On Constantinople Patriarchate’s decision to honor head of organized crime group

The reception of Petrovsky and Arutiunian at the Phanar. Photo: Press Service of the Ecumenical Patriarchate

Metropolitan Arsenios of Austria (Kardamakis) has awarded Alexander Petrovskyi, a major sponsor of the OCU, the highest distinction of the Metropolis – the “Golden Cross.” And as a bonus, he brought Petrovskyi and his business partner Arutiunian to an audience with Patriarch Bartholomew, where they discussed new projects to support the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

According to Metropolitan Arsenios, such an honor was bestowed on Petrovskyi “for all his donations to this day, and for his willingness to help and support us in the future.” The hierarch even went so far as to call the businessman “our Archon.”

And here one cannot help but marvel. The title of Archon is certainly not handed out to just anyone; it is reserved for the most respected and pious laypeople whose service to the Church is truly distinguished. Alexander Petrovskyi and Emil Arutiunian, with all due respect, hardly seem to fit such definitions.

Former Interior Minister Lutsenko once claimed that Petrovskyi, “known in certain circles as ‘Narik’,” appeared in Ministry of Internal Affairs files as the leader of an organized crime group. The same applies to Arutiunian, who is known in similar “business ventures” as “Emil.”

So how appropriate is it to call such individuals Archons and bring them into close proximity with the Ecumenical Patriarch? Is the mere fact of regular donations really enough?

Of course, one might object that Petrovskyi and Arutiunian, like the Good Thief, have repented, reconsidered their lives, and now devote themselves entirely to the Church. Yet certain recent facts – both open and not-so-open – make this rather doubtful. It seems far more plausible that, through a sudden burst of piety, the new benefactors are purchasing reputations and entrance into high society. And we cannot exactly condemn them for that; business has its own rules.

The real questions here concern the hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and their regard for their own reputation.

In 2018, they called individuals with no valid ordination “bishops” and received them into Eucharistic communion. Now they grant awards, bestow the title of “Archon,” and bring close to themselves men with deeply questionable backgrounds.

The ancient Greek dramatist Euripides is credited with the words: “Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are.”

Even more to the point is the Apostle Paul’s warning to the Corinthians: “Do not be deceived: Bad company corrupts good morals.”

A line written, it seems, as though expressly for the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

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