Crimes of the Eastern Orthodox Church 1: Adam Metropoulos

*Updated May 23, 2025.*

I doubt this is comprehensive or representative of the church’s positives; it is merely reportage on the news reports. I did not see a compendium, so I decided to write one.

Another purpose for this catalogue is because of the lack of news plays about the Eastern Orthodox Church compared to the Roman Catholic Church, and its trial of Galileo, torture, hunting of witches, the Inquisition, and the child sexual abuse scandal, even Bruno, of course.

However, what about the second-largest Christian sect in the world, boasting over 300 million members? In many cases, the secular and ordinary religious stand in solidarity and moral alignment. So, let us begin:

According to the Greek Reporter, a priest, Adam Metropoulos, was convicted of sexual abuse on four counts. So, Metropoulos was convicted of four counts of sexual abuse of a minor, which included inappropriate sexual contact while the victim was asleep. The abuse was severe and prolonged.

His sentencing, on or around April 27, totals 12 years in prison, with all but 6.5 years suspended. This was followed by 3 years’ probation and lifetime sex offender registration. Ann Murray, the Superior Court Justice, stated that she also sentenced him to “3 years of probation after he gets out of prison” and would have to “register with the Main Sex Offender Registry for the rest of his life.”

Murray noted that the impacts on the victims were “great” or significant. A former St. George Greek Orthodox Church altar boy testified at the trial. The former altar boy was 23 years old and reported being sexually assaulted by Adam Metropoulos.

This was during sleepovers at the Metropoulos’s home. The Greek Reporter noted that police found pornographic images on the offender’s computer system. It portrayed a family member secretly filmed in the nude. Other images included different people, including children. Police found about 400 sexually explicit images.

On the day of the arrest, the Greek Orthodox Diocese in Maine suspended Metropoulos. In Metropoulos’s defence, he stated that he never had intercourse with the teenager but that he touched the altar boy at the time in an inappropriate way while he was asleep.

Metropoulos had a prior conviction. It was in Michigan. The conviction happened in 1983. The crime was second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor (<13). In May 2016, the victim filed a lawsuit against Metropoulos. The Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston alleged negligence in supervising Metropoulos. They were not alone: Metropolitan Methodios, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and Bangor’s Greek Orthodox community joined the negligence allegation.

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