NEW MISSTEPS BY A CONFUSED ELPIDOPHOROS

The Greek-American Community banned the corrupt politicians of Greece from participating in this year’s Greek Independence Day parades across the U.S., accusing them as “traitors”.  But Elpidophoros invited every one of them to his “enthronement”!

by Nick Stamatakis

Elpidophoros is languishing in Athens, supposedly preparing his tenure in New York.  The harsh reality, however, is that he is lacking the legitimacy of a regular Archbishop, as his election violated the Archdiocese’s Charter by ignoring the governing bodies of our Church. None of our Metropolitans showed any warmth – even the one or two of them who bothered to issue an official announcement about Elpidophoros’ election.  The clergy and laity are genuinely upset by the unbelievable arrogance displayed by both Bartholomew and Elpidophoros.  To top it all off, a legal move threatens to upstage the carefully planned ceremony of enthronement.

Facing this adverse situation, Elpidophoros and his ill-equipped advisers sought to gain legitimacy through the notoriously corrupt Greek political class, who are regularly accused as “traitors” by the Greek American community and were banned from participating in this year’s Greek Independence Day parades in the U.S.!  Elpidophoros invited even lower-ranked ministers to his enthronement ceremony in New York! How does this Greek Government involvement move sound for creating a “solid foundation” for our Church in America?

As he was being accused left and right for lack of spirituality, he threw in there an impromptu “confession” about his relationship with the new saint, St. Iakovos Tsalikis (But even in this so-called “spiritual” turn, there was a “worldly interest” hiding, as St. Iakovos Tsalikis had foreseen the election of Bartholomew as Patriarch… And, some say, had sent a generous money gift to Bartholomew on his election as Patriarch!) This was probably Elpidophoros’ most “spiritual” move in a decade.  Just “yesterday,” he was writing essays about “Primus Sine Paribus” (“First Without Equals”) and a book dealing with the geopolitical implications of the religious situation in Ukraine; but today, he suddenly turned to “spirituality”.  Excuse me Your Eminence, but you are not convincing anybody when you suddenly decide to throw half a pound of spirituality in the mix. The faithful can instantly discern who is a genuinely spiritual man and who is not.

Furthermore, not wanting to appear arrogant and wasteful, he directed the “go-betweens” to make an effort so that his enthronement ceremony would be “modest.”  But how modest can a ceremony be when the participation per person costs $250, and the sponsorship levels are in the thousands?  How can you organize a “modest” ceremony at the Midtown Hilton, with the average net worth of those present hovering above $10 million?  It would be a better move to take all those participating and establish an exclusive country club.  After almost three decades of Father Alex ruling our Church, it really looks more like a private club for the wealthy.  It does not look like Christ’s Church, at all.

In the spirit of modesty, he also announced earlier that he would not need a separate house of his own, but he would reside in “a small room” within the Archdiocese. It is well known that this “small room” is a luxury apartment, reserved exclusively as our Archbishop’s residence. Needless to point out, East 79^th Street is in one of the wealthiest Manhattan neighborhoods.

The biggest news out of Athens may well have to do with the several one-to-one meetings Elpidophoros had with Father Alex. The results of these meetings will be heard soon.  I am receiving information from all corners that Father Alex will remove himself after the enthronement. As I have noted before, Father Alex is all about “power,” and it will be incredibly difficult for such a personality to decide voluntarily to “fade into the background”. I will believe it when I see it.  If true, it may be the only “good news” coming out of Istanbul, or Athens.