Month: October 2023

Categories
political

The Middle East

The slaughter of 1,400 Israelis by Hamas is sickening and deserves to be condemned. The taking of hostages is also evil. Meanwhile, Palestinian civilians (Christians and Muslims) are enduring a horrific existence with humanitarian supplies running low in Gaza.

There is a good deal to admire about Israel and the Palestinians. Having visited the holy land and having travelled within Israel and the Palestinian Territories, I can state there is much to admire about both peoples. From a Christian perspective, we should pray for peace and an end to the suffering of people on all sides of this war.

This post is admittedly vague because there is a lot of information emerging that may or may not be true. Some facts however. Israel has a right to exist and to self defense.

The Palestinians have a right to their own state. This seems paradoxical as peace seems to be very far right now. In Gaza, the Greek Orthodox bishop has made clear the humanitarian crisis under way.

The war should be viewed in the context of the Gospel. Terrorism and murder should be condemned. Compassion should be extended to all people’s on all sides who are civilians.

May there be peace!

Categories
Letters

Letter To Foreign Affairs


The following letter is in response to “Putin’s Useful Priests” (September 14) by Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan. I am a Greek Orthodox Christian under the Ecumenical 
Patriarchate of Constantinople and not a member of the Russian Orthodox Church. However, an attack against one local Orthodox Church is an attack against all. The politicization and secularization of the Orthodox Church is deplorable. Perhaps some criticism can be directed at former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former American Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt for blatantly interfering in the spiritual life of the Greek speaking Orthodox Churches of Constantinople and Greece. 

American officials asked these two Churches to recognize a schismatic sect of pseudo bishops and priests in the so called “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” for the sole purpose of turning the Greek Churches against their sister Church in Russia. American officials had no business asking these Churches to recognize this fake 
Church and bishops in Constantinople and Athens had no business granting the Americans this request. From the standpoint of Orthodox canon law and ecclesiology,the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the synod of Metropolitan Onuphry is the legitimate Church of Ukraine as it possesses canonicity, catholicity, and apostolic succession. 

American officials have made a mockery of the Orthodox Church and its canonical precepts by blatantly deciding what constitutes an Orthodox Church. Such secular intervention in Church affairs deserves condemnation. It is hypocritical therefore to accuse the Russian government of using the Russian Orthodox Church when it is 
clear it is the State Department which is attempting to use Orthodox Churches in their foreign policy against Russia. Even more deplorable, for many years before the
invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been fiercely persecuted and many bishops, priests, and faithful Ukrainians have been harassed, arrested, or beaten for attending the Church that the Kiev government and its backers in Washington disapprove of. 

This is not to suggest that the war is justified. Indeed, the war cannot be justified and some of the rhetoric from the Moscow Patriarchate stands in conflict with Orthodoxy as the Orthodox Church does not endorse Crusades or religious wars of any kind. It is however deplorable and condemnable to suggest that the Russian Church is somehow an instrument of Moscow. Church-State relations in Russia are similar to Church-State relations in Greece and other Orthodox countries. 

Church-State relations are defined by the Justinian principle of “symphonia” or harmony in which Church and State are partners but function separately. This is how the Church functioned in Byzantine Constantinople and at the present in Orthodox countries. Church and State function independently of one another but serve as allies. It is absurd to suggest that the Russian Church either in Russia or abroad function at the service of the government. Westerners are simply upset that the 
Russian Church does not behave in accordance with their own wishes. 

The position of the universal Orthodox Church today has become very complicated as a result of the schism that has begun over Constantinople’s intervention in the affairs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (under the omophorion of Moscow since 1686). This division has been gradually widening and has made the possibility 
of Orthodox Churches gathering to oppose the war entirely impossible. The Orthodox Church is “not of this world” and does not serve secular political interests. 

Let us keep in mind exactly which governments have been blatantly looking to use the Orthodox Church for political and secular purposes. 

Theodore Karakostas
Boston, MA

Categories
Analysis

Biden’s Dangerous Openings To Occupied Cyprus

The American embassy in Turkey has granted a visa to Ersin Tatar to visit the United Nations General Assembly. Tatar will be flying on a Turkish passport. The creeping recognition of occupied Cyprus is steadily under way.

This follows the genocidal assault on the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan. The Biden administration can be considered the most pro Turkish administration in American history and that says a good deal. While in the Senate, Biden took pro Greek positions.

What many failed to realize is the Presidency is different from the Senate and the President is subject to the influence of the foreign policy establishment. Greeks should not be surprised by how things are turning out. The anti Russian hysteria has inevitably made Turkey a strategically important player that Washington and Moscow are both looking to influence.

This is not the first time the senile President has extended diplomatic courtesies to the occupied territories. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland previously visited occupied Cyprus and called Tatar “Mr. President”. The Biden administration is hostile to Greece and Cyprus and this was made clear early on when Washington sold fighter planes to Turkey.

Prime Minister Mitsotakis has put Greek foreign policy in American hands by publicly bashing Russia and embracing the phony cause that is Ukraine. The Russians have been disappointing to say the least as the Armenians can attest, but there was no reason for Mitsotakis to embrace the fascist cause of Ukraine and to destroy Greek Russian relations. Mitsotakis was once an admiral leader who stood up to the Turks, he is now an American stooge like many of his predecessors.

Disaster on the diplomatic front for Cyprus is coming in phases. First, Nuland’s visit to occupied Cyprus, and now this this visa granted to Tatar. Greeks should be worried.

Categories
Commentary

Jerusalem Patriarch Offers Mediation

The stature of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem has always been great as that Patriarchate is the protector of the sacred shrines within the holy land. Now comes the news that Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem has offered to mediate the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. This is good news as finally an Orthodox Patriarch is rising to the occasion to bring peace.

Unlike the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Alexandria, the Patriarch of Jerusalem has not been tainted by association with the pseudo church of Ukraine. Jerusalem recognizes only the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The Patriarch Theophilos and bishops of the Jerusalem Patriarchate have in fact condemned the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The Jerusalem Patriarchate has a Greek Patriarch and mostly Greek bishops, but its flock is Palestinian. Also, the Russians, Georgians, and Romanians have a presence in the holy land. The Jerusalem Patriarchate is therefore multi ethnic and pan Orthodox.

It is true that problems remain over the discriminatory treatment of the Arabs. But the potential for the problems of the Patriarchate to be resolved is great as Jerusalem should be an international Church where Arabs, Russians, Georgians, and Rumanians should be included in the hierarchy. In any case, as Constantinople’s position has diminished because of its actions in Ukraine, Jerusalem appears to be rising as the center of Orthodoxy.

In 2020, Patriarch Theophilos took the initiative to convene a gathering in Amman to discuss the schism in Orthodoxy. As less than half of the Churches gathered, there were no binding decisions. But, this remains the only real effort made to address the schism.

Patriarch Theophilos has the respect of the Russian Church and government. He has the respect of Orthodox Churches. He has the independence that could permit him to play the role of mediator between Russia and Ukraine.

The Patriarch of Jerusalem is the successor to Saint James, the brother of the Lord. How appropriate that a peace initiative for Orthodox nations should come from this sacred Church. Patriarch Theophilos is a true Orthodox Statesman!

AXIOS!