ΕΑΝ ΠΡΟΤΙΜΑΤΕ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΠΑΤΗΣΤΕ ΤΗ ΣΗΜΑΙΑ ΣΤΟ ΚΑΤΩ ΜΕΡΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΟΘΟΝΗΣ
By Nick Stamatakis
An emergency meeting was convened last (Holy) Monday remotely by Archbishop Elpidophoros of America with the Executive Committee of the Archdiocesan Council to address ongoing financial problems at St. Demetrios Cathedral in Astoria. A key issue discussed was a $1.25 million line of credit taken from Alma Bank, guaranteed by the Archdiocese, which the community could not repay by the April 1, 2026, deadline. Due to financial hardship, an extension until July was requested and approved. Officials acknowledged that the community’s finances are weak, with the church itself sustainable, but its school, which is the only Greek high school in the United States, is not.
The meeting also addressed broader financial and administrative developments, including a court-approved agreement for the Archdiocese to acquire a 39% ownership stake in the building across the Church for $3 million, of which $700,000 has already been paid. Questions remain about the source of these funds. Additionally, a new LLC will manage the property, potentially enabling its future sale. Concerns were raised about transparency, as the parish council was not informed of the meeting despite its direct relevance to them.
Other topics included the approval of a $500,000 reserve fund for potential misconduct-related compensation claims and references to past legal settlements involving the community. This refers mostly to Bishop Athenagoras and Fr. Grigorios Stamkopoulos, who holds multiple positions within the Archdiocese and abroad. They referred to the former School Principal, Dr. Alfieri, completely inappropriately in interviews, and the parish had to pay to settle the lawsuit for their incompetence and sloppiness! But in both cases, they are employed by GOARCH – not the Parish!!
PHOTO: Fr. Gregory Stamkopoulos – the eyes and ears of the Archbishop in Astoria. He still gets a full salary from bankrupt Greece (as a professor at the Univ. of Thessaloniki – his first sinecure), a salary as the priest of the wealthy parish of St. Spyridon in Manhattan, and a salary as the “Education Director” of GOARCH (another quasi sinecure)… Oh, I forgot, he lives for free along with other “freeloaders” on the second floor of the Cultural Center in Astoria… Congratulations!!! Well earned!!! (Photo Credit: Anamniseis.net)
To understand the whole picture better, one has to realize that:
GOARCH has, in essence, taken over the Parish. Ms. Elaine Allen, the Financial Director of GOARCH, has an office in Astoria, is a Parish Council member, and has proved to be very authoritarian. Having removed ALL past presidents, treasurers, and any other Parish Council members who had the personality and the “guts” to resist their demands, GOARCH is acting through Ms. Allen and Bishop Athenagoras – not to “participate,” not to “guide,” not to “coordinate,” and not to “suggest.” THEY DICTATE THEIR WILL. Bishop Athenagoras has even been repeatedly seen slapping his hand on the desk during Parish Council meetings—it’s his way or the highway. Ms. Elaine Allen proclaims, “I am transparent and accountable” in this video below (Credit – Anamniseis.net):
But nobody has seen yet the oversight agreement signed last November between the Parish Council and GOARCH. Is this what you mean by transparency, Ms. Allen? In the same meeting last November, the President suggested selling the building to no avail. They proceeded to make a vote under extreme duress and stress – not to say psychological coercion… In that vote, both Bishop Athinagoras and Elaine Allen voted… But, wait a minute!! Elaine Allen is the GOARCH Financial Director, and the vote is about passing 39% of a parish building to GOARCH!! Isn’t that the definition of a “conflict of interest”? Yes, it is… This is what Ms. Allen means by accountability…
Would anyone, ANYONE, report this to the NY State Attorney General?
GOARCH is now in the process of turning its 39% share of the new building across from the Church into a legally binding right. They have already received court approval for this second step in their effort to secure legal control in the wealthiest parish of GOA, with total property valued at about $200 million. Once the “Phanar Gang of Thieves” puts its little “footsie” into the Parish, it will proceed to take over everything else: they already see themselves as “Developers” and “Real Estate Managers”. The Church – built by generations of Greek-Americans – will either be sold or “leveraged” to create a stream of income for the faithless “leaders” of Istanbul and their subservient clerics, along with bribes to the Pashas of Turkey.
The parish could have sold the new building across the Church, as Helleniscope has reported repeatedly. Building it was a stupid idea of the inept former priest and now Chancellor Fr. Nektarios Papazafiropoulos. In his arrogance, he wanted to show that “he really produced results”. His goal was always to become a Bishop. How do you think he would achieve that? By his service and ministry – resulting in pure love and respect from the Faithful? No, of course not… When you are empty like a “clanging cymbal” to remember the biblical word, you choose the easy way, the material way… After all, GOA is all about money: What do the Patriarch and the Archbishop value the most? Someone who works in ministry or someone who brings in a truckload of money? The latter, of course…
The parish already has enough buildings to continue and expand the school. Selling the building would have eliminated all debt and allowed the Parish to grow debt-free. BUT the Archdiocese did not—and does not—accept this.
But they never take their eyes off the goal—and that goal has never had anything to do with service and ministry in the Church. Very few parishioners share the Archbishop’s “faith.” Almost none would support his funneling of money into the heretical Fordham “Theological” Institute, which teaches the “acceptance of homosexuality” and promotes LGBTQ ministries in parishes. And NONE of the faithful would EVER accept ANY financial support going to the corrupt “Mother Church” in the Phanar, led by a Patriarch who, just a few years ago, blessed the Turkish Army during its invasion of Syria and the killing of innocent people.
This is why, last October, over 1,000 parishioners gathered outside St. Demetrios and shouted with all their power:
“GET THE TURKS OUT OF OUR CHURCH!!”
BELOW IS THE VIDEO OF THE HISTORIC OCTOBER RALLY – AFTER MINUTE 4′
PS. In every TNH report about St. Demetrios, they lament that the School lost a “big opportunity” by not approving the Niiarchos Foundation’s offer to turn it into a charter school… They conveniently “forget” to mention that some of those pushing the idea – including the then TNH Publisher, Antonis Diamataris, had a quite …self-serving proposal: Diamataris wanted to permanently place his daughter, who is totally unrelated to Education, on the new Charter School to be a “trustee”… Helleniscope has reported this fact many times – yet they pretend they “forgot” the true story behind the Niarchos proposal….
April 9, 2026, n.stamatakis@aol.com www.helleniscope.com
DISCLAIMER: The views and statements expressed in this article constitute constitutionally protected opinions of this author.
The central person of the gospel yesterday was Judas Iscariot and his betrayal. Probably the other disciples were suspecting that he was embezzling money, but couldn’t imagine that he would betray Jesus for money.
Unfortunately, nothing has changed till our times. The Phanar / AHEPA corporation continues the tradition of Judas. They are after the money every day and every second of their pitiful “service”… It’s a pity that they don’t have even 1% of Judas’ conscience and his final remorse…
I have personal experience with Bishop Nektarios, who, along with the lawyer of the archdiocese, George Tsougarakis, have threatened me with a lawsuit, if I don’t stop exposing their un-Christian ways of non-transparency, false piety, corrupt handling of the “Ethicspoint”, a portal that supposedly is designed to address complaints against clerics and lay workers of the archdiocese and parishes. The conflict of interest, in exonerating themselves and their friends, proves that they have no fear of God and use His church as a personal fief to be milked.
Anyone with complaints, I suggest that you publish them, as long as you have evidence, as I do. Thank God for the new Anti-Slapp law, which protects citizens from deep-pocketed institutions and corporations, which employ lawyers, who have nothing better to do, than file suits against anyone who dares to criticize them. Those suits previously were very expensive to defend, which, even if exonerated, you would go bankrupt defending yourself. Which put a damper on many whistleblowers.
NO MORE. In N.Y. and N.J. and some other states, a defamation lawsuit is now examined by a judge before trial and if it impedes your freedom of speech, it is struck down without a trial and the plaintiff pays your expenses. SPEAK UP PEOPLE. Don’t pay your stewardship. Don’t let a dime of your money go to these sharks. Give your stewardship money to the poor. These hypocrites do not represent CHRIST
I agree. I have stated many times to stop funding the thieves.
Helleniscope engages in some tremendous journalism, but not in this matter. The bottom line is the parish was out of money, and asked for a loan from Archdiocese. The Archdiocese cannot give loans without having control of the funds especially given the mismanagement. If you don’t want control, then don’t take the money. If you want the money then you have to accept oversight as long as the loan is outstanding. In fact the Archdiocese has an obligation to every other church in America that funds the Archdiocese through allocations to ensure that those funds are not squandered. What is it fair to a church in upstate NY that manages itself properly and pays every cent required to Archdiocese to fund loans to a church that can’t manage itself and have no control. Let’s get serious here. Certainly plenty of matters Helleniscope is correct on/ but this in not one.
“Bob” how much does GOARCH pay you to spread useless ideas and lies? Do you really think your arguments hold any water? Even more so, what makes you think you can debate Helleniscope on an issue that we have been writing about even before Helleniscope was established? The parish wouldn’t be out of money if the Hope-less Archbishop didn’t remove every single Parish Council officer that was worthy to perform their role… One of them was removed twice!! First the GOARCH so-called leadership makes a mess in Astoria, second it removes ELECTED PC members at will and – to top it all off – it preaches all kinds of heresies since the first few months Elpidoktonos was enthroned!! Do you really think you help a – very traditionalist by definition- parish to grow by preaching heresies? Then instead of pushing aside an INEPT and Unsociable priest, Fr. Nektarios Papazafeiropoilos, who was the one who created the debt by pushing to build the empty lot, you promote him and make him a Bishop!! And then a Chancellor!! Why?? Explain please… There are two options to explain: Either the Archbishop and the Patriarch are incompetent or they are corrupt. Pick your preferred choice. Then you install two more incompetent priests in Astoria, Stamkopoulos and Athinagoras, they make HUGE legal mistakes and what do you do? You make the parish pay the huge legal bill!! But these two incompetent priests are not in the Astoria Parish payroll – they are in GOARCH payroll!! Why should Astoria pay for their stupidity?
Do you want me to go on? Instead of giving hundreds of thousands of $$$ through grants from Leadership 100 and other ways to the disgusting HERETIC “theological” institute of Fordham you should give this money and much more to help the school in Astoria!! Instead of sending money to the immoral and even more heretic Pat. Bartholomew (remember he is the Patriarch who refused to call the Paris Police and demand the report for the Bulgarian Gay escorts who “had fun” with Emmanuel and Maximos INSIDE the building of the Metropolis) he promoted Both of them!! And a couple of years later he blessed the Turkish Army in his invasion to Syria where they killed countless innocents!! That’s why the faithful of Astoria will soon gather again – this time outside 79th street – and will demand once and Goa All: Get the Turks Out Of Our Church!!!
Should I go on?
This is a wildly disproportionate response to the statement made. No one doubts Helleniscope does great work. You have exposed tremendous corruption. But on this one I think there can be a discussion without challenging the ability of anyone to debate Helleniscope. But most of the items you mention are simply not relevant. What do Leadership 100 grants have to do with the loans to the church? What do Fordhamites have to do with the loans to the church? You’re blaming the financial issues on the removal of board members? This is about the statement (we would have money except for the fact that certain tremendous board members were removed) Yes, the previous priests were incompetent and then they were promoted. So where does that leave us now? Never answered the simple question : if the church doesn’t want oversight then why did it accept the loans? Do you think the Archdiocese can give loans derived from the contributions of other churches to st Demetrios without oversight? Please address the issue going forward of what can and should be done now rather than immediately reverting to accusations. Do you want the Archdiocese to just give funds to St Demetrios with no accountability? Why can’t the church raise its own funds now? Why did they accept the loan if they didn’t want the oversight? There are a class of people who read Helleniscope, are grateful for its work, but once in a while see things differently. Thank you and Kali Anastasi.
You are fooling yourself and you are trying – unsuccessfully to fool all of us! Why dis GOA lose close to 400,000 members the last 20 years (From 500,000 to 125,000) and especially the last 6 years? It was because of the heresies of Hope-less Elpidoktonos… ROCOR, OCA, Antiochean and Serbian are attracting most of them… They did not suddenly change their Orthodox Faith – Elpidoktonos changed his!! Now do you think that the faithful leaving because of the heresies and the scandals has something to do with the financial situation of St. Demetrios in Astoria? 25 years of abuse by the Andriotis/ALMA mafia while GOA was giving their blessing to the “Mafioso”?
Finally GOARCH offered the money – after destroying the ELECTED Parish Council – not out of their good heart but having in mind to take over the whole Parish properties. The building at hand is valued at 7-8 million max. The Parish holds properties close to $200 million… We are dealing with professional gang of thieves. If they wanted to help the Parish they would sell the building and let the Parish debt-free. WHY DON’T THEY? EHY DON’T THEY BLAME THE ABUSERS FR. NEKTARIOS, ATHINAGORAS AND STAMKOPOULOS? THEY GIVE MONEY TO THE HHERETICS OF FORDHAM AS A GRANT BUT THEY CANNOT GIVE GRANTS TO ST. DEMETRIOS? WHY CATSIMATIDIS DOESN;T HELP WITH HIS TRILLIONS? YEARS AGO HE USED TO COME TO ASTORIA IN EVENTS AND – PEOPLE REMMEBER – HE USED TO TAKE HIOME EXTRA MUFFINS!!
If they want to fix things they have to start from the roots causes. And the roots causes is their INCOMPETENCE AND THEIR HERESY. You cannot just stupidly focus on “why St. Demetrios accepted the loan from GOARCH!! First you destroy the Faith and particularly you let this parish be ravaged by corruption for decades, then you fire truly capable leadership and finally you ask “Why they accepted the money”? How unreasonable, blind and legalistic can you be!!
Not even one cent to the Phanar / AHEPA gang!
You are mixing too many complaints here. Yes indeed they have done many things at Archdiocese that are preposterous. Yes they have engaged in their nonsense with the Patriarch’s Green liberal agenda, and his disastrous Ukraine policy. And of course the Archbishop’s hiring of the insane lunatic press person from Greece is outrageous. And forget Catsimatidis, he is most certainly the stingiest “billionaire” ever seen. Ok that’s all conceded. But this nonsense doesn’t only affect St Demetrios, so it’s disingenuous to claim that these polices resulted in the mismanagement of this particular church. Many other churches are properly managed despite nonsense from the hierarchs. You mentioned earlier about leadership 100 not giving money- did St. Demetrios even make a grant application? Of course not. This is a separate organization with members who pay $100K and allocate the funds. If the same people who want to protest the archdiocese expended their effort to raise money they could pay back the $1.5M they could rid themselves of this oversight. Again, the question was never answered as to how why they accepted the money if they don’t want the oversight. The question was never answered as to why the removal of certain board members means they can’t raise money? There is no one else on the Church community who can do this? The funny thing is you are quick to put every situation into a preordained box. Believe it or not there are people who agree with much of what you write and admire your courage, but sometimes disagree as well on certain issues.
You are writing as if you ignore that on insistence of Elpi & Co. And the help of Mike Giannaris even the laws of NY changed so that the “hierarchy” control the parishes. And you also ignore that the ALMA Bank / Alma realty “mafia” led by Andriotis used to control the parish with the blessings of this and previous Archbishops for over 30 years.. who is the rich guy who is going to throw his money in the pit created by the hierarchy and local corruption “blessed” by the hierarchy. Do you remember how much money ALMA (Andriotis and Valiotis) offered to Elpidoktonos enthronement? Well, this is your homework for today… Answer it and we will keep talking…
Christos Anesti! This is going in circles. Yes Andriotis was horrendous and I’m sure he gave money to enthronement to make sure his people were placed just the way people give to inaugurations of Presidents to secure positions. Yes bad priests assigned there. Yes too much left wing nonsense from hierarchs. Also that law was to make sure the Greek Orthodox archdiocese doesn’t need the permission of the state Attorney General to sell a property. The Catholics didn’t have to seek permission so why should the Greeks have to run to the state of NY like children to sell something? That was long overdue correction of an absurd double standard. But bottom line is Archdiocese can’t give a loan to church without oversight. This isn’t part of some grand scheme for archdiocese to take over the church. Probably too incompetent to execute on this grandiose conspiracy you allege. Rather I’m sure this is the Archbishop wanting to solve the problem so he can bolster resume for Patriarch. Where are the new leaders of St Demetrios to step up and help lead? The accountants, the attorneys, the PHDs? Holding rallies accomplishes nothing. Inspire educated and honest people to take leadership roles and in turn donors will feel comfortable giving money. Nick, you are a leader in the community. Use your talents and this website to do this. Why don’t they create a friends of st demetrios endowment run by people in the community and under their control that can help as they see fit? Then they can tell everyone at 79th street to get lost.
When trust is lost nobody will step up. Who is responsible for destroying trust? The Archbishop and the Patriarch… very few faithful in America want to deal with their antics, their autocratic mentality, their ecumenism, their corruption, and their faithlessness. A new Panorthodox Church will emerge in America and the “Turks”/Phanariots will NOT be leading it. The faster they realize it the best for them. If they accept this reality early on they might get some financial remuneration from America – which is the only thing they care about anyway. But the huge numbers of converts who fill the Orthodox Churces everywhere except in the Northeast will force this change. Along with the huge geopolitical defeats which will render the Third Rome in Moscow the true leader. As a “leader” I think I am expressing the voice of the community when I exclaim: “Good riddance!”
ANONYMOUS RESPONSE TO “BOB”:
You keep insisting “why” the community “accepted” the loan. First of all, Elpi removed all of the opposition to the loan and planted plants ((γλάστρες) to say yes to all GOARCH measures. Then Elpi allowed Elaine Allen and the priests to participate in votes = Conflict of Interest since they are employees of GOARCH…. So who really decided? A bunch of “yes people?” Elaine and the priests who must answer to Elpidoktonos? What chance was there for meaningful debate or negotiations? GOARCH removed all opposition and created the fiction that the parish council supposedly voted on a measure that their master required them to approve as a condition for their appointment. This is a classic mafia move, and they are taking over the community, and you have this “Bob” person insisting that the community made a decision and voted. This was a fool’s errand, not a vote.
I am a parent with two children in the St Demetrios School. I attended the last general assembly meeting in November 2025. There was a revote to sell the 39% to the Archdiocese. I can tell you that the meeting was completely disorganized. Certain facts were displayed on power point slides and shown to us briefly. We were not provided with a copy of the oversight agreement, just highlights of the agreement on the slides. It was unclear why we had to even revote to sell the 39% when the original vote was in September 2024. There were people at the meeting from the parish council who were openly telling people to change their vote from no to yes and lead them to believe if they vote no the school will close. The meeting was a complete shit show to say the least. Typically the president of the general assembly is supposed to lead the meeting but in this case Bishop Athenagoras lead the meeting and did a lot of the talking. Former President Antonios Mammis was on a witch hunt with the parish council secretary and several others from the afternoon school to fire day school staff and administrators and ultimately close the school because they have said out loud that the school sucks.
Fortunately Mammis was not re-elected but we still have parish council members who are no serving the interest of the day school. They are continuously undermining the efforts of the school board by using their parish council positions to leverage employment and obtain power within the community so they can harass the individuals they have personal vendettas with. This, at the expense of a community struggling to stay alive.
The parish council just hired the parish council secretary Gabriela Labouriau as a community administrator with a salary of $100,000. She has no real expertise other than being unemployed and now grossly over paid. Where did the community find the money to pay her? Just a few months ago she was telling parents of the school to take their children out of the school because they were getting a horrible education. The community leadership keeps saying they have no money and how they are under financial strain and yet they have $100,000 to pay for this job. They new building isn’t breaking even and in the red as well.. makes no sense
The statements against the former principal, Mr. Alfieri, were prejudicial and illegal. The statements were not just inappropriate but slanderous. These are the clerics- – Bishop Athenagoras and Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne Father Gregory Stamkopoulos. These clerics are the Archbishop’s right hand men!
Why doesn’t the Archdiocese reimburse the community for the financial damage that was done to the community? $200,000 in damage because of them and they force the community to hire an unqualified person to manage the community making over $100,000.. it’s clear to me that decisions are being made by the leadership of St Demetrios and the Archdiocese to bankrupt the community. They should all be ashamed!!