Archons of the Phanar: OCU’s last hope?

Will the archons of the Phanar support the OCU under Trump? Photo: UOJ

At the end of January 2025, OCU spokesperson Yevstratiy Zoria urged UOC believers not to place much hope in US President Donald Trump defending their right to freedom of religion. Zoria pointed out that “it was during Trump's first term that the Tomos was issued”, that the current US President favours the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and that there are archons of the Phanar in Trump's inner circle. He also remarked that “despite the apparent piety of the adherents of the Russian World ideology, they constantly demonstrate their exclusive hope in princes and the sons of men”.

We cannot speak for the “adherents of the Russian World ideology” as we do not belong to them, but Zoria has given himself away. Simply mentioning the role of the US State Department in the creation of the OCU project, stating that the archons are cooperating with Trump, and counting on good relations between the US President and the Ecumenical Patriarchate – what is this if not the reliance on “princes and the sons of men”? What is this if not an admission that the OCU could not have come into existence without the efforts of the powers that be? What is this if not the hope that the archons in Trump's circle will be able to change his stance on the church situation in Ukraine?

Even during the election campaign, representatives of the new US administration made numerous statements condemning the suppression of religious freedom in Ukraine. Both the current President, J.D. Vance, and the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, along with other high-ranking officials in the American government, clearly and unequivocally declared that religious freedoms in Ukraine were being violated and that this was unacceptable. With the change of power in the US, international support for the OCU project has significantly weakened. However, there remains a chance that the archons may still manage to plead their case and present the situation in a way that favours the OCU. Will they succeed?

What do the archons say?

The archons have already started to act. On 28 January 2025, Archon Pantelis Boumbouras of the Constantinople Patriarchate, who has a business in Odesa, issued a statement urging the monsks and clergy of the Church of Greece and Mount Athos not to trust reports of persecution against the UOC in Ukraine. He made this statement in response to a letter from 40 monasteries in Greece and Mount Athos, which expressed support for the UOC. In that letter, the monks described a great deal: the seizure of churches, the Ukrainian parliament’s adoption of a law banning the UOC, and the violent assault in Cherkasy, where the cathedral was taken over. Today's persecution of the UOC was compared to what happened under Hitler and Stalin.
Among the signatories of the letter were the abbots of the Athonite monasteries of Xeropotamou, Dochiariou, Karakallou, Philotheou, Konstamonitou, and others. They cited specific facts and voiced their support for the persecuted Christians of Ukraine. Yet in response, the archon claimed that none of this was true, that no persecution was taking place, and that the UOC is filled with Russian intelligence agents. P. Boumbouras’s statement contained no facts or evidence to support the accusations. For instance, he said: "Many hierarchs are demanding that Metropolitan Onuphry begin negotiations with Patriarch Bartholomew to restore ties with Constantinople." If the OCU “hierarchs” are meant, we can agree with this, but he was apparently talking of UOC hierarchs. However, we have not heard a single such statement from them. On the contrary, parishes, monasteries, and eparchies hold meetings and widely reaffirm their faithfulness to the UOC and its Primate, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry. This turning the situation upside down, when white is called black and vice versa, says a great deal about the archon.

This is not the first time such a thing has happened. Let us recall how in May 2024 the head of the Archon Order of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Anthony Limberakis, stated at a conference in Athens that "the Ecumenical Patriarch in Ukraine, by signing the Tomos of Autocephaly, granted 43 million Ukrainians religious freedom". Let him tell this to Metropolitan Arseniy of Sviatohirsk, languishing in prison. Let him tell it to the battered Archbishop of Cherkasy, who suffered a concussion after being struck on the head with a baton. Let him explain this "freedom" to the other defenders of the Archangel Michael Cathedral in Cherkasy, or to the communities forcibly expelled from their churches by OCU representatives!

Unfortunately, this kind of rhetoric is typical of the Phanar’s archons. A more detailed analysis of who the Archons are, whom they serve, and whose interests they represent can be found in the article "Archons of the Constantinople Patriarchate: who do they serve?" In short, the archons are wealthy Greeks who serve the Patriarchate of Constantinople and influence its activities to a certain extent. The criteria for joining the Archon Order do not include moral integrity, but they do demand loyalty to the Ecumenical Patriarchate (not to Orthodoxy as such) and the ability and willingness to benefit the Phanar. Indeed, the archons fulfil this role to the utmost.

But do they really have as much influence on Trump’s team as Ivan (Yevstratiy) Zoria hopes?

Who is the main lobbyist for the OCU in the US?

Let’s start with the OCU spokesperson’s assertion that this organisation was established during Trump’s first presidency. As is well known, the key lobbyist for the creation of the OCU at that time was the head of the State Department, Mike Pompeo. He held negotiations with the Phanar, the administration of President P. Poroshenko, travelled to Kyiv, met with Serhii (Epifaniy) Dumenko, and openly stated that his department fully supported the OCU. A more detailed analysis of this can be found in the article "Uncle Sam's сlerics: State Department’s role in the creation of OCU".

Many had hopes that the State Department's chief, OCU lobbyist Mike Pompeo would now be part of the new Trump administration and take some very high office. However, the opposite has happened. Even before taking office, Donald Trump publicly declared that there was no place for Pompeo in his administration. Many political analysts believe that Trump’s firm rejection of Pompeo stems from the fact that Pompeo did not support him during the 2020 presidential election, when, according to Trump, his victory was stolen.

For the same reason, we do not see former Vice President Mike Pence in Trump’s entourage. If Trump is distancing himself from those who failed to support him in a difficult moment, then what can be said about those who have consistently backed the Democratic Party and personally supported Joe Biden over the years?

Phanariots’ political orientation

On 20 August 2020, Archbishop Elpidophoros (Lambriniadis), head of the Phanar’s Archdiocese in the USA and, by his position, the chief spiritual mentor of the Order of Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, delivered a video address to the Democratic National Convention. In his speech, he urged support for the Democratic Party’s candidate, Joe Biden, in the upcoming presidential election. He also offered a prayer, which he later posted on his then-Twitter account: "We pray for the sake for our nation and its future. We pray that you will shine the light of your countenance upon the delegates of this convention and upon Vice President Joe Biden for the highest office in the land.” Does anyone really think Trump will forget this?

Here’s what the Business Standard wrote immediately after Biden was elected president in 2020: "Biden is good at healing and uniting, the 77-year-old former US vice president's close family friend Michael Karloutsos told PTI in an interview. [...] Michael and his father, Father Alex Karloutsos, who has a key role in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and standing internationally with the church, has been a close family friend of the Bidens going back to nearly four decades since when he was a Senator." Protopresbyter Alex Karloutsos is considered the informal leader of the Phanar’s Order of Archons and is actually in charge of it. He actively supported Biden during his election campaign and, after Biden’s victory, called him "a leader capable of healing and uniting America". Yet even then, Biden was officiating same-sex marriages in his own home and openly promoting gender ideology, LGBT rights, and abortion. How can the Church support such a figure?

Beyond his long-standing friendship with the Order of Archons’ informal leader, Alex Karloutsos, Joe Biden also has a longstanding relationship with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. This relationship began well before Biden became president and even before his tenure as vice president under Barack Obama (2009–2016). As vice president, Biden made two official visits to the head of the Phanar at his residence – first in December 2011 and again in November 2014. No American politician of such calibre had ever visited the Phanar before.

In 2015, Biden was awarded the Athenagoras Human Rights Award, established by the Order of Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. At the time, the Archons' Council described Biden as "a staunch advocate of religious freedom for the Ecumenical Patriarchate".

Archbishop Demetrios, then Exarch of the Archdiocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in America, said the following about Biden's receiving the Award: "Vice President Biden repeatedly demonstrates his commitment to the Ecumenical Patriarchate and its free and selfless spiritual mission."

The liberal agenda of the Phanar and the Democratic Party

One should not assume that the ties between the U.S. Democratic Party and the Ecumenical Patriarchate (including its American Archdiocese and the Order of Archons) are limited to personal friendships between their leaders. The connections run much deeper.

In January 2020, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate approved a document titled “For the Life of the World: Towards a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church”, which outlines the Phanar’s perspective on the modern world. However, when we compare this document with the policy frameworks of the U.S. Democratic Party, we see striking similarities in ideology – liberalism, ecumenism, the promotion of minority rights, and so on.

It is well known that the U.S. Democratic Party and Joe Biden personally are active supporters of LGBT ideology, abortion, gender theory, and similar agendas. According to Sacred Scripture, this is not just a sin, but an abomination: “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22). Yet, here is what the Phanariot hierarchs state in 'For the Life of the World': “§19 We live in an age in which sexuality has come more and more to be understood as a personal fate, and even a private matter. A great many political and social debates in the modern world turn upon the distinct demands and needs of heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, and other sexual 'identities'. [...] It must be accounted, moreover, a basic right of any person – which no state or civil authority may presume to violate – to remain free from persecution or legal disadvantage as a result of his or her sexual orientation.”

Not a single word condemning these vices as denounced by the Bible. Not a word about the incompatibility of LGBT ideology with the Church.

Who still remembers the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in America? And yet, those protests were one of the key factors contributing to Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election. The Phanar’s Archdiocese of America, and Archbishop Elpidophoros (Lambriniadis) personally, actively supported the movement. He even directly participated in a BLM march despite the fact that BLM activists publicly burned dozens of Bibles and several Christian churches. Commenting on his participation, Archbishop Elpidophoros stated that, “coming from Constantinople”, he had the "legacy" of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, "which especially during the Patriarchy of Bartholomew highlighted social issues so strongly, even for the environment, human equality, human rights, democracy". But this is the Democratic Party’s platform almost word for word!

Also speaking about the commitment of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the United States to the liberal ideology espoused by the Democratic Party, one cannot overlook another action by Archbishop Elpidophoros: in 2022, he baptised the adopted children of a same-sex couple in Greece. This event was widely publicised and was clearly intended to show solidarity with then-President Joe Biden while demonstrating just how far the Ecumenical Patriarchate was willing to go in implementing the liberal agenda.

Conclusions

Let’s now return to Ivan (Yevstratiy) Zoria’s statement that they have an archon in Trump’s circle, that the U.S. President shook hands with Elpidophoros (Lambriniadis), and that the UOC should not count on the American administration to protect its rights. Let’s ask ourselves: would the OCU have appeared at all without the involvement of American officials? Would the Churches of Greece, Alexandria, and Cyprus have recognised the OCU if State Department officials had not conducted tough explanatory work with them? Would Serhii (Epifaniy) Dumenko have received such extensive political support without a green light from the U.S.?

There is only one possible answer to all these rhetorical questions – no. This means that without this political and diplomatic resource, the OCU will face hard times. That is why Zoria clings to the archons of the Constantinople Patriarchate like a drowning man clutching at a straw. After all, in the eyes of the international community and, even more so, in the eyes of the Local Orthodox Churches, the OCU has discredited itself with mass church seizures, violence, deception, and constant political interference not only in Ukraine but also in other countries (recall Dumenko’s statements on Georgia). Their only hope now lies with the archons. They will make effort, they will explain everything, they will present the version of events in Ukraine that suits the OCU. Yet, the true Church is established and sustained by something entirely different.

As for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Zoria is right in one respect: we should not put trust in “princes, in a son of man”. Trump, like all politicians, has no permanent friends or permanent enemies; everything depends on circumstances. But as of today, despite severe violations of rights and intense psychological pressure, not a single bishop or monastery has abandoned the UOC. Very few priests and a smaller number of believers have defected to the OCU. And this was at the time when allies of the Patriarchate of Constantinople were in power in Washington. It is reasonable to assume that whether or not Trump helps restore religious freedom in Ukraine, the faithfulness of Orthodox Christians to God and the Church will remain unchanged.

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