UPDATE – WED, June 7, 11 PM – The priest who allowed this has been suspended and is waiting to appear before the Synod of the Church of Greece – link here for the news.
EDITOR’S NOTE: In the Church of Ag. Nikolaos Ragavas, in Plaka, where the same priest had also performed the baptism of the children of a gay couple – long before Elpidoktonos did the same!!

BELOW IS THE NEWS IN GREEK AND IN ENGLISH BY SOTIRIS TZOUMAS OF EXAPSALMOS.GR

=======================================

ΤΟ ΕΙΔΑΜΕ ΚΑΙ ΑΥΤΟ ΣΤΗΝ Ι. ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΗ ΑΘΗΝΩΝ: Γυναίκες… παπαδάκια πήραν ευλογία και μπήκαν στο ιερό! Άντε με το καλό και διακόνισες!

Του Σωτήρη Τζούμα – exapsalmos.gr 

Η Γραφή λέει: «μη μέταιρε όρια αιώνια, α έθεντο οι πατέρες σου». Ο στίχος ανήκει στο Βιβλίο των Παροιμιών και αναφέρεται στα σύνορα της γης που τα καθόρισαν οι πρόγονοί τους. Οι Πατέρες της Εκκλησίας μας χρησιμοποιούν την φράση αυτή αναφερόμενοι στα όρια της πίστης μας και στην διαφύλαξή της από αλλοιώσεις.

Και ο Απόστολος Παύλος θα πει στους Θεσσαλονικείς: «στήκετε και κρατείτε τας παραδόσεις ας εδιδάχθητε» είτε προφορικώς είτε γραπτώς. Και η αλήθεια είναι ότι στην Θεσσαλονίκη, στους Ιερούς Ναούς, τηρείται η παράδοση των λατρευτικών τελετών και ακολουθιών. Ίσως συντελεί σ’  αυτό και η γειτνίασή της με το Άγ. Όρος, στο οποίο η παράδοση και η τήρηση του τυπικού αποτελεί δόγμα!

Στην Αθήνα δυστυχώς, καταστρατηγείται πολλές φορές και με μεγάλη ευκολία, από ορισμένους κληρικούς, οι οποίοι κατά το δοκούν νομίζουν ότι μπορούν να επιφέρουν όποια καινοτομία ή νεωτερισμό τους έρθει στην σοφή ή στην άδεια  τους κεφαλή!

Στον Ι. Ναό Αγ. Νικολάου Ραγκαβά, στην Πλάκα είδαμε το εξής πρωτοφανές και ξενόφερτο( το συναντάμε στην Αγγλικανική Εκκλησία):κοπέλες να διακονούν εντός του ιερού Βήματος  και μάλιστα να φορούν και τα άμφια που φορούν οι ιερόπαιδες, τα γνωστά μας παπαδάκια. Στην ουσία είναι άμφια υποδιακόνου! Η ευλογία όπως μας πληροφόρησαν δόθηκε από τον εφημέριο του Ναού, π. Αλέξανδρο Καριώτογλου, ο οποίος μάλιστα τυγχάνει και…διδάκτωρ Θεολογίας-Θρησκειολογίας.

Κρίμα στα πτυχία σου πάτερ μου! Τι μόδα είναι αυτή;

Συμβαίνει κάποιες φορές στην επαρχία, να μην υπάρχουν αγόρια να διακονήσουν στο ιερό βήμα τον ιερέα και να επιστρατεύονται κορίτσια ή γερόντισσες που ξέρουν την τάξη. Εκεί το καταλαβαίνω να πάρει το θυμιατό και το κερί μια γυναίκα ή ακόμη και κοπέλα. Όταν υπάρχει ανάγκη, εφαρμόζεται η οικονομία. Δεν χρειάζεται βέβαια να ενδυθεί τα άμφια!

Αλλά στο κέντρο της Αθήνας, προς τι αυτά τα πρωτοφανή  καραγκιοζιλίκια; Τι σημαίνει αυτό το «ουκ ενι άρσεν και θήλυ»που μας είπαν με το ανακοινωθέν τους από το ναό για να δικαιολογήσουν τα αδικαιολόγητα; Άλλο είναι το νόημα και για άλλο λόγο και σκοπό μας το άφησε ως παρακαταθήκη ο Κύριος!

Η γυναίκα έχει την θέση της μέσα στην Εκκλησία,όπως αυτή παραδόθηκε από αιώνων. Καινοτομίες και νέες μόδες είναι ανεπίτρεπτο να συμβαίνουν και μάλιστα χωρίς την άδεια της διοίκησης της Εκκλησίας. Αγγίζουν τα όρια της βλασφημίας και της αίρεσης.Έχουν χάσει τον έλεγχο εκεί στην Αρχιεπισκοπή; Τι συμβαίνει; Έχει γίνει ξέφραγο αμπέλι;

Φτάνει πια!

Για την ιστορία να σας αναφέρω ότι ο εν λόγω κληρικός είναι αυτός που είχε τελέσει το μυστήριο του βαπτίσματος παιδιού του οποίου  οι «γονείς» ήταν ένα ζευγάρι ανδρών ομοφυλοφίλων και μάλιστα είχε δώσει «σπουδαίες» ευχές ο… πατήρ! Είναι ο πρώτος διδάξας και έπειτα ακολούθησε η εκτροπή του Αμερικής Ελπιδοφόρου. Βλέπετε κάποιοι άνθρωποι στην Εκκλησία μας έχουν μπλέξει τον ρόλο τους και την αποστολή τους! Και προφανώς για άλλο δρόμο τους προόριζε η ζωή και αλλού κατέληξαν! Και τώρα λένε να παντρέψουν τις απόψεις τους μέσα από τον χώρο της Εκκλησίας μας στον οποίο υπηρετούν και δεν τους έχει δώσει κανείς το δικαίωμα της καινοτομίας και του εντυπωσιασμού!

Ο κάθε επίδοξος … Κονάνος ας πάει σπίτι του!

Ας μαζέψουν  τα κουβαδάκια τους όλοι οι ευφάνταστοι  νεωτεριστές άνευ λόγου  και ας πάνε σε άλλη παραλία να παίξουν. Πάρτε τις παλαβομάρες που κουβαλάτε και αδειάστε μας τη γωνιά.Πάτε αλλού να ψάξετε ή και να πείτε το παραμύθι σας. Η Εκκλησία μας πολύ έχει ανεχτεί τέτοια φαινόμενα. Και η Αρχιεπισκοπή ας βάλει επιτέλους μια τάξη στα του οίκου της και προπαντός  στα θέματα αυτά!

=======================

WE SAW THIS IN THE ARCHDIOCESE OF ATHENS: Altar girls were blessed and entered the sanctuary! Soon they will be deacons!

By Sotiris Tzoumas – exapsalmos.gr

The Bible says: “Do not cross boundaries forever, that your fathers set.” The verse belongs to the Book of Proverbs and refers to the borders of the land determined by their ancestors. Our Church Fathers use this phrase to refer to the limits of our faith and its preservation from corruption. Apostle Paul says to the Thessalonians: “Stand up and keep the traditions so that you may be taught” either orally or in writing. And the truth is that in Thessaloniki, in the Holy Temples, the tradition of worship ceremonies and services is observed. Perhaps its proximity to Mt. Athos in which tradition and observance of formality is a dogma!

In Athens, unfortunately, it is circumvented many times and with great ease, by certain clergymen, who think they can bring about any innovation or modernity that comes to their wise or empty heads!

In the Church of Ag. Nikolaou Ragavas, in Plaka, we saw the following unprecedented and foreign thing (we find it in the Anglican Church): girls ministering inside the Holy Altar and even wearing the vestments worn by the priests, our well-known priests. They are essentially sub-deacon’s vestments! As we were informed, the blessing was given by the vicar of the Church, Fr. Alexandros Kariotoglou, who also holds a doctorate in Theology-Religion.

Shame on your degrees father! What fashion is this?

It sometimes happens in the province, that there are no boys to serve in the holy pulpit as the priest and that girls or old women who know the order are recruited. There I understand it for a woman or even a girl to take the incense and the candle. When there is need, economy is applied. Of course, he doesn’t need to wear the robes!

But in the center of Athens, why these unprecedented ridiculous acts? What does this “there is no male and female” mean that they told us with their announcement from the temple to justify the unjustifiable? The meaning is different, and the Lord left it to us as a legacy for another reason and purpose!

The woman has her place in the Church, which has been handed down for centuries. Innovations and new fashions are inadmissible and indeed without the permission of the Church administration. They are bordering on blasphemy and heresy. Have they lost control there in the Archdiocese? What happens; Has it become a vine?

That’s enough!

For the record, let me tell you that the clergyman in question is the one who had performed the sacrament of baptism for a child whose “parents” were a gay male couple and had even given “great” wishes to the… father! He is the first to teach and then followed the diversion of America’s Hope Bearer. You see some people in our Church have confused their role and mission! And apparently, life was destined for another path and they ended up elsewhere! And now they say to marry their views through the space of our Church in which they serve and no one has given them the right of innovation and sensationalism!

Let every aspirant … Konanos go home!

Let all the imaginative modernists, without a reason, pack their buckets and go to another beach to play. Take the craziness you are carrying and empty the corner for us. Go elsewhere to search or even tell your tale. Our Church has long tolerated such phenomena. And let the Archdiocese finally put some order in its house and, above all, in these matters!

33 COMMENTS

  1. Come to our parish in Glenview, in Chicagoland…we’ve had altar girls who are IN the altar for a long time now…there’s a reason why only the priest’s Sunday sermon is broadcast on Youtube and not the whole liturgy from the Glen…we are scandalized every week.

    • Feast of St Augustine of Canterbury

      Dear Sophia,

      Why be scandalized? There is a plethora of Orthodox Churches in the Glenview area. Antiochan, Bulgarian, Greek, OCA, Serbian etc… Why continue to attend a parish and support it when it no longer follows the faith? Of course the real problem is not just the Parish but its Bishop and Archdiocese and the Orthodox Christians who support them. Until faithful people march with their feet and dollars and let the hierarchs know why, things will just get worse. I personally will not attend a Greek Church if there is any other option and this saddens me. If I wanted to be Anglican I would be I have no interest in Byzantine Anglicanism. Where is the witness to Christ, the faithfulness to him that held the Greek nation together after the fall of Constantinople. Sts Raphael, Nicholas and Irene and so many stood steadfastly what about todays Greeks? Just imagine if a number of Greeks said they were going to another Orthodox Church and having their Baptisms, weddings funerals, and endowments there! Perhaps some of the Hierarchs might start acting like Orthodox Christians.

      • why should I leave my church????? Why shouldnt our Metrochild Nate change his ways???? the metropolitans are kings in their kingdoms. they dont take orders from New York. they do things their way. Why should the upshot of their bad actions be me leaving the church where I baptized my children????

        • Sophia,

          I think the issue here is that change will not occur as long as they keep collecting the dollars you leave them for the candle that you light…when you leave them with empty buildings and coffers, they will be “fired” and replaced with someone that has to behave differently in order to get the flock to return…

          Besides, the letter to Titus tells us to “abandon a heretical man after the first and second counseling…”

  2. Οὐκ ἀρνησόμεθά σε, φίλη Ὀρθοδοξία·
    οὐ ψευσόμεθά σου πατροπαράδοτον σέβας·
    ἐν σοὶ ἐγεννήθημεν, καὶ σοὶ ζῶμεν, καὶ ἐν σοὶ κοιμηθησόμεθα·
    εἰ δὲ καλέσει καιρός, καὶ μυριάκις ὑπὲρ σοῦ τεθνηξόμεθα

    • Word! Εύγε Μάρκο! For those of you that still can’t parse Greek (what’s your excuse anyways?) Learn to read and memorize Marko’s comment.

      • It’s actually a famous quote by Ιωσηφ Βρυεννιος…from late Byzantium…timeless and still 100% relevant today.

  3. The Greek Orthodox Christian sheeple will be goats soon. Watch where all this goes. Trans women ( men taking female hormones – most keep their genitals) will be standing by the altar.

    And on we march to our deaths, complacent and docile a pathetic bunch of cowards, we deserve everything that is coming our way in disobedience to God almighty.

  4. Juneteenth falls on All Saints Day, but they’ll allegedly celebrate the “woke” version of
    the big Saints’ Feast! Follow the money… we’re being ruled by the 1%…

  5. This happens if you let freemasons, heretics, antichrists, and satanists be bishops in your Church for over four decades… And you have seen nothing yet.
    Modern “christians” are a disgrace to Christianity.

    • You are right but they are not Christians. This is so intolerable, the sooner they consummate their union with the heretics and all drink from the common cup, the better for us so we can officially and canonically SPLIT. After that, they just better not call themselves Orthodox. I have a few suggestions for them. How about The Global Unified Church or the Post Modern Church, or better yet, The Religious People’s Assembly. Strictly speaking, they should not call themselves a church at all, let alone Orthodox.

    • It started years ago when they started taking 40 Day-Old girl babies into the altar– not all priests will do this –I have friends who literally left a parish where a priest took the 40 day old girl into the sacred place where 40 Day-old baby boys are taken– they are happy at a “traditional” parish now… That is the “way”–there will always be a traditional priest in a traditional parish… Always….

  6. There is no “Separatin of Church and Media from the Governments of America and Greeece
    THE GOVERNMENT OF GREECE FUNDS THE GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA to the Tune of 2.7 million dollars annually and the Orthodox Clergy and Churches of Greece !

    So , If you want to know, what U.S ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt and the rest of the U.S. ambassadors to Nato governments was that Orthodox Churches were human Rights violators of Transgender, LGBT, and Gender to frraudulently accuse the Ukainian Orthodox and Russia Orthodox Churcto distort to the world justification to discredit and demean the Orhtodox Church of Ukraine to provide Grounds for Bartholomew to betray Orthodox Christians of the world and recongize a “State controled Orthodox Churhc of Neo Nazi Regime of Zelenskky , and the terrorizing of the recognized Ukainian Orthodox Church

    As of today..headline : Kiev to remove monks from Monastery and take control of of Historic Monstery of Orthodox Christian Church of Ukraine …because they are spiritually not loyal to the Neo Nazi Regime! of America and Ukraine ….

    Mistotakis and the Greek Goivernment are traitors not only to Greece and Christian world ..as a Nato government under the control of U.S and E.U…and funders of the Patriarch and Archdioces of america .is now accountable for conspirign with Pyatt to order Barholomew to sabatage the religious Orthodox order of Ukraine and Greece, furthermore , as a perpetuator of the perseuton of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church , and as the leader of a dominant Orhtodox country has censored all informatin like the U.S goverrnment about the crimes being committed and has not condemned Zelenssky for his act …in order to continue funding and supporting the Neo Nazi Regime of Zelenskky to continui to send innocent Ukrainean Orthodox Citizen to their death in order to fulfill. Nato Greece and America Geopolitical Agenda of monopoizing all financial resources of Europe and the world …

    Furthermoer , the big pay off for Nato leader America and Greece ..in sending money to Archdiocese of America ..is to get Bartholome and his Jr. Partner of the Archdioces of America …to glorify Mistotakis, Zelensky and U.S state department to legitimize the actions of Mistotaksi and Zelenkky and to promote the intergration as we are seeing anti Christian values and destroy the Orthodox church

    Right now ..Orthodox Christian are now beginning to protest the attrocities of Zelenskky and Mistotakis ..with Newpapers beginng to print articles which indicts U.S and Greece in aiding and Abetting “Terrorist Acts.”.and violating the religious and human rights of the Urkainian Orhtodox Chruch and parishioners.

    Two things God is accomplishing …one he disarms the U.S and Greek Goverments of what they rely on to justify theer mass murder of Contries , they are the protector of Human rights of the world …now dead ..and now makes all therei interventions ..not acts of salvation , but acts of Terrorism”

    And provides all the evidence to charge Misttotakis with colluding with US government officials to undermine the elections of Greece and meddle in the internal affairs of Greece which has undermined the democracy adn sovereigty of Greece ! Kinda of what they charged Russia with doing with Donald Trump…

    As far as the High Priest of Athens .. he is payed by Misttotakis ..and he is obligated to do what they are doing to churches and schools of america … anti Christian values….

    • John 8:44-45

      New King James Version

      44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.

  7. The Archbishop of America will celebrate the Feast day of St. Bartholomew on June 10 2023 again this year at St. Bartholomew Episcopal Church in Manhattan. Last year while he was officiating the Divine Liturgy at St. Bartholomew, the PRIDE FLAG was flying high above the exterior of the church. It’s priDEMONth. Will the flag be hoisted up again to bring shame on our faith ?
    We must prevent this from happening again by bringing attention to his visit and writing letters to the archdiocese.
    https://www.goarch.org/news/archbishop/schedule

          • I will write on this issue today or tomorrow… Pat. Bartholomew had a very active few weeks… Not in a good way… The celebration of his name in St. Barts “gay temple” is just the icing on the cake…

          • “I will write on this issue today or tomorrow… Pat. Bartholomew had a very active few weeks… Not in a good way… The celebration of his name in St. Barts “gay temple” is just the icing on the cake…”

            Interesting. Sounds great, thanks Nick

  8. In the midst of all his seeming love for humanity and his glib talk of freedom and equality, he will have one great secret which he will tell to no one; he will not believe in God. And because his religion will be brotherhood without the fatherhood of God, he will deceive even the elect.The greatest trick the anti-Christ will pull will be to convince men he is the savior of the world instead of its destroyer

    Like the devil, whose trademark signature is to twist the truth to sell sin, so the anti-Christ, according to Sheen, will twist the minds of men to make them believe he is the “Great Humanitarian” who will “talk peace, prosperity and plenty

    The Venerable Bishop Fulton j. Sheehan 1947… The Anti-Christ

    • It was not from last summer’s gay baptism. The suspended priest had done another gay baptism many months before Elpidophoros.

      • And yet, the question remains… who will suspend Elpidophoros for similar and other infractions (such as serving in a heretical place of worship in Manhattan for no compelling reason)?

        • We believe in Christ, don’t we? Elpidophoros’ “infractions” are but a small part of the wider society’s departure from the most basic tenets of Christian faith…

  9. More drama in the media…parishioners are “signing letters”, and trying to influence the Synod…so this is not heading in the right direction…

    https://www.romfea.gr/enoriaka/57220-ekklisi-enoriton-agiou-nikolaou-ragkava-ston-arxiepiskopo

    Sounds like a lawyer may have written that letter…they claim they’ve “researched theology, liturgics, and Canon Law” and can’t find a basis for the exclusion of girls from assisting… Without of course knowing how exhaustive their research really was, there are some gaping flaws in their “manifesto”…most Canons were written “AFTER THE IMPROPRIETY WAS ENACTED”…this isn’t a secular legal system, where if it’s not “written”, then it’s “allowed” by default…doesn’t work that way ladies and gentlemen of the jury. And Liturgical history is extremely important to identify what is an “innovation” and what is “traditional”…

    The other big flaw in their “legal” argument has to do with claiming that since the “boys are without tonsure” then “the girls who are also without tonsure should be allowed to do the same thing (wear robes)”…if they bothered to walk a few blocks away, to the Metropolis of Athens, they would see that for many years now, women do approach the chanting stand and participate in those choirs, but THEY DO NOT PUT ON A CHANTER’s ROBE, because it’s actually not permitted by the canons…only nuns are allowed to wear a type of “formal robe”…similarly at St. Lydia in Thessaloniki which has a tradition of female chanting for years, in the link below…(notice at 15:51…they appear to be wearing similar outfits, but they are not “rasa” (robes) that a chanter would wear)…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qwWxa4m1mk

    Therefore, the argument of these “neo-sophists” doesn’t stand a chance when matched up against tradition…

    In short, if that priest had
    1) not allowed the girls to wear the “robes”, and
    2) if he did not allow them to enter the altar,

    any public pictures of the girls holding candles or lavara outside on the solea might have been justified as “not having enough volunteers”, and this would have never been an issue…but the 2 aforementioned “violations” landed him in trouble in this case…

    Either way, political pressure is mounting ahead of the secular elections, so let’s see if the Synod stands its ground or not…

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here