On Bishops, faith and military missions!
By J.S.G. Gandeto

We will not exaggerate if we state that USA is one of the most religious countries in the world. We will not be off the mark either if we state that religious values, traditions and customs have permeated into almost every sphere of our diverse culture. As a matter of fact, the people of The United States are not only assured their religious rights and freedom to safely pursue their religious affiliations, but more importantly, they also have those rights guaranteed by the first amendment of our constitution along with the freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Our founding fathers made sure that the government shall have no control over religion nor shall religious institutions receive government assistance: thus defining the separation of church and state. Only through such separation, they thought, and rightly so, can the people of the United States enjoy their continued religious liberties.

Consequently, the religious spectrum in this country is so diverse and so colorful that it became a vital and inseparable component of our identity and culture.

Here, I will not dwell on the importance of religion upon our lives; that should be the sanctuary of every individual or group of individuals to secure for themselves free and unimpeded pursuit of spiritual happiness as they see fit. I believe that each of us separately, obtains and derives varied spiritual experiences as we visit our religious institutions. We obtain and enrich those experiences as we interact with our fellow believers and as we reflect upon the impact of those experiences, we harmonize the content of the received sermons with our daily life’s challenges.

Mine is not to judge the values received from such an interaction; mine is to accept and recognize the right of every individual to take away and retain for himself what that person deems important and beneficial to him and to dispose or to part company with things that do not coincide with his convictions.

Personally, I expect, after visiting my church, to come away content with a touch of reassurance in my faith, that the guidance from my Lord and the path I have chosen to follow are righteous. I would like to feel convinced that the sermon delivered by my priest reflects the teachings of our Lord and that the faith and the belief in the goodness of all men is preserved, reaffirmed and accentuated. I would like also, after receiving the sermon from my priest, to be able to readjust my thoughts, to recalibrate my standards and to reaffirm my faith in those who take the pulpit in front of me. In other words, I would like to walk away enriched by his sermon, to feel invigorated and recharged, to feel cleansed and uplifted.

But what I do not expect, what I do not want to hear, what I do not want to experience, what I do not want to believe in, is a sermon that preaches hate, a sermon that preaches intolerance, a sermon that insights violence and a sermon that calls for destruction of property and lives of our fellow man. That is what I do not want to witness ever being propagated by my priest.

Let me be more specific.

Recently the Metropolitan Bishop of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Thessaloniki (Salonika), Anthimos, delivered to his parishioners in his sermon and called on his followers to board buses and go with him to Florina (Lerin), to destroy a radio station.

Why, you ask? For a simple reason that the station’s broadcast will be in the Macedonian language. This is the religious leader of a Christian faith, the second senior Metropolitan in the Greek Orthodox Church, who exhorts his faith followers to violence and calls for a destruction of property that belongs to the ethnic Macedonian minority living in Greece.

But what makes this episode a newsworthy piece of information is not that this person makes a mockery of his proclaimed religious devotion; it is not his myopic indulgence in violence, not even his prejudice-filled sermon—this is not his first time we know of him putting his hate-filled foot in his equally toxic mouth—but the fact that he takes it upon himself to regulate and even execute (outside the law), administrative and judicial matters. He intends to participate in the destruction of the radio station; he is the one who sees no other recourse but to personally go there and destroy everything in the station to “broken glass and nails”.
Imagine a Catholic priest in United States calling on his followers to go and destroy a radio station in town, simply because its programs will be broadcasted in the Spanish language. Can anyone out there comprehend the scope and the enormity of indignation that will reverberate throughout our country? Can anyone out there picture the intensity of the revolt that will ensue following such an act? It is really unconscionable to even think, let alone understand, the gravity of such an outrageous call.

Let us read the sermon before we attempt to understand the reasoning behind such a preposterous call by a high ranking Greek religious leader:

“In the difficulties and storms we face in our lives, as I mentioned before, those we have next to us are included. I do not say this myself, it is in a prestigious newspaper, and I am saying also its name . . . is "The Investor's World" of last Sunday's issue. You cannot read it from there, I am showing it with the newspaper, so you will not think this is a rumor or something we invented . . . I will tell you, because you cannot read it from a distance . . . "in preparation is a radio station of the Skopians [sic] in Greece". Do you hear that? And also those who are watching us, do you hear that? "Representatives self-defining as Macedonians announced through a newspaper in Fyrom [sic] that they have already got a license and are preparing to broadcast in their idiom [sic]. The president of the Florina municipality district of Meliti, Panagiotis Anastasiadis, who likes to be named also with a Skopian name [sic], announced a radio station that will broadcast in the slav-Macedonian idiom [sic]". On the top there is the internet address of the newspaper that announces the operation of such radio station. What can I say to you? The newspaper is valid, and here, this guy has made a statement and is about an interview he gave to a Skopian [sic] newspaper: "The member of the Rainbow Party and president of the municipal district of Meliti Panagiotis Anastasiadis or, as he likes to be named, Pande Ashlakov" who among other statements against Greece and some against us, is saying that "We are ready, we have the license ready and we will take it and start the broadcasting of the radio station." Is this possible, I ask you? Can we Greeks go and make radio stations in any Balkan country or any other? What's happening here? We have some of those who were left here since the Civil War period, as we call it, that difficult period, who did not leave to the other side and stayed here with us, they have, of course, Greek origin and live here but were brought up for many years with their conditions. So, those who stayed here or who took care to stay here, are now revolting and are instigated from abroad by the Skopian [sic] propaganda, together with the other things they are doing, like statues, etc. and are trying to create this issue . . . They will make also a TV station. And now I beg and ask this moment: Mr. president of the region of Central Macedonia, because they are saying they will address to all Macedonians and also the Thessalonikians, their announcement says, Mr. president of the region of Western Macedonia, gentlemen of the remaining secretariat of the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace we had but was abolished (I complained then to Mr. Papandreou, and he told me "no, we will have a substitute". What substitute, there is nothing!). To whom we can address to tell us what is going to be with this? That is why we address to the Ministry of Interior and deputy ministers relevant to the media to tell us: is it true, such a radio station will be become in Meliti and by which the Skopian [sic] propaganda will be broadcast inside Greece, so they will create an issue in Macedonia, yes or no? If it is yes, then I and the youth, and anyone who wants to, I will say it like I feel it, I do not know what will happen, if we say yes and they do it, at least 40-50 buses must go there and together with our brothers in Florina and Meliti, we will destroy everything into broken glass and nails. Otherwise it is not possible to do the job differently . . .”

Let’s see if we can break it down and shed some light on it:

(1) “those who we have next to us are included”, refers to the ethnic Macedonians as part of the storm and identifies them as the culprits for the difficulties in their (Greek) lives.

(2) "in preparation is a radio station of the Skopians [sic] in Greece". The radio station of the “Skopians” in actuality is the station of the ethnic Macedonians living in Greece. They are the ones who have requested and are about to receive a permit to operate a radio station. This would be tantamount to, let us say for example, a minority group of Salvadorians requesting permission to open a radio station in their language in the USA. “Skopians” is the term he pejoratively uses for the people from the Republic of Macedonia.

(3) “to broadcast in their idiom”. By idiom he means language but because of prejudice and hate he reduces the Macedonian language to just an “idiom”, something of a diminished quality, and something of a lesser stature.

(4) “The president of the Florina municipality district of Meliti, Panagiotis Anastasiadis, who likes to be named also with a Skopian name [sic], announced a radio station that will broadcast in the slav-Macedonian idiom.”

Here, Anthimos inadvertently admits that the president of the Florina municipality likes to be named with a “Skopian name”, meaning his own original Macedonian name, forgetting in the process that perhaps, it was his predecessor who forced the conversion of his name into a Greek sounding one.

(5) He is accusing the president of the Florina municipality of making statements against Greece because he said: “we are ready to start the broadcast”.
Perhaps in Anthimos’ mind it must have sounded like: we are ready to start the revolution.

(6) “We have some of those who were left here since the Civil War period, as we call it, that difficult period, who did not leave to the other side and stayed here with us…”

You can almost feel the sadness oozing out of his thoughts as he reflects on the missed opportunity to drive the ethnic Macedonians out of the occupied territories. “Who did not leave”, (reminiscing regretfully), as they were being “politely nudged”, by burning their villages and killing off their inhabitants to go across the border.

(7) “So, those who stayed here or who took care to stay here, are now revolting.”
In other words, this ethnic Macedonians who were not driven out and who, despite all the repressive measures undertaken by the Greek government to exterminate them (yes, you read it correctly “exterminate” them), have survived, “are now revolting” by having a radio station that will broadcast news in their own language.

Wow! One would exclaim being stupefied by such a revolt against the Greek government. This Greek defender of democracy forgot to charge the ethnic Macedonians living in Greece, with another crime against Greece, namely using oxygen—a Greek invention and property—which naturally, is reserved for the Greeks by genus only.

(8) Those who stayed here “were brought up for many years with their condition.”
Perhaps, you are curious to know what he meant by “brought up for many years with their condition?” The “condition” he is referring to is the universal right called self identification which, to the Greek government is analogous to an infectious disease, a plague that ought to be avoided under any circumstances. That is the “condition” with which the ethnic Macedonians living in Greece are infected with.

(9) He appeals to the Ministry of the Interior to find out the truth about this radio station. If it is true then he wants:

“with the youth and anyone who wants to, with 40-50 buses must go there and together with our brothers in Florina and Meliti, we will destroy everything into broken glass and nails. Otherwise it is not possible to do the job differently . . .”

This is the second highest senior member of the Greek Orthodox Church who personally intends to lead a mob of volunteers on a mission to destroy everything into broken glass and nails of someone else’s private property. This is a religious leader whom you go to on Sundays to receive blessings from and into whose hands you have entrusted your children’s teachings and indoctrination into your Christian faith. Just for a moment pause, take a deep breath and reflect upon the gravity, upon the enormity and upon the consequences of such a call.

I am almost sure that we have witnessed similar calls for actions by other leaders of a different faith. I am also sure that your reaction to such calls was one of a total dismay and complete revulsion.

But one should not be surprised to hear statements from this religious leader that defy logic. Anthimos, the Metropolitan Bishop of the Greek Orthodox Church in Thessaloniki (Solun), has shown his true colors in a few other occasions before.

On November 5, 2007, the Associate Press quoted him as saying: “Macedonia is Greece”. He also demanded that parts of it which are still missing should be “returned” to Greece, clearly referring to the part of Macedonia that belongs to the Republic of Macedonia.
He is on record claiming that “Macedonians as an ethnic group do not exist.”
Well then, your holiness, the disseminator of the God’s faith, if you claim that ethnic Macedonians do not exist, then, you do not have to undertake a military mission to search and destroy the radio station “to glass and nails” because there are no listeners as such.

Who are these infected with “their condition” people going to broadcast their “propaganda” to, if there are no listeners to receive it?

I find his behavior highly problematic. I find his views and attitude incomprehensible and deplorable for a simple reason: he is a religious leader, a man of God, a person with prestige and influence; a person entrusted with propagating the Orthodox faith. His preaching can have lasting impressions with far reaching consequences. As a member of the Orthodox faith I am embarrassed by his attitude and behavior.

My final thoughts:

To place the aforementioned episode of this Greek Metropolitan Bishop Anthimos in a proper context and measure the severity of prejudice and hate imbedded in its content, one ought to take the following realities into consideration: (a) that such malicious action is directed towards other fellow Christians in a supposedly “democratic” country and a member of the European Union, (b) that this episode is not some unverifiable occurrence from the middle ages, but happens today in an era of high technological advances in communications when almost everything gets exposed immediately, and (c) it is a call to physical destruction of property not by a law enforcement personnel but by a leader of the church.

And now, imagine if you will what these Greek religious leaders have done to the Macedonian minority in Greece in the early years of this century, when practically nobody was watching.

It should be born in mind that the salary of this bishop, who calls for destruction of somebody else’s property, is paid by the Greek government. Such is the life in today’s democratic Greece.
Until next time…