The Fordhamites Get on the Crazy Train

Leftists just can’t help themselves. Whatever passing fancy comes down the pike, they immediately book passage. So now the intellectual vanguard over at Fordham tries to provide intellectual cover for Arb Elpidophoros’ disastrous stroll with the Red Guards of BLM. Will Rogers’ first rule of holes: when in one, stop digging.

Many thanks to Fr Hans Jacobse for offering some much needed clarity.

Monomakhos
ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY, SYSTEMIC RACISM, AND THE WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY – Public Orthodoxy

Fordhamite in training?

Monomakhos

 Fr. Hans Jacobse:

The boys at Fordham are giddy with delight that a Greek Orthodox Archbishop marched in New York and was photographed with a “Black Lives Matters” sign.

Some of us think that the Turkish born and bred Elpidophoros doesn’t understand the nuances of American culture and politics and is being used for a photo-op.

The article cited above contains the usual class warfare bromides (“unconscious structural racism” and all that) flavored with a strong dose of the moralistic vigor and self-certitude that we have come to expect from the Fordhamites.

Here’s a sample: “We also hear “Blue Lives Matter.” Again, we do not deny that, and we, personally, have friends and family in the police force. Fighting against systemic racism is not meant as an attack against police.”

Guys, sure it is. So is the burning of businesses and destruction of property. Sober people don’t see life through the prism of class warfare that you do.

The facile justifications you use to dismiss the destruction of family businesses and other property in poor areas create even more poverty. Neighborhoods that lose businesses are left worse off while you retreat back into your classroom or fly off to the next conference. Your privilege allows you to avoid dealing with the consequences of your own ideas.

The class warfare policies instituted by liberal leaders weakens cities. The bad cop in Minneapolis had 18 complaints against him. He should have been fired a decade ago. The Fordhamites call it systemic racism. I call it bad management.

Ever notice that city leaders who blame “systemic racism” whenever a breakdown occurs are the same people who have been in charge for decades? They’ve had fifty years to change things and failed. Now they tell us we need even more of the same.

I don’t buy it, many other people don’t buy it, but most important is that an increasing number of Black Americans aren’t buying it either.

One reason that smug whites champion class warfare is because it pays. Academics make a decent salary and a healthy retirement convincing others that “unconscious racism” really exists. It advances their careers.

Others make millions by spilling Black blood. Progressives love abortion and to keep the money flowing they have to destabilize the Black family. Keeping the Black population ignorant and poor is one way to ensure that. Cities controlled by progressives have the worst performing schools and highest poverty rates of all American cities.*

Moralistic pronouncements propped up by a photo of a politically naive Greek Orthodox Archbishop doesn’t give the Fordhamite vision of class warfare any more credibility. It makes things worse in the end.

Monomakhos

* Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in America. 78% of their clinics are in minority communities. Blacks make up 12% of the population, but 35% of the abortions in America. Progressives target Blacks because that’s where they make the most money.

Comments

  1. Centurion says

    It is the Democrats who are fully responsible for a vast majority of violence against and suffering of blacks across America for decades.

    George Floyd was killed by a bad cop in a Democrat city, with:
    Democrat mayor
    Democrat police chief
    Democrat attorney general

    in a state with a:
    Democrat governor.

    • When mayors/governors/judges/etc side with the rioters, then the police just give up enforcing the law altogether, other than taking reports and filling out forms.  They use any opportunity to do important things like check on and protect Congressman Black Panther’s office, drink his coffee and eat his popcorn. 

      https://www.zerohedge.com/political/mayor-apologizes-after-chicago-cops-caught-lounging-congressmans-office-instead-arresting

      When Rush reviewed the film from the evening, he saw 8 Chicago officers, including 3 supervisors, who responded to reports of the looting used his office as a temporary lounge, hanging out for hours drinking coffee and snacking on popcorn that had – according to Rush – been purchased for his office, according to the Chicago Tribune.

      Meanwhile, the area surrounding Rush’s office at 54th Street and South Wentworth Avenue was looted, but the cops did nothing to stop that.

      Instead of taking the footage public on his own, Rush alerted Mayor Lightfoot, and the two held a joint press conference to bilaterally denounce the Chicago PD and promise that all the officers involved and their commanders would be punished – though Lightfoot stopped short of promising that the officers would be fired.

      […]

      It’s particularly disrespectful when you consider that Rush was a member of the Black Panther Party of Illinois…
       

    • cynthia curran says

      Very good point. I would not March with Black Lives Matter since they are a communist group. Their heroine is the cop killer Assata that fled to Cuba about 35 years ago. Has communism did that great for anyone.

  2. I have a wonderful idea. Let’s put George and Telly in the new autonomous region of Seattle and let them teach the Black Lives Matter people for a while. Of course, they will not get paid….but I hear room and board is cheap!

    • George Michalopulos says

      It’s called “the Ferguson Effect”. Heather MacDonald has written extensively about it.

  3. Sage-Girl says

    Naivety — Thy Name Is Elpidoforos! ? 
     I tried so hard to like him, to find excuses,
    but his level of stupid is equal to where I waxed as teenager — very green —
    yea, Elpi’s theme song from loyal Orthodox Collective has to be tune by great B.B.King 😕
    ”The thrill is gone,
    the thrill is gone away for good,
    the thrill is gone away baby,
    you know you’ve done us wrong baby,
    and you’ll be sorry someday,
    You know we’re free,
    we’re free from your shallow spell”
     

  4. Centurion says

    Here’s some legitimate facts and sobering observations from a real man and scholar, Professor Walter E. Williams, for the Fordhamite boys who masquerade as “academics” to chew on:

    “Some of the most dangerous big cities are: St. Louis, Detroit, Baltimore, Oakland, Chicago, Memphis, Atlanta, Birmingham, Newark, Buffalo and Philadelphia. The most common characteristic of these cities is that for decades, all of them have been run by liberal Democrats. Some cities — such as Detroit, Buffalo, Newark and Philadelphia — haven’t elected a Republican mayor for more than a half-century. On top of this, in many of these cities, blacks are mayors, often they dominate city councils, and they are chiefs of police and superintendents of schools.” — Prof. Walter E. Williams

    “Democratic-controlled cities have the poorest-quality public education despite their large, and growing, school budgets. Consider Baltimore, Maryland. In 2016, in 13 of Baltimore’s 39 high schools, not a single student scored proficient on the state’s math exam. In six other high schools, only 1% tested proficient in math. Only 15% of Baltimore students passed the state’s English test. That same year in Philadelphia only 19% of eighth-graders scored proficient in math, and 16% were proficient in reading. In Detroit, only 4% of its eighth-graders scored proficient in math, and 7% were proficient in reading. It’s the same story of academic disaster in other cities run by Democrats.” — Prof. Walter E. Williams

    “Academic liberals, civil rights advocates and others blamed the exodus on racism — “white flight” to the suburbs to avoid blacks. But blacks have been fleeing some cities at higher rates than whites. The five cities whose suburbs have the fastest-growing black populations are Miami, Dallas, Washington, Houston and Atlanta. It turns out that blacks, like whites, want better and safer schools for their kids and don’t like to be mugged or have their property vandalized. And like white people, if they have the means, black people cannot wait to leave troubled cities.” — Prof. Walter E. Williams

    https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2020/06/10/the-true-plight-of-black-americans-n2570249

    • John Pappas says

      Centurion,

      The Fordamite boys *are* academics, but academics are a dime a dozen these days. What they are not is scholars. They are progressives who have carved out the niche of trying to stuff Orthodox tradition into progressive ideology, trading off the Orthodoxy legacy to gain esteem from their peers and standing in the academy.

      They don’t do anything that a Jesuit hasn’t done better but do it under an Orthodox umbrella instead of a Catholic one. In a year or two they will go headfirst into homosexualizing the Orthodox Church, just as the Jesuits did. Watch for it. They difference is that most Jesuits are homosexual and the Fordham boys are not. They will have to recruit homosexuals to do that lifting for them.

    • This argument might have held some weight if there was ANY meaningful number of big cities that are Republican controlled. Out of the ten largest cities in this country, only one is Republican-controlled, and that is San Diego (a city that is currently at risk of being taken over by the homeless). If you were familiar with Mayor Faulconer’s positions, you would probably classify him as a RINO. You can’t logically say that only Democrat-run big cities have issues with crime, when nearly all big cities are Democrat-run. The thing most in common between them, seems to be that they’re… well, big. Being big seems to bring with it a host of special challenges but also opportunities. More than 52% of American GDP is made up by just twenty of the largest metro areas. New York City alone has an economy larger than Canada’s.

      • George Michalopulos says

        Dan, you bring up some excellent points. If I can just swat out the easiest one, that San Diego has a RINO for mayor. Quite right, RINO mayors are not the issue, RINO legislators are. The mayor of San Diego is a sane, country-clubber/RINO who presides in a normal fashion for mayors. The trouble is Democrat-run cities, whether big or not, are usually mismanaged.

        Case in point: my town. For the first time in ages, we elected a Democrat for mayor and while he’s not gone the full de Blasio, he has managed to drink enough of the Kool-Aid to get himself probably unelected next time around. He foolishly went the full Orwell and poured needless gasoline on the fire of racial relations by kowtowing to the thought police regarding the renaming of the Tulsa Race Riots to “Tulsa Race Massacre“. Not just racially inflammatory but politically stupid –and historically illiterate.

        When you say “challenges” and “big” the fact remains that most of these cities which are now run by Democrat mayors were run at one time by Republicans and they did not descend to Mogadishu levels of crapitude. You can go down the list: San Francisco, Baltimore, Detroit, Minneapolis, etc. Almost every Blue city you see right now which is in flames hasn’t had a GOP mayor for 50 years, give or take.

        I could say that these words (“big” and “challenges”) are code words for “demographics which are essentially parasitic and/or ungovernable”, but that wouldn’t be entirely correct, would it? NYC had the same demographics under Giuliani/Bloomberg (two Republicans) as it does today under Comrade de Blasio, and yet it blossomed as “America’s safest big city”. This was even during the 9/11 atrocity.

        The Giuliani/Bloomberg interregnum was in retrospect, a positive blip on the cardiac chart of NYC as it begins to flat-line. Anyway, it proves the larger point, does it not?

        • George Michalopulos says

          Dan, I meant to add this: one of the hallmarks of a vicious cycle-cum-death spiral for any big city is whether it reelects the mayor who’s policies are leftist. This is true regardless of whether the mayor is Dem or GOP. For example, John V Lindsey was mayor of NYC for several years and his idiotic policies initiated the slow decline of the Big Apple.

          The death spiral takes off when said mayor –whether Dem or GOP but invariably Dem–is reelected, usually by a slim majority. What Steve Sailer calls “the coalition of the fringes”. This happens not because people move into the city but because the productive classes begin moving out of the city. A trickle at first but then a flood. It is at that point when the demographic pie-chart changes and once it takes up a majority of the chart, then it’s doom is sealed and all it takes is a spark to ignite a race war.

          Another case in point: in October of 2016, in Tulsa, a white female cop shot and killed an unarmed black man. There were no riots. Around the same time, in North Carolina, a black cop shot and killed an armed black man –and there were riots. The Tulsa incident was on the face of it inexcusable; the NC incident was justified.

          What were the missing ingredients? I postulated four years ago that there was a BLM chapter in NC but not one in Tulsa. That’s because NC was a swing state but OK was not. Hence, Soros did not waste his money on OK. I stand by that assessment. However now I would add that we then had a GOP governor as well as a GOP mayor. Now, that we have a Dem mayor, if something like that happened, I’m not so sure that we wouldn’t see riots.

          • cynthia curran says

            Well, in some protests the demographics don’t fit the area. More blacks in the protest than the local area population or more whites in a city that is more Latino. I think the protesters are being recruited to do protest and many are not residents of their local areas.

          • cynthia curran says

            Well, there is a flim called enemies within the church. Not so much on Orthodox but more on left wing ideas popping up with the evangelicals.  These ideas also of course show up in Orthodox and Catholic churches as well.

          • cynthia curran says

            Good point, also in Tulsa it was a female cop. The left sees woman as an underclass compared to males, but your right, probably there was no chapter in Tulsa. Also, a lot of white, black, and Latino kids in 5 years will finally wake up to the fact that the left is bull. You can make it in society if you have more effective. Blacks and Latinos don’t have to be an underclass. Asians knew this for a long time and have higher median incomes than whites.

        • Archpriest Paisius McGrath says

          G.T Bynum mayor of Tulsa is a Democrat?

          • George Michalopulos says

            Yes. The grandson of an establishment GOP family.

            • Archpriest Paisius McGrath says

              But we’re not Susan Savage and Kathy Taylor-both Democrats- previously elected as Mayor’s of Tulsa? How is Bynum a Democrat when he is listed as Republican? 

              • George Michalopulos says

                I was wrong, Fr.  Bynum is a Republican however he ran with the full force of the Democrat Party behind him.  I guess they saw that he was the only game in town.

                The reason for this was because of the two ladies you mentioned, Susan Savage was a tolerably, non-insane Democrat who governed moderately.  Kathy Taylor destroyed the Democrat brand which resulted in a return to GOP rule.  Hence, Bynum was the Dem’s pick.

            • David Nektarios says

              George, G.T. Bynum is a Republican.

    • agatha vournas mantanes says

      Spot-on, I have had the displeasure of getting the hell out of one of those cities. Any eastern orthodox org that backs these hoodlums should be shunned and defunded. A tax-exempt church cant march with hoodlums and terrorists. No Christian can be a Democrat, and no democrat can be a Christian because the Demockkkaps of today are communists.

      • Sage-Girl says

        Agatha,?
        if only you could write your disgust to His Excellency AB Elpi — ask him how he’d feel if same rioters he Never condemns smashed windows of Bartholomew’s house?

        • George Michalopulos says

          I wonder as well.

          The other day, I saw a Democratic candidate in some Texas suburb, a real Gretchen, say that she would like to see “the system burn down” if that’s what it takes to reform it. 

          I wonder how she would feel when it is her property that is so affected?

          • cynthia curran says

            The Republicans don’t know how to play in suburbs anymore once they lose the congressional seats in Orange County ca, they have had difficulties getting up on the high horse.

          • Peter Howe says

            She may very well feel like the – ah – protagonist in the following video URL:
            https://youtu.be/ZwR1-aRTyyM 
            [ “Idiocracy – Frito’s Car.” ]
            But, then again, maybe not.

    • cynthia curran says

      This is true, particularly in Texas blacks have moved to the suburbs. In fact there is less complaint with police in the burbs. A high income suburban county in Texas is Fort Bend, about 22 percent black, 22 percent Latino, and 20 percent Asian and the rest white. A low poverty which since the minorities tend to be more professionals.

  5. Centurion says

    When observing Archb. Elpidophoros and the Fordhamite boys enthusiastic endorsement and support of the Black Lives Matter movement, remember this:

    Did you know Black Lives Matter supports abortion, homosexuality, anti-family agenda?
    https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/did-you-know-black-lives-matter-supports-abortion-homosexuality-anti-family-agenda

    While Black Lives Matter seems on the outside to be a social justice organization that aims to further the rights of African-Americans, many are surprised to discover that the group has an alarming pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, and anti-family agenda at the core of its mission to remake America.

    In its online manifesto titled “What We Believe,” the Black Lives Matter organizers Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi say they and their followers “disrupt” the “Western-prescribed” family. They also say they have freed themselves from “heteronormative thinking” and demand “reproductive justice.”

    “We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable,” they wrote.

    “We foster a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual (unless s/he or they disclose otherwise),” they continued.

    “We deserve and thus we demand reproductive justice [i.e., abortion] that gives us autonomy over our bodies and our identities while ensuring that our children and families are supported, safe, and able to thrive.”

    • LonelyDn says

      Re-read the excellent homilies to youth by Fr George Calciu. He and countless others was threatened with prison, torture, death and the obliteration of family and country. He did not cease proclaiming the Gospel. Instead of death and despair, he was visited by God and given theoria in the prisons, partaking in the Uncreated Light. Let’s make no mistake, although we’re living through revolution, God has ordained us to live in such times as these and not fear, abut to speak boldly before Caesar – and to pray for him.

    • Lord have mercy. Thank you Centurion.

    • cynthia curran says

      True, a recent rally was less about violence against blacks due by police than supporting the rights of trans to use ladies bathrooms and compete in girl or women sports in college against regular girls or women that lose to the trans girls or women. In the state of CT, track records are now held by trans girls. In fact, a lot of religious folks don’t know that Black Lives Matter is basically a left wing group for left wing causes.

    • Maybe AB Elpidophoros in his secret heart wants to be freed from his “heteronormative thinking” also. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a perv reportedly occupied such a high position in the Church.

      • Sage-Girl says

        Are you saying Elpi is a homosexual? Be careful of slander – I mean do you have any proof?  It’s not something he can hide for long if it’s true — 
        hey, the Truth always comes out 

        • Gail Sheppard says

          I have never heard this about Elpi. In fact, I think it’s unlikely because the metropolitan who was slated to be here before Elpi backed out when similar rumors surfaced about him (Metropolitan Emmanuel France) as a result of the Fancy Bear hacks.

          Presumably, Elpi was chosen to replace him, in part, because this was not the case with him.

          It wouldn’t be slander, though, as they’re both public figures.

  6. Fr. David says

    Lawlessness in the church is just a reflection of the Church being in the world and of the world. In King and Snohomish Counties, Washington, all drugs (heroin, meth, cocaine, etc.) are legal as long as possession is under 2 grams. There is no prosecution for theft under $950. This is only the tip of the iceberg regarding  what we are seeing regarding lawlessness.Where the lawless riots and take overover has played out in Seattle is just a few blocks from 3 Orthodox churches, in the place where St John Maximovich died. So when we see Hierarchs, priests, and our faithful are supporting lawlessness (BLM is based on defunding and thus the abolishing the police, not reform) we see those who no longer speak for the Church but those who speak for the worldly.

    • Sage-Girl says

      ?Fr. David,
      Excellent points – Elpi no longer speaks for the church, or the Gospel — he speaks from Satan.

      I cannot stand knowing my priest brothers are feeling helpless + muzzled. So hope y’all send letter to AB
      as I + fellow comrades are penning ✍️ him.
      We don’t need his big smiles or cookies he gives ,
      we need loyal leadership faithful to Gospel.

    • Rodney Buckschotte says

      Whoever advised Abp. Elpidophoros to make the march and hold the sign (the Fordhamites? Karloutses?) should be fired. Huge blunder with huge blow back. Elipi, if you are listening don’t trust them again. They think they have the finger on the pulse. They don’t. 

    • Seattle orthodox parishes are in fact a fair distance from the riot torn area.  They are, thankfully, in places with less business and what remain of neighborhoods.  Nobody notices them in a largely atheist city.  So less to loot and no police precinct as a magnet nearby.  People in Seattle are astounded that the press elsewhere says anarchists have sway there.  That’s because Seattle is so used to anarchy they don’t even notice it.  Fish don’t notice the ocean is wet.  A precinct boarded up and abandoned by the police, well, that (says the mayor herself) is part of the summer of love.  What anarchy?  

      • “Seattle orthodox parishes are in fact a fair distance from the riot torn area.”

        Bob, this is not an accurate statement. St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral (ROCOR), the Seattle parish where St John Maximovitch reposed in the Lord before the presence of the Kursk Root Icon in 1966, is directly adjacent to the CHAZ.

        The cathedral is on 13th Ave between Olive and Howell. That section of 13th Ave is the eastern border of the CHAZ. St Nicholas Cathedral is, in effect, directly across the street from the CHAZ.

    • cynthia curran says

      Good point. The punks in CHAZ, certainly hate christians they through out a pro-life woman.

  7. Antiochene Son says

    Bravo to Fr. Hans.
     
    The new counter-signal to “all lives matter” (or “blue lives matter too”) is: No Lives Matter Until Black Lives Matter. Or in short, your life doesn’t matter until black people get everything they want. Get a clue!
     
    Great observation that Elpy is being used as a prop. He doesn’t have a clue what is going on. (Or maybe he does, and that would be worse.)

    • Well said, Antiochene Son.  
      George, wish you had thumbs up buttons (without the thumbs down)…

  8. Is it really class war these folks are conjuring up? Because I see nothing in the white elite class that seems to indicate an interest in their own loss of positions, power or authority on behalf of the working class: most of this seems intended to grandstand by punching down at “deplorables”, a code term of working class whites.

    What they appear to want is a kind of race war. While I doubt they will get it, the genius of the Democratic Party approach is it pits largely working class African Americans versus working class whites. These people believe they can be above the fray and stay on top by a divide and conquer strategy- maintaining exactly those policies that benefit themselves (job offshoring, sexual revolution, etc) but hurt most African Americans and white working class people.

    The real struggle is not black versus white: what we need precisely is a bit of class war.

  9. Sage-Girl says

    “He doesn’t have a clue what’s going on”…
    that poor baby … I remember once while he sat at cathedral lunch roundtable, surrounded by clergy, it was over + I was allowed to go speak to him; instead of standing, I chose to kneel down to floor beside him as it felt more private; while we talked + looking up at his face (he wasn’t wearing tall black skoufa) he suddenly appeared to my eyes to have biggest baby face I’d ever seen!  I can’t explain it – but up close his countenance was just this big, pudgy, baby face ?
    AB Elpi would make an awesome Episcopalian.

    • Austin Martin says

      It’s plastic surgery, and if a man has it you can assume he’s a homosexual. If a man is a homosexual, you can assume he’s a pedophile, since every homoerotic subculture in the history of ever has also been pedophilic.

  10. Austin Martin says

    1. Public Orthodoxy is Catholic-owned, so I don’t know why anyone except Catholics take them seriously. Like, who cares what PO says? They aren’t Orthodox, so I don’t see how they are relevant. (This isn’t a criticism of Monomakhos specifically.)

    2. At what point is the high rate of abortion among blacks the fault of the actual black women? A lot of conservatives like to trot out these statistics and blame Margaret Sanger and other progressives as though abortion is forced upon black women who (I presume the logic goes) are too unintelligent to know any better. Yes, there are more abortion clinics in the ghetto, but even if that weren’t the case, a woman isn’t going to let an extra 20 minute drive stop her from having an abortion.

    Half of black pregnancies end in abortion because that’s what black people choose. One could make a connection between the high rate of prenatal infanticide, the high rate of homicide, the recent race riots of the last ten years, and the rap “music” that black culture has produced and consumed since the late 80s and come to the conclusion that blacks just have a culture that glorifies murder. If abortion is murder, then is there any categorical difference between getting an abortion and armed robbery? 13% of the population commits 52% of murders and 35% of abortions.

  11. Sage-Girl says

    Austin Martin:
    ”it’s plastic surgery “… please explain your confusing post, to what are you referring to?

    • Austin Martin says

      Just look at Elpi’s face. It’s not real. The same with Met Nathaniel.
       
      You said he has a baby face, but no man of that age has a face like that naturally.

      • Johann Sebastian says

        Maybe no Greek man does. They look like they’re 50 by the time they’re 20.

        Just joking, just joking. Sort of.

        • Austin Martin says

          I also have to say (speaking as a convert who has spent some nine years around Greeks) that Greeks can usually grow an amazing beard. To shave it off and primp so much that you look like wax is to spit on what God gave them. It’s like a girl with double-Ds getting breast reduction surgery.

        • Sage-Girl says

          listen guys — my saying Elpi has a baby ? face when not in black skoufa is just symbolism —
          his ‘babyness’ is a Sign he’s green — too green, too naive to handle job of an Archbishop. 

          • Austin Martin says

            Well at least you’re giving him the benefit of the doubt.
             
            Perhaps the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of AMERICA needs and actual American archbishop. As far as I can tell he’s another immigrant come to subvert the local culture. 

            • Austin,
              “needs an actual American archbishop”
              :
              May I propose a tiny change
              :
              “needs an
              actual American and
              good archbishop” 

              Lord forgive me a sinner…

              • Sage-Girl says

                Austin + Ioannis:?
                Yes, that’s Divine Solution —American Orthodox cannot be lead by a sheltered, monastic, inexperienced about the world, foreigner from Turkey …
                 
                I actually feel sorry for him

                • Antiochene Son says

                  A monastic is fine, but it should be an American monastic, who has had to grow up in our culture and knows what our children are facing.

                  Do our bishops understand that children are being actively propagandized on race and sexual issues as we speak? That teachers were terrified of online teaching during the pandemic because parents might find out what their kids were learning?
                   
                  There is plenty a cradle Orthodox from overseas could teach us, but there is something to be said for understanding the fine nuances of a culture that an immigrant won’t be able to grasp.
                   
                  Since those are the kinds of issues facing us at the moment—constitutional law (COVID response) and race relations—I think a foreigner ought to be humble and at least seek input from native people before making stupid gestures and statements. I don’t need a bishop to “Turksplain” how Americans ought to behave on these sensitive issues.

                • MultispoonAbomination says

                  Sage-Girl,

                  Sheltered? Monastic? You’ve got to be kidding. If you believe that Elpi is a monastic who has been sheltered from the world, you are naive and sadly mistaken. He’s well acquainted with the ways of the world, and is no monastic. He’s a first class jet setter with perfect teeth. What monastic do you know who has spent a boatload of money to get perfect teeth? Really, people need to wake up and smell the coffee.

                  • Sage-Girl says

                    I just smelled the coffee ☕️! Thanks Multispoon — now he’s lost all excuse … ugh
                    ANAXIOS!

  12. Probably 50 years ago a beloved now departed OCA priest was a grad student at Fordham in a class on Russian history.  In a lecture the Jesuit prof mentioned the Jesuit infiltration of Russia in the 18th century.  He said “we failed to take hold then, next time we won’t”.   That remark brought the student half out of his chair before his friend next to him hissed, in Russian “sit down and shut up!”.  I don’t know that modern Jesuits have designs on Putin’s Russia, but with the Fordham orthodox center they’re quite content to undermine orthodoxy elsewhere.  Its usual spokesman and ms Larin have a good chuckle (live, nothing secret about it) about people who become members of the Orthodox Church “for the wrong reasons”.  That is, anyone slightly believing what Christian’s have believed for 2000 years, even stooping to the level of quoting the new testament.  The “unanimously elected” Elpi works for the tiny, obscure planar, not for a local American flock.  He exists for photo ops and lots of them.  In the latest march was it a coincidence that there happened to be a photographer (or two, three?) to record his silly event for  the free publicity?  The GOA machine has some awfully silly people at the top.  The headmaster of a school without students presides over the all but un-accredited seminary here and a giant hole in New York that sucks millions of dollars with no accountability.  Black lives matter, so does credibility.  If only that were easily acquired by holding up a sign.

  13. Fr Joseph says

    The shameless groveling and virtue signaling are increasing. This will have the opposite effect of what Archbishop Elpidophoros thinks it will have.

    https://www.goarch.org/society/racial-reconciliation

    Orthodox Christians have nothing to do with any of this violence and racism and hatred of whites, and the police, and law and order, and American democracy. Orthodox have no reason to kneel before these race-war anarchists who want to bring totalitarian communism to America and “kill whites” and “kill the cops.”

    It is Antifa and BLM and the other leftists radical groups and their leaders who need to apologize to America and be “committed to preserving peace, justice, and equality for every citizen of goodwill, regardless of their race, religion, gender or ethnic origin.”

    • Sage-Girl says

      Thank you Fr. Joseph:
      I sure wish you’d write to His Eminence + say all that you’ve said here… you clergy can impact him more than rest of us.
      p.s. I wonder if Lockdown made Elpi go crazy just like the rioters, he along with the rioters acting like prisoners let loose to burn down the town — in Elpidoforos case, he burnt down his title

    • Johann Sebastian says

      Amen.
      If we want to jump on this train, we would do well to bring attention to our own tragedies, both historical and contemporary.

      Let’s see…

      -The Fourth Crusade.
      -Greece, the Balkans, and the Levant under the Ottomans. 
      -Balkan, Pannonian, and Carpathian Slavs under the Habsburgs.
      -Western Rus’ during the era of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
      -Rus’ under the Mongols
      -Serbia under the Croatian Ustaše, in addition to any number of other campaigns against the Orthodox by either side during this period.
      -Bolshevism, which was introduced by outside forces.
      -Modern Islamism, which has reinvigorated genocide against our Levantine and other Arab Christian brothers.
      -Contemporary (meaning ca. 1850-present) Western narratives and policies that denied these tragedies, thwarted our attempts at liberation and justice, and accelerated campaigns against our people.

      Here’s looking at YOU Britain, France, Germany, the United States; YOUR “allies” and your supranational organizations that peddle a false narrative of history and subsume us as being of “YOUR kind” at YOUR convenience–because YOU want us to pay for what YOU did while remaining comfortable in YOUR decadent social experiment! Our people are “white Christians” when it suits YOU; when it doesn’t, we’re relegated to the status of barbarian pagans.

      Why isn’t Kosovo part of Serbia? Why isn’t Ukraine part of Russia? Why does Unia still exist? Why is Hagia Sophia being used once again as a mosque? Why is not St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice offered to the Orthodox for their use, seeing as it was fabricated from Constantinopolitan spoils?

      If Westerners–and especially Americans–are committed to righting past wrongs, why do they support the narratives of the incipient historical oppressors in these matters?

      • “Why isn’t Kosovo part of Serbia?”
         
        For the same reason London
        (other than geographically)
        is no an English city.

    • cynthia curran says

      Well in England one of the black protesters helped a white guy punch by another protester. Some people in these protest may not be bad people, but don’t see the world view of canceling out history by attacking statues of even abolitionist  or  Robert the Bruce by writing racist. In fact I don’t understand people my age that complain that tear gas might have been use against the crowd so Trump could go to the church,while a lot of the protesters in many places were not peaceful until they were called out.

  14. Centurion says

    Father Hans writes: “I don’t buy it, many other people don’t buy it, but most important is that an increasing number of Black Americans aren’t buying it either.”

    That is exactly what is happening. New poll from Rasmussen shows 40 percent of Black Americans agree with President Trump and how he’s leading the country. “According to a new poll, 40% of likely black voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. This data came from a new report by Rasmussen, which was released on Friday.” https://www.oann.com/poll-40-of-likely-black-voters-approve-of-president-trump/

    Here’s what Dr. Tyrone Wilson, a Black American surgeon, has been saying (in line with what Father Hans has written):

    https://twitter.com/DrTyroneWilson1

    “I truly believe if the organization Black Lives Matter gave a damn about black lives they would organize marches on cities like Chicago at least once a year. On top of that, they should be helping to educate young black men on police procedures and why they are necessary.” — Dr. Tyrone Wilson

    “Starting with Barack Obama, how many other so-called black leaders out there are doing absolutely nothing to try and stem the tide of black-on-black murder. These so-called leaders are absolutely useless when it comes to trying to save black lives. THIS IS WHY I DESPISE DEMOCRATS” — Dr. Tyrone Wilson

    “In 8 years of residency and attending as a trauma surgeon, I’ve had 67 young black men end up on my operating table from gunshot wounds. I CAN’T MAKE THIS CLEAR ENOUGH. NONE OF THEM ENDED UP THERE AT THE HANDS OF POLICE OR A WHITE PERSON. NONE OF THEM….ZERO” — Dr. Tyrone Wilson

    “Liberals are claiming that black mothers worry about their children leaving the house because police may kill them. THAT’S TOTAL BS. Raising three boys in South LA that never crossed my mother’s mind, not even once. She only worried about gang members killing one of us, that’s it.” — Dr. Tyrone Wilson

    “Until the Awakening happens, Black America is doomed to remain in Chains at the hands of the very party that held us down throughout history. Convincing us that they are Our Saviors when all along they have been the oppressors.” — Dr. Tyrone Wilson

    Maybe Archb. Elpidophoros can have a sit-down with Dr. Tyrone Wilson and ask for Dr. Wilson’s opinion on how to address these “systemic racism” issues. Or maybe the Fordhamites will invite Dr. Wilson to write an essay for Pubic Orthodoxy and provide a different perspective on the BLM issues.

    While he’s at it, Elpidophoros should visit a few Planned Parenthood locations in black neighborhoods, you know the kind that murder thousands of innocent black children every year. After all, are Black Unborn Children Lives part of BLM or not? Looking at the GOA racism resources page there’s not a single mention of the abortion pandemic responsible for the murder of hundreds of thousands of black children lives every year at the hands of leftist profiteers ALL of which vote DEMOCRAT.

  15. The chief message to be drawn from the Elpi pic is:
    BLACK ROBES MATTER!!!

    • Sage-Girl says

      hey Brendan that’s funny – 
      Black Robes Matter! ➕that IS, until Elpi’s robes get ruffled once rioters burn down his 79th St archdiocese —
      but do black robes matter from other clergy + monastics ? who cannot stand him?

    • Gail Sheppard says

      Too funny, Brendan!!!

    • Sage-Girl says

      Brendan,
      please make buttons of your brilliant slogan:
      Black Robes Matter —

      I’ve discovered there’s some paranoid priests, who fear AB.
      One Archimandrite replied to my asking how’s he dealing with new AB actually said:
      “How high should I jump?”

      ?

  16. Irate in Idaho says

    Of course Metropolitan Polykoutalia the 1st hasn’t said a word about this poor man.  Please pray for him.  https://www.thenationalherald.com/community_general_news/arthro/greek_american_vegas_officer_on_life_support_after_attack_during_protests-387625/

    • Irate,
      It’s a pity that this man wasn’t present at the Last Supper, where he could tell Christ to divide the wine in multiple cups (12 of them) !

      • Sage-Girl says

        Ioannis,
        it’s a revealing disgrace Elpi Never expressed outrage or compassion for Shay Mikalonis, a fellow Orthodox Christian policeman. Attacked for defending Elpi’s vicious protesters!
        Elpi does not have our back —he + every clergyman on his squad is a Judas Betrayer ?
         

  17. Anonymous says

    His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros Address on the Feast Day of Saint Bartholomew June 11, 2020:
     
    “Our Patriarch exemplifies every flame in the Burning Bush that we know as the Phanar – the lighthouse that ignites the hearts of the faithful and sheds the light of Christ around the globe. Whether it is human rights or religious liberty, ecological justice or interfaith understanding, His All-Holiness brings the timeless wisdom of the Orthodox Faith to contemporary issues and questions.
    Within the boundaries of the Church, our Patriarch remains the extraordinary standard of canonical discipline, a true κανόνα πίστεως, the Orthodox rule of the Faith.
    This is why he led the Holy and Sacred Synod to the determination to grant autocephaly to the pious Ukrainian People and established the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”
     
    See: https://www.goarch.org/-/archbishop-elpidophoros-address-feast-day-saint-bartholomew

    • I can’t tell if these people are joking or if they’re just high on their on pompousness 

      • Petro,

        “I can’t tell if these people are joking or if they’re just high on their on pompousness”:

        You see, they have two alternatives:

        (1) Either pack up and go home, or
        (2) Say they believe all that and stay there until enough people follow them, therwise they  will do (1). Clever and practical, don’t you think?    

      • Since joking can be eliminated…

    • Please God…save and protect us from the demonic machinations of the current Patriarch of Constantinople and his Archbishop in America!

    • Centurion says

      The groveling and derrière kissing are sickening and nauseating. There’s no dignity in such a patently absurd and cringe-worthy public act of pumping up the ego of the Patriarch. No true bishop of Christ would ever do such a thing. A universe away from 1 Timothy 3:1-7:

      Qualifications of Bishops
      The saying is sure: If any one aspires to the office of bishop, he desires a noble task. Now a bishop must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, dignified, hospitable, an apt teacher, no drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, and no lover of money. He must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way; for if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how can he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil; moreover he must be well thought of by outsiders, or he may fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

    • Antiochene Son says

      “Whether it is human rights or religious liberty, ecological justice or interfaith understanding”
       
      Not much about preaching the Gospel or baptizing the nations in there. The Ecumenical Patriarchate has truly lost the plot. This is the height of secularism and I hope all that worldly praise is consolation on the day of judgment.

  18. Has anyone told AB Elpi that he marched with and supports a group of terrorists who want to see the destruction of America and the re-writing of American history?
    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/06/there-are-heroes-whose-statues-black-lives-matter-daniel-greenfield/

    • Rewriting history? Scrubbing out, more like.
      The aim is to institute a Year Zero,
      like they had in Cambodia.

    • Sage-Girl says

      Mikhail,
      I actually sent text about this to nice lady who’s in Elpi’s ear + was also secretary to infamous AB Iakovos + her explanation is Elpi thought it was about Black woman killed by police …
      This is called Damage Control 

  19. A Roman Catholic perspective on the cult of the mask.
    https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/4927-the-cult-of-the-mask

  20. Deeply painful to watch him violate social distancing and yet invoke it punitively to limit attendance at and full participation in our Holy Church.   What matters most to him?  Do all Souls matter?  Our souls?  Did he protest for us?  

    Deeply distressing to see De Blasio “protect” NY protesters from contact tracing for COVID while Abp Elpi requires us to sign up and be traced.  De Blasio more protective than our Archbishop? Upside down world.

    Shepherd of a flock?  Father of a family?   As a psychiatrist I see and receive the clear message sent and the damage done to the Church and each person in it.

    At least advocate for and protect us as you publicly do for others please.  

  21. Michael Kinsey says

    I feel obliged to post this information, even if it is not posted here. The blue ocean event appears to occur this year, in the latest projections. This year we are on an almost identical rate of arctic ice melting as 2012, which was the lowest amount of sea ice ever recorded. But, the sea ice thickness is very much lower this year than it was in 2012. The thickest ice today is only 5 meters, and this in just a small part of the arctic ocean, the rest of it is 4,3,2,1, and even thinner than that. This heating of the ocean will release massive amounts of ch4,methane to more than double the amount of ch4 in our atmosphere. The example more scientists are using is the example of the Titanic heading toward an ice burg and needing 5 miles to escape a collision, but it is only 3 miles away from it. Plus, the scientific facts that we have crossed the point of no return concerning exponential feedback loops in 9 of 15 We cannot restore the balance. If, you care to review the bowls of God’s wrath, they state scorching by the sun, all life in the sea dies. This is occurring at breakneck speed. Blessed are the meek, they shall inherit the earth, and in your patience posses ye your soulsl. He who endures to the end will be saved.  He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword. This is a way that seems right to a man, but it’s end is destruction.

  22. An Unworthy Priest says

    Those who THINK that Elpidophoros is a naive archbishop have failed to see the puppeteer pulling the strings (Fr. Alex Karloutsos).  The archbishop of the GOA knew exactly what he was doing.  Several years ago when Fr. Alex was honored with the Patriarch Athenagoras award, his buddy Joe Biden dropped in.  When his parish in the Hamptons hosted their Blue whatever gala again Joe Biden dropped by with Archbishop Elpidophoros there.  They pander to these elitist, globalists revealing themselves not to be true priests.  They are politicians disguised as clergy.  They are not our friends.  They are the enemies of Christ himself.  I pity us all.  

  23. If Karloutsos is pulling his strings, it does not necessarily follow
    that Elpi is not naive.

  24. Mark E. Fisus says

    The article states:

    “As a Christian raised in Turkey, Elpidophoros has experienced structural oppression in ways that most Americans can only imagine.”

    The same with Archbishop Iakovos.

    More Orthodox Christians need to read the lives of the saints. (We should not be a sort of Eastern Rite Baptists refusing to look beyond scripture.) The early Christians, too, were oppressed, in a way white Christians in America never experienced. No one has set white Christians on fire to illuminate nighttime banquets, as Nero did, but plenty of black people have been lynched and hunted like dogs. Have some empathy and sympathy, or try to.

    • Gail Sheppard says

      Oh, please. It’s called the human condition and it’s an “equal opportunity employer”.

      • Mark E. Fisus says

        Greater percentage of black people die in custody than others.  That’s not very equal.

        • Does it correlate with the percentage of violent individuals held?

        • George Michalopulos says

          Mark, do you mean all those blacks who are convicts and die in prison because of old age or health concerns?  (Or because of prisoner-on-prisoner violence?)  If so, you would have to factor in all the whites and Hispanics as well.
          In any event, can you bring us the stats to back that up?

        • Sage-Girl says

          Mark E. Fisus:
          Just heard on radio interview, the former NY Police commissioner Ray Kelly says 80% of criminality is by Blacks + political correctness is a deadly scourge.
          p.s.
          stats:  black on black crime is highest 

    • George Michalopulos says

      Mark, again with the straw-man argument.  Every European ethnicity from Ireland in the West to Ukrainians in the East has experienced horrendous cruelty at the hands of their respective enemies.   And that includes 12 million Germans who were ethnically cleansed from their ancestral lands after WWII.  There is no call for reparations.  

      Nobody is “lynching” black men in America today.  Almost 100% of the violence perpetrated upon black men is by other black men.  

      • Mark E. Fisus says

        I hope you’re not suggesting that other ethnicities’ suffering justifies continued inequality for blacks. If anything, the lessons from others’ experiences should make us all the more receptive to rectifying the blindness which permits unequal treatment of blacks to persist.

        • Gail Sheppard says

          Gee, Mark, if you’re “hoping. . .” I guess we’d better pay attention!

          I am ABSOLUTELY AND COMPLETELY UNMOVED to do anything on on behalf of a people who think nothing of causing mayhem in our cities. I feel the same way about those who march on their behalf because they should know better than support crap like this. As my dear, black friend from the south said to me yesterday, “they need to get their little black behinds back home cause they don’t know their history.” This isn’t about civil rights.

          Nobody is blind here, except the people who think that rioting and making a nuisance is going to change anything for the better. This isn’t protesting. It’s breaking the law. If it were up to me they’d be thrown in jail.

          I guess it never occurred to you that bad cops are BAD COPS 100% OF THE TIME and target white people, too. Until you get rid of the unions, nothing is going to change.

          • Well said George and Gail. If I may add Teachers unions need be gone as well. How about scraping federal government money to our colleges, and federal government college loans, so that they may better serve the students, and parents who would be their main source of income. Let the college’s invest in their students and give out loans.
             
              How about limits on years served with our senators, or special elections to replace/impeach senators who only sing songs of freedom, conservative values, and God bless America during election years , then disappear  into their offices only to represent big corps. Now that action is needed against rioters, looters, thugs, and bums taking over our major cities, by at least our Republican politicians, where are they? Is it time for a new truly conservative, and Constitutional Republican party? Mob rule cannot be allowed to rule over voters? Hell, it is hard enough to elect conservatives against the flood over our borders, past and present. We are not well represented by those we have voted in office.(Trump excluded)
            https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/06/19/carlson-how-would-obama-have-responded-to-the-mob-by-tweeting-angry-things-declaring-a-new-holiday-at-their-request/
            What have I learned learned in 2020?  Trust only in God, and not ANY religion. America is/was never what I thought it to be. Believe only what my eyes see, and only half of what my ears hear.(and yet still verify!)
            Some advice, if nothing changes?(it won’t) Leave(RUN FROM) Democrat run states, and large cities. Go rural! It truly is the “other” America, and only option left to leave the insanity.
             
            Have not yet bought two goats and a plot of land by a river, but you never know. So far safe in the suburbs, within a red state.
            Here’s a great article/advice by John Nolte, in fact, nearly all articles are a good read by this man.
            https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/06/20/all-remains-sane-calm-here-rural-america/

        • George Michalopulos says

          When you get right down to it Mark, we either believe the dictum of Martin Luther King, Jr, or we don’t.  We can strive to live in a color-blind society or we acknowledge that segregation is normative.
          I for one, choose to believe in MLK’s dictum.
          Unfortunately, many black people –including the leaders of CHAZ and BLMers–actually want a return to a Jim Crow-like system.  Don’t believe me?  Please watch this clip which was scrubbed by YouTube:
          https://twitter.com/AaronCwell/status/1274319360111198208
          The upshot:  at Rayshard Brooks funeral last night, there was a shooting.  A cop showed up but because he was white he was told to take no action by the people there until black cops showed up.
          That’s Jim Crow, straight-up.
           

          • Antiochene Son says

            We are definitely headed for a separation. Some might say it is long overdue. Maybe that is the only peaceful way this can end, a new Jim Crow where each race manages its own affairs. It wouldn’t be unprecedented—New York City Jews have their own police and ambulance service for example.

            Color-blindness and merit-based decision making is unacceptable because when it is instituted (such as employment or college applications) it ends up favoring Whites and Asians on average. It has been tried before, computers selecting the best candidates with no racial information, strictly by merit. You can’t do that because the outcome is “racist.”
             
            They don’t want equal opportunity, they want equal outcomes, which invariably means penalizing some for being too good and falsely promoting those who are not good enough. That is the way of the world now. Ethnic quotas are the guiding light.
             
            And you wonder why White people are addicted to opioids and committing suicide in unprecedented numbers. It’s not because “whitey is sad for having his power taken away,” it’s because there is active discrimination in favor of mediocrity. And that’s not to say minorities are inherently mediocre—Clarence Thomas anyone, the last man standing on the Supreme Court? It is the favoring of mediocre people because of their race.
             
            It is an insult to those who deserve better and are passed over, and it is an insult to those who do earn their place.

            • Gail Sheppard says

              Re: “. . . it’s because there is active discrimination in favor of mediocrity.”

              And the sad thing is mediocrity hurts everyone.

              • George Michalopulos says

                Indeed.

              • Sage-Girl says

                Spot on Gail, George & Antiochene Son —
                What a tragic state of affairs…  this morning I heard on John Catsamatides radio broadcast talk with former Mayor Rudy Giuliani – Rudy rightfully praised Mohammed Ali’s son for speaking out against BLM + supports Trump —
                but “Cats” said Nothing in response — not a word of praise for a conservative Black man for voicing opposition to lefts BLM!
                Anaxios to Cats?

                • George Michalopulos says

                  Very much agree with you. For the record, I thought that Johnny Cats is a Republican. If so, he’s the grab-your-heels-and-bend-over type of RINO that we have a surfeit of. Like our mayor here in T-Town.

                  • Sage-Girl says

                    Geo — RINO is the word.
                    So embarrassing, Cats is given high position in Orthodox Church, yet can’t teach modesty to his daughter Andrea — who’s infamous for looking cheap, flaunting fake Boob implants in low cut dresses even in church + republican events. The Daily Mail in UK really ripped her looks to shreds

                  • cynthia curran says

                    Mohammed Ali I think has another child that doesn’t bye into this. I mean the black victimhood stuff.

        • When I was a boy, many seaside boarding houses in Scotland used to display signs reading: NO BLACKS, NO TINKERS (Gypsies), NO DOGS, NO IRISH – in that order.
           
          More recently, when the mania for collecting ethnicity statistics began, the largest railway union in Britain had a question on their membership form asking new members to identify themselves as one of: “WHITE, BLACK BRITISH, BLACK CARIBBEAN, BLACK AFRICAN, BLACK OTHER, ASIAN, CHINESE, IRISH – again, in that order.
           
          In recent years however, the Irish do seem to have been promoted to WHITE, as were the Japanese in Apartheid South Africa.
           
          My maternal grandparents married in Dublin in 1918, then moved to Scotland where my grandfather worked as an engineer’s labourer in John Brown’s shipyard (where the Queen Mary was built). No matter how good he was at his job, he could never rise above the status of labourer because he was both Irish and Roman Catholic [ie: not Scots-Irish = Protestant].
           
          In most parts of the world, when job application forms ask what school was attended, the aim is to establish the social class of the applicant. In the West of Scotland, the intention was to discover if the applicant had attended a Roman Catholic school and was therefore a ‘Taig’ or ‘Tim’ – whose prospects were thereby limited.
           
          For generations the only real colour bar in Glasgow was that between Orange and Green – and there are still places where it is not safe to speak with a West Belfast or Donegal accent.

        • “I hope you’re not suggesting that other ethnicities’ suffering justifies continued inequality for blacks. If anything, the lessons from others’ experiences should make us all the more receptive to rectifying the blindness which permits unequal treatment of blacks to persist.”

          You’re absolutely correct, inequality for blacks must not continue, it is time for the nearly 60 years of unequal treatment in favor of blacks to end.

          https://www.facebook.com/2018427845075939/posts/2572209006364484/?sfnsn=mo&d=n&vh=e

          https://www.facebook.com/williamjpkelly/videos/10217705082686666/?hc_location=ufi

        • After watching countless videos of them inciting violence and riots, creating mayhem and dishing out unwarranted violence, and doing the opposite of their jobs I find myself absolutely and completely unmoved by the wailing and gnashing of teeth of the police unions. So many bad actors, half of them should just be fired. If it were up to me the rest would be thrown in jail.

          • George Michalopulos says

            What you are saying is nothing less than a blood libel.  The unions are a problem, no doubt but the overwhelming number of police are doing the best they can with what they’ve got.  And now that blue city DAs are stabbing them in the back we will see an outbreak of the Blue Flu.

          • Sage-Girl says

            Flavius:

            You need glasses, the Police ? are NOT inciting any violence, they’re reacting to demonic hell incited by Leftist Rioters + to think Police, who protect law & order may be defunded is truly frightening — we need President Trump + I fear for his life at this time

            • George Michalopulos says

              Flavius, we all know that there are bad cops (just like there are bad doctors, nurses, lawyers and pharmacists). But you have to bring some evidence to the table to prove this slanderous assertion of yours.

              Sorry, not having it.

              • There is ample video evidence if you are willing to wade out into the wider world. For example, a rather long twitter thread that is one useful source but by no means authoritative. There are hundreds of videos, ranging from mildly concerning to jaw-dropping. The amazing thing is how police under heightened scrutiny appear to act with even more impunity. One of the most recent videos in the aforementioned mega thread has the thin blue line pepper spraying a double amputee, disconnecting his legs and walking off with them.

                https://twitter.com/greg_doucette/status/1274893728361127937

                And bear in mind, much of this misconduct is not in response to rioting or looting, but peaceful protest. Many protests were peaceful until police started instigating. And most protests in recent weeks have been perfectly peaceful without any police “oversight”.

                • Gail Sheppard says

                  The word “most” has no place here. People either are or they are not looting, robbing, pushing the elderly down, lighting buildings on fire. . .

                  • Of the protests that have taken place in hundreds of towns and cities across America during the past several weeks, it is simply factually accurate to state that most of them have been emotional but peaceful protests. I am not certain you are aware of just how many peaceful protests there have been, either at places where earlier protests had seen clashes, or places where violence never broke out. So if “most” has no place here, then I fear neither does a commitment to truth, however uncomfortable it might be.

                    • George Michalopulos says

                      Well, Ford’s Theater back in April of 1865 was “mostly peaceful” as well. Still, it didn’t end well for President Lincoln did it?

                      Seriously Flavius? Are you watching the same TV that I’m watching? Right now as I right these words, the yahoos are trying to take down the statue of Andrew Jackson in LaFayette Park. It’s mostly peaceful as there are no actual bombings and/or shootings. Likewise the taking down of the statue of St Junipero Serra in California. It strains credulity to consider these protests to be “peaceful”.

                      There’s been two shootings in the “mostly peaceful” republic of CHAZ in Seattle. Also some sexual assaults. Why don’t you go talk to all those shopkeepers in Minneapolis and other cities who have had their stores destroyed? Ask them if they’ll ever open up shop in those areas again?

                      I’m sorry but even normal Democrats and other liberals are horrified by the Frankenstein’s monsters that have been unleashed upon our fair land.

                      Even if, arugendo, we take your argument seriously and concede that strictly speaking, you are right, that most of these protests have been peaceful, is that the perception that the nation is holding right now?

                      No. The overwhelming majority of Americans have conflated the “protests” with “riots”. And yes, the destruction is because of a minority but so what? It is the perception of wanton violence that has gripped this nation.

                    • Whether or not you associate the protests with riots may depend on your diet of media consumption. The attitudes of the broader public, which may have a fuller picture of the context going on in the United States right now do not reflect that assertion

                      https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/10/upshot/black-lives-matter-attitudes.html

                      In some small manner, perhaps I am able to lend some minor assistance in this matter, as you seem to have limited your general horizons to a point I fear you have a distorted view of the national landscape.

                    • George Michalopulos says

                      Unfortunately, the “diet of media” (really a bowl of diarrhea) is everywhere you look. You would have to live in a cave to not be force-fed the propaganda that they cram down our throats.

                    • Dear Flavius,
                      I disagree. The NYT has a very specific agenda itself so using it as your source for “a fuller picture” may simply speak to your own bias.  

                      By the way, are you an Orthodox priest by chance?

                • George Michalopulos says

                  You really don’t want to go down this road. If you want to show come videos there is a wealth of evidence on the other side.  
                  In the interest of not being inflammatory, I won’t post them.
                  I could change my.mind however.

                  • George,
                    I looked at what’s happening on live video in DC tonight and one word came to mind: 
                    Kiev.
                    It’s gonna be a long hot summer.

                  • Estonian Slovak says

                    It is highly unlikely that cops would go out of their way to hurt, frame, or kill innocent people; especially people of color. Nowadays, everyone has a cellphone with a camera to record anything at an instant. Plus, being labelled as “racist” is a virtual death sentence.
                         It does appear that the one officer in Minneapolis used excessive force. I’m not saying he shouldn’t be tried for murder. But there are so many other cases where police have gone out of their way not to use force to avoid just such occurrences.
                         I always taught my sons that if you are stopped by police you cooperate. You tell them if you reach into the glove compartment for your registration. Common sense. You don’t grab a cops taser and fire it at him and expect him to do nothing. What part of that can people not understand?

    • I will hazard a guess that more white people are brutally murdered in South Africa every year in racially-motivated attacks than black people in America.
       
      Do Boer lives matter? Where is the outcry? I don’t see or hear the Greek Orthodox Church in South Africa (which is fairly large) doing anything about this.

      • Sage-Girl says

        Yes Basil ? that’s empirical fact:
        many white South African farmers have been murdered + are still under attack. How tragic nearby Orthodox  churches cannot speak out — they’d be burnt down!

  25. PS: It appears Albert has been Piked off his Plinth…

  26. Fr Joseph says

    BLM co-founders openly admit they are Marxists. Archbishop Elpidophoros has now proudly and publicly aligned himself with a murderous and godless ideology (Marxism, Communism) that has tortured and killed more Orthodox Christians than any other in history, an ideology that has destroyed more Orthodox Churches than Islam. This is an abomination. Pride goes before a fall and this prideful foolishness is showing the world the corrupt nature of this hierarch. ANAXIOS!

    https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/video-resurfaces-which-black-lives-matter-founder-says-groups-creators-are-trained

    Patrisse Cullors, who founded the group with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi in 2013, was interviewed by Morgan State University Professor Jared Ball in 2015 regarding the movement she helped to create. Ball in that interview asked Cullors about “critiques” of her group, ones that allege “a lack of perhaps ideological direction in Black Lives Matter that would allow it to be, to fizzle out.”

    Responding to that question, Cullors said that the group “do[es] have an ideological frame.”

    “Myself and Alicia in particular are trained organizers. We are trained Marxists. We are super-versed on, sort of, ideological theories,” she said, adding that the group’s founders sought to “build a movement that could be utilized by many, many black folk.”

    “We don’t necessarily want to be the vanguard of this movement. I think we’ve tried to put out a political frame that’s about centering who we think are the most vulnerable amongst the black community, to really fight for all of our lives,” she said.

    • George Michalopulos says

      Sad, isn’t it?

    • Even Orthodox Archbishops can be useful…idiots.

    • Yes, Father…and this is no surprise. What is shocking to me, is that the narrative changed on a dime, and BLM starting getting sympathy and support on a very wide scale.  It has been known for a very long time that they are anti-family, pro LGBT, pro-death, anti-American, Marxists. And yet, suddenly, they have main stream support. Why? 

      Also, someone needs to tell Karloutsos that the AB is now supporting a radical Marxist group. Oh wait, it was Karloutsos who told him to align with BLM. Nevermind.

      • cynthia curran says

        Well, Obama gave his blessing and in the long term it helped their cause. In Obama’s youth an older black writer called Frank Marshall Davis was a father for Obama after he lost his father and step father. Frank Marshall Davis from the information available was a communist.

    • Centurion says

      There are other Marxists in the GOA. Lest we forget. Metropolitan Savas (Zembillas) who made it a point to visit and pay his respects to the tomb of Karl Marx a few years ago!

      https://www.monomakhos.com/a-tale-of-two-theologians/
      On the other hand, please take a look at this Facebook photo of another Christian theologian. This one an Orthodox bishop. Our old friend Metropolitan Savvas Zembillas of Pittsburgh (GOA), decided to pay homage to the Karl Marx during his recent trip to England.

      • Ah yes…I remember this. Now that we are seeing how the Hierarchs have responded to the kung-flu, this makes perfect sense.

      • Sage-Girl says

        Just pathetic — Why are these clergymen not suspended ?  No wonder people are leaving in droves

    • Fr Joseph-“BLM co-founders openly admit they are Marxists. Archbishop Elpidophoros has now proudly and publicly aligned himself with a murderous and godless ideology (Marxism, Communism) ”
      :
      Does Elp. know what he is doing?
      Has he read the book:

      Was Karl Marx A Satanist?
      by Richard Wurmbrand | Jan 1, 1976
      3.7 out of 5 stars 7
      Paperback
      https://www.amazon.com/Karl-Marx-Satanist-Richard-Wurmbrand/dp/0882640844/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3G17L3ZZJL938&dchild=1&keywords=was karl marx a satanist&qid=1592810455&sprefix=marx satanist,aps,296&sr=8-1

      • Archpriest Alexander F. C. Webster says

        It is ironic (no, surreal) that, while some Orthodox hierarchs and jurisdictions in the USA are drifting steadily leftward along with our American culture and society, the Russian Federation and the Russian Orthodox Church are steadily reclaiming their ancient heritage in the aftermath of the U.S.S.R., the atheistic Communist scourge of the earth for 74 years in the 20th century.

        Here’s a video of the recent consecration of the Patriarchal cathedral for the Russian armed forces:

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjkuti_HmFU

        Here’s a video of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia visiting and venerating the icons of the new Patriarchal military cathedral with President Putin of the Russian Federation:

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y33QI1J1Qc0

        Here’s a video of Patriarch Kirill publicly casting his ballot for revisions of the Russian Constitution, including specific acknowledgement of God and stating explicitly that marriage in Russia will be, henceforth, strictly between one man and one woman:

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbMInIOvxfk&feature=em-uploademail

        May our beloved United States of America regain its senses and follow Russia’s example!

        • Christopher McAvoy says

          Amen!
          O Lord Christ, Word of the Father, Who came into this world to save sinners, we beseech Thee, by the innnermost depths of the mercy, cleanse our souls, perfect our actions, put in order our manner of life, take from us what is harmful to us, and what displeases Thee. Grant us what Thou knowest is pleasing to Thee, and profitable to us.

          May your Holy Light shine throughout the Russian land and therefore into all lands to illumine the darkness of the hearts of mankind! May their clergy and faithful be united with the tranquility of order, in concord, free of dissension.

          May all nations be converted and re-converted through the example of faith hope and charity revived in your slavic land! May Russia be purged her last remaining blight of socialism, in her politicians support for the evil government of maduro in venezuela! May the errors of international communism be crushed throughout the world so that just Christian government may replace them !

          Grant us the answer to our prayers, through the prayers and merits of our Lady, Mary the Virgin and of all the saints. May we ever praise and glorify our God, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, who liveth and reigneth throughout all ages of ages!

        • Fr A,

          Any ideas why Lenin’s body and mausoleum is still in Red Square in Moscow?

          With the resurgence of Christian faith in Russia, how long will they keep that God-hater, gangster, and murderer around for public veneration?

          • Archpriest Alexander F. C. Webster says

            Roger that, FTS.

            I fondly recall Patrick Buchanan’s quip not long after the demise of the USSR in December 1991: “One of the first things the post-Soviet Union ought to do is take that wax dummy in Lenin’s tomb and burn it publicly in Red Square.”

            And yet that embalmed abomination is still there in Lenin’s tomb.

            I envy the Russian Orthodox priest chaplain who will, if and when the government gives the green light, bless the Russian tanks that will bulldoze that tomb and its obscene contents once and for all.

            • George Michalopulos says

              Ditto.

              • Archpriest Alexander F. C. Webster says

                Given the size of the stone mausoleum, I should have written: “bless the Russian tanks that will ‘fire for effect’ on that edifice and bulldoze the rubble that remains and its obscene contents once for all.”

              • For Russians, it is different.  It may take ten or twenty years for them to get to the point of burying Lenin.  For us here, the collapse of the Soviet Union and political developments since have been cause for marvel.  For Russians who actually lived under it, it is more complicated since they have many fond memories of “Soviet” stuff mixed in with the bad.  Not to mention the reflexive impulse against reactionary spectacles.  Soviets were bad enough about disowning the past, many Russians just want matters to settle down and can view Lenin’s mausoleum as part of a kind of Russiana (like Americana), the cultural mosaic of Russian society.
                Once they’ve ignored him long enough they’ll get around to burying the sonofabitch.

          • “Any ideas why Lenin’s body and mausoleum
            is still in Red Square in Moscow? ”
             
            So people can point out presumption – and laugh.

        • Fr Alex, several days ago you asked me to explain what I said about problems that have occurred in ROCOR. I mentioned the debacle with Transfiguration monastery in Boston. Either my statement was not posted or you did not respond. While you are at it, please explain the connection with Sam Green in Blanco. These are grenades that exploded. ROCOR is not some pure form of Orthodoxy. All jurisdictions have skeletons in their closets.

          • The case of Blanco is the same as Boston. As soon as an investigation started, those guy were quick to break communion and stop the procedure in its tracks.

            • Archpriest Alexander F. C. Webster says

              JK, Basil is quite right about Blanco. That is the true pattern of behavior within ROCOR: as soon as a scandal or potential scandal arises, ROCOR hierarchs seem to act quickly and decisively to deal with it instead of allowing it to linger for years or even decades–as some other Orthodox jurisdictions are prone to do.

              As it happens, I did reply to your mention of the Transfiguration Monastery fiasco, but that post–for some reason–never saw the light of day here. I do know quite well the gravity of offenses of “The Elder” and his band of extreme fanatics in Brookline, because I visited there once in 1976, while I pursued my master’s degree at Harvard Divinity School followed by another semester of full-time study at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA, not far from Transfiguration Monastery. I say “once,” because just one hour one-on-one with “The Elder Panteleimon” was all I needed to conclude that he was a sinister, not holy monk, full of venom toward the professors at HCGOST, particularly Archimandrite Maximos (Aghiourgoussis)–later Metropolitan of Pittsburgh–with whom I took two courses through cross-registration via the “Boston Theological Institute,” and who was gracious enough to attend my Harvard graduation in 1978 as my special guest, to baptize my second daughter in 1981, and to write the Foreword to my third book titled, The Pacifist Option (1998). Metropolitan Maximos was then, and remains, the gentlest, holiest man I have ever met.

              Panteleimon’s demeanor and extreme judgmentalism was one of the reasons I did not make the move to ROCOR at that time. Only much later did I discover the moral perversion that infested Holy Transfiguration Monastery. By then, of course, ROCOR had severed all ties with that rathole.

              Which brings me back to my main challenge to you, JK. You have cited here two cases–one in Brookline, MA, decades ago and another in Blanco, TX, also decades ago. In both of those situations ROCOR cleaned house decisively. If you have nothing that you can cite of more recent or current vintage, then I request that you stand down and cease your campaign of defamation against ROCOR.

              • FrAlex, no defamation of ROCOR intended. My point is that ROOR is no different from other jurisdictions. My recollection is that the hierarchs of ROCOR did not act quickly and decisively but rather courted both groups for extended periods of time. Additionally, I wonder whY the groups were received in the first place. It seems with an once of discernment one could sense the same thing you experienced in Boston and the evil in Blanco. By the way, I also hold Bp Max in high esteem

    • Thank you Father Joseph for identifying yourself as a priest and speaking out truthfully.  Means a lot.  I am really missing Vladika Dmitri Royster of blessed memory right now.  
      And really sad about priests telling me to “love and obey our Archbishop”. Of course I do love and pray for every Archbishop but I cannot love and obey what any do, teach, or support which is not what I learned from Patristic priests, saints, and our Tradition, all of which speak against the teaching or actions of those who go against. We are not the Roman Catholic Church.

      • AB Elpi says that it was his duty as a Christian and a Greek to march with BLM as inspired by EP Bartholomew. He is surely living in an alternate universe.

        • Sage-Girl says

          “Alternate universe” for an Orthodox Archbishop is cause for dismissal —- Next!