Why we have not published since April 2017
We have been watching and waiting. Waiting to see what will change, what will the future hold for us as Greek Orthodox Christians in North America. Will anything be addressed? Or will it be more business as usual, “pray, pay and obey”?
Here are the latest developments from our point of view:
The Patriarch has dismissed out of hand the desires of our United States based Hierarchy by rejecting their choice of Bishop Sevastianos (A/K/A Sebastian) as the next Metropolitan of Chicago. The Archbishop, a man of great intellect but little sense, has been marginalized to the point of bringing the institution of the Church even closer to the edge of the abyss. The Ephraimite movement continues to gain strength and influence at the cost of sacrificing the Greek Orthodox Church as well as the faithful who have supported it over centuries. We will publish more about these issues later.
The free press of our religious and ethnic community has disclosed many financial scandals. Of course, the disgrace has once again lead to the Metropolis of Chicago. A Metropolis teeming with both Clergy and Laity leadership apparently too uncaring, or worse, too ignorant of common sense, to understand their role in the obliteration of our Metropolis. We must once again acknowledge the “Herculean” efforts of the Editor-Publisher of the National Herald, Mr. Antonis H. Diamataris and the Religion Editor Mr. Theodore Kalmoukos. Literally, we would know next to nothing without them.
What have we learned? Apparently, nothing. Our collective institutional intelligence seems to be at the level of zero! The sycophants and courtiers continue to lead us to perdition without shame. Nothing is changing. The crisis in our Church will fail to be professionally addressed. They make all the right sounds, say all the right things…….and then nothing happens, nothing comes to light, nothing is done in the name of the Lord. Get ready fellow Orthodox Christians, as we are now being told that not one, by two “blue ribbon” committees will be “investigating” the financial mess in which the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and all the Metropolises find themselves. We have seen this tactic before with the Archdiocese Monastery Review Committee (“MRC”), the MRC of the Metropolis of San Francisco, the MRC of the Metropolis of Atlanta, and the investigation into the “suicide” of Novice Monk Scott Nevins which all were swept under the rug and now mostly forgotten. If sweeping scandal under the rug was a gauge of success, we would be in first place.
Recently some of us received the email below. We may not agree with all of it, but, it is “raw” in its content. It not only strikes a nerve, it exposes a general opinion about where we stand as a church, as a community and as an ethnic group. This email expresses much of what we have witnessed, thought about and brought to the attention of our readers regarding the state of our dying Church. We did not alter it. In fact, we even left the bold type that it contained when it was received. Here it is in its entirety:
“Our church is broke, broken, and will dissolve.
Malfeasant hierarchs (all of them) and compromised archdiocesan and metropolis clergy and lay staff have destroyed the church in America. Sycophantic archdiocesan councils have been complicit in this destruction for more than 40 years.
Every warning about these issues (for decades even going back to Iakovos’s times) has been ignored and, now –it all comes home to roost.
The forgiveness referenced is God’s to give. We need to figuratively “take their heads”, every single one of them.
Please do not reply “Oh, you can’t always believe Kalmoukos” or tell me to “calm down”. The church has been mortally wounded by these men who have purposefully abused us and our families. Everyone who’s honest knows it.
This is personal. I am angry as hell and you should be, too. It’s ruined the church for our kids and grandkids. Why will they put up with this abuse in 2017? It’s not 1917!
I believe conditions to be WORSE than this article states. The Greek Orthodox Church in America is terminally diseased with corruption, malfeasance, insolvency, and sin imposed by those in charge.
The Solution:
RESIST FOR REFORM
1. STOP PAYING YOUR PARISH DUES UNTIL YOUR PARISH COUNCILS WITHHOLD THE MONTHLY”TAX” TO THE METROPOLITANATES AND ARCHDIOCESE. GO ROGUE AT THE PARISH LEVEL.
2. SUSPEND AND/OR STOP ALL PLEDGES AND PAYMENTS AND FORMS OF SUPPORT TO L100, FAITH, ST BASIL, HCHC, AND TO THE PATRIARCH. STOP THE CASH. GO TO WAR WITH THE EVIL DOERS. STOP ALL PARISH AND NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL GIVING EVEN IF YOUR PRIEST IS A “GOOD MAN” (set up a separate payroll to take care of the local priest). THIS WON’T CHANGE WITHOUT PAIN!
3. BECOME NON-CANONICAL OR WORSHIP ELSEWHERE OR IN YOUR HOMES. (Read the Matins aloud instead of The Liturgy if they “take your priest”, learn to be a “catacomb” Orthodox Church of Insurgency, attend a Liturgy by YouTube video. Think schism. Think unconventionally.
4. MONEY IS THE ONLY HUGE STICK WE HAVE LEFT.
5. DUMP AND DESTROY– ONCE AND FOR ALL TIME –THESE GREEK BYZANTINE AND OTTOMAN PRINCE POSEURS. GET RID OF THE INSANE ALLEGIANCE TO ALL THINGS GREEK AND CONSTANIPOLITAN (a city that doesn’t exist anymore, used as an alternate reality to manipulate us). THINK WESTERN NOT EASTERN. THINK AMERICAN NOT GREEK, WHEN IT CONCERNS OUR CHURCH.
6. IF THE ARCHDIOCESE AND METROPOLITANATES ARE TO CONTINUE, IN ANY FORM, AND IF ASSETS ARE TO BE SOLD OR DISSOLVED TO COVER THE DEBTS–INSIST ON AN OUTSIDE COMMITTEE OF NON-GREEK, NON-ORTHODOX CPA “RECEIVERS”, SIMILAR TO A BANKRUPTCY TRUSTEE. IT’S THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THE CORRUPTION.
* We have one last slight chance to take our church back and possibly REFORM it but it will take enormous strength, courage of conviction, and righteousness to stand up to the robes and crowns and their bogus authority which will be used to threaten us with “excommunication”. Resist their authority. Tell them all to their face, “We no longer acknowledge your spiritual authority”.
AND STOP ALL THE MONEY TO EVERY LOCAL, REGIONAL, AND NATIONAL CHURCH ACCOUNT NOW! CAUSE UNSUSTAINABLE PAIN TO THE CORRUPTORS.”