By Nick Stamatakis
Our title is inspired by an article published on Nov. 3, two days before the elections in Public Orthodoxy, the website of the “Fordhamites”, known for their heretic views of Orthodoxy and being generously supported by GOARCH and Elpidophoros: “A Vote for Trump is a Vote against the Ecumenical Patriarchate” (link here) is the title and the author is John Zavitsanos a lawyer connected to the Archdiocese…
I was tempted to express my arguments against such an atrocious statement but I held off. You can read below the excellent approach by our friend George Michalopoulos of “Monomakhos”. However, I thought it would be best to post and comment after Trump has been elected president. And so I am doing…
First of all, the “theologians” of Fordham are politically idiotic, to use the milder word that fits the case. I have argued repeatedly that the Greek-American community has voted for Trump in overwhelming numbers since 2016 – over 80%. I have offered many ways to support my thesis, so there is no need to repeat here. It would be enough to refer to the adherence to traditional values on family and homeland – closely related to the makeup of our community: the immigrants who arrived here two and three generations ago were deeply rooted in their culture back in their villages and islands in Greece – most had never been in any big city. The same holds for most other American Orthodox. We are traditionalists even before one considers our faith in Orthodoxy. Then we are primarily business people. Is Mr. Zavitsanos so detached from reality as to believe that such a deeply traditionalist group, in family values, social life, and business orientation, would EVER think to vote for the leftist ideology the Fordhamites support? NOT A CHANCE IN HELL…
By suggesting what the title said, Zavitsanos is pushing our community to vote even more passionately for Trump – which is actually what happened… And what George Michalopoulos suggests below…
But now, after the election, real problems for the heretics of Fordham and the patriarchate have started. Having decided to turn into puppets for the globalists, they have aligned themselves inexorably with the losers. They have supported the losers in Ukraine, and they have supported the “democratic” act of Zelensky of banning the Russian language, closing Churches of the UOC, and violently attacking the faithful and their priests/hierarchs. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov was clear in his interview with Turkish daily Hurriyet recently: “No peace unless the rights of the Russophones are respected” (link here). In plain terms, considering what President Trump already declared, their huge defeat in Ukraine is a matter of months.
But their defeat in Ukraine will be a walk in the park compared to the total disaster they are faced with domestically. The whole county, and especially the parents, are up in arms against LGBTQ ideology in schools and other institutions (sports, army, etc.) If GOARCH wants to survive in America, they better start changing course soon….
Other global side effects will result from the widespread expansion of traditional values—the same values that are protected in Russia, India, China, and the rest of the world, the so-called “Global South.” The Western Globalism they represent will decline until it is hopefully eradicated and replaced with a non-exploitative multipolar system. To such an analysis, we will soon return.
November 6, 2024, 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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Really? I Don’t Need any more Reasons to Vote for Trump!
OK, so let me get this straight:
- I don’t believe in killing babies (before or after birth),
- I don’t believe in castrating little boys or cutting off the breasts of teenage girls,
- I don’t want any more wasteful wars,
- I don’t want strangers crossing our borders and raping our women,
- I don’t want to see children being sexually trafficked,
- I don’t want refugees depressing the wages of working class Americans, and finally,
- I don’t want governments killing innocent squirrels.
So am I to believe that Patriarch Bartholomew wants all this?
I suppose so, according to our friends at Public Orthodoxy. https://x.com/ananiasfather/status/1853628125726585234?s=46
Look, I get it, Trump isn’t the Savior of the Nation. No one is (other than Jesus). But compared to the utter bolshevism that animates the other party, the decision isn’t even close. Not for a Christian, an observant Jew, a Muslim or even an animist at this point. Heck, I know dope-smoking libertarians, gays, lesbians, and and atheists who don’t want to see four more years of this nonsense. Our major cities are dystopian hell-scapes, brought to you by the “party of compassion.”
And let’s be honest: if Kackles is rigged into office, this will be the last election decided by ballots. All future ones will be decided by bullets.
So yeah, it’s Trump or nothing. For me, it’s a purely political decision. What I can’t understand is why supposedly Orthodox professionals like the author of this piece can’t see it. As for San Giacomo? Yeah, I can see why he’s on board with all the cultural Marxism that’s been shoved down our throats, but that’s about it.
I guess the moral of the story as far as I’m concerned is, if I had a smidgen of a doubt about voting for Trump, Public Orthodoxy wiped it out, once and for all.
PS, In the interest of fairness, I’d be more than happy to have an open debate about this issue with either Messrs San Giacomo or Zavitsanos.
I was thinking a few days ago that Barto’s freedom of actions will be somewhat curtailed if Trump wins. But I am not sure he is wise enough to stand back. He might decide to continue to make terrible decisions. I don’t know anything about the metropolitan of Chicago but for whatever reason(s) he was dismissed without an explanation. If Barto acts like a pope and is able to “dismiss” the bishops that don’t bow to him, does it matter who the president is? I hope that the persecution against Ukraine will diminish with Trump coming in, but I don’t see how the situation here will change. I hope there is something I am missing since I am not in Goarch. But neither is Trump.
https://spzh.live/en/news/82851-phanar-head-dismisses-metropolitan-of-chicago-from-synod-without-explanation
Metropolitan Nathanael of Chicago is not a good bishop. He is in line with Abp. Elpidophoros and is just as corrupt. He has been tied to several scandalous things.
While it is concerning that Patriarch Bartholomew dismisses bishops from the Synod without explanation, I consider Metropolitan Nathaneal’s dismissal a win for the Synod.
Andrew,
Thank you!
Love your term “Fordhamites”. Says all one needs to know.
Who is San Giacomo? Is that Giacomo San Filippo, formerly known as Peter San Filippo? As for “Fordhamites”: I am an ex-Catholic and native New Yorker. Every time I see the word “Fordham”, I break out in hives. They were a scurvy bunch in my own youth (60 years ago now, but who’s counting), and my blood boils every time I see that there are Orthodox Christians who have fallen for their bilge. I wish the Almighty would close Fordham altogether. They certainly are not doing His work.
It is a rare moment that I will go on record saying that “there is an important point that a Fordhamite article raises”…really, it’s true.
While the author raises the hopes of many who are disappointed with their hierarchy that there might be a way for them to “vote the unworthy ones out”, we all know that in the last few centuries, especially after the fall of Constantinople, the synods have largely “thrown out” public opinion on this matter, contrary to original Orthodox Tradition.
However, the author has now unknowingly opened this important discussion concerning the laity participating (voting) in the election of bishops. Today’s ceremonial yelling of “axios” was not ceremonial back in the day. The Canons on the books still call for laity participation in both electing a bishop, as well as bringing charges against a bishop (and subsequently removing him if the charges are serious and valid). It would be nice if the synods start respecting tradition again, because that would reduce phenomena of corruption in the clergy…St. Paisios said “the people know holiness when they see it”…
In the specific case of Bartholomew, long before this election, people have been scandalized by his activities to the point that they pray there would be a way they could “vote him out”… perhaps the article was misconstrued by such ambitious readers, and perhaps many of them ended up casting ballots in a certainl way “literally” thinking that those ballots were “a vote against” Bartholomew…
Nevertheless, I’m sure if there was ever a GUARANTEE to get rid of a bad bishop by voting for a certain politician, that politician would get a ton of extra votes that he wouldn’t get anyway…Either way, the people need to be included in the selection and retention decisions concerning bishops…
Idiotic Fordhamites!
Elpi & them = tools of the devil
Greek Americans who voted for Trump (and against the advice of some Greek celebrities) did so for a variety of reasons. However, I doubt that very many of them would list Patriarchate matters as one of those reasons.