Notice: the information set here below has been gathered from numerous witnesses who are very familiar with the life story of Fr. Panteleimon Metropoulos. He is known by his many victims as the “greatest homosexual in the universe”. It is very regrettable that this life has to be put in writing, and not rather given over to oblivion. Because the activities of this person have caused tremendous hurt to many innocent souls, this biography is presented here to the web master of HOCNA.Info.
- FATHER PANTELEIMON METROPOULOS -
A BIOGRAPHY
June 21, 1935 - Founder of HTM/HOCNA, John Metropoulos, (Fr. Panteleimon), is born. He is the younger of two surviving boys of George (Greek immigrant) and Eugenia (Jewish-Greek immigrant) from Detroit, MI. 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. Athenagoras is also John's godfather.
1938-46 - As a child, Metropoulos was continuously dressed as a girl and ultimately rejected by his mother. His younger sister died as a baby, and his mother, because of her psychological distress wanted to replace the baby as soon as possible. Hoping for a girl, the new baby instead was a boy, John, who was rejected when he exhibited his male traits. After his mother rejected him, he was brought up by his grandmothers. As with most dysfunctional and homosexual individuals, their malady can be traced back to their childhood.
1948-50 - Growing up as a teenager in Detroit he was caught stealing and has a police record for petty theft.
1952 - Going to Wayne State University, John Metropoulos had as his roommate the future notorious Father Conon Lossky, a.k.a., Kenneth Lasky, Father Konan, Father Kenneth, Kenneth Laskovsky. Lasky became an unmarried priest in the Greek Archdiocese and then became a shameless "monk." [In 1988 Lasky was convicted of four felonies of criminal sexual conduct to the third degree (pled guilty). Genesee County Court, Flint, MI, Case Number 88-39261FH (Judge Ransom), 88-39262FH (Judge Yuille), 88-39263FC (Judge Neithercut). Lasky served a 15-year sentence for sexually assaulting 3 boys at an Orthodox Monastery in Schwartz Creek, MI.]
In the mid-50's both Lasky and Metropoulos conceived a plan to be spiritual brothers and to travel together by boat to the Holy Mountain Athos to become monks. They would share one room on the boat and thus save money on the trip. At the last minute Lasky changes his mind, and Metropoulos travels alone to Greece. Up until his conviction, Father Konan would visit Holy Transfiguration Monastery regularly and meet with his old friend, Fr. Panteleimon.
1956 - At 21 years old, Metropoulos visited the Holy Mountain to become a monk. He stayed at the Russian monastery of St. Panteleimon for eight months, although not continuously. He could not achieve any measure of stability there for he traveled constantly to visit the other Greek monasteries on Athos. The fathers of St. Panteleimon's monastery, however, tonsured the young man to the rank of rassophore which is the first step in monastic order, (the postulant takes no vows), with the name Panteleimon.
But his restless spirit could still find no peace on the Holy Mountain, one of the holiest places on earth. He did not want to renounce his foreign (USA) citizenship as do all foreigners in order to remain on the Mountain. Using this as an excuse, he would leave Greece to return to America.
The fathers of the Holy Mountain saw this as an indication that the young man really had no fervent desire for the Athonite monastic life and did not come to holy Mt. Athos to stay. His resolve for becoming a monk was half-hearted, they thought, as it is described in the book of the Divine Ladder: "To lag in the fight at the very outset of the struggle and thereby to furnish a token of our coming slaughter is a very hateful and dangerous thing." Unfortunately, this man's slaughter at the hand of the demons was very great.
It was towards the end of his visit to Athos that he heard of the reputation of the Elder Joseph of New Skete, the renowned ascetic and clairvoyant. He visited him for about two weeks. It was then that he started calling himself a disciple of the Elder Joseph of New Skete, instead of a disciple of the Russian archimandrite who tonsured him at St. Panteleimon's monastery. Many believe this is the first incident where Fr. Panteleimon shows his psychological sickness, in that he seeks to be associated with holy people to receive their approbation or acceptance. It exhibited a consciousness that his own behavior or spiritual life is such a failure that he needs the acceptance of such people, to ease his guilt.
Also, it shows not so much a psychological sickness, but a premeditated desire for himself to appear holy and righteous, not by his own achievements, but by his own association with holy people. He, however, neglects the admonition of St. Paul, who said, “God accepteth the person of no man...” [Galatians 2:6]. The observant person will constantly recognize this implication of holiness by association in the sermons or writings of Father Panteleimon where he says I am a disciple of..., I met this person..., I knew this person..., I have spoken to that person,...so and so is my brother, my spiritual father....
To be a member of one monastery and tonsured by its abbot and then to turn around and call yourself a disciple of someone else in a different monastery, is not only an affront to the person who tonsured you, but also exhibits a complete deprivation of spiritual discernment. For this alone many abbots on Athos would have thrown him off the Holy Mountain, but the fact that he was only 21 years old resulted in his foolishness and offense being overlooked. In all fairness to the Fathers of New Skete, and particularly the Elder Joseph, we do not know what story they were told by Father Panteleimon, and we doubt that they believed that they were stealing a monk from another monastery. Most likely they thought he was not under the authority of any abbot, since he was about to leave for America. How this exactly happened we do not know. He was given a blessing to start a monastery. What we can be certain of however is that he did not get a blessing to start his own private sex cult, which as we will show below is exactly what happened.
The fathers also believed that the Elder Joseph, as a person with great spiritual gifts, was either moved by God without realizing the underlying cause encouraged Metropoulos to leave Athos, or because he indeed saw the future failure of this man and even knew his inner shameless traits, that he would be a champion of impiety, and for this reason he encouraged the young rassophore monk who had no monastic experience to leave the Holy Mountain so as to prevent the Garden of the Virgin Mary from being polluted by his way of life, which was, to say the least, not in conformity with the monastic profession. If he failed, it would not be a loss to anyone except himself.
1957-58 - Fr. Panteleimon Metropoulos does not return to the United States, but decides rather to continue traveling. After a trip to Constantinople to visit his godfather, Patriarch Athenagoras, he then traveled to Jerusalem and spent about seven months in the Holy Land. To some it may seem unusual that a 22-year-old young monk was able to stay and travel throughout the Holy Land for seven months. Given the fact that we know Fr. Panteleimon's future life, coupled with the fact that Jerusalem is also known as “sin city”, a seven months stay of a young 22-year-old Greek man is not that strange after all. The Greek clergy of the Jerusalem Patriarchate have the reputation of being the most corrupt in all of Orthodoxy, both with regard to ethics and morals.
It was during his stay in the Holy Land that the young Fr. Panteleimon visited Mt. Sinai. Living there at that time was the last clairvoyant Elder of Mt. Sinai, Fr. Elias. The young Fr. Panteleimon was greeted at the monastery by the monks and shown hospitality. Eventually the monks escorted the new pilgrim to Fr. Elias to receive his blessing and hear a word from this clairvoyant father. To their shock, Father Elias would neither give his blessing nor speak one word to the young man. Though they asked him again to say a word to the young pilgrim monk, Father Elias would not speak one word, and turned away from him. The monks were very confused for young Panteleimon seemed normal to them. Following upon the Elder Joseph's tactful encouragement to leave the Holy Mountain, this was another censure to Fr. Panteleimon from a clairvoyant father.
1958 - Metropoulos returns to the USA, a 22-year-old self-made "elder," a new "disciple" of the Elder Joseph, and with the title of a monk and a new name "Fr. Panteleimon." He now had the credentials of a "real monk" of experience, by having traveled to Mt. Athos and Palestine! These "credentials" indeed deceived the young seminarians of the Holy Cross Seminary in Brookline, MA, who would become a great crop of future disciples.
His mission was to establish a monastery in the United States. Unable to find any help in Detroit, he traveled to Boston, where he obtained a job as a house-boy for Bishop Athenagoras Kokkinakis, dean of Holy Cross Seminary in Brookline, MA. This man became a leading personality to push acceptance of the new pan-heresy of Ecumenism. He stayed with this man for two years. Unfortunately, Fr. Panteleimon's moral behavior did not improve nor was it corrected during his stay with Kokkinakis. We are not sure, but it is believed that Fr. Panteleimon was ordained a deacon by this bishop of the Greek Archdiocese. (New Calendarist)
During this period Fr. Panteleimon received a letter from the Elder Joseph. The Elder Joseph exhorted him in this letter to pursue the virtue of purity. He talks about purity more than once and tries also to encourage the young man to love God first in his life.
It should be noted that the Elder Joseph had many disciples. There were, however, only a very few who started monasteries or were leaders of monasteries. Those were the immediate disciples of the Elder Joseph who lived with him and were under obedience to him for many years. They were the Elder Haralambos, the Elder Ephraim and the Elder Joseph the Younger. These were the disciples who were under obedience and lived with the Elder Joseph as monastics and had a way of living which was blessed by him. What makes Fr. Panteleimon somewhat unique is the fact that he started a monastery, but was only a disciple of Fr. Joseph, not as the others, but as one who at one time had visited him for two weeks. The Elder Joseph never experienced his manner of life to correct him because he never lived with him.
1959 - Around April, Fr. Panteleimon Metropoulos writes the Elder Joseph on the Holy Mountain, informing him on his intention to return. The Elder Joseph replies again telling Metropoulos not to come back to the Holy Mountain. Many see this as very strange and revealing. The Elder Joseph knew he was going to die that year at the end of August, and still did not want his "disciple", during the next four months, to make any effort to see him before he reposed. This is the second time that the Elder Joseph seeks to keep Metropoulos off the Holy Mountain. The Elder Joseph reposed on the feast of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary on August 28/15, 1959.
1960 - Metropoulos makes a down payment on a small house in Haverhill, MA, with the aim of establishing a monastery under the Greek Archdiocese. Since he had no acquired skills in order to get a job, he had no means to keep payments on this house. Therefore in the spring of 1961 he declared bankruptcy, and the bank repossessed the home. During this period while he was living alone in this home, Fr. Panteleimon admitted that he had thoughts of suicide. This is not unusual for those familiar with homosexual individuals.
1961 - Metropoulos visits the Holy Mountain, and since the Pateras family from Athens was a benefactor to the fathers of New Skete, Metropoulos was directed by those fathers to extend their gratefulness to this family, and thus he became associated with them. On Nov. 13, the righteous nun Irene (daughter of the millionairess and future abbess of Annunciation Convent, Chios, Mother Maria Pateras) reposed in the Lord. She was a holy young lady who suffered for righteousness' sake. Although associating himself with her, Metropoulos, by Divine Providence, was not present at her repose. We say that this happened through Divine Providence because we know from the testimony of one his monks who was a victim of Father Panteleimon's sexual seduction, that even at the holy place of the Annunciation Convent, where the incorrupt relics of Mother Irene are enshrined, Father Panteleimon Metropoulos had sex with his disciple. Thus, he showed no respect for Mother Irene, a righteous virgin and nun.
1961-2 - Metropoulos lives in private homes in the Boston area close to Holy Cross Seminary. It was during this period that some seminarians decided to play a practical joke on the young monk who was now being called the "Elder" by other seminarians.
Two seminarians who were the same age as Metropoulos decided to invite him to a restaurant. Unbeknownst to Metropoulos they invited three young Greek girls to meet them at the restaurant and after the young men were seated, the young women were to come and seat themselves at the same table. When this happened, Metropoulos panicked, and ran away from the table with great haste, and ran towards the light, thinking it was an exit out of the restaurant. It was, however, a full sheet of glass, which he burst through and shattered, and kept on running. All in the restaurant were in shock at the reaction which they thought was caused by nothing very serious.
In retrospect, knowing his homosexual lifestyle, we understand that, being close to women, was something unnatural, and psychologically it was abhorrent. This story was told by the very seminarian at that table. He told it at HTM to a few of the monks many years later.
In 1962 Richard Stockton of Harvard University and former professor of Holy Cross Seminary was convinced by Panteleimon to purchase a house in Jamaica Plain, MA. The house became Holy Transfiguration Monastery. Richard Stockton was immediately tonsured with the name of Fr. Arsenios. Father Arsenios did not last five years before he decided to turn his back on the monastic life and go to California. This was not the first monk who left Fr. Panteleimon. Before him was a Fr. Joseph, who was a monk and did not remain one year. The young monk, Panteleimon, in his 20s, calling himself an Elder, found that people had difficulties being obedient to him who had never spent even one year under obedience himself.
1963 - During this year on a visit to the Holy Mountain, Fr. Panteleimon was tonsured a monk at New Skete by Elder Arsenios, the co-struggler of the Elder Joseph. Understandably, they did not know Fr. Panteleimon very well, because he had never lived with them. But now that he has started a monastery in the United States, the Fathers of New Skete decided to gamble, so to speak, and make him a Great Schema monk. The Church however, ordains that a man should remain a novice for three years of testing before he is tonsured into the Great Schema. The Fathers on the Holy Mountain made use of economia in this case, since they tonsured someone they really did not know, except for the fact that he was a disciple of the Elder Joseph by correspondence.
Later, when Elder Arsenios and the Fathers of New Skete realized the dangers of one trying to start a monastery in the United States with absolutely no experience of monasticism and obedience, they requested that Fr. Panteleimon return to the Holy Mountain and live with them, so as to protect him from falling away from the Church and from piety. Father Panteleimon wrote them back his refusal to return and the relationship with the Fathers of New Skete started to cool.
1964 - It was about this time that the young 29-year-old monk was ordained a priest. The details and facts of how this was done, as in many aspects of the life of Fr. Panteleimon, he deliberately shrouded in mystery. We believe that it is mysterious, because the millionairess abbess, Mother Maria Pateras was involved in a financial sense. His ordination to the priesthood was at the hands of the notorious Metropolitan Vasilios, of the Jerusalem Patriarchate. We say notorious, because Metropolitan Vasilios was one of the many bishops of the Jerusalem Patriarchate who lives with a concubine. The fact that Fr. Panteleimon was ordained by an open fornicator obviously did not matter, as long as the objective was reached, the priesthood for the young Fr. Panteleimon. Although he was one year below the canonical age, one wonders why he was not ordained by his own bishops in America, who knew him, but he rather travels to Jerusalem and was ordained by one of many bishops who were well known by their reputation of ordaining men who had sexual impediments.
1965 - Up until 1965, Holy Transfiguration Monastery was under the Greek Archdiocese. It would most likely have stayed that way for years to come had not the fathers of the Holy Mountain strongly recommended that the monastery be taken to the Russian Church Abroad, under the confessing bishops of that Church. The young "elder" did not have the spiritual discernment to make this move on his own. It was only when they, the monks of New Skete and St. Paul's Monastery told him that if he did not leave the Greek Archdiocese, they would sever whatever connection they had with him. Contrary to what many believe, Metropoulos was not the great confessor of Orthodoxy as people imagine. He gives communion to new calendarists and Monophysites, and even lets a Monophysite bishop sit at the head of the Monastery dining table.
1966 - It was during this year that Fr. Panteleimon received his most trustworthy disciple, the future Fr. Isaac (John Adondakis). Although there were five "disciples" who had come to the monastery before him, Father Isaac was earmarked to be first. This occurred because of his complete submission to the will of Father Panteleimon as well as his Greek origin. As can be expected, if someone is completely submissive to a homosexual abbot (which is not permitted in Orthodoxy) the outcome is an assured disaster. This was indeed what happened to Father Isaac, because he became a complete image of Father Panteleimon, both by sexual persuasion, because he indulged himself with homosexual acts with his abbot and with his disciples, and ethically, because, like Fr. Panteleimon, he disregarded all the laws of God in order to establish a monastery that would protect sodomite behavior, which is hateful to God.
This irrational, blind obedience and devotion to Father Panteleimon, many attribute to a profound episode at the start of Fr. Isaac's novitiate, due to his inadequate understanding of the Greek language. At that time, in his early 20's, he met the holy Elder and clairvoyant Father Ieronymos on the island of Aegina. Fr. Isaac's knowledge of Greek was not very good. He had the desire, at that time, not to live with Fr. Panteleimon in America, but rather to go to the Holy Mountain and remain with the Elder Arsenios and the Fathers of New Skete. He was with Fr. Panteleimon when he met Fr. Ieronymos and the young novice John was seeking spiritual direction. He imagined that holy Elder Ieronymos told him that ***Fr. Panteleimon was sufficient for "soteria" (salvation).*** However, some believe that the Elder Ieronymos told him that ***Father Panteleimon was sufficient for "asotia" (debauchery),*** and the young John misunderstood. It was for this rebuke that Fr. Panteleimon Metropoulos can be seen weeping in the background of photos that were taken at that very meeting. When asked why he was weeping, he would only say that it was the Elder Ieronymos and his words. What those words were, of course, he would deliberately leave a mystery.
On another occasion, when Father Panteleimon brought a disciple to the Elder Ieronymos to receive his blessing, the elder told that disciple to leave Father Panteleimon. That disciple indeed left him, and has regarded this advice as one of the greatest blessings in his life, for had he stayed, he would have been destroyed, as was Father Isaac.
1967 - During this year Fr. Panteleimon Metropoulos, while attempting to return from a visit to Greece, was caught and arrested for smuggling. He was interrogated extensively by the Greek police. He was incarcerated and his passport was taken away because they found on his person items that were unlawful to be taken out of Greece. He was jailed for a considerable time, while the abbess, Maria Pateras, whose home was in the Psychiko district of Athens, was using all her influence to obtain his release. After some time, she was able to have him transferred to be under house arrest at her home. She even went to Aegina to the clairvoyant Fr. Ieronymos to ask for his prayers.
The answer of Fr. Ieronymos was noteworthy to many observers of this incident. He said, "A fox has been caught in Psychiko, let us see if he will escape." People have always noted that Christ called the impious Herod a "fox" and Fr. Ieronymos called the impious Metropoulos a "fox" also. The use of the same word that our Lord Jesus Christ called Herod is very noteworthy because if one looks at an important aspect of Father Panteleimon's life it is one of great cunning, deceit and manipulation to survive while living a life style for so many years, which was completely hypocritical to his monastic profession.
By some overlooked procedure, Panteleimon was given back his passport, while under house arrest. Mother Maria then immediately bought a ticket and sent him on the next plane back to America with the luggage that he had which was not confiscated by the authorities. When he arrived back in the monastery in Boston, he indeed unpacked one item the authorities had overlooked, which, if they had found, would have been another piece of evidence against him at a trial.
It should be noted that almost all the relics that are at Holy Transfiguration Monastery have been smuggled out of Greece. These relics and reliquaries came from the Holy Mountain and more specifically from the monastery of St. Panteleimon. The Russian monks there at that time, when they understood that Fr. Panteleimon was in the Russian Church Abroad, gave him many relics to smuggle from the Holy Mountain and smuggle out of Greece to America. They feared that since they were becoming very old and dying off, that the Moscow Patriarchate would populate the monastery and posses its treasures. They thought that at least the relics in Father Panteleimon's monastery would remain in the Russian Church. This was his convincing argument to them to release these treasures, for they had the greatest respect, not Father Panteleimon who they only knew for a short time, but for the Russian Bishops of the Church Abroad whose confession of Faith they supported with all their heart.
If all the incidences of smuggled relics were known to the authorities in Greece, Fr. Panteleimon would have the reputation of being one of the greatest smugglers of national treasures from Athos and Greece. It was because of incidences like his arrest and smuggling, that Fr. Panteleimon was banned by the monks of Athos from ever traveling to the Holy Mountain again. Therefore, from that time forward until now, some 37 years, no one from Holy Transfiguration Monastery, while being a member of that monastery, has ever traveled to the Holy Mountain Athos.
1969 - By this time, Metropoulos and Holy Transfiguration Monastery moved from their Orchard St. location to their present location on Warren St. The house was purchased with the savings of a laywoman, the future Mother Philothei, as a down payment and later as a final payment by the Abbess Maria Pateras.
1970's - Unfortunately as time progressed, a very disturbing pattern of events developed in the monastery. Young men would continuously come to the monastery to dedicate their lives to God, and after three years be deemed fit to be tonsured and then after a few years more, would abandon all their vows and depart the monastic life as victims of sexual abuse.
It has been rightly noted that homosexual activity is very difficult to hide if it is occurring in a monastery. This is due to the fact that since it is unlawful and forbidden it must be performed secretly and hidden at all times for years to come. This, however, is impossible in a monastery where men (visitors and novices, and at times even monks) come and leave. For Fr. Panteleimon to think that he could hide his habitual sinning, shows the depth of blindness and stupidity one plunges to because of this God-hated act of sodomy.
The first victim who had the courage to go to the bishops and reveal his wounds at the hands of Father Panteleimon was the Great Schema monk Athanasios, a non-Greek. As is the case in all of the postulants to Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Fr. Athanasios also came with great zeal for the monastic life. When he was exposed to the sexual advances of his abbot, quite understandably, this caused severe psychological conflict, because this conduct is irreconcilable with the profession of true Orthodoxy. This caused Father Athanasios severe conscience pangs and the only outlet was to the bishops in authority. He therefore left HTM in the mid 1970s to confess before the bishops who were over the monastery and then went back to the world. Because he went back to the world, he was labeled as an untrustworthy witness by the HTM monks who were concealing Fr. Panteleimon's activities. Who will now give an account for the soul of this Schema monk, who left the world according to Christ's commandment and for whom Christ died? What shepherd is responsible for that perishing soul? Christ said he who offends one of these little ones, better a millstone were hanged about his neck and he was cast into the sea...
The next person to leave was the Great Schema monk Theodore, a half-Greek. He also was exposed to the sexual perversion of the abbot, but unfortunately was deceived into thinking that this was some "personal love" which the abbot had for him. When he learned that other monks were also experiencing this "personal love" as he was, he felt betrayed and left the monastery in the late 1970s. He eventually settled on Mount Athos. Because he did this, he was also labeled as an untrustworthy witness by the HTM spin machine. He also went to the bishops to complain.
Both of these monks wrote down their testimonies and gave them to the officials at the Synod of Bishops, which ultimately meant in the hands of Protopresbyter George Grabbe the future Bishop Gregory Grabbe. He did not act upon these testimonies as he should have, but only stored them in Father Panteleimon's personal file, to use them at a future date for his (Bishop Grabbe's) own ends. It should be noted, however, that according to the canons of the Church, only two witnesses are required to bring a clergyman to trial. Bishop Gregory Grabbe kept this information away from Metropolitan Philaret.
1970's - The staggering list of the monks who left Holy Transfiguration Monastery is a shameful record in the history of Orthodoxy. People in Greece and in the United States affirm that there has been no monastery that has had so many defections in its history, and yet the history of HTM is only about forty-five years. The following list is only those monks that can specifically state that their departure was due to the immorality of Father Panteleimon, or Father Isaac or Father Haralambos.
The list of monks who left while in the Russian Church is: Frs. Athanasios, Theodore, Benedict, Mamas, Menas, Evgenios, Boniface, Ignatios, Elias novice and others. Father Cyril, a schema-monk, left because he was "forced" by his obedience to Fr. Panteleimon and Fr. Isaac, to work a secular job to earn money for the monastery, as a male nurse for an injured man whose live-in girl friend was always present naked! Apparently, homosexuals have no concept of how injurious it is for a normal person, not to say a monk, to behold a naked woman every day and then imagine that he could come back to the monastery and resume a spiritual life.
The list of defections because of Metropoulos' perversity after they left in the Russian Church is: Frs. Elias (twin brother of their "bishop" Moses), Joseph, Hieromonk Justin, Archdeacon Barnabas, Deacon Lazarus, Benjamin, Prodromos, Symeon, Sava, Peter, Paul, Daniel, Tikhon, Onuphrios, Ieronymos, novice Fotios, novice Zakarias, novice Paul.
1970's-1985 - During this time of unrestrained sexual activity on the part of Father Panteleimon and his Greek disciples, God did not utterly abandon him, but as One Who desires the repentance of sinners, Christ gave him ample warnings and signs to convict him of his madness. These incidents manifested themselves as shocking events or demonic activities to awaken the conscience to repentance. Father Arsenios, whom we have mentioned above, was involved in the following incidences.
When Fr. Arsenios would have breakfast, his glass of milk would on its own slide off the table and remain suspended in the air. This occurred many times, and of course it was reported to the abbot. But due to Father Panteleimon's level of spirituality, he could do nothing about it. It was obviously demonic activity, but only the abbot could really understand why. This demonic activity unfortunately did not have any effect on stopping his sexual activity.
On one occasion during the Holy Liturgy, Fr. Arsenios came to receive communion. At the time he received the precious body and blood into his mouth, he sneezed and spit out the Holy Communion all over the face, the beard, and the vestments of Father Panteleimon and even on the floor. Normally the priest who had suffered such a catastrophe would bring to mind his sins and incline himself to repentance and change his way of life. Not so with Father Panteleimon. He remained sexually active.
Another example is that on more than one occasion the icon of St. Seraphim of Sarov flew off the fireplace mantle where it was resting and landed about five feet away, face down, on the floor. Again, this shocking incident did not bring Fr. Panteleimon to repentance.
On another occasion when Fr. Panteleimon was blessing the people in church with a Russian Cross which had a piece of the True Cross in it, which was embedded in a wooden frame, the cross flew out on its own from the frame and landed in the middle of the church on the floor about ten feet away. When the people saw this, naturally, they were in shock. Father Panteleimon ran to pick up the Cross and put it back in its frame and turned quickly back into the Sanctuary. Of course, this had no effect on him either.
These demonic activities, along with his own realization that he was captive to the demon of depravity, explains why when Metropolitan Kallistos of Corinth, Greece, visited the monastery, Fr. Panteleimon asked that the bishop read the prayers of exorcism over him. And without hesitation, the bishop did indeed read the prayers of exorcisms over the abbot of the monastery! Such healing though, requires an earnest desire to repent. Metropoulos however, had no desire to resign from the priesthood and from his abbacy.
The above events outlined in this life, along with the "Report on the Horrific Tragedies" should have brought a normal person to a state of profound repentance. His complete insensibility about the above, coupled with the fact that Father Panteleimon is possessed by the demon or passion of anger, shows his total lack of any spiritual maturity. His raging anger is known to all who have lived with him. All of this would have completely shattered a person to the utmost depths of humility and repentance knowing that you are responsible for so many tragedies. Not so with the insensible soul of Father Panteleimon.
Another example is the following incident. In 1960 Father Panteleimon went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and heard of the righteous Father John the Romanian, an ascetic hermit who was living at a distance from the Monastery of St. George the Khozevite, along a Jordanian gorge in a little skete called St. Anna's Skete. Father John was a holy person and also gifted with the grace of miracle working. Fr. Ioannikios, the disciple of Fr. John, who used to bring him bread from the Monastery of St. George, guided Metropoulos on the long and difficult trip by foot to the skete. Father John met Fr. Panteleimon and nothing is recorded as to what was said. Father John reposed in the Lord not long thereafter.
In 1980 Fr. Panteleimon was again in Jerusalem and was scheming to uncover the remains of the holy Father John. He went to the abbot of St. George Khozeva to encourage this. The abbot, because of a dream in which Fr. John appeared to Fr. Ioannikios saying that his grave must be opened, decided that they should do it at that time. Father Panteleimon was resolutely determined to go with the entourage to the Skete of St. Anna. All the time he was calculating how to obtain a piece of the Saint's relics.
Father Panteleimon had one of his monks with him when they accompanied the people on the difficult trip to St. Anna to exhume the remains. On the way, the first person and guide yelled out wasps, wasps, cover yourselves. He had inadvertently hit a hive and all the wasps came out and were swarming all over the people on the path. They all covered themselves and ran as best they could to get away from the wasps. To everybody's amazement and to the shock of Fr. Panteleimon, he was the only one of the whole company that was stung. No one had one bite, yet Metropoulos was covered with them. Although in pain, he continued with everybody to the Skete.
When they uncovered the body of Father John, it was found to be incorrupt and complete, with a pleasant fragrance. His vestments were intact, the epitrachelion and schema also were not decomposed, and the skin was dried up on the bones, so that he appeared to be sleeping. His face was clean with his black beard complete. His face was pleasant, as if he was about to speak.
When Fr. Panteleimon saw the body was totally incorrupt, he still determined that he was going to violate the saint's body by removing a portion. This is greatly frowned upon when a saint's body is completely incorrupt, because the relics can no longer be called *whole* and incorrupt, yet Fr. Panteleimon was only thinking of his own gain. Because he was the only person attacked by the wasps, he feared however to do it himself, so he commanded his disciple to break off a finger when no one was looking. The disciple hesitated to do such a thing, yet Fr. Panteleimon raised his greedy voice in irritation and anger and told him to break off a finger. Unfortunately the disciple obeyed. Father Panteleimon had his prize, although he paid for his audacity dearly with all the stings on his body. Still more regrettably, that disciple who broke off the saint's finger had his own finger cut off by a table saw some time later.
For Metropoulos to have many holy relics, as we know, is a deceptive tool to mislead the innocent into thinking that he is holy. Unfortunately he has succeeded, for these senseless people imagined that Holy Transfiguration Monastery must be holy because they possess so many holy relics. But this thinking of holiness by association or relic possession is foolishness.
On one occasion his insatiable desire for relics got him in trouble. In the early 1980s, Father Panteleimon was visiting the Russian Convent of the Mother of God in Lesna, France. He was shown the relics that the Convent possessed, and determined within himself that he was going to steal a portion of them from a Convent that was in his own Church, and under his own bishops! When he found an occasion, thinking that no one was looking at him, he opened the reliquary of the Convent and proceeded to detach one of the relics. At that time, by the providence of God, the Abbess of the Convent, Magdalena, came into the Church and caught him. She was deeply scandalized that an Archimandrite from her own Church had attempted to steal from her Convent, especially since only about a year earlier Metropolitan Philaret had written a long letter to her in which he spoke favorably at one point about the Greek Monastery in Boston, headed by Archimandrite Panteleimon as an example of how the Russian Church accepts others of different tradition in to its saving bosom.
Needless to say, Abbess Magdalena made a complaint to Metropolitan Philaret, who was also greatly scandalized that he had a thief among his own clergy, and wanted to expel him from the Church.
The holy Metropolitan Philaret proceeded to implement his expulsion, but his mind was changed by the local Russian clergy who were persuaded by Father Panteleimon to convince the Metropolitan that this was only a light matter, not a serious character flaw which warranted punishment. The Metropolitan then forgave him.
1980's –Along with the above mentioned incident, which can be looked upon as a sign from God directly to Father Panteleimon, there were others which happened to his disciples, most notably Fr. Isaac. He also received, as would have any ordained clergyman in the Church, warnings or divine signs that he was jeopardizing his salvation by going on a path that is abhorrent to God. Normally, a clergyman would not experience even one of these signs in his whole life, but three (if not more) of these were experienced by Fr. Isaac. If a person received such warnings as described below, they would normally examine their whole life very closely to determine why God had abandoned them or punished them.
The first incident or sign can be described thusly: At one time Fr. Isaac left the monastery to pay a sick call at a hospital. He took with him one of the prized possessions of the monastery, which was a relic (bone) of the holy Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra in Lycia. On his way back from the hospital, Fr. Isaac lost the precious relic. In utter perplexity, he retraced his tracks and went back to the hospital to search and search, but it could not be found. His abbot, Fr. Panteleimon, in a word, was beside himself with rage. The whole monastery was filled with the endless sound of him screaming, jumping and raging at the dumb-founded and humiliated and embarrassed Father Isaac. This had no effect on Father Isaac, for he believed that he was working out his salvation as long as he remained in obedience to Father Panteleimon.
The second incident happened when Fr. Isaac was serving the Liturgy with Deacon Andrew at the first church of St. Mark of Ephesus in Roslindale. During the holy Liturgy Fr. Isaac released control of his bladder, and urinated on himself and on the sanctuary floor. Inexplicably, he continued the Liturgy and completed it. Equally unexplainable was the fact that neither he nor Fr. Panteleimon had the intelligence to understand that the church had been defiled. They did not immediately go to the church to perform the sanctification of holy waters there. Consequently, before any further Liturgy could be performed the following Sunday, by God's permission, the Church burned completely to the ground. All was lost! Still again, Father Isaac did not comprehend that sex and liturgizing were not pleasing to God, even though it was under obedience to Father Panteleimon.
The third incident occurred when Fr. Isaac escorted another monk, Fr. Gregory, to visit the clairvoyant Archbishop Andrew of Novo-Diyevo, who was commemorated in the monastery church as their spiritual father, although this was said only out of convenience for Fr. Panteleimon, so as to imply holiness by association. Father Gregory initially received a blessing from the righteous Archbishop Andrew to leave Holy Transfiguration Monastery to seek a more quiet spiritual life. Father Panteleimon did not believe or approve this and Fr. Isaac was accompanying Fr. Gregory to hear the Archbishop affirm this himself. Father Isaac was told, however, by his "elder" Fr. Panteleimon that he was not to allow Archbishop Andrew to speak with Fr. Gregory privately. After their arrival, Archbishop Andrew wished to dismiss Fr. Isaac precisely so that he could speak to Fr. Gregory privately. Father Isaac, as may be expected, refused to let the Archbishop speak with Fr. Gregory or even for them to have confession. Although the Archbishop commanded Fr. Isaac, he could not be persuaded to disobey what he felt were the commands of his elder, polluted though he may be. After disclosing in front of Fr. Isaac specific instructions for Fr. Gregory, the frail Archbishop Andrew then reached for and grasped the Russian pectoral cross that was hanging on Fr. Isaac's neck. Then he took Fr. Isaac's right hand and placed it on the cross. Then he took Fr. Gregory's right hand and placed it on top of Fr. Isaac's right hand and he held the two hands together and made a secret prayer. After he had finished, they were all dismissed and traveled back to Boston. The next day, Fr. Isaac's right hand started to become numb; the following day, it became worse. He had to stop liturgizing. It continued to deteriorate until it became totally numb. Father Isaac eventually betook himself to the hospital, but the doctors could not determine the cause of the paralysis. This condition lasted until the repose of Archbishop Andrew and only then until Fr. Isaac went to the funeral and placed his numbed right hand/arm on the very body of the Archbishop who was in his casket and asked for forgiveness. The next day the hand started to return to a normal condition. Needless to say, Fr. Gregory's hand never experienced any abnormality. This repentance was only to the extent of a prayer to “heal my hand”, never the thought to “heal my soul” or way of life.
A rational person would do great self-examination if any of the above dreadful signs happened to them. Not so, however, with an insensible homosexual under obedience to a homosexual. He could not understand that these incidents (and perhaps there were more) happened to him because of the mercy of God to bring him away from the darkness of his obedience to Father Panteleimon. Father Isaac cannot say that he was not warned.
1984-1986, this was the period foretold by the clairvoyant Archbishop Andrew of Novo Diyevo to Fr. Panteleimon in 1978 as the time of disaster for Holy Transfiguration Monastery.
Back in 1978 when a monk and the iconographer of Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Fr. Gregory, wished to leave and settle his life in the wilderness away from the noisy life lived at Holy Transfiguration Monastery, he asked the clairvoyant Archbishop Andrew if his desire to depart was from God. When Archbishop Andrew confirmed that not only was it from God, but he even blessed the name of the new Skete which Fr. Gregory would establish, calling it Dormition Skete, for the Dormition of the Virgin Mary. Father Gregory then proceeded to tell Father Panteleimon what Archbishop Andrew, whom Metropoulos called his spiritual father, had spoken. The reaction of Fr. Panteleimon was completely unexpected, in that he disobeyed and contradicted and resisted his spiritual father, the Archbishop, continuously. On one occasion when he went personally to Novo Diyevo to demand that Archbishop Andrew reverse and nullify his blessing for Fr. Gregory to leave, the Archbishop told Fr. Panteleimon that, "Many monks and even saints left their first monasteries to better themselves...Yet when Fr. Gregory leaves your monastery, it will be very bad, it will be a disaster for you." Then Fr. Panteleimon retorted back angrily and said that, "Fr. Gregory is a Great Schema monk, you have no canonical right to give him a blessing to leave my monastery because I am not a heretic and I am not immoral." To that statement, the Archbishop looked at him squarely in the eyes and told him, "You may not be a heretic, but watch out for the other." When Archbishop Andrew implied that he was immoral, Fr. Panteleimon flew into a rage and left his presence without asking for a blessing. This again is another in the long series of rebukes by holy people, gifted with the grace of clairvoyance who were trying to bring this man to his senses.
It was because of this prophecy of a disaster, that Metropoulos would seek to find the first occasion to write what was known in the monastery as his “bomb”. It was a 23-page letter slandering Fr. Gregory, who had only left the monastery two years earlier and established Dormition Skete. This letter was sent to all of the Bishops and all of the priests that knew Fr. Gregory. Father Panteleimon's motive was to discredit anyone who left HTM and to see to it that they become failures. When this would happen, he would use this as intimidation against any who would wish to leave his monastery.
After Fr. Gregory left the monastery, having received only permission from Fr. Panteleimon and not a blessing, a few years later he desired to visit the Holy Mountain Athos, since, as we said earlier, no monk from Holy Transfiguration Monastery was permitted to visit, and since he was no longer a part of HTM he was now able. During that visit in 1983, he met Father Theodore, who had left the monastery a few years earlier. Since he was no longer part of Holy Transfiguration, Fr. Theodore decided to live his life on the Holy Mountain. During that conversation, he asked Fr. Theodore why he left the monastery in Boston. He told Fr. Gregory that it was because of the sexual abuse that he had to endure at the hands of Fr. Panteleimon. When Fr. Gregory returned to America, he informed his bishop, Archbishop Alypy of Detroit, of the statements of Fr. Theodore. Father Gregory was bound to do this, not only because Fr. Panteleimon was a priest of the Russian Church Abroad, but also because of the holy Canons.
In 1984, Archbishop Alypy brought this information before Metropolitan Vitaly and the Holy Synod that a priest of the Russian Church Abroad may be living in sin. At Archbishop Alypy's direction, more investigation was made and more testimony was obtained, although Metropolitan Vitaly did not believe the accusations and wanted them all to disappear. Ultimately he permitted a committee to be formed to investigate Fr. Panteleimon to determine if there was any reason to believe that he was guilty in order that a trial should take place. The two bishops who were empowered were Archbishop Antony of Los Angeles and Archbishop Alypy of Detroit.
They decided to inform Fr. Panteleimon that they were coming to Boston to make an investigation of the four accusations that had been presented to the Synod against him. Father Panteleimon knowing his guilt, instructed Fr. Isaac to go to all the monks whom he had sexual relations with and inform them that two bishops were coming to the monastery to ask questions of the monks and that they should not speak at all to the bishops concerning Fr. Panteleimon's sexual perverseness, because, as they said, the “Russian Bishops would not understand. ”This was done because Fr. Panteleimon assumed that the bishops were going to question the monks, but the bishops did not specify this.
The bishops had decided that they only needed to question Fr. Panteleimon. In order not to cause a disturbance within the monastery, they decided to call Fr. Panteleimon out from the monastery and question him at a motel where they had reserved two rooms. They set up icons and had a table with the holy Cross and the holy Gospel and then called the monastery and summoned Fr. Panteleimon to this motel, which was only a few miles away. They did not inform Fr. Panteleimon that they had with them two victims who would testify face to face before the bishops. When Fr. Panteleimon arrived at the motel, he came with his most trusted monks Isaac and Ephraim. They however, were not permitted to go into the room where Fr. Panteleimon was being questioned. When Fr. Panteleimon was asked about the accusations, his only answer was that these were bad monks because they had left him and because of this all their accusations were false. The conclusion of his logic was that these monks could have stayed in the monastery and still have been accusers of the abbot of the most vile and despicable crimes. Only then would their accusations be credible!!!
When Fr. Panteleimon was told that his accusers were present and they were going to be summoned into the room, he became very agitated. The first witness came and was asked by the bishops to tell his story. At the end, Fr. Panteleimon denied it all. The victim/witness put his hand on the Gospel and said that he was telling the truth and asked Fr. Panteleimon to put his hand on the Gospel and say that he was telling the truth. Father Panteleimon refused. He was asked a second time to just hold the Gospel and say that the accuser was lying. Father Panteleimon refused. Father Panteleimon was asked a third time only to say before the holy icons and holy Cross and holy Gospel that he was saying the truth. He refused to even state in one sentence before the holy Gospel, that he was speaking truthfully.
At this juncture, the bishops dismissed the first victim /witness and called in the second victim/witness. When Metropoulos only saw this witness come into the room, he started to loose his composure completely. This monk told of the sexual seduction which he was exposed to at the hands of Fr. Panteleimon, as well as attempts at the hands of Fr. Haralambos. At this point, Father Panteleimon's rage became uncontrollable. His face became red and swelled. The veins protruded from his skull and the bishops became frightened that the man was going to have a stroke. The bishops could not prevail on him to control his anger. He had become completely incoherent. After this testimony, they dismissed all who came and filed a report before the Synod. The report stated that Fr. Panteleimon should be suspended and that a trial should ensue as quickly as possible and that the monastery should have other administrators appointed immediately.
When the bishops did not appear at the monastery to investigate or question the monks, two other victims who had determined not to listen to the directives of Fr. Isaac were disappointed because they wanted to tell the bishops what had happened to them. Therefore, they left the monastery and each individually reported their testimony to the Synod. At this point, there were six witnesses who had documented their story. The next meeting of the Synod was in Mansonville, Canada, and Fr. Panteleimon was summoned. He was again presented with all the testimonies which proved his guilt and he asked to be retired in order not to submit to a trial. The Synod granted him this request, but this request was only to purchase time for him to find other bishops in Greece who would receive him and whatever parishes of the Russian Church would follow him. As events unfolded in November of 1986, Father Panteleimon notified the Russian Church Abroad that he was no longer a part of them, that they had just fallen into heresy and that he was now part of bishops in Greece.
This ends the period prophesied by Archbishop Andrew, that a disaster was going to befall the monastery, which indeed happened, for they left the Church of Christ under the dark cloud of guilt and sin. They who were always portraying themselves as defenders of the Faith had now become the willful and shameless breakers of the holy Canons, which in a way, is also a denial of the Faith. It was a disaster not only for Fr. Panteleimon and his monks, but also to all the clergy and their parishes who blindly followed him instead of Christ.
Before we proceed to the time in his life where he was outside the Church, a few more statements should be made concerning Fr. Panteleimon's association with the Elder Joseph. Metropoulos uses this connection continuously to imply that he is holy, yet there have been many examples in the life of the Church where holy people have had disobedient and completely corrupt disciples. Examples can even be shown to our own time where the indisputable holiness of such luminaries of the Church as St. John of Shanghai and St. Philaret the Confessor had left many disciples which have now departed to the ranks of the heretics or schismatics. Unfortunately the same can be said about the Elder Joseph. All of his immediate disciples are either commemorating the Ecumenical Patriarch, thereby becoming ecumenists and heretics, or, as in the case of Father Panteleimon, are schismatics because of the audacity of creating their own jurisdiction of bishops, HOCNA. In this the disciples of the Elder Joseph are all similar, since they are outside the Church. What makes Metropoulos unique in comparison to the other disciples of the Elder Joseph is his immoral way of life, and his unethical conduct in general.
The disciples of the Elder Joseph were trained on Mount Athos for decades and were all men who had the distinguishing marks of being Athonite monks of prayer, with a corresponding way of life. Their continuous rule of prayer never diminished in their desire for dispassion. They had their monastic work, which was something essential within monastic tradition, either wood carving, making prayer ropes, sewing, gardening, or any labor which is necessary for a monk as part of his rule of life. Morally speaking, the other disciples of the Elder Joseph had no incidents whatsoever of perverted conduct because their way of life was permeated with constant desire to emulate the holy Fathers. None of these fathers, who were disciples of the Elder Joseph, ever mention Father Panteleimon in any of their publications from the Holy Mountain. In a word, they have deliberately broken all contact with Metropoulos, for the opposite reason is that Metropoulos uses association. They do not want to be considered homosexuals by their association with Father Panteleimon whose reputation has become a scandal, even in Greece.
Father Panteleimon, on the other hand, who was the Elder Joseph's disciple by correspondence, has neither the characteristic of being a monk or a Christian layperson. His public way of life in the monastery was open to all. Everybody knew that he was the laziest of all the monks. He would rise in the morning at 10 am and do no work, for he had no skills. He would walk around the monastery, look here and there, constantly nibble in the kitchen and go back to his room to read his Greek newspapers for hours until his restlessness would give birth to the desire to go shopping. He would visit antique stores, libraries and malls and just look around to waste time. Perhaps he thought this was a way to justify his existence at the monastery, because he did not help in the incense, in the icon mounting, in the cleaning of the monastery, in a word, he was an example of what a monk should not be. Especially when it came to his irritability and anger, which made the peace loving monks agitated and tremble at the exhibition of such rage. It seemed like his years of self-will and self-love had given birth to the fruit of a completely passionate person.
His honey-coated words have deceived many, but these people should look more carefully, for as it says in The Ladder of Divine Ascent, “It should not surprise us or seem strange to us when we see that some do bad deeds under cover of good words; ...”
Yet when he speaks of his association with the Elder Joseph, one would want to reply to him the words of St. John again, wherein he said,
“I saw an inexperienced disciple who, in the presence of certain people boasted of the achievements of his teacher, thinking to win glory for himself from another's harvest; but he only earned for himself dishonor, for everybody asked him: 'But how could a good tree grow such a barren branch?'”
St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step IV, 83:
Panteleimon's skete in Maine was a good solution to remove him from the monastery, yet even there, his restless and passionate spirit could not tolerate monastic solitude. His life at that oceanfront skete was always mingled with the desire to receive visitors. A true monastic life of repentance was not to be found there, because as we know from the testimony of another monk who left, he found tucked away under a bed, male pornographic magazines.
THE LAST HALF TO BE CONTINUED SOON...
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