Constantinople hierarch: The Archons' actions are becoming a problem for us

Archbishop Elpidophoros and Patriarch Bartholomew at a meeting with archons. Photo: Orthodox Observer

In a letter to Patriarch Bartholomew dated November 21, 2025, obtained by the UOJ-USA's editorial office, Archbishop Elpidophoros, head of the Constantinople Patriarchate’s Archdiocese in the United States, devoted a separate section to the problems caused by the actions of the Order of Archons of the Ecumenical Throne.

According to the document, during meetings in Congress held by clergy and faithful from American Churches in defense of the UOC, the head of the Order of Archons, Anthony Limberakis, issued a sharply worded statement without prior coordination with the Archbishop, broadly branding all members of the delegation as “agents of Russia.” Yet the delegation included representatives of the Antiochian and Serbian Orthodox Churches, as well as the Orthodox Church in America.

Archbishop Elpidophoros describes how the draft statement was emailed to him at noon on November 19, and just two hours later, before he had even had a chance to read it, the communiqué had already been published by the Order’s media outlets. Since the Archdiocese’s press office, by long-standing habit, republishes Archon materials, the statement also appeared on its own platforms, which other hierarchs took as an expression of Elpidophoros’s personal position.

The reaction was extremely painful.

“During these consultations, extreme voices were expressed about complete withdrawal or temporary suspension of their participation in the Episcopal Assembly. Having been informed of the above, I acted immediately and first conveyed to them that the statement does not express my feelings and views and that it was republished by the Holy Archdiocese's social media out of habit. Then, the electronic republications of the said statement were deleted from the Holy Archdiocese's media, and I initiated the process of issuing my personal statement to calm the situation,” the hierarch wrote to his Patriarch.

In the section of the letter titled “Comments and Observations,” the Archbishop states directly to Patriarch Bartholomew that the Archons incident exposed a systemic problem – the Order’s tendency to act independently, "without consultation with their own shepherd, the Archbishop of America, which should concern the Mother Church." Elpidophoros proposes that the Phanar "make a suitable indication" to the Order for closer cooperation with the Holy Archdiocese.

In Elpidophoros’s own assessment, the efforts of the Orthodox delegation in Washington would not have produced the expected results and would have had minimal impact on Church affairs had it not been for the Archons’ communiqué, which put the Archdiocese in a difficult position and forced it to state its position publicly.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that the Orthodox community in the United States defending the UOC had called the Archons to account.

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