As of this writing, it appears the faithful Ukrainian monks of the Great Lavra are going to be forcibly evicted by the fascist police. Orthodox hierarchs worldwide are holding all night vigils and contacting their elected officials to intervene. In America, Metropolitan Tikhon of Orthodox Church in America (OCA) has raised his voice with Orthodox hierarchs.
Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese has said nothing. The morally and spiritually bankrupt Archdiocese has nothing to say on the matter. The Archbishop who marched with the Marxist “black lives matter” and held a liturgy in that pagan temple used by the anti Christian Episcopalians is silent to the plight of the monks of the Great Lavra.
Patriarch Bartholomew has demonstrated he cares only about power. In 2018, he colluded with the State Department to carve up the Russian Orthodox Church. He granted “autocephaly” to a depraved group of laymen who were either defrocked by the Russian Church or never ordained by the real Church.
Patraiarch Bartholomew had no authority to intervene in Ukraine. From 1992 (the origin of the Ukrainian schism) until 2018, the Patriarchate’s official position was that the synod under Moscow was the legitimate Church in Ukraine. It has always been evident that the Patriarch changed his stance because of political factors.
The Churches of Greece, Cyprus, and Alexandria blindly followed Constantinople’s suicidal path. The Greeks of 1821 and 1940 would be appalled by the slavish manner with which today’s Greek hierarchs obeyed the State Department. On matters of faith and ecclesiology.
We have forgotten the State Department’s apathy toward the Greeks of Constantinople and the ethnic cleansing process by the Turks since 1955. The collusion between the Greek hierarchs of Constantinople and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese with the State Department is obscene. Never let it be forgotten that the Russian Orthodox Church in 1955 condemned the anti Greek pogroms by Turkey.
I’m 2004, Russia helped kill the Annan Plan for Cyprus which would have sealed the Turkish occupation. In 2010, the Russians helped open the Patriarchal Monastery of Pangia Soumela in Trebizond. Russophobia infected the Greeks.
For several years the canonical Ukrainian Church has been persecuted by President Zelensky and his predecessor Petro Poroshenko. This started long before the war. The Ukrainian government and its Neo Nazi militias accuse the legitimate Ukrainian Church of being pawns for Moscow.
The hypocrisy is astounding. The synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has in fact condemned the Russian invasion. This means nothing to the fascists who lead Zelensky by the nose. The fascists who have been seizing Churches over the last several years have taken them for political reasons.
The blasphemers in Zelensky’s government intend to use the relics of Saints in the Great Lavra to attract visitors to the museum that the Monastery is going to become.
The Ukrainian bishops are accused of serving Russia. This is interesting considering the degree to which the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese serve Turkish and American interests. In 2018, Patriarch Bartholomew blessed the Turkish Army before it invaded the Kurdish region of Syria. Archbishop Elpidophoros appeared with officials of Turkey and the leader of the Turkish occupation of Cyprus in the fall of 2021.
Which bishops are serving which governments? The Greek and Greek American media have been ominously quiet about the Ukrainian schism since it began. Deference to Patriarch Bartholomew has reached an extreme point to which Greeks are unaware that American influence has a hold over the hierarchs in all Greek speaking Churches. This is appalling.
There are voices suggesting the Ecumenical Patriarchate should be abolished. This blog is not among those voices despite abhorring and condemning all of Patriarch Bartholomew’s actions in Ukraine. The downfall of the Ecumenical Patriarchate will occur because it has deviated from Orthodox ecclesiology.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate holds a “primacy of honor” and holds first place among Orthodox Churches. That may change very soon. The Ecumenical Patriarchate turned its back on its sister Churches and Orthodox faithful everywhere to align itself with the atheistic and neo pagan establishment in Washington.
The Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church has written to Patriarch Bartholomew asking him to speak out on the persecution of the Monks of the Great Lavra. The Patriarch’s refusal to speak and to repent may bring about the end of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
4 replies on “The Ecumenical Patriarchate And The Great Lavra”
The silence emanating from the Greek Orthodox Church and Patriarch Bartholomew on the violation of the religious Rights of the historical Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the theft of their property is absolutely appalling. Bartholomew has tarnished the once bright image he had as an advocate for religious freedom in Turkey and the rest of the world, he has allowed himself to be used by one side in the Ukrainian conflict. What an opportunity he had to be as spokesman for peace and reconciliation between the two sides, instead he let the Pope and the regime in Ankara take the lead on that while he issued statements against the Ukrainian Church and Russia. Shameful. The damage on the Phanar will likely never be healed, at least not until he’s replaced by his successor.
The danger is that he may not have a successor. The Patriarchate’s best chance of survival was getting the support of the Russians. The US is using the Patriarchate in its anti-Russian policies. They did nothing to save Hagia Sophia and they will do nothing for Halki or the Patriarchate in the long term. Patriarch Bartholomew needs to be removed. The problem is who will succeed him.
The Turks have indicated they want to Approve whoever is nominated for the Patriarchate, that is problematic. And since Bartholomew has tainted the Office with it’s pro-Western and anti-Russian stance it’s hard to see how anyone who isn’t a tool of the West would get appointed now. But God finds a way, we need to have Faith in Him and let events unwind.
The Patriarchate is going to continue to have problems in Turkey despite Patriarch Bartholomew’s alliance with the US against Russia. I think the Patriarchate may be in greater danger as a result of its Ukrainian actions.