My name is former novice Zakaraias, and I was part of HTM's community from 1997-2002. Below is a name-by-name account describing the inner-workings of HTM:
1. Fr. Panteleimon (John Metropoulos) - Called by HTM, "the Elder." He has a dwarfed body, imposing head, with a huge protruding belly, all adding up to a freakish look. His countenance is dark and oily. His eyes and manners are shifty.
He was born and raised in Detroit, yet he presents himself as being from Greece. He is most assuredly a person suffering from a mental disorder or at least dysfunctional. As a child he was continuously dressed as a girl and ultimately rejected by his mother because she hoped he would be a girl to take the place of his older sister who had died as a baby. His future life revealed, as with most dysfunctional and homosexual victims, that their malady can be traced back to the childhood. After his mother rejected him and he was brought up by his grandmothers. His father was a 32 degree Mason, and had his son John baptized by his fellow lodge member Archbishop Athenagoras the future Patriarch of Constantinople and father of modern Ecumenism.
Growing up as a teenager in Detroit he was caught stealing and has a police record for petty theft. Going to college he had as his roommate the notorious Father Conon Lossky. This man was a known homosexual and was convicted for child molestation and put in prison. Both persons had at one time a desire to become monks at the Holy Mountain. Only father Panteleimon managed to visit for one year. He has pictures of the blessed Elder Joseph everywhere, claiming to be his disciple. Yet, when you pin him down, (if that's possible), he admits that he visited his synodia for only 2 months. As for being a monk from the Holy Mountain, he was at St. Panteleimon's for only 8 months. He is the ideal metaphor for The Holy Orthodox Church of North America (HOCNA) - a fraud.
He is the behind-the-scenes Boss of HOCNA, and all the parish clergy give unspoken assent to his rule. The 3 "bishops" don't make a move without his sanction. He appointed them to the episcopate and they are still in "obedience" to him, a "presbyter."
Most Monday mornings to Fridays, he goes to his ocean cottage in Maine called "Holy Apostles Skete." (Phone # 207-363-2043) He spends a lot of time shopping at antique stores there. He loves to shop. I have always seen him occupied with worldly concerns. His room is cluttered with Church-oriented Greek newspapers. And he has children's books including, "Little Lord Flauntery."
Every Friday night is "synaxis." Fr. Panteleimon holds court with Metropolitan Ephraim sitting next to him, saying absolutely nothing, like a dunce. Panteleimon relentlessly harps about a monk's "obedience." He has often said at synaxis that if a monk is "disobedient" he becomes "demonized." Once he told everybody that if they do not wear a reflecting strip on their jackets while walking at night, they will become "demonized" for being "disobedient." At another synaxis, Panteleimon passed around a photograph of some kittens. He has this "fetish" for cats. There were 3 cats at HTM. He lets his favorite cat, "Tobias" sleep in the church.
At the years-end synaxis, Panteleimon passes out $1 dollar bills to each of the monks as they leave the room. He collects back the money immediately. He does this because Holy Transfiguration Monastery is not like any other monastery in the Orthodox Church. The monastery is owned by Father Panteleimon and he has to show that all his monks are employees to keep the monastery in his name. Therefore if the monks at any time would ever rebel against the sexual and psychological abuse, they would have nowhere to go, because all the property is in the name of Father Panteleimon. This is why payment is given to the monks in order to show that they are but employees, and do not have the ecclesiastical privileges which rightly belongs to them as monastics of the Orthodox Church.
Every Saturday night is Vigil. The place is a zoo. The phone is constantly ringing. All the monks are sitting in the back room, or taking phone calls, or in their rooms, loitering or snacking in the breakfast room - floating back and forth. Panteleimon floats from his room down to the sanctuary just in time to make the priestly exclamations. (He has a speaker in his room, piping in the services.)
Panteleimon's line is that HOCNA is the only jurisdiction left that is the true Orthodox Church. Often during Panteleimon's long, rambling sermons, (that no one seems to listens to), his guttural voice suddenly goes into a high soprano. I always found this unseemly for one who claims to be an Elder. The monks are afraid of Panteleimon and continually seek his approval. He has a manipulative way that instills fear. The source of this fear is his continual emphasis that "disobedience" will result in "demonization" and eternal damnation.
2. Met. Ephraim (George Spanos) remained for 25 years a simple monk in the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and refused ordination to any rank because he had an impediment. When they started their own church, HOCNA, having relations with a woman was not a very serious impediment anymore. Father Panteleimon divulged Father Ephraim's confession to one of the novices.
3. Bishop Makarios (Constantine Katra) - He is Albanian and is nothing but Panteleimon's tool. It was well-known at the monastery that he became a bishop in obedience to Panteleimon's will. He was a traveling insurance salesman when he became a novice at HTM. Within 3 years Panteleimon made him the bishop of Toronto. So much for St. Paul's injunction, "lay not hands suddenly on a novice."
4. Bishop Moses (John Mahoney) - His mind is thoroughly owned by Fr. Panteleimon, as he subjected himself to Panteleimon's control from first days in the monastery. He is so entirely brainwashed by Panteleimon, that when his twin brother Thomas Mahoney, (former schema-monk Fr. Elias), fled HTM because of being sexually molested by Panteleimon, "Bishop Moses" sided with his brother's molester, Panteleimon. Paul Mahoney now resides in San Jose, California, where both brothers were born and raised. Moses is another example of the HTM/HOCNA crowd's allegiance to a man, Panteleimon, rather than to Christ and His laws.
5. Fr. Isaac (John Adondakis) - He is the "Abbot" and 2nd in the Pecking-order. He is looked upon by the novices and parishioners as a saint, all meek and gentle. But behind the scenes, he is a Tyrant with a capital "T." All of the tonsured monks avoid him like the plague.
Fr. Isaac stresses "obedience" to him as the means of the monk's salvation. A monk there can be nasty, (Fr. Nicholas (Rodger Clinkingbeard) the cook), and ill-tempered, (Fr. Pachomios (Peter McCarus) the translator), but no matter. As long as they are "obedient" - they're saved!
What is most pernicious about Isaac is that he seeks to own and control your mind. A novice and monk is not permitted to think for himself but as Isaac said to me over and over, "Let me be your mind, surrender your mind to me."
Isaac sits on a throne set up in the entrance of the church. All must reverence him as they enter, even before reverencing the Icons. There is no throne for poor Metropolitan Ephraim, for everyone knows that he is just a patsy.
Isaac is overweight by some 40lbs, and the grossness of the flesh is telling on him. Dr. Carnovos once admitted to me saying, "Fr. Isaac doesn't look good."
Isaac is violent. He did hit me hard on the face twice. (See Testimony of Zakaraias)
Isaac is a thief. He seized $30,000 from me.
Isaac is a liar. He lied in Civil Court.
Isaac is treacherous. He divulged my Confessions in Civil Court.
6. Fr. Haralampos - A Hieromonk. He is a huge, tubby man. He does almost nothing at HTM. His "obedience" is to drive around in the mornings doing errands. I often was subjected to riding with him. He stops at libraries everywhere and checks out stacks of Science-fiction books. He lays in bed most of the time reading, "Light-years from Planet Zeno," and "The Economist."
7. Fr. Basil - A Hieromonk. He is Panteleimon's "ascetic" direct from the Holy Mountain. All this man does is sit at his computer all day and night, writing a monthly newsletter in Greek propagandizing HOCNA as the true Church. Who knows if anyone in Greece or America reads it.
8. Fr. Barsanuphius (Malcom Graham) - A deacon. Heavy with a massive protruding belly. He was apprehended by the Police for vehicular homicide with Deacon Barnabas (who left the monastery) when they were out on an "obedience." They killed a man when lumber flew from their pickup truck and beheaded a man that was driving behind them with his family.
Barsanuphius left his wife against her consent to join HTM. Though she is in HOCNA and lives 20 minutes away, they are forbidden to see one another.
9. Fr. John the Mechanic - Overweight. (It is a disgrace for a monk to be fat, according to monastic tradition). He is his own man, coming and going as he pleases. Comes in the middle of services or not at all. He fixes cars and motorcycles for the public in the HTM garage and he has his own checking account and bodybuilding equipment which doesn't seem to do him any good.
10. Fr. Luke (Klisouris) - A deacon. Overweight. He is an Amway Distributor possesing a most fervent zeal for the Amway Faith. Against Fr. Isaac's will, he taps maple trees every winter. I once went into his sugar shack to taste the syrup - but I was intercepted by Fr. Philaret. Philaret told me to get a "blessing" first, as Fr. Luke only had a "half-blessing" from Isaac to make maple syrup. This is typical of the half witted condition at holy Transfiguration monastery.
11. Fr. Philaret (Snodgren) - Overweight. His parents left HOCNA in 1992 after reading the testimonies of the victims. Fr. Philaret however stayed and has a "full blessing" from Isaac to read the Wall Street Journal and salesman's books such as "How can You Fly with Eagles When You Are Croaking with Turkeys." Fr. Philaret is very unhappy at HTM but he fears he will be eternally damned if he leaves the HTM/HOCNA Cult.
12. Fr. Arsenios (Richard Stockton) is enormously wealthy and overweight. He had left HTM in the late 60's because he just couldn't be "obedient." He returned in 2001 eager for "obedience." The first thing Fr. Arsenios did in his refound "obedience" was to buy a $2,000,000 sprawling 12 room home in Cape Neddick Maine on the Ocean, next to Panteleimon. He named it "The Cell Of the Annunciation." (ph.# 207 351 1039)
13. Fr. Adrian - (Ouellette) A priest-monk. He came to HOCNA in 1998 from ROCOR. Though boasted by HOCNA as a conquest, Fr. Adrian is known to have lived a homosexual life-style while in ROCOR, as a monk and clergymen. When exposed, he left the clergy of ROCOR, shaved his beard and hair to work in a high-class jewelry store in N.Y. Met. Philaret found him there and encouraged him to return as a simple monk. After Metropolitan's repose, he left ROCOR and fits right in with HOCNA who harbors homosexual and immoral priests.
Fr. Adrian is afflicted with severe heart palpitations, diagnosed by the Medical Profession to be caused from psychological and spiritual dysfunctions. He also bought a $1,000,000+ home there next to Panteleimon by the ocean in Cape Neddick, Maine called Holy Ascension Skete. The Town of York, Maine embarked on an expensive effort to tax his property. He lives with a young Fr. Menas (Anthony J. Vlatas Esq.) who pays Fr. Adrian's bills working as a Lawyer for a major Law firm. Fr. Adrian keeps a dog at his monastery that goes in and out of the chapel. He often brings his dog to stay overnight inside HTM. Fr. Adrian is the nastiest of men.
14. The Rest of Them - The monks at HTM are among the nasty and self-serving of humankind. To a man, they are continually sick and there is a never ending flow back and forth every day to Doctors, Chiropractors, Chinese herbal quacks, Aids Doctors, Acupuncturists, Diet Doctors, ad. infinitum, throughout New England and Cape Neddick. Panteleimon has his own Blue Cross/Blue Shield Card. Here are just a few with their sicknesses:
15. Fr. Boniface (Dietrich Willibrandt) - He is infected with Aids. All are aware of it. He is the Assistant Cook (showers and baths are forbidden at HTM, as well as shaving and trimming of hair and beards).
16. Fr. Pachomios (Peter McCarus) - Pachomios has chronic infections of the throat. He had a special room built for himself on the roof because he couldn't stand living near his brothers. He is the most nastiest of men, second only to Fr. Adrian.
17. Fr. Anthony - A senior monk of 30 years is continually in bed with chronic Migraines and takes Zoloft for chronic depression.
18. Novice Paul - An Alcoholic, he leaves the property consistently on drinking binges.
19. Fr. David - A senior monk of 30 years, a really good guy in delusion, is afflicted with chronic depression and takes anti-depressant medication.
20. Father Seraphim - Overweight with a boyish face and an effeminant manner. He was asked to leave ROCOR's Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, NY in the late 70's for his Homosexual activities. He found a fitting refuge in Panteleimon and HTM. Most likely, he had homosexual affairs with Pantelimon, in which he gladly consented.
21. Novice Andoni - An older Greek man. He committed vehicular Homicide in Worcester MA prior to joining HTM in the late 90's. Thus his license was forever revoked. He then abandoned his wife against her will and came to live at HTM. She pursued him legally for 2 years, thus he could not officially be made a novice. A legal arrangement was finally arrived at and he achieved his much desired novice status. In the final analysis, his wife was against him leaving her.
In Summation - There is a pronounced absence of zeal for monasticism at HTM. I witnessed 3 tonsured monks fleeing HTM - Fr. Tikhon, Fr. Onuphrios, and Fr. Ieronymos. The monks love to sit around snacking and talking about old television programs they used to watch. They are always telling each other worldly jokes. They never go to confession. The deformed monasticism and sicknesses at HTM are indicative of HTM being schismatics - cut off from the Head and Body of the Church.
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