Karloutsos in Dire Straits: Will Bartholomew’s Visit Be Cancelled?

ΕΑΝ ΠΡΟΤΙΜΑΤΕ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΠΑΤΗΣΤΕ ΤΗ ΣΗΜΑΙΑ ΣΤΟ ΚΑΤΩ ΜΕΡΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΟΘΟΝΗΣ

By Nick Stamatakis

The upcoming visit of Patriarch Bartholomew to the United States is shaping up to be more challenging for Karloutsos—the chief organizer—than he could ever have imagined. With over fifty years of Church involvement, and forty of them in high-level PR events organizing, he surely thought he had seen it all. Yet nothing could have prepared him for the storm now breaking. To the faithful, it looks like the “Hand of God” is bringing Nemesis upon those who have so brazenly betrayed Orthodoxy. Who could have expected that “all Hell would break loose” just as Bartholomew prepared to arrive?

As things stand, the visit threatens to do far more harm than good—not only to Bartholomew himself, but to the Patriarchate and the Greek-American community as a whole. The questions practically ask themselves: Why should we support a Patriarch who undermines our Faith? Why attend his staged events? Why open our wallets? Why even bring him here at all? The cracks are showing. It is a disaster!!

First, the much-publicized meeting with President Trump was abruptly moved from September 16 to September 15. Such a sudden change suggests severe instability in the Patriarch’s agenda. Even more baffling, the $15 million Templeton Foundation award to the “Green Patriarch” will be presented in private. Why hide such a prize—supposedly crowning decades of ecological leadership? What are they afraid of? Are we really expected to believe that a Foundation would hand Bartholomew $15 million and then keep it secret? Something is terribly wrong.

There are only two explanations: Bartholomew’s message runs directly against the views of most Americans, and of President Trump, and it also contradicts the theological foundations of Orthodoxy itself. Many faithful already recognize these “eco-dogmas” as alien to the tradition and are prepared to denounce them.

Meanwhile, scandals pile up:

• Uppsala, Sweden: Bartholomew co-celebrated (at a minimum he co-operated with a female priest) something utterly foreign and unacceptable to Orthodoxy.

• Common Easter: Once again, he called for unifying Pascha with the Catholics. Such decisions belong only to an Ecumenical Synod; no Patriarch can unilaterally change the most sacred feast of the Church.

• Crete Mafia Scandal: Violating the Charter of the Autocephalous Church of Crete, he cooperated with the corrupt Mitsotakis Government in an effort to override a unanimous 8-0 Vote for Metropolitan Amphilochios, rather than Archimandrite Melchisedek, who is openly backed by mafia interests.

In America, opposition is no longer whispered but spoken aloud. The Metropolitans are increasingly critical, especially on theological grounds. At the most recent Synod in Constantinople, the most important Synod on September 1st, the beginning of the ecclesiastical year, most seats were empty, and there were NO VISITORS as they usually are on such a momentous occasion: Elpidophoros sat alone. No Metropolitans from America. None from Crete, scarred by scandal. None, even from the “New Lands” of Greece.

And now, even the Archons—once the staunchest defenders of the Phanar—begin to see what the rest of us see: Bartholomew is driven by money and political alliances, particularly with Ankara’s foreign ministry, not by the defense of Orthodoxy or Hellenism.

The truth is bitter but inescapable: under Bartholomew, the Diaspora—Hellenism’s greatest weapon—has been systematically disarmed. At some point, those who still call themselves “leaders”, especially among the Archons, must look Karloutsos in the eye and say what everyone else already knows:

Your actions, and those of Bartholomew, amount to treason against Orthodoxy—and even greater treason against Hellenism. Enough!

The Greek-American community deserves an autocephalous Church or, at the very least, at an initial phase,  direct ties with the Church of Greece. We will no longer obey the Sultans and Pashas of Istanbul!

September 5, 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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