You don’t want me to tell you about church hierarchy and Apostolic Succession? You are a schismatic, my friend!

So far, all you have said and done have been very good, but now you have crossed a line. Do you not know that the Apostles themselved ordained Deacons, Priests and Bishops, like Timothy and Titus, to whom St. Paul wrote letters, after ordaining them? Please get a copy of the Orthodox Study Bible and read a little each day. Your intentions are good but your method is flawed. Less politics and more Bible Study please.

Woe to those by whom scandals come, and woe to those who are scandalized.

Congratulations to Papa Lefteris!!
You mean he’s really free of answering to that fraudulent Archbishop Makarios?
This is spectacular.

Let’s make HELLENISCOPE Greater than before.
Many thanks to all our viewers for your love and
exceptional interesting and meaningful messages.

Ελάτε όλοι μαζί να κάνουμε το HELLENISCOPE
σπουδαιότερο από πρώτα.
Ευχαριστούμε για την αγάπη σας και τα άκρως
ενδιαφέροντα μηνύματα.

Nick, what you are proposing is called Protestantism. Break away from the church and start your own church. Not everyone is going to like Fr. Lefteris, should they then break away and start another church. I must admit, that I am amazed you did not know there was a hierarchy in the early church. Please, as mentioned, read Timothy and Titus and see the qualifications for hierarchy. After reading the those Epistles let’s continue the discussion.

Orthodoxy does not exist without its hierarchy. We are fighting to preserve the Orthodox Church, not to dismember it as you propose! You are also wrong if you think YOU can correct the problems in this church. So far you have done the right thing by calling them out, but…when you take matters in your OWN hands and out of God’s hands, you are going way too far. What you are doing is Protestantism. You need to practice patient endurance my friend and let GOD take control. He will do that, just wait and see! Be patient. Patience is the key virtue here.

And Bartholomaios himself by accepting as the church in Ukraine the sacraments and clergy of those ordained by priests and not bishops ,has himself cast doubt on the hierarchy as we see it.
I have been reading Hans Kung ,that famous catholic theologian so wise and so critical of the Catholic phanar and it’s system aka Vatican !! How relevant to us especially us Greeks who are seeing a Greek Vatican being formed. Not that Moscow’s third Rome is much better.
But he articulates our own crisis of hierarchy in 21st century that they try and control and the faithful as if is AD1000.
As Kung shows and as we need to understand as Orthodox today , the problem is not the hierarchy per se BUT HOW IT EXERCISES POWER which is far from Christ and far from the early church .
Yes we are not protestants ,and have a apostolic succession. But we need to think harder about what this is and how it exercises authority.
The orthodox church not just in USA but works wide is in deep crisis. As the late fr Alexander Schmemamn wrote , the church has always lived surrounded by an orthodox culture which today does not exist . Not just in the diaspora but as here in Bulgaria where I live. More secular than UK even. A church commotosed .
If the faithful left do not wake up to the religion of ‘Byzantism’ , that we being sold all the way to their Swiss bank accounts ,there will be no church. Maybe it needs to die to rise in Christ.

Ζώσα & ελευθέρα Ορθόδοξη Εκλλησία ζητούσε και ο αείμνηστος Αυγουστίνος Καντιώτης.
Θα τη ζήσουμε ποτέ ;

There’s a lot to untangle here, so it’s best that we focus on the essence.

1) It is clear that papa-Leuteris is adopting a model similar to what St. Gregory the Theologian did when all the parish churches in Constantinople had been taken over by the Arians. Yet, we have to recall that at the time St. Gregory was still a canonical bishop, and not a priest. So that presents a distinct difference.
https://saint.gr/1161/saint.aspx

2) We have seen a lot of schisms and in the words of St. Basil “parasynagoges” (παρασυναγωγες) even within the Old Calendar movement in the last 100 years, precisely because individuals started “doing their own thing”. While there is no doubt that papa-Leuteris was properly ordained back in the day, I don’t recall if he merely retired in this case before any defrocking action, or if they proceeded to defrock him for some “kangaroo court” charges…this detail is quite significant, so if anyone knows it, please add it here.

3) A properly ordained priest has the authority of priesthood. In general, we accept that mysteries performed are valid. However, ecclesiastical taxis for 2000 years still reserves certain privileges for bishops, and not presbyters. This cannot be ignored, and there are boundaries to what priests can do without a bishop, and for how long (aka what constitutes an emergency or extenuating circumstance) before we stray into a state of disorder, parasynagoge, or even schism. A quick example…in the old days, when a bishop died, and it took days or weeks for the news of the “temporary replacement” to make it to the remote villages, were the mysteries performed valid in the interim, when they were commemorating the dead bishop and utilizing the antimension signed by him? Certainly not…but that’s the definition of an extenuating circumstance, which has some kind of “end date”…

4) In these cases, it is best for some order to be maintained. In Australia, North America, etc, we have a wonderful advantage of a perpetual violation of Apostolic Canons, where there are multiple Canonical Bishops claiming jurisdictional authority over the same city…(how many bishops have the title “of NYC and North America” if you examine the Synod of Canonical Bishops)? That’s fantastic, because every Papa-Leuteris, and every disappointed Greek Orthodox parishioner have the very simple opportunity to find another Bishop (Georgian, Serbian, Romanian, Russian, etc), and follow the model that has existed for hundreds of years in the Black Sea, and elsewhere, of Greek-speaking parishes under a non-Greek omoforion…(not because we are advocating ethnophyletism, but because in times of persecution, arbitrary border creation that trapped populations on either side, it was much simpler to accept the trapped populations “as is” than to force them to learn a new language, new customs, etc)…we know that the Georgian Church and the Russian Church has a ton of Greek speaking parishes for hundreds of years. We know the Serbs have a lot of Greek-speaking clergy. You get the point. We’ve said it here before…the letter to Titus says “after the first and second counseling, abandon a heretical man”…If we feel the hierarchy has gone heretical, it’s time to find hierarchy outside the spiritual cesspool, leave the corrupt ones with empty buildings and empty coffers, etc.

5) Finally, because things are a little more restrictive for priests than for laypeople, we should remind folks that the Canons allow for “easy transfer” (no paperwork) of clergy in times when formal schism is declared. So far, only the Russians have cut ties with Constantinople. Technically, if 2 ancient Churches cut ties (Antioch, Jerusalem, Alexandria, Cyprus), that constitutes a formal schism. We know that Alexandria and Cyprus are in the back pocket of Constantinople right now, so that’s unlikely, but if enough other jurisdictions (Serbia, Georgia, etc) follow suit, then it will be easy for clergy to be “absorbed” across jurisdictional lines. These words however, are just to explain what those calling for “patience” are possibly implying…

Either way, papa-Leuteris is in a very tough predicament if he does not have the option of being “absorbed” by another jurisdiction. This is not going to end well if he doesn’t have that sort of backing, or at least if he doesn’t “cut a deal” with the corrupt hierarchy. The “orderly options” are as stated above.

I’d like to edit a typing error in my previous comment…

Instead of
A quick example…in the old days, when a bishop died, and it took days or weeks for the news of the “temporary replacement” to make it to the remote villages, were the mysteries performed valid in the interim, when they were commemorating the dead bishop and utilizing the antimension signed by him? Certainly not

It should read
A quick example…in the old days, when a bishop died, and it took days or weeks for the news of the “temporary replacement” to make it to the remote villages, were the mysteries performed INVALID in the interim, when they were commemorating the dead bishop and utilizing the antimension signed by him? Certainly not

Quite a difference, so apologies for the confusion on the first typo (if the moderators can intervene to edit the original, please do)

God bless Fr. Eleftherios for getting out & taking his faithful with him!
Sending love & prayers for his continued victory in land down under

I’ve enjoyed your blog for quite sometime now but now I feel it’s time for us to part ways. I disagree with the viewpoint put forth in this article. I would recommend the author to reread the epistle written by St. Ignatius of Antioch and to watch the movie Man of God which is about St Nectarios of Agina. I weep tears for you my brother and I will pray for you.

I would be very surprised to see any priest in the United States be independent. Considering the lack of transparency as to where our money has been going, it would be welcomed by me.

I completely agree with some of the other commentators. This priest really needs to get a canonical release from his bishop, then be absorbed (received) into another canonical Orthodox jurisdiction. Otherwise, he’s just going to float around and cause controversy. And, we have far too much of that these days!

Starting an independent new Greek Orthodox Christian is an act of great wisdom.

THE 501(c)(3) INCORPORATED CHURCH©
“DOWN AND DIRTY”

By Barbara Ketay

O.K. Pastors, Evangelists, Missionaries, Deacons, Trustees, Elders…listen up! Let’s stop all the hocus-pocus, the illusions, the scams, the fairy-tales and the out right lies regarding what the 501(c)(3) incorporated church is and is not. For a change, let’s deal with facts. For those of you who don’t understand “facts”, in the legal arena facts are used and are supported by documented evidence which would be admissible in a legitimate court of law. Facts are not hyperbole!

THE DOWN side of the 501(c)(3) corporation:

*The creator of a corporation is the State;

*The State is the sole authority and sovereign head over the corporation;

*The corporation is subject to the laws of the State which limits its powers;

*The corporation tion has no constitutionally protected rights, except 14th Amendment;

*The corporation is an artificial person;

*The corporation submits to a State Charter declaring it is a creature of the State;

*The corporation is created for the benefit of the public;

*The corporation is a State franchise;

*The corporation is a privilege granted by the State.

https://libertychurchproject.com/Mission.aspx

I think this is the problem with the age of the internet and instant communication. That is not how things happened over the long history of the Church. Everyone needs to take a chill pill and let the Holy Spirit work.

Father did right to leave a Church of vipers and heretics. He is a gentle and decent man and a Godly priest. He is validly ordained and will take proper care of his flock in the short term. Now let the Holy Spirit work.

If Father leads his people into faithful and canonical Orthodox (which is does not have today) under a good and learned bishop and hierarchy, he will be blessed forever.

If he tries to set himself up as the new hierarch, whether in name or in fact, of his people outside of canonical Orthodoxy, it will be sad that a good priest has given over to delusion.

But to be clear the vicious and evil hierarch he is leaving will never give him a canonical release and anything these vipers do would be of dubious legitimacy.

So let’s give this man, who has been a faithful man of God for decades, the benefit of the doubt and a little bit of breathing room. We will all know soon enough if he does it in a way pleasing to God. I have faith that he will and will pray daily for him and his flock.

A century or so ago those of us in a different land would hear about these things years later when dust had settled. Give Father the benefit of the doubt based on his long life of faithfulness and a little time to do what he is doing. And trust the Holy Spirit a little more.

I am rooting for Father and more importantly praying for him. I would not be surprised if he is not even now discussing finding a home for his flock in the Russian or Serbian Churches.

Until then, pray more and judge less. May God have mercy on me a sinner.

We need a Patriarchate…a real Patriarchate, ROCOR, Antiochian, OCA. We’re not Protestant…we are Apostolic as in Apostolic succession.