EDITOR’S NOTE (Nick Stamatakis) Matthew Namee of Orthodoxhistory.org, released today the second – and likely the most important – part of the Karloutsos’ interview/biography. This is where “The Prince of Darkness” starts getting involved in the affairs of the Constantinople Patriarchate and gets to meet Bartholomew, a truly fatal affair. My friends, this reads more like a love story, or, to use the proper modern term, a “bromance” between the two that would be catastrophic for our Church and for World Orthodoxy. The backstabbing to AB Iakovos is a central part of the story. And, of course, there are other parts that are not visible – at least not yet. Maybe in the third part… For example, Karloutsos’ involvement with the State Department and his acting the rest of his life like an “Operative” promoting the dictates of the warmongers that have led this wonderful country to the edge of the cliff….
August 27, 2024, n.stamatakis@aol.com www.helleniscope.com
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Fr Alex Karloutsos with Metropolitans Joachim and Bartholomew
Earlier this year, I conducted a series of interviews with Fr Alex Karloutsos, and last week, I published my first article based on those interviews, chronicling his rise from relative obscurity to the highest echelons of power in America. Today, I will continue this series based on Fr Karloutsos’s memories, focusing on the early years of his relationship with the eventual Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and his role in Bartholomew’s own rise to power.
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“Growing up under Archbishop Iakovos, nobody really knew or cared about the Ecumenical Patriarch,” Fr Alex Karloutsos told me. “The center of our universe was America. They would talk about the patriarchate, but it was like a grandmother. You know, we love our yiayia, but it was old fashioned; no vision was coming from there.”
Following the death of Patriarch Athenagoras in 1972, the Turkish government blocked a swath of top candidates in the patriarchal election, resulting in the surprise election of the obscure, kindly, but untested Patriarch Dimitrios. Behind the scenes, one of the vetoed candidates, the powerful Metropolitan Meliton of Chalcedon, did what he could to run things in Istanbul. But the power of the Phanar was at a low point.
Over in America, thanks to Fr Karloutsos, Archbishop Iakovos and the Greek Archdiocese were on the rise, with newfound access to the centers of political power in Washington. Karloutsos had built relationships with both political parties as well as Greek philanthropists, and it was Iakovos, not anyone in Istanbul, who laid claim to the most prominence in the Greek Orthodox world.
It was right at this point – around the time that Fr Karloutsos met Ronald Reagan – that Meliton of Chalcedon made a personal visit to the United States.
Metropolitan Meliton and Archbishop Iakovos were old seminary classmates and rivals. A few years earlier, when Pope John Paul I died, Archbishop Iakovos was asked by President Jimmy Carter to be a member of the U.S. Presidential delegation at the pope’s funeral. He asked the patriarchate for permission to attend, but his request was denied. Meanwhile, Metropolitan Meliton was present, representing the Ecumenical Patriarch. Some newspapers even reported that Meliton was the “head of the Greek Orthodox Church.” Iakovos was furious and threatened to resign as archbishop, although he didn’t follow through on it.
On his visit to America, Metropolitan Meliton – who was a very shrewd man – immediately took notice of Fr Karloutsos, who was obviously (at least to Meliton) Iakovos’s secret weapon.
Meliton had two up-and-coming disciples: the young hierarchs Bartholomew and Joachim, who were best friends. Bartholomew was a rising star, installed at Meliton’s recommendation as the first head of the private office of the Ecumenical Patriarch. By the early 1980s, he was metropolitan of the ancient see of Philadelphia (in Asia Minor). And Bartholomew was from the island of Imbros, which was also the home of Iakovos – in fact, Iakovos’s sister, Chrysanthe, was Bartholomew’s godmother. Undoubtedly, upon returning to Turkey, Meliton told Bartholomew and Joachim about Fr Karloutsos.
The following year, 1983, Metropolitan Bartholomew came to North America to attend the World Council of Churches meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia. While he was on this side of the Atlantic, he made a point of meeting Fr Karloutsos. “When I met Bartholomew in 1983, he was forty-three years old, and I was thirty-eight,” Karloutsos said. “Both of us felt a big commitment to the Church: him to the Mother Church of Constantinople and me to the Archdiocese of America.”
Shortly after this, Metropolitan Meliton had a stroke, and, at Archbishop Iakovos’s invitation, Bartholomew brought his spiritual father back to the United States for therapy in White Plains, New York. Every day, for forty days – at the direction of Archbishop Iakovos – Fr Karloutsos drove Bartholomew to the rehab center to care for Meliton during his therapy. “That’s when Bartholomew and I became very, very close,” Karloutsos said. “We were together every day. We could talk about different things, our vision, the church. I introduced him to lay people. He started seeing America differently.”
Metropolitan Meliton of Chalcedon, pictured with Pope Paul VI in 1975
Bonding
In April 1985, Fr Karloutsos and his wife Xanthi were invited by Tim Maniatis and Cleo Zampetis, who at the time were the leaders of AHEPA (a Greek-American organization), to visit Turkey. Up to that point, says Karloutsos, “I had never been to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. I had to get permission from Iakovos, and he gave me permission, and he asked me to bring back relics from the Armenian Catholicos. I think later, he probably cursed the day he approved it.”
TO CONTINUE READING THIS “BROMANCE” BETWEEN KARLOUTSOS AND BARTHOLOMEW PLEASE LINK HERE
How ludicrous, part 1 of Rev. Karloutsos biography
Comments were CENSORED 🤬
by order of his Hamptons Church; they sent out email that article was “Corrected” — that it was “Broken”.
Yea, “broken” as in the Faithful are not allowed to critique our hyped up, Prince of Darkness Alex Karloutsos. SHAME on them repressing our free speech!
QUESTION should be asked:
Why is Rev. Karloutsos not loyal to Orthodox faith he’s supposed to defend??
Entire Greek Orthodox collective is horrified by his endless display of cringeworthy narcissism + shallow, Godless, lefty statements unbecoming a Priest.
I’ve listened to him up close + personal for years…
Alex is No deep thinker!
It’s transparent how painfully
NOT spiritual this deluded man is…
also extremely Amoral —
How unseemly, Alex is guilty of conduct unbecoming a Priest.
Seriously, Alex Karloutsos should’ve been unequivocally
DEFROCKED.
Embarrassing homeboy Alex got away with everything bc of his “bromance” with
Patriarch Bartholomew… but ya know, truth always comes out.
Karma has come —
Holy Bible says:
“What’s done in the dark, shall be shouted from the rooftops in the morning.”
SMH:
You’d think by retirement he’d spend rest of his nefarious life in humility + repentance?
Not!
Alex’s adoration is never for true holy things or pure beings like St. Paisios which he met on Athos, bc Geronda Paisios saw right thru his dark agenda.
No – AK doesn’t humble himself over that; he prefers to slobber over twisted, perverted politicians like his Idol – corrupt + degenerate Joe Biden, while stabbing in the back a most worthy leader, Archbishop
Iakovos — who gave him everything! Talk about ungrateful.
We see Betrayer Alex kissing the hand of enemies of our Faith,
like Andrew Cuomo who refused to allow the St. Nicholas Shrine look like a Church!
It was AK who chose the non- Orthodox Santiago Calatrava to waste $100 million dollars to build a hideous looking army bunker to represent our faith?
Even cross on top of dome is so tiny, one can barely notice it’s a church.
I remember asking “Fr. Alex” to please arrange for a larger cross over dome + he promised he would.
But like all his lies, it never happened.
In truth, Alex is nobody’s “spiritual advisor” — but a
money advisor Yes!!
Especially his shameless promotion of the homosexual agenda/ a complete Anathema to tenets of Orthodox Christianity.
ANAXIOS.
In conclusion, I have to say, my spiritual naïveté was spent visiting the devil’s cauldron 10 times, the office of Prince of Darkness himself, Alexander Karloutsos – assuring me, alongside his sinister overtures, he’d build my hearts desire: a monastic Skete … + other lies.
Προσωπικά θα έβαζα ως τίτλο του κειμένου: “ο Ρασπουτίνος που λέρωσε το ράσο”.
Δεν γνωρίζω αν όλα τα ανωτέρω , είναι σωστά , αλλά από προσωπικές εμπειρίες από τον ίδιο τον Ιάκωβο
και τον Επίσκοπο Μελόης Φιλόθεο. Ο Καρλούτσος την ίδια στιγμή που υπηρετούσε τον Ιάκωβο, άνοιγε τον λάκο του και τον ρουφιάνευε στον
Βαρθολομαίο εξυπηρετώντας παράλληλα τα δικά του συμφέροντα.
Ο Ιάκωβος τον τσάκωσε να στέλνει χρήματα από το ταμείο της Αρχιεπισκοπής στον ανηψιό του
Βαρθολομαίου που σπούδαζε στο Παρίσι και τον έδιωξε από την Αρχιεπισκοπή και όπως του είπα σε
κατ’ιδίαν συζήτηση, ήταν λάθος του που δεν τον μετέθεσε σε άλλη απομεμακρισμένη περιοχή και να τον
αποκόψει από τον Πατριάρχη. Φεύγοντας από την Αρχιεπισκοπή πήγε κατ’ευθείαν στον Πατριάρχη και του. είπε πως τον έδιωξε ο Ιάκωβος γιατί
έστελνε χρήματα στον ανηψιό του και έκτοτε άρχισαν τα Μούτσου Μούτσου
Πατριάρχη – Καρλούτσου κρατώντας και οι δυό μαζί αγκαλίτσα το πριόνι με
το οποίον πριόνιζαν τον Μεγαλύτερο ηγέτη που επί των ημερών μου γνώρισε η Ορθοδοξία.
Ο Πατριάρχης δεν μπόρεσε ποτέ του να χωνέψει πως ενώ εκείνος ήταν ο
ανώτατος ηγέτης της Ορθοδοξίας ο Ιάκωβος ήταν ο παγκοσμίως ανεγνωρισμένος χαρισματικός ηγέτης Της και δεν ησύχασε μέχρι που τον
εξόντωσε και αμέσως μετά ο ρασπουτίνος χάραζε την πορεία….. έδιωξε και τον Σπυρίδωνα για να βάλλει το αγνό ανθρωπάκι της Πίστης
Δημήτριο και μαζί ξεκίνησαν το φαγοπότι και διέλυσαν οικονομικά την Αρχιεπισκοπή, τα μετά τον Δημήτριο είναι γνωστά σε όλους.
Το μόνο που θέλω να μνημονεύσω είναι τό ότι σ’ένα από τα επιχειρηματικά μου ταξίδια στην Ελλάδα, στην επιστροφή μου πήγα
πρώτη θέση με την Τουρκική εταιρεία και στο κομμάτι Αθήνα – Κων/πολη καθόμουν δίπλα δίπλα με τον
Αλέξανδρο και ως συνήθως πιάσαμε την κουβέντα και σε μια στιγμή του λέγω απορώ πως εσύ έγινες Παπάς;
Και μου απήντησε γιατί το λέγω αυτό και του είπα: “Εσύ κάνεις μόνο για πολιτικός” και εμειδίασε….
Την ώρα που ο πιλότος ανακοίνωνε, προσδεθείτε για την προσγείωση.
Karloutsos looks like a clown standing by Phanar gangsters =
what a mess he’s done for GOA!
In Matthew Namee’s account, Archbishop Iakovos really comes across as a very power-hungry bishop. It must be God’s providence that Iakovos wasn’t made Patriarch. It was so sad to read here about Iakovos asking the saintly Patriarch Demetrios to retire so that he (Iakavos) could be made the Patriarch. As the saying goes, man plans and schemes, God laughs. Nonetheless, it was wonderful to read here about Fr. Alex’s very interesting service to the church.
AB Iakovos – despite his big ambitions- was also a true leader, tested in real life – the MLK support was only one of many manifestations of his leadership qualities. Karloutsos was always a follower of power and money for his own personal benefit. Is Smooching the wealthy a sign of leadership? Karloutsos spent his whole life licking the behinds of unworthy rich people. Or, is being an operative of the State Dept. a leadership quality? No – these are signs of someone who is a slavish follower of “the powers that be”. As for the succession of Patriarch Demetrios, a holy man, I have repeatedly published what I learned from his close family circle: there are suspicions of wrong doing around his death. The Phanar (meaning mostly Bartholomew) never allowed an autopsy of the dead Patriarch – although the family had requested it. This is the kind of people you are praising. Maybe you should wake up and face the truth?
I heard former AB Spyridon wrote a book and called Fr Alex a wiley wolf.
Nice to read AB Iakovos sent the entitled Karloutsos {aka Darth Vader} into exile to Constantinople for four years & was maligned.
Why wouldn’t Karloutsos be maligned? Indeed he was a traitor of the highest order to AB Iakovos & entire Greek Orthodox world. As an archon friend said of Karloutsos once- “Alex is only for himself’
I remember walking down streets of Manhattan and was stopped by an older Greek man from California because of my black robes and he brought up Father Alex;
he quickly began fuming and shooting off vulgar expletives of his utter disdain.
Fr. Alex has destroyed his reputation all by himself .
May God forgive him.
It is worth noticing the sidebar here regarding how the old calendars of Greece operate. The Gnisiacs have nothing in common with other old calendar Orthodox such as ROCOR. The EP has many old calendar parishes as the Patriarchate did not chose one calendar over the other. in fact, the World Trade Center church operated as old calendar on Sunday and new calendar on Wednesday. What in the USA, the old calendar parishes were largely the result of those who had improper ordination in Greece seeking to have parishes in America. WHen the Patriarchate chose to allow new or old calendar, the Greek government, pushed largely by the maritime industry, sought to force the issue, creating the militantly schismatic “Gnisiacs”, many of whom have gone off the deep end, and in fact do not have any cohesion in terms of belief only of being in rebellion.
The entire issue over the nephew is in fact tragicomic. Karloutsos asked the archdiocese travel agent to buy tickets for the nephew but told them not to charge the archdiocese. The agent was lazy and sloppy and was the only one at fault as they charged the ticket to the archdiocese, which was essentially illegal by USA non-profit regulations. However, under US law, the archdiocese had no choice but to fire Karloutsos. Never atrribute to perfidy that which you can and should attribute to stupidity.
There is a snake bigger than Karloutsos, as Meliton’s family operates satraps in Pennsylvania under the names Kotrotsios and Cottros.
Άσε τον αυτόν , του αρέσει να τον χαϊδεύουν……,
Nick is Elpi still meant to be removed soon? I believe I remember something you mentioned about him being removed by September.
I would imagine that if it were to happen it would be at the synod next week
From what I hear there is great internal conflict on this subject. They cannot agree on who will replace him. Obviously Nikitas, the only appropriate candidate at this time, is not approved by many – and certainly by the Ottomans…
Regardess, in essence he has removed himself. What does it mean to pretend to be an Archbishop when: a) Spiritually you do not mean ANYTHING to the faithful – not only that but your are quite the opposite of what the followers of this Church have faith into. b) Your only goal is to manage GOARCH financially and milk the church for everything it has – eventually selling the parish properties too. When I hear from people who talk with him, they tell me that the first word that comes out of his mouth is MONEY.
Elpidophoros has abolished his title in essence. If the November election have the outcome we are all hoping for, it will be even more meaningless for him to hold the title.
Not even a pretence, let alone a semblance, of anything edifying — except for the reference to Demetrios (who was a holy man).
Patriarch Demetrios called the Phanar of his time “blessed poverty”; but Kar., et al., didn’t see it.
Kar ‘s biography comes from interviews with Kar. himself, he is quoted throughout, but there is nothing in it (neither in the full text of this second part of the biography nor in the first part) about him except social climbing and self-serving, petty politics
It does show us, though, how we received Bartholomew as patriarch. In this regard, let me recall the words of an indigenous Orthodox priest in northeast Asia. “Oh,” the good priest said with sympathy, without guile, “you Greeks must have sinned a lot to have such a patriarch [Bartholomew].” Yes, true. And here we have evidence of some such sinfulness described for us by Kar. himself, straight from the horse’s mouth.
Astounding, that Kar. would express all of this — the back-stabbing, the insubordination, the gross social climbing and panderings — as if (somehow) normal. Apparently, it is normal for him in his world.
Christ warns us that there is one sin that is unforgivable: blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. … Yet, we see this cartel marching into a geo-politicized council of bishops next week. (Let’s pray for the few of them who have not fallen into this morass but are obliged to attend.) The writing is already on the wall. They are grouping themselves around Bartholomew in direct opposition against the bulk of the Orthodox Church at large. The predictable results: the same as those repeatedly in history whenever a Patriarch of Constantinople fell into heresy. It is actual theological (ecclesiological) heresy that we are facing at the Phanar today. This biography just provides us with some more insights into the spiritual corrupton.
God have mercy on us. Kyrie eleison.
Great insights Sam!
but calling Alex Karloutsos “Kar” is too odd.
Heck just call him traitor