EDITOR’S NOTE (Nick Stamatakis). When I first heard the news that our “Archons of Disaster” – along with the Board of Saint Nicholas WTC – will honor Zelensky, I immediately thought chances are he will not be in power – or he will not be alive – by September 26… Recent news from Kyiv justifies this thought… In the meantime, those of us who are against honoring Zelensky should sign the Petition and – if he finally manages to survive and come to NYC – be ready to demonstrate against him outside Cipriani or any other venue they choose…
TO SIGN THE PETITION, CLICK HERE AND GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THE POST
I would join a protest as Nick suggests. . Let’s plan it. That should embarrass them. Let’s see how many of the keyboard warriors would show up. George, Markos, PG, speaking to you.
Protest is definitely in order.
Just an abomination.
What is GOA thinking 💭??
Nope.👎 Nix it Nik!
It’s a logistical headache…
Cipriani’s is across street from Grand Ctrl Station 🚉 + GOA will treat protesters like more background noise.
Better to send them letters + sign petition.
And it’s not worth ruining ppl’s weekend plans for this disgrace.
Orthodox Christians in Ukraine are being abducted, detained, beaten, killed, impressed, and dispossessed — on your dime! But don’t cancel your weekend plans, Americans!
The gall, the nonchalance, the indifference, the insouciance.
Apples, who throws a damp blanket on other people’s plans to protest? Other people protesting is no skin off your nose.
Nick, I don’t live close enough to join you. If I did, I’d make a day of it, by stopping by GOA HQ first, meeting with Elpidophoros to hand-deliver all of the petition signatures, and then going to the restaurant site to protest. We need a full-spectrum event.
Since Madonna is fresh off a monastery visit, see if she will join you in protesting Zelensky and his vicious Ukrainian Christian persecution. Do that, and you’ll have a major media event on your hands, too. I am serious.
Take photos and videos of all activities, even if no media show up. Good luck, and Godspeed!
I do not know of any plans to protest. I have said to many friends that I think he will not make it to September 26 alive – or he will be overthrown by then. If not, a protest is withtin the realm of possible reactions – in addition to collecting signatures.
You are in the area and have know-how and a platform. I hope you’ll start planning now for all contingencies. The archons and GOARCH are so obtuse that if Zelensky is deposed, that won’t stop the award. Maybe they’ll want to give him two awards instead!
The petition signers come from every jurisdiction possible, so if you put out the call, you could pull together a pan-Orthodox protest the likes of which has never been seen before. (And the international signers are watching and pulling for us Americans.)
If nothing else, modern America is a production, so brainstorm ideas in that direction. If at all possible, the protest should have a headliner as well known as Zelensky. How about Nikola Jokic or Novak Djokovic or someone along those lines? The headliner could give a little speech. Celebrities have protested much lesser issues than Christian torture and persecution.
Every day we see more indications from Ukraine that many are pushing for elections. Here is a sampling:
https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/19/europe/ukraine-wartime-presidential-election-zelensky-intl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80-HHiR8-XM
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdew8n9erlwo
If this has some backing from the West – and I believe it has – then Zelensky is finished. He is not going to stay there for elections as he knows he will lose.
His fate and choices are the same as Netanyahu’s: War or prison/exile
The most likely scenario is that about a month from now, Zelensky will still be in power, he will be given an award in NYC — and apparently the American Orthodox will not be bothered enough to do anything about it!
As you all know, we at Helleniscope are not by nature hiding from open conflict with the wrongdoers at GOA. I’ve personally been fighting them in Court for over 5 years and have participated in demonstrations. We will be watching developments closely, but we also demand that this be a grassroots event.
Another aspect of this is that Zelensky and the Ukraine War are extremely unpopular in general, with 70% of the American public rejecting them outright and sending Trump’s popularity to less than 30% – a percentage unseen for decades for any president. Among Orthodox Americans, the rejection of the Ukraine war must be over 85%-90%. This fact alone should have created many second thoughts among the GOA and the Archons, but it has not. Because they are acting as Deep State and CIA agents under the “spiritual guidance” of Karloutsos.