Archbishop Elpidophoros is not an Orthodox bishopFrom the speech of Archpriest Sasha Petrovich from the Serbian Orthodox Church (St. Nicholas Church in Omaha, Nebraska, USA) at
a conference in defense of Orthodoxy and the UOC in Sofia:
"During his six years of leadership of the Greek Archdiocese of the USA, Archbishop Elpidophoros has taken many steps and made various statements that stand in sharp contrast to the teaching of the Orthodox Church, based on Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition, as well as formulated at the Ecumenical Councils and in the works of the Holy Fathers."
In his presentation, the priest presented evidence that the head of the Greek Archdiocese publicly and openly advocates the legalization of abortion, supports sodomy and tramples on all moral Christian principles, praises Freemasonry, and openly professes the heresy of perennialism (the teaching that all religions possess the fullness of truth, which leads them to God, only by different paths).
In particular, the hierarch wrote a speech that was read at the opening of the largest Hindu temple in America, which stated:
"This Hindu temple is a holy place. I send you my congratulations and blessings for the success and prosperity of this sacred cause."Moreover, Archbishop Elpidophoros allowed the priests of his archdiocese to administer communion to the heterodox spouses of Orthodox parishioners, and during the “pandemic” he became an ardent agitator for unprecedented changes in the method of communion (such “preventive and sanitary measures” were introduced that were not required even for medical workers).
The hierarch also crossed many red lines in communicating with non-Orthodox, performing joint prayer not only with Catholics (for example, the archbishop served a joint prayer service with the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in March 2024), but also with non-Christians in general.
At the end of his speech, Father Sasha Petrovich concluded that: “Archbishop Elpidophoros is not an Orthodox bishop and that he is leading his entire archdiocese to spiritual destruction.”
