• On Monday April 10, one of the Saints that is commemorated on the calendar of the Orthodox Church is Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople. Patriarch Gregory served as Ecumenical Patriarch on at least three different occasions. He was deposed the first two times, but his last tenure on the Patriarchal throne ended with his execution. 
• He was executed at the gate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on the Sunday of Pascha. He was held responsible by the Ottoman Sultan for the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence. Formally, the Patriarch renounced the Greek uprising. Unofficially however, he had known about plans for an uprising but remained silent. He took the position that he could not be formally involved but did nothing to betray the Greek cause either. 
• After the Greek uprising, a campaign of terror was undertaken against the Greek Orthodox populations of Constantinople, Smyrna, and Thessaloniki. The martyrdom of the Patriarch seemed to have exhausted the rage of the Sultan and the policies against the Greeks in those cities was relaxed. The Patriarch gave his life for the protection of his flock.
• His execution angered both the Russian and British governments. The Russians were angry that an Orthodox Patriarch was put to death and the anti Greek terror campaign in the Ottoman Empire hardened Russian attitudes to the Turks. The British recognized that the execution of one of Christendom’smost prominent spiritual leaders was a horrendous crime and could not ignore it. 
• The Patriarch suffered considerably. Along with several bishops he was hanged. The gate where he was hanged from at the Patriarchate has remained closed up to the present day. A former Mayor of Constantinople that was elected in 1994 named Recep Erdogan had vowed that he would visit the Patriarchate and the gate would be opened just for him. International pressure forced him to back down. 
• The Patriarch Gregory V was weak and frail. He was hanging for hours before he died. His body was subsequently degraded and dragged through the streets of Constantinople. His body was thrown into the bosporus was eventually found and taken to Odessa where he received an official State funeral at the expense of the Russian Empire. In 1871, the relics of the Patriarch were sent to Athens where they have remained in the Annunciation Cathedral to be venerated by faithful Orthodox Greeks. 
• Patriarch Gregory V is an example of a spiritual shepherd. His life was lost so his faithful left behind in the Ottoman Empire would be spared. On the one hundredth anniversary of his martyrdom in 1921, the Patriarch Gregory was officially recognized as a Saint by the Greek Orthodox Church. This was when 
• the Greeks were fighting for the liberation of Asia Minor and it was hoped the Greek Army would be inspired by the Saint from Constantinople. 
• It should be noted that the Russians gave the Patriarch a state funeral. There is no reason why the Ecumenical Patriarchate should not have brotherly spiritual relations with the Russian Church. Greeks and Russians share so much including the Saints. Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory V was an Orthodox traditionalist and one of the best Patriarchs to serve in the post Byzantine era. The present occupant of the Ecumenical Patriarchate should emulate 
• his example and his bravery.
• In this case, bravery would be to reverse what has been done in Ukraine over the past five years. This necessitates condemning the oppression of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Let us remember Patriarch Gregory V! His memory be eternal!

“Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God”

Matthew 5:9

“and now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love”.

I Corinthians 13:13

Orthodox Christians are obligated before God to resist evil. We see two forms of evil that are manifesting in America today. These are the evils of racism and Marxism.

One can condemn racism and the injustices suffered by the African American community without supporting the Marxist pseudo academics and other elements encouraging the massive riots in America. Christianity has always rejected racism as can be seen by the command of Jesus Christ, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and of The Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). Christ and the Apostles were all Jewish so when the risen savior instructed his disciples to go and convert the gentiles he was emphasizing that all people are welcome into the Kingdom of God pending their repentance and baptism.

According to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, all people today are the descendants of Adam and Eve. In the Orthodox Church there is the icon of the harrowing of hell depicting Christ having descended into hell where he has liberated Adam and Eve. Christ suffered and rose from the tomb in order to bestow life to all of humanity.

There is no message that is more beautiful than that which is taught by the Holy Gospel. The Orthodox Church teaches its faithful to see the image of God in the face of every human being. Unfortunately, Christianity is perceived by many radicals in America and Europe as being a racist religion. This is because of the behavior of western Christians over the centuries as well as by the fact that radical leftists have very small and closed minds and have simply associated Christianity with evils such as slavery and racism.

The fact remains however that that there are two forms of Christianity. Eastern Orthodoxy is quite distinct from Western Christianity. The sins in previous centuries of Western Christianity do not reflect on Orthodoxy. While Roman Catholic countries such as Spain and Portugal were complicit in the slave trade, most Orthodox Christians in Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Rumania, and other Eastern Christians such as the Armenians, Copts, and Assyrians were suffering under the yoke of the Ottoman Empire.

A major difference in the attitude toward humanity between the Christian East and the Christian West can be seen by the differing attitudes of the Orthodox Greeks of Constantinople and the Western Crusaders to the people of Islam. When the Knights of the First Crusade were passing through Constantinople they mentioned to the Greeks that they were embarking on a “holy war”. The Greeks responded that their wars were imperial wars fought for defensive purposes and rejected the misuse of Christianity for the purposes of waging war.

The attitude of the Greek East was heavily influenced by the Canons of Saint Basil found in Orthodox Canon Law. Saint Basil had prescribed that a Christian soldier who had killed an enemy soldier in war would be denied communion for three years. It was not that the soldier had committed a sin by fighting for his country (in this case the Byzantine Empire) but in recognition of the fact that enemy soldiers were human beings who were also God’s creatures. When the Orthodox Greeks at Constantinople had heard of the genocide against Muslims and Jews that were committed by the Crusaders they were appalled and disgusted (The Crusaders can be seen as the forerunners of the neo conservatives).

As such, Christianity has always rejected racism and violence against any and all groups of people. The present difficulties in America are above all spiritual, and this is what the Marxist academics do not understand. The antidote to the social problems of America lies in the truth of the Holy Gospel and not in the writings of the long dead Karl Marx.

A righteous cause can never divorce itself from morality. All morality emanates from God. The systemic destruction that has engulfed American cities should be condemned by all Christians, Eastern and Western. Just as racism is evil in its essence, so is anarchy which has been further enflamed by the abdication of responsibility by various Mayors and political officials of the Democratic Party who have permitted the violence to continue.

Saint Paul writes, “For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Every organization should be judged on the basis of substance and not on the basis of its appearance and outward claims of good works. The destruction and hysteria that has arisen in the wake of the horrific murder of George Floyd has revealed that the substantive nature of this movement is based on Marxist revolutionary ideology and not on moral opposition to racism.

The Christian denunciation of racism is based on dogmatic and spiritual truths emanating from the morality of the Triune God. The supposed opposition to racism by Marxist ideologues is motivated by the fervent desire for violent revolution and the forcible imposition of the dictatorship of the proletariat on American society. For the Marxists, there are no moral precepts at stake here only the opportunity for self promotion and a pathetic attempt to replicate in America what failed in Russia, Eastern Europe, China, Cuba, and North Korea.

Any movement lacking in moral precepts and principles is in opposition to the Holy Gospel of the Lord. Any movement that engages in the dehumanization of any person (for example, the Police) or is willing to sacrifice innocent people (those whose property is being destroyed) is without morality. The fight against corruption and racism cannot be waged without the morality that originates from God alone.

 On 29 May 2020, the anniversary of the Fall of Constantinople and the heroic martyrdom of Emperor Constantinos Paleologos the Great Church of Aghia Sophia was used for Islamic prayers. Four years ago, there were Koranic readings in the Great Church during the Muslim holy days of Ramadan. Aghia Sophia has since 1985 been on the list of world heritage sites of UNESCO (United nations educational scientific cultural organization). UNESCO has failed to make any public statement opposing Turkish plans. 

I have repeatedly contacted UNESCO about this matter. As far back as the fall of 2013, I began writing to UNESCO’s New York office. I also began calling them on the phone and spoke with some of their representatives. I was told directly that a country can do whatever they want with a particular site that is on their territory and UNESCO must respect that decision. I did not believe that to be true then, and I do not believe that to be true now. UNESCO has publicly (and rightfully) condemned the Islamic state for destroying the cultural artifacts of Iraq. They remain ethically obligated to speak up in defense of Aghia Sophia.

In the summer of 2014 I visited a UNESCO office in Athens. I spoke with a gentleman to inform him that Turkish politicians were openly calling for the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a Mosque. In addition to that, I informed  him that at the time two other Church-Museums named Aghia Sophia in Trebizond and Iznik (the former town of Nicea where the first and seventh ecumenical councils of the Church took place to condemn the arian and iconoclastic heresies) had already been converted into Mosques. Since then, another Aghia Sophia in Edirne (the former Adrianople) has been converted into a Mosque. 

In March 2015, while on a visit to Paris I visited the headquarters of UNESCO and met with the organizations “chief of Europe and North America” to protest Turkish plans to make Aghia Sophia a Mosque. The woman informed me that UNESCO had spoken with the Turkish authorities and had been given assurances that the Great Church would not become a Mosque. I have never believed this. Before my Paris visit, large crowds of Turks had gathered outside Aghia Sophia to pray which I perceived as a direct claim to making Aghia Sophia a Mosque. 

 In our conversation, I pointed out to her Aghia Sophia was a product of the Gospel and Orthodox theology. Saint Justinian who presided over the building of the Church is a Greek Orthodox Saint. I reminded her that there were three parties interested in Aghia Sophia. The Turks, the academic community and UNESCO, and Greek Orthodox Christians. I told her outright only the Greeks who have been deprived of Aghia Sophia are challenging the Turks in order to save the Church. Her responses were vague and not entirely true. Know ing Turkey’s aggressive pressure campaigns on various governments, universities, and other institutions, I asked her if UNESCO had been subjected to Turkish pressure. She refused to answer the question saying she does not answer “political questions”. 

The situation is what it is. Aghia Sophia is now being used as a Mosque. This is not an unexpected development. Knowing the nature of Turkish regimes in general, and the fanaticism of the present government this was inevitable. What is particularly despicable is the silence not only of UNESCO but that of the academic community worldwide. The field of Byzantine studies is a glorious one and there are excellent historians and academics who specialize in this field.

To my knowledge, there has no protest on the part of the academic community to protest Turkish plans for Aghia Sophia. UNESCO in particular had a moral responsibility considering that the Church is on its list of world heritage sites. Through their silence, both UNESCO and the academic community have become complicit in this Turkish crime against Greek Orthodoxy. The silence and hypocrisy of the civilized world is what has fed Turkey’s crimes against humanity in the past and continues to feed it in the future.