By Nick Stamatakis
In his first-ever visit to Cyprus to pay tribute to his “close friend” AB Chrysostom B’, Pat. Bartholomew delivered a remarkable for its selfishness and lack of theological knowledge – if not blasphemous – eulogy. I am sorry to say, people like Pat. Bartholomew have no real friends. For them, what matters is who is subservient and who assists them, with all legal or illegal means, in their plans to achieve their political goals. In that sense, Chrysostom the B’ of Cyprus was a “friend,” while AB Anastasios of Albania is not a “friend.” In particular, here is what stands out from this eulogy (which you can watch in the two videos below, part 1 and part 2):
- Bartholomew thanked Chrysostom B’ for his support during the 2016 Panorthodox Synod. What kind of help was this? Well, when the Metropolitans of Cyprus refused to sign the decisions of the Synod, AB Chrysostom B’ sneaked in the room where the decision book was kept at night and acting fraudulently, he signed for those Metropolitans who disagreed (adding the Greek legalistic expression “in place of…(such and such) or in Greek “αντ’αυτού”.
- Bartholomew thanked, truly from the bottom of his heart, Chrysostom B’, for donating to the Patriarchate the very valuable building of the Cyprus Church Representatives at the E.U. in Brussels. In doing that, Chrysostom committed a major mistake, as he gave a building that could have been used to promote the Cyprus cause to those who are under the control of the Turkish Foreign ministry.
- Finally, in his eulogy Pat. Bartholomew, committed a major theological mistake. In minute 5’20 of the part 2 video below, he said: “The resurrection of Christ annulled the immortality of death”. In the original Greek he said: “η Ἀνάστασις του Χριστοῦ κατήργησε τὴν ἀθανασία του θανάτου”, which is an impossible theological novelty bordering to blasphemy. Here is the opinion of an excellent theologian in Helleniscope’s circle (In the original Greek and in English)
ΑΠΑΡΑΔΕΚΤΕΣ ΚΑΙΝΟΤΟΜΙΕΣ
Ὁ Πατριάρχης Βαρθολομαίος δήλωσε χθὲς δυστυχῶς στην κηδεία του κυρού Χρυσοστόμου ὅτι η Ἀνάστασις του Χριστοῦ “κατήργησε τὴν ἀθανασία του θανάτου”!!! Ὁ θάνατος ὅμως οὐδέποτε ὑπῆρξε ἀθάνατος! Κανένας Πατέρας τῆς Εκκλησίας δεν δίδαξε ποτέ την ἀθανασία του θανάτου. Αντιθέτως η ίδια η Γραφή μας λέει ὅτι ὁ θάνατος δὲν εἶναι ἔργον Θεοῦ καὶ μάλιστα ὅτι ὁ “Θεὸς θάνατον οὐκ ἐποίησε, οὐδὲ τέρπεται ἐπ᾿ ἀπωλείᾳ ζώντων” (Σοφ. Σολομῶντος 1.13) . Ἐπιπλέον, οἱ Ἅγιοι Πατέρες μᾶς δίδαξαν ὅτι “τὰ ἀθάνατα πάντα καὶ αυτὴ ἡ ἀθανασία… καὶ τὰ Ἅγια πάντα καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ Ἁγιότης… προδήλως Ἔργα Θεοῦ τυγχάνουσιν” (Ἅγ. Μάξιμος Ὁμολογητὴς). Ἄν δηλαδὴ ὁ θάνατος ἦταν ἕνα απὸ τὰ ἄκτιστα ἤ τὰ κτιστὰ ἔργα τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ Χριστὸς θὰ ὤφειλε νὰ καταστρέψῃ τὸ ἴδιο τὸ Ἔργον τοῦ Θεοῦ προκειμένου νὰ νικηθῇ ὁ θάνατος. Ἡ φρικαλέα αὐτὴ ἀντίφασι ἐγγίζει τὰ ὅρια τῆς βλασφημίας. Δὲν ἀπετέλεσε ποτὲ Διδασκαλία τῆς Χριστιανικῆς Ἐκκλησίας. Ἀκόμα καὶ οἱ Παπικοὶ δὲν τόλμησαν νὰ σκεφθοῦν τέτοιο πράγμα. Τὸ νὰ χαρακτηρίζει “θεολογικώτατη” αὐτὴν τὴν πλάνη ὁ Πατριάρχης καὶ μάλιστα σε ὥρα νεκρωσίμου Ἀκολουθίας ὅπου ψάλλεται τὸ “…μόνος ὑπάρχεις Ἀθάνατος” εἶναι ἀπαράδεκτη ἀπαιδευσία. Ἀλλὰ αὐτὸ δὲν εἶναι τὸ χειρώτερο. Τὸ ὅτι κανένας Ὀρθόδοξος Χριστιανὸς ἀπὸ τὶς χιλιάδες ἀνθρώπων ποὺ ἄκουσαν αὐτὴν τὴν φράσι ἐντὸς τῆς κηδείας, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπὸ τὰ ἐκατομύρια τηλεθεατῶν που παρακολουθοῦσαν τὴν κηδεία διαδικτυακῶς ΔΕΝ ἀντέδρασε, καταλαβαίνουμε πόσο ἀξιοθρήνητο εἶναι τὸ νὰ ἡγεῖται σήμερα μιᾶς τέτοιας “ὀρθοδοξίας” ἕνας τέτοιος πατριάρχης…
UNACCEPTABLE INNOVATIONS
Patriarch Bartholomew sadly stated yesterday at the funeral of Mr. Chrysostomos that the Resurrection of Christ “abolished the immortality of death”!!! But death was never immortal! No Father of the Church ever taught the immortality of death. On the contrary, the Bible itself tells us that death is not a work of God and, in fact, that “God did not create death, He does not take pleasure in the loss of the living” (Book of Wisdom 1.13). In addition, the Holy Fathers taught us that “the immortal things and this immortality… and the Holy things and this Holiness… are manifest works of God” (St. Maximus the Confessor). That is, if death was one of the uncreated or created works of God, Christ would have to destroy the same Work of God to defeat death. This horrible contradiction is bordering blasphemy. It was never a teaching of the Christian Church. Even the Papists did not dare to think of such a thing. For the Patriarch to characterize this fallacy as “theologically correct”, at the time of a funeral Mass where “…only you are Immortal” is sung, is unacceptable ignorance. But that is not the worst. The fact that no Orthodox Christian from the thousands of people who heard this phrase during the funeral, but also from the hundreds of thousands of TV viewers who watched the funeral online, did NOT react, we understand how deplorable it is that such an “orthodoxy” is led today by such a patriarch…
Patriarch Bartholomew sadly stated yesterday at the funeral of Mr. Chrysostomos that the Resurrection of Christ “abolished the immortality of death”!!! But death was never immortal! No Father of the Church ever taught the immortality of death. On the contrary, the Bible itself tells us that death is not a work of God and, in fact, that “God did not create death, He does not take pleasure in the loss of the living” (Book of Wisdom 1.13). In addition, the Holy Fathers taught us that “the immortal things and this immortality… and the Holy things and this Holiness… are manifest works of God” (St. Maximus the Confessor). That is, if death was one of the uncreated or created works of God, Christ would have to destroy the same Work of God to defeat death. This horrible contradiction is bordering blasphemy. It was never a teaching of the Christian Church. Even the Papists did not dare to think of such a thing. For the Patriarch to characterize this fallacy as “theologically correct”, at the time of a funeral Mass where “…only you are Immortal” is sung, is unacceptable ignorance. But that is not the worst. The fact that no Orthodox Christian from the thousands of people who heard this phrase during the funeral, but also from the hundreds of thousands of TV viewers who watched the funeral online, did NOT react, we understand how deplorable it is that such an “orthodoxy” is led today by such a patriarch…
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There are heretical whores and at the top is Bart.
Unfortunately most of the people in the black
robes are hating each other , fortunately there
are some exceptions that are real God’s servers
who like and love any one and every one even if
are shiners .
Pat Bartholomew and Chrysostomos of
Cyprus according to my knowledge were
the same characters .
If they just hated each other, maybe it wouldn’t be as bad…this “specimen” of a Patriarch even appears to hate the Fathers of our Church….remember this wonderful quote from 1998, where he insinuated that the Church Fathers who “handed down” the 1054 split between East and West had become “unfortunate victims of the age-old evil serpent”?
Excerpt from http://www.agios-andreas-girokomio-athinon.gr/gr/index.php/en/news/latest-news2/542-oi-agioi-pateres-thimata-tou-diabolou
«Σεβασμιώτατε Καρδινάλιε κύριε William Η. Keeler και λοιποί εν Χριστώ αδελφοί οι αποτελούντες την Αντιπροσωπείαν της Εκκλησίας Ρώμης, […]
Δεν πρέπει να σπαταλήσωμεν τον χρόνον εις αναζητήσεις ευθυνών. Οι κληροδοτήσαντες εις ημάς την διάσπασιν προπάτορες ημών υπήρξαν ατυχή θύματα του αρχεκάκου όφεως και ευρίσκονται ήδη εις χείρας του δικαιοκρίτου Θεού. Αιτούμεθα υπέρ αυτών το έλεος του Θεού, αλλ’ οφείλομεν ενώπιον Αυτού όπως επανορθώσωμεν τα σφάλματα εκείνων […]
Original publication in the Patriarchate’s periodical: «Επίσκεψις» αρ. 563, 30.11.1998, σελ. 6
Add that to the pile of terrible things to say as a Patriarch…why then is it a surprise when he keeps uttering nonsense?
Message to the Patriarch..if you or your robed buddies want to join the Vatican, nobody is holding you back, but you’ll have to do it as private citizens, not as representatives of a Church body that still follows the teachings of our time-tested Church Fathers (and not yours)…after the failed attempts at Ferrara in 1439, the people of Constantinople were throwing pieces of silver at the traitors of the Faith upon their return…remember that scene?
The Kool-aid works if everyone drinks it. The more we learn, the more we see the entire hierarchal structure is dysfunctional.
BECAUSE he represents the Church, it is no longer my church.
And to ALL the clergy that follows him in whatever degree, don’t bother me with whatever nonsense justifications you’re peddling. No one needs a Church like this. Particularly while the entire planet is soiled and decadent.
But take heart fellow travellers, keep your hearts light and your mind on Him. God is great!
Antonis that’s beautiful post;
indeed we must keep our hearts light
but some of us have to stay and fight the dragon!
Antonis,
In the days of Jesus Christ, there were 12 disciples…one was a traitor/thief/imposter… That amounts to a ratio of 1/12, or 8.3%. Despite the fact that Jesus “knew” all along (being the incarnate Word of God), He tolerated the traitor/thief/imposter then, possibly to teach us a lesson about the days that we are witnessing today. Today, that tolerance threshold has risen, because societal corruption has risen, and even if it were measured to be a 10-fold increase to the astonishing level of 83% of clergy being traitors/thieves/imposters, there are always some good Orthodox clergy left. God gave us both a brain and logic…let’s use them…find the ones who are good, and stick with them. Although few these days, they do exist. In the words of St. Paisios, “the laity knows how to discern Holiness”. Abandon the rest of the rotten ones, just like the Epistle to Titus advises us to do, and let them preach in empty buildings with empty coffers. The rotten ones fuel their egos with power and money…some are controlled by external entities…when they are left alone and penniless, that’s when the frauds will “exit stage left”, either voluntarily, or because their “masters” will show them the door for having failed the mission of corruption that they were assigned…
Markos, it’s transparent the envy of
Bartholomew towards the Church Fathers —
black Bart knows he’ll never go down as respected as St. John Chrysostom & the rest…
In fact, Patriarch of today is prototype of what you describe:
Traitor/Theif/Imposter!
The Catholic Church in Washinton D.C. headed by a Cardinal -(whose name escapes me) for the first time, in the Right to Life March on January 20th, 2023–canceled the YOUTH RALLY! Orders were most likely given to said Cardinali from higher up on their food chain!
The Pro-Life Rally has now banned Youth from Pro-Life Rallies in the nation’s center? What’s next? Will the progressive poppa from roma bring in sideshows of drag queens in its stead?
We simply cannot follow the r. catholics…. they are straying from orthodoxy and using the leftists playbook.. perhaps they were never on our page…
Larissa, don’t you know the Leftist regime has infiltrated all of Christian Churches? Catholics are under attack just as we are from within like our Judas Archbishop Elpidoktonos?
Breaking News: Same Sex Marriage Law passed thanks to the 12 Loons named RINOS who joined the full Bat Den to vote for its passage!
My question to the Honorable Mr. S and Sir G– something fishy the dems added about “lawsuits” for non-compliance– Does this extend to religious non-compliance? Let’s say a Priest in San Fran doesn’t want to bless the union -or a Priest from Osh Kosh? Will they be sued? Will the Metropolis’ be sued?
Have the floodgates been open as of yesterday –with the usual – “or else” warning tag the dems added onto this now official legislation? Please answer… Thank you!
Update- Both Lindsay Graham and Mitch McConnell voted against it… Senator Graham really worried about the religious’ ramifications… He is right not to trust this big
bowl of mess!