Month: April 2023

Categories
Letters

Letter To Senator

My name is Theodore Karakostas and I am a Greek Orthodox Christian. This is not a political letter, but a letter motivated by concerns over religion, democracy, and freedom of conscience. 
At the present time, the Ukrainian government is attempting to outlaw the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This Church is one of three religious institutions claiming to be an Orthodox Church in that country. The dogmatic and ecclesiological matters are a matter of importance to Orthodox Christians and so I will not delve into this particular matter. 

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (not to be confused with the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine) has condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Despite this, the Zelensky government is intent on outlawing the Church and has permitted angry mobs with fascist sympathies to seize Churches in order to give them to the religious institution presently favored by the Kiev government. In a democratic society, the government should not care where people choose to worship and citizens should not be discriminated against or suffer violence because of choices they make in matters of religion. 

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been persecuted by the Ukrainian authorities long before the Russians invaded. The Ukrainian government has targeted an entire community because of the choices they make in matters of faith. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is being targeted because it is under the spiritual leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church. The hierarchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has condemned the Russian invasion and provided support for all Ukrainians regardless of religious affiliation. 

At the present time, the Ukrainian authorities are attempting to seize the Kiev Caves Lavra (a monastic complex) of Kiev which is the holiest site in Ukraine. The government is trying to evict the monks and seminarians even though they have done nothing wrong. Angry mobs have been harassing the monks and ordinary Ukrainians who have shown up at the monastery to show their support for the monastery and the monks. There is nothing political about this, and under no circumstances does concern for the freedom of religion for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have any sort of implications regarding the war. 

Roman Catholics throughout the world are under the spiritual authority of the Papacy. This does not make Roman Catholics loyal to the Italian government. As a Greek Orthodox, I am under thespiritual authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople from Turkey, and I have no sympathies for the Turkish government. The Ukrainian government is violating the right to religious freedom for millions of Ukrainians. American taxpayers are subsidizing the government of Ukraine.

The American government must demand that the government in Kiev cease and desist from interfering in the religious lives of its citizens. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church must be granted the same rights and recognitions that other religious institutions in Ukraine enjoy. 

Theodore Karakostas
Milton

Categories
Published Letters

Greek Churches Must Speak

LETTER TO EDITOR

Letter to the Editor: On the Orthodox Church in Ukraine

April 5, 2023

The National Herald

twitter

(Photo: TNH, File)

(Photo: TNH, File)

To the Editor:

The Greek-speaking world has always prided itself on its devotion to the faith of Christ and the Orthodox Church. As such, it is of extreme importance that we must raise our voices to condemn the barbaric persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its most important shrine, that of the Kiev Caves Lavra. From the strict point of view of canon law and Orthodox ecclesiology the Ukrainian Orthodox synod of Metropolitan Onuphry is the canonical Church of Ukraine. There is a schismatic entity called ‘Orthodox Church of Ukraine’ which lacks canonicity, catholicity, and apostolicity. Its creation is in fact highly irregular and problematic and threatens to destroy Orthodox unity.

From a democratic standpoint, religious freedom and freedom of conscience are extremely important. This means that each individual has the right to follow whatever religion or faith that they like. In Greece for example, individuals may worship within the canonical Church of Greece, or they may worship among the old calendar churches. Or they may attend Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, or Muslim services. The point is they have the right to worship as they like.

The Ukrainian government has effectively decided to outlaw the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. These are outright fascist policies that target an entire group of people because they worship within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church which was always recognized by all Orthodox Churches (including Constantinople) as the canonical Church of Ukraine until 2018. The decision of individuals to worship within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is a basic human right supported by the right to religious freedom and freedom of conscience.

The Ukrainian government has been seeking to evict over two hundred monks from the Kiev Caves Lavra, the holiest site in Ukraine. Kiev reasons that because the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is under the omophorion of the Patriarchate of Moscow there must be some sort of sinister political designs at work. This is like saying that Greek Orthodox in America and those parts of Greece (Crete, the Dodecanese islands, Mount Athos) that are under the Ecumenical Patriarchate must have some secret loyalty to the Turkish government.

Were Roman Catholics around the world disloyal to their own countries when Mussolini was in power, or when Rome was under Nazi occupation? We should remember that the Turkish government has in the past accused the Ecumenical Patriarchate of having political designs and has bestowed a policy of repression upon it.

The Greek speaking Orthodox churches must find their voices and must condemn the oppression of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The Greek Churches should remember the bravery of martyred Patriarch-Saint Gregory V, Metropolitan Chrysostom of Smyrna, Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens, and the late and beloved Archbishop Christodoulos who always spoke out against injustice.

Theodore Karakostas

Boston, MA

Categories
political

Madonna, Biden, And The Trans Evil

This past week six people (three of them children) were murdered in a school shooting perpetrated by a “trans” woman. The school was an Evangelical Christian school. The murderer was a former student who reportedly harbored resentment at her Evangelical family’s opposition to transgenderism.

The murders were anti Christian. This has been ignored by the media which continues to espouse the deranged cause of trans psychopaths. Madonna has announced she will perform at a benefit concert for the trans community. Not for the families of the people who were murdered.

Madonna seeks to oppose a law in Tennessee that prohibits drag queens from performing in public places where children are present. Madonna has denounced laws in general that seek to keep LGBT sexual ideology away from children. Madonna recently did a photo shoot with Vanity Fair in which she blasphemously dressed as both Jesus Christ and the Mother of God.

Reasonable people recognize that parents have a right to raise children according to their values. The LGBT activists demonstrate that their entire cause is without reason, logic, or morality. They have demanded and received access to other people’s children in schools and public libraries. They recognize no limits which is demonstrated by their efforts to indoctrinate children.

School libraries include books on homosexuality and transgenderism. Public libraries host shows by drag queens with sexual overtones which are attended by children. The massacre in Nashville was for years preceded by an organized effort from the trans activists to indoctrinate children.

Dylan Mulvaney is a YouTube “performer” who “discovered” he is a woman. He was able to visit the White House and interview Joe Biden. He asked Biden about the legislation passed by Republicans across the country which prohibit transitioning (sex changes) for minors. Joe Biden referred to such legislation as “immoral”.

That says something about Biden and the Democratic Party. In the aftermath of the massacre, attention is given to lunatic trans activists rather than the victims. Madonna, Biden and others who refuse to stop the trans evil are morally complicit in child abuse.

It also indicates the rising threat to all Christians in America and the west.