EDITOR’S NOTE (Nick Stamatakis). Yes, please go ahead, Elpidophoros, celebrate Juneteenth! Try for the Nth time in your disastrous tenure in America to convince us that you have some resemblance to the great Archbishop Iakovos… But has it ever crossed your mind to organize a memorial service for the millions of children abducted and forcefully converted to Islam in the 400 Black years of Ottoman slavery of the Greeks and other ethnicities (the infamous “devshirme system” for those of us who know a bit of Ottoman history)? The children who became Janissaries and eventually killed their brothers and sisters to serve the Sultan? The children who became the most fanatical Turks and the most barbarian killers? No matter how cruel the years of Black Slavery were, it does not compare with the slavery of the Greek people to the Ottomans.
We will be lucky if Elpidophoros does not lead a March for Reparations for Black Slavery in New York or elsewhere in America.
Meanwhile, a monumental struggle has begun in Greece and among the Diaspora to demand Reparations for the hundreds of billions of damages the Germans caused to Greece during World War II. But no, do not ever expect Elpidophoros to offer a memorial service or demand anything for the Greek victims of barbarism —but only for leftist, “social justice” causes.
The Juneteenth celebration will take place in St. Nicholas of Ground Zero, it is announced… Will Elpidophoros also announce how many millions (yes, millions!!) the budget of St. Nicholas at Ground Zero is? Why is this a secret? Does this sound normal to anyone if the entire Archdiocese has a budget of $27.5 million and St.Nicholas itself has a budget of over $3 million? And working under this totally exorbitant budget, be in the “red” every year for much of this amount? This does not smell right… Some people seem to have turned St. Nicholas into a “laundromat” for their benefit… Who are these people? Why does Elpidophoros think that these numbers should stay hidden? Who benefits?
May 13, 2025, n.stamatakis@aol.com www.helleniscope.com
DISCLAIMER: The views and statements expressed in this article constitute constitutionally protected opinions of this author.
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You’re Invited: Juneteenth Ecumenical Prayer at St. Nicholas National Shrine
Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States of America. It is celebrated on June 19th, which is the day in 1865 when enslaved Americans in Galveston, Texas, were informed of their freedom.
With the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, the purpose of this Juneteenth Ecumenical Prayer Service is to pursue an active role in leading the effort to further missions through prayer, reconciliation, and relationships with other Christians dedicated to this effort. It is our responsibility as Orthodox Christians to lead our nation in the healing of the ills of racism, prejudice, bigotry, and the horrific history of slavery.
The service is based on an Akathist Service “To the Merciful Savior, Healer of the Wounds of American Slavery” written by an Orthodox Nun, Mother Katherine Weston, president of the Fellowship of St. Moses the Black. This Akathist not only leads in the process of helping but also honors the saints of Africa, and American luminaries, the Holy ones who strove during the ills of Slavery in the Americas, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow Semi Slavery and Segregation.
I just pretend this so called hierarch doesn’t exist. Thank God I never ran into him! Here is a recent link to the explosion in number of new converts, since it was brought up here and some were in doubt that such growth is organic: https://spzh.eu/en/news/86258-american-priest-speaks-about-unprecedented-growth-of-interest-in-orthodoxy
I am not in doubt about converts to Orthodoxy. My GOA parish has more non-Greeks than Greeks. Most of the converts are in the AOC. What I question is Nicks stated ” tens of thousands”. Inflating numbers is dishonest.
JK, it’s tens of thousands over the last decade or so. America is a big country and this trend has been documented widely. It’s dishonest not to accept this well documented trend. Period.
Please translate 10s of thousands. Considering that the GOA is still the largest Orthodox Arcdocese in the US and the drastic reduction of members in the GOA, I find this difficult to believe. The AOC and OCA are generally more missionary minded and welcoming than the GOA. Rocor is often more ethnic than the other jurisdictions and often not as open to converts. So I can’t imagine that there are 10s of thousands who have converted. Your 10s of thousands translates to 20,000
Thousand or more. Please giving supporting evidence of your assertion. Yes , there are few parishes among the Orthodox which experience growth bot there is no way they approach you inflated numbers
JK, this is not a math class. If you need remedial math i have some suggestions for you. GOA has over 500 parishes and the rest of the Orthodox denominations another 1800 parishes or so. Please do some basic math. In our era we have artificial intelligence which gives such answers instantly.
JK,
You need to look outside the GOA to “find” the numbers. I already gave you concrete examples in the other thread, but I’ll give you another hint…there was a significant exodus to “Western rite Orthodox” parishes in recent years, mainly due to Pope Francis’ policies and other progressive garbage going on in some Protestant denominations…there is also a big movement on the internet, with influencers that you may or may not have heard of them, influencing the younger generations to knock on the door of the OCA, Antioch, ROCOR (but not as much GOA because of anti-orthodox hierarchical actions that are in the news)… whether or not these converts have truly “shed” their prior dogmatic convictions or not is a separate debate, but the conversion numbers are impressive on paper.
Elpidoforos has no business using a Greek Orthodox church to conduct a service for slavery, which the Orthodox had not taken part, nor profited from it. If we were Southern Baptists, yes. They approved of slavery. The Orthodox never did.
Elpidoforos says “It is our responsibility as Orthodox Christians to lead our nation in the healing of the ills of racism, prejudice, bigotry, and the horrific history of slavery””.
I can’t help but wonder how a church that numbers about 100,000 members, if that, which is a pittance in this country of 335 million can “lead” the nation to anything. The tail can not wag the dog.
Bob, there was slavery in Byzantium.
There was a lot more slavery under the Ottoman Empire…Let’s see Elpidophoros do a service specifically about that, and invite Erdogan to attend, too…
Elpidoforos is biggest loser & the death of the Greek Church this disaster is Black Bart’s fault & Bart will go to his grave regretting it as he sees the faithful walking away.
Who actually believes this miscreant double crossing Elpidophoros is going to end up a Patriarch??
What with the Synod of Bishops and monks of Mount Athos who disdain him?
The latest news I have learned from Istanbul is that he has lost any chance he had. Others are now the favourites – but you can never underestimate what a “bahktsish” can accomplish in an Ottoman society.
Τον αράπη κι’αν τον πλένεις το σαπούνι σου χαλάς …. και δεν εννοώ
τους Αφροαμερικανούς και άλλους
έγχρωμους συμπολίτες μας.
Αλλά Εκείνον η εκείνους που τους
χρησιμοποιούν…….. για μα αυτοπροβάλλονται.
The “artistic design” of the brochure is even more blasphemous than the “common prayer” event that it is announcing. Did anyone notice that subtle image of the Cross being placed upon a “rainbow pattern” map of Africa? Are we stupid to think that’s not intentional?
Excellent point Markos…