The Kremlin's Archons

NOTE: The Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and National Commander Anthony J. Limberakis were reached out to for comment on this article. The Union of Orthodox Journalists has received no response as of the time of publication.

Last week, an article from The Hill and statements made by U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson about a pan-Orthodox delegation that was scheduled to hold meetings on Capitol Hill set the Orthodox world ablaze. The delegation was simply hoping to shed light on the ongoing religious persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and speak with elected officials, as is their constitutional right.

A day later, a statement from the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate poured gasoline on the situation. Calling clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) “boosters of Vladimir Putin’s unjust, immoral and monstrous war against Ukraine,” the Archons also explicitly called the priests and hierarchs “lobbyists for Putin.” As there was representation from multiple jurisdictions present in these meetings, the ramifications of these accusations were felt in more than just ROCOR — even causing disruption in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

While Orthodox Christians tend to expect the worst when it comes to coverage from secular media and questionable politicians, an Orthodox organization named for St. Andrew throwing stones came as a shock and inspired a deep sense of betrayal.

One memorable inversion of reality from the Archons’ statement was as follows:

“When the Ecumenical Patriarch granted autocephaly (independence) to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine on January 6, 2019, a splinter group calling itself the Ukrainian Orthodox Church remained aligned with the Moscow Patriarchate. That splinter group, an arm of the Moscow Patriarchate, is now targeting and killing members of the canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine, targeting civilians in order to sow terror among the population and make them too frightened to join the canonical Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”

It appears the Archons were throwing stones from a glass house, as the Union of Orthodox Journalists would like to submit one more inversion for your consideration.

Andrew and Mike Manatos have worked as lobbyists in Washington for decades. The father-son duo has operated Manatos & Manatos, which has been described by the Washington Post as “one of Washington’s most powerful lobbying firms.” This quote is displayed proudly on both of the Manatos’ Archon profiles. While both of their profiles are linked above, here is an excerpt from Andrew’s:

“Working closely with the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, on whose national council he serves and as a regional commander of the Order of St. Andrew, his firm created and maintains an annual meeting with each president of the United States for 27 years with the Greek-American community. Manatos managed the legislation that secured the Congressional Gold Medal for Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, secured use of the U.S. Capitol Rotunda for honoring Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios, the second time in history the Rotunda was used to honor a living person. He also orchestrated efforts producing letters to the president advocating religious freedom for the Ecumenical Patriarchate, signed by 90 of the 100 senators and more than 291 members of Congress.”

And Mike’s:

“During his 28-year career as a federal lobbyist, he has devoted much of his time, on a pro-bono basis, to protect and promote the religious freedom of the Ecumenical Patriarchate with the most influential US policymakers in the US Congress, White House, State Department and other agencies. He also arranges meetings for the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of America and other church leaders with various high-level US government officials.”

What Manatos and Manatos don’t brag about is the fact that, nearly a decade ago, they took on work lobbying for VTB Capital, Inc., a subsidiary of VTB Group, which is one of the two biggest banks in Russia. As of 2016, it was over 60% owned by the Russian government.

According to the official FARA registration, Manatos & Manatos offered services such as “the provision of government strategies counsel and advice and lobbying directed toward the United States Congress and Administration on behalf of VTB Group regarding the imposition of sanctions by the US government on Russian-affiliated banks” and “arranging meetings between VTB Group officials and US policymakers; drafting language for use in correspondence; monitoring statements and policy related to the imposition of sanctions.”

This work was done for a monthly fee of $17,500, plus any additional costs.

We are not here to criticize the Manatos family’s line of work. We are not even attempting to “get back” at the Archons for what was an extremely inappropriate statement. Rather, we would simply like to use this opportunity to illustrate how careless that statement was — both towards other Orthodox Christians, and with the Archons’ complete oversight of their own roster.

A pan-Orthodox delegation held meetings on Capitol Hill in defense of the persecuted Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and Manatos & Manatos has seemingly held meetings on Capitol Hill in defense of state-owned Russian banks.

Last week, the Archons urged the Trump administration to cancel meetings “with what are essentially Russian state agents.” If the Trump administration follows this advice moving forward, the Archons will be able to look back fondly on the days when they had a seat at the table.

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