Writing about the latest manipulations of liberal Catholic bishops and their pressure on Pope Francis, Orthodox intellectual Rod Dreher states this about Abp. Elpidophoros: “The woke head of the Greek Orthodox church in the US has caused a ginormous stir in world Orthodoxy by baptizing the children of a gay male couple, in what is being read (and proclaimed by one of the couple) as an indirect attempt to legitimize same-sex marriage within Orthodoxy. What was so shocking about that is not only that the Archbishop did it, but that he would do this kind of radical thing, heedless of the tradition, and how it would appear to other hierarchs. The rarity of this kind of thing in Orthodoxy, and the protest that it has predictably raised, testifies to the stability of the Orthodox tradition.”
Yours truly has an incurable case of PTSD from the generation of rape of the Anglican Communion, caused mostly by the leaders of the Episcopal Church of my birth, the problem child of worldwide Anglicanism. The Faith, having been betrayed by bishops who thought they knew better -even bishops in the Nippon Seikokai, where I was trained and served as a priest – I will never fully trust a bishop again.
No, please! Not ever!
The bishop who immediately comes to mind today is the unorthodox Elpidophoros, who pulled that gay stunt reported above. So, I am pleasantly surprised that the bishops of the Greek Orthodoxy Church – the real one in Greece – have rebuked the conceited Elpidophoros, and it is my hope that the conniving titular bishops of the Istanbul-lish Phanar will now see that it is in their best interests to excise their exarch in New York. Let us hope and pray for the sake of the GOA that they will be granted a truly orthodox Orthodox bishop to lead their archdiocese after this debacle.
Let us also work toward the unification of all Orthodox jurisdictions in the United State and the Americas under the transitional leadership of the faithful Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops. They have stood up to Elpidophoros on a separate issue regarding the impending consecration of a scoundrel. Good for them. Now, let them use this occasion to solidify our visible unity as one American Orthodox Church.
Handwritings on the Wall 