Astoria Explodes: “Get the Turks Out Of Our Church!!”

ΕΑΝ ΠΡΟΤΙΜΑΤΕ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΠΑΤΗΣΤΕ ΤΗ ΣΗΜΑΙΑ ΣΤΟ ΚΑΤΩ ΜΕΡΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΟΘΟΝΗΣ

About 900–1,000 demonstrators sang the Greek National Anthem and then erupted in a chant: “Get the Turks Out of Our Church!!” as Bishop Athenagoras tried in vain to control the rage, mainly caused by the ineptitude and poor choices of GOARCH, especially since Elpidophoros took office in 2019.  THE FIRST VICTORY WAS ACHIEVED: THE VOTE ON THE GOARCH PROPOSAL WAS POSTPONED FOR NEXT WEEK… FROM WHAT WE HEAR, YOU CAN COUNT ON ONE MORE DEMONSTRATION – POSSIBLY THIS TIME OUTSIDE 79TH STREET!!

Here is the defining moment of yesterday’s rally – AFTER MINUTE 4’… The rally received publicity from CBS2 NY local news – check the video at the bottom of this post.

By Nick Stamatakis

We could see the signs of panic in the GOARCH leadership emerging over the last 48 hours. First, they tried to muddy the waters with a half-baked press conference yesterday afternoon. Then came a series of “explanatory” announcements that explained nothing, only making their effort to grab parish property even clearer. When all else failed, they suddenly scheduled a liturgy (!!) where none had been planned… Unbelievable “Christ Merchants” and manipulators!! And they received the proper response from the dynamic rally: after the Greek National Anthem came the resounding cry — “Get the Turks out of our Church!!”

The people began gathering around 5:45–6:00 PM, while police had already closed the street outside St. Demetrios. After a hastily arranged and performed “paraclesis,” Bishop Athenagoras came out to the street to address the hundreds of demonstrators. He asked them to come inside the church to discuss the issues. He was loudly booed, and no one entered the church for the next hour.

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NOTE ON ATHENAGORAS #1. First, it was at least inappropriate — and probably sacrilegious — to propose discussing such issues within the church. Show some respect for the sacredness of the place! As we will see, when a small portion of the demonstrators entered the church an hour later, grave accusations were raised within the sanctuary regarding financial transactions, in the presence of Elaine Allen (GOARCH CFO) and attorney Mr. Tsougarakis. Is the church the place for such talk? Shameful!

NOTE ON ATHENAGORAS #2.
If you wanted to be accepted and listened to by the people — and also be perceived as a faithful Christian — you should have begun your written statement and your address to the demonstrators with a sincere Christian apology for your own mistakes (for settling a lawsuit over your unlawful actions for $150,000 — which the Parish paid, instead of GOARCH). Why should the Parish bear the cost of your grave ineptitude?

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But here is what Athinagoras did: after trying to manipulate the demonstrators with the “paraclesis” and failing to draw them into the church, he used the church’s loudspeakers to overwhelm them with his hollow messages. Some demonstrators had megaphones ready to use, but police did not allow them, citing the need for a special permit. Eventually, under pressure from the crowd, the police forced Bishop Athinagoras to stop using the church speakers and return inside. But not before he told demonstrators that “he is not a Turk,” adding that his father never allowed Turkish to be spoken at home when he was growing up!

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NOTE ON ATHENAGORAS #3: Are you really so tone-deaf that you don’t understand what the demonstrators meant by “Get the Turks out of our Church”? Nobody doubts that you are “Greek.” Nobody doubts that Elpidophoros and Bartholomew are “Greek.” But we have a long list of reasons to accuse you of serving the interests of Turkey and Sultan Erdoğan. Would you like me to go down that list — the one Helleniscope has reported a hundred times? Yes, you are “Greek,” but you are sold to Turkish interests. Your soul is Turkish — είσαστε Τουρκόψυχοι!! AND YOU AND THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE “PHANAR GANG OF THIEVES” APPLY THE SAME PLAN FOR STEALING THE PARISH PROPERTIES NOT ONLY IN AMERICA BUT ALSO IN AUSTRALIA – AT THE SAME TIME DESTROYING THE HELLENIC DIASPORA!!

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NOTE ON FATHER VILLIS (District Chancellor): I have never seen a colder, stone-faced expression in any of the GOA priests or hierarchs than the expression of Fr. Villis yesterday.  Father Villis was next to Athenagoras almost all the time yesterday, but (at least I) did not hear him say one word.  What credibility could he have after the huge heretic debacle of accepting a blessing from a rabbi?

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Later, a small group of demonstrators entered the church, along with several “attendees” whom no one in the community recognized — raising serious suspicions. There, Athenagoras tried to explain the inexplicable and deflect all responsibility from GOARCH. Here is a video:

Athenagoras DID NOT address the duties and responsibilities of GOARCH. Here is a short list:

• For the past six years, AB Elpidophoros has demonstrated a total lack of preparedness and ineptitude in serving in America, the main problem of our time being dependence on Constantinople. He has fired countless worthy and educated Parish Council members. Athenagoras tried to deceive the audience by focusing only on recent firings. Elpidophoros has repeatedly fired many PC members without providing serious reasoning.

• For his first two to three years, Elpidophoros unquestioningly supported his “enthronement donor,” Astoria strongman and community exploiter of four decades, Nick Andriotis. Andriotis’s last “achievement” was to sell the Wantagh Building — donated by Dr. Tambakis and producing significant income — for the same price it was originally acquired for ($700,000), despite major renovations and a very hot real estate market! The parish lost $110,000 in annual income — and someone pocketed the difference. Did GOARCH act? No!

• The main culprit in today’s disaster is Nektarios Papazafiropoulos (Presiding Priest in Astoria 2011–2021, now Bishop). It was his idea to build on the land across the church, and he inflated the costs by millions of dollars. His arrogance, egotism, and incompetence were staggering. Despite being unworthy — as proven in the Babylon Parish, where he “served” before coming to Astoria, from which he was effectively removed due to his ineptitude — he still aspired to become a bishop. And he achieved it, thanks to Elpidophoros. We can only imagine how.

I will stop here… If you want to know the complete history of the disaster, you can go back to 2020 and read Helleniscope’s classic account, “The Unholy Alliance in the GOA to Keep the Failing Status Quo,” which has gathered over 10,000 views and is considered the “reference article” for the community’s troubles.

ATHENAGORAS AND ELAINE ALLEN ARE CONFRONTED BY ASPROGERAKAS

The former Parish Treasurer, Mr. Asprogerakas — who was fired twice by the Archbishop — at some point entered the church and confronted Bishop Athenagoras about these issues, especially the Dr. Tambakis donation and Fr. Nektarios Papazafiropoulos’s responsibility, who rightly earned the nickname “INEPT.” Remarkably, Mr. Asprogerakas confronted Mrs. Elaine Allen, who was sitting in the pews, quoting her about the building across from the church: “Weren’t you, Mrs. Allen, the one who told us we didn’t have the money to build this building?”

To her credit, Mrs. Allen publicly admitted this in front of Athenagoras! But Athenagoras, acting like a snake once again, cut off the discussion — nearly accusing Mr. Asprogerakas of making it a “personal issue with Nektarios” — instead of letting him reach the obvious question – as I imagine: Why was Mr. ‘Inept’ Nektarios rewarded instead of being punished?

It was a shameful performance by Athenagoras, worthy of the most hypocritical Byzantine traditions… He had to “protect” the other member of “The Phanar Gang of Thieves”, Bishop Nektarios... Shame on you, Athenagoras, shame and again shame!!

THE REAL CAUSE OF THE FINANCIAL PROBLEMS: FAITHLESSNESS AND HERESIES

We can debate financial abuses and mistakes endlessly — we have five decades’ worth in Astoria alone. However, the heart of the problem is revealed in the membership numbers: over the last twenty years, GOARCH membership has declined from approximately 500,000 to fewer than 125,000. Elpidophoros’s tenure significantly accelerated this trend.

Why are the faithful leaving? The answer is clear: because of the abandonment of the fundamental tenets of our faith, because of divisive, schismatic, and heretical policies originating from the Phanar and imposed here by “novelist” Elpidophoros and his Fordhamite “theologians.” From the schism over Ukrainian “Cacocephaly,” to pro-LGBTQ advocacy, to the materialism and greed emanating from Bartholomew himself (his predecessor Patriarch Demetrios slept in a tiny room in the Phanar — he lives in a $20-million mansion overlooking the Bosporus with a jacuzzi), to their Ecumenism and globalism, to their involvement in “pan-religion” and the “Abrahamic House” in Dubai — the Patriarchate and GOARCH are driving the faithful away.

This is the real cause of the financial problems. 

And the question Helleniscope has asked for eight years remains: Are they doing it deliberately — to bankrupt our parishes, sell their properties, and funnel the money to Switzerland and Turkey?

Especially in traditionally minded communities like Astoria, it is this faithlessness and heresy that people despise. Meanwhile, we are at a historic moment, after Charlie Kirk’s murder, America’s youth, in huge numbers, is seeking a return to traditional faith through Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Instead of riding this “wave back to the true Faith” and filling our churches with young people, GOARCH is pushing them away!

CONCLUSIONS – When trust is broken, only radical solutions can fix the problem. This Church must gain autonomy from the Phanar.

The common denominator of the recent events in Astoria and GOARCH in general is plain in front of our eyes: There is NO TRUST between the GOARCH leadership and the faithful. The glass is broken, and there is no way to put it back together.  We can propose several ideas (including the formation of a committee by former distinguished PC presidents/officials to serve temporarily and bring balance back to the Parish of Astoria), we can go to Court and blow GOARCH out of existence (let me note here that GOARCH is facing as we speak, multi-million dollar lawsuits), or we can talk and exchange ideas forever. But there will be no real solution until we officially break apart from the “Phanar Gang of Thieves” and gain some form of autonomy. The Spirit of the only true leader of this Church, Archbishop Iakovos, is looking upon us from high above and demands that we act according to his historic effort (because of which Bartholomew and Karloutsos backstabbed him and forced him to resign): The idea that the Church of America has to be Autonomous from any “Mother Church”..

Many worthy and faithful Greek-Americans made valiant efforts in this regard since Iakovos was forced to resign in 1996… Others, like Stathis Valiotis, pronounced the word “Autocephaly” in public and caused waves for one year (2018-19) – until they cowered back into their “business” and “comfort”.  Will he, and several others, stand up now? Or will he limit himself to behind-the-scenes “encouragement”, hiding behind his “business” once more? We do not need cowards!! We need honest Christian faithful to push for the only real solution to our problem: A substantial form of autonomy of our Church from the “Phanar Gang of Thieves”. We need to set aside our differences, STAY UNITED AS ONE MIND, focus on this goal, and achieve it!

October 8, 2025, n.stamatakis@aol.com   www.helleniscope.com

DISCLAIMER: The views and statements expressed in this article constitute constitutionally protected opinions of this author. This article represents the opinion of the author and shall not be interpreted as legal advice.

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