By Nick Stamatakis
For weeks and months during 2021 Helleniscope was expressing serious doubts that the planned visit by Patriarch Bartholomew will actually take place. We based our prediction on the unambiguously negative circumstances:
1) The failing completion of St.Nicholas at Ground Zero, always pushed to the future (the latest estimate by the new “spokesman” for St.Nicholas, Lou Katsos, is by June 2022).
2) The ongoing investigation on the financial scandals of both GOARCH and St.Nicholas and the upcoming court date (January 2022) for the former finance director Jerry Dimitriou: A plea bargain seems to be negotiated. Who will Dimitriou give to the authorities? There is only one guilty person who can save him serious time in jail – Karloutsos. Just verifying the GOARCH credit card charges over the years (the authorities certainly have copies of the credit card statements already), by Karloutsos, the presbytera and his son Mike (likely to be in the millions of $$) should be enough to send Karloutsos to jail.
3) The emptying churches not only because of the pandemic but mainly because of the total disgust of the faithful for the lack of spirituality of the Church and the Schism of Orthodoxy caused by the geopolitical adventures of both Bartholomew and Elpidophoros (and Karloutsos – the State Dept. “liaison”).
4) The totally unjustified denial by Pat. Bartholomew, at the same time as he was granting “autocephaly”/ “cacocephaly” to the 25% of Ukrainian Orthodox, to consider the same – or at least some form of administrative autonomy in a first phase, for the Church of America…
The reports below by two very well-informed and experienced websites/journalists (Sotiris Tzoumas of exapsalmos.gr and Aimilios Polygenis of romfea.gr) focus mostly on the formalities and hesitate to enter the reasons we highlighted above. But a close analysis of the whole picture leaves no doubt: The conditions for the Patriarch’s visit are negative – and they are likely to stay negative during next year. We had in a very timely manner advised the Patriarch to avoid planning any visit to the US in the foreseeable future… When will the appropriate time be? When the Patriarch decides to grant autonomy to our Church…
The “Curse of Saint Nicholas” has manifested itself one more time…
======================================
Αναβάλλεται το ταξίδι του Πατριάρχη στις ΗΠΑ;
Ρεπορτάζ Σωτήρης Μ. Τζούμας – exapsalmos.gr
Ρεπορτάζ Σωτήρης Μ. Τζούμας – exapsalmos.grΓια παράδειγμα όλα δείχνουν ότι η Αμερική δυστυχώς ούτε τον Οκτώβριο δεν θα έχει ανοίξει τα σύνορα της για την ελεύθερη διακίνηση επισκεπτών, γεγονός που δεν θα επιτρέψει να πραγματοποιηθεί το ταξίδι του Πατριάρχη έστω και στο παρά 5 ‘. Δεύτερο: Λέγεται ότι το έργο για το οποίο γίνεται το ταξίδι αυτό , η αποπεράτωση και ο εγκαινιασμός του Αγίου Νικολάου δεν έχει ολοκληρωθεί ακόμη όπως είχαν υποσχεθεί.
Αναβάλλεται η επίσκεψη του Οικουμενικού Πατριάρχη στην Αμερική;
6 Σεπτεμβρίου 2021
Γράφει ο Αιμίλιος Πολυγένης – romfea.gr
Πριν από λίγες μέρες ο Αρχιεπίσκοπος Αμερικής κ. Ελπιδοφόρος με εγκύκλιό του, ενημέρωσε το χριστεπώνυμο πλήρωμα ότι τον Οκτώβριο θα επισκεφθεί την Αμερική ο Οικουμενικός Πατριάρχης κ. Βαρθολομαίος.
Σύμφωνα με νεότερες πληροφορίες της Romfea.gr η προγραμματισμένη αυτή επίσκεψη του Οικουμενικού Πατριάρχη, δεν θα πραγματοποιηθεί τελικά λόγω μέτρων που ισχύουν στην Αμερική.
Οι ίδιες πληροφορίες αναφέρουν ότι ο Πατριάρχης θα μεταβεί στην Αμερική το καλοκαίρι του 2022, που ίσως μέχρι τότε αποπερατωθεί και ο Άγιος Νικόλαος στο σημείο μηδέν.
Επίσης, φαίνεται ότι ο Οικουμενικός Πατριάρχης θέλει να επισκεφθεί την Αμερική το 2022, που η συμπληρώνονται 100 χρόνια από την ίδρυση της Ιεράς Αρχιεπισκοπής Αμερικής.
Τέλος να σημειωθεί ότι από την πλευρά της Αρχιεπισκοπής δεν έχει υπάρξει κάποια επίσημη ενημέρωση, αν και ο Αρχιεπίσκοπος δεν έχει επιστρέψει ακόμη στην έδρα του από την Ελλάδα που βρίσκεται.
Η εκκλησία στις ΗΠΑ σαπιζει από τώρα όχι μόνο το κεφάλι αλλά και από τη σάρκα. Ο κόσμος αδειάζει τις εκκλησίες από πολλούς λόγους. Το πνεύμα της εποχής παίζει ρόλο και η γενική κρίση την οποία πέφτει σε όλες οι εκκλησίες. Αλλά πιο πολύγια μας από ντροπή με την συμπεριφορά της εκκλησίας και τους απατεώνες που λέγονται κληρικοί. Όχι για όλους αλλά για το ελίτ.
Δεν βλέπω χωρίς χέρι Θεού, μείωση των πραγμάτων.
Great news. The “protector of thieves” will climb back down in his rabbit hole! Lay people must put the pedal to the metal and keep cleaning up hierarchy’s filth! St. Nicholas Cathedral has been defiled by filth.
✝️ The simple step of a courageous individual (Nick) is not to take part in the lie. One word of truth outweighs the world.
poll the majority of church goers. I’ll use some slang.. The majority that show up ain’t woke and they don’t worship at the altar of climate change or green new screwball deal nor do those who show on Sunday’s at all interested in alphabet soup crap as they don’t want their yiannis and their Nikos in dresses.
They the elitist fang read us all wrong us. Those who show on Sunday’s those who show
Mr. Stamatakis, granting “autonomy” (or “autocephaly”) to the Greek Orthodox Church in America would be one of the most DISASTROUS things that can b done and would surely put a bullet in the head to our Faith. Unfortunately, you and others like you who think “on the surface” fail to understand this. I enjoy reading your articles and to some extent agree with your cynicism, but I totally, completely, and vehemently disagree with you on this point of autocephaly. The argument is too extensive to bicker about here, because it requires thorough historical and theological knowledge of the Church and the Faith. I fear that I would be entering into an argumentative battle with an unarmed opponent. Suffice it to say that we are certainly NOT ready to be autocephalous. I’m not even sure if we’ll EVER be ready. All we can do is pray and ask for our Lord’s guidance. As for the rest of your article, I agree that it IS time for certain persons to be held accountable.
If you disagree please explain yourself. People like you who feel that know more than the rest of us, do not understand Jesus Christ’s message…
If you have some “principles pf autocephaly” please list them here… And at the same time explain why it was “dogmatically” or “ecclesiologically” or “theologically” appropriate to grant autocephaly to the 25% of Ukraine’s Orthodox but it is not appropriate to do so in America… No argument is too “extensive” for such an important matter… Underestimating the intellect of the faithful is what brought us to this lowest of low points… And is hiding other motives…
I and our audience cannot wait to hear the argument from the other side… What are you afraid of?
I’m not going to even touch the issue of the Ukrainian autocephaly. That is a totally different issue that requires volumes to explain. In a short but simple sentence, the Patriarch was not out of line in granting the autocephaly. Unless, of course, you side with the Russians, because THEY’RE the ones that are pissed of. (And without cause, of course…) But again, another topic for another very thick book.
As for the issue of autocephaly here in America, are you KIDDING me? You can’t see how disastrous such a move would be on our Greek Orthodox faith here in this country? You want explanations and arguments? Sure, Nick… We have all of these metropolitans, God bless them, who BITCHED AND SCREAMED to be made metropolitans (not only that, but bitched for their DIOCESES to be made Metropolises), Patriarch Bartholomew caved into their bitching, and what do we have now? A situation that my grandmother would call “μπάτε σκύλοι” (“bate skyloi”). It’s a free-for-all with each metropolitan doing whatever he wants. There is no uniformity amongst the hierarchy, the English language is running rampant with HORRIBLE (and theologically incorrect, in many cases) translations, many of our priests are “shortening” our Holy Services according to their whims (don’t even THINK of telling me “our services are too long, anyway”) and no one is doing anything about it, most of our priests can’t even give a decent Orthodox sermon (which means, you might as well listen to Joel Osteen to “be inspired”). You don’t see how all of this shows movement AWAY from the Holy Tradition of our Faith? People seem to forget that we are still a GREEK Orthodox Church in this country. One of the biggest mistakes the Archdiocese made was allowing Archbishop Spyridon to be forced to resign. Unfortunately, the Patriarch didn’t (or couldn’t?) have his back and allowed the fiasco to ensue. One minute he was telling our bishops here, “He is your Archbishop until the day he dies,” and the next minute he tells Spyridon to tender his resignation. Gee, don’t you think SOMEONE dangled a financial carrot in front of him? Not that he is money-hungry (he is not, I assure you), but he is FORCED into a situation to NEED money to survive where he is. I have been to Greek Orthodox parishes all across the U.S. and in MANY of them, if it wasn’t for the iconography and the vestments, I couldn’t tell if I was in an Orthodox Church or a Protestant one. If we don’t wake up on our own, then one morning we ARE going to wake up to find that we have lost our Greek Orthodox Faith. Why do you think people are FLOCKING to the monasteries?? If our hierarchy and clergy simply looked in the mirror, they will find the answer to that question.
Where to start with this confusing and confused support of dependence on the Patriarchate? Here it is – and for now I will not even touch the comparison with Ukraine – which as all of you know I have been following very closely for many years….
1) Dividing GOARCH into Metropolises was not the request of the local clergy or laity but the “divide and rule” policy of Pat.Bartholomew, who did not want to EVER have to face a new Iakovos… Let’s not hide behind our finger..
2) Are you kidding me? The Ecumenist heretic Bartholomew will be the keeper of our faith in America? When will this happen? When, they “soon” if we believe their words and actions, decide to have Easter the same day as the Catholics? And this is only the superficiality of it…
3) The Turks do not only request money from the Patriarchate. They also request “loyalty”. This is why the last few years Turkish consuls in Chicago and New York, made public official visits to the Metropolitan Nathanael and AB Elpidophoros. If we had autonomy they would not have any grounds to request such SHAMEFUL visits. How would the Armenian faithful feel if the Turkish consul visited their Bishops and talked about “loyalty”? Can you at least fathom this? The murderer visiting the victim and demanding loyalty? Please come to your senses…
4) Let’s not talk about money… Do you want me to start with the bunch of gay hierarchs Pat.Bartholomew is surrounded with and are installed as Archbishops all over the world? Their first common trait is their indulgence in all kinds of luxuries… Consider the $2 million apartment AB Makarios of Australia bought for himself? The same for Emmanuel, formerly of France, I could write a whole novel about his indulgences. I could even talk about the Patriarch himself if anybody challenges me… Please leave this issue alone… The list of incidences showing sinful materialist indulgence is too long… When the previous Patriarch (Demetrios) died, they laid him flat for funeral display and saw that his two shoes had holes on their soles… Make the comparison if you wish. We had many other Patriarchs – some were heretics, some were arrogant, some were “papoceasars”… Very few were as misguided and money-hungry as Bartholomew…
I will sum it up for now as follows: If the Patriarchate does not guarantee the faith, if is TOTALLY infiltrated by corruption, and if it undermines Hellenism by being subjugated to the requests for “loyalty” to the Turks, THE REAL QUESTION SHOULD BE HOW FAST WE SHOULD TAKE THE CHURCH BACK FROM THIS BAND OF ANTI-HELLENE THIEVES? Excuse my tone but let me explain here that I am using the mildest words I can to describe the situation.
Excellent!!!
Autonomy/Autocephaly is not the default answer if the goal is to preserve Orthodox teaching, proper liturgical practice, and a 2000 year tradition of authentic Greek original text. Addressing clerical corruption and laziness is the first step (see comment further below). If that doesn’t work, a simple (and immediate) solution would be to transfer/establish Greek Typikon parishes under another Canonical jurisdiction, and leave the heretical preachers to preach in empty buildings, or join the Vatican on their own (whatever their non-Orthodox ambitions may be)… We forget that Antioch, for example is a historically Greek Patriarchate as well, and the Typikon has been Greek / Byzantine forever. The Church of Cyprus is also considered one of the “ancient Churches”, even having participated in Ecumenical Councils. Being an “ancient Church” has some Canonical privileges, too (more than the Church of Greece has, actually). For example, I hear that it takes only 2 “ancient churches” to declare official schism or heresy, and allow clergy to transfer without a canonical release…the fact this has not occurred, but rather various leaders (Alexandria/Cyprus/Greece) have arbitrarily commemorated Epifanios without consensus from their own Synods illustrates how this schism is not “clean”, but rather it has infiltrated across all of “Greek” Orthodoxy as a result of human weakness and worldly ambitions, and now each jurisdiction has to deal with its own corruption status.
Anyway, in theory at least, solutions exist.. The fact that Cyprus / Alexandria / Jerusalem / Greece(Athens) have not established presence in N. America while others have (creating a perpetual non-canonical situation with multiple bishops claiming the same geographical jurisdiction) is a larger discussion for a different topic, but in theory, we have multiple options here (Serbia/Georgia/Romania/etc). The real problem is finding willingness to execute this plan, and leave the schismatic / heretical preachers standing alone and preaching to empty buildings….As for the Russians, technically they owned Alaska and established Canonical presence in N. America long before Constantinople did. Christ said “go make disciples of all nations” and not “go bicker about whose spiritual empire is greater”….Christian Ethos as well as the Canons are being violated. While Constantinople may have some historical “tradition” behind it to grant a “tomos” of autocephaly, this was NEVER done in the past when other Churches disagreed this vehemently, nor was it done in someone else’s historical geographical jurisdiction (which even Bartholomew had previously acknowledged for 27 years in several letters to Alexios of Moscow dating back to the 1990s about this same matter)….the Canons also stipulate that a future Ecumenical Synod (or at least the other 13 Autocephalous Churches) should certify and be in agreement of any “tomos” being granted…go ahead, read the fine print…it’s there…it’s not a one way Papal street here, and when we hear the Epistle reading “…I shall never eat meat again, so I do not scandalize my brother, “, what does that mean? Is it just about meat? You just scandalized at least ~150 million Orthodox brethren in Russia and beyond, and introduced Schism across multiple jurisdictions, including on Mt. Athos, where 7 out of 20 monasteries had actually voted in favor of sending a delegation to attend Epifanios’ “enthronement” (then we had that fiasco of Ephraim of Vatopedi “falling ill” when he self-declared himself the delegate, remember?)…that’s pretty disturbing revelation of the reach of corruption we are confronting, if you ask me….Why would Bartholomew just barrel through with a decision when there was such clear dissent and schism spelled out on the horizon? This is not Christ-like behavior, sorry. Personally, I’m not interested in supporting the Vatican model, where one individual can arbitrarily impose authority over others. That’s not a representation of Orthodox Synodic Tradition.
Excellent Summary!
Yes please. Write an article explaining your viewpoints. However long or exhaustive, this is important that you are able to share your opinions whether historical, theological or Biblically based. I’m open to reading. Please don’t feel that this forum is too ignorant to understand the depths and importance of this subject issue.
Thank you
Polling works!
Σωτήρη και Αιμίλιε,
Κολοκύθια στο Πάτερο θα έλεγε η θειά μου
η Φρόσω αν ζούσε , για τις δικαιολογίες
που προβάλλετε για την αναβολή του ταξιδιού
του Οικουμενιστή ( όχι οικουμενικού πλέον),
αμφότεροι έχετε λάθος πληροφορίες, φαίνεται πως η κατάρα του Αγίου Νικολάου θα τους
τυραννήσει για πολύ καιρό ακόμη. Προφανώς τα λεφτά δεν βρέθηκαν ακόμη , γιατί για τα
εγκαίνια θα ερχόταν και όλα τα άλλα που αναφέρετε και αναφέρονται είναι προφάσεις εν
αμαρτίες. Ο ναός αυτός είναι συμβολικός γιατί
δεν είναι αποκλειστικά Ορθόδοξος είναι σύμβολο
του Οικουμενισμού , οι πολλές αναβολές
οφείλονται στην έλλειψη ψιλικού οξέος ……το
παραδάκι το έτρωγαν η Μαρμάγκα….. και η
ψείρα που ήταν κολλημένη σαν βδέλλα πάνω στην Μαρμάγκα….Έχει βουήξει όλος ο ντουνιάς
το γνωρίζουν ακόμη και τα νήπια. Την περασμένη
εβδομάδα πήγα με ένα φίλο στο ground zero
μόνο και μόνο για να έχω προσωπική διαπίστωση,
απελπίστηκα από την εικόνα που είδα, το
εσωτερικό του Ναού είναι ανέγγιχτο , γι’αυτό και
η μεγάλη αναβολή. Άλλοι έτρωγαν τα χρήματα,
( Μαρμάγκα και ψείρα ) και τη νύφη την πλήρωσε
ο φουκαράς ο Δημήτριος, αφού Πατριάρχης και
Καρλούτσος ( Μ + Ψ) τον έστησαν για να τρώνε
με δέκα μασέλες οι ίδιοι. Η αλήθεια είναι πως
ποτέ δεν θα μάθουμε την αλήθεια που όλοι
γνωρίζουμε. Το ταξίδι του Ελπιδοφόρου στη Χίο
δεν είναι τυχαίο, άκουσε ότι τα ναύλα των πλοίων
ανέβηκαν κατακόρυφα και μαζί με τους κολαούζους που τον συνοδεύουν θα τρέξουν
στους εφοπλιστικούς κύκλους προς άγραν
ψιλικού…..οξέος. Οι Καρδαμυλλήτες και Οι
Αιγνουσιώτες εφοπλιστές είναι πιο αετόπουλα
και από τον Καρλούτσο και γνωρίζουν πολύ καλά
την τέχνη του στρίβειν δια του αρραβώνος….
Οι δικαιολογίες αμφοτέρων ,
έχουν σχέση με την αλεπού και τα σταφύλια.
Όλα στο φως αγαπητοί μου , είναι ο μόνος
τρόπος για να διορθωθούμε (νε) να απελευθερωθούμε .
May the Patriarch grant us autonomy. Amen!
As for retired “Prince of Darkness” the Rev.
Alex Karloutsos who’s still pulling the strings simply have his billionaire fat cats bail him out? What a lucky devil
“Metastatic” Autocephaly isn’t going to solve anything…cancerous corruption at the hierarchical / synodic level is too malignant and endemic at this point to result in any honest or healthy spiritual condition of “self-governance”…instead the faithful need to exercise their Canonical right to participate in the election their own bishops (something that has been taken away in a sinister manner over the years, and the only “reminder” of what used to be is this tradition of saying “axios” at enthronements…what happens if we say “anaxios”? They hid that historical process from us, didn’t they? They think we are too stupid to participate, don’t they? They know best, right?). Well, since “due process” has been taken away, the laity can always resort to other measures to restore ecclesiastical order, and here is one simple example:
Isn’t there some “Private Investigations dot org” that the faithful can contribute to, so that all of the imposters / false prophets / parasites / wolves in sheepskin can be identified, fully investigated, exposed, prosecuted and ultimately removed from their positions of authority? Even if only 3 “clean” bishops remain across the entire globe, the Church Canons are in agreement that 3 Canonical bishops are enough to “reset” and provide continuity for the entire Church….(you only need 3 canonical bishops to tonsure new ones…we probably still have 3 decent ones in the entire world…the investigation would identify them…they can call it “project Diogenes’ Lantern”…).
To those who say that a lot of money has to be paid to the Ottomans in exchange for “protection”, expose the facts, and let the international community deal with the shame…after all, we saw how well St. Sophia was “protected”