Those who know Archbishop Elpidophoros of America know that he is a man who thinks things through carefully before doing something.
Whether one disagrees or agrees with him, the Archbishop of America shows that he is a hierarch who has a plan, strategy, and a vision. Right or wrong, history will judge.
However, we do not have many high priests in Orthodoxy with such dynamics. The fact that he did not consider his presence at the event organized by the Turks was a mistake.
A mistake that gave the opportunity even to the producers of halloumi in Cyprus to attack him. To attribute – indirectly – the invasion of Attila and some enthusiasts even the… defeat of Greece and Cyprus in Eurovision.
There are two points of view for the presence of Archbishop Elpidophoros in the “House of Turkey”. On the one hand, it seems to “legitimize” Tatar, the leader of the Turkish Cypriots. But he is the representative of the Turkish Cypriot side, some object.
This is how they see Tatar in the UN. Even the President of Cyprus N. Anastasiades as a representative talks to him. Just because you talk to him (or take a photo with him) does not mean that you accept any absurdity that he wants to believe.
So what went so wrong and so much noise arose for an event of the Turks that the presence of His representative was allegedly in the knowledge of the Patriarch? Let me move on to another point of view. As people tell me – who do not particularly like Archbishop Elpidophoros – but can read between the lines.
Archbishop of America’s “mistake” escalated for three reasons:
- Archbishop Elpidophoros annoys the dauphins of the Ecumenical Throne. There are, they tell me, two different systems around the Patriarch. A “secular” that supports Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon and a more “phanariotic” that supports Metropolitan Dimitrios of the Princes’ Islands. Their friends – not themselves – acted to harm the Archbishop of America. Because he had come out very dynamically and had become the de facto number two in the world. And they found an opportunity to attack him. His public statements about Hagia Sophia and Halki made a fuss. So a way had to be found to affect negatively his profile. They did not have ecclesiastical arguments, that is why they played the card of Greece – Cyprus. Note that all three candidates have Turkish passports. Those who speak of Turkophiles and non-Turkophiles probably have not realized the location of the Ecumenical Patriarchate from 1453 until today.
- Archbishop Elpidophoros disturbed strong circles in the Greek community. Two years that the Archbishop of America is in New York is another exponent of the Greek community. And that has upset systems and individuals in the United States who have traditionally taken on this role. His refusal to “submit” to their ways and the support he received from powerful people of the greek diaspora created discomfort to some. And they, with his mistake, took the opportunity to destroy the relations of the Archdiocese of America with the Greek community. By cutting the oxygen of the Greek community, you cut points from Elpidophoros, it is their strategy, they tell me.
- Archbishop Elpidophoros creates noise. When you take advantage of the media and social media to pass the positions of the Patriarchate where it can not speak, to argue with the Russians about the Ukrainian issue, to talk about Halki and Hagia Sophia, then you raise communication dust. And these means when you make a mistake, do not forgive. They attack, judge harshly, and often unjustly.
From the column of Greek edition orthodoxtimes.gr, Melchizedek
