Source: Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA Saturday, January 28, 2023 Your Eminences and Graces – dear brothers in Christ, Beloved in the Lord, Standing in this magnificent Cathedral – dedicated to the Holy Wisdom of God – I would like to thank all of you for making the effort to be here this evening with your fellow brethren hierarchs of the Assembly. We have served the Great Vespers for the Sunday of the Canaanite Woman, which prepares us for the Holy Season of Triodion. And as all of us know, there is an intensity in this story; for…
Browsing: Archbishop Elpidophoros
Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos BOSTON – New serious inter-Orthodox problems have arisen at the Archdiocese and consequently at the Ecumenical Patriarchate regarding bishop-elect Alexander Belya of the Slavic Orthodox Vicariate in the United States. As The National Herald had reported in July of 2022, Fr. Belya’s ordination to the episcopacy which was scheduled to take place at the end of July in Miami, Florida was postponed. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America had issued an official announcement stating: “In a spirit of the careful responsibility for the preservation of Orthodox Christian unity in the United States of…
Source: The National Herald By Christopher Tripoulas It’s a new year, but the Archbishop’s recent meeting at the Phanar regarding amendments to the Archdiocese of America’s Charter is more like a blast from the past. This on-again, off-again process, which began in the fall of 2019 with the sudden suspension of the Charter by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, was thought to have ended last June when the Patriarchate restored the Charter at the “request” [sic] of the Archdiocese. However, no sooner did this thoroughly botched matter seem to have been resolved, when it was awkwardly revisited, following a cryptic announcement by…
Source: Orthodox Times Archbishop Elpidophoros of America presided over the Christmas Liturgy and performed the ordination of Deacon John Capones to the Priesthood at Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine in New York, on December 25, 2022. In his speech, the Archbishop stressed that “We possess our natural fathers and mothers according to the flesh. But we also have the Church as our Mother through our baptismal rebirth. And we have the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ by our grace-filled adoption – our calling to be the children of God. Thus, the Lord has become our elder…
Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos BOSTON – A new crisis is boiling at Hellenic College – Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology (HCHC) in Brookline, MA, after a post on Facebook by Archbishop Elpidophoros from Amman, Jordan promising to give full scholarships to all of that country’s priests and deacons who want to study there. The Archbishop made that announcement and commitment through his Facebook account while visiting the Holy Land and Jordan and acting as a tour guide for a group of Greek-Americans, including Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The leaders of the School, its president…
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Archpastoral Exhortation By His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America To the Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America November 10, 2022 Via Zoom Reverend Fathers, Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, I come to you today with a heart that bears both sadness and good hope – sadness for the loss of our beloved brother in Christ and concelebrant in the Holy Spirit, the late Metropolitan Ilia of Philomelion. We are not yet even at the fortieth day from his passing, and the vacuum that has been created by his absence is powerfully felt by us all. But as…
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America New York – Today, October 5, 2022, His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America welcomed His Beatitude Patriarch Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa, to the United States. His Beatitude was accompanied by Their Eminences Metropolitans George of Guinea and Nikodimos of Memphis and Sub-Deacon Moses Kariuki Maina. The historic visit marks the first ever to the U.S. by a Patriarch of Alexandria. Upon arriving at the airport, His Beatitude was also greeted by Archdiocesan Chancellor Archimandrite Nektarios Papazafiropoulos, Rev. Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne Alex Karloutsos, Chancellor of the Archdiocesan…
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Q: You took part in demonstrations over the murder of George Floyd, you supported the use of plastic spoons for Holy Communion, and you baptized the children of a gay couple. What kind of hierarch are you? What shaped you? A: I come from the heart of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the First Throne of the Church, where our Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew taught us that at the center of the Christian faith is love and solidarity with all people and without exception. Without prejudice and without conditions, except in matters of faith. The Floyd protests, the…
Source: Religion News Service Why those removed from the world should refrain from declarations on marriage and family. By John Chryssavgis (RNS) — In the Orthodox Christian world, few places are better known or more lovingly venerated than Mount Athos, the 10th-century Greek monastery legendarily dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Composed of 20 citadels scattered over a peninsula of exceptional beauty in northern Greece, boasting magnificent manuscripts and icons, Athos is home to some 2,000 monks. Among them, as in every society, there are saints and sinners, sane and strange. I have visited countless times and have been blessed to engage…
Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos BOSTON – One of the grand benefactors of the Church and Omogenia in America, the scientist, inventor, and businessman Dr. Spiro Spireas, has broken his silence and in an exclusive interview with The National Herald, he discusses and opines about the situation that has developed in the Archdiocese of America, and the course and actions of Archbishop Elpidophoros. The voice of Dr. Spireas, founder and owner of the large pharmaceutical company Sigmapharm Laboratories, echoes the vast majority of his wealthy Greek Orthodox friends and acquaintances who belong to the lay body of the…
Source: Orthodox Christianity The Sacred Community of Mt. Athos issued a statement today in response to the international scandal surrounding Archbishop Elpidophoros’ celebration of a very public Baptism for the children of a celebrity gay couple. The Sacred Community is the spiritual administration of the Holy Mountain, consisting of one representative of each of the 20 ruling monasteries. The statement reads in full: On the occasion of the recent public appearances and positions of clerics of the Church, even hierarchs, which leave the impression that it’s possible for the Church to accept any other form of family apart from the…
Source: Religion News Service His baptizing of a gay couple’s children is only the most recent case in point. By Mark Silk (RNS) — A couple of weeks ago, Elpidophoros, the Greek Orthodox archbishop of America, showed up in a seaside resort near Athens and baptized the son and daughter of a prominent gay couple, actor Evangelo Bousis and fashion designer Peter Dundas. The baptism, which was followed by a meal and “wild party,” was widely publicized. And it created a bit of a furor in the Church of Greece. As Orthodox protocol requires, Elpidophoros had informed the local metropolitan bishop that he…