By Nick Stamatakis
Elpidophoros stands out for many things: His adherence to heretic novelties, his promotion of “woke” and LGBTQ agenda, his Ecumenism, his bold, unadulterated, out-of-control egotistical ambition, and his ties to the Erdogan regime… But for the GOA and its faithful, the most annoying of all that he has done is bringing with him legions of priests from Turkey and Greece, picked with one criterion only: their loyalty to Elpidophoros and Pat. Bartholomew.
Few would mind if he would, let’s say, made a turn to spirituality, went to Mt. Athos, and picked a few of the many highly educated and inspired monks that practice monasticism there. They could be invited occasionally for spiritual reasons. Or if he offered a position (after a proper “adjustment training”) to the numerous truly enlightened servants of God in Greece and Cyprus – many with excellent education. The most essential need for this Church is an injection of spirituality and faith.
But this is not how “they do business” in Greece and Turkey. They are not looking to fulfill needs rationally. When they “advance” socially, financially, and politically, they turn to family and confidantes to fill the new demands they are faced with. Just look at the corrupt, “mafia-like” families of President Erdogan and PM Mitsotakis: They are a “who-is-who” of patronage and favoritism based on family and “friendship” ties… They are not selected by any objective meritocratic measure.
When Elpidophoros arrived in America, and even before he did, he was overwhelmed by “insecurity” (or he had a plan to take over the Church by “a band of brothers”). Almost immediately he invited many such priests. Over the last five years, they live together in the same quarters with the Archbishop in East 79th Street, half of which was turned into a commune-like dorm (the “renovation” was donated by one of the many contractors in the community). Soon, they expanded in the Cathedral’s buildings a few blocks away, and a little later, they used the upper floor of the Cultural Center in Astoria. They live rent-free, and in most cases, GOA pays/orders at least one main meal for them!! If this is not a “commune,” I genuinely do not know what is.
In the past, we have referred to the famous case of “pizza-man” Fr. Gideon (Varytimos) from Constantinople, who learned how to chant as a priest in a “dying” parish in Queens. Another case is Fr. Gregory (Stamkopoulos), a “computer geek” from Salonica, who not only is on salary from the government of Greece (he is considered to be “working abroad”) but also makes at least two more salaries here (as the assistant director of Education and as a priest in a Manhattan parish). At the same time, he lives rent-free at the GOARCH’s Cultural Center in Astoria. Recently, we had another extreme example, Father Kallinikos Chasapis, who was appointed at the wealthiest parish in DC – while he seems nothing more than a mediocrity. Why? Because he was “picked” by the Patriarch himself – God knows in exchange for what “favors”… This is how business is done in Turkey and Greece: various forms of “bakhshish” – material and immaterial…
PHOTO: Fr. Kallinikos Chasapis (Left), Fr. Villis, the Archbishop, Fr. Dimitri Lee.
There are many such cases, of course. A common denominator is their immigration status: Some come here on temporary visas, student visas, or any other imaginable manner. Most have to renew their visas every six or twelve months – some by returning home. Apparently, they do not mind! They do not seem to think they will be here for a long time… In parenthesis I note that the Archbishop of Australia Makarios, goes back every six months as he does not want to get Australian citizenship – because he will lose his Turkish citizenship, and he doesn’t like this… Why? Maybe because of his patriarchal ambitions? Of course…
None of them wants to wait in line for years – they just want everything NOW, and in their attitude, money is always first!!
So wouldn’t it be logical to expect Tom Homan, the new “border czar” President Trump just nominated a few days ago, to round them up and send them back where they came from? In many ways, they are not better, and, in our case, they are just as harmful as any other immigrants who cross the Southern border illegally. Just the fact that they come here totally “foreign bodies,” unaccustomed to America, with a half-baked theological education and not proper training, learning the basics “on the job,” is very harmful to our Church and parishes. Yet again, we accepted the worst of this type, AB Elpidophoros… Are we supposed to assume these “priests” came here to serve our communities? They do not fully know theology, they do not speak the language competently enough and they need at least 5-8 years to be adjusted, BUT they will serve our parishes? Especially the oldest and most established ones, like St.Constantine and Helen in Washington DC, were Fr. Kallinikos Hasapis was recently appointed. Just one short question: Does anyone in DC thinks that he (and the rest) is in any position to perform catechism, to administer confession, or offer advice to the youth?
A big round of applause for Tom Homan! Let’s hope he will be successful…
November 15, 2024, n.stamatakis@aol.com www.helleniscope.com
DISCLAIMER: The views and statements expressed in this article constitute constitutionally protected opinions of this author.
Αμάν και πότε! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out! Criminals in robes…Aisxos!
Βλέποντας την φωτογραφία του
κειμένου , έσκασα στα γέλια με τους τρείς κουστουμαρισμένους …… ο ένας
μάλιστα ξέφυγε και από το χρώμα ακόμη . Θα μου πείτε φυσικά πως το
ράσο δεν κάνει τον παπά , όμως
και πολλά κρύβει , και αρχοντιά προσφέρει και το κυριότερο προκαλεί
τον Σεβασμό των πιστών .
Όποιος ντρέπεται να φορεί το ράσο να
μην γίνεται Παπάς , γιατί ο Παπάς δεν
πρέπει να παίζει μόνο τον Παπά , αλλά
να είναι και παπάς διότι δεν είναι επάγγελμα μόνο αλλά και λειτούργημα.
The American Empire is in the gutter. Broke, corrupt, and evil.
I’m sure they have already broken some laws here…that’s how the system works…everyone violates at least some law each day, knowingly or unknowingly, and then whenever the systemic bureaucrats want to punish you, they investigate, identify the violation, and leverage it…it won’t be hard for even a rookie investigator to determine what exact statute was violated already by anyone in GOARCH… that in theory would make it very easy to prioritize any identified “Constantinopolitan gang members” to be deported together with the “Venezuelan street gangs”, (again, in theory)…
However, while all this sounds simple in principle, we are forgetting an important point. The “state” (Pompeo’s “leveraging” example of 2018 with the Ukrainian “tomos” of autocephaly that followed) likes to “legally leverage & persuade” the Church whenever it suits it to achieve its goals…as a result, the more corrupt the individuals are that the Church can “employ” in its ranks, the better it is for future “leverage” and “persuasion”…And while they are at it, why not even “plant” and “promote” agents loyal to government organizations, who are totally “acting” as hierarchs while they are at it? Not out of the realm of impossibility these days…
The same model has been used in the Church of Greece and the Church of Cyprus, Alexandria, and even Jerusalem for a long time…If someone can explain to me how logically someone like Meletios Metaxakis ended up freely hopping like a migratory bird from Jerusalem to Cyprus, to Athens, to Constantinople (and even NYC to establish the GOARCH “charter”), and finally to Alexandria, causing irreparable Schism (forcing the new Calendar), as well as administrative damage and chaos along the way, as being a “normal phenomenon” in Church history and not part of some orchestrated plan, I’m quite eager to listen to that explanation…
My opinion is that the administration won’t mind if GOARCH harbors illegal immigrants in its ranks, unless a crime is so egregious that it can’t ignore the media outcry…maybe they’ll surprise us though and lose interest in “future leverage opportunities”…let’s see.
At least the priests from Greece know the language. It is much better to have priests that speak Greek, than having a part of American born priests that don’t know Greek at all!
ΠΓ,
This argument is flawed on a critical point.
Elpidophoros knows the Greek language, in theory (except when he went on public record in Astoria trying to “redefine” what the word heretic meant falling in direct contrast with what St. Basil and other Fathers defined), but he also actively invites Roman Catholic and non-Chalcedonian clergy to our services, blatantly asks them to engage in common prayer, and last year asked the Cardinal to “bless” and sprinkle the faithful on Holy Friday with the ceremonial fragrance ritual during “ερραναν τον ταφον…”…In this day and age, the “Phanariotes” have been leading us to spiritual slaughter and sacrifice upon the Vatican altars…should we really still focused on where a priest was born, instead of figuring out if he is actually Orthodox vs. an unworthy traitor of the faith?
‘ But this is not how “they do business” in Greece and Turkey. They are not looking to fulfill needs rationally. When they “advance” socially, financially, and politically, they turn to family and confidantes to fill the new demands they are faced with. Just look at the corrupt, “mafia-like” families of President Erdogan and PM Mitsotakis: They are a “who-is-who” of patronage and favoritism based on family and “friendship” ties… They are not selected by any objective meritocratic measure. ‘
How utterly unlike our own dear Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Clintons and Bushes… :-)
Well, you are right. Yet all these Rothchilds, Rockefellers etc. they would not hire mediocrities to staff their banks…
Αν καταφέρεις να αρμέγεις λαγούς και
να κουρεύεις χελώνες, μόνο τότε θα
καταλάβεις πως σου παίζουν τον
Παπά οι έξυπνοι…..παπατζήδες.