In case you were wondering, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is going to have its 46th biennial Clergy-Laity Congress in New York City. https://www.goarch.org/-/clergy-laity-congress-2022-schedule
Although the formal Congress will transpire from July 3-7, preparations are being made to consecrate on Monday, July 4th, the (still unfinished) St Nicholas Shrine. Rumor had it that Patriarch Bartholomew was going to be in New York City to do the honors however it now appears that Metropolitan “Geron” Emmanuel of Chalcedon, will be on hand to represent the Ecumenical Patriarch instead.
If so, this would be a rebuke to Archbishop Elpidophoros, the primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, since it’s an open secret that the two men don’t care for each other. It also is an indication that Emmanuel will be the next Patriarch in Istanbul and not Elpidophoros.
There are other unsettling questions concerning this year’s Clergy-Laity Congress:
- The financial situation. Will they be able to replace its coffers?
- The Assembly of Canonical Bishops: Will convince them to stay in the Assembly now that Belya has been accepted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate?
- The ongoing overages and assorted boondoggles that have plagued the St Nicholas Shrine. Will they be able to complete it?
- The Athonite monasteries: why are they not sending any of their representatives to New York? If so, it would be a stunning rebuke based on their concerns regarding the ecumenist drift of Istanbul.
- There are rumors from within 79th Street that Elpidophoros is going to be replaced (by Archbishop Nikita Lulias of Great Britain and Thyateira).
That’s all for now.
Please keep us updated on the details of the conference.
Who is Nikita Lulias? Would this be an improvement or will we just get more modernism?
Other than Makarios of Australia he’s about as good as you can get/expect from the current choices of the Constantinople episcopate.
At least Nikitas has been successful in getting quite a large number of converts in Britain through and evangelization program they have.
Quite possibly the only man in that entire patriarchate that could be worse than Elpidophoros or Bartholomew. I guess there will be many “Bulgarian stallions” visiting the Fanar. On top of all that he is probably a worse Ecumenist than Bartholomew. We should storm Heaven praying he is not the next patriarch.
Why Archbishop Nikitas was not originally picked is beyond me. He’s an American from Florida and actually has legitimate pastoral experience over real people, not some See that hasn’t seen a Christian in centuries. Having said that he’s also an ecumenist, but, on the Constantinopolitan ecumenist spectrum he’s not as bad as others I guess. I’m guessing that being an American he will be brought in to mends things with the AoB.
The impression I get from the Orthodox internet sphere and from people “in the know” is that the Assembly has been waiting to kick GOARCH out for some time and this was their chance to pounce. He’s been a massive PR nightmare for Orthodoxy in America. I keep thinking about Met. Hilarion, who was respected by many, many people across jurisdictions – slighting him was not a wise move for Elipidophoros to do.
One would hope. But they don’t really seem to say much in general. It would be great to see them speak with one voice.
George you hit the nail on the head with your title. Bravo! Does anyone think that measurable change will actually take place? Remember how disastrous the last Clery-Laity Conference was? The Archdiocese will only continue to “shuffle” moving their key players, aka Bishops, Ab’s, around like pawns for appearances sake giving the Laity the “impression” that they are “changing” and “listening” to our grips and grievances. In their minds, they are fully in control with marching orders already consecrated from Pat. Bartholomew himself.
Without proper leadership at the helm who are equipped with the right tools aligned with Christ’s teachings, commandments and wisdom imparted from the Holy Spirit to steer and guide the Titanic, the resultant outcome will produce the same demise as its predecessor experienced.
Rather than focus on the broken church, it might be best to focus on our very own salvation praying as intercessors for those misguided by Satan and his army.
Regarding the rumors with 79th Street that Arch. Nikita Lulias will take AB Elpi’s place, here is a link to an article regarding his background printed in the Tampa Bay Times:
https://www.tampabay.com/pinellas/nikitas-lulias-of-tarpon-springs-is-the-new-archbishop-of-great-britian-20190709/
We can only pray for Elpidoktonos to be replaced and ousted soon! What we need is an American born Archbishop who will not despise Greek American women and clergy. The fact that this new Patriarch doesn’t get along with Elpidophoros can be viewed as nothing but positive. Let’s see what will come of these rumors…
1) Every canine passes through their period of preeminence ,,,
2) When is the panahida/parastas for the Assembly?
3) Next year the common questions will be: Elpidophoros who? Phanar what? Anyone interested in buying a vacant building at ground zero?
4) Wanted: a new home – contact the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA,,, the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese for more information
5) Let us welcome the new Archbishop of the Greek and Slavic Orthodox Archdiocese of America, His Eminence Archbishop Alexander Belya
” Double, Double, Toil and Trouble, Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble…”
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave , when first we practice to deceive!”
“They are coming to take us away.
Ha Ha, they’re coming to take us away,
Ho, ho, hee, hee, ha ha
To the funny farm
Where life is beautiful all the time” (with license)
“There are rumors from within 79th Street
that Elpidophoros is going to be replaced
(by Archbishop Nikita Lulias of Great Britain and Thyateira).”
If the rumours turn out to be true
would Elpi take over Thyateira and GB?
Some relevant points from the Helleniscope article:
And this quote from the comment section:
GOARCH is just putting lipstick on a pig and reshuffling deck chairs on the Titanic AFTER it has already hit the iceberg.
This is all so sad. I still cannot understand why it’s so difficult and hard to just be Orthodox Christians??? Smh! Even with Moscow’s many missteps, mistakes and continuing heresy of ecumenism it is still the much better choice than the EP and GOARCH. Lord have mercy.
If Orthodoxy truly is the true Christianity, then surely
the only ecumenism in which we should be partaking
is to encourage the heterodox to give up their errors
and become Orthodox…?
Exactly. No dialogue necessary, only monologue.
Yes, it’s called “evangelism”, not ecumenism. There is the Church and there is everything else and our mission is to evangelize everything else.
More Epidophoros gobbledygook:
https://orthochristian.com/147047.html
How much more secularist universalism is he going to tread before he’s ousted
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8wWWZcQxi0M&feature=youtu.be
The Ephraim monasteries might want to rapidly start thinking about their exit strategy from GOARCH.
I suspect they’ve thought of nothing but.
For sure Gail, I imagine that has been on their minds for some time. But, when you’re enemy tells you the battle plan, take heed.
Yup they need to leave asap!
In case you were wondering, it looks like the EP’s decision to piggy-back on Serbia’s grant of autocephaly has backfired as far the Church of Greece is concerned:
https://orthochristian.com/146626.html
Serves ’em right.
https://russian-faith.com/anti-ecumenism/eastern-pope-patriarch-bartholomew-monarch-analgous-god-father-n2600