What Is Wrong About This Photo Of AB Elpidophoros?

By Nick Stamatakis

Judging from the countless emails and phone calls I have been receiving about the “spectacle” of our main photo, this must be one of the most hypocritical “photo-ops” of the century.  Where to start?

1. Let’s start from the “instigator” of AB Elpidophoros’ participation in the Brooklyn rally, who, by all accounts, is the “Prince of Darkness” Karloutsos… If this information is correct – and all indications are that it is – then a political decision was made that the Archbishop’s participation in the rally would make a “favorable” political statement and draw positive light on his “image”. What a staggering miscalculation! And what a miserable performance of the “show” it was!… Was this episode one more “mine” put by Karloutsos to discredit Elpidophoros? You bet it was…
2. Since our Church decided to follow …”faithfully” the secular authorities in ten weeks of unreasonable “lockdown” that rendered all religious services “non-essential”, why did our leadership decide to break the rules of “social distancing”?  Was the gathering in the rally more important than the opening of the Churches? In a place where many participants allegedly did not wear masks?  Has our leadership lost their senses? We enforce social distancing rules in our Churches but we break them for political purposes? (Below a recent photo of AB Elpidophoros in an empty – because of social distancing – church…)
3. Why did our leadership completely forget to honor Memorial Day and take the opportunity to remember the American Patriots who sacrificed their lives for this country (and at the same time mention the countless Greek-Americans and Greeks who fought side-by-side with them)?  Our heroes do not deserve ONE WORD, but Antifa and “Black Lives Matter” are worth breaking all the rules? Or, maybe, the rules were “fake” to begin with and had “hidden” intentions – which they failed to achieve, so we are now to follow “new rules”… And who is imposing these new rules? It’s not God, and it’s not Christ – we proved to have lost our faith already…. The Holy Communion is not to be respected, nothing is “Holy” for our leadership anymore…
4. If the intention was to follow Archbishop Iakovos’ steps and create a “Martin Luther King moment”, then the failure is monumental and the lack of leadership beyond description. In choosing to stand by Martin Luther King, Iakovos took tremendous risks – risks that no other religious leader of the time dared take. And he suffered the consequences… He was criticized and even harassed by many – including his own fellow Greeks… What are the risks Elpidophoros is taking in getting involved in a “politically correct” event? Zero risks…. And who are the leaders he is marching with?  Two “nobodies”, local leaders, who wouldn’t be able to even touch Martin Luther King’s shoes…
5. If Elpidophoros wanted to “make waves” in a similar way as Iakovos did, he should go “against the current” and declare his opposition to “baby killer” politicians like Andrew Cuomo.  Where does he stand on the “day of birth” abortion?  What is the position of the Church on this “right to life” issue? If our position is against the killing of babies – as it should be – why don’t our leaders have the courage to declare it in public?  Is currying favor with the “baby-killer” Cuomo (who supposedly will help finish St.Nicholas at Ground Zero) enough of a reason to throw out of the window everything we hold sacred? As I have said many times, St.Nicholas is watching this atrocious behavior by our leaders and he will NOT let them desecrate his memory... The Church at Ground Zero – at least in its current form – will NEVER finish, until they change course and repent..
6. June 4, 2020, n.stamatakis@aol.com   www.helleniscope.com