“No parish should be seized by force, but…”

On September 10, Phos Phanariou (“Light of the Phanar”) published an opinion piece by Archon Elias Damianakis entitled “A Parody of Canonical Order.” In it, Damianakis attacks Metropolitan Theodosiy of Cherkasy & Kaniv of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), replying to the Metropolitan’s recent comments to Romfea. For the purposes of this article, I will cite Damianakis’ own translation of his comments, which he posted on Substack.

According to their website, “an Archon is an honoree by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for his outstanding service to the Church, and a well-known distinguished, and well-respected leader of the Orthodox Christian community” (original text quoted as received). Damianakis himself maintains a particularly visible social media presence. He has a long history of insulting – and making spurious accusations against – clergy and hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), the UOC, and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. He does not shy from using profanity. His posts frequently distort and misquote statements of his targets, and can charitably be described as partisan misinformation. His latest piece attacking Metropolitan Theodosiy is no different.