Remove AB Elpidophoros, Make Our Church (GOARCH) Independent!!

We, the undersigned Greek Orthodox Americans, declare an unconditional commitment to our faith in Orthodox Christianity and we demand the resignation or removal of AB Elpidophoros, and at the same time, we demand the self-governance of our Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in our beloved American homeland.

1. We demand the immediate resignation or removal of AB Elpidophoros because: a) He has violated so many tenets of our Orthodox Christian faith he cannot be considered a part of this Faith anymore. From the multiple spoons for holy communion during the pandemic (as if our holy communion was equivalent to water or any liquid) to his endorsement of abortions and, recently, to his celebration of homosexual marriage, AB Elpidophoros CAN NOT BE PART OF THIS CHURCH ANYMORE.

2. His abandonment of our faith and his adoption of a left-leaning corrupt ideology, and especially his support for BLM, who destroyed unpunished the center of many large cities in the summer of 2020, show that he is detached from the beliefs of the faithful of this Church: Christianity and Orthodoxy have nothing to do with any haters and BLM is a racist and hate-spewing organization.

3.As if these trespasses were not enough, last September (2021), AB Elpidophoros chose to participate in the inauguration of the Turkish House in NYC, taking a treasonous position for all Americans of Greek descent. A position that puts the "aggressor" (Turkey) and the victims (Greece and Cyprus) on the same level, supposedly aiming at "peaceful coexistence."  How can the victims of rape coexist peacefully with their rapists?

4.The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOARCH) is already under a two-fold CONTINUING federal criminal investigation on her finances and on the finances for building Saint Nicholas (thanks to shady actors like Fr. Alex Karloutsos and others).  But under the leadership of AB Elpidophoros, GOARCH has descended into new levels of unaccountability.  In the recent Clergy-Laity Congress, no detailed financial figures were presented, and no vote was taken on any budget.  Protestant Churches around America devote one Sunday at the beginning of every year to present their budget - including specifically their payroll, so all the faithful know who gets paid what.  Not because they are obligated - they are not! But because this is the right thing to do!! GOARCH lives in a cloud of secrecy that has thickened under Elpidophoros.

5. All these and other problems stem from the unworthy leadership of the Constantinople Patriarchate.  The elderly hierarchs of the Patriarchate are in no position to make decisions on a Church 6,000 miles away and of a culture they do not understand. The Patriarchate is so clueless that they see our monasteries as a threat to them - and not as an escape for the faithful who are thirsty for faith and spirituality!!

We declare our right to self-governance to be the same as all other self-governing Orthodox churches worldwide, including Greece and Cyprus, which are self-governing and canonical. We will remain apostolic and canonical but within the framework of self-governance. We will not surrender governing independence, which is rightfully ours as a nation, according to Church tradition.

Further, we pledge our commitment, time, resources, and reputations to achieve unconditional self-governance and self-determination, free of secular and foreign interference and the foreign church corruption that has prevailed for decades. We will not yield to fraud, waste, abuse, corrupt leadership, and above all, the sinfulness of those who have plundered the Church for personal and political gain.

The choice we have to make is simple: Stay under a Patriarchate subjected to tyrannical Turkish rule or demand a self-governing Independent Church in America NOW!! Such a Church will soon have a chance to lead the way to Panorthodox Unity in America!!