declare that were Patriarch Bartholomew to repent, that they would once again accept the Patriarch of Constantinople as “first among equals” in Orthodoxy.

Ukrainian faithful came out in huge crowds to express support for the canonical Metropolitan Onuphry and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Many of them wished to see Patriarch Bartholomew to tell him of the suffering they have been enduring because of the persecution directed against them by the fake church under the fake bishops. To his discredit, Patriarch Bartholomew completely avoided them.

With the passing of time, Constantinople’s position in Orthodoxy will continue to decline. Sooner or later, the Orthodox Churches will declare anathemas against the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Perhaps against the Patriarchate of Alexandria and the Church of Greece as well.

Pious Orthodox Christians do not want this. Patriarch Bartholomew on the other hand is completely indifferent to the destruction and chaos he has caused. The time is coming when the Patriarch will have to make a choice. Either repent or be excommunicated from the Orthodox Church.

Categories
cinema

The Cruel Rule Of The Taliban

The film entitled “Osama” by Director Siddiq Barmak was the first film to be made in Afghanistan after the overthrow of the Taliban in late 2001. The film very effectively depicts the horror of Taliban rule and its cruelty to women and girls. I watched this film on DVD when it was originally released and I thought it was worth revisiting considering everything that is happening now.

The story centers on a girl and her mother who is a doctor. The mother cannot work. Her husband and other male relatives are dead. She cannot leave the house without a male relative and must cover herself entirely in a burqa.

The child’s grandmother gets the decision to cut the girl’s hair and to disguise her as a boy so she can go work and earn money for the family to survive. Things go badly when a Taliban soldier spots the child and makes her go to a school for boys (as he thinks the child is a boy).

Things go bad for the child and her fate is tragic. Watching this film again with what is happening now leaves one entirely uncertain about what should be done about Afghanistan. After twenty years, the Taliban are back.

Categories
political

Neocons On The Rise

I am not now and have never been a supporter of Joe Biden. I loathe the Democratic Party. But I also happen to loathe the neoconservative warmongers who have found new life in the midst of the chaos of Afghanistan. The neoconservatives have been very carefully exploiting Afghanistan and will no doubt over the long term try to push American foreign policy into a renewed pro war direction.

Neocon Mark Levine in a diatribe regarding the events in Kabul brought up Vladimir Putin and called him a “fascist”. One of the major reasons for my contempt for the Democratic Party has been the anti Russian hysteria of the past five years. Levine sounds like Hillary Clinton who once compared Putin to Hitler. But then neocons by the dozens (if not Levine) supported Hillary’s candidacy for President in 2016.

Vladimir Putin was born in Leningrad in 1952. During the war, over one million Russians died from starvation during the Nazi siege of the city. Vladimir Putin’s brother died from starvation and two of his uncles were killed in defense of the city. The neocons who call Putin a fascist have conveniently ignored the the glorification in Ukraine of Nazi collaborators and the terror campaigns conducted by Neo-Nazi militias.

The Democrats and the neoconservatives have much in common starting with Russophobia. Other commentators in the media have been bringing up Ukraine and alleged Russian “aggression”. Let it not be forgotten that neoconservative warmongers Geoffrey Pyatt and Victoria Nuland were instrumental in overthrowing the democratic government of Ukraine in 2014. The Russians were not going to have NATO at their border and were not going to permit a stooge government to pursue anti Russian policies right next door.

It is very clear that President Biden has made a horrendous mistake by withdrawing troops all at once from Afghanistan. Joe Biden is clearly a very sick man who shot not have run for President. The man slurs his words and looks awful when he makes public appearances. He needs to step down or Congress should impeach him.

Now, as disastrous as the situation is regarding Afghanistan context is in order. Biden is being universally denounced as if his actions were worse than those of the Bush-Cheney administration which triggered the disastrous Iraq war. It was the neocon influenced Bush-Cheney regime that believed the rest of the world wanted to be like America. Neocons and liberals alike have no understanding of religion, culture, or nationalism.

The goal of going to war in Afghanistan was to smash Al Quada and to punish the Taliban for giving them sanctuary. That goal was achieved early on. It was the Bush administration that deserves blame for the unending war in Afghanistan. The Bush-Cheney government did not win the war in the seven plus years before leaving office and had no exit strategy and left the war for other administrations to conduct.

The Trump administration looks very good in comparison to both the Bush and Biden administrations. The Trump administration did what had to be done to smash ISIS which it properly considered a threat and sought friendly relations with Russia. The Trump administration (with difficulty) also resisted neoconservative demands to go to war with Iran.

The Trump administration correctly sought to withdraw from Afghanistan and was planning to leave in a manner that would have avoided the destruction and misery that the world is now witnessing. Let it be remembered that the liberal media greatly influenced the outcome of the 2020 elections. Liberal media outlets such as National Public Radio and Sixty Minutes openly said that they would not report on the scandals involving Hunter Biden.

The media downplayed early reports of the nursing home deaths of elderly people as a result of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s policies because they did not want Donald Trump to benefit politically in any way. The media has now turned on the sick and elderly Joe Biden who should not be President. The media and the Democrats downplayed concerns about Biden’s declining mental heath because they wanted Donald Trump out of the White House at all costs.

Joe Biden is a sick man and has now demonstrated that he is incapable of making good decisions. Compassion necessitates that he be removed from office immediately and that the media back off should he leave office. The media is largely responsible for his ascension to power and it is hypocritical for them now to pretend to be shocked by his inability to comprehend what is happening.

The main lesson to be learned is that nation building leads to disaster. The neocons would have us believe that all countries irrespective of religion, history, and national interests want to be like America. The neocons fellow travelers the liberals suffer from the same delusions. The war in Iraq, the overthrow of the Libyan government in 2011, the intervention in Ukraine, and the subsequent warmongering led to unnecessary human suffering.

The best way to avoid the horror show playing out in Afghanistan in the future is to avoid all unnecessary wars. I am reminded of the hysteria against Syria a few years ago. Liberals and neocons were outraged at atrocities occurring in Syria. A reality check is in order. Atrocities are perpetrated in wars.

War mongers and interventionists need to understand that if they wish to avoid atrocities and massacres they need to stop instigating wars and overthrowing governments that they do not like. It is possible that the Republican Party that Trump rescued is going to be reclaimed by the neocons. It that happens then the Republican Party will be just as evil as the Democratic Party is.

Neoconservatives have joined with liberals over the past several years to demonize Orthodox Russia. At present, the neocons and liberals are demonizing the Roman Catholic nation of Hungary. The Hungarian government has passed a law forbidding the teaching of gay and transgender propaganda to children. Normal people think this law is quite reasonable which affirms that neocons and liberals have estranged themselves from normal people.

Poland has also come under enormous international criticism. The EU has been bullying the Hungarians because of the law forbidding LGBT propaganda to children. The Russians started coming under attack after the women of “pussy riot” were properly jailed for desecrating the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow and after blocking the dissemination of gay propaganda in Russian schools.

The neoconservative Geoffrey Pyatt who did so much damage when he served as “Ambassador” to Ukraine is now the defacto Governor of Greece where he serves under the guise of being an Ambassador. Pyatt played a major role in fomenting the schism in Orthodoxy by meddling the affairs of the Greek Church. For the neocons, the Orthodox Church is just another institution to be influenced and controlled.

As the Democrats are pagans, the neoconservatives are atheists. All of them have wrought nothing but misery throughout the world from Iraq and Syria to Afghanistan.

Categories
political

Biden, the Neocons, and Afghanistan

The question of withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan is quite complex. With the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban two historical events come to mind. First, the Turkish conquest of Smyrna in September 1922 which led to the final genocide and mass exterminations of the Greek and Armenian Christian populations of that city. As with the Taliban today, there was a sense of dread that preceded the Kemalist entry in Smyrna in 1922.

The second example that comes to mind is the rise of ISIS in 2014 when they took over Mosul and over one third of Iraq. The Iraqi army retreated before the armies of ISIS which would go on to take over one third of territory in Syria and would institute policies of genocide and would create slave markets that sold Yazidi women. Both the Turks and ISIS committed crimes against humanity.

The President made a decision on Afghanistan. Whether it was right or wrong is open to debate and interpretation. The major blame for the war in Afghanistan which has dragged on for twenty years lies with the Bush administration. Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld could not win the war in eight years and the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations inherited this war. Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld invaded Iraq in which they badly miscalculated what would happen.

One can not avoid being moved by the prospect of what might happen to the people of Afghanistan when American forces withdraw. As a Greek fully cognizant of what happened to the Greeks and the Armenians after the Turkish victories of 1922, I am sympathetic to the people who might be massacred following an American withdrawal. The situation is complicated by the fact that after twenty years, the Afghani government and military cannot stand on its own two feet.

The major failure of the Biden administration is not the decision to withdraw, but the manner in which it has chosen to withdraw. It has proceeded to withdraw without taking into consideration the horrors awaiting many innocent people when the Taliban takes over the whole country. The political decision to withdraw is the correct one. The indifference to the humanitarian crisis that is beginning to take shape is what may condemn the Biden administration’s legacy.

On the other hand, the neocons are expressing anger at the Biden administration and are prepared to blame Biden for the mess in Afghanistan. The neocons have never seen a war they did not like. Afghanistan, Iraq, and Crimea are the results of neo con warmongering.

Much evil resulted from the neocons invasion of Iraq. Inter religious bloodletting and civil war resulted from the Bush-Cheney war. The civil war led ultimately to genocide against Shiite Muslims and the subsequent rise of Mesopotamia in Iraq, an Al-Quada affiliate that was the forerunner of ISIS. From Iraq came the war in Syria and the greater tensions with Russia.

As a result of the war in Iraq, Greece and Europe were flooded with refugees that destabilized those societies with the rise of fascist extremist groups. Most of us agreed that the intervention in Afghanistan was justified on the grounds that the Taliban gave refuge to Al Quada which planned the 9/11 attacks from its soil. Al Quada was quickly destroyed. The desire of the Bush administration to pursue a policy of “nation building” has turned out to be madness.

It is the Bush administration that failed to win the war in Afghanistan and it is the neocons who bear the greatest responsibility for Afghanistan. The neocons live in a make believe world where the rest of the world desires to be westernized and to be like America and Europe. Such a view is based in fantasy and demonstrates that the neocons do not understand religion or nationalism.

Biden and his foreign policy team can be held responsible for the manner in which they have chosen to withdraw. The greater responsibility for losing the war lies with the criminal administration of Bush-Cheney. The neocons have not wasted any time in denouncing the Biden administration while totally ignoring their own responsibilities regarding Afghanistan and Iraq.

If at all possible, the Biden administration should seek to delay the withdrawal from Afghanistan. The goal now is what it should have been previously. Humanitarianism to prevent mass slaughter and a refugee crisis, and not nation building.

Neo con hysterics have been on the airwaves discussing the effectiveness of the Afghani military. This despite the fact that after twenty years, the Afghani military cannot stand alone against the Taliban. The victory of the Taliban is not the Biden administration’s fault.

There is also a good deal of hypocrisy from the neocons and others who are castigating the Biden administration. When the Trump administration (and I am a Trump supporter) abandoned the Syrian Kurds to their fate against the Turks there was no similar outrage compared to that in response to the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Ultimately, there were no good choices regarding Afghanistan. There is one moral lesson to take away from both Afghanistan and Iraq. Avoid unnecessary wars and give up the whole idea of nation building.

Categories
Letters

Letter to Kathimerini

Greetings, 
My name is Theodore G. Karakostas and I have written to you before. I am a Greek American writer and the author of threebooks. Since 2013, I have been active on the issue of Hagia Sophia. I am writing to you in response to the July 23 article on UNESCOand Hagia Sophia. 


I have been in touch with UNESCO since 2013 when Turkey converted the Church-Museum of Hagia Sophia in Trebizond into a Mosque. I have written to UNESCO’s office in New York and spoken with some of their reps over the phone. In March 2015 while on a visit to Paris, I visited UNESCO’s headquarters to discuss Hagia Sophia. 


I raised my concerns over Hagia Sophia based on three particular problems created by the Turkish government. First, they converted the Hagia Sophia of Trebizond into a Mosque in 2013 a sure sign that THE Hagia Sophia would eventually be converted. The Turks also converted tow other Hagia Sophia Church-Museums in Nicea-Iznik and Adrianople-Edirne into Mosques. Many of their politicians at that time openly called for Hagia Sophia to be made into a Mosque and large crowds had gathered in front of Saint Justinian’s Church to pray.


In person in Paris I was specifically told by UNESCO’s chief of Europe and North America that Turkish officials had assured UNESCO that Hagia Sophia would not be converted into a Mosque. Previous to this, their reps from the New York office had told me that in fact Turkey as a sovereign country was entitled to do as they wished with any site within their borders. Furthermore, during the month of Ramadan in the spring of 2016, Koranic prayers were read in Hagia Sophia.


UNESCO had seven years to protest the Turkish conversion of Hagia Sophia but declined to do so. They wrote a letter to Turkish officials in 2020 just a week or so before Hagia Sophia was officially set to be converted. Way too late for them to protest as the Turkish government had fully committed itself to the conversion of Hagia Sophia and was prepared for any and all international criticism.


This latest statement on the part of UNESCO expressing “deepest regret” and “intense concern” is weak. UNESCO should be adopting a much harsher stance especially since news reports indicate that Turkey is no longer providing for the upkeep of Hagia Sophia since Justinian’s Church is filthy and there are cables all over the place. It is only a matter of time before the Erdogan government destroys the magnificent and divinely inspired iconography that serves to glorify Christ! 


UNESCO should be thinking of imposing sanctions of some kind on Turkey. Their statements should be criticized for failing to recognize and acknowledge the Greek Orthodox origins of the Great Church. As I told UNESCO’s Chief of Europe and North America in 2015, Hagia Sophia is a product of the Gospel and Orthodox theology. UNESCO has handled the issue of Hagia Sophia very poorly but can still do the right thing by documenting the mistreatment of the Great Church today and raising real protests with a much harsher tone than the weak statement that it has just released.
 

Theodore G. Karakostas 

Categories
faith

Constantinople’s Amnesia

Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America gave a speech at the international religious freedom summit 2021. In this speech, he criticized the Russian Orthodox Church and its relationship with the Russian government which is ironic as Archbishop Elpidophoros is one of the most important hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The relationship of the Russian Church to the Russian state is based on the concept of “symphonia”, also known as “symphony” or “synergy”.

The concept of “symphonia” came to fruition during the sixth century under the Emperor Justinian of Constantinople. “Symphonia” is the concept of Church-State partnership in which the Church and the State work together for the common good while being administered separately. Archbishop Elphidophoros appears to imply that the Russian Church is under the influence of the Russian government which is simply not true.

As a Greek Orthodox loyal to the real spiritual heritage of Constantinople (which has been betrayed by the Patriarchate) I view contemporary Russia as the modern Byzantium. Russia adopted the spiritual heritage of Constantinople in the year 988 AD when the Russians received the faith from Emperor Basil II. Today, Russia flies the double headed eagle on the imperial flag of Russia and has defended Christians in Syria who were victims of genocide.

Russia also rose to the occasion to help save Cyprus in 2004 when the Russian Ambassador to the United Nations vetoed the Annan Plan at the Security Council which the Bush administration and the Blair government of England tried to impose on the Cypriots. The Archbishop should be reminded that the Russian Orthodox Church has in the past condemned the destruction of Greek Orthodox Churches in Cyprus by the Turks. When has Patriarch Bartholomew ever condemned the destruction of Cypriot Churches by the Turks?

Archbishop Elpidophoros further proceeded to discuss the schism in Orthodoxy before a secular audience of non Orthodox Christians. He defended the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s bestowal of autocephaly on unordained and defrocked clergy in Ukraine in violation of canon law. This appeal to the secular non Orthodox world is a continuation of the unscrupulous machinations of Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Elpidophoros. Very few Orthodox bishops, priests and theologians agree with the actions of Patriarch Bartholomew in Ukraine.

Many of those who do such as the Archbishop of Cyprus and the Patriarch of Alexandria have been heavily bullied into reversing their original stances. Archbishop Elpidophoros has no business criticizing the Russian Church. “Symphonia” as conceived by Saint-Emperor Justinian of Constantinople defines Church-State relations in Russia and did so in modern Greece up until the rise of the Greek atheists of PASOK and Syriza.

The Russian Church is acting in accordance with the way the Church of Constantinople acted in the Byzantine Empire. “Symphonia” is Orthodox. Papism on the other hand which seems to influence the behavior of the present Patriarchate of Constantinople is not only foreign to Orthodoxy, but is heretical. Archbishop Elpidophoros espouses the notorious doctrine that the Ecumenical Patriarch is “first without equals”. The Russian Church is acting in accordance with the precedence established by the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the Byzantine Empire.

The Church of Constantinople tragically is acting like the Roman Catholic Papacy by claiming total authority over the whole of the autocephalous and local Churches that make up the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Russian Orthodox Church has been calling for the convening of an ecumenical council to resolve the schism in Orthodoxy. The Patriarch of Constantinople has rejected calls for an ecumenical council.

Within Orthodoxy, ecumenical councils represent the highest form of authority. This means that only the universal church in which all the local Orthodox Churches are gathered together may make rulings that are fully binding. The Patriarchate of Constantinople has made a mockery of the conciliar tradition by claiming authority in Ukraine that it does not have and by refusing to put its case before a council in which all the Orthodox Churches are present to make a ruling.

The tradition of “symphonia” is by no means perfect. The Byzantine Empire has numerous example of Christian Emperors who lived immoral lives and engaged in the murders and mutilations of their predecessors and other opponents. Likewise, Russia today has its imperfections in the political sphere. Of course, Christians live in the world which is fallen and tainted by man’s fallen nature so no Orthodox society can claim perfection.

While the Russian Church is a partner of the Russian government through the process of “symphonia” at least the Russian government is Orthodox. The Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese have aligned themselves with the American State Department that over time has supported the ethnic cleansing of the Patriarchate’s own flock in Constantinople, the invasion of Cyprus, the bombing of Serbia and the destruction of Serbian Orthodoxy in Kosovo, and the destruction of Christianity in Syria and Iraq. Furthermore, the American government and the European Union have been bullying Christian countries (Orthodox and Roman Catholic) into accepting the abominations of abortion, gay marriage, and transgenderism.

The Russian Church has condemned the immoral social policies being promoted by the west. Archbishop Elpidophoros recently presided over the divine liturgy in an Episcopal Cathedral in NewYork which has actively supported the gay and transgender agenda and which displayed the pagan rainbow flags. There are those of us who consider ourselves the spiritual children of the once Great Church of Constantinople and pray that it returns to the light once again.

As things stand now, the Russian Church represents the leadership of Orthodoxy based on the fact that is is heavily active in evangelizing throughout parts of the world and is bearing witness to the gospel before the onslaught of the neo pagan agenda coming from the west. The Russian Church holds the fifth place in rank among the dyptychs of the Orthodox Church. Constantinople holds the first place.

Whereas the Russian Church is partners with an Orthodox government the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America are partnered with the atheistic and pagan State Department and the anti Christian Democratic Party. Constantinople would regain leadership if it emulated the example of the Russian Church, and stopped declaring war against it.

Categories
faith

Where Are You Archbishop Christodoulos?

As if Greece and Cyprus did not have enough problems with Turkey threatening both of these Hellenic states, the Synod of the Church of Greece has been threatening bishops who have refused to recognize the schismatic entity in Ukraine that calls itself “Orthodox Church of Ukraine”. The Synod of the Church of Greece accuses these bishops of breaking the unity between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Greek Church.

This is utterly absurd. The two previous Archbishops of Athens Serapheim (1974-1998) and Christodoulos (1998-2008) both stood up to the bullying of Patriarch Bartholomew. Were these highly esteemed primates guilty of breaking the unity between the Church of Greece and the Ecumenical Patriarchate? The bishops in Greece that are being bullied by the cowardly synod of Archbishop Ieronymos have listed the violations of Canon Law and Orthodox ecclesiology by Patriarch Bartholomew through his actions in invading the canonical territory of the Russian Church in Ukraine.

This is absolute madness. At a time when the territorial integrity of both Greece and Cyprus are being challenged by Turkey, the Church of Greece is being attacked by Patriarch Bartholomew who happens to be a citizen of the Turkish aggressor state. Greeks need to put aside their sentimentality regarding the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

In his newly published, “The ecclesial Crisis in Ukraine”, Metropolitan Nikiforos of the Church of Cyprus dissects the canonical violations by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Ukraine. While correctly providing evidence and citing canon law to demonstrate why Constantinople is wrong in Ukraine, his eminence bends over backwards to emphasize his love for the Church of Constantinople.

I also have a profound love for the Church and City of Constantinople, but sentimentality should not blind those of us who are Greek of the terrible wrongs that have been and continue to be perpetrated by Patriarch Bartholomew. The cowardly Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and other bishops chose to recognize the schismatic abomination in Ukraine as a “church” at the expense of the real Ukrainian Orthodox Church after Patriarch Bartholomew and American officials such as Mike Pompeo and Geoffrey Pyatt demanded they do so.

The moral standing of the Orthodox Church of Greece has fallen to its lowest standing since the era of the military dictatorship when canonical bishops were forcibly removed and replaced by unscrupulous supporters of the junta in violation of canon law. Archbishop Christodoulos recognized that young people in Greece had been alienated from the Church by those particular “bishops” that had been close to the junta.

Archbishop Christodoulos formally apologized at his enthronement in 1998 for the Church’s alienation of young people. The late Archbishop was very humble, charismatic, and pious. At the present time the European Union is bullying Hungary and Poland into fully accepting the gay and transgender ideology. Where are the voices of Archbishop Ieronymos and the synod of the Church of Greece opposing gay marriage and transgenderism?

In 2017, when the atheist Prime Minister Tsipras formally legalized gay marriage and transgender ideology, most of the bishops of the Church of Greece were silent. In the year 2000, the visionary Archbishop Christodoulos challenged the European Union and the anti Christian and anti Hellenic policies of Prime Minister Simitis. The late Archbishop called hundred of thousands of faithful Greeks out to protest in Athens and Thessaloniki against the effort to remove religion from identity cards.

The European Union went from demanding the removal of religion from identity cards to demanding the teaching of homosexuality and transgender ideology in the schools of member states of the European Union. Where are you Archbishop Christodoulos? See how your successor and his bishops remain silent as the Greek government embraces the anti Christian morality and neo pagan ideology of the Europeans? See how Archbishop Ieronymos and other bishops take orders from the American embassy in order to destroy the spiritual brotherhood between the Greeks and the Russians?

Those bishops and priests in Greece who refuse to bow to the bullying dictates of Patriarch Bartholomew are confessors to the faith and worthy examples to faithful Greeks throughout the world. May they persist and stand strong in defense of the faith of Christ and the Greek Orthodox tradition in these evil times.

Categories
books

The Church Crisis

Book Review

The Ecclesial Crisis in Ukraine and its Solution According to the Sacred Canons by Metropolitan of Kykkos and Tylliria Nikiforos, Cyprus

Holy Trinity Seminary Press. 2021

His eminence Metropolitan Nikiforos of Kykkos, a hierarch of the Church of Cyprus has published an important work on the Church crisis in Ukraine. His eminence addresses several aspects of the Church crisis. His eminence discusses the history of the Church of Ukraine and how it was transferred from the Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Russian Church in 1686. His eminence does a masterful job regarding the history of the Ukrainian Church which was until 2018 part of the Russian Church without controversy.

Other aspects of the Church crisis that are addressed include the delicate matter of how a Church achieves autocephalous status. His eminence rightfully emphasizes the importance of the authority of the universal Church through an ecumenical council to establish an autocephalous Church. His eminence points out that the Ecumenical Patriarch may only act to recognize a Church as autocephalous if it has been approved by the universal Church.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate insists that it has the right to hear appeals from throughout the Orthodox world. His eminence asserts that the Ecumenical Patriarch has no such right. Furthermore, his eminence makes clear that the Patriarchate of Moscow was fully justified in breaking communion with Constantinople.

His eminence addresses the issue of who is the head of the Orthodox Church. Jesus Christ is the head of the Orthodox Church and not the Ecumenical Patriarch. His eminence also emphasizes the importance of the conciliar tradition of the Orthodox Church.

As with many other writers and commentators on the Church crisis, his eminence makes reference to the well known geopolitical interests that have served to trigger the events that brought about the crisis. Unfortunately, this issue is mentioned only in passing and is not addressed. Regardless, this is a very important publication regarding the Ukrainian Church crisis coming from one of the most important bishops in the Greek speaking world.

His eminence makes references to church history and canon law, and affirms the righteousness of the Orthodox position which is held not only by the Russian Orthodox Church but by most of the Orthodox world. This is a publication that is solidly Orthodox and which will hopefully contribute to awakening the Greek Orthodox world from its slumber.

Categories
Analysis

The Rising Turkish Threat

5 + 3: Turkic Superstate in Caucasus, Central Asia Under NATO Tutelage
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Erdogan’s-new-Ottoman-empire-advances-in-the-Caucasus-and-Central-Asia-53560.html

It appears that Turkish influence is growing in Central Asia and Russian influence is lessening. This is problematic as is the remarkable lack of support by the Russians for the Armenians during last year’s war with Azerbaijan. The Russians have been giving Turkey a free hand against Armenia.

It is hard to see what the Russians have to gain from this. Turkey is the promotor of jihadism. Ankara is gradually replacing Islamic State as the center of the new Caliphate. The Russians fought to destroy jihadism in Syria but are now tolerating a new from of jihadism being promoted by Turkey and Azerbaijan.

The Russians are not the only ones that deserve criticism here. The United States has not exactly done anything to counter Turkey and Azerbaijan. True, the Biden White House recognized the Armenian Genocide but in the aftermath lifted an embargo that had been imposed on Azerbaijan in the early 1990’s. Appeasement of Turkey remains in effect in Washington.

The problem that Greece, Armenia, and Cyprus face is the fact that Turkey’s geostrategic position continues to enthrall both Washington and Moscow. Turkey has benefitted from its borders going back to the Ottoman Empire. Under the Erdogan regime, both Moscow and Washington have been humiliated and slapped around.

The Turks ordered the downing of a Russian plane over Syria in 2015. They supported the enemies of the government in Damascus (Russia’s ally) during the Syrian war. They supported Islamic State which should have enraged both Washington and Moscow. Turkey continues to humiliate both Washington and Moscow both of whom seek the influence of Erdogan.

Turkish influence continues to grow over the Turkish speaking Republics of Central Asia (see the links above) and over the Muslim world, although there are countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates who are resisting Turkey’s expanding influence. Washington and Moscow will come to regret that they both had opportunities to crush and curtail the influence of Erdogan’s Turkey but refused to do so for their own self serving and short term interests.

Greeks also seem to misunderstand the American foreign policy establishment’s commitment to Turkey. American-Turkish ties have been badly strained during the Erdogan era, but American officials have not figured out how to conduct policies in Central Asia and the Middle East without Turkey. Some Greek Americans are under the impression that the Democratic Party will be anti Turkish. Such a belief is based in the realm of fantasy because domestic American politics cannot penetrate the long and committed American policies that have been built up for at least a century based on Turkish support.

On the positive side, American-Turkish relations have deteriorated but that is because of the rise of radical Islam in Turkey and because of Erdogan’s arrogance and megalomania, not because either political party in America has become pro Greek. It appears that the new cold war between Washington and Moscow has benefitted Turkey. The Erdogan government has been very effective in playing the Americans and the Russians off one another.

The reality is that the world is a vicious place dominated by the powerful. Turkey retains a great deal of power and influence. For a brief time as the Cold War was coming to an end, there were signs that America’s use for Turkey was coming to an end. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait however led the US to depend on Turkey for use of the military base at Incerlik.

The Greeks and the Armenians still have strong cases to make but need to work hard in both Washington and Moscow. The Ukrainian Church crisis has complicated Greek relations with both Washington and Moscow. Greece needs for that issue to be resolved even if it means disavowing Patriarch Bartholomew. Greece and Cyprus have other pressing concerns beyond Patriarch Bartholomew’s claims of power over the Orthodox Church.

The Church issue is relevant here because it exposes America as a semi colonial power maintaining an unhealthy influence in Greece. The Church issue is also turning Greeks against Russians. The Church issue must end and then Athens can engage both Washington and Moscow.

There are reasons for optimism. Erdogan has demonstrated a pattern of irrational thought. In 2011, he nearly started a war with Israel after supporting the flotilla attack on the Israelis. In 2015, he shot down the Russian plane, and during the war in Syria invaded the Kurdish region which was then occupied by American forces.

At some point, one has to believe that someone will finally stand up to Turkish bullying and aggression. Turkish influence is on the rise and needs to be countered. The abandonment of the Syrian Kurds by even the Trump administration and the abandonment of Armenia by Russia are truly disappointing.

However, the signs of tension between Turkey and both Washington and Moscow do exist. The challenge for the Greeks is to engage both of them, to remain friendly with both, and to work to convince both of them of the Turkish threat.