THE TIME FOR ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN ADMINISTRATIVE UNITY IN AMERICA IS NOW! 

Orthodox Christian Laity

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Child of Governance

Let’s Start 2022 by Focusing on Progress

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

In the second week of 2022, Orthodox Christian Laity’s Board met to review the past year and begin planning an agenda for the new year. During a discussion about Orthodox administrative unity in America and the general feeling of frustration with progress in that direction, one Board Member (Dr. Gayle Woloschak) drew our attention to the fact that the Assembly of Bishops USA has taken steps in the right direction through its establishment of fourteen committees, six agencies and commissions, and six affiliate ministries and associations (read about these initiatives here and here). She reminded us that the process of…

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NFT FOR CHARITY: THE 2021 WORD OF THE YEAR

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: OINOS Educational Consulting By Frank Marangos, D.Min., Ed.D., F.C.E.P “I strongly recommend all young entrepreneurs to invest in NFTs.” ~ Anuj Jasani 2021 was a year defined by numerous societal disruptions. Covid variants, climactic catastrophes, a foiled military withdrawal, tense court cases, and unexpected economic down-turns. Although the vastness of such a year could never be fully summarized with a single word, several prominent dictionary companies have attempted to do so. “Allyship,” for example, is Dictionary.com’s Word of The Year. According to the site, “allyship” may be defined as the role of an individual who advocates for inclusion of a “marginalized…

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Hellenism Can Be Inclusive, Not Exclusive

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: The National Herald By Tony Glaros When I think about my Orthodox faith, where I would instinctively head to gather my core, the road always led straight to the Byzantine structure with the Greek Orthodox sign. Given my Hellenic heritage, the subject of where I spent two hours on Sunday morning was not up for debate. My unbreakable connection to Greek denotes where my forebears sailed here from. It wasn’t Russian. It wasn’t Serbian. Forty years ago, if I were to come across a fellow worshipper who dared to admit they were Russian or Bulgarian Orthodox visiting the Greek…

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Is Patriarch Bartholomew following the path of legalizing the Macedonian schism? Photo: UOJ

Did Phanar take the Path of Recognizing Macedonian Schismatics?

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: Union of Orthodox Journalists Originally published on December 20, 2021 by Kirill Aleksandrov The Phanar received Macedonian schismatics. What is this – revenge to the Serbian Church for non-recognizing the OCU or a global policy of legalizing all schismatics? ​On 16 December, Patriarch Bartholomew received a delegation from the so-called Macedonian Church at the Phanar. Does this mean the start of another Tomos for the schismatics, and how might this affect the entire Orthodoxy? The delegation of the “Macedonian Orthodox Church” at the Phanar. Photo: religija.mk Analyzing the visit of the Macedonian schismatics to the Phanar, three points should be noted: The delegation…

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FEMALE DIACONATE IN THE ORIENTAL CHURCHES IN THE PAST AND TODAY

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News, Uncategorized

Source: Academia by Christine Chaillot The topic of deaconesses and female diaconate is being debated today in different Churches, Protestant, Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches. It is a reflection based on the fact that deaconesses are mentioned in the New Testament and in other documents of the Early Church. Today the topic of deaconesses is also studied, discussed and experienced in the Eastern Orthodox of Byzantine tradition which accepted the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and the Oriental Orthodox Churches which include the Coptic Church in Egypt, the Ethiopian Church, the Armenian Church (with two catholicoses with seats in Etchmiadzin…

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Some Thoughts at Year End

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

After ten years of meetings, the Assembly of Bishops still finds bishops communicating with each other difficult.  The rules governing how to reach decisions are impossible.  The Assembly needs to develop communication skills that enable each bishop to stay focused, to hear one another, and to debate and reach conclusions.  In-service programs with guides that have communication skills would be a useful exercise.  We are no closer to canonical unity of Orthodoxy in the USA and throughout the world where Orthodox Christians reside in pluralistic societies. The largest grouping in the USA is in financial difficulty caused by undertaking an…

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Looking Ahead to 2022: Perspectives on the Process of Drafting the New GOA Charter

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

The process for gathering input from the clergy and laity outlined by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA), was to ask the 80 or so members of the Charter Committee to submit questions to be collected, organized, and incorporated into a questionnaire to be submitted back to the committee. The committee’s responses to the questionnaire would then be “summarized” by the Archdiocese to guide the members of the “drafting committee” appointed by the Archbishop. Those appointees will presumably meet with the 5 or so members of the drafting committee appointed by the Patriarch. This Archdiocesan/Patriarchal committee will then presumably…

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THE ARCHERY OF NONPROFIT COMMUNICATIONS

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: OINOS Educational Consulting By Frank Marangos, D.Min., Ed.D., F.C.E.P This edition of Frankly Speaking will examine how a nonprofit’s communication strategy resembles the components of a crossbow. In the hands of a skilled archer – the arrows of its mission have great potency. “In any situation that calls for you to persuade, convince or manage someone or a group of people to do something, the ability to tell a purposeful story will be your secret sauce.”  ~ Peter Guber In the center square of Alt-dorf, Switzerland, a small town nestled in the Alps, is an important statue. A man stands proudly, chest out,…

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ORTHODOXY AND THE RULE OF LAW IN RUSSIA

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: Public Orthodoxy by Paul Valliere and Randall A. Poole Scholarly study of the interaction of law and religion is well established in Europe and America, but it is not evenly distributed across the religious and ecclesiastical spectrum. There is a vast literature on some aspects of the subject, such as religion in the American constitutional order and law in the history of Roman Catholicism. Issues of law and religion in the Orthodox world, however, have not received much attention. Law and the Christian Tradition in Modern Russia (Routledge, 2022), a volume sponsored by the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory…

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Priest in confession booth with cross in hand. Desaturate the blue for a nice black and white image. The mesh screen is between the camera and priest.

Covid trauma seems not to have shaken American Christians’ faith

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: The Washington Post By Michael Gerson Columnist On Nov. 1, 1755, Lisbon was visited by a violent earthquake that left some 50,000 to 60,000 people dead out of a city of 200,000. The scale, randomness and cruelty of the event led some Enlightenment thinkers to employ it as evidence against the existence of a loving God. “Come,” wrote Voltaire, “ye philosophers, who cry, ‘All’s well!’ / And contemplate this ruin of a world. / Behold these shreds and cinders of your race.” This theological argument has seldom gotten much popular traction, then or now. Human beings have a tremendous and healthy…

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