(unedited)
Persecution from the Organization
The Story of GEORGE
I hadn’t seen my friend Nikos for years, since after school graduation we both went our separate ways. He went to jail and then he married, while I first served as an “presbyter” and then dedicated myself fully to the service of God but, in reality, to the “Watch Tower” organization. I worked for years and for a time even at the central headquarters of the organization in the U.S.A., often with an exhausting schedule, from dawn to dusk. I believed that I was giving all my energies to God. My acquaintance with the members of the “Governing Body” of the “witnesses” was very beneficial to me especially my relationship with my fellow Greek, George Gagkas whom I considered “my spiritual father” for the help he gave me to “progress” in the organization. When I returned to Greece however, suddenly I realized that some of the local upper echelon of the organization let by a Roulis Korfias, despised me and they were actively seeking my annihilation. They found an opportunity based on my relationship with Friskoula, an important key figure of the organization of Greece, who after his unwarranted disfellowship, led the wave of apostasy in the decade of the 80’s. I don’t have the desire to refer to my meetings and relationship with Roulis Korfias, however I will relate in summary the final events that led to my disfellowship.
Regarding the events which led me to this medieval religious court, I will include my personal correspondence dated March 15, 1987, sent to my close friend George Gagkas, member of the “Governing Body” of the “witnesses”. I wrote the events in a chronological order and I present it here with some minor omissions or changes of names. Someone can see the intensity of the emotions of those days, but also my level of influence from the teachings of this organization and my (unfortunate) faith in it as “Organization of God.”
(The quotation marks on some words such as “brother” and “Christian” were subsequently added for this book).
“Dear and unforgettable “brother” Gagka. I am joyful to correspond with you tonight, but my joy is overshadowed with a very deep sadness! A very hard and inhuman hand has come tonight to cut our strong bonds of love and friendship which united us for - - - years. My pain and my grief cannot be described, nor could I find the appropriate words to express my emotions flooding my heart as an impetuous mountain stream.
The events are as follows:
11/29/86: - - - I find again my joy and happiness because I was engaged with a very good “sister” a member of a genuine “Christian” family, which offer great service for many years to the “matters of God”.
Wednesday – 2/25/87: - - - We made our wedding announcement and we begin to send out the invitations. The wedding date was set on Sunday 3/15/87 at 7 p.m. at a wedding hall patronized by the “witnesses”.
Friday 2/27/87: - - - The secretary of the “church” …. is looking to find me. He notifies me that I must present myself without the slightest delay in front of a SPECIAL tri-membercommittee headed by some “presbyter” named Tsigounidis from a neighboring “church,” wishing to discuss some matter with me. I asked him about the specific nature of this matter and he replied that he did not have any information at the time. He stressed to me however, that I was very limited time-wise and I needed to make myself available either Saturday 2/28/87 at 5 p.m. or on Monday 3/2/87 at 7 p.m. Even though I needed to visit “sister” - - - in Volos who suffers from cancer of the stomach, I was compelled under the circumstances to postpone my trip and to present myself in front of the tri-member committee.
The “brothers” had instructions from the “Overweighing Body” to investigate the following points:
1. On 10/28/86 I had visited Rome, where I attended the services of the anglophone “Church” and I saw some of our “brothers” I knew from the past. They accused me that I mentioned to the “brothers” there, that I am an “presbyter” of the Anglophone congregation of Athens. Of course I had absolutely no reason to say anything like this. I denied the [allegation, (accusation)] and I asked them kindly to look into this matter more carefully on their own or to give me a little time to determine how and which person initiated the above information (or accusation rather).
2. They read to me a letter of an area “Bishop” in which he stated that at some gathering with “brothers” at a vacation home I labeled “brother” Theoharakis (area bishop of my “church” a number of years ago), as a harsh individual who sowed death inside my family.
3. The third case pertained to one of my personal discussions with some “sister” Regarding “brother” Friskoula.
I understood immediately that the “brothers” were Preparing something bad against me, and based on their attitude and their mannerisms, I was sensing that they had marked me off and they were setting me up for disfellowship!!! I have serious reasons to feel this way because in the Summer Area Conference of 1986 and also about a month ago, some of my very close “brothers” warned me that “Roulis has written you off and he has placed you in Execution row”!
When I heard this I was in disbelief for the following reasons:
1. “Brother” Roulis and I shook hands, we forgave each other for our previous mistakes and misunderstandings, and I offered to contribute in the common cause of serving as guides to the visiting “brothers” during the International Convention of ’85. Furthermore in some contacts that I had with him, I brought him greetings from our common friends. I was explaining to him my personal situation and always kept him informed.
2. The accusations against my person were not of a serious nature for the simple reason that the first one was totally ungrounded and it included a number of inaccuracies, while the other two were totally unsubstantiated. I’m enclosing for you copies of letters from various “brothers” who refute the overall character of these accusations in all three cases.
At the end of this audited dialogue with the tri-member committee, I pleaded with them to … have some consideration if not for our bonds of friendship and “brotherhood” that bound us for years, at the very least to respect the laws of the “organization of God”, to fear God and to think twice before proceeding with a hasty decision, something they could possibly regret greatly before Divine Justice. I discerned with great sadness from their overall attitude that they were not disposed in the least to revere the divine principles of justice and compassion. They were harsh and calloused, totally merciless, even though I did not have any need for their mercy. Finally they gave me up to Saturday 3/7/87 to bring forth my defense witnesses. I communicated by phone with Italy and I requested the moral support of my dear “brothers” who responded with much politeness and they sent a letter to “brother” Gunter Guntz, a member of the committee of the Athenian Sector. Unfortunately, it reached Athens with a slight delay, being that the tri-member committee had no time to lose!!!
Their aim was not only my unjust disfellowship but they needed to hinder my “theocratic wedding” at all costs. Unfortunately, proof for this can be clearly seen in the development of the events, which I hereby describe:
Saturday 3/7/86: - - - Saturday evening I met with the tri-member committee having along “brother” . . .and “sister”. . . who did not utter any accusation against me as evidenced by their signed witness accounts but they only had praises for me. When the committee saw that they could not bolster a serious accusation against me, it attempted to add an additional one. Obviously, this one was intended to destroy my moral character.
“There is also one more category against you. You are accused that five years ago, you were seen at the central park of Corfu kissing a . . . PROSTITUTE!!! How do you plea?”
I expressed to them that their accusation once again does not stand. It is rather childish and it opposes all that I was taught and learned to live with in “the organization of God”. But since they had become unbearably oppressive to the point of cruelty, I requested to have the eyewitness behind this accusation before me. I was now aware that I was dealing with people who had totally lost their Christian identity and they were more than capable to push this to tragic and extreme dimensions. At this point I wish to thank our Most Holy God Jehovah, who illumined me with this intelligent move, so I could at least protect my reputation and my dignity.
Since sincere servants of God within Bethel warned me that Roulis is preparing my annihilation, I made it a point to purchase a state of the art tape recorder with a strong transmittance antenna, so my fiancée could listen in to this “unholy inquisition” and record it with a radio-receiver. I did this for two reasons:
(a) to protect my honor and my reputation
(b) to enable myself to offer at some point all the pertinent information to whichever committee would undertake the cleansing of such anti-Christian actions.
(Note: If and when the need presents itself for me to prosecute guilty all those who toyed with me and muddled my name, I will do it for reasonsof moral dignity and principles)
Finally I requested that they bring forth the witness of this final accusation. To my great surprise it had to do with one of my close friends and “brother” who served during 1973 in Corfu with his wife as a “special pioneer”, by the name of Michael Tsanaklidis. How ironic br. George! We worked side by side with this “brother” for six months doing some “amazing” work at the island of Corfu. The ones who can talk to you about my ethos, my devotion to the principles of God and my honorable life are my uncles Thanasis and Sophia . . . who work with “brother” . . . The same holds true for my cousins . . . Not only them, but the one-hundred “gospel messengers” of the island, of whom many are found today in the “organization of God,” mainly due to my ethos and my unselfish commitment to the cause of God’s Kingdom. I also happen to remember that I was spending all my work income to support the material needs of the brother whom they were now bringing before me, as my accuser. At that ultimate moment that man reminded me of Judas the Iscariot. I felt sorry for him when I first gazed at him. They dragged him out of bed with his pajamas leaving behind a bewildered wife and two small children. This same person was disfellowshiped two or three years ago for the reason of “fornication”. While his previous wife was on her deathbed fighting a losing and painful battle with cancer, he was romantically involved with his present much younger wife at the island of Aigina, scandalizing everyone and everything with his conduct…
(Note: not included in this letter: “This information was also passed on to Nikos at an unsuspecting time by a “presbyter” of Salamina who also held the ministerial responsibility for Aigina: at the time he was burdened by the organization to follow Tsanaklidis at night to bolster the accusation based on which he was deceiving his ill wife with this young woman to whom he supposedly gave “scriptural lessons to”).
...Finally this man accused me, only to be proven later a false witness and a slanderer. I was informed later that the accusation was masterminded by Theoharakis to slander me.
And I ask you now “brother George”: Which honest and ethical “brother” will bring all these false witnesses and evil contrivers to justice! All the necessary proof is at your disposal! But who will bring them to trial! Who will bring upon them the justice of God? Notwithstanding the lack of convincing evidence and witnesses, the committee based on its judgment went forth with my disfellowship.
The accusations were two:
1. I told the “brothers” in Rome that I was the “presbyter” of the “Anglophone” (congregation of Athens).
2. I called br. Theoharakis “harsh”.
They overlooked the incident of Corfu, because br. Tsanaklidis stated that this woman thought to be a prostitute could more than likely be the fiancée of my cousin Basil and his future wife, and I possibly greeted her with the usual Christian embrace. When I asked him if he saw me do this personally, he mentioned that he heard this from someone I studied the Holy Scripture with. When I contacted this person of the “world” he in turn told me that he did not only even imagine such an accusation against me, but on the contrary, he considered me as the most ethical person he ever met and he feels extremely grateful towards me for everything he heard and learned from me about the “truth”. This entire matter is an intrigue in which all of them participated in. It involves Roulis and Theoharakis, Tsigounidis and Tsanaklidis. Who will bring them to justice? Fortunately God, Jehovah, who is good and merciful, because I have forgiven them.
Saturday 3/7/87 - - - at nine p.m., my disfellowship is announced. I asked them to give me my lawful right to appeal, which would have to be filed no later than 3/14/87 up to 9 p.m., as they assured me. I considered this as the greatest expression of God’s Love for me and my fiancée, because I could get married the following Saturday at 7 p.m. complete my wedding ceremony by 8:30 p.m. and still have time to hand in my letter of appeal 5 minutes before 9 p.m. Thus Roulis would be unable to destroy my wedding or disfellowship my family members.
I also need to mention that my father-in-law, a man of eighty years of age, who has been tried by courts many times for the cause of the “truth” in Crete and dedicated his one daughter to serve Bethel for seven years, was now bedridden a few days prior to his daughters wedding. My mother-in-law was despondent and highly depressed due to the unacceptable behavior of the “brothers” who were manipulating the course of our personal life and happiness with inexpressible malice.
In the meantime the wedding events unfolded as follows:
Since we had planned our wedding on 3/14/87, the “presbytery” needed to supply me with a paper stating that I was free to proceed with a “theocratic marriage”. When I brought them all the necessary requirements and the legal wedding license from “Caesar” (civil authorities), they denied my petition for a “theocratic marriage”. I understood then that the overall goal of Roulis was not only to cut me off from the “organization of God”, but behaving in a demonic fashion he was eagerly awaiting for the moment and the hour of my wedding plans to take full revenge against me. He is a “maniatis” by descent and he needed to uphold the great reputation of the relentless and cruel Spartans. (Mani – a suburb of Sparta).
At some point I had the courage and the integrity to send a letter bearing my signature referring to his lifestyle concerning his behavior in the Anglophone “church” only, and especially his attitude towards “brother” Friskoula whom he despised from the beginning even from the time the organization had sent him to Cyprus. Due to our special relationship and friendship being that we were both developed simultaneously and “theocratically” by the good hands of the “brothers”, he counted on me as a close co-worker in the exercise of his “theocratic” responsibilities. With a satanic masterminding capability he succeeded to displace br. Miterakis who confided in me personally, while leaving Bethel that “the clique did him in”!! Of course at the time I did not understand what he meant. Subsequently, when I witnessed his conduct with his co-workers, his unjustifiable activities, his criminal behavior towards “brothers” who had devoted their entire life to the pure worship of God, I began to become highly disenchanted and to distance myself from this lawless man. I would suffice to only bring up the name of the faithful and dear “brother” . . . and his son-in-law from whom he suspended the privileges from the “church” of . . . the congregation he sent me to strengthen. This “brother” confessed to me his deep pain and further stated that this unbearable pain and the unjust behavior of br. Roulis would finally send him to his grave. Volumes of books would not be able to contain all the havoc his actions have created throughout his career.
In my case however, he behaved like a spider or scorpion waiting for the most opportune moment to sting me. He did not give me the paper to go through with an honorable theocratic marriage. Thus since br. Gunther Kunz encouraged us with the information that in Germany the “brothers” get married in a civil ceremony, not having another favorable solution at the time we called the deputy major and he officiated our wedding. However since I had invited a significant number of key people, who worked with the utmost objectivity, integrity, and goodness for the realization of all the favorable legal changes (towards the “witnesses”) in our country, all these people were highly disappointed, and naturally at this point they are well aware of the unjust behavior of the Roulis Korphias, the representative of the “Watchtower” magazine organization. These people lived and shared our ordeal and they stood by us with great kindness so we would not be humiliated on the special day of our wedding. All these people, and some news reporters are asking me to release to them the cassettes and the recordings I made of the committees, and the false witnesses, so they can publish this in the newspapers. However, I will await your own just intervention. Until then my wife and I will exclude ourselves from the meetings having placed our lives in the hands of God.
Saturday 3/15/87: This evening I married “sister” Stella, and we left our wedding the way we were, with our wedding garments on, in the company of a young pregnant woman, and we went to hand in our letter of appeal. At 8:50 p.m. while entering “Kingdom Hall,” I gazed upon the faces dear “brother” with whom I worked side by side in the past who now have been turned against me, to annihilate me. Like the dark agents of the Mob he avoids to even look at me, because he is an evil coward, dark like the Devil, who guides all his actions and movements. They keep me in the cold for one hour and they are trying to condemn me on the spot, so they can announce my disfellowship tomorrow in all the “churches” of Attica and perhaps of the entire Greece.
My bride with her wedding gown is kept waiting outside with the “{pregnant sister” who breaks out in tears horrified from this agony!!! And she cries out:
- Is this Christianity or the middle ages?
I plead with them to take into consideration the sanctity of this moment but they are adamant. Finally my shivering fiancée enters and now my wife of one-two hours and asks them to set me free, because she is freezing being simply dressed in a wedding gown. After this they told me to make myself available the next day, Sunday 3/16/87 in the Hall at 8:30 a.m. with al my witnesses!!!
It is now 4:00 o’clock in the morning!!! And I write to you my beloved father in the truth, and unforgettable “brother” George. Would you be able to pass sentence on these lawless men!
Woe to the twenty two thousand Greek “brother.” Little do they know that they are under the sharp claws of a ravenous Wolf, Roulis and his coworkers.
With love George…”
This was followed with numerous depositions of “witnesses” who were declaring that all the accusations of the committee were groundless, since they were also eyewitnesses of the events I was accused with. They also had the letter from the Bethel of Italy, declaring that there was nothing reprehensible in my person. However, all these were not considered capable to render justice. It was clear that these people wanted me outside of the organization.
In reality however, it was God who also wanted me out! This was the time to begin to know his true will, his real Church. But I will let Nikos to continue with his story.