Exclusive: Phanar Archons raise funds to fight “Putin’s threat” in America

Archons of the Constantinople Patriarchate. Photo: Orthodox Observer

The Order of the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate has launched an attack on Orthodox Americans defending the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. John Zavitsanos, head of the order, circulated an internal letter in which he lashed out at the Society of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco – an organization that in December 2025 held an advocacy day on Capitol Hill in support of the persecuted UOC. The document was obtained by the editors of UOJ in America.

In the letter, timed to the beginning of Holy Week, Zavitsanos described the Society of St. John as a “pro-Moscow group” allegedly created by the Moscow Patriarchate and “hiding behind” other Orthodox Churches. According to the author, the organization supposedly “pumped out dozens of Moscow friendly narratives through press releases” and also “employs AI bots to post dozens of false facts on social media daily.”

The letter also took aim at Orthodox Churches in the United States. The Archons baselessly accused the Serbian Church, the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) of being under Moscow’s “tremendous control,” allegedly exercised through “threats, coercion, and money.”

The letter ends with a fundraising appeal: Zavitsanos admits that “our coffers are running dry” and calls on every Archon to donate at least $4,000 to the “sacred mission” of combating the “Russian threat” in the United States.

The editors of UOJ in America stress that the Society of St. John is an Orthodox organization made up of U.S. citizens and has no affiliation whatsoever with Moscow, the Russian government, or any Russian state structure.

"The Society of St. John chose St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco as its patron, and on top of advocating for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in December, it functions as a coalition of parish brotherhoods and sisterhoods which aims to translate and publish spiritual writings, beautify Orthodox temples, and more," they write.

At meetings in Congress, representatives of the Society spoke about the persecution of the UOC both by the Ukrainian authorities and by the Russian government and the Moscow Patriarchate. It is precisely this human rights advocacy on behalf of Ukrainian believers that the Archons are now trying to portray as a “Russian incursion” into the United States.

The accusations about mass press-release mailings and the use of AI bots also do not withstand scrutiny: the Society’s most recent press release was published on February 25, 2026, after UOC Metropolitan Arseniy was transferred to house arrest following nearly two years in detention. In all of 2026, the organization has published only three posts on its Facebook page, with activity on Instagram and X at a similar level.

It was reported earlier that Archbishop Elpidophoros (Lambriniadis), in a letter to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, described the Society of St. John as “supposedly pan-Orthodox” and the UOJ as a “Russian propaganda outlet.”

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