A unique honor awaited the representatives of the Greek Diaspora and the Greek media who participated in the 11th International Summer University, at the Malliotio Cultural Center in Boston. They had the opportunity to talk and ask questions to His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, who answered with great courtesy and receptiveness, without digressions and with simplicity.
Acclaimed journalist Maria Denaxa pointed out the fact that because he defends Greekness, the Archbishop has received polemics from various circles, from some centers here in the United States.
Archbishop Elpidophoros replied, "Controversial. I don't want to make this tragic, it's not tragic. The point is that there is a reaction and I handle it in a way that doesn't polarize it. The point is how you handle an issue. Now all the Divine Liturgies that I do throughout America are broadcast on the internet, my sermon is always bilingual, because at that time I'm not just speaking to those present there in the church in physical presence. At that time, because of the live broadcast, the whole world hears me. I give two sermons, Greek and English. We clergy had made the mistake for years, when we spoke Greek, we spoke an incomprehensible language. Well, people thought that their Greek was always insufficient for the Church. When they heard my sermon in the Greek language with simple words, not Greek-style and ancient ecclesiastical expressions, people said. “What is he saying now?” Well, when you talk to them, they simply gain their self-confidence. They think that “I may not know Greek well, but I understood the Archbishop.” You know, most Greeks in America when you speak to them in simple Greek understand what you are saying. They may not speak. They may not feel comfortable speaking to you, answering you, having a dialogue in Greek, but the elementary Greek from the Greek school or from the family, they understand Greek. When they gain this self-confidence within the Church, when the Archbishop comes they understand him. This is progress. It is a click forward. And there is a general atmosphere circulating. Now the situation is generally global, not just in America. There is a revival in the Hellenism of Greeks everywhere, of national consciousness, of pride, of origin, of Greekness. This is mainly due to the overcoming of the economic crisis in Greece. It has made Greece an attractive and respected country internationally again. We all experienced during the period of the economic crisis the shame we felt because everyone criticized Greece so harshly. They are lazy, scoundrels, thieves, abusers. That is how they saw us, whether they said it or not. This has been overcome and we are moving into a phase like the current one where the international situation favors us. We have built very good alliances with the United States and in general, which are also raising us very much on the international level. And this is a situation that we must exploit, grab by the hair and move forward.”
Archbishop Elpidophoros in a meeting with Journalists at the 11th International Summer University – Photo by Dimitris IoannidisAfter this rich response from Archbishop Elpidophoros, the baton was taken by the distinguished and always wonderful man, Panos Sombolos, who raised the issue of how the Greek media of the Homeland can contribute decisively to helping solve problems facing the Archdiocese.
Once again, Archbishop Elpidophoros was thorough and absolutely comprehensive:
"Thank you very much. This question means that you care and want to help and I appreciate that very much. This is the message that comes out of the question. But in order for me to answer, you must help all the institutions, the people, the public opinion in Greece understand that the image they have of the Church in Greece is not the image of the Church abroad and the role of the Church and its structure within society is different in Greece and different abroad. In America, generally in the diaspora, Greeks are organized into communities. There is no parish here. There is a parish in Greece where everyone is Greek and you go to the parish to light a candle, you go for a memorial service. If you have a baptism, a wedding, go for Easter too.
Here it is not like that. Here the Greek is organized into a community. The community is built around the church, but the Church is not everything. The community here has its church of course, but it has its sports activities, cultural activities, social activities, charitable activities, cultural, dance, visual arts. Everything you can imagine is the community. And unlike in Greece, with the parish, the community here is run by the laity, men and women, who run the community. It is not run by the priest. The priest is in the parish council and does not have a vote. He is present. He is there. If asked, he gives his opinion, but the priest is an employee of the community. He is paid by the community. Therefore, the Archdiocese of America, in this case me, to talk about America, is the Archdiocese of the Communities. It is not just of the priests. That is why the administrative structure of the Archdiocese itself is based on the laity. The finances of the Archdiocese and the financial management are in the hands of the laity. I cannot, I do not have the right to sign a check to pay bills. If I want something to be purchased, if something is needed for the Archdiocese or anything else, the Executive Committee of the Archdiocese Council must meet and approve my expense. Because these people are the ones who put in the money, it is their own money. And precisely because it is their own money, they manage it themselves and decide. They vote themselves. We in the Synod decide only on ecclesiastical matters. We do not have the right to decide on financial matters. We do not have the right to increase the salary of the Metropolitans. The Archbishop, I cannot give myself a raise. If the laity want, they can give me a raise. If they do not want, they do not give me one.”
Mr. Sobolos wanted to clarify whether this is happening only in America or elsewhere as well.
Archbishop Elpidophoros replied that in America it is the most powerful. “In other metropolises,” he continued, “this is not the case, but here in America it is. This is what makes our Church great. I do not consider this a defect, on the contrary, I consider it an advantage. The lay man and woman, from whose hand the community and the Church live, are not decorative. It can't be the cows we milk. They have a say, they have a vote, and they have a role in the administration of the Church. Therefore, the Church of America is not a Church in the sense we understand it in Greece. It is the communal expression of the Greek American, a communal, collective, democratic, organized, communally structured expression, which includes his social activity and charity and athletic events and anything you can imagine. The Community and the Church are a single whole. That's why it often contradicts the prevailing mentality in Greece, that what business does the Church have in getting involved in these things? That's why when the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs comes here to America and doesn't go see the Archbishop, the average Greek-American feels insulted. Not because he is the Archbishop, but because he tells you he is our Archbishop, so you despise me too. So you can understand Kasimatis' expression. It was not a political intervention. And Kasimatis was expressing the common sentiment of the average Greek-American member of the Archdiocese of America, who is a member who truly gives a large portion of his income to keep the community alive, so that his child can go to church, send his child to community school, learn Greek, go to dance, etc. That is, to maintain his identity as a Greek and as an Orthodox within a society that is ready to absorb children and make them lose their identity and their religion, their culture, etc. And when he sees this disrespect from his homeland, it hurts him, the Greek has a homeland that is very high up there. So what you can help us convey is that the Church in America is something else. The Archbishop has no personal ambition to direct national issues. I am an Archbishop. Whoever ascends to the government in Greece, I will be Archbishop. If I have my health, if there's anything I can do, it's to help my country. I am in the service, at the disposal of the homeland. I don't have my own national foreign policy. I am a servant of the nation. The nation comes and tells me, Your Honor, this is our line. We want you to promote these issues to the world. That's what I'll do. That's how we learned to do it. I am from Istanbul. That's how we learned. We are people who serve Hellenism throughout the world. And that is our duty. We are not only people of the Church with our ecclesiastical duties and obligations, but also national issues. To understand the different nature of the organization of Greeks in America. This and all the times Greece as a state has tried to create a separate, how should I put it, lobbying system, independent of the community here, it has failed. He spent the world's money, he failed, he can't stand it. And now I learned that he was hired by a company that, with the good morning you signed just to pick up the phone, was worth $600.000. It has already been published. Will this company be able to pave the way for Greek foreign policy? I entered the White House with a cross that I bought from Greece for 6.000 euros, and President Trump even knows my name. And when he sees me, he greets me from afar and says, "Come, Archbishop, I like you so much." This cost 6.000 euros. I don't want to compete with any politician or any political party. I am a servant of God and the nation. This is my role. This is how we learned to be from the Phanar and from Patriarch Bartholomew. That's how I was raised. From there on we are at the disposal of the Nation.
At the close of the questions, Ioanna Lazarou, editor of Greek News and Radio FL, asked Archbishop Elpidophoros' opinion on why "Divide and Conquer" prevails instead of "Strength in Unity". Aren't we Homogeneous? Don't we all support Greece? Why should there be the reluctance of, for example, Grace, if I express a positive opinion about the Archbishop that there will be an attack by opponents of the Archdiocese. Aren't we all together?
His Eminence replied without mincing words: “This is the truth about how we should be. However, there are interests that the Archbishop may not serve. And it is natural that these people, who feel that their own mostly selfish interests are not being promoted, criticize and I accept criticism. Criticism always helps me. It makes us better. I am bitter about mud and lies, the distortion of reality, the organized campaign. A mud strategy, which does not help anyone, simply helps division. Why does it not help me to become better? Because it is not even criticism. It is lies. You cannot do anything about lies and slander and necessarily, because there is no scope for them to do this, these media necessarily slide into yellowness. And it's a shame to see historical media outlets of the Greek community, which have a long history behind them, lowering the level so much that they turn yellow to a dangerous degree, to the extent that you can even call them fascist. But okay, these are heavy words. We will deal with them, What can we do? Look, in the end, what remains is that when you do something good in the long run, it shows. It just requires you to be patient to deal with such phenomena. If we do something good, it will show in the long run. And all of us here are judged. Anyway, we are public figures and everything we do is public. It is not something that happens behind closed doors. So let's leave it. Everything we do, whatever work we do, whatever effort we make, will be judged by time and will be tested both in history and in reality.
It was a constructive discussion and we thank His Eminence for his warm embrace of all those present and his clear answers.
