Source: Assembly of Orthodox Canonical Bishops of the USA
Washington, D.C. – The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America sent a delegation to the annual March for Life in the nation’s capital on Friday, January 19, 2024.
Bishop John (Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America) led the delegation. He was joined by Bishop Theophan (Albanian Orthodox Diocese of the Americas, Ecumenical Patriarchate), Metropolitan Tikhon (Orthodox Church in America) and Bishop Andrei (Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America, Orthodox Church in America).
The members of the delegation attended the National Prayer Vigil for Life at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on Thursday, January 18, the evening before the march.
The next day, on Friday, January 19, Bishop John offered the opening prayer at the beginning of the rally on the National Mall where he said: “O Heavenly Father, Good Comforter, and Lord Jesus Christ; Creator of all things, you who knew us in our mother’s womb and ordered the world for our salvation, protect your babies both born and unborn, guide their parents, reveal to us the ways which we should walk today and every-day…” The Orthodox hierarchs were joined on-stage by Roman Catholic Bishops led by His Excellency Bishop Michael F. Burbidge, Bishop of Arlington and Chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Despite inclement weather, the march began at 1 p.m. and proceeded along Constitution Avenue to the U.S. Supreme Court, where prayers for the victims of abortion were offered.
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No GOA bishops. Has the GOA become pro-choice?
JK, I hope so.
Not so fast.
According to the GOA website, the GOA was represented by retired Bishop Demetrios (Kantzavelos) of Mokissos, the former Chancellor of the Metropolis of Chicago.
According to the National Herald he resigned in May, 2023 and was “relegated to the group of retired hierarchs of the GOA”.
According to his LinkedIn account, he was recently sworn in as a citizen of Greece and is hoping to lead a pilgrimage to Cyprus this summer. (If he can sign up 25 “pilgrims,” he gets to go for free!)
His tenure as chancellor of the Chicago Metropolis under former Bishop/Metropolitan Iakovos, who died in 2017, reportedly caused the current Metropolitan to bar him from returning to the Metropolis in any capacity other than private visitor.
After leaving Chicago, and prior to his retirement, he was assigned to the St. Photios Shrine in St. Augustine, Florida.
In the interest of accuracy, while it is true that the GOA may not have been represented by an “active” bishop, it apparently was represented by a “retired” bishop.
Does that count?
Window dressing.
Interesting find from the Pappas Post: Following a multi-year effort led by Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos, a Greek Orthodox bishop from Chicago, then-Governor Patrick Quinn signed the abolition of the death penalty in the state of Illinois.
Bishop Demetrios led the effort alongside a team of activists representing various fields from throughout the state who were present at the signing ceremony with Quinn.
For Bishop Demetrios, who is well-known for his social justice causes as they pertain to him as a Greek Orthodox Christian hierarch, the matter was personal.
For many years, he ministered to a Greek Orthodox Christian man on death row. For the bishop, it was never about the crime or what the individual was convicted of doing, but about the sanctity of life, as is believed in the Greek Orthodox Christian faith.
“If we claim to be pro life, we must be consistent and we are pro-life from womb to tomb,” Bishop Demetrios said at that time.
“Christianity cannot put people into categories of profane or sacred. The human person is made in the image and likeness of God, and all people are sacred. No matter what the horrific nature of their crime, their innate sanctity of a human remains,” the bishop said.