Drone Metal Orthodox Priest Guitarist Responds to Fascism, Homophobia Accusations

Father Dionysios Tabakis, the Greek Orthodox priest who found niche virality this year as a drone-metal guitarist, has issued a public statement addressing a series of religious blog posts that make repeated use of virulent homophobic language. Two posts in particular, both published in 2024 on a WordPress blog called (translated from Greek) “The Doors The Doors,” refer to gay people as “Σοδομιτῶν” (“Sodomites”) and gay marriage—which was ratified in the Hellenic Parliament that same year—as a “σοδομικὸ τερατούργημα” (“sodomitic monstrosity”). “I don’t like to hide what I believe, but do declare openly what is in my soul, even if this sometimes makes me unpopular,” Tabakis writes in the statement, obtained by Pitchfork, which you can read in full below. “My view on homosexuality is the same as that of the Orthodox Church for 2000 years, nothing more, nothing less. We owe homosexual people love and acceptance because many have at times experienced great rejection from their environment, especially from their families.” Tabakis does not comment on the content of the posts themselves, and in fact appears to explicitly refer to gay attraction as a “sin”: “It is better to sin with freedom than to be virtuous with oppression.” He closes the letter writing, “I long again for peace, my hermitism, and to upload my music with passion and peace on my channel. I see and realize that my path and beliefs as an Orthodox Priest differ significantly from some of the values and cultural positions represented within contemporary experimental music festivals.” (Update: At time of publication, Tabakis was booked to play next month’s Making Time ∞ festival in Philadelphia. Pitchfork has since been informed that he has pulled out of the fest.) This is not the only controversy that has arisen around Tabakis. A recently uncovered YouTube video from 2013 shows him performing an agiasmos service, or “sanctification,” at the opening of an office building for Golden Dawn—a neo-Nazi organization that held seats in Greece’s Parliament between 2015 and 2019. (As of 2020, Golden Dawn is designated as a criminal group in the country.) The priest in the video is directly identified as Tabakis in a December 2019 Facebook post made by the Argolida Anti-Fascist and Anti-Racist Front. Tabakis discussed the agiasmos in a video posted to YouTube last Friday, August 21, and again in a section of today’s statement—both of which hit similar beats. He explains that he was assigned to perform the blessing ceremony by the church as the priest overseeing the city of Nafplio, where the offices were opened. This is, per Tabakis, the norm for all political parties in Greece. “I detest both nationalism and borders,” he adds in the video. “That’s why, on my guitar, I take the frets out so that I can play freely.” Heat Crimes, the Greek label that issued Tabakis’ debut LP Paradise Metal earlier this year, offered additional clarification via email: “In Greek Orthodox practice, priests routinely perform agiasmos, blessing ceremonies for homes, shops, businesses, schools, public institutions, military facilities and other premises. A politician or political organization inviting a local priest to bless new premises therefore does not, by itself, establish that either the priest or the Church endorses that organization. The important distinction is between performing a religious blessing and giving a political endorsement.”