Leadership 100 Chairman Demetrios Logothetis made some serious admissions in his interview with The National Herald published in our February 24, 2023 edition. These admissions are revealing. Mr. Logothetis is one of the most dynamic supporters of Hellenic Paideia and the Greek Language in America, and he promised to establish special accounts under the auspices of Leadership 100 to support it.

Unquestionably the admissions of Mr. Logothetis, who is a prominent leader in the field of accounting, should ring alarm bells for many people.

In addition to being Chairman of Leadership 100, he is also a member of the Archdiocesan Council, the Order of St. Andrew – Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and the Committee on the Charter, which means that parts of his interview should alert not only the hierarchs, the priests, the Ecumenical Patriarch and the members of his Synod, but most importantly, the non-privileged. I am referring to those of us who are neither Archons nor members of Leadership 100, nor Archdiocesan councilors, but the humble, faithful, people who constitute our parishes and who literally burn themselves roasting lambs and grilling pork and souvlakia in order to make money so that their parishes can send it to the Archdiocese to pay for everyone and everything – including those Public Relations advisors, strategists, and influencers who Elpidophoros has brought here with him – or that he sustains in Athens.

As has been proven already during these almost four years, what matters most is what is being projected: the publicity, the photographs, the Facebook posts, that face and those smiles and the baggage of the ‘baptism’ in Greece and the tragicomedy of Elpidophoros being accompanied by the anti-terrorist police and dogs during his visit to Northern Greece and Mount Athos.
Mr. Logothetis revealed that “we have 550 parishes, half of them would have a huge problem if there was no Greek festival every year which helps, but with the passing of time, every year [fewer] volunteers offer to help.”

He also spoke about the vision of Archbishop Elpidophoros, who as he said, “wants for us to be united and for all of us to do the best we can on the local level and also on the Archdiocesan level.”

When we asked him “are we not united today,” Mr. Logothetis said “no.”

In a way, Mr. Logothetis is correct because the unity of our Church in America was wounded and disturbed on Thursday, October 8, 2020 when – as I have written at other times – Elpidophoros succeeded through the twisting of terms and situations, to unfortunately persuade Patriarch Bartholomew along with the then-members of the Synod in Constantinople, in suspending the Charter of the Archdiocese of America without the consent of our Eparchial Synod and the Archdiocesan Council, as is provided in Article 25 of the Charter.
Elpidophoros also orchestrated the dethronement of Metropolitan Evangelos of New Jersey and the imposition of a three-month suspension on the senior Metropolitan of our Church in America, Methodios of Boston. The Patriarch didn’t even grant them the right to state their side of the story. And then they speak of violations of human and religious rights around the world.
We also reveal today that a two-day meeting took place in private between Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Elpidophoros in Turkey and the plan that was decided upon during the meeting of the Synod of October 2020 was finalized.

The drama of our Church is that except for one hierarch on the Synod in Constantinople, namely Metropolitan Maximos of Selyvria, nobody else dared to tell Bartholomew and the rest of those on the Synod, “let us stand aright, let us stand with respect.” What are we doing to the Church and the Greek-American Community, the most eminent Eparchy of the Ecumenical Throne?
As I am in a position to know now, many hierarchs seem to be remorseful for a lot of things, and especially about the ‘sacrifice’ of their brother hierarch Evangelos and the ‘ecclesiastical adultery’ (μοιχιπεβασία) – to put it in ecclesiastical terminology – which was committed by Elpidophoros and his cronies, Bishop Apostolos of Medeia and Metropolis of New Jersey Chancellor Fr. Christoforos Oikonomidis, whom Evangelos brought from Greece without even knowing him.

And there was the open mockery that took place, of the annulment and circumvention of the Charter and of institutions and practices of long-standing in the Archdiocese of America regarding episcopal elections. I am specifically referring to the episcopate of Athenagoras Ziliaskopoulos, whom Elpidophoros brought here urgently from Canada without even having the necessary documents for residence or a work permit, but with a student visa. Athenagoras has had an interesting professional and personal journey, as he is widely known in ecclesiastical circles in Germany, Northern Greece, the Phanar, and Canada.

The Archbishop tried within a few months to make him a bishop, but the local Eparchial Synod stopped him by protesting that he only just came ‘yesterday’, that is, that he had not completed five years of service in America, as stipulated by the Charter of the Archdiocese.

Elpidophoros succeeded regardless of that requirement, convincing again, unfortunately, Patriarch Bartholomew to proceed with the episcopal election of Ziliaskopoulos, making him his own Assistant Bishop of the Archdiocese of Constantinople – and then granting him ‘on loan’ to the Archdiocese of America. And after all these actions, Elpidophoros and his acolytes speak about unity? Don’t they understand that they insult the intelligence, the ethos, and the integrity of the faithful people of our communities?

Mr. Logothetis also admitted the drama of the Hellenic Paideia when he said that, “from a study that was done in the parishes regarding the ministries as to which should remain and which should be eliminated, the answers that came back said that Greek Education should be eliminated completely, in other words, Greek Education should be deleted.”
I provide another excerpt from our interview:

TNH: Does it say anything to you?

DL: It tells me that the Greek Education is not a priority for Hellenism on the level it should be.

TNH: What about Hellenism in our Community? Did you ever think that it means that we have created priests and parish officials who are anti-Greek?

DL: I wouldn’t want ever to believe that we have created anti-Greeks. The income in each parish is very small in comparison with the abilities of Hellenism.”

Unfortunately, this is the bitter reality, which was expressed by a different Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Florida.

Here is what Logothetis revealed: “Yesterday at a local meeting here in Florida which was attended by Archons of the area, a certain man who is an Archon born here in America, declared that he wants to eliminate the Greek flag from inside the church, because since we accept converts, there is no need for the presence of the Greek flag. We are at this point.”
Terrible! The pioneer Greek immigrants who built the churches will be turning in their graves. What can you say? Is this the mentality of the Archons and leaders of our Church in America? God forbid!

As far as the Charter is concerned, Mr. Logothetis, who has been appointed to the relevant committee, said that, “until now we don’t have anything specific. The discussions took place on a very general level, and it will be discussed more in the next few months.”

A quick look at the composition of the committee is enough in order for anyone to feel pain and anguish. Let no one have the smallest doubt that in the end it will do whatever Bartholomew wants, because we know what is happening onstage and even behind the scenes with the committees and the synods. All this back and forth to Turkey, the meetings and the discussions – they are simply dust thrown in our eyes to distract us.