Category: faith

Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese has received into the Archdiocese a “bishop” that was defrocked by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR). Archimandrite Alexander Belya was defrocked by the ROCOR synod for various unethical actions. On that basis, the Archbishop had no right to receive him into the Greek Archdiocese or to consecrate him a bishop.

The other Orthodox Churches in America are threatening to withdraw from the Episcopal Assembly unless the Archbishop reverses himself. The Episcopal Assembly constitutes the gathering of all Orthodox bishops in North America. ROCOR withdrew in 2018 when the Ecumenical Patriarchate instigated the Ukrainian crisis.

The Archbishop has committed a variety of missteps such as marching with Black Lives Matter (a Marxist organization), attending the pro life gathering in Washington and contradicting himself by making both pro life and pro choice statements. Last fall, he attended a ceremony at the Turkish consulate in New York which was attended by Turkish officials and the Turkish appointee who presides over the occupied territories in Cyprus. That visit is particularly scandalous considering Turkish threats to seize the Greek islands. He is however most notorious for his extreme views regarding the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarchate which do not align with Orthodox ecclesiology.

The Archbishop must reverse this latest mistake. He should also resign as Archbishop as he clearly is not familiar with America and is not determined to learn how to govern the Church in America.

More news about the Great Church and it is not good. When Hagia Sophia was still a Museum there were between 18 and 19,000 visitors per day. As a Mosque, Hagia Sophia receives 40 and 45,000 visitors per day. As a Museum, a scientific council had concluded that human breathing was harmful to the building.

The extra visitors are naturally contributing to the demise of Hagia Sophia. Apparently, officials in charge of Hagia Sophia (apparently, the Ministry of Religion) tried to use a “special machine” to wash the floors of the Great Church. The floors have now been damaged.

The damage done to the floors follows the damage to the doors and the walls of the Great Church which suffer damage from the breaths of the large numbers of people visiting. It is apparent that the Erdogan government does not know how to preserve Hagia Sophia. It is apparent that Hagia Sophia will not survive in any form.

In the end this is because Turkey is under the rule of a fanatic who respects neither the Christian heritage of Constantinople nor history.

The Orthodox Church of Ohrid (Skopje) which has been out of communion with the Serbian Orthodox Church (and by extension the whole of Orthodoxy) has been formally recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Serbian Church. In addition, the Serbian Orthodox Church has bestowed autocephaly on Ohrid. It appears another Church crisis which could have worsened the schism in Orthodoxy has been avoided.

Unlike the situation in Ukraine where Constantinople intervened without the approval of the Russian Orthodox Church, it appears the Serbian Church has cooperated with Constantinople. The Serbian Church has accepted the autocephaly of this new Church and this brings a close to a schism in the Church of Serbia which began in 1967.

This brings us back to the Ukrainian schism. The Russian Church has been in the right in that situation. However, the Russian Patriarch’s silence regarding the war in Ukraine has cost the Moscow Patriarchate credibility among the Ukrainian faithful. At least twenty four bishops of the Ukrainian Church refuse to commemorate the Patriarch of Moscow during the liturgy.

Autocephaly for the Ukrainian Church may be inevitable. Patriarch Kyril of Moscow should consider granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church. Then Patriarch Bartholomew should use his influence on the schismatic bishops to join the canonical Church through repentance and to be legitimately ordained. The possibility of ending the schism exists and both Constantinople and Moscow should compromise.

Much praise should be bestowed on Patriarch Porphyrios of Serbia and his synod of bishops. Their attitudes are genuinely Christian and they avoided what could have been a further crisis in Orthodoxy. Here we have a real example of a shepherd guiding his flock. This is in contrast to the Patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, and Moscow.

The Turkish Newspaper Cumhiriyet has reported that Hagia Sophia may not survive t0 the year 2050. In one day a few weeks ago as many as 100,000 people visited Hagia Sophia. The article states that the moisture from the breaths of so many people could bring about the ruin of Hagia Sophia.

It is apparent that Hagia Sophia will in fact be destroyed over time. In the end only the Greeks cared for Hagia Sophia. We who are exiled from Justinian’s Church.

Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland is paying attention to the Monastic Republic of Mount Athos. Since the tenth century, Athos which is located in the Greek province of Macedonia has been a Monastic Republic. There are twenty Monasteries (most of them Greek).

The Serbs, Bulgarians, and Russians have one Monastery each. It is the Russian Monastery of Saint Panteleimon which has attracted the attention of Nuland and the State Department. Russian Monks have been present on Mount Athos for centuries. It is only in the minds of Russophobes and fanatics that every Russian is doing the bidding of Moscow.

There are disturbing reports of plans to expel the Russian Monks on the grounds that the Russians are serving Russian interests. American leaders being secularists do not comprehend that Russians might have gone to Mount Athos for reasons of faith. Greeks should be enraged by the plans to expel the Russian monks.

Greece is a Christian country with countless Orthodox shrines that are visited by pilgrims. Mount Athos is one of the most important. Politics do not belong on the Holy Mountain which is dedicated to the Mother of God.

The American government’s intervention on Mount Athos is sacrilege. The greatest blame for politicizing the Holy Mountain lies with Patriarch Bartholomew who for his own selfish plans for power has invited the State Department into the affairs of both the Holy Mountain and the Greek Churches. The silence of the Greek Bishops to both Bartholomew’s effort to become an Eastern Pope and their own failures to resist the Patriarchate’s hostile takeover of the Church of Greece speaks volumes.

The Greek government stupidly ignores the Phanariot-State Department alliance at the expense of Greece’s sovereignty. Bartholomew has become the King of Greece cutting deals with Washington even at the expense of Greek national interests and independence. The Greek Government and Church look the other way.

Greece and Cyprus face an existential threat from Turkey. It is insane for Greece to allow a Turkish citizen to accumulate the power and influence that the Patriarch has. The only good news is that the more conservative bishops, priests, and theologians are hostile to the Phanar. The bad news is they are a minority and many of them have been subject to bullying for daring to criticize Bartholomew’s anti Orthodox actions.

Greeks should be alarmed by the American influence on the Holy Mountain. The idea that Russia is going to take over is itself stupid and irresponsible. Mount Athos is in Greece and so Greeks will naturally be the majority. Saying the Russian Monastery is going to take over Athos is like saying that Argentina is going to take over the Vatican because of the present Pope’s nationality.

A further problem lies with the fact that the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of America is a Turkish citizen. The Archbishop gave himself away when he attended that Turkish dinner in New York last fall. It is time to think about reforming Greek Orthodoxy.

The Church of Greece must be fully autocephalous in both fact and theory. Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens is a moral failure and a stooge of Patriarch Bartholomew. He must be deposed and all funding to the Patriarchate from Greece must cease.

Crete and the Dodecanese islands must be taken from the Patriarchate and given to the Church of Greece. Mount Athos should also be taken from the Patriarchate. The last vestige of Turkish influence in Greece must end.

The Church of Greece needs bishops such as those it had in the past. An Archbishop Damaskinos or an Archbishop Christodoulos. A man of spirituality and morality mixed in with healthy nationalism in defense of the Hellenic nation and its Orthodox faith.

The desecration of Mount Athos must awaken Orthodox Greeks from their slumber!

Patriarch Theodoros of Alexandria has denounced the Russian Church as “predatory” for establishing itself in the continent of Africa. There are reasons to criticize the Russian Church which pertain exclusively to the war in Ukraine. The war aside, the ecclesiastical chaos in Orthodoxy has not changed. The Russian Church is still in the right.

When Patriarch Bartholomew recognized the schismatic entity in Ukraine in 2018, Patriarch Theodoros travelled to Ukraine to support the canonical Church under Moscow. Orthodox Christians are not stupid. It is impossible to ignore the complete turnaround by Patriarch Theodoros regarding the Ukrainian Church.

Like Patriarch Bartholomew, the Patriarch of Alexandria has offered no explanations for changing his stance. Until 2018, ALL Orthodox Churches were in full agreement that the synod of Metropolitan Onuphry was the canonical Church. It is impossible not to suspect that there were sinister political and secular motives for the recognition of the schismatic entity by Constantinople and Alexandria.

The Russian Church might want to withdraw from Africa at this point. Not because they were wrong to go there. Because the Russian Church itself which HAD the moral high ground has now lost it because of its failure to condemn the military invasion of Ukraine.

Constantinople, Alexandria, and Moscow are morally compromised by politics. There are twenty four bishops of canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church which refuse to commemorate the Russian Patriarch. Ukraine may very well get its own autocephalous Church but it must be the legitimate Church.

The clergy of the fake Church need to be reordained and reconciled with the real Church. On these terms, autocephaly will become a reality. A solution to the Alexandrian crisis lies in Moscow withdrawing from Africa and the Alexandrian synod opening up its ranks to native Arabs and Africans who make up the faithful of the Church.

Secular politics, Greek, Ukrainian, and Russian need to be separated from the Church of Christ.

Christos Anesti!

Christ is Risen!

It is profoundly disappointing to see that Russia has continued bombing Ukraine into holy week. It is now apparent Russia will bomb Orthodox Ukraine on Pascha. This is the first time an Orthodox country has been bombed on Pascha since 1999 when the Clinton administration bombed Serbia.

There are many of us Greeks who love Russia and who have become disturbed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Over thirty years Russia became a power again to challenge the west’s domination. Politically, I am still sympathetic to Russia but not to the insane war and devastation.

Morality must come before politics. Offensive wars are evil no matter who starts them. Russia had the moral high ground after the American offensive wars in Serbia and Iraq. By invading Ukraine, Russia has forfeited the moral high ground.

The fact that Russia now refuses to stop the war during Pascha does much to discredit the claim that Russia is the defender of Orthodoxy. Politically, Russia is entirely correct in feeling threatened and encircled by NATO. Especially after a history of being invaded.

The moral problem with Russia’s actions has to do with the ordinary citizens of Ukraine. The people of Ukraine are dying and having their homes destroyed. The ordinary Ukrainian is not to blame for NATO or for the actions of the Ukrainian government.

Russia has responded to NATO in a very bad way. Offensive wars and holy wars are not Orthodox. Crusaders are not Orthodox. The Russians need to stop the war immediately. The crucified Christ does not care about politics.

The lord who will rise from the tomb does care about the ordinary citizens of Ukraine. I am a long time believer that Moscow is the third rome (the successor to Byzantium) but that idea is collapsing as long as Moscow continues waging war.

Hagia Sophia: The historic Imperial Gate has been destroyed

The desecration of Hagia Sophia continues. The 1,400 year old gate through which the Christian Emperor used to enter the Great Church has been vandalized. The security guard for Hagia Sophia claims not to know what happened.

This is exactly the type of thing we all feared would happen. The Erdogan government has demonstrated that it is both too fanatical and incompetent to care for Hagia Sophia. Hagia Sophia was better off under the secular Turks of the Ministry of Culture.

This is an ominous sign. The future of Byzantine iconography is in great danger. The Erdogan government promised that the iconography and other Christian symbols would be maintained. This was a lie.

UNESCO and other art historians must demand that Hagia Sophia become a Museum again. Here is one radical thought. The Greek Orthodox Church should speak up on the grounds of moral, spiritual, and cultural principles. Not just for news headlines.

The Roman Catholic Church has an official stance defining “just wars”. The term “just war” is an oxymoron. No war can be just because innocent people will always be killed in wars. Christians have had to struggle with the subject of war especially in the context of the Gospel in which Christ urges us to turn the other cheek. Christ who was crucified and endured suffering on the cross.

When Constantine legalized Christianity the process of the merger of Church and State began. Christian Emperors found it necessary to wage wars. Some historians have argued that Byzantium had holy wars and have cited the example of Emperor Heraclius who defeated the Persians in 626 AD and liberated the true cross while taking vengeance for the burning of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem earlier on.

Christianity was a factor in the wars of Byzantium but they were not holy. The Emperor was considered the “viceroy of God” and the people of the Empire were Christians. At no time however did the Church bless the wars, but only the Emperor and the soldiers who were Christians.

The Canon of Saint Basil prescribed a period of abstention from communion by Christian soldiers who killed during times of war. This was in recognition of the fact that enemy soldiers were people created in the image of God. Christian soldiers were not murderers but their souls needed to be cleansed and so they were required to abstain from communion for a time.

In the tenth century, acting Emperor Nikephoras Phokas waged war against the Arabs in Syria. The Emperor was fiercely religious and attempted to turn the war into a holy war and asked the Church to declare fallen soldiers to be martyrs. The Patriarch objected to the very idea of holy war and made it clear the wars were on behalf of the Empire, not God.

In the first encounter between the Emperor Alexios of Constantinople and the Knights of the First Crusade, the Greeks were appalled by the pro war fanaticism of the visiting westerners. They made clear that they rejected the very concept of holy war. The Crusaders were looked upon by the Greeks as fanatics and barbarians.

When the Orthodox Church blesses the national struggles (Greek War of Independence, Russia against the Nazis) they are not blessing war. They are blessing the people who are fighting, dying, and suffering against a foreign yoke (Turks, Nazis). The present war in Ukraine has become very troubling.

One of the things the Orthodox East could take pride in is that it was not bloodthirsty like the west. The neoconservative and neo liberal wars (Iraq, Serbia) demonstrate quite clearly that the western political mind still believes in Crusading. A millenium ago it was in the name of Christianity and today in the name of democracy.

Russia remains the bastion of Christianity in the world. But its offensive war in Ukraine is not in accordance with Orthodoxy or Byzantium of which Moscow rightfully considers itself to be the successor. Russia remains the third rome on the basis that it is the largest Orthodox country in the world.

On Ukraine however, Moscow has gone astray. Unlike the 2014 intervention, this war is an offensive one. The Russian Church has lost some credibility owing to Patriarch Kyril’s refusal to condemn the war. There are 282 Russian priests who have condemned the war and the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church has condemned the war.

A Ukrainian priest has called for the convening of an ecumenical council to rule on the public stances of Patriarch Kyril of Moscow. Such a council will also need to challenge Patriarch Bartholomew’s intervention in Ukraine in 2018. The Russian Patriarch may very well be in the wrong but it should be remembered that Patriarch Bartholomolew blessed the Turkish tanks in 2018 that were sent to Syria to fight the Kurds.

Both Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Elpidophoros of America have aligned themselves with the United States that has made war an essential part of its foreign policy. Have either the Patriarch or the Archbishop condemned the bombings of Serbia, Iraq, or Syria? Have they condemned NATO’s expansion to the Russian border?

Russia may be in the wrong for invading Ukraine but as far as NATO goes the Russians have been placed on the defensive. Politics aside, Christian morality dictates that the lives of Ukrainians come before NATO or Russia. God loves the ordinary people suffering in war and for this reason Russia must end the war.

In the end why is Russia wrong? Because Moscow is acting like a western country in starting an offensive war. Orthodox Christians do not expect much from the West. We expect much more from the great Orthodox civilization of Russia.

Orthodoxy rejects offensive wars, western hypocrisy aside.

Holy Week is about to begin. This year we will be thinking about the blood of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine. Men, women, and children who are being bombed by other Orthodox Christians. The unpleasant reality is that Russia invaded Ukraine.

One can recognize the serious offenses by NATO against Russia while condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and all atrocities that accompany it. As a pro Russian Greek, it is disheartening to conclude that Russia is in the wrong.

In 1999, Orthodox Christians condemned the bombing of Serbia on Great and Holy Pascha. This year, an Orthodox Christian leader is bombing an Orthodox country. One can dismiss CNN and the New York Times. For ten years, they have promoted anti Russian hysteria and outright lies such as the election hoax.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (the canonical one) has condemned the Russian invasion and fifteen of its bishops refuse to commemorate Patriarch Kyril of Moscow. The Ukrainian Church cannot be dismissed as promoting western propaganda.

In light of continued Russian bombing of Ukraine on the eve of holy week, it is impossible to avoid blaming Russia for the war and its continuation.