19 January 2012. New ROCOR “Institute” in Mould of Dodgy “Patriarch Athenagoras Institute” in Berkeley CA

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A friend reminded me of another oddbod “Orthodox” facility in the Bay Area. It’s called the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute, but oddly enough, for an institution that claims to be “Greek Orthodox“, it has no hierarch of the GOAA on its board, and Metropolitan Niketas Loulias is NOT listed as a hierarch of the GOAA, and he apparently “retired” at the age of… 52! He has the grandiloquent title of “Metropolitan of Dardania and Exarch of all Hellespontus“… if we follow the rule, “the grander the title, the lesser the reality”, one realises that this poseur has no parishes, no money, no faithful, and no following, save for a small group of deluded intellectuals. Furthermore, the PAOI is NOT listed as an accredited GOAA institution, but OrthoWiki lists it as a “seminary”, but offers no page on it, only a link to the PAOI website.

Loulias is an “interesting” sort, even if only a tithe of what’s whispered about him’s true. One of his associates is the well-known Auxiliary Bishop Demitrios of Chicago… Iakovos Coucouzis wanted Demetrios ordained bishop, but it almost didn’t happen. The story out there is that people got tired of seeing a prospective bishop gadding along Halsted Street in Lakeview, in and out of Sidetracks… truly, you can’t make this shit up. Is it true? That’s the word whispered in the loggia… believe it or not, as you will. I can only report what people say… I’ll simply say that I refuse to certify it (for reasons of liability, not reasons of truthfulness).

In short, this new ROCOR “Institute” doesn’t “smell right”… and if it doesn’t look right, it may also be crook in substance, too. It looks like it and the PAOI are “two peas in a pod”… Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Spend your money on something REAL… go on holiday in Tinos… that’s the ticket…

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Thursday 19 January 2012

Albany NY