GOA bishop at Hindu temple in New Jersey

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Barbara
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GOA bishop at Hindu temple in New Jersey

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Praying with Pagans: The Golden Standard for GOARCH
By Subdeacon Nektarios, M.A.

Another recent story of heretical ecumenism just now being brought to light is that of Bishop Athenagoras of Nazianzos, a bishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOARCH), who has been discovered in many photographs participating in a joint prayer service, not with heretical Protestants or Papists in some joint prayer which is normally the case, but this time, in what can be seen as something worse. Bishop Athenagoras (Ziliaskopoulos) was photographed participating in and praying with pagan Hindus at the largest Hindu temple outside of India. This Hindu temple, named Baps Swaminarayan Akshardham was recently “consecrated” to their demonic pagan gods in Robbinsville, New Jersey at the end of 2023. It has been reported that Bishop Athenagoras was a participant at the so-called consecration of their demonic temple on October 9th, 2023. However, these photographs show the GOARCH bishop participating in a so-called Interfaith Harmony Day, a few days prior on October 4th, 2023.

Does this exonerate this pseudo-bishop from violating the canons of the Church and participating in heretical ecumenistic inter-faith prayer event? No, not in the least. According to the Hindu temple website’s news release about the event, it detailed that, “Throughout the event, attendees engaged in interfaith dialogues, prayers, and cultural exchanges. It was a vibrant and enlightening experience that highlighted the shared values, ethics, and principles that connect individuals across different religious traditions” [1].

Yet again, in a seemingly endless list of examples we can see a bishop from the Greek Archdiocese violating the Holy Apostolic Canons without a second thought to help spread the GOARCH message of ecumenism and the total erasing of the ecclesiological boundaries of the One, Holy Catholic, and Apostolic Church. In any event, Bishop Athenagoras, like so many of his fellow-bishops, is violating Apostolic Canon 45, Canon 64, and Canon 33 of the Council of Laodicea which state respectively:

Canon XLV: Let a bishop, presbyter, or deacon, who has only prayed with heretics, be excommunicated: but if he has permitted them to perform any clerical office, let him be deposed [2].

Canon LXIV: If any clergyman or layman shall enter into a synagogue of Jews or heretics to pray, let the former be deposed and let the latter be excommunicated [3].

Canon XXXIII: No one shall join in prayers with heretics or schismatics [4].

Not only did Bishop Athenagoras by participating in the religious events pray with these pagan Hindus and give a speech to them in their temple, he also accepted what is known as a Hindu Mala (garland) which to the average person’s eye is just a simple nice gesture of friendship; but with all things in Hinduism, much the same as the practice of yoga, these Mala or flower garlands have a specific meaning. “Flowers, in the form of a Mala (garland), were utilized for the adoration of gods, men and women. […] Flowers are yet more important in religious rituals. Garlands serve as offerings to the gods in magnificent temples, in domestic rituals, and in public ceremonies of devotion. The name of the Hindu worship ritual ‘puja’ [e.g. a worship ritural for Hindus] that translates to the ‘flower act’ emphasizes the significance of flowers in the religious context. […] Garlands are not only used to decorate gods and individuals but also roads, houses, palaces, and even cities. […] Welcoming guests with a high degree of hospitality is ingrained in the Indian culture. Considering that the tradition of welcoming guests is based on the ancient Indian dictum Atithi Devo bhava that translates to ‘may the guest be a god unto you’; it is only apt that, like the gods, the guests are also welcomed with garlands as a symbol of good will and honour” [5].

Image

We can see that this simple act of receiving this Hindu Mala garland, in the religious context, which is the reason that the bishop was there, is highly problematic in that he is accepting and wearing something that is religiously identified as an “offering” to their demonic gods and here we have a supposedly Orthodox bishop accepting it with a smile, and placing this Mala over his Ryassa, and on top of his Engolpion that has an icon of the Most Holy Lady Theotokos.

This is yet another bishop and another example that the pseudo-bishops of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate in general, are not Orthodox Christians but only playing a role, dressed as Orthodox bishops, not living the faith as it was once delivered to us by the Fathers. How much longer will those under the jurisdiction of the Greek Archdiocese of America and the Ecumenical Patriarchate tolerate this apostasy of their bishops? It is time for all Orthodox Christians to heed the words and command of Saint Paul the Apostle who states in his scriptural Epistle to the Thessalonians saying, “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.” (2nd Thessalonians 3:6, KJV).

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RocaRemnant
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Re: GOA bishop at Hindu temple in New Jersey

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Christ is born! Glorify Him!

This is one of the saddest and the most embarrassing things to come out of World Orthodoxy especially after the whole OCA incident when they sold a parish to a Hindu community! A Hindu community out of all people on this planet! Lord have mercy

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Barbara
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Re: GOA bishop at Hindu temple in New Jersey

Post by Barbara »

Where was that ? LA maybe ? Do you have any more details, as I don't remember hearing about that. What a terrible thing.

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Barbara
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Re: GOA bishop at Hindu temple in New Jersey

Post by Barbara »

Doubtless, people have seen this video.
But if not, take a peek. So that you don't have to watch any longer than absolutely necessary [!], speed ahead to 41:46 to see the remarks of Bishop Athenagoras, Chief Secretary of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu8M9-EJmCE&t=8s

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Re: GOA bishop at Hindu temple in New Jersey

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Media button embeds at right time!

Fr Joseph Suaidan (Suaiden, same guy)

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Barbara
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Re: GOA bishop at Hindu temple in New Jersey

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Damage Control in GOARCH: A Fauxpology from Bishop Athenagoras?By Subdeacon Nektarios, M.A. Within the last few days, cellphone recorded video from a visitor at Saint Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Monastery in Florence, Arizona, captured what seems to be a pre-scripted, damage control apology from Bishop Athenagoras for his recent Ecumenist activity that was uncovered in which he prayed with pagan Hindus at their temple in a joint prayer service which the temple entitled, “Interfaith Harmony Day.” Image This speech comes on the tail end of internet reports from Orthodox Traditionalist Publications, Helleniscope, and other outlets. This event took place in October of 2023 and was only recently discovered and made public last week, with the Orthodox community for the most part being outraged because of this bishop’s violation of the Apostolic Canons and Canons of Laodicea which require his deposition as an Orthodox hierarch or at minimum excommunication for a time.In this pre-scripted apology in which Bishop Athenagoras takes a piece of paper out of his pocket and reads from it, he states that what he did was a mistake and that he thought he was being obedient, that he did not volunteer to go but rather he was told to go. This gives us some insight into the inner workings of the Greek Archdiocese hierarchy that there is a form of papalism in which supposed co-equal bishops are obedient to another; this one namely being obedient to Archbishop Elpidophoros. What is interesting about this apology is the timing. The apology comes on the heels of a major scandal  with clear irrefutable evidence of a canonical violation in which this bishop received no canonical reprimand from the Greek Archdiocese but the question has to be asked, why now? It has been reported that Bishop Athenagoras recently made a trip and served at Saint Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Monastery as recently as of December 2023, but did not apologize for his visit to the pagan Hindu temple then and to our knowledge made no mention of it, until the scandal had already broken just a few days ago.In the video he states that he did not volunteer but was told to go and in the same sentence says that before he agreed to go, he made sure that there would be no common prayer at an event that was labeled as “Interfaith Harmony Day,” which he knew was going to be held at a pagan Hindu temple.  In the apology, he states that this interfaith prayer happened days before the actual consecration, which in my last article I confirmed is factual. However, as we can see from the previous article we published with the videos and photos, regardless if this was not the official temple, these Hindu worshippers created another temple-like structure that Bishop Athenagoras himself sat underneath, complete with Hindu “deities” as well as a room filled with Hindu Brahman priests praying their prayers in the very visible presence of Bishop Athenagoras. Bishop Athenagoras then states to the crowd of listeners at Saint Anthony’s Monastery that this is something that he does not want to participate in again. However, we have to ask ourself if this is true, why was it reported by the Orthodox Times, that Bishop Athenagoras, in another act of interfaith dialog and Ecumenism, met with the Armenian Monophysite bishops shortly after old calendar Christmas with Archbishop Elpidophoros in New York? As we can see there are a lot of inconsistencies in this statement. It comes at an interesting time when he only decides to make this apology after a public scandal has already broken out. He had already visited Saint Anthony’s and liturgized in December, two months after violating the apostolic canons and praying with Hindus, after which there was no sign of apology or repentance; and then in early January in another public ecumenist event, this time with Archbishop Elpidophoros, Bishop Athenagoras meets and participates in another ecumenist event with Armenian Monophysites. Only then, does he claim ignorance of what he was doing, as well as claiming being blindly obedient to Archbishop Elpidophoros for being forced to go but yet in the same statement saying that he agreed to go?  Another critical question that needs to be asked is why the canons for such an egregious act were not enforced by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Why was this bishop not deposed for his public violation of Apostolic Canon 45 which states, “Let a bishop, presbyter, or deacon, who has only prayed with heretics, be excommunicated: but if he has permitted them to perform any clerical office, let him be deposed” [1] and Apostolic Canon 64 which states, “If any clergyman or layman shall enter into a synagogue of Jews or heretics to pray, let the former be deposed and let the latter be excommunicated” [2] as well as violation of Canon 33 of Laodicea which states, “No one shall join in prayers with heretics or schismatics” [3].As Orthodox Christians we all hope that this semi-public apology was genuine and that this bishop is truly repentant for the grave sin of entering a demonic temple and praying alongside their demonic gods. However, with the track record of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, under the leadership of the well-known Arch-heresiarch Elpidophoros and his puppet master in Istanbul, we all with good reason have our reservations.

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