[ditty_news_ticker id="27897"] September, 2017 - Orthodox Christian Laity
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Monthly Archives: September, 2017

George D. Karcazes

Letter To the Editor of The National Herald on Church Leadership

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: Orthodox Christian Laity How is it possible that in 2017, almost a thousand years after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks, the leadership of the Orthodox Church in the world, but especially in the United States, continues to operate as though it is still a part of the Eastern half of the Roman Empire? Our Churches have “Bishop’s Thrones” that were long-ago erected for the Emperor to sit upon.  Our Hierarchs carry miters, and wear robes and crowns evocative of long-gone Emperors. While nostalgically retaining some of these displays and accoutrements may not in themselves be harmful;…

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George Matsoukas

State of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese: Musings of the OCL Executive Director

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: Orthodox Christian Laity I have been on a holiday for most of the month of September and out of touch with the news that interests me… local, national and church news.  After catching up with mail, emails, and quickly looking over weekly periodicals, etc. , I read about the issues of leadership, management and debt in published reports, that are being denied by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.   The issues involved go beyond what is in the reports.  The crisis is systemic.  It involves the Charter that was imposed by the Patriarchate.  It involves the dismemberment of the Archdiocese into…

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Annual Payments by the Parishes of New England to the Archdiocese are Revealing and Interesting

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By on Orthodox News, Orthodox News Top Stories

Source: The National Herald By Theodoros Kalmoukos BOSTON,MA – The annual amounts New England parishes are obligated to give to the Archdiocese are really revealing and interesting. They are required to give 15% of their annual expenses to the Archdiocese, as it was decided abruptly without any information or advance notice to the Parishes in 2006 at the Clergy-Laity Congress in Nashville, TN. That formula was changed from 15% of income because the Church officials believed that many parishes were not reporting all their annual income or keeping double sets of records in order to avoid disclosing how much money…

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Archdiocese Finance Chairman Received 900K over 10 Years

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By on Governance & Unity News, Governance Top Stories

Source: The National Herald By Theodoros Kalmoukos NEW YORK – Archdiocesan Finance Committee Chairman George Vourvoulias, although his position is a volunteer one, received $900,000 from the Archdiocese over the past ten years for travel expenses. The National Herald has learned that this discovery was made by the newly appointed CFO, Fr. Soterios Baroody, who reported the finding to Archbishop Demetrios. In turn, Demetrios asked Vourvoulias for an explanation and directed the Finance Department to cut off money transfers to Vourvoulias. The archbishop, Vourvoulias, Baroody, and recently ousted Executive Director of Administration Jerry Dimitriou, all did not respond to TNH’s…

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The Russian Orthodox Church has issued a challenge to the West

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By on Orthodox News, Orthodox News Top Stories

Source: Catholic Herald by Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith Catholics would agree with much of what Metropolitan Hilarion has said, but what can we actually do? Metropolitan Hilarion, who is the ‘foreign minister’ of the Russian Orthodox Church, has recently been in London, where he gave a speech at a conference organised by the Russian Embassy. The Russian Embassy website reproduces the speech in toto here. The Russian Orthodox Church website gives a list of participants at the symposium, which was focused on the Christian Future of Europe. The speech given by Hilarion was certainly interesting, and revelatory of the thought of the Russian Church. He…

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Facing Tense and Difficult Times, Archdiocese Holds Emergency Meeting

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By on Governance & Unity News, Governance Top Stories

Source: The National Herald By Theodoros Kalmoukos NEW YORK – In a lengthy and at times tense emergency meeting of the Executive Committee of the Archdiocesan Council of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America on September 19, the existence of an $8.5 million deficit, as The National Herald had previously reported, was officially announced, as was that the Archdiocese’s finances were mismanaged for years. His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios Geron of America and Council Vice Chair George Tsandikos did not respond to TNH’s request for comment. The emergency meeting notwithstanding, the Archdiocese had already taken steps in the last few months…

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AMERICAN ORTHODOXY

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News, Orthodox News, Orthodox News Top Stories

Source: Public Orthodoxy by Richard Barrett Who gets to decide what it means to be Orthodox in America? Greeks? Russians? Converts? Foreign bishops? How do “cradle” and convert identities come together – or not? How do “diaspora” narratives that tie Orthodoxy to nationalism translate in an American context? What does Orthodoxy mean in the American religious marketplace of ideas? Is it really the fastest growing religious group in America, as some have claimed, or is it a solution looking for a problem? Perhaps the most important–and difficult–question is, “Will there ever be an American Orthodoxy?” Many Orthodox in America, of course,…

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Places of Greater Orthodox Unity in America: the State of Local Parish-to-Parish Inter-Orthodox Cooperation and Communication

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By on Governance & Unity News, Grassroots Unity in Action, Orthodox News, Orthodox News Top Stories

Source: Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA This report represents a large amount of work under the coordination and authorship of the Assembly of Bishops’ Research Coordinator, Alexei Krindatch.  It is in response to the Assembly VII decision to endorse a US nationwide study on the present state of inter-Orthodox parish-to-parish cooperation on the local level. The analysis of replies to a nationwide clergy survey identified 54 cities and geographic areas with a high level of inter-Orthodox communication and cooperation.  Of these, the study identified 21 cities and geographic areas in the US where well organized and active…

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They Should Beg for Forgiveness, and Some Should Resign

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: The National Herald Theodoros Kalmoukos Analysis: The least that His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, the Holy Eparchial Synod, the Archdiocesan Council, and the Finance Committee should do is to publicly ask forgiveness from the parishes and from the Greek-American community in general for the bankruptcy of the Archdiocese. Maybe the archbishop is trying to hide behind Jerry Dimitriou’s resignation, but the reality is that Demetrios, not Dimitriou, is the archbishop. Dimitriou was an employee of the Archdiocese, certainly a high ranking one, but it is not just and fair to place all the heavy blame and the responsibility on him.…

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Youth Concerns: Pan Orthodox United

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By on Governance & Unity News, Grassroots Unity in Action, Uncategorized

Source: Pan Orthodox United Our Purpose WE ARE YOUNG PEOPLE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE Our mission is to empower young people to transform their lives and communities with Christ’s unconditional love. WE BELIEVE IN FOCUSING ON THE GOOD We believe that God is love and that His message of love needs to be conveyed to the world in today’s language. We believe that through invitation, welcoming, listening, understanding, and being an example of love, we can deliver the eternal message of Christ to those that have left the church. We know, that when we come together, and focus on the good,…

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Ecumenical Patriarchate Wants Embattled Archbishop Demetrios Out

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By on Governance & Unity News, Governance Top Stories

Source: The National Herald Theodoros Kalmoukos  The time of Archbishop Demetrios to the Archbishopric Throne of America seems limited as the Ecumenical Patriarchate wants him to resign voluntarily, exclusive information obtained by The National Herald has found. It was also reportedly proposed to the Archbishop he be elected Metropolitan Geron of Hrakleia which is considered a prominent Eparchy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate that was destroyed during the catastrophe of Asia Minor. The reasons for this decision to ask the Archbishop to “depart in peace” -expected by many who know the workings at the Archdiocese – are the general withering condition…

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