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

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Child of Governance

THE PATRIARCH SUSPENDED THE CHARTER – NOW WHAT?

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew suspended the Charter of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America in October 2020 at the behest of newly-enthroned Archbishop Elpidophoros. A new Charter will define the future relationship between the Patriarchate and Archdiocese. There is increasing alarm over the decline in the membership of the Archdiocese, which some surveys place at 20% over the past decade. These concerns are reflected in calls for Autonomy for the Archdiocese coming from more and more quarters. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is the largest of the three main Orthodox groupings in North America that represent the bulk of the…

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History and Future of the Female Diaconate – A Paper Prepared for Archbishop Spyridon

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: Orthodox Christian Laity April 11, 1997 During the December 2, 1996, Orthodox Christian Laity Executive Board Meeting with His Eminence Archbishop Spyridon, Timi Loomos Freshman was asked by His Eminence to prepare a paper on the Female Diaconate so that he could further study the issue. Mrs. Freshman has been in touch with Valerie Karras, Demetra Jacquet and Dr. Ellen Gvosdev as well as a network of faithful Orthodox Christian women in the Los Angeles area. Together they compiled research and articles on the subject. Mrs. Freshman coordinated and wrote this short paper on the topic. It is presented…

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The Challenge of Orthodox Christian Outreach

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News, Orthodox News, Orthodox News Top Stories

Source: Orthodox Christian Laity Originally posted on July 7, 2015 but still relevant today! The Challenge of Orthodox Christian Outreach The Challenge of Outreach, written in 1997, by Nikolas K. Gvosdev, Ph.D., foreshadowed the recent PEW Report on Christianity in America. The study was prepared at the request of Archbishop Spyridon. Too bad it got lost in the shuffle. We have posted it for your consideration and interest. CLICK HERE to read this excellent report. George Matsoukas

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The four main stars of the famous Southern Cross constellation are Acrux (Alpha Crucis), bottom; Becrux (Beta Crucis), left; Gacrux (Gamma Crucis), top; and Delta Crucis, right. (Image credit: European Southern Observatory)

A New Season?

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

This year, in the month of October in the United States of America, in parallel with the changing of seasons in the natural world comes the convergence of Orthodox Christian hierarchs to form a constellation in the ecclesiastical world. At the beginning of the month, bishops are meeting in the nation’s capital at the 10th meeting of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA, the body formed for the purpose of manifesting “…the unity of the Orthodox Church…” and to prepare “…a plan to organize the Orthodox of the Region on a canonical basis” (Articles 2 and 5…

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Tea bowl, Satsuma ware, White Satsuma type, Kagoshima prefecture, Japan, 17th century, Edo period, Stoneware with clear, crackled glaze, stained by ink; gold lacquer repairs, F1904.323.

THE KINTSUGI OF 9-11: FINDING GOLD IN BROKENNESS

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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. “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places.” Ernest Hemingway Saturday, September 11, 2021, marked the two-decade memorial of the deadliest terrorist assault on United States soil. On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, 19 members of an Islamist extremist group led by Osama bin Laden, hijacked four commercial airliners. While two of the four planes intentionally flew into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, another crashed into the Pentagon. The fourth jet was courageously brought down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania by…

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“AARRR!” PREVENTING THE PIRACY OF PHILANTHROPY

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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. “To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.”Robert Louis Stevenson July 29, 2021, marked 71 years since Walt Disney released Treasure Island, his first live-action film, loosely based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1883 novel of the same name.  Treasure Island made its debut in 1950. Filmed in England, it was the first screen version of the adventure story made in color. Apart from then cutting-edge cinematography, the standout performance in the film was the introduction of the pirate Long John Silver,…

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Making of the Mosaic – Racial Reconciliation in the Orthodox Church

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: CrossRoad Institute – Orthodox Youth Take the Challenge by Fr. Turbo Qualls CR Guest Speaker In the patriarchal cathedral of St. Sava in Belgrade, the world’s largest mosaic is all but complete. This has been hailed as the peak of Christian art. As a priest of the Serbian Church, I take joy in this accomplishment; however, as an African-American Orthodox Christian, I am challenged by what this monumental work says to me about what is yet to be accomplished in the Church. When I see online pictures of this incredible mosaic, I can’t help but see it as a…

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The Greek Church in Peril

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: The National Herald by Prof. Dan Georgakas The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times recently reported at length about the serious problems engulfing the Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptists. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese faces challenges of a different but equally dangerous nature. For more than forty years, it has experienced a steady decline in membership, constant closing of more Church-sponsored Greek schools, and a chronic shortage of priests. The peak in church membership came in the 1970s, mainly due to the impact of nearly two hundred thousand Greek immigrants (1960-1980). The newcomers were educated, mainly…

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INTERESTING AND ENLIGHTENING RESPONSES TO THE SURVEY ON OBSTACLES TO AN ADMINISTRATIVELY UNITED ORTHODOX CHURCH OF AMERICA

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: Orthodox Christian Laity Thank you to the thirty respondents who provided thoughtful answers to two questions in a survey distributed at the end of June 2021. The voice of the Orthodox faithful reveals a sampling of grassroots understanding and passionate opinions about this important issue. 1) In your opinion, what major obstacles must be overcome to administratively unite the Orthodox Church on the American continent? Have everyone recognize the status of the OCA. (1) The fear of losing money and “handing over ” assets to some other authority. (2) The clergy are more opposed to giving up their ethnic…

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Religion as a Hybrid War Weapon to Achieve Russia’s Geopolitical Goals

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: The Jamestown Foundation By: Tetyana Zhurman On July 28, Ukrainian Orthodox Christians celebrated the 1,033rd anniversary of the Baptism of Kyivan Rus—a remarkable annual event for Ukrainian history and another reason for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s political speculations. After the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, signed the Ukrainian Orthodox Church tomos in 2019, granting it autocephaly—independence from the Russian Orthodox Church (see EDM, July 26, 2018; RFE, January 23, 2020)—experts warned that Moscow would double its efforts to weaponize religious issues as an element of its “hybrid war” against Ukraine  (Warsawinstitute.org, January 31, 2019). In his recent article “On the Historical Unity of Russians and…

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A Tribute to Bishop Basil of Wichita

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: Orthodox History by MATTHEW NAMEE Bishop Basil Essey, the longtime Antiochian Bishop of Wichita and Mid-America, is preparing to retire at the end of this year. Many Antiochians learned of this for the first time over the weekend, when the Archdiocese held a virtual convention. Metropolitan Joseph announced Bishop Basil’s retirement in his address to the convention: In particular, I would like to thank my beloved brother, His Grace Bishop Basil, for his service to this archdiocese over fifty years, as archdiocesan youth director, as a deacon, as a priest, and as a bishop. Some of you may know that, after…

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