Greetings to the American Embassy,
My name is Theodore Karakostas and I am an American Greek Orthodox. I am writing to you to express criticism of his excellency Ambassador Pyatt,former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and any others that have interfered blatantly in the spiritual life of the Orthodox Church. The desire to support religious freedom is admirable. Religious freedom means that all people have the right to go to any Church or temple they want without being harassed or subjected to violence and persecution.
What American officials such as Ambassador Pyatt and others have done has nothing to do with religious freedom. There were three versions of Orthodoxy in Ukraine. The proper and ethical viewpoint of the American government should have been to ensure that all are free to go to which particular Church they like. According to ecclesiastical rules and canon law of the Orthodox Church, there is only one legitimate Church in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the synod of Metropolitan Onuphry enjoys recognition in Orthodoxy as the canonical Church whose bishops and priests possess apostolic succession and catholicity. Their bishops and priests can trace their succession back to the apostles as other bishops in Orthodoxy do.
It is well known that the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church is disliked by American authorities because it is a part of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Ambassador and other officials of the State Department have no business involving themselves in these matters. Having involved themselves in these Church matters they have made pronouncements on the legitimacy of episcopal consecrations, priestly ordinations and matters of ecclesiology which do not concern secular officials.
The State Department has violated religious freedom for Orthodox Christians in three ways. First, in Ukraine, the State Department has overlooked the forcible seizure of Churches belonging to the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. It has ignored the violence and beatings that have been directed against clergy and lay people of the legitimate Church by fanatical supporters of a faction that is not considered to be a part of the Orthodox Church according to the strict tenets of canon law. The”hierarchs” and “priests” that American officials support are not real priests because all of them have either been anathematized (excommunicated) or have never been ordained within the authentic Orthodox Church.
Secondly, the intervention in the internal affairs of the Orthodox Church of Greece and the holy mountain of Athos by American officials is seen by myself certainly, and millions of other Orthodox Christians as sacrilege and blasphemy. It is a matter of public record that former Secretary Pompeo travelled to Athens to ask his beatitude Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens to extend recognition to the fake “church” that his all holiness Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople helped to create in December2018. Secretary Pompeo had no business in making this request and the Archbishop had no business granting it. In the Orthodox Church, the faithful are obligated to criticize hierarchs when they violate canon laws and the precepts of the Orthodox Church. In the Orthodox Church, Patriarchs and bishops are not infallible and have often been opposed by righteous faithful in history when they stray.
Neither Patriarch Bartholomew nor Archbishop Ieronymos are above criticism. Both they and other bishops within the Churches of Constantinople and Greece are in the wrong for intervening in Ukrainian Church affairs. The Ukrainian Church is a part of the Russian Orthodox Church and its future is dependent on the Russian Patriarchate as the mother Church. American intervention inside the Churches of Constantinople and Greece for the purposes of pursuing foreign policy goals is an explicit violation of religious freedom. American officials have requested that these Churches violate their own religious precepts for political purposes and they have created divisions between Orthodox Christians of Greek heritage and the rest of the Orthodox world.
Thirdly, there are Orthodox Christians around the world who happen to be under the omophorion (an ecclesiastical word) of the Church of Constantinople. This has put a strain on the spiritual life of Orthodox Christians not at ease with the actions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Ukraine. There are those who also happen to love the Church and City of Constantinople who are dismayed by the actions that have been undertaken by that Church and who are disturbed by the role of secular officials in prompting them to take actions that should never have been undertaken.
Orthodox Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the leader and founder of the Orthodox Church! The Orthodox Church is not a Church, it is THE Church. We do not think it is proper or correct for secular officials to use the Church that is led by Christ as if it were a political party or a non governmental organization. These are matters that have to do with the sacred and the divine. Some respect is in order by the officials of the State Department.
His excellency Ambassador Pyatt has expressed concern about the “tomos” that was granted to the fake “church” in Ukraine. This is none of his business. The past three years of secular interference with the faith of Christ has created havoc, chaos, and division among Orthodox Christians. Those hierarchs who have become involved in secular politics are not without blame and according to the conciliar tradition of the Orthodox Church they must account for their actions at a future council.
This is my protest as a Greek Orthodox Christian dedicated to the true faith of Christ! Orthodoxy is not a play thing. It is the authentic Church of Christ.
Glory to God!!!!!
Theodore Karakostas
USA