Is the Pope on His Way Out?

There’s a lot on Monomakhos‘ plate lately. A veritable embarrassment or riches if I may say so myself.

CNN’s thuggery, the collapsing Russian Hacking Narrative, the implosion of feminism and the now-apparent nihilism of faggotry. And the nexus between these and Islam. Immigration of course and yes, the latest dust-up with the beloved Sr Vassa.

We are talking about nothing less than the collapse of the imaginary secular worldview. In fact, my gut tells me that we are getting ready to experience a 1989 moment, when the collapse of the Warsaw Pact happened in a near-instantaneous manner. We may very well be near that point in which ordinary Germans took sledgehammers to the Berlin Wall.

There’s a lot on my plate indeed. In due time, I hope to get to all this.

The Muse has directed me to look in another direction. Something more subtle but every bit as momentous. Something which I don’t believe is apparent to many but is nonetheless bubbling under the surface. As such, let me direct your attention to the title of this brief essay.

My gut tells me that Pope Francis is being set up for a fall. In my perusal of various Catholic blogs and official websites, it’s been bandied about that just as his predecessor was unceremoniously taken out because he wouldn’t get with the program, so to is Francis on his way out. He’s definitely on shaky ground.

According to one report, the cabal that installed him supposedly gave him four years to “fix things”. Clearly, for all his liberalism, things don’t appear to be fixable (if by fixable you mean going the full globalist and overturning centuries of Christian morality). Hence the spate of news articles decrying scandals among his top lieutenants and even within the walls of the Vatican itself.

“Drug-fueled Gay Orgy” screams one such headline.

Feast your eyes on that lede if you would. I haven’t seen such purplish prose in –oh, I don’t know–since ever. I wasn’t alive during the heyday of yellow journalism when headline writers had no compunction of writing stories entitled “Drunken Indian Savage Goes on Rampage” or “Cocaine Addicted Negro Tries to Rape White Woman”. We know longer see the words “Yellow Peril” bandied about willy-nilly. “Sodomite” likewise have been scrubbed from the lexicon. “Gay” is the preferred term and in our lovey-dovey feminized world, we are assured that the “love which dare not speak its name” is as loving and tender as that between Romeo and Juliet.

I’m sorry, but “Drug-fueled Gay Orgy” does not conform to the modern journalistic catechism.

Nor does the photograph of the Trojan priest Lacoon and his sons being ensnared by a serpent which accompanied that startling headline. (I mean really, how much more homoerotic can one get?)

And then there’s the accusations against George Cardinal Pell of Australia, who we are repeatedly told (for good measure) is the “third-highest official in the Roman Catholic hierarchy”. And of course there are other stories of priestly pederasty too numerous to mention here. I could be wrong but the preponderance of “homophobic” slurs and insinuations that have been trotted out in order to make the Catholic Church look as bad as possible are serving some broader purpose.

Let me be blunt: if Francis were completely on board with the globalist program the Corporate Media would find a way to bury these stories. As such, I can’t help but feel the twist of the knife as it plunges into Francis’ back. For good measure, one report stated that His Holiness has been considering retiring because of his age and health (he does have only one lung).

It looks like the battle-space is being prepped for his eventual ouster. Of this I have little doubt. The question is, who will replace him? And what of the Frankophiles that are so predominant among the Orthodox ecumenists? Their insistence on crawling out onto the same limb that he resides on cannot inure to their benefit.

You read it here first.

Comments

  1. I don’t know. Can you please provide some references to some of these stories you are referring to? Also, what is this latest “dust up” with Sr Vassa and what does that have to do with Pope Francis and the Vatican?

    Please give more background to what you are talking about. Thank you

    • A Byzantine Catholic woman wrote to Sister Vassa about how to deal with her 14 year old son who just proclaimed he is homosexual. Sister Vassa told the woman to let him date other boys openly and bring them to the house. Her lame excuse for such extremely immoral counsel was to prevent the boy from sneaking around and becoming promiscuous. As if open homosexuals are never promiscuous.

      This was all on Facebook, but she took down the post last I checked. The worst part of this is the way many Orthodox on her page commented that she gave the woman good pastoral advice.

      I don’t understand how Larin hasn’t been thrown out of ROCOR long ago. She is a leftist loon and goes against Church teaching in many areas.

      • Trey the Virginian says

        This advice of Sister Vassa is shameful.

        But how did it happen that someone with her “theological” education could come up with advice so foolish?

        This is why we are being trampled underfoot as useless, as the Christ warned in the Sermon on the Mount. The “salt of the earth,” the purpose of the Church’s existence, has become, “insipid,” or as the Greek has it “foolish” or “silly.”

        Our shepherds greatly underestimate the power of propaganda in our technological society, to influence themselves, undermining their abilities as shepherds, and to corrupt the minds and desires of our young. The family has been gutted. This “Sister Vassa,” with her silly coffee cup, the mother, and the son have each to a great degree have had their spiritual life sapped by modernistic propaganda. (I assume there is no Father in the house.)

        I am reading Jacques Ellul’s Propaganda (1962). He makes a devastating case that it is the “educated,” like Sister Vassa, that are easy marks for propaganda, because they crave information, and their livelihoods depend on the propaganda system. Propaganda in a technological society requires an education system and a technologically savvy population in order to be effective. The degreed also have the false belief that they are immune to propaganda because they are “educated.”

        We would do ourselves (especially our Shepherds!) a favor to read Ellul’s Propaganda and Aristotle’s Rhetoric to help us better prepare for the heavy lifting needed to get ourselves out of this mess.

        Lord have mercy on us!

        • M. Stankovich says

          Thanks to God Saunca thinks like a mother and not a self-anointed “theologian” or philosopher, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Heb. 4:12)

          Was it not the Lord Himself, in His scathing chastisement of the Scribes and Pharisees, Who said, “How often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not!” (Matt. 23:37) Does this not suggest that the first natural, primordial inclination & instinct of a parent is to “gather them in,” figuratively and literally to protect them from harm? Was this not the advice offered to the mother in question? “Gather him home so you may protect him.” But actually, you are reacting to the fact he admitted he was homosexual, so therefore the fool Sister Vassa, over coffee, has “gutted the family,” in effect corrupted this young man, and sabotaged their spiritual life. Fascinating conclusion.

          Let me add a bit of “modernist” perspective to counter your quick propensity to condemn: it is well known among adolescents in our age to experience conflict in regard to sexual orientation. You make the point yourself, “propaganda,” and especially directed at young people, is rampant. Nevertheless, the research is very clear – and I posted a summary of the largest study of adolescent sexuality in the US in 12-years just this Spring – the vast and overwhelming majority of adolescents will resolve this “conflict” as heterosexual, as God created and intended them to be, with no intervention at all.

          And that leaves us with a small minority who, as Saunca thoughtfully speculates, reach out to a parent with a struggle that we know ordinarily goes unspoken. Here is where I am at a loss as to your reaction to Sister Vassa’a recommendation: in another thread, you railed against psychologists and counselors (and presumably me) as “modernist thinkers,” blah, blah, blah, while Sister Vassa suggests bringing his relationships “home” – where I am presuming his mother will be sure there will be no sexual relationship, etc. and if I am correct, he will, at some point spontaneously resolve. I do not believe such a recommendation “condones” homosexuality, nor does it do much of anything other than allow a mother to maintain some influence in her son’s life, which if you stop to consider it psychodynamically (did I actually say that?) may have been his goal, at age 14, in “coming out” to her.

          Let me give you a serious suggestion bro’: stop reading Ellul’s Propaganda and Aristotle’s Rhetoric and go volunteer in a children’s hospital. I feed and rock babies detoxing from mAMP and opiates during lunch. I feel more human. Trust me on this.

        • Michael Bauman says

          saunca, the real problem exists in the fact that we have no idea what an ordered sexuality actually looks like. My entire adult life the only real example held up is that of the swinging sexual life style. Hedonism.

          If hedonism is the standard, then homoerotic activity makes rational sense.

          As Malcolm Muggeridge noted that sex becomes the sacrament of the secularist.

          Real sexuality is governed by chastity. Now, I really don’t know what a single chaste man would act like in today’s world. I can make an educated guess and I have no memory of meeting even one.
          It is complicated by the fact that the age of marriage keeps getting older.

          With no mentors while swimming in a sea of pornographic and ideological propaganda, it is amazing that any one reaches marriage at all.

          Still the counsil should always be to seek chastity especially when there is a period of same sex attraction.

          It is extrordinarily difficult. It is a good thing there is repentance but compassion does not compel acquiescence to the world.

          My own son is in a bad place right now, living in sin with his girl friend and away from the cup because of it. I have made it known that I do not agree with what he is doing, but he is still my son. I do not condemn him.

          I will be there, God willing, to help pick up the pieces if necessary.

        • Trey the Virginian says

          Saunca,

          Are you a mother? I wish to speak to you as a mother.

          But first, the finger that is important here is the finger of God, by which Christ himself said that He cast out the dark beings and brought healing to the people, of which I myself am one who is being healed. God Himself reached down to us to bring us the light of Truth with power to renew the creation and reassert the created order.

          The Christ, the incarnate Word, came to restore and beautify each one of us, showing us the path to holiness and peace. That is what I want for myself, for this family that is being victimized by falsehoods. The boy is being led astray to a fiction by the darkness reasserting itself in our time, because the Church as a force for good has been weakened, so no longer does the darkness fear it.

          Do you believe that the boy has a soul? What is the soul? Or are we a body only with desires, no matter what they are, that we must obey?

          I have a similar past to this boy. We live in a pornographic society, much more pervasive than it was in my childhood, which is sexualizing our children in a way that is unnatural and is corrupting their innocence. I loved TV in the 1960’s, so much that I picked up on the sexual images at a very early age and that aspect of my being became dominant in me. In fact my first experiences were homosexual. Needless to say, since I was bookish, quiet and unathletic a label got hung on me. However, I also had healthy friendships with one or two young women that formed my self-idea that I could be attractive to women. However, my early start made the sexual aspect of my being dominant.

          Fortunately that was before the “Gay” liberation movement spread. I was encouraged in a manly identity by my family (they did not know of my experiences), simply by their own examples and wholesome masculinity, and through countering models in my favorite reading. The Odyssey, and the Holy Scriptures, the Arthurian legends, and science fiction. I was a precocious reader. This also formed my moral conscience that what I was doing was wrong.

          I also had a strong sense that my actions would be judged by God in the future. However, as the sexual revolution progressed and filled every cultural space, my own moral sense and sense of the future Judgment became faint. Over the years I was very lax and impulsive, more mentally than physically, and this lead to bad choices and impaired my energies for good and compassion for others. It was not until I encountered Orthodox Christianity that I found healing, and the energies of my soul put into good order, with much struggle and self-denial, especially through the sacrament of confession with a good priest.

          Unfortunately, because of the reversal our society has experienced, this boy and his family are being lead down a path of darkness, and that in fact is a denial of Christ. It is as if the parable has been reversed, and the father wants to install a pigsty for his son, to voyeuristically watch him wallow in it. Or for the good shepherd to throw the sheep that thinks it is a goat to the wolves to devour. That is what “Sister Vassa” is recommending.

          It undermines the entire purpose of the Gospel of Christ, for which He suffered, and that the Church has suffered for over the Millenia, and everything that has been taught of the Virgins and the wise builder and everything for which the Church has stood, that we are to take up our cross in the face of temptations for the promise of good things to come in the restoration of all things.

          The duty of a parent is to raise up children to God, in holiness, teaching them the difference between good and evil, with the Church also making this distinction explicit.

          Evil is that which should not exist, that which is not part of the pattern of the Created Order.

          The parent’s duty is to guide the child, not the other way around. The parent is the guide to the child to resist what is evil in the society of the time, whatever that is. The parent guides the child toward what is good in the parent, by incarnational example, and to what is good in the Church. The relationship of the mother and the father represents the love and the qualities of God the Father, and expresses the harmony of the created order. That means placing the child on the path to become a mother or a father, or to choose the path of Virginity for Kingdom of Heaven.

          We need to get back on the good path.

          • M. Stankovich says

            Shame on you, Trey the anonymous Pharisee, for even the insinuation that the parents in this situation are somehow negligent or irresponsible as parents. What a despicable and callus conclusion you reached with absolutely no evidence to justify your words. I repeat myself that there appears to be nothing in your words that seem to appreciate the fundamental, heartfelt compassion of our Lord and Savior, as profoundly and dramatically shared with us in the Holy Scriptures, for those parents who in complete despair fell before Him in faith:

            Master, I have brought to you my son (Mk. 9:17)

            Lord, have mercy on my son (Lk. 17:15)

            My little daughter lies at the point of death: I pray you, come and lay your hands on her, that she may be healed (Mk. 5:23)

            There came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatic, and sore vexed: for often he falls into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him.” (Matt. 17:14-16)

            Now when he came near to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said to her, “Weep not.” And he came and touched the bier: and they that bore him stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, Arise.” (Lk. 7:12-14)

            You would somehow choose to take your own cynical, dark, and oppressive interpretations of what you believe is the “Gospel of Christ” and our Orthodox Faith and blame parents for undoubtedly being “blindsided” by this revelation from their son; undoubtedly are embarrassed and ashamed enough simply imaging that people like you will blame and judge them; and terrified at the helplessness they feel. And to top it off, you are arrogant enough to lecture Saunca – as a mother, for heaven’s sake, without knowing anything about her – with your customary trite and verbose elevated Sunday School lessons. You insult us who actually face these family crises – and in my case, being in a state where I am forbidden by law to engage any minor under the age of 18 in any clinical service regarding sexual orientation or gender – who attempt to restore order, and with compassion instill hope. Your words and instruction are just that: words. They are cold, callus, judgmental, detached, and have robbed the living, breathing, saving theology of the Church of its “invigorating” Spirit of Truth.

            • Michael Bauman says

              Michael S. Wrong headed ad hominum hyperbole again. God bless you.

            • Tim R. Mortiss says

              So, in California the parents couldn’t seek help from any health care provider for their son. Well, at least that simplifies the search for assistance!

              I do wonder, though….what would a hypothetical psychologist advise the son? Just curious…..

              • George Michalopulos says

                Boy you’re opening up a can of worms there. But also proving a point: geography (one of the axes) of culture matters. Asking a California professional anything anymore is setting yourself up for a very big fall.

                Sad. It was the Golden State. Both for the nation and in my dreams. The Beach Boys, Hollywood, the Central Valley, Napa. California possessed a mythos that gripped every other state’s imagination. No longer.

              • M. Stankovich says

                Mr. Morriss,

                First I was asked what diagnosis I would provide, “theoretical framework” under which I would approach the problem, address the treatment plan (including any appropriate medications) and treatment goals, and how I might prioritize this under the old DSM-IV-TR axis system. CA law does, in fact, bar any mental health professial from from advising any child under the age of 18 in regard to matters of sexual orientation or gender unless one is affirming the child’s identified choice.

                The more interesting question in my mind is what seems to be the presumption that I believe an Orthodox Christian should be bringing their child with this conflict to me, rather than their parish priest or bishop. This is not, in my opinion, a matter for a mental health professional; this is a matter for a compassionate, directive, inspired, wise, and experienced pastor. Will this happen? I have my doubts; but our God is merciful; I, and people like me, have phones and be reached for advice, as I have for my friends; and thankfully, those who cannot find compassion in their hearts for those lost sheep who are the most troubled and in need of our help cannot discourage those who follow the Gospel.

          • Michael Bauman says

            saunca, sounds as if Trey is speaking from experience.

          • Tim R. Mortiss says

            “Sort out his identity”…what does that mean?

  2. KP over OCA says

    Don’t forget the amazing ability of OCA bishop Mark “E-mail stealer” Maymon to lose entire parishes to “non-canonical” groups.

    http://orthochristian.com/104948.html

    • They're "Orthodox" protestants says

      Why is it when traditional Anglicans leave the ECUSA, the ECUSA sues them and takes the property, and the traditional Anglicans then have to start from scratch. But when moronic bozos who call themselves Orthodox leave the Church for fly-by-night “jurisdictions” they get to keep everything. Does the OCA not have any claim or ownership to St Nicholas in Philadelphia and to the church in Alden Station?

      St Nicholas’ story is so tragic – a beautiful building but no parishioners. And they leave for a schismatic “patriarch.” Do they really think there’s a future there? The OCA in Philadelphia has such a troubled history. There was that OCA priest at the parish in south Philly who abandoned Christ for Islam a couple of years ago! Lord have mercy. What is it with that city and eastern Pennsylvania?

      And Michael Pasonick at Alden Station? The super duper rich guy who went to prison for bribery or something like that. He must think he deserves to be a priest since no one else would ordain him. He was a deacon but gave that up rightly when he had to go to prison. I guess his millions bought him a counterfeit “ordination.” Why do people follow these bozos?

      It’s no accident that these 2 parishes are made up entirely of “Orthodox by inertia”. They all were born into the faith and there’s no evangelism involved. They want to keep their white tribalism alive as they see it. They probably don’t like all the “converts” in the OCA.

      Let ’em go. But I say sue them for the property. Sue them good. Heck, Pasonick can afford to build 100 new churches at least with his millions. Can anyone imagine going to that guy for confession!

      Forgive me, this all makes me so angry! Christ have mercy on us.

      • Anonymouse says

        I can’t speak for the OCA, but the Antiochians have a clause in the model parish constitution that if the parish ceases to be subject to the Antiochian hierarchy without permission (leaving for any jurisdiction, canonical or not), all parish property and accounts become property of the archdiocese.

        It only makes sense. I can’t imagine other jurisdictions don’t have that same provision, but maybe they don’t.

        • Gail Sheppard says

          One might be able to challenge that based on the new rules put in place (rules about succession and how a new metropolitan is put in place) under Metropolitan Philip which violated our constitution. Once you violate an agreement, the whole thing can be thrown out. As far as I know, the constitution (here) was never updated to match Damascus. That may have changed, though. Would be interesting to find out.

        • Philippa says

          The sample by-laws on the DOEPA website include the following clauses:

          Article 3: Parish Property #1: Title of Ownership. The Parish or Parish Corporation shall be the sole owner of all real and personal property, assets and funds of the Parish, and hold such in trust for the Diocese of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania of the Orthodox Church in America.

          Article 3: Parish Property #6: Defection. The Parish is an integral part of the OCA. Therefore, in the event the Parish were to decide to withdraw from the jurisdiction of the OCA, the Diocese of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania of the Orthodox Church in America shall be entitled to full title to all the parish assets and property. In the event that a group in a parish decides to withdraw from the jurisdiction of the OCA, that segment of the Parish that remains loyal to the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania of the OCA shall retain full title to all the parish assets and property.
          Emphasis mine.

          Whether any parish has adopted the samples for their use is yet to be seen.

    • The situation in Pennsylvania is very sad. To use it as fodder for an anonymous shot at Archbishop Mark does nothing to change things for the better. The strength of a site like this is that it can create a larger conversation on issues. The drawback is that it can also be used for personal attacks, gossip, and hearsay which do little to help the Church and much to scandalize people enquiring about our Faith. Civil and Christian debate about issues is a good thing. Name calling, anonymous critique, and insinuations should be beneath us.

      • George Michalopulos says

        Agreed. I don’t believe that Arb Mark Maymon is the problem here. Or even if he was to an extent, the majority fault lies with the deadly nationalism of some Ukrainian-Americans who have bought into the notion that their ethnicity is stronger than their faith. I say this as a Greek-American who is intensely proud of his ethnic heritage. As much as I treasure it, I can’t let it override my devotion to canonical Orthodoxy.

        • George Michalopulos says

          PS, if anybody has any information regarding the Romanian situation here in America please feel free to contact me.

        • Billy Jack Sunday says

          Hi George

          I’m sure you’ve answered this before in other writings, but is this why you are a Greek man in the OCA instead of the Greek Church? Do you feel that ultimately, the Orthodox in America should all belong to the jurisdiction of the OCA – as they historically are in the right?

          • George Michalopulos says

            Billy Jack, I wish I could say that I was principle enough to gravitate towards the OCA because of their legitimate claim to being the canonical territorial church of North America. I’m not that principled however. What led me to the OCA was Archbishop Dmitri Royster of Dallas of thrice-blessed memory.

            I had discovered him by chance in the old Christian Activist back in the 90s. “Hmmm, I thought, interesting fellow this Dmitri.” (I’m a Douglas MacArthur fan and was intrigued by the fact that he served at Dai Ichi during the Occupation.) Anyways, fast-forward to 2002 and I was told by my then mentor (also a Greek-American) that if I was interested in starting a mission, “get in your car and go to Dallas”.

            I did. And I never regretted it.

            Vladika Dmitri, pray for us.

            • Billy Jack Sunday says

              Very interesting, George – thanks!

              Do you think any one jurisdiction still has the legitimate claim of canonical territory for America, or do you think it’s all moot at this point?

              • George Michalopulos says

                It’s pretty much moot at this point. The OCA has squandered it’s moral authority with the way they treated Metropolitan Jonah and the GOA is still playing reruns of My Big Fat Greek Wedding at 79th St. ROCOR/MP/Moscow would be the way to go but the globalists within the Archon/Phanar would constantly rev up animus against Putin the Gay-basher and we can’t be like him.

                The only answer is for an active persecution to come and/or the present day of ethnophyletists to die away. Plus, the laity have to find their way to more rigorous praxis. In other words we need another generation.

                That’s my 2c.

                • Billy Jack Sunday says

                  What’s up with the Archon/Phanar thing – especially because oddly enough, if anyone ever has a gay thought, they just should spray themselves with Windex. I hear it works. It’s called, “spray they gay away.” No reparative summer camp needed

                  I think some of our fearless leaders need to frequently hit the Windex like a voice cracking acne teen with Axe Body Spray

                • Billy Jack Sunday says

                  Hi George

                  The more I look into this, the more I seem to come to very similar conclusions – if correct (who knows, right?)

                  The only thing that seems to make possible sense to me as a solution would to be to reverse engineer the explosion of jurisdictions. What would happen is that all current juristictions would return to Moscow (including the Greeks – but thats the most implausable of the idea) – then Moscow would re-structure the church in America – let it marinate for a while – then cut it loose as an autocephalous church. Perhaps Archbishop Jonah saw this tpo in theory from the command chair, seeing that the OCA itself couldn’t recover alone from what had taken up root in it (I’m only theorizing- I really have no idea on this) and knew that he alone couldnt fix it even if he had enough support not to get him ousted.

                  The Greek Church has a major infestation of its own that I do not believe it will recover from anytime soon. The problem is that thwy totally dominate thr American Orthodox reality and seek to do so world wide.

                  All this being said, and no offense to our Russian brethren – I am not fond of Russian culture and would hope for an American church that could be American not just by name but missionally American

                  • Billy Jack Sunday says

                    In addition

                    I am not fond of syphonia and am suspicious of the Russian church because of it

                    Therefore, I’m not sure how I feel about my own thought experiment there

                    • Billy Jack Sunday says

                      Finally, I don’t know if my posting update will save, but i want to say that if Archbishop Jonah did speculate that the issues in the OCA could not be fixed no matter what, and contemplated afar the OCA returning to Moscow, I’m sure he had no active plans at all (and at best initial rough contemplation) but that his enemies used what very little there as ammo against him. He might have never contemplated it at all as far as I know – but if he did – I could see why potentially

                    • George Michalopulos says

                      Billy Jack, the older I get, the more I see the wisdom in symphonia. Clearly, in our present hyper-secularist state of affairs, hardly anybody in the political sphere acts from pure principle. It’s all agenda driven.

                      Just look at our First Amendment. Try reading aloud passages from Churchill’s The River War or his analysis of the demographic makeup of the Bolshevist leadership today at your workplace. You’d get fired immediately. Try quoting FBI statistics on the racial breakdown of crime statistics. Same thing.
                      When Lawrence Summers spoke about the paucity of women in the hard sciences and that there may be a genetic component to it that needed to be studied he was thrown out immediately. And he was president of Harvard at the time.

                  • Michael Bauman says

                    Missionally American. Yes. Much work to do there. Just receiving converts is not enough. In part it means taking on the things that are uniqely American. But there is sooooooo much modernity in all we do and think. In the old country folk too but a really tough job.

                  • Joseph Lipper says

                    Billy Jack Sunday,

                    The real Orthodox Church in America is predominately Greek. Thank God for Greek Americans, because even though their parishes might be intolerable, they’ve brought Orthodoxy to America on a larger scale than anyone else has.

                    The day will come when Hellas rises again, and then I believe the Church in America will sort itself out.

                    Raise some Hellas!

                    • Billy Jack Sunday says

                      Joseph

                      Whaaaaaaaat? What in the world are you talking about?

                      So are you Greek, or just a Greek lovin’ wannabe? In other words, on the scale of yogurt to John Stamos, how Greek are you?

                      Yes, Alexander the Great was impressive, but his kingdom lasted about 45 minutes

                      The Greeks will never rise again. You know why? Because the Italians proved time and time again that they out perform their older brother. Sparticus lost for good!

                      In case you dont see it, heres a list of stuff that the Italians did/are way better than the Greeks at:

                      Empire building and maintaining – both East and West

                      Law making

                      Arts

                      Sciences

                      Theater

                      Music

                      Philosophy

                      Poetry and literature

                      Exploration

                      Economics/global trade

                      Manufacturing, including autos, motorcycles, guns, aviation, etc

                      Fashion

                      Church building and organization

                      Politics

                      Philanthropy

                      Restaurants/cuisine

                      Romance

                      Architecture

                      Friggin’ video game characters!

                      Everything! They probably got the Greeks beat at bee keeping

                      All that and you know what? Some dude named Mussolini came around and guys named Johnson, Ramos, Jackson, Hanes, Swenson, Erickson of the United States Army came and slapped the boot right off his sock. Sure, their must have been a couple of dudes with kis, dis and pulous at the end of the surname, but come on!

                      The Spartans were cool, but the Byzantine Empire survived because of the loyalty and ferocious valiant fighting of the Varangian Guard – of whom the Norwegians were the best of the best

                      The Greek church in America is only the biggest for now because it is the loudest, proudest and built their churches off of the ill gotten gains of the Ahepa

                    • Billy Jack! Two things I know for sure. First we Greeks kicked the Italians asses back into Albania during WW2. Second now there is no doubt in my mind you are not Peter Millman in disguise. Thanks for the clarity. Now go back to comedy!

                      If you really think about it the Greek/Italian connection is more like the American/Chinese connection. Americans invent it ,Chinese copy it. Go eat a Gyro and wash it down with some Retsina and all will be clear. Or as the Italians like to say: Una ratsa una fatsa!(One face one race)

                    • Joseph Lipper says

                      Billy Jack Sundalopulos,

                      Come on, you don’t believe in the return of the Byzantine Roman Empire? I suppose you don’t believe in Santa Claus either.

                      https://scottnevinssuicide.wordpress.com/2014/12/06/the-marble-king-john-theologoumena-of-geronda-ephraim/

                      https://orthodoxwiki.org/John_III_Doukas_Vatatzes

        • Estonian Slovak says

          George, in this case, I don’t think it was Ukrainian Nationalism per se that brought this about. It was a case of Congregationalism, but no Canonical Church would take the parish, so they went the KP route. Not all Ukrainian Nationalism is that fanatical. Metropolitan Onufry of the MP Ukrainian Orthodox Church is certainly a patriot. So are the two US bishops who are part of the Ukrainian Orthodox diaspora which is a DEPENDENCY of the EP. They don’t have much use for “Patriarch” Filaret of Kyiv since he is grabbing parishes both here and in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Catholic Church sticks their nose into Orthodox affairs and usually supports Filaret for reasons of nationalism. When Patriarch Bartholomew meets with the Pope he ought to tell him,”Look, your Ukrainian Catholics are interfering and actively supporting schismatics who are grabbing my Ukrainian parishes in the US and Canada. Call your boys off.”
          Yes, there is a blind Ukrainian chauvinism which permits an alliance between the Ukrainian Catholic Church and Filaret, who only rediscovered his Ukrainianism after being passed over for Patriarch of Moscow. But their is also a blind Russian chauvinism, who permits a man to extol Stalin AND the Tsar Martyr at the same time! Actually, some Russian skinheads extol both Hitler and Stalin. In their own perverted way, these latter are actually consistent, those two evil men were birds of a feather.

          • George Michalopulos says

            Excellent response ES. I’ve been thinking deeply about the Ukrainian situation and where it will lead. Any information you can give in this regard would be most appreciated.

      • Billy Jack Sunday says

        Hi Father John

        I think you should also consider the fact that the clergy have been an insular self promoting industry with little say from the laity for quite some time now

        The internet is changing things and also exposing things that would otherwise go away quietly

        I don’t believe in unwarranted personal attacks either. However, I am done with this “Trust us, we know what’s best for everyone, and keep your mouth shut” blind obedience thing

        BTW – I’m not speaking about this Archbishop Mark thing. Not my beef. I’m just speaking broadly because you also did

  3. ROEA issues says

    George,

    I thought you might be commenting on the topic (but have not seen it discussed here) concerning the ROEA and the recent deposition of (former) Bishop Ireneu for sexual misconduct. Then, a couple days after he was deposed, he and his fellow monks returned the Holy Antimension to Archbp. Nathaniel and asked to be released (along with their monastery) from the ROEA.

    This seems on the surface like a “he said, she said,” but it is much more complex, because from what I have read in years past, Archbp Nathaniel has a colorful history. He is, I think, the most senior hierarch on the OCA synod.

    And given our history, anytime that I now read that “The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America met .. and convened a Spiritual Court,” my eyes roll, since Spiritual Court + OCA Holy Synod more often than not equals way-more-than-meets-the-eye and some underhanded machinations.

    Any insight into this? I know that the now-Monk Ireneu firmly stands on his innocence and claims that Archbp Nathaniel has been out to get him for years. He has a lot of solid people who are claiming that he is a fall guy taking the hit, since he is/was way more popular in the ROEA than Archbp. Nathaniel ever was. But many of the details are in Romanian, which I don’t read.

    I wonder how many more legs the OCA’s ROEA has to stand on. From what I hear, most Orthodox Romanians in the USA want to be in the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese from Bucharest, not in the OCA’s ROEA. Many Romanian Orthodox mission parishes that are opening up in the USA are opening under Bucharest’s jurisdiction; they seem to be avoiding the OCA’s ROEA at all costs.

    • anonymus per Scorilo says

      The now-Monk Irineu also celebrated the Divine Liturgy fully dressed in bishop vestments last Sunday. For pictures see
      http://salvareavetrei.org
      I do not know who signed the antimension, and whom did he commemorate at “among the first be mindful o Lord … “

  4. P. Antonio Arganda says

    I does sound heartening, but until I see the NWO-Rothschild Empire with a stake in its heart, I think that declaring victory is premature.

  5. Joseph Lipper says

    Even with his flaws, Pope Francis is viewed as a likable and popular figurehead for the unity of the European Union. Whether or not you agree with him, he does have moral clout in the generally immoral EU. This was shown last March when the EU leaders all gathered around him for his blessing for EU unity. By contrast, the EU leadership of Donald Tusk, Jean-Claude Junker, Angela Merkel, and newbie Emmanuel Macron are mostly just tolerated with grumblings by most Europeans.

    My guess is that Pope Francis is purposely being put into a corner, where he will be almost forced to do something very stupid. Those who are in power recognize that Pope Francis’ popular influence is valuable to them. There is a conspiracy against him, not just by a group of cardinals, but rather by those who control the European banking system. His chief of finance has just been taken out.
    Something is afoot.

    Right now, the current push for Cyprus reunification appears to be very troubling. Not because it’s inherently a bad thing, but because of how it’s being handled. There appears to be a great hurry and push by the United Nations to reunite the island. Let’s face it, Turkey has the upper hand in these negotiations. That means that Greece will get screwed over. We’ll see that very soon. It may be that Pope Francis is going to be forced to “bless” an ill-devised reunification.

    • Anonymouse says

      Well, this is pretty stupid:

      “Europe must assume as soon as possible a federal government and a federal parliament, not from individual confederated countries.” – Franciscus P.P.

      http://www.repubblica.it/vaticano/2017/07/08/news/scalfari_intervista_francesco_il_mio_grido_al_g20_sui_migranti_-170253225/

      • Joseph Lipper says

        Unfortunately, it almost seems like Pope Francis is on the EU payroll at this point. I suspect we’re going to be hearing more of this very soon.

        I’m especially paying attention to tomorrow’s Eurogroup meeting, because something just doesn’t seem right.

        Turkey has been eerily silent recently, and even amidst what could be seen as some fairly large setbacks: EU parliament voted against Turkey’s accession to the EU last week, Cyprus negotiations fell apart, and Germany is removing their fighter jets from a Turkish military base starting today. What is the EU going to do to placate them? They know they have to do something quick. I think everyone knew that the Cyprus negotiations would fall apart, but now that it has, it just creates an excuse for the EU doing something on an even bigger scale. Very soon, we will find out what that is.

        Meanwhile, Turkey’s president Erdogan strangely seems completely unfazed by all of this, not to mention the large “Justice March” from Anakara to Istanbul that protested against him last week:

        https://www.dailysabah.com/diplomacy/2017/07/10/turkey-focused-on-inclusivity-global-justice-at-g20-says-president-erdogan

        Something’s up. It’s going to be huge.

  6. Peter A. Papoutsis says

    Please see the you tube video entitled “Catholic priest talks about the Francis effect.” Also, check out the corresponding videos of Cardinal Burke.

    Pope Francis is on his way out. The council on the family in the RCC and the dreaded Cretan council on the EOC side were pushed by the 1% global elite to change the religious world like the election of Hillary “evil incarnate” Clinton was going to change the Western political landscape. But then a very interesting thing happened…

    GOD!!!

    First came Brexit, then came Donald J. Trump, then Marie Le Pen, then the Italian referendum, and now the whole of Europe finally moving right because other people’s money dried up, and the social welfare state was finally broke.

    FINALLY, I hope no one believes that childish fairy tale that SSM and transgenderism just “happened.” Because if you believe that I have some swamp land down in Florida to sell you.

    So here is the score:

    Francis out.

    Bartholomew stays in, but his wings get clipped.

    Protestantism continues to die.

    The people of the West are finally wake, and are not going back to sleep. So we either reverse this perversion, or the Global elite double down and start revolutions in the West. We shall see.

    For now the old Yiddish saying is true: Man plans and God laughs.

    I hope you can hear God laughing…very loudly.

    Peter

  7. I was trying to explain to my sister the heresy of the filioque and she was trying to tell me something about “energy” that the heresy had something to do with “energy” and she was all in heresy.

    Simply, all three Persons of the Holy Trinity either have characteristic traits that are unique to each Person in the Trinity, or, commonly shared by All. No trait can be shared by Two Persons and not a Third. So when the Spirit proceeds from “both the Father and Son” that violates that rule. Spirit proceeds ONLY from the Father, not Son, Father and Son cannot have that equivalency of having Spirit proceed from the both of them.

    Some deep state catholics even think the pope is more authoritative than Christ. Infallible. Because Apostle Peter has the “Keys” and the “Gates of Hades shall not prevail.” So that is the maxim .. gates of Hades not prevail .. that means the pope is infallible since he has keys and Hades does not prevail .. power given to him by Christ gives him power over Christ .. that’s how crazy the Catholics are .. so theoretically it’s because gates of hades don’t prevail that makes pope infallible like as though he is God’s guy to prevent Hades takeover, sure, they are all steeped in gender confusion. The Gates of Hades shall not prevail but no thanks to the
    heretic pope.

  8. We’re witnessing – experiencing – a dissolution of borders on innumerable levels.
    Boundaries between moral and immoral, right and wrong, sane and insane, healthfulness and sickness, boundaries between gender, are increasingly thinned these days.
    We’re witnessing symptoms of the evolutionary worldview, a kind of cultural, spiritual amnesia. So much of what comes before us is packaged as outdated, corrupted, wrong, misunderstood. Remember, the serpent whispered the same thought to Eve, and Adam. What are we progressing toward? What are we progressing away from? The answer might not be so much a ‘what’ as it is ‘who.’
    The ‘progression’ in which we may find ourselves is the spirit of antichrist, a progress unto non-being, annihilation. If we’re running from the Church, from the Body of Christ, if we race toward sin, embrace it, explain and reason it away instead of resisting, falling, and confessing and returning again and again to Communion, then we aren’t received into the Cup. So let’s not be vague, let’s respect boundaries and borders, first and foremost of the Church, conforming ourselves to His vision, not our own.

  9. http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/trump-will-the-west-survive-poland/

    Dreher’s latest is worth reading. Food for thought.

    I actually think something may emerge, a militant Christian patriarchy of some sort, where the liberal West once was. At least parts of it. “Militant Christian Patriarchy” is not a bad description of the nation states of Europe (or America, for that matter) before the twentieth century, the Age of Apostasy.

    The questions are how much toll Islam will take in Europe, and how long will it be before the math plays out here in America and people largely wake up?

    • Anonymouse says

      I’m afraid it will take a civil war in Europe to change course. The good Europeans who can’t stomach it will have to rise up and defend their motherland. I’m surprised we haven’t yet seen militias forming.

      Maybe all is lost though. The systematic refusal to prosecute hundreds of immigrant rapists in the UK is not a good sign.

  10. St (doubious) Malichi of the 11th or 12th century predicts the number of this pope is the last one. If there are more popes, it proves the prediction wrong. Occult prediction often fails, b
    ut the king of terror prediction by Nostradamus of 911 was deliberately chosen by the deep state , 1999 to be made to be fulfilled. Yet another made to fit occult prediction may be forced, that being the last pope, Who will get the RCC’s money?

    • Anonymouse says

      Francis would probably give it to ISIS, thinking that they only kill because they’re poor. Maybe he’ll also let them have the Vatican.