Abp. Elpidophoros advocates open communion of heterodox

The question begins at 34:04: 

In a virtual town hall meeting held yesterday, Saturday, April 11, Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople publicly reiterated his belief that non-Orthodox spouses who were married in the Orthodox Church should be allowed to receive Holy Communion in the Orthodox Church.

“Personally, I would offer … the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist,” to non-Orthodox spouses, he said.

During the meeting, the Archbishop confirmed OrthoChristian’s earlier report
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Δημήτριος Χατζηνικολάου είπε...

Mr. Elpidophoros is himself non-orthodox -- he is an ecumenist --, so it would be surprising if he had a different opininion on this important matter. In the True Orthodox Church, we simply follow the Holly Tradition, and are not allowed to have our own opinion on the various issues, especially those that are well documented in the Holly Canons. First of all, his argument about "forcing" the couples to separate when attending different services is nonsensical, as the Orthodox Church does NOT allow mixed marriages to begin with. See, e.g., the 72nd Canon of the 6th Ecumenical Council, which states:
"Let no Orthodox man be allowed to contract a marriage with a heretical woman, nor moreover let any Orthodox woman be married to a heretical man. But if it should be discovered that any such thing is done by any one of the Christians, no matter who, let the marriage be deemed void, and let the lawless marriage tie be dissolved. For it is not right to mix things immiscible, nor to let a wolf get tangled up with a sheep, and the lot of sinners get tangled up with the portion of Christ. If, therefore, anyone violates the rules we have made let him be excommunicated..."

Once mixed marriages are allowed, as they have been in the pseudo-orthodox "church" of Mr. Elpidophoros, those couples are set up to face lots of problems. It is the responsibility of the Clergy to inform the couples of the severe consequences of marrying believers of different faiths BEFORE their marriage, however that marriage might take place, and certainly should refuse to marry them. So nobody is forced to do anything they would not choose to do. In his effort to pretend he is Orthodox, Mr. Elpidophoros talks nonsense. If he were at least honest, he would answer the question as follows: "Look, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has long abandoned Orthodoxy. So, if you want to be truly Orthodox, go some place else, we cannot help you here."

Greek Archbishop of America declares open Communion for non-Orthodox spousesIn front of dozens of participants, Abp. Elpidophoros declared that anyone who was married in the Orthodox Church can receive Communion in the Orthodox Church, regardless of whether they are Orthodox or not.

that he had expressed this same view at the Leadership 100 conference in Florida in February.

Yesterday’s town hall began with a word from Abp. Elpidophoros largely focused on the current coronavirus pandemic. The question of communing non-Orthodox spouses arose during the Question and Answer session, as it had during the Leadership 100 meeting.

The moderator, Demetria Kalodimos, relayed to the Archbishop the question: “I’d like to know when priests will receive directives to permit Communion to non-Orthodox spouse married in the Orthodox Church. Can you explain this?”

The Archbishop responded by recounting what occurred at the Leadership 100 Conference, which OrthoChristian had reported on:

These kinds of decisions in general are made by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, by the head of our Church.

I understand that you are referring to a question that I answered during a webinar, a meeting we had last February, with the Leadership 100 meeting in Florida, where somebody asked me what my opinion was about this issue. And there I said, I asked myself, “How can I offer the Sacrament of Marriage to a Christian who is a not a member of my Church?” You know we do this with mixed marriages. We accept to the Sacrament of Marriage non-Orthodox faithful from other churches. They get married in the Orthodox Church and then they get separated when they have to attend the service and the Eucharist.

So, can you imagine, two people married and blessed in the Orthodox Church, and you remember the prayers that we say in the Church, that these two now become one, and they become one with the blessing of the Orthodox Church. And after becoming one, we force them to separate when the Eucharist comes. And I asked myself in public before all the members of Leadership 100, saying, “How can we do that?” And I said that personally I do not agree; personally, I would offer the other Sacrament—the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist—to those couples who are married and who received the Sacrament of Marriage in the Orthodox Church and in this way I save the whole family, because otherwise I lose the children and I lose the whole family.

And I remind you that mixed marriages in the United States in our Archdiocese are over 65%. Over 65%. So, if we are not inclusive of these families in our Archdiocese, every year, every year we will lose 65% of our members, of our families. Who can afford that? Can a pastor take that responsibility and lose our people because of that only?