Writer pays for lies that ‘humiliated’ church leader

False accusations against the leader of the Greek Orthodox Church in Australia cost a journalist more than $300,000.

On Friday, Alkis Morelas was revealed to have slandered Archbishop Makarios Griniezakis in four online articles he wrote for a Greek-language website called Greek Flash News.

The archbishop has overseen the church in Australia and Oceania since 2019.

Morelas accused the archbishop of stealing money from the Black Summer bushfire relief appeal, spending church money on personal holidays and failing to take action against a priest accused of child sexual abuse.

Federal Court Judge Wendy Abraham found Morelas, the veteran Greek Australian journalist who largely represented himself in the case, fabricated evidence and distorted information.

As a result of the misinformation, Archbishop Makarios expressed that he was humiliated and offended by the articles.

He was contacted by Patriarch Bartholomew, the church’s global leader, and regularly asked questions about the allegations by his congregation.

Witnesses testified that they saw him crying several times.

The Greek-language website had approximately 2,000 monthly visitors at the relevant times in 2021 and 2022.

Morelas attempted to defend the accusations by saying that the articles were his honest opinion and that he was privileged to make the allegations.

However, Judge Abraham rejected the arguments, saying there was no reasonable justification for publishing the lies.

“Mr. Morelas admitted under cross-examination that he had no personal knowledge of what occurred,” he wrote in his decision.

“There is no credible evidence that it was properly fact-checked before publication.”

The court found that Morales failed to contact the archdiocese’s media unit to give it a chance to respond to the archbishop’s false allegations.

Judge Abraham said the reporter used “florid and offensive language” in four articles.

The terms “pervert”, “emissary of Satan” and “whore of the Archdiocese” were used to refer to the archbishop.

Morales also said that Archbishop Makarios signed “death contracts” against those who opposed him.

The judge found that during cross-examination the spiritual leader refused to use his correct title and ruled that the justification for defamation was “ridiculous”.

The archbishop, who the judge judged to be a credible and reliable witness, testified that he spends between $60,000 and $80,000 a year, mostly traveling around Australia to attend missions.

“His evidence was strictly that his personal expenses were modest. There is no evidence to the contrary,” the judge said.

The archbishop was ordered to award heavy damages because Morales continued to publish the defamatory claims after being told to stop by the court.

“(Morales) did not apologize, but instead took the opportunity to make further allegations,” Judge Abraham wrote.

Morales was ordered to pay $300,000 in damages, including $50,000 in punitive damages.

The journalist, who has a 55-year career, was also ordered to pay the archbishop’s expenses in the case.