So the blog has been buzzing which has set my brain a buzz.
In response to a piece we published about Bartholomew, we received a comment from Nick Stamatakis who said, “It is widely rumored that since the visit of the previous Pope to Constantinople, a large sum of money is ‘donated’ from Rome to the Phanar annually.” This may explain why Bartholomew continues to cozy up with the Catholic Church.
However, there may be a new source of revenue that has presented itself.
Petros recently posted a link for a podcast where a man named David Erhan, a Turkish Orthodox Christian living in Istanbul, dropped an alarming bit of information. If true, Bartholomew has decided to (please forgive my turn of phrase) <em>whore out the Ecumenical Patriarchate </em>to the Turkish government who intends to open up Halki as a school with a Turkish curriculum. https://open.substack.com/pub/worldwarnow/p/wwn-ep-29-moscow-attacked-turkish?utm_source=direct&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
In Turkey, after four years of mandatory elementary education, students are able to choose whether they want to study at a general education middle school or a religious vocational middle school. Referred to as Imam Hatip schools, the Koran and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad are given high priority in the curricula. In July of 2017, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government introduced something new: Jihad.
Reopening Halki for the use of the Turkish government to teach radical Islamist ideology is literally prostituting the Orthodox Church.
Why would Bartholomew do this?
Perhaps to support all those metropolitans who do what, exactly? Where, exactly? Why, exactly? I don’t know. I’ve never gotten truly good answers to these questions. Services conducted in some of these places, that technically no longer exist, appear to be all but non-existent in some cases. There are rarely more than a handful of Christians in pictures, almost as if they are being used as props in the backdrop of old Churches. When Elpi was over Halki, he had less than a half dozen permanent residents, as I recall. Pilgrims came in and out and helped maintain it, but it could hardly be described as a thriving community after being closed since 1971.
Maybe it’s time to move the patriarchate to Greece, minus the metropolitans, and build an ecumenical patriarchate which we can <em>all be proud of</em>, free of the people who covet the world stage.
Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece, son of King Constantine II, might be a wonderful patron for this sort of thing.
This could be a patriarchate that would be a “do not miss” in online travel magazines. <em>Not</em> another new or modern monstrosity, but a compound that is designed to look more in line with an ancient patriarchate like Hagia Sofia in architecture.
Both a men’s and women’s monastery could be attached.
It could be a magnificent complex known worldwide. “The jewel of the ancient Church.” All of the Churches could be invited to build their own smaller cathedrals and chapels, representative of their own Churches, within its walls and they could rotate their own artifacts in and out for people to see.
The patriarchate could easily support itself this way, with a healthy percentage going to the Greek government for their trouble.
By way of example, the St. Catherine icon exhibit in Los Angeles at the Getty Museum and was a huge financial success and spectacular to see. Truly a once in a lifetime experience. There were so many people, it took “trains, planes and automobiles,” to get there. People from all over the world came to see it.
Getty Museum curator Kristen Collins knew the 2006 exhibition Holy Image, Hallowed Ground: Icons from Sinai was truly exceptional when she received a lock of hair in the mail with a note asking her to pass it on to one of the Sinai monks to lay upon the relics of St. Catherine.
And when security staff had been trained to expect, and gently prevent, visitors from trying to kiss the icons—paintings that depict Biblical stories and saints—which had traveled from their remote home in the shadow of Mount Sinai in Egypt, where Moses is said to have encountered God.
And when people made the sign of the cross, kissed their fingers, and bowed in reverence as they entered the galleries, which had the low lights and sounds of chants and hymns that evoked a place of worship.
After all, the icons from Sinai were not just spectacular gilded images on wooden panels dating from the sixth century—some of the oldest surviving examples from the Byzantine world—they were affirmations of faith, a divine presence taking on a tangible, visible form.
In their remote location in Sinai they had survived the period of iconoclasm in the 700s and 800s, when religious symbols were destroyed by skeptics who opposed the veneration of images. While icons were smashed or painted over across more well-traveled regions of Byzantium, Sinai’s stayed safe.
For Orthodox Christians they were, in a sense, “a window to heaven,” said the Very Reverend John S. Bakas, dean of St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in the Byzantine-Latino Quarter of Los Angeles. “The presence of those portrayed becomes manifested. Believers see them as points of contact with the divine.”
And now the icons had come to Los Angeles, creating for most Angelenos the first—and likely the only—opportunity to see them in person. Churches across the western U.S. organized bus trips to see them; believers came from all over the world.
“This show had a chemistry, an energy that I’d never seen before,” said Collins. “We put the icons on display, but it was the visitors who activated the exhibition.” Justin Sinaites, an American monk who was the newly elected librarian at St. Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai, traveled with the icons from his quiet retreat and was greeted with almost the same enthusiasm as the icons. “In the Los Angeles Times they referred to me as a rock star,” he marveled.
The exhibition’s opening featured an ecumenical array of religious leaders. “The secular spaces of the Getty were activated, even sanctified by ceremony,” said Collins. “It was a testament to the role of imagery in religious practice. I found it powerful and beautiful to see people connect in ways that went beyond the aesthetic.”
Father Bakas wasn’t surprised by the intensity of the response to the icons. “They take us outside our narrow, ego-centered personalities,” he said. “They’re reminders of the genius of the artist and what the painting means to them.” Rob Nelson, the exhibition’s co-curator and Yale professor, wrote that “icons are doors, gates, windows into another world…places where the divine enters the space of the beholder.”
The icons’ presence in Los Angeles corresponded with the Feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, which celebrates the victory over iconoclasm. Father Bakas helped organize busloads of the faithful and led a procession of clergy and worshippers through the Getty Center. “It was inspirational to people who in this day and age need to be inspired,” he said.
When Father Justin returned to St. Catherine’s after the exhibition, he saw a rise in the number of visitors who came after seeing the icons in Los Angeles. He considers the exhibition catalog (co-edited by Nelson) to be a lasting contribution to the field. He continues to travel the world talking about the icons, and he and Collins are still friends and colleagues, in a relationship that spans continents, and, in a way, centuries.
“That show changed the way I worked,” said Collins. “It showed the power of an exhibition when you tap into something that your community cares about. I was trained as an academic and I immersed myself in the scholarship. I didn’t want to approach the work from a perspective of belief. But part of what drew me to medieval art was its functionality. Until Sinai that was in the theoretical past. Sinai made me see it and feel it in the present. https://www.getty.edu/news/hallowed-ground-getty-center-religion-icons-sinai/
Something like this could be an every day event for the Greeks if they banded together with the other Churches, in a truly ecumenical fashion, and built an ancient patriarchate with various artifacts belonging to the Church from around the world.
If I were Greek Orthodox, this idea would really appeal to me and NONE of the Churches would have a problem moving the Ecumenical Patriarchate out of Turkey. Especially, if Bartholomew could be retired as the last (wanna be) “Eastern Pope of New Rome.”
And why not? When Erdogan reopened Hagia Sophia as a mosque, what did we hear from Bartholomew? Nothing, that’s what. He works harder at having a voice on the global stage than he does on behalf of the Orthodox Church, whom he all but ignores at this point.
Elpi is cut from the same cloth. We could put a stop to the dictators (of the past, present, and future), by putting an end to this perceived, unilateral decision-making ability on their part that’s been a blight on the Orthodox Church.
We’ve seen the devastating consequences of this kind of thinking.
In addition, the patriarchate in Turkey has no life in it anymore. It’s a crumbling building in a hostile country. How can the Greeks be proud of this? They should change the name, leverage the buildings, selling them all to Turkey for their use, if they want them, so they can start over with the help of the rest of the Church.
The jewel of the ancient Church, IN GREECE, could be magnificent! Something along the lines of a Hagia Sophia. It would be protected, not having to hack off a body part to keep it going, and something the Greeks could always be proud of.
We would all be proud of it.
Elpi’s imaginings that a patriarchate could exist here in America is a guaranteed fail, as is most of what he thinks and does. None of the other Churches would be on board.
Plus, the setting is just not appropriate. Our country is too new, too diverse, and generally speaking, unimpressed with the ancient world. There’s nowhere to put a patriarchate where it makes sense. It’s not tied to our history. Here, the Greeks are but one jurisdiction. You can’t have a patriarchate in a country where there are several Churches, especially when one of them is autocephalous!
Every other Church will rebel if Elpi tries to reign over America via something like this.
One of Elpi’s biggest problems is he doesn’t care what anybody thinks. He does things like the BLM march, the gay baptisms and now the “big reveal” regarding his intelligence ties, that no one saw coming. He doesn’t ask. He doesn’t inform. He just does whatever he wants and we later read about it in the news.
In addition, he has no regard or affinity for who we are as a country. The true grit of America escapes him, and though it’s on display around the world, he thinks we are a group of incompetent, wok individuals capable of coming under his globalist spell.
He is also seemingly oblivious to the fact that the American people are in the middle of a second revolution! We are rearing up, en masse, like the wild Mustangs we are, and are willing to start over completely, if that’s what it takes. We will remove the shackles of the Deep State, come hell or high water, and that will probably include Elpi given his globalist ties.
Moving the Ecumenical Patriarchate to America, in all its decay, is not high on anyone’s priority list here in America.
However, moving the Ecumenical Patriarchate to Greece, where it belongs, will protect the ancient Church. If it’s not moved, the sole center of Orthodoxy will be in Russia, which is not just a distinct possibility. It is a given, because it’s already happened.
The Russians have managed to survive extreme pruning and their Church is blossoming. To be on the wrong side of Russia is to be on the wrong side of the Church. If the Catholic and the Orthodox Church are ever to be reunited, it will be through Russia and not the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Just ask the traditional Catholics. They’ll tell you the same thing. They are no more enamored with the pope than we are with Bartholomew.
Just saying. . .
However, if the Greeks are able to capture and hold onto to the first spot of the Ancient Church, creating a spectacular patriarchate in Greece that is truly ecumenical, it could be a beacon for the Church, as well.
No one can take the jewel of the ancient Church away from the Greeks unless they fail to preserve it. To preserve it, they need to move it and not here to America under Elpi’s direction where it may wind up in back of a strip mall somewhere, with a decidedly Disneyland feel.
To paraphrase an old saying, you could take Patriarch Bartholomew out of Constantinople but you can’t take Constantinople out of Patriarch Bartholomew.
It was like I was in a heavenly world when I visited St. Catherine’s many years ago. The main church has 12 columns, each of which has relics of saints from a particular month. The mosaic is unbelievable, as are the icons from so long ago. And, you have to take off your shoes when entering the chapel of the Burning Bush. You can get a leaf to bring home. Seeing the relics of St. Stephen, in his monk’s attire, who guarded the steps to the summit, creates a certain humbling experience. Climb to the top of the mountain to watch the sun rise and step into the chapel there.
There is a mosque inside the walls of the monastery, built there when Islam overtook the area. The monastery was protected and no violence was done to the monks. The monastery has only been breached once by uninvited visitors, by Israeli troops during the war.
A fun part of the visit was talking to the Bedouin who reside just outside the monastery walls, speaking in Greek with them, whose families have worked at the monastery for generations.
Thank you for bringing backs some great memories.
If I were strong enough, St. Catherine’s would be the ONE place I would like to see. I did see their icons, though, and they were so amazing they brought tears to my eyes. – Thank you for sharing your memories.
Whatever else can be said, let justice be done and have the Patriarch of Jerusalem, the first Apostolic See, become the first in the Diptychs.
Χριστός Ανέστη. Do you think there are enough Greeks in Greece who care and would like to protect the ancient church?
I think the Greeks NEED to be proud of something that links to their heritage and for too long the Ecumenical Patriarchate has satisfied that need.
But now The Ecumenical Patriarchate is dangerous. It’s at odds with the Church. It does not operate in a conciliar way. It claims special powers it does not have with disastrous results.
The Greeks need something else they can rally around. Something unique like this would be self-supporting and “ecumenical” in a healthy way. No one’s done anything like this in the Church. It could offer the Geeks a unique opportunity shine and benefit the Church.
Brilliant analysis. Love the idea of moving the Ecumenical Patriarch out of Istanbul and into Greece, just as the Patriarch of Antioch moved to Damascus. I hope to see this happen. But, who in Greece would lead such a charge? Where is the political will among those in power? Are there any Orthodox Christians in the Greek political leadership? How easily would US State Department give up power of the bishops of Istanbul and GOARCH? Let’s pray that we see a “New Crew” shortly. God help us.
Meanwhile, Russia remains the center of the Orthodox Christian Church, in the ONLY nation that is dedicated to protecting the Church and the Orthodox Christian way of life, the Third Rome, if you will.
Pavlos, the Prince, could lead this. He’s move to Greece from what I understand.
Pavlos is in fact the titular King of the Greeks. It would be marvelous if he was able to sit on Hellenic throne.
Has he at all claimed the title of King since his father’s death? His personal Twitter account @pavlosgr1 is titled simply “Prince Pavlos.”
Perhaps he is doing what he is told to do. E that is.
And
At sometime we need to sit back and let God do His thing. Stop meddling and getting in His way. He has far more wisdom than we do. And it is his Church.
Amen.
I fear that such a spectacle—an “Orthodox Vatican” so to speak—would only inflate the ego of whoever the EP is, and possibly encourage more meddling in other Churches as well as attract unwanted attention from secular powers. I’m not sure something like this would work at least without the counterbalance of an Orthodox emperor.
Unlike the Vatican, there would be no political power associated with it. It would be run by the monasteries. The power would remain with the bishops in their respective countries.
Political power exists in the minds of those who would follow it. I maintain that this would probably make someone like Bartholomew even worse.
I agree with George above, if anything the EP should be Jerusalem. The hymns of the Church call Jerusalem alone “Zion, the Mother of the Churches.”
Personally, I think this is wishful thinking.
The EP has one thing – and only one thing – going for it, canonically speaking in their own minds, and that is location, location, location. He/they have every reason to move out of Turkey, but if they do they can no longer claim to be the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
When the seat of Empire moved to Nicaea in 1204
the rulers of the state were still ‘Roman Emperors’.
When the seat of the Patriarchate of Antioch was
moved from Antioch to Damascus, the Patriarch
was (and is) still termed the Patriarch of Antioch.
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent stated Thomas Jefferson. Thank you for bringing up difficult topics to reflect and comment on.
Greek Patriarch, yes, and maybe first among equals, but drop the “ecumenical,” from what I’ve read it was a little controversial even from the start.
If the Ecumenical Patriarch moves out of Turkey, it loses its “special powers” that has gotten us in all sorts of trouble and becomes a normal patriarchate.
Jesus came as a lowly servant yet we have turned our leaders into princes and kings in imitation of the secular world.
Jesus didn’t get a crown until after the crucifixion and ascension.
Jesus said Follow me. Jesus said a servant cannot be greater than his master.
Jesus did not build grandiose buildings.
Jesus taught men His ways. And commissioned them to do the same. How many parishes make disciples?
What is a disciple.
Jesus said we have to be born again. This term is often ridiculed. But being born again doesn’t mean we have arrived. Born again means we are spiritual babies.
If we compare church services that Paul held with what we do now, what similarities and differences would we find?
As my favorite Episcopal priest, long with his Lord, used to say “We have watered down Christianity. “
This watering down took a long while, but now Jesus is giving us the option to live and grow in a nonChristian world. Will we still follow Him?
Many Russians died for their faith. Are we ready?
“Jesus didn’t get a crown until after the crucifixion and ascension.”
He did, but it was crown of thorns.
You sound like a Prot.
Did not the LORD command Israel to build the grandiose temple?
Did not the LORD command Israel’s worship services to be rich with incense, candles, chanting, and vestments?
Doesn’t the book of Revelation describe the Divine Liturgy (see Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon for more on that).
Didn’t the earliest known house church (Dura Europos) not have beautiful frescoes like our churches?
And there we have it.
No, you’re watering down Orthodoxy with Protestantism.
Yes, we have problems in the Church, but don’t through the baby out with the bathwater. Do you want us to sit around strumming guitars and singing Kumbaya or something?
When people immediately jump from (legitimate) critique of wayward hierarchs to unnecessary condemnations of the richness of the Church’s liturgical tradition, it tells you more about their own protestantized worldview than anything else.
Move the Ecumenical Patriarchate to Greece? But what would be the relationship between that and the autocephalous Church of Greece?
I didn’t say move it. It would close, which it needs to.
In my opinion, the Church of Greece would be conjoined into Cpole.
Just a thought.
How about Constantinople becoming Greek again and rebuilding the city like old times? That’s what I want to see. Yes, it would be a new and triumphant Ecumenical Patriarchate, the visible Jewel of the Ancient Church.
The current Muslim domination of Constantinople is not blessed by God, so it won’t stand forever. Eventually it will fall, and then the truth of Orthodoxy will triumph over the heretics.
If the EP is selling off body parts (i.e. Halki) to Muslims, that is not good even for a second.
“The current Muslim domination of Constantinople is not blessed by God”
How do you know?
Islam has often been a scourge against Christianity, but the truth of Orthodoxy prevails in the end. God preserves His Church. The Russian lands were freed from the Tatar yoke, and Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia were all liberated from the Ottomans eventually.
I believe some of the discussions on this blog have also pointed out the precarious nature of Turkish politics with the recent earthquake and the Turkish wars against the Kurds. Perhaps this weekend’s election in Turkiye will be rigged, but it will certainly be interesting.
Constantinople will never be Greek again. Greece just like the rest of Europe is in a demographic decline. It’s unlikely Greece itself will still be Greek nor Orthodox in 150 years from now. All these prophecies are silly legends with no merit. I don’t care which holy elder believes in it, there is no emperor that’s going to come back. There are no Greeks that can populate Constantinople let alone their own dying villages. You may be able to convert a portion of the Turkish population that’s your best bet.
“You may be able to convert a portion of the Turkish population…”
…large numbers of whom are very likely descended from Greeks.
Apparently that’s what’s going to happen. One third, I believe.
The Lord does not bestow grace upon heresy
So perhaps He allowed the Muslims to take Constantinople to show the Greeks what happens when one dances with heretics. And yet they continue to dance.
And perhaps we Russians have never been successful in reclaiming it for Orthodoxy because God has bigger plans than an earthly city.
I think he did. At the fall of Constantinople there was an appearance of the Theotokos atop the dome of the Hagia Sophia, departing the city.
It’s also widely believed the Theotokos departed Jerusalem almost 2000 years ago.
The ways of the Lord often appear inscrutable to us, and yet we are told:
“That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us: For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also His offspring.”
So, some things we can chalk up to the interference of the devil, but sometimes the broad contours of history are the result of Providence as well.
I personally think that the rise of Russia as an Orthodox flagship is the work of the Lord. Constantinople was at odds with God when it fell and it is even more so today. That does not reflect badly on all Greeks of course. But it does reflect badly on their religious leadership. This is much like God’s chastening of old Israel.
The sword that the Lord has wrought in Russia was forged in the heat of a communist hell. My guess is that He is committed to using it on the world stage to His ends. If this is called Russkiy Mir or Third Rome, so be it. I’m not sure the nomenclature is particularly important.
If the OCA liturgy asks God to “deal with David and his sin forever”, then why can you not say the Orthodox have suffered justly for their sins?
It may be allowed by God, who in His mercy, has decided to chastise the Church of Cpole.
Nothing happens without God’s permission.
Speaking of Moscow as the Third Rome, here is a great talk by Orthodox Christian educator Dr. Steve Turley on Why Christians Love Putin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pz3lz63NgA
Thanks for posting this, John A. Quite good.
A Jewel of the Church is returning home at last:
Rublev’s Trinity Icon returned to the Church after 100+ years
https://orthochristian.com/153627.html
Moscow, May 15, 2023
‘ Finally, after more than 100 years, the most famous Russian Orthodox icon has been returned to the ownership of the Church.
In response to repeated requests from Orthodox believers and hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, President Vladimir Putin decided to return the wonderworking Trinity Icon by St. Andrei Rublev to the Church, reports patriarchia.ru.
For centuries, the 15th-century icon found its home on the iconostasis of the Holy Trinity Cathedral at the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, founded by St. Sergius of Radonezh in the 14th century. However, when the godless authorities came to power in Russia, they removed the icon from the monastery. In 1929, after nine years in a museum in Zagorsk (Sergiev Posad), it was transferred to the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, where it has remained ever since.
The icon returned to the monastery for the first time last July in honor of the 600th anniversary of the uncovering of the relics of St. Sergius. It remained for a few days before being returned to the museum.
But now the icon is returning to its home permanently.
With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the Trinity Icon will be exhibited for public veneration in Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow for a year, and then it will be returned to its historical place on the iconostasis of the Holy Trinity Cathedral at the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, founded by St. Sergius of Radonezh in the 14th century. ‘
Finally, after more than 100 years, the most famous Russian Orthodox icon has been returned to the ownership of the Church.
In response to repeated requests from Orthodox believers and hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, President Vladimir Putin decided to return the wonderworking Trinity Icon by St. Andrei Rublev to the Church, reports patriarchia.ru.
For centuries, the 15th-century icon found its home on the iconostasis of the Holy Trinity Cathedral at the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, founded by St. Sergius of Radonezh in the 14th century. However, when the godless authorities came to power in Russia, they removed the icon from the monastery. In 1929, after nine years in a museum in Zagorsk (Sergiev Posad), it was transferred to the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, where it has remained ever since.
The icon returned to the monastery for the first time last July in honor of the 600th anniversary of the uncovering of the relics of St. Sergius. It remained for a few days before being returned to the museum.
But now the icon is returning to its home permanently.
With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the Trinity Icon will be exhibited for public veneration in Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow for a year, and then it will be returned to its historical place on the iconostasis of the Holy Trinity Cathedral at the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, founded by St. Sergius of Radonezh in the 14th century. ‘
Probably my very favorite icon of all time.