Free Republic

Constantinople, September 16, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – A firestorm of controversy has erupted in the Orthodox Church over its Ecumenical Patriarch planning to honor vice president and possible presidential candidate Joe Biden. Vice President Biden is scheduled to receive the highest award bestowed by the Greek Orthodox Church, the Athenagoras Human Rights Award. The award will be presented at the organization's annual banquet Saturday, October 17, at the New York City Hilton Hotel. We should remember that Abp. Demetrios famously compared President Obama to Alexander the Great in 2009. The award is a kind of "thanks" to Biden for two publicized...

“[We] thought it would strengthen Obama and it didn’t have this effect,” he told the Associated Press in an interview. The award so early in his term appeared to take the Obama White House by surprise, and Mr. Lundestad said U.S. officials privately asked if a Nobel Prize-winner had ever skipped the awards ceremony. Normally the Nobel committee’s decision regarding recipients remains private, and Mr. Lundestad’s frank and revealing remarks regarding internal decisions have caused a stir in Norway, detailing the politicking and compromises that have gone into determining the annual laureate. “Even many of Obama’s supporters thought that the...