By now, you have all seen the picture of the baptism that recently took place in Greece. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it’s received about as much attention as the Zapruder tapes.
It certainly has rocked the (Ortho)world.
In fact, it’s taken on a life of its own, kind of like the meme “Let’s Go Brandon!” which has come to eclipse the more vulgar epithet which spawned it back in October of last year.
As you may recall, the phrase was midwifed by NBC Sports reporter, Kelli Stavast, when she was interviewing Brandon Brown at the NASCAR race at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. The crowd was screaming “-uck Joe Biden” and she had to come up with something fast. Her quick thinking made Brandon Brown the source of one of the most popular memes of our times.
“Let’s Go Brandon!” typifies (in G-rated fashion) the unprecedented and ever-expanding awfulness of the Biden regime. That numinous spirit now inhabits the imagination, explaining all we need to know about why things are as bad as they are. I suspect it will remain in the aether long after Joe Biden has sloughed off his mortal coil and gone to receive his eternal reward.
Unlike “Let’s Go Brandon,” perhaps this photo of MY BIG FAT GREEK BAPTISM, in all its Euro trashy glory, typifying everything wrong with the GOA, its Archbishop, Istanbul, and its leadership class will do so, as well.
But I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the cultural implications that are depicted in this photo. All things being equal, it is a representation of the conscious decision by Archbishop Elpidophoros, and by extension, his overlord in Istanbul, to normalize so-called gay marriage in the Orthodox Church.
Like the pronouncement made a few years ago when Arb Elpidophoros stated that it would be a good idea to commune non-Orthodox spouses of Orthodox Christians, it’s one step forward toward gay marriage. “Spouses,” of course, includes husbands and wives of homosexually “married” couples. Some people are actually saying it’s already happening in the Special Archdiocesan District (i.e. the Archbishop’s personal diocese). By offering the Gifts to spouses who can’t be bothered by learning about the Church, it’s a way to legitimize same-sex marriage. Sort of an “Orthodox by proxy”, if you will.
This baptism fiasco is a stick in the eye to the thousands of less well-heeled, but nevertheless faithful, laymen of the GOA who are unable to buy expensive favors from the hierarchy; the same hardworking class of pious men and women who man the festival booths every year, keeping their parishes open, and funding the ever-increasing rise in monthly assessment fees to the Archdiocese.
For a Greek-American who grew up in the GOA, this baptism is yet another manifestation of the scandals which erupt all too frequently, causing the more masculine among us to view the “archimandrites” foisted upon us with nothing but contempt.
With this latest outrage, the incessant drip-drip-drip of scandals has taken on tsunami-like proportions.
So how is Patriarch Bartholomew going to resolve this issue? If he removes the Archbishop, he will be humiliated by the non-GOA bishops in America; his neo-papalist pretensions laid bare. (They already have Alexander Belya’s scalp under their belt.)
On the other hand, if he keeps Elpidophoros in place as Chairman of the Episcopal Assembly, it will only increase the ire of the non-Greek elements (both hierarchy and laity) against the GOA. Worse, Elpidophoros will no longer (if he ever was) be viewed with respect by the other bishops of the Episcopal Assembly.
This paradigm of failed leadership is the harbinger of the death of the Episcopal Assembly as presently constituted. Especially given the fact that the two other largest jurisdictions (the OCA and Antioch) have forcefully condemned the homosexual lifestyle and all its attendant detritus; that is to say “gay marriage,” the procreation of children via surrogacy, and transgenderism. It is impossible to imagine that the other jurisdictions will remain on the Phanar’s side.
The bloom is finally off the Hellenocentric rose. If there were ever a time for Greeks to rise up, it’s now.
Istanbul, of course, will not comment one way or the other. It will not, because it cannot. According to our dear friends at Helleniscope, it is paralyzed by institutional rot. Instead of dealing with the issue head-on, it is placing a gag rule on any further discussion. Raise your hand if you think this will work? Like in chess, the Phanar knows it lost several moves ago but wants to keep playing the game.
For an excellent analysis of the rot in question, and what exactly causes this paralysis, please read the following essay. (Caution, sins are called out and names are named): https://www.helleniscope.com/2022/07/23/heretic-pat-bartholomew-imposes-silence-on-ab-elpidophoros-they-both-need-to-resign/
In essence, Patriarch Bartholomew and many of the minions which inhabit his various eparchies made a deal with the zeitgeist long ago. It would have been better had they heeded the words of G K Chesterton who famously said, “He who marries the age will find himself a widower soon enough.”
As we can see from the reports that came out of Ligonier and Baltimore, the sites of the national convocations of Antioch and the OCA, the days of homosexual tyranny, for all of us, are finally over. The applause and ovations that were given to the Holy Synod of the OCA and Metropolitan Joseph when they forthrightly, stated the tradition of the Church were thunderous.
The sodomic juggernaut that has arisen in the West has finally met its match, at least in the Orthodox arena. The GOA, unfortunately, is still on life support.
AXIOI!!! to the Assembly of Canonical Bishops. (Sending a “get well soon” to Bartholomew.)
****
We need more of this type of preaching:
LOL, yes. There’s a reason we had a revolution. People are all like, “America is the only country that doesn’t have the metric system or healthcare or [insert whatever]”, and like, yeah, that’s the point. The concept of America is to not be Europe.
Okay, obviously this quoted totally wrong, and I didn’t meant to have that giant chunk in the middle.
We’ve all done it… 🙂
Perhaps a different observation is more apropos: ever since the passing of the former director of external relations for the OCA, the Holy Synod has been more zealous about our autocephaly.
This person was an promoter of all things Istanbul as well as a globalist (he was head of the execrable NCC for example and not without cause: he was a hire long who drew his salary from that odious organization.)
Frankly I have no idea what anything you said meant. Who was this person, what’s the NCC, and why did he have the ability to control the Synod?
I don’t have a very detailed understanding of the inner workings of the OCA. I generally assume that everyone went to St Vlad’s and thinks that Orthodoxy means nothing is true but that you get to have more poetry.
OK, fair enough, I’ll tell you who it is but first I must explain my reticence. There’s an old Latin maxim “De mortuis nil sisi bonum.” (“Don’t speak ill of the dead.”)
The deceased I speak of is the late, Fr Leonid Kishkovsky. Not only was he enamored of the EP, he was president of the National Council of Churches (from whom he received his salary –not the OCA). As director of the OCA’s Dept of External Relations, he moved heaven and earth to kowtow to the EP (and the NCC), oftentimes going so far as to undermine the majority’s position regarding these two institutions.
he was also c ia, connect the dots.
Why was a priest given so much control over the OCA? How can a priest over-rule the synod?
I never understood this rule about not speaking ill of the dead. The fifth ecumenical council disproved that pretty well. Show me Romanides’s grave, and I’ll spit on it.
It’s an expression dating back to 300 AD.
> I’ll tell you who it is but first I must explain my reticence. There’s an old Latin maxim “De mortuis nil sisi bonum.” (“Don’t speak ill of the dead.”)
I have never quite understood this attitude. On Good Friday, we sing hymns eviscerating Judas. On the Sunday of the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, we sing hymns trashing Arius.
For good reason.
Just as we venerate the Saints (in part) because they are good examples for us to emulate, we need to be given good examples of bad examples to warn us off of emulating their folly.
…and the dead don’t sue!
Yeah, mostly that!
Remember, this was a Roman saying. From pagan times.
Yeah, well, the Romans said lots of crazy things, like how the emperor is the unconquerable sun god or that the Aeneid is well written. They even claimed that the Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son.
“…the Romans said lots of crazy things,
like…the Aeneid is well written.”
The earliest vernacular translation of the Aeneid was that made in
1512/13 into Middle Scots by Gavin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld,
No less a linguist than Ezra Pound said it is better than the original.
The language is certainly more vigorous… 🙂
🙂
For about a year I attended a . . . parish. I casually said something about . . . The priest was horrified. He said, “He’s deceased!” Well, okay, . . . is in the ground, but that doesn’t change that the . . . was a communal farm cult.
(I knew someone who grew up in it who said that becoming actual Orthodox was becoming something normal, whereas for most of us becoming Orthodox was becoming something weird.)
I won’t try to defend Ft. Leonid and his role in church leadership as I never knew him that way. I was baptized by Fr. Leonid many years ago and my family was members of his little church on Long Island for decades. He may have been a director of this or that for some, but for others he was a spiritual father. If not for his prayers, I don’t think I would be an Orthodox Christian today.
Sir, I’m sure he had his good points. Hence my reticence to speak critically of him. Having said that, he moved heaven and earth to keep the OCA in the NCC, a commie-front organization if there ever was one (of which we have so many: SPLC, ACLU, NAACP, ADL, etc.).
In addition, his starry-eyed view of the Phanar never did the OCA any favors.
Regardless, it is my fervent hope that his good accomplishments (as evidenced by your own fidelity to the Church) will outweigh the less salubrious ones.
GOA priests can’t help their flock with religous exemption for the vaccine….but…. Bishop Elpidophoros can lie to fellow Bishops and facilitate anti Orthodox behaviour out in the open for all to see. Sad that most GOA parishioners don’t even know what is going on.
Whoever this “person” is, it’s why we why refer to it as OC gay, knowing of the shenanigans in Boston a few years back. I hope all that sordidness is gone from your jurisdiction. Our turn to suffer…
Are you protecting his identity for a reason?
A thought-provoking sermon from Fr Alexander…
It was indeed.
Opa.
Something that has struck me since this all started, especially since the rebuke from the AoB, is that GOARCH now essentially exists outside of American Orthodoxy. It is well on it way to being it’s own thing. No other canonical bishop is on their side and they are sailing on their own.
You can extend this to the EP as well.
Because of their actions they no longer seem to be welcome at table of American and world Orthodoxy
I just saw this comment over at Helleniscope by “Nopes” and it brings up some really good points I hadn’t thought of:
Fantastic sermon, as always, by Fr Alexander Webster. I was spiritually uplifted and inspired when he was our local Orthodox chaplain for a summer in Baghdad about 15 years ago. He continues to lead, inspire, and spiritually uplift now.
Some thoughts:
1. American Christians are indeed a “persecuted majority” here as Fr Alexander states, mostly because we’ve allowed ourselves to be shamed into silence. Also because most American Christians have bought into the “nice Christ” concept and think that “being nice” equals being Christian. It does not. Christians are kind and loving and respectful, but this does not equate to “being nice.” Christ was “not nice” many, many times in the Gospels. Christ is Holy, not nice.
2. Modern, secular, distracted, and entertained-to-death American society is often too much for Christians to withstand, which is why so many of us succumb to the “as long as I have my WiFi I’ll just stay online and be quiet” syndrome.
3. Orthodox Christians MUST take a leadership role in leading American Christians to stand up for ourselves. Mostly because hardly anyone else will do it. Virtually all mainstream protestants and modern Catholics are feminized and have completely lost that masculine, leadership quality that Christianity needs in order to Christianize a society.
The Christians in Eastern Europe and in Russia are not ashamed of their faith and aren’t shy about telling lunatic secular leftists to “get lost.” Why is that? Primarily because their Christianity is not feminized or “nice.” We must learn from them.
I love the stories of the Ukrainian Orthodox priests blessing a public square with Holy Water after local Ukrainians allowed a LGBTQwerty parade there. Do we think these priests was afraid of being called “not nice” by the leftists by doing what in the West would be considered “transgressive violence”? Of course not!
The only American Christians who even have a hope of bringing American Christianity out of its current battered-wife status (where it stays shamed in silence) into a leadership role are the Orthodox Christians and some traditional Roman Catholics and EvProts. That’s it. No one else will do it. We must.
Thanks for the kudos, FTS (and Brendan and George). I also like your extension of one of the main themes of my homily in your post here.
(Personal note: FTS, I had no idea you were in the US military. I would be delighted to communicate with you offline regarding our mutual experience in Baghdad during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005, 2006, or 2007. My primary email is a matter of public record: chaplain.webster@gmail.com )
https://i.redd.it/ybtswo2vjsd91.jpeg
Placing an upside down cross in his signature in this letter to Metr. Antonios of Glyfada Greece.
Unless I’m mistaken, that’s not an upside down cross but the indefinite article “the” that proceeds proper nouns.
I think ‘the’ is a definite article, George.
Not in Greek. The same article –in this case ho–can be either indefinite or definite depending on the noun.
In other words, compare: ho Yiannis diabase to biblio ([the] John read the book), to ho mageras effiaxe soupa gia ta paidia (the cook made soup for the children).
I realize this is confusing but every article in Greek (ho, he, to (masculine, feminine and neuter) and their respective plurals, can either be definite or indefinite.
Good rule of thumb is when you hear an old Greek speak broken English saying something like “the George he is a rascal” or “I believe in the God”, the context is indefinite. This of course is confusing to the hearer: does this person believe in the God of [whatever]?
The article in ho Yiannis is definite.
It functions as a specific personal identifier.
The sentence is probably better translated into English as:
This John read the book [as opposed (perhaps)
to all the other Johns who did not].
But the ‘the’ in English is definitely definite.
It was to this that my response referred.
No, that’s a Cross. You can see the typed signature beneath, with a Cross and the article “o.”
Correct.
https://www.helleniscope.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/GLYFADAS-MEMO-TO-THE-HOLY-SYNOD-OF-THE-CHURCH-OF-GREECE-2-299×420.jpg
Metr. Antonios of Glyfada’s signature, he draws the cross. Then o Glyfadas Antonios. (Hard to see)
Same with Metr. Seraphim’s signature speaking about the actions of Elpidophoros:
Ο ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΙΤΗΣ
+ Ο ΠΕΙΡΑΙΩΣ ΣΕΡΑΦΕΙΜ
Archbishop Elpidophoros gave a sermon yesterday at Great Vespers for the Feast of St. Paraskevi, touching on the very topic of marriage:
“As I look around and behold you – the faithful of this wonderful parish in Greenlawn, together with your sisters and brothers from around Long Island – I sense the spirit of elation and gladness that would accompany any wedding. Our celebration here tonight, at this Service of Great Vespers, reminds us how Saint Paraskevi gave herself totally and unsparingly to our Lord Jesus Christ. She became His wisdom-bride through her vow of undying fidelity. She became a holy and sweet offering through her martyrdom. And she became the image of the Church – His Body – through the sacrifice of her own body. She exchanged earth for heaven. She gave up all the enticements that this world can offer for the poverty of God, which leads to riches unimagined.”
https://orthodoxtimes.com/archbishop-of-america-st-paraskevi-wants-us-to-embrace-the-spirit-that-god-is-breathing-in-our-direction/
Ordinarily (and if I didn’t know any better), I’d say that this was a wonderful and very apt sermon about marriage and chastity. I would’ve even said “Axios!” had I been there.
But we know better, don’t we?
A rambling thought: does anyone think that he’s had a come to Jesus moment with the other bishops (and that he’s going to give up all the culturally Marxist stuff from now on)?
Just a question. Thoughts?
Funny that he would quote Romans 1:20, which is the precursor to Saint Paul’s condemnation of sodomy.
Saint Paul says that man is “without excuse,” and Elpi is showing us just that. He has no excuse. He knows what he is doing.
Ordinarily (and if I didn’t know any better), I’d say that this was a wonderful and very apt sermon about marriage and chastity. I would’ve even said “Axios!” had I been there.
But we know better, don’t we? This sermon is a complete 180 in my opinion. I wonder how The Pappas Post is going to take it?
A rambling thought: does anyone think that he’s had a come to Jesus moment with the other bishops (and that he’s going to give up all the culturally Marxist stuff from now on)? FWIW, I don’t know how he’s going to outlive this scandal. The picture alone is a testament to gawdiness and Episcopalianism.
Just a question. Thoughts?
Joseph and George:
E. said:
” I sense the spirit of elation and gladness that would accompany ANY wedding.” (highlighting, mine)
I wonder does “ANY wedding” include the wedding of the two LEGAL parents of the two children who were baptised?
Well spotted…
George,
All I know is that last Thursday’s meeting of the P of C synod came and went with no action against him. He is dutifully continuing his primary mission of promoting the P of C and its hatred/irrational fear of all things Russian. Moreover, he delivers the money, and no one in the revenue stream appears to be complaing about him. Why, then, would the P of C have a problem with him?
Sure, they backed down on Belya – for now, but there was no mention of backing off on a Slavic vicariate. IMHO, they did so only to try to secure continued Greek chairmanship/ dominance of the AOB. After all, as the GOA charter specifically states, the P of C is the highest authority in the Church.
Everything they do is about promoting, and desperately clinging to, this ecclesiological fiction; and few, if any, are more committed to serving this purpose than Elpidophoros. It matters little what we or anyone else thinks. He faithfully pursues the agenda of the P of C, and that is all that matters. He will be disposed of when – and only when – he ceases to be useful to the P of C.
At which time he will be discarded like yesterday’s trash.
Time for naming the multiple heresies and going to spiritual court.
The problem is, who is going to call a spiritual court?
I thought only the bishops of a particular Church can summon another bishop to the spiritual court..and there is beyond zero chance of that ever happening in GOARCH or with any bishop in the PoC.
As far as I know the other bishops on the AoB have no way of summoning Elpi since he operates under a different jurisdiction.
The best they can do is disband the AoB. Which, if Elpi’s recent misstep, and on top of many others goes unpunished with just a strongly worded letter, well then that’s that. The AoB called Elpi’s bluff on Belya, but he can just as easily call the bluff of the AoB if he knows good and well he’ll get away with it.
What really, really needs to happen is a synaxis of all the primates to condemn the heresies of Bartholomew and Co., and quite possibly censure the entire Patriarchate until they can be deposed and replaced. The longer they wait, the more embolden Bart gets and his successor will just be worse.
No; he’s just speaking with a forked tongue. Traditional platitudes for those in the Church, globo-homo for the rest. He’s playing for ‘likes.’
He literally does the same thing as Pope Francis does
George:
I don’t care WHAT he said in his sermon. He’s gotta go(not in the Mafia sense of that expression, lest anyone think I’m making a threat). It’s not enough for the OCA, the Church of Greece, and others to condemn the act. There has to be breaking of communion. One of the theologians of the Greek church, Fr. Theodore Zisis, wrote,”first comes Ecumenism, then comes homosexuality.”
I don’t believe the EP has any hierarchs capable of resisting the downward move of the Patriarchate. In North America, the best Metropolitan, Isaiah of Denver, is pushing ninety and probably will retire or be forced out. Two other good Metropolitans are Gregory of the Carpatho Russian diocese and Ilia of the tiny Albanian diocese. Those two are perhaps middle of the road, not the traditionalist we might wish, but compared to Bartholomew and his hierarchs, they stand out. Too bad they don’t leave the EP.
Fr, Basil, Gail, et al: I’m not excusing Elpi, I think he has to go, not only because of his multiple missteps and heretical acts but because he’s one of the “walking wounded.” Not a good place to be if you’re a primate.
I was simply making an observation, specifically that he did a “180.” It was obvious and I was speculating on what transpired behind the scenes to account for it.
“As Orthodox Christian bishops, charged by our Savior Jesus Christ to shepherd His flock, we will continue to uphold and proclaim the teaching of our Lord that marriage, from its inception, is the lifelong sacramental union of a man and a woman. We call upon all Orthodox Christians in our nation to remain firm in their Orthodox faith, and to renew their deep reverence for and commitment to marriage as taught by the Church. We also call upon our nation’s civic leaders to respect the law of Almighty God and uphold the deeply-rooted beliefs of millions of Americans.”
https://www.assemblyofbishops.org/news/news-archive/2015/response-of-assembly-of-bishops-to-obergefell-v.-hodges
This statement from the Assembly of Bishops hasn’t been revised or contradicted, at least since it was written in 2015. Likewise, the baptism in question performed by Archbishop Elpidophoros didn’t recognize any same-sex “marriage”, but rather it only recognized two men as being the legal guardians of the baptized children.
Are you a lawyer, Joseph?
So “legal gaurdians,” one of whom claims no Orthodox faith whatsoever and the other of whom is in open rebellion against the Church, have greater “formal existence” in your eyes than the unborn child of committed Orthodox Christian parents.
Because gay (so-called) marriage is legal in the U.S., although forbidden in the Church.
Interesting.
Brian,
The rights of legal guardians are determined by the State, not the Church. We might disagree with the State, but the Church can’t legally determine this differently from the State. If we did, then we could theoretically be arrested.
Regardless, in the instance of baptism, the main role of a child’s legal guardians may simply be to give consent. Consent to the baptism, and consent to the child going to church and communion. It may be somebody else entirely in the Church that becomes a father and mother figure in the child’s spiritual upbringing. In fact, that often happens even in normal families.
You know, it wasn’t so long ago that there were orphanages in the U.S. I don’t think this is necessarily a new concept about legal guardians, etc.
OK, you’ve gotten enough mileage out of this, Joseph. Got to give it a rest.
So why the circus? …in another country? …in another diocese?
…where the bishop was ‘not properly informed’ (to say the least) ?
It is the thin end of the wedge which Elpi is inserting…
I have been told that this “circus” Brendan mentions is common among wealthy Greeks. They travel there as a group (family, close friends) for a baptism and a party. This explains, in part, why the local bishop, misled as he was, had no reason to think it strange. Wealthy Greeks are free to correct me if what I’ve heard is untrue.
I received the bi-weekly Orthodox Observer online as a member of a parish of the regards diocese. Anyway, in today’s copy, they are defending the actions of Archbishop EL. I thought it would just be interesting to pass that information along.
RJD, could you highlight it? I’m curious, is The Orthodox Observer still published in paper format?
You can read it here: https://orthochristian.com/147460.html
It’s the same link that is in the article above this one. You probably have already read it.
By the way….I so much appreciate all of work on this site. It is an invaluable resource!!
Religion News Service — Opinion by the Rev. John Chryssavgis:
“Earlier this month, a storm — unwarranted, malevolent — brewed up after Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, the head of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, visited Greece and while there baptized two children brought into the world through surrogacy to be raised by a gay couple.
As is customary, Elpidophoros informed the local bishop, Metropolitan Antonios of Glyfada, that he was coming to perform a baptism in his diocese. He did not, however, bring up the nature of the children’s birth or the sexuality of the parents. By last Tuesday (July 19), the Greek Church had vowed to file a complaint to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul, and social media was aflame with discussion.
Clearly, this is not a debate about sacramental grace.
What happened was simply another baptism, but what ensued was something everyone in the world of faith is familiar with of late: Another episode in the culture wars.
It also revealed how out of touch the Orthodox Church is with reality and the world.
We observed it in the response to COVID-19; we witnessed it in the defense of Russia’s war on Ukraine. A mere glance at tabloids and blogs reflects how the Orthodox Church lives in its own bubble. There, we excel in ostentatious rituals and flamboyant vestments.
There are certain topics that Orthodox Christians are singularly uncomfortable broaching. Most prominent among these is homosexuality, which arouses much passionate emotion but little rational discourse. Simply regurgitating the catchphrase that we “loathe the sin but love the sinner” can often be condemnation masquerading as compassion — it is, after all, easier to label than to listen.
We ought to take a lesson from the saints, whom we more often idealize than imitate. St. Porphyrios, who lived from 1906 until 1991, is known for being so “wounded by love” for God that he went to sanctify “a house of ill fame” near Athens’ Omonia Square by offering the inhabitants the chance to venerate the cross. When he was reminded where he was, Porphyrios declared the prostitutes “in a better spiritual state” to embrace the cross than many others.
Was he condoning prostitution when he “felt a sense of joy and … honor” as he blessed those women?
There should be no controversy over a baptism, to which all children are entitled. Why then has Elpidophoros’ action caused such contention and accusation? When an independent church reaches out to the ecumenical patriarchate about what transpired, I have to wonder what exactly our fears about this event conceal.”
https://religionnews.com/2022/07/25/a-tempest-over-a-baptism-in-greece-raises-questions-about-what-were-trying-to-protect/
We take Orthodox Christianity seriously.
You’ve heard of “Long Covid”? Well, we now have “Schlong Covid.”
And the good news is that the MSM admits that this is spread due to homosexual promiscuity: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/27/monkeypox-who-recommends-gay-bisexual-men-limit-sexual-partners-to-reduce-spread.html
But, but, but, I thought legalizing “gay marriage” was supposed to solve the whole male-on-male promiscuity thing? Looks like we normies were played for chumps again.
Here’s something uplifting (plus, St Mary Magdalene is my daughter-in-law’s patron saint):
https://orthochristian.com/147619.html