New York, December 2, 2025
Photo: real.gr
In an interview with Greek newspaper Realnews, Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America spoke about his attitude towards the Church serving national interests.
Speaking about the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, Abp. Elpidophoros criticized what he sees as the Russian Orthodox Church’s instrumentalization of faith for political purposes.
“I don’t believe it benefits Orthodoxy and Christianity to be identified with unfree, anti-democratic regimes, even if they offer temporary ‘protection,’” he said. “In the long term, the Church has more to gain by keeping its distance from such powers.”
Regarding Russia’s role, he stated: “A great gain, I believe, is that Syria has been freed from Russian tutelage. Russia presented itself as a ‘protector of Orthodoxy,’ but in reality it used Orthodox ideology, as it previously used communist ideology, as an ideological garment for national and global ambitions. Our faith becomes a tool of state interests. This is dangerous both for the Church and for the peoples.”
However, when discussing his own relationship with the Greek government and Greek national interests, Abp. Elpidophoros explicitly stated multiple times that serving those interests is his duty.
Asked about tensions with the Greek government and whether he helped arrange a White House visit for Prime Minister Mitsotakis, the Archbishop said: “It’s not right to get into such details. Even if it was requested, it’s not a bad thing. I would have done my duty. I’m not doing anyone a favor—this is my institutional role: to serve Greece and our national interests. If I do it, I’m simply doing my duty; if I don’t do it, I’m not fulfilling it.”
Earlier in the interview, discussing his approach to tensions with Athens, he stated: “For us clerics of the diaspora, the stance must be clear: regardless of which government exists in Greece, we serve the nation, the Church, and the national interests. Greece may hurt us, but ‘blood doesn’t become water.’“
He added: “I don’t believe it helps the national interests to ‘gnaw at the branches’ we sit on. And one of the strong branches of Hellenism is the Holy Archdiocese of America, whatever the government in Athens may be at any given time.”
Asked if he has any regrets about the time of his service in America, the Archbishop spoke of the controversial Baptism of children of a same-sex couple in Greece, saying he doesn’t regret it and would serve the Sacrament again, but acknowledged he might not have done it in Greece and certainly not in the way it was done at that time.
“I hadn’t calculated the extent and nature of the publicity that specific ecclesiastical circles would give it, nor their connections with political circles. I couldn’t imagine there would be such a campaign,” he said. “Nevertheless, I do not accept the separation into ‘gay Baptisms’ and ‘straight Baptisms.’ This is a distortion of the Gospel’s teaching. The Church baptizes children; it doesn’t categorize Sacraments.”
Archbishop Elpidophoros also spoke extensively about what he describes as coordinated attacks against him from various “centers and para-centers” in Greece and the United States. He said his visit to the Turkish House in New York was used by specific circles “not for its substance, but as a pretext to damage the image of the Archbishop and the Archdiocese of America.”
“There was a ‘system’ of centers and para-centers, with specific media that operate here but are addressed mainly to the Greek audience. In America they have no credibility—almost no one listens to them. In Greece, however, they create the impression that ‘Hellenism is divided’ and cultivate anxiety,” he said.
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