What a joy and great honor that our Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will begin his May 2020 visit to the United States in Boston, as we report in this edition. He will land at Boston’s Logan Airport on Thursday, May 7, arriving from Constantinople and on Saturday May 11 he will officiate at the graduation ceremonies of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. It will be the first time in the history of the Theological School that an Ecumenical Patriarch will officiate at the School’s graduation ceremony. His All Holiness and his entourage will stay at the Theological School, not in a Boston Hotel.

There is a very strong message here of the genuine care and love of the Patriarch for our Theological School. He knows very well that Demetrios and his minions destroyed the School form every perspective: financial, administrative, cultural, and academic, to the point that it was in danger of losing its academic accreditation, since the appointments of the “small” ones to important positions were coming one after another.

Demetrios now is gone and he is running around collecting awards and honors as “a recompense” for the complete and gross spiritual, administrative, and financial bankruptcy into which he led our Church and its institutions in America, but his minions continue to be at the Theological School, creating problems to our new Archbishop Elpidophoros who has found himself in chaotic situation.

Even a few days ago during the meeting of the faculty some dared to appear protesting and “arraigning” the Archbishop – in his absence of course – because he dared to speak at the Conference for Hellenic Paideia in New York on Saturday, November 9 about Hellenism, Greek language, civilization and identity. Let me tell you that the ‘English one’ of those ‘protestants’ (ie. those who protest) need ‘nine to reach ten’, and every time he speaks or chants neither the students no Christ himself can understand him.

Instead all of them disappearing from the Theological School upon hearing the news of the election of Archbishop Elpidophoros, they continue to play their games and to undercut him with their words and acts, being assisted by the ‘temporary’ ones. We are talking about a whole clique here.

I am sure that by the time Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew comes here in May 2020, the current ‘interims’ – president of the School Metropolitan Methodios and Dean Fr. Thomas FitzGerald – will have left the School. It would be an instance defiance and shame for the Patriarch to find Methodios at the School since he had ousted him during Iakovos’ tenure.

Also at the Metropolis of Boston the Patriarch will find a wreck, despite the agonizing attempts to sugar coat the situation on November 9 at its Clergy Laity Congress which finally was convened after a delay of three years and which presented generalizations and simplifications in the financial reports rather than detailed accountings of income and expenses. I have written many times that a thorough financial audit is needed of forensic type for all the Metropolises that will go back many years. The same should be done at the Theological School during the tenures of presidents Triantafillou and Metropulos.

The Patriarch will find in Boston parishes in disintegration with slim congregations in most cases. He will find the catastrophe of St. Athanasios of Arlington, which was a growing and promising parish. Fortunately, Methodios didn’t succeed in destroying the historic Church of St. George of Lynn despite the fact that he went as far as to prohibit event the holy sacraments – for God’s sake! –because the leaders and the faithful of the parish told him “get out; we are not going to allow you to destroy our community.”

The Patriarch will find the Lowell community on its death march with the only Greek Day School in New England struggling to remain open. Reverently we have to say to His All Holiness that this course cannot be continued, and that it is time for bold actions to salvage whatever can be salvaged.