To: dan.fitzpatrick@wsj.

com
From: nlupinin@ne.rr.com
October 28, 2015
Dear Mr. Fitzpatrick,
As a long time subscriber to the WSJ, I was appalled to read Rob Copelands
profile of Fr. Emmanuel Lemelson, priest and hedge fund manager (WSJ, p. C1, Oct.
27, 2015). Apparently, something about the combination of priest and fiscal
manager rankled Copeland who, despite being treated openly and kindly by Fr.
Emmanuel and his family, as well our parish here in Keene, NH, felt compelled for
reasons best known to him to do a traditional yellow journalism hatchet job. How
sad.
May I suggest that this is redolent of pieces which appear in Mother Jones,
Rolling Stone, and the New York Times, certainly not in WSJ. Do you remember the
28 straight days that the Times ran an Abu Ghraib smear story on the front page?
Copelands article has that same tone and innuendos. Maybe the aforementioned
publications would be a better fit for him.
The innuendos, open criticism, and inaccuracies abound. He is snide about the
reference to the Good Book (apparently not the Book the reader may be
referencing). Can anyone name a Turkish archbishop? The term antidotum is
totally false (cf. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church). Just what is the
point about his wife driving an Escalade other than a criticism? And on and on it
goes.
You, as editor, took Copeland at his word. We at St. George Greek Orthodox
Church took Fr. Emmanuel at his word. His words and deeds were always those of
kindness, gentle outreach, warmth, spirituality, caring. No word about finance ever
escaped his lips. I wonder if Copeland has the ability to be caring about his own
profession. In the context of the WSJs tradition of high editorial standards, it looks
like both the reportorial side and the editorial side have been compromised.
Cordially,
Nickolas Lupinin, Professor of History
Past president of ASEC (Association for the Study of Eastern Christian History and
Culture)
Center Associate, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University
Member of Parish Council, St. George Greek Orthodox Church, Keene, NH