Archbishop Elpidophoros of GOA closing out the DNC with a prayer.

[Justin-H.S.]

I heard he was going to "be there" and so he gave a prayer "In the Name of the Holy Trinity." His appearance at the DNC came as no surprise given Biden's history of receiving awards from the EP/GOA. It could be argued that the Archbishop's prayers at the DNC is because they are especially in need of his prayers.

Edit: Found a video of the prayer itself.

 

[Xenophon]

He shouldn't be up there. Yet another stunt by this man.

 

[SingularityOne]

Is it okay to pray at events like that like he did? I’m honestly wondering.

 

[ArmyMatt]

I think the only issue I heard is that he prayed for VP Biden as the President.

but there should be no issue that he was there or praying (unless it was a joint prayer, and I don't think it was). we always have prayed for our civil leaders.

 

[SingularityOne]

I think the only issue I heard is that he prayed for VP Biden as the President.

but there should be no issue that he was there or praying (unless it was a joint prayer, and I don't think it was). we always have prayed for our civil leaders.

Ah, I see. Thanks for that nuanced explaination.

 

[gzt]

I heard he was going to "be there" and so he gave a prayer "In the Name of the Holy Trinity." His appearance at the DNC came as no surprise given Biden's history of receiving awards from the EP/GOA. It could be argued that the Archbishop's prayers at the DNC is because they are especially in need of his prayers.

They've done this for both conventions for at least th last 20 years.

See this note from 2016: Archbishop Demetrios Delivers Benediction at Republican National Convention - 2016 News Releases - Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

From that article:

Following a long established tradition in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese to offer a prayer in both the Republican and the Democratic Conventions, Archbishop Demetrios was invited by the Republican National Committee and was introduced by its Chairman Reinhold Richard "Reince" Priebus.

 

[gzt]

I think the only issue I heard is that he prayed for VP Biden as the President.

He didn't.

 

[ArmyMatt]

He didn't.

well, maybe. it depends on if he prayed for "Joe Biden, for the highest office in the land..." or if it was "Joe Biden for the highest office in the land..."

the former has no issue, the latter does. honestly, it's hard for me to tell which from the video.

 

[gzt]

The text of the sentence is ungrammatical either way, it seems like there's a word missing or he flubbed the function of an English preposition.

We pray that You would shine the light of Your countenance upon the delegates of this convention, and upon Vice President Joe Biden for the highest office in the land.

With or without the comma, that clause doesn't parse like that with that verb. You can't shine a light on somebody for some intention like that, that's not what words mean. Meanwhile, if you go with the hypothesis that perhaps "their nominee" or some participle like "running..." got elided or the name got substituted for "their nominee", the text seems a lot like the 2016 GOP convention prayer:

Furthermore, Almighty Lord, send forth your guiding hand upon these Your servants, the delegates of the Republican National Convention and their nominees for the superb and awesome office of the President and Vice President of the United States of America, Donald Trump and Mike Pence, and lead them unto wisdom and discernment...

 

[Justin-H.S.]

well, maybe. it depends on if he prayed for "Joe Biden, for the highest office in the land..." or if it was "Joe Biden for the highest office in the land..."

the former has no issue, the latter does. honestly, it's hard for me to tell which from the video.

The former is not congruent to the rest of the content of the sentence in that prayer.

 

[rusmeister]

I think that while it is good and right to pray for anyone, including leaders, in our Liturgy or private prayer, it is not good for our bishops to pray at partisan events, period. Doesn’t matter whether it’s for the Republicans or Democrats. By standing up at a partisan event, the bishop gives the appearance of endorsing the partisan side. Even the appearance that is not fact is bad. A bishop also appears to represent us as the Church, and our endorsement of the partisan side.

 

[ArmyMatt]

You can't shine a light on somebody for some intention like that, that's not what words mean.

yeah, you can. I have heard plenty of prayers for leadership that follow that pattern.

 

[ArmyMatt]

The former is not congruent to the rest of the content of the sentence in that prayer.

nah, it can be. there is nothing wrong with praying for the delegates, the VP, and the Presidency as three separate things to pray for.

 

[Justin-H.S.]

nah, it can be. there is nothing wrong with praying for the delegates, the VP, and the Presidency as three separate things to pray for.

Agreed. In the OP:

It could be argued that the Archbishop's prayers at the DNC is because they are especially in need of his prayers.

What clues me in on the opposing side is that he didn't pray for them to repent of their stance on crimes against children, born and unborn.

It's funny because if you go to the YouTube video itself, the like to dislike ratio is amazingly negative, and being that it is hosted by the GOA channel itself, I doubt those dislikes are all random members of the Right Wing Death Squad, but rather Greek Orthodox Christians like myself who profoundly disagree with the Archbishops presence and representation of us at the DNC.

Transcript of the prayer from the GOA channel:

Let us pray. Most merciful and loving God, As we gather in soberness of mind and of heart for the sake of our Nation and its future, We pray that You would shine the light of Your Countenance Upon the Delegates of this Convention, And upon Vice President Joe Biden for the highest office in the land. As we face the future as One American Nation, Bring us to our best selves and inspire our better angels, In peace, in fairness, and in generosity. That we may fight against injustice, inequality, and hatred. That we may achieve a common good, a greater good, In the Name of the Holy Trinity we pray. Amen

No comma.

 

[gzt]

yeah, you can. I have heard plenty of prayers for leadership that follow that pattern.

I'll take your word for it, but this doesn't make grammatical sense: We pray that You would shine the light of Your countenance ... upon Vice President Joe Biden for the highest office in the land. Inserting a comma doesn't make it make grammatical sense, either.

 

[Xenophon]

Agreed. In the OP:


What clues me in on the opposing side is that he didn't pray for them to repent of their stance on crimes against children, born and unborn.

It's funny because if you go to the YouTube video itself, the like to dislike ratio is amazingly negative, and being that it is hosted by the GOA channel itself, I doubt those dislikes are all random members of the Right Wing Death Squad, but rather Greek Orthodox Christians like myself who profoundly disagree with the Archbishops presence and representation of us at the DNC.

Transcript of the prayer from the GOA channel:


No comma.

Well, the original video of the DNC also had significantly more dislikes, but the dislikes are purged in standard Google Manipulation way.

Same with the other DNC videos. They be purging the dislikes because clearly only Russian Bots would dare dislike such videos.

 

[Justin-H.S.]

Well, the original video of the DNC also had significantly more dislikes, but the dislikes are purged in standard Google Manipulation way.

Same with the other DNC videos. They be purging the dislikes because clearly only Russian Bots would dare dislike such videos.

I edited the OP video to just the prayer itself which is hosted on the GOA channel. It's getting ratio'd there as well. Now, you could argue that the GOA is the Orthodox Church of Democrats, but that still doesn't explain why. Point being, the average RWDS more than likely doesn't know the structure of the Orthodox Church, who or what an Archbishop is in the context of the GOA, nor go to the GOA channel just to search out the prayer given by the religious guy wearing the funny hat (since most RWDS's are Protestants).

Nah, I think he's getting organically ratio'd by the Church laity.

 

[ArmyMatt]

I'll take your word for it, but this doesn't make grammatical sense: We pray that You would shine the light of Your countenance ... upon Vice President Joe Biden for the highest office in the land. Inserting a comma doesn't make it make grammatical sense, either.

well, it can. it could sound like he is praying for the delegates, the Vice President, and the presidency in general (as the highest office in the land).

 

[ArmyMatt]

Agreed. In the OP:


What clues me in on the opposing side is that he didn't pray for them to repent of their stance on crimes against children, born and unborn.

It's funny because if you go to the YouTube video itself, the like to dislike ratio is amazingly negative, and being that it is hosted by the GOA channel itself, I doubt those dislikes are all random members of the Right Wing Death Squad, but rather Greek Orthodox Christians like myself who profoundly disagree with the Archbishops presence and representation of us at the DNC.

Transcript of the prayer from the GOA channel:


No comma.

well, that's no good.

 

[gzt]

well, it can. it could sound like he is praying for the delegates, the Vice President, and the presidency in general (as the highest office in the land).

Okay, I see, if you're reading it as, "We pray that You would shine the light of Your countenance ... for the highest office in the land", that would indeed make sense as a third thing in a list, but I don't think that would be his meaning. I think the reading in Archbishop Elpidophoros of GOA closing out the DNC with a prayer. is more sensible but either reading is more sensible than thinking the Archbishop was praying an endorsement of Biden rather than the exact sort of prayers offered at both conventions for at least the last couple decades by the Archbishop of the Greek Archdiocese.