Hellenistic Moral Flexibility or Byzantine Intrigue?

Like many in the Church, I was dismayed to receive news of the latest gaffe from the “Ecumenical Patriarchate,” this time in the form of titular Archbishop Elpidophoros’ widely-publicized Baptism of children of an unrepentant American  ‘gay couple’ carried out by deceiving a brother Greek hierarch.  Given the Archbishop’s recent ambiguous remarks about abortion in the US and some of his chosen political associations, I cannot say that this is all that surprising.

Of course, we must wonder why the chief ethnarch of the homogeniea in America would choose to carry out such a controversial action in a land outside his purview (we must keep in mind that Archbishop Elpidophoros has no eparchial territory of his own, due to the Phanar’s rather odd arrangement for the Greek Archdiocese of North America).  There are a number of possibilities, some of which I will discuss here.

Before we get into the particulars of Archbishop Elpidophoros, there are a few matters of morality to attend to.  The fact that a couple of men living in unrepentant sin offer up children to the Church to be Baptized demands an answer the question: why?  Sadly, for a majority of Orthodox, near and far, the seriousness of Baptism is lost in cultural traditions and social expectations rather than in a sincere belief in Jesus Christ.  Throughout the world in fact, were everyone claiming to be Orthodox Christians were to go to Sunday Liturgy on the same day, 90% would be stuck outside.  We simply do not have the liturgical space for everyone, which means that most who wear the label do not actively participate in the life of the Church, despite the begging and cajoling of clergy and hierarchs alike.

Refusing children from Baptism is as alien to us as the notion that, once Baptized, children would be raised in a condition where the moral teachings of the Church were openly and unapologetically flaunted.  There are no easy answers to such matters, and we can only as God to forgive us our failings no matter what we do.

So, knowing that a sincere Christian would find such a decision difficult, it was rather awkward to see Archbishop Elpidophoros posing with what looked like the Chalcedonian version of ‘Meet the Kardashians’.  It is hard to believe that the Archbishop’s keen sense of politics would have not told him this was going up on the internet.  But, he posed as he is accustomed.

Let us consider a number of scenarios that led to the ‘unfortunate picture.’

1) The Archbishop thought, “I’ve always wanted to throw a ‘White Party’ at a church, and Greece is the perfect place!”

Obviously, this is the least plausible, but it does fit the photo.

2) The Archbishop is ‘virtue signaling’ to his American flock that he is ‘open’ to ‘gay marriage’ and Western decadence.  While this may be a contributing incentive (none of us, I am sure, thought this involved a much needed contribution to the GOARCH’s survival fund), then one must ask why Greece was chosen and not Miami, San Francisco, or some other city in America?  Was it merely a yearning for the sentimental value of spending vast sums to fly a bunch of Americans on a luxury trip, or was it the ‘ambiguity’ of the location (not in America, but still part of Greek American sentiments) that the choice of locale was based?

The lack of clarity in the location somewhat dampens the message to American progressives who would want to to be here, perhaps even at one of the main Greek cathedrals, or even the recently consecrated Shrine in New York City (perhaps right next to the ecumenical space set up for the Hari Krishnas and Church of Satan folks who will likely take advantage of the invitation).

3) This is part of Patriarch Bartholomew’s ‘march through the churches’ trying to cause a split, but this time in Greece.  Up to this point, I have not mentioned the Patriarch of Constantinople, but it is hard to believe that Archbishop Elpidophoros would have been writing Church of Greece hierarchs without the patriarch’s knowledge.  After all, the Archbishop is an official representative of the Phanar wherever he is.  It is impossible to imagine any degree of separation between the office of the Archbishop and the ‘throne’ invoked by him in all his statements.

So, safely assuming this was coordinated with the Phanar, let’s look again at the ambiguity of the act.  The Archbishop would rightly call the participants in the event ‘his people,’ but he was acting in the territory of another Church.  A Church that, in the face of militant immorality in the European Union has opposed the ‘gay agenda.’

The Archbishop could be considered here to be making a power play.  Even the ruling hierarch, Metropolitan Antonios of Glyfada, while stating his outrage, telegraphed that he would have had ask the Holy Synod of Greece to intervene, not having the authority in his own eparchy to stop a bishop of Constantinople from defiling a Sacrament.

While the Church of Greece’s status with the Phanar is enshrined in law, giving the Patriarchate some degree of authority over Athens, it is hard to imagine how that would apply in this case.  Equally as hard to imagine will be any repercussions for the Archbishop, given his status.

Athens is a prisoner to some degree, though it is hard to tell to what degree it is unwilling to go along.  The problem is that, should it try to break the legal arrangement it has with Constantinople, the latter could decide to take advantage of the large number of ‘Westernized’ Greeks who are looking for a less ‘morally-restrictive’ church and create its own ‘jurisdiction’ in Greece.

We only need look at the Phanar’s repeated meddling in local churches: Ukraine, Serbia/Montenegro, and Czech Lands and Slovakia.  Even now, the Patriarch of Constantinople is preparing to consecrate an illicitly-received archimandrite to form another jurisdiction in the US claiming ‘Slavs.’  The Patriachate is already advertising for clergy, and appears one step away from putting up an ad on Craigslist.  No mention of a canonical release is listed.  But, you do need a photo in your best vestments.

Why, you may ask, would Constantinople want to start another church in Greece?  Very simple: they don’t have that many ethnic Greeks left in Turkey, the American Greek population is dwindling (despite the aggressive surrogacy efforts of their gay members), and Constantinople needs a reason to continue existing.  Besides, the mere threatening of such meddling would have enough plausibility that the Synod of Athens would be hard pressed to dismiss it.

Another possibility is that Patriarch Bartholomew’s ambitions are being encouraged by the US State Department.  Through multiple administrations, we have seen US embassies flying ‘gay pride flag’ and demanding even such nations as Afghanistan bend the knee to the ‘gay agenda.’  The denunciations of the Russian Orthodox Church are often tied to its opposition to flagrant sexual deviation and its insistence that the family is part of the foundation not only of the Church but civil society.

Wikileaks revealed the depth to which the State Department cared about the Phanar, and became curiously close to the schismatic monstrosity created by Patriarch Bartholomew in Ukraine. Secretaries of State Michael Pompeo and Anthony Blinken have taken the photos with Dumenko.  It’s no secret.

The so-called “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” has officially embraced the ‘gay agenda’ by blessing a gay political action group and Dumenko has characterized the embracing the LGBTQ&c movement as a way of rejecting ‘Russian’ Orthodoxy.^[1]https://orthochristian.com/136107.html I wonder what gave him the idea that only Russians oppose soft morals?  Dumenko was picked over Filaret to head the canonical abomination of the OCU, which is still largely regulated by Constantinople through it’s demi-tomos of semi-cephaly-

“In the case of major issues of ecclesiastical, doctrinal and canonical nature, His Beatitude the Metropolitan of Kiev and all Ukraine must, on behalf of the Holy Synod of his Church, address our most holy Patriarchal and Ecumenical Throne, seeking its authoritative opinion and conclusive support,…”^[2]https://orthochristian.com/118657.html

In 2013, Patriarch Bartholomew felt it necessary to publicly reject ‘gay marriage’ as a doctrinal problem:

“As in our Orthodox Church, where no member is forgiven to deal with things in a peculiar form and at one’s discretion and to prey on the proper operation and sincere communion of the love and unity of faith of the other members, or despise and ignore them, because they create cancerous disorders, agitations, dissensions, schisms, and heresies. This applies as well to the miniature church, the family, in which is required compassion, love and unity for the structure to be built, in which the father, the mother and the children have a place inter-embracing one another’s gifts, responsibilities and rights, and they are “individually members of it”.”^[3]https://www.aoiusa.org/pat-bartholomew-no-to-homosexual-marriage/

A mere nine years later, and Patriarch Bartholomew is silent as his vassal declares support for ‘gay marriage’ and the Ukrainian parliament, in the midst of a war for its survival, prepares to legalize ‘gay marriage.’

Modern Greek civic culture has embraced the West and its decadence.  The Greek birthrate of 1.37 makes it the third lowest in Europe, meaning that Greece is happily dying along side its neighbors to the west.  A majority of Greeks support ‘gay marriage'^[4]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recognition_of_same-sex_unions_in_Greece so it would not be hard for Patriarch Bartholomew to sell the idea of changing the Greek community within the Orthodox Church of going along with the renovation.

The larger network of ethnic Greek churches (Jerusalem, Alexandria, & Cyprus) are accustomed to their subservient status to the Phanar.  Even Mount Athos, which decries such sins as ecumenism and modernism, still remains loyal to the Phanar and refuses to ’embarrass’ the bishop of New Rome.  They only speak up on ‘safe’ issues.

Patriarch Bartholomew can then, should he want to, force the Greek churches to embrace the ‘gay agenda’ of the USSD or create a schism.  Their instinctive loyalty to the ‘ethnos’ means that we will likely see, after some confusion not unlike that of Metropolitan Antonios of Glyfada or the disorder we saw among the Greeks during the Phanar’s canonical catastrophe in the Ukraine, they will bow the knee to their overlord.

Constantinople has only one concern: its own relevance.  It will destroy the Church and undermine the Faith so long as it can maintain its appearances.  Greeks can no longer remain hypnotized by their past.  It is time to realize that behind the big smiles at photo ops, the devil is continuing to attack the Church.

I hope that I am not right.  I hope this was just an aberration and that  Archbishop Elpidophoros publicly and honestly repents.  But, to be honest, I don’t see that happening in this world.