Metropolitan Apostolos of Derkoi, Patriarch Bartholomew’s representative at the Clergy-Laity Congress in Boston, stated in his address to the Archons that the Church of America is “a creation of the Mother Church of Constantinople – ‘bone of its bones and flesh of its flesh!’ It is not merely one of its eparchies, but an offspring and piece of its soul.”
This is a major lie. The truth is that our Church was self-made and operated Autonomously and independently between 1922-1930. However, the Patriarchate, and the Church of Greece, which had already declared its Autocephaly from the Patriarchate, conspired with the Greek Government to place it under the control of the Patriarchate. Archbishop Damaskinos of Corinth was elected Patriarchal Exarch and representative, and sent to America to do just that in 1922.
This subjugation was achieved by forging the minutes of our then Autonomous Church. The original forged minutes were published in Greek and English in a book by the late Professor Paul Manolis of California, a friend of Archbishop Iakovos, who granted the former access to the Archdiocesan archives. The title of this three-volume set, which represents a valuable publication for the history of the Greek-American Community, is The History of the Greek Church of America in Acts and Documents. It was printed in 2003 by Ambelos Press, Berkeley CA (ISBN 0-9724373-0-4). This book is available at amazon.com
The Greek-American Community has come of age and is in a position to see to its own affairs without the unacceptable and violent interventions of the Patriarchate. Two Archbishops have already been forced to resign, and now the same is being demanded of the third by Patriarch Bartholomew, who has chopped up our powerful Church into eight captaincies. Archbishop Demetrios’ REFUSAL to resign is supported by a significant portion of the faithful, including the much larger English-speaking demographic.
In 1998, OCL (Orthodox Christian Laity) called for Autocephaly. Now, it has denounced the inappropriate attack against Mr. Valiotis and is standing by him (see page…).
Moreover, the incendiary attacks by the Metropolitan of Dekoi against Mr. Valiotis, Archbishop Demetrios, and the three Metropolitans attending the HC graduation ceremony who did not stand up and protest are unacceptable. Only three of the eight Metropolitans of our Archdiocese criticized Mr. Valiotis: Evangelos of New Jersey, Gerasimos of San Francisco, and newly appointed Nathanael of Chicago.
Metropolitan Alexios of Atlanta told The National Herald’s Theodore Kalmoukos that Archbishop Demetios “saved the Church in America,” and that “when the Patriarchate feels that Autocephaly should be given, it will be.” (The National Herald, July 22, 2018).
Discussing the issue of Autocephaly, Metropolitan Nicholas of Detroit said that “we are under the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the time may come when the Ecumenical Patriarchate, in its wisdom, might tell us children bye-bye.” (The National Herald, July 15, 2018).
This is how our Church came under the control of the Patriarchate.
Η Εκκλησία Αμερικής ήταν Αυτόνομη (1922-1930): Συνωμοσίες, Πλαστογραφίες και Ψέματα!