Recent History of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s Decisions Related to the GOA The recent record of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s “governance” of the GOA: The forced retirement of Archbishop Iakovos (1996); Rejection of the gathering of the Orthodox Bishops in America at Ligonier, Pennsylvania (1995); Election of Archbishop Spyridon (1997); Imposition of the current Charter against the wishes of the Los Angeles Clergy-Laity Congress (2003); Imposition of a new Archbishop from Turkey who has not served in the US, without any input or participation of the clergy or laity of the Archdiocese as required by previous Charters (2019); Unilateral “suspension” (2020) followed…

I am a third-generation member of the Orthodox Christian Church in the United States, dating back to 1906, when my paternal grandparents settled in Springfield, MA, and then Poughkeepsie, NY (1908), when my maternal grandfather settled in Pittsburgh, PA. At 28 years old, my grandmother died of the Swine Flu in that city in 1918, leaving a 3-month newborn and a 4-year-old child.   Eventually, this branch of the family settled in Garden City, L.I., N.Y. I grew up with my parents in Jersey City in 1942. My views on this Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Charter development process relate to this impressionistic…