UPDATE, Oct. 17, 2021, 4.00PM: Another regular reader reminded me of one more source of income for the Patriarchate, the old-calendar group of churches, like St. Irene Chrysovalntou in Astoria.  They have five or six churches in the US.  These are really “devoted” to the Patriarchate and have even sold the golden  attributions the faithful put on icons to send the money to the Phanariots!! We will come back another day with more on this story…

By Nick Stamatakis

I will introduce this painful subject with the story I heard recently from a faithful in one of the “Eparchies” of the “Ecumenical Throne” in the English-speaking world, i.e. US, UK, Australia, Canada…  A religious group in a parish collected an amount of money – something around $60,000 – for the purpose of supporting an Orthodox mission on the other side of the globe in a very remote and needy area. If any fundraising should have the blessing of the Church – this must have been the ultimate one, the one with the holiest of purposes, the help to those in need, and spread of the Christian faith… The Archbishop of this “Eparchy”, when he heard of the fundraising, advised (read: forced) the group to sent the money through the Istanbul Patriarchate.  Can any of you guess how much of this amount of $60,000 finally reached its destination of helping the Orthodox mission in this remote part of the Globe? Please try again – your first guess was probably wrong… The correct answer is $6,000!!  Yes, my friends, the “Patriarchal Swamp” in Istanbul kept for themselves 90% of the money and allowed the mission a mere pittance… I had started work on this report about how much money the Church of America sends to the Patriarchate in Istanbul when I realized I have missed this category: Money from various philanthropic fundraisers intended for Christian missions in areas under the Patriarchate.

A few days later I was reminded that I missed another category: Money in envelopes (“fakeloi”) delivered personally to Pat. Bartholomew by various Metropolitans during their annual visits to Istanbul.  The “standard” amount of each such envelope is $100.000!!   (In parenthesis, I note that the Metropolitans, acting very much in the “Ottoman” way, purchase their “seats!! It became known that the dismissed former Met. Evangelos of NJ had paid Bartholomew over $500.000 for the right to “rule” NJ parishes… In return, he acted like a true Ottoman “Pasha” and terrified the priests of his jurisdiction committing all kinds of financial and other scandals… Obviously, he had to have a good ROI “return on his investment”!!!… He wasn’t dismissed for these scandals – they are considered a normal way of life in Istanbul. He was dismissed because he confronted AB Elpidoktonos…)

The rest of the “standard” categories of cash flow to the “thieves of Istanbul” that pretend to be Patriarch and Metropolitans have as follows:

1. Out of the $22 million a year sent by the parishes to GOA the Patriarchate currently get $1.5 million and they want to have this raised to $3 million.
2. The Archons of America send to the Patriarchate $3 million annually.
3. “Leadership 100” contributes about $1 million.
4. Karloutsos raises about $5 million from various USA donors.
5. The National Philoptochos Society funds the “poor” of the Patriarchate with $125.000 annually.
6.  The new “Bartholomew Foundation” has already raised $15.000.000 – in a very vague organization and mission where nobody knows how the money is used…

Below you can see a chart organizing graphically these sources of money – many thanks to the anonymous contributor:

I have noted several times in the past that there is a complete lack of transparency and accountability for all these millions handed to the “band of thieves of Istanbul” led by Pat. Bartholomew.  Their excuse is the “bad Turks” but when it was suggested to them that they can establish a non-profit foundation in Chambezy, Switzerland where they already operate an Insitute and other establishments, they are silent… Naturally, the first thing any financial abuser would need is …transparency and accountability.

The Patriarchate receives a rumored $10 million a year in cash via the diplomatic mail from the Foreign Ministry of Greece.  About 20 years ago when the then Foreign Minister of Greece Mr. Th.Pangalos saw a “Patriarchal Mission” staying at the most expensive hotel in Paris and spending like there was no tomorrow, he canceled the annual contribution… But the sleazy Phanariots – making use of their bag of tricks – managed to reinstate it a couple of years later… About half of Greece (including Northern Greece, all the Eastern Islands, and the autocephalous Church of Crete) is under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate and it is unknown how much money they pay Bartholomew annually… All priests, salaries are paid by the government of Greece…

The Patriarchate also receives substantial amounts from the UK, Canada, and Australia and much lesser amounts from Europe. Let me note here that Greece pays for the salaries of the various priests and metropolitans in Europe.  The thieves of Istanbul recently developed Ukraine as a “cash cow” with Met. Emmanuel in charge (formerly of France and now of Chalcedon, second in command under Bartholomew and preparing to succeed him – get ready to “welcome” him in the US in a few days and ..open your pockets you stupid Archons…) visits Kyiv monthly.  At the end of many visits, he has been seen to take the next flight to Switzerland where the “bag of cash” is deposited in personal accounts (in his name and Bartholomew’s name – I am told).

Last but not least, the Patriarchate receives a very substantial amount from the Vatican which explains the “rapprochement” between the two and the hand-kissing of the Pope by AB Elpidoktonos a few years earlier.  Also recently, Bartholomew made a few trips to Dubai where the globalists prepare a huge “Abrahamic” temple with a Church, a Synagogue, and a mosque. Knowing how generous the Emir of Dubai is and how fond of cash the Patriarch is, we can only imagine what the real exchange behind the scenes would be…

How much of (mostly) our money ends up in Turkish pockets?

This is a much more difficult question and, obviously, it has very deep roots in Ottoman history. It has been known though that for the past few decades an amount of about $2 million in cash is delivered annually to the Turkish administrator (a true “Pasha”) of Istanbul.  Recently we learned that the Patriarchate gave money to Turkey and Greece for two purposes: First, to take care of the homeless and, second, to help with the pandemic. In each case, Turkey received $300.000 and Greece only $50,000…

To understand how the whole system works one needs to have knowledge of the “Ottoman” mentality. During the Ottoman times, all the subjects knew that local “Pashas” (who were the tax collectors of the Sultans) imposed a tax of 10% – the famous “tenth” (“δεκάτη” in Greek).  If you take a careful look at how Bartholomew and his band of thieves operate, you will realize that they basically follow similar rules – only that in some cases as we saw above they increase their share to 90%!!..  But in general, they consider it absolutely acceptable for their “Pashas” (read “Archbishops and Metropolitans) to take their share of all money collected.  In many ways, our Church in America is being governed under Ottoman law and customs.

You will not however understand anything about this system until you realize that at the center of it is the custom of baksheesh” (In Greek it is the famous “μπαχτσίσι” we all have to pay when dealing with the corrupt government officials), a Persian term which the Ottomans brought to the absolute perfection.  It initially had the meaning of charity or tipping but ended up signifying the bribery money paid to all types of corrupt officials to do things that should be part of their job. You also need to know that in Ottoman times a famous “Head Tax” was imposed (“χαράτσι” in Greek). This was paid annually by all in exchange for a piece of paper which was a permit for each to worship their religion freely…

If you were wondering why do we give a little envelope to our priests with $10 or $20 to read ten names in memorial services within the Church (which takes them a few seconds) – this is where the roots of this custom are, in baksheesh… I basically do not mind this type of tipping at the priest level (especially at small parishes) – but at the same time, I do not want to see priests like Fr. Nektarios of Astoria (making a total salary of over $130,000/yr) who by all accounts make additional tens of thousands of untaxable cash income every year) raise real hell when their parishes tell them they have no money for their vacation in Naples Florida… And they take the money from the “hagiography” account to pay for their trip – instead of taking it from their own tips from the faithful… Shame on them!

But I do have a huge problem when the “baksheesh” system is transferred to the higher levels of the Hierarchy and ends up being bribery money to Pat. Bartholomew for the “purchase of a Metropolis”, much like Pashas in Ottoman times purchased their tax jurisdictions from the “Porte of the Sultan”… And I do have an even problem with the unbelievable arrogance and entitlement the whole system creates. Example: When last August, the former Metropolitan of France (and now of Chalcedon – stated above) left Paris, he used a huge truck to empty the Metropolis of ALL furniture – including even the chandeliers!! – and transport them to Athens where he had bought a $1,000,000 house in the wealthy northern suburbs!!..  Much of this furniture was purchased by the former Metropolitan of France, who to his credit, left it where it belonged…

My friends, if you are as speechless as I am considering these issues, LET’S END THE TURKISH RULE OVER THE CHURCH OF AMERICA NOW! FINALLY, 200 YEARS AFTER THE GREEK REVOLUTION THIS CHURCH HAS TO BE INDEPENDENT OF THE TURKISH PASHAS…

October 17, 2021, [email protected]   www.helleniscope.com