Source: Orthodox Christian Laity
New York – On Monday, March 9, 2020, following approval of the Mother Church of Constantinople last November after the request of the Holy Eparchial Synod, His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, announced the creation of the Vicariate for the Orthodox Christian Communities of Slavic Tradition.
The new Vicariate will report directly to Archbishop Elpidophoros and at the beginning includes hundreds of faithful belonging to the following three Orthodox communities: Saint Matrona of Moscow Cathedral of Miami, Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker Monastery in North Fort Myers, Florida, and Saint John the Forerunner and Baptist Cathedral of Brooklyn. The clergy of the Vicariate are Very Rev. Archimandrite Alexander Belya, Very Rev. Archpriest Vasiliy Deyak, Rev. Archpriest Oleksandr Belya, Rev. Archpriest Ioann Spasyuk, Rev. Protodeacon Rostislav Zadorozhnyy and Rev. Deacon George A. Hero.
Archbishop Elpidophoros has appointed Very Rev. Archimandrite Alexander Belya as the first Vicar of the Vicariate.
4 Comments
I am confused by this decision. What led up to it? With what jurisdiction(s) were these “Slavic tradition” churches affiliated before becoming parts of this viciarte? Jeff Zdrale
The Belya brothers are notorious for their dishonesty trying to get one elected to the Synod of ROCOR by forging the signature of its metropolitan last fall. News about them is readily available all over the Internet for anyone with a bit of curiosity. Both brothers were defrocked for their violation of canons.
The creation of a ‘vicariate’ with such nefarious actors says so much about the moral, ethical and canonical probity of Abp. Elpidophoros.
The churches and monastery used to belong to ROCOR.
The Greeks have tried this before and failed miserably. The idea is to have all ethnic Orthodox under the Phanar. The Carps sold their souls in the 1940’s and the Ukrainians. Now, they are trying to get real Russians under them. FOOLS! They are only attracting disgruntled priests and those who have been thrown out from other jurisdictions. So, what does this do? It only helps to divide the Church further. The future of the Church in the U.S. IS NOT under the Greeks, this is death!