Anti-Semitism and Corruption in Eastern Orthodoxy
UPDATED JUNE 1 2005
The Eastern Orthodox church in Europe is showing signs of rottenness at the highest levels, as Christdot reports. The two things in the news lately have been widespread corruption in Greece, and the de-recognition of the Patriarch of Jerusalem for being willing to lease land to Jews.
On Greece, The Observer says, Almost daily, men once revered as paragons of virtue have been exposed as lascivious money-grabbers. Recorded conversations of eminent clerics engaging in ‘love talk’ have been broadcast on television, secret bank accounts revealed, and malfeasance unearthed, with priests emerging as central players in activities as disparate as trial-fixing, antiquities smuggling and election rigging. Highlighting a raft of lurid sexual claims, one newspaper splashed what was purported to be a 91-year-old priest in bed with a woman across its front page…. But despite the measures, the drama refused to die down. Forced to admit his own links with a priest imprisoned on charges of stealing icons and manipulating court judgments, the 66-year-old archbishop was quickly drawn into the scandal. Subsequent revelations of his connections with Apostolos Vavilis, a convicted drugs smuggler whom he endorsed in a glowing letter of recommendation, sparked protest from within his own ranks. ‘There is no other solution … the only thing left for the archbishop to do is resign,’ insisted Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Zakynthos, a long-time rival. Previously, Christodoulos had denied he ever meeting Vavilis, whom he is accused of employing to ensure that Patriarch Eirinaios of Jerusalem was elected to his post in 2001. … Vavilis has since admitted circulating homoerotic pictures of Eirinaios’s main opponent, dirty trick that ensured his defeat. In another embarrassing step, Eirinaios conceded that Christodoulos had sent the wanted drugs smuggler to lobby for him.
The Eastern Orthodox Church has not condemned the Archbishop for lying and consorting with drug dealers. It has voted to fire Patriarch Eirinaios from his job, though. For what? –Doing business with Jews. As the AP says, World Orthodox leaders voted Tuesday to stop recognizing the patriarch of Jerusalem, Irineos I, church officials said, asserting a rare unified position on the crisis facing the church in the Holy Land. World Orthodox leaders voted today to stop recognizing the patriarch of Jerusalem, Irineos I, above. Representatives of 12 main Orthodox churches cast their votes during a rare ”pan-Orthodox” synod, presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the Istanbul-based spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians. Irineos has persistently refused to resign despite efforts by his own church members to depose him over explosive allegations that his church leased property to Jewish investors in east Jerusalem, which Palestinians consider their capital. The vote doesn’t directly call for his removal. But the act of refusing to recognize his authority is expected to put additional pressure on him to resign. ”We had to make a sad decision about the Jerusalem patriarch,” Bartholomew said. Irineos was asked to resign during the synod, but he refused, Bartholomew said…. A former financial adviser to Irineos is accused of giving Jewish investors 198-year leases for two church-owned hostels and several shops in the Old City. Palestinians were outraged, claiming the deals were part of Jewish encroachment on Arab quarters.
So the Eastern Orthodox Church thinks doing business with Jews is enough to cost a Patriarch his job, but doing business with drug dealers to smear other church leaders is not any cause for action. It’s sad. I hadn’t known of the church’s corruption.
May 28th, 2005 at 8:13 am
As someone who is currently reading a lot on Orthodoxy (however I am not Orthodox) I think your claim of Anti-Semitism due to the difference in the handling of these scandals is spurious and due to a misunderstanding of the nature of the scandals and the hierarchy of the Orthodox Church.
I will try to give you a rundown, as I understand it.
First of all the Jerusalem scandal has a lot to do with dirty land deals and the domination of the patriarchy by Greeks (almost all the members of that jurisdiction are Arab Christians). The leader of the Jerusalem and one of his confidants sold land (and aparenly other shady things) without permission and under the table. Christians are a big minority in the holy land and transfer of land (to Jewish interest or Muslim) is a big deal to them. This exacerbated a long-standing gripe by these Christians that they were ruled not by bishops and patriarchs from their area but from leaders sent from Greece (it has been this way since the second century or so). No doubt the shady goings on in the Church of Greece emboldened them that these guys are all corrupt (both the leaders in Greece and the bishops they send to Jerusalem).
The Orthodox Church is not structured like the Catholic Church. There is no Pope that would sweep in to reprimand the leader of the Church of Greece. Each jurisdiction is independent and self-ruled What happened in the Jerusalem case is that everyone in that jurisdiction said “we want this guy out he is shady” and he would not leave. So the Patriarch of Constantinople (the first among equals) called a synod of Orthodox leaders from all over the world to decide what to do. But this is very very unusual and was precipitated by the complete rejection of all the members of the Jerusalem Church of their leader. The scandal in the Church of Greece (Lord have mercy) will likely be left to the Greeks to sort out (although I think technically the Patriarch of Constantinople is the patriarch of the Greek Church so he could intervene without a synod).
The different handling of the cases likely has nothing to do with anti-Semitism but more to do with the different nature of the scandals and the structure of the worldwide Orthodox Church. If there is any ethnic angle to this it is the Arab Christians not wanting to be dominated by the Greeks anymore (although I am unaware if this is an ethnic thing or more of a desire to be ruled by bishops from their own area). Different people are deciding the fate of these cases so your juxtaposition is false. Also there is much hope and prayer that the faithful will prevail within the Church of Greece
On another note have you ever looked at your site using FireFox? I can’t tell what is your comments, what is others comments, and what is quoted. I read you on occasion, but your format keeps you off my blogroll. Try a reformat or Blogger or Moveabable type (just a suggestion).
June 1st, 2005 at 6:18 pm
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More on the Orthodox Church in Greece and Jerusalem
Earlier I wrote about the Greek Orthodox Church in Greece and Jerusalem. You’ll find useful comments […]
November 4th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
The Orthodox is a diverse group of people and it is sad to see some of our own go down this path. The beauty of Orthodoxy is God still uses His Church despite the failings of a few men.
Jacob Lee