Comment: This is an anti-Ephramite organization, within the New Calendar, under Pat. Bartholomew, Greek Archdiocese of North America.
What
are we to think of either the Ephramite monasteries, also
new-calendar, within this Greek Archdiocese, or their all-powerful
leader, this Archimandrite (Gerontos), Ephraim?... connected it seems to
Mt. Athos?
To my view,
it is all unhealthy and not sound Orthodoxy, neither what all is done in
these monasteries, nor what all is done in this New Calendar Greek
Archdiocese under heretic Patriarch Bartholomew.
Thus,
there is much spiritual confusion, even in some of the anti-monastic
criticisms of this form of Orthodox monasticism, by disgruntled parents
and others in this Greek Archdiocese.
Yet, who among these new calendar bishops, can correct these problems?
It
is the blind leading the blind, and both shall fall into the
ditch!... which can be observed about all of modernist/ecumenist/worldly
Orthodoxy.
It is a half-Orthodoxy, at best, and an unbalanced version or rendition of the faith, but not true or sober Orthodoxy.
Yet among all Orthodox here in America, both this Greek Archdiocese and these Ephramites, have tremendous riches and monies.
In their Arizona monastery, in the middle of the desert, they have a number of huge opulent cathedral sized churches. Why? Such is gross excess, as for their small brotherhood, one church
would more than suffice, for the daily cycle of Orthodox monastic
worship services.... which by the way, they conduct on the ecumenist New
Calendar.
So many contradictions!
But
such material excess [which in itself is not in the spirit of monastic
Holy Poverty], is no doubt, a result of the Ephraimites appealing to
wealthy Greek Americans or Greeks in Greece, or elsewhere, to give them
huge donations, 'in memory of their departed family', etc. i.e., each of these cathedral sized opulent churches is dedicated to those
who donated the funds to build each opulent church, etc. This is of
course, a corrupt and dishonest misuse of our age-old traditional
Orthodox belief in the living doing good works, ON BEHALF of the
departed, IN THEIR MEMORY, and thus aiding their souls in the
afterlife, [plus bringing a blessing from Heaven on the living
donors!]. The old Roman Catholic twisted and corrupted version of this,
was selling for money, 'indulgences', for the souls in Purgatory, [to
gather into the Vatican treasuries, the enormous sums needed to build
the present extremely lavish St. Peter's Basilica... which brought on
the Protestant revolt from Rome, and centuries of bitter civil war and
bloodshed afterwards].
The
Popes and their Vatican got their lavish St. Peter's Basilica, but
lost many souls of their former believers, and further divided western
Christians, already in mass-schism from the Orthodox Church, till this
day.
Neither this new
calendar, under Pat. Bartholomew, Greek Archdiocese, ... neither they nor
these Ephraimite monasteries, [also a part of their church], are truly
or soundly Orthodox, but they are BOTH a disturbing sign of these end
times, in my view.
This age is one of constant and extreme FALSENESS., fulfilling the old saying: "
Nothing is as it appears to be!"
Welcome, Antichrist!
And to my mind, this 'Elder', Ephraim is indeed a false elder of the last times, in severe spiritual prelest/delusion.
We
live now in the time of false leaders, in all walks of life, including
government, and false spiritual guides. They are all around us. Some,
like Ephraim claim to be leading real and traditional Orthodox
monasticism. Are they? Is he? (Is
'Orthodox Christian Vladimir Putin' leading an 'Orthodox
Russia'?... even as he breaks most if not all of the Ten Commandments and
the Teachings of the Orthodox Christian Church!]
Elder
Ephraim is doing much harm, mentally and spiritually, to those under
his absolute dictatorial command, under the pretext of 'holy obedience'. He does not allow them to think for themselves or to question any of
his dictates. He demands mindless in-human robots.
His
is nothing less, than a sect, [though a very rich and physically
impressive one, but so is Scientology too!], an unhealthy and
un-Orthodox personality-cult built around himself, as the final word on
all things, both in large matters and minute ones.
Where is there genuine humility or soberness in this man?... true virtue?
But is heretic Pat. of Constantinople, Bartholomew better?
Watch the two news-videos, offered on one of these two below links.
Rd. Daniel
There is a problem with the world-orthodox websites that try to expose Ephraim as a pseudo elder.
ReplyDeleteThey shoot themselves in the foot with their world-orthodox ideas. An obvious case is the issue of the toll houses. They should just leave it alone. GoTruthReform also makes this mistake. By denying the toll houses they lose credibility with possible supporters. Accusing Ephraim of using fear of the toll houses to manipulate victims is unnecessary, because Ephraim abuses Orthodoxy in plenty of other ways that don't involve a controversial issue. The instant the toll houses are mentioned, suddenly the subject changes from Ephraim's abuse to whether the toll houses are real or not. The illogic goes that if the toll houses are real, then Ephraim in justified.
Ephraim happens to be right about the toll houses. He is also right to baptize Roman Catholics who convert to Orthodoxy. But being right about these things does not change the fact that he is running a cult. These criticisms need to be set aside. These stumbling blocks make it nearly impossible for a world-orthodox group to prevail against Ephraimites.
This particular anti-Ephraimite website makes the further mistake of permitting mental case Euthymios Valdez to comment. His presence makes it into a circus.
So, yes, this website is a clear case of the blind leading the blind. Something else that comes to my mind is, "Let the dead bury the dead."