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Orthodox Truth - (Early) 2001
A View on the Book by Ms. Frangouli-Argyris
and a Response to the OrthodoxNews Remarks by Valerie Karras / Dean Popps
By George Karras
Dear Sir / Madam:
It is with great joy that I am here to inform you and your
readers of the privilege that I believe I was afforded as a Greek Orthodox
Christian to finally find out the Truth that Valerie Karras and Dean Popps seem
so eager to "present". I have read the book "I Monaxia Enos
Asimvivastou" and it has moved my human emotions beyond expectations. It
saddened me more than any such book should when I read Ms. Frangoulis-Argyris
expose of the ugly acts committed by the wealthy, obnoxious, loud and immoral
special interest group that named itself GOAL and their blind followers and
co-conspirators. On the other hand, her book gave me great joy to (once again)
confirm what MANY of us already knew; that Archbishop Spyridon is not just a
man of God but also a fine "Poimen" for our Lord's flock, who would
NOT compromise his integrity or principles for "a fistful of dollars",
no matter what the size of the fist was. I pray that our Archdiocese will once
again be blessed in the future, with equally courageous Hierarchs, who stand
firm to the principles of Hellenic Orthodoxy, unwilling to bend, no matter what
the personal cost.
Your readers must be informed that the book is based on
facts and nowhere within could I find a personal attack launched at ANYBODY. It
simply draws conclusions on the basis of events and documents. As a matter of
fact, a sincere effort is made to NEVER personally attack ANY of the
Archbishop's enemies. This, of course, was neither the case then from the other
side, nor is it so now; the Archbishop's enemies continue to post blasphemous
lies of the type that the editors of the Enquirer would envy.
It is my sincere hope that, if an effort to translate this
book into English has not commenced yet, it will very soon in the future. It is
very important that our brothers and sisters within our Archdiocese who do not
speak Greek be also afforded the opportunity to read the facts surrounding
Archbishop Spyridon's three-year American ordeal.
Valerie Karras, along with Dean Popps and a few others are
eager to continue posting inuedos and / or hateful messages towards the
Archbishop, long after she and their GOAL bosses succeeded in "their
mission from, or rather, to Hell". I also noted that Valerie Karras was
upset that she was not interviewed by the book's author. It is thus imperative
that I at least inform your readers a few facts that best exemplify the "role"
that she played in the persecution of our Archbishop and why an interview was
completely unnecessary.
The Holy Cross School was (at that time, as it is now)
heavily exposed to the "modernization" movement of some powerful Fr.
Karloutsos-type priests and professors under the then School President Fr.
Kalivas. Their aim was (and still is) to do away with not just tradition and
language, but to also alter Orthodox theology by slowly introducing various
heretical teachings and a great number of "modern" protestant authored
texts. As a matter of fact, one would be hard pressed to find the texts of the
Holy Orthodox Fathers in the hands of our priests to be, as they all remain in
the dark rooms of the basement, collecting dust and deteriorating. On the other
extreme, a respected theologian and member of the Holy Cross faculty by the
name of Fr. George Dragas, was fighting for the survival of the Hellenic
Orthodox principles, teachings and language. This naturally did not serve the
cause of the strong anti-Hellenic movement within our Archdiocese and things
got tense very fast. This can be confirmed by anybody who was attending Holy
Cross during the late 1990s. These past students (many of them are now
assistant priests in our Archdiocese) will inform you of the great stress and
emotional arguments that were taking place daily, even within the classrooms.
Valerie Karras was an assistant to Fr. Kalivas and greatly
shared (as she still does) in the view that she and a few other teachers of
heretical theology MUST play a key role in de-hellenizing His Church in America
and modernizing it by slowly turning it into a semi-traditional, "Orthodox
protestant" church. For those of your readers who are old enough, they
have already observed this phenomenon very slowly taking place in ANY modern
Greek Orthodox parish during the past 30 years; and unfortunately, most
parishes are indeed modern...
Archbishop Spyridon was intent on reversing the course that
was set by his predecessor. He thus made it abundantly clear that the Holy Cross
School and its faculty MUST return to the traditional teachings of THE CHURCH!
There is a great number of reports that he made to the Patriarchate in which he
expresses his concerns on the status of Orthodoxy and his plans or wishes to
reverse the wave or protestantization. In other words, he proceeded with the
full knowledge and concurrence of the Patriarchate. The Archbishop wanted Holy
Cross to once again start producing Orthodox priests and not protestant-like
pastors.
This naturally, did not set well with the
"establishment" who could not and would not tolerate any such
reversal. They were thus searching for an opportunity to permanently exclude
our Archbishop from the affairs of the School. That opportunity was presented
when the infamous dormitory incident (which GOAL called a
"homosexual" incident) between two students took place. Let me inform
you that the incident was an unfortunate heated argument which ended up in a
physical altercation. I do not know where GOAL dreamed up the homosexual thing
-- it was a twisted and disgusting lie!!!
Due to gross mismanagement of the whole affair, but most
important as a result of the continuing presence of other problems at the
seminary (especially theological, dogmatic and canonical errors) there were
some well-deserved dismissals of four staff (including that of Fr. Kalivas). It
should be noted that, unlike what happened when Archbishop Demetrios assumed
his position, the staff was re-assigned and NOT fired. Shortly thereafter we
had the creation of the infamous Voithia (financed by a known and a few unknown
very wealthy entities). All of a sudden, these fictitious incidents were blamed
on the Archbishop and the JIHAD was in full force. Interestingly enough,
certain individuals that are very close to Valerie Karras and Fr. Kalivas went
to great lengths to ensure that the media got involved, early on. This is
called treason in ANY western (or eastern) book of values; the
"self-proclaimed traitors" were anxiously willing to badmouth their
spiritual family to non-Orthodox heretics. One could clearly conclude that they
had stopped following our Savior's path and substituted Him with the worship of
money and power.
Valerie Karras, in an effort to make it tough for the
Archbishop and either through her own initiative or (most likely) at the
direction of the "leaders", started aiming the knife at the heart of
the Holy Cross School. She declared her personal crusade and utilized her
academic connections and know-how to involve the New England and National
Accreditation boards. In other words, she betrayed the School that she was
supposed to support! She commenced submitting report after report to these
boards, informing them of irregularities that were either exaggerated or quite
often did not exist. The reports issued to various boards numbered almost FORTY
and were sent in, one after another. Valerie Karras was attempting to remove
the accreditation of the Holy Cross School. It is almost incomprehensible that
an Orthodox Christian, much less a School "supporter" would attempt
any such thing.
She was successful in involving both the "NEARS"
and "ARTS" boards. It should be noted, however, that once the
Accreditation boards visited / reviewed the incidents and practices at Holy
Cross, and following an investigation that lasted over a year, they found
absolutely nothing of any significance. Their conclusion clearly supported the
Archbishop's view: there was absolutely nothing wrong (other than, of course,
the heretical teachings, which the Accreditation boards could care less about)
and that all the School had to do is clarify some of its regulations. BUT THE
DAMAGE WAS ALREADY DONE and so many of us were duped into believing that there
was something really wrong when it was nothing!!! Congratulations Valerie,
Voithia and GOAL!
So you see Ms. Karras, you can hide behind your four-line
signature as much as you want -- the Truth ALWAYS prevails! Words fly but the
documents bearing your signature and attesting your hatred towards the
Archbishop will remain forever!
As far as Dean Popps is concerned, I sent him a reply on one
of his "masterful hate letters" concerning Archbishop Spyridon
(e-mailed to Orthodox News on 10/29/2000). I had titled the letter "A
Reply To Mr. Popps Blasphemous Letter on Archbishop Spyridon" yet I noted
that you took the liberty of changing it to "George Karras responds in
detail to Dean Popps' letter to the Greek American". In any case, I ask
that, if possible, you provide a link at the end of the subject letter so Dean
(and Valerie) as well as your readers can review it again.
Valerie Karras appears to be an extremely bright lady that
has unfortunately become a willing victim of the dark forces that reign within
our Archdiocese. The Fathers of His Church have a lot to say about the type of
behavior which was exhibited by the self-appointed GOAL "leaders" and
their circle during Archbishop Spyridon's tenure in our Archdiocese. I suggest
that she closely examines the patristic texts she is supposed to be teaching
and re-awaken her knowledge on some very fundamental theological values. Only
then will she realize the wrongfulness of her past actions and hopefully
repent. She, along with ANY Orthodox Christian, must certainly know that the
ONLY path to salvation is through repentance and confession.
There is something else that all Greek Orthodox
Christians must be aware of. In the late-1998 to early-1999 time frame, a
few individuals near Archbishop Spyridon made some inquiries about who and
(most important) what the enemies of his Eminence were all about. They quickly
uncovered a great amount of scandalous facts about the personal lives of the
GOAL circle which, if exposed to the public, would have certainly caused a
public opinion revolution, in support of the Archbishop. They presented this
information to his Eminence and requested his approval on releasing it to the
media. Archbishop Spyridon not only did NOT give them his approval, but he also
informed any and all of them that they would be fired if they did any such
thing. In other words, he stuck firmly obedient to the teachings and principles
of our Lord and Savior which we must all follow, to cover the shortcomings of
our enemies at any cost. I know that many people (including myself) would doubt
whether we have the personal conviction to do the same...
Ms. Karras, I pray that our Lord and Savior enlightens you
with His Grace and provides you the courage to return to the only path of
eternal salvation. Please put away emotions of the past and remember a few of
the Archbishop's words from within his resignation letter towards you and your
"influential circle" of friends:
"It is my abiding hope that you will be granted to
envision a future in which words will cease to be weapons and become icons of
the Living Word of God, heralds of the Gospel of Peace."
Sincerely,
George Karras (no relation...)
_____________
Ms. Frangoulis-Argyris: BRAVO! A superb exemplification of
your literary abilities, journalistic practices and personal ethics! Most
important, bravo for your courage in publishing something that exposes the
tactics of our modern day en Ameriki Genitsaroi. You absolutely MUST have it
translated in English! In the event that you speak with his Eminence, please
convey to him my personal regret, as laity, for not fighting harder on his
behalf. This is something I shall regret for the rest of my life (and I know
that I speak for MANY Hellenic Orthodox Christians).
[ Orthodox Truth - www.orthodox-truth.bugs3.com/art_45.html - (Early) 2001 ]
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