We reprint the OCL Resolution calling for Autocephaly of the American Orthodox Church passed in 1998, fifteen years ago, and pray that the meeting of Assembly of Canonical Bishops on September 17-19 in Chicago will make progress in developing the blueprint for a unified, self-governing, canonical Church in our geographic areas. The “fullness of time” for the unification and autocephaly of the Church in the United States and in all other geographic areas has arrived. – Editor
Orthodox Christian Laity
A Resolution for Autocephaly
Adopted October 10, 1998
BE IT RESOLVED THAT: The Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL), assembled at its 11th Annual Meeting in the city of Los Angeles, California, on the eve of the Feast day of its patron saint, Symeon the New Theologian, petitions His All Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Holy Synod of Constantinople to grant autocephaly to the American Church; and calls upon the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) to reconvene the Ligonier conference of American hierarchs to once again proclaim that the American Church is no longer a “Diaspora”; and to pursue the necessary steps with the Mother Churches in declaring that the “fullness of time” for the unification and autocephaly of the American Church has arrived as we move toward the third Christian millennium; and calls upon the members of the OCL and all Orthodox Christians in America to support the establishment of a united autocephalous Orthodox Church in America.
