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Archbishop IAKOVOS

Archbishop Iakovos was Concerned about Masonry

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: The National Herald Originally published on November 10, 2006. BOSTON – Thirty-six years ago, in a “confidential memorandum” to the late Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople and the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate (dated July 5 1970), then Archbishop Iakovos of North and South America requested that decisions be made on a number of issues, including the Masons, homosexuality, marriage for bishops and abortion. “Most of our Christians here are masons,” Iakovos told Athenagoras and the Synod. The Patriarchate did not reply to Iakovos, or if it did, the reply has not been revealed as of…

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FIRST WITHOUT EQUALS – A Response to the Text on Primacy of the Moscow Patriarchate

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: Ecumenical Patriarchate Metropolitan Elpidorphoros Lambriniadis, Archbishop-Elect of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, claims that the Ecumenical Patriarch is “First Without Equals”. Usually not stated so clearly, the following paper by Elpidophoros Lambriniadis, Metropolitan of Bursa, and Archbishop-Elect of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, states the position that the Ecumenical Patriarch is really not “first among equals” but “first without equals.” That is not a position the other hierarchs worldwide are willing to accept. The impasse resulting from the two clashing positions is surely a cause of “the anomalies in the organization and life of the Orthodox Church”…

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Nick Stamatakis

PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW PICKS … “CARDINAL” ELPIDOFOROS TO HEAD OUR CHURCH

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

by Nick Stamatakis A chaos much bigger than the one created by the Patriarch’s decisions on Ukraine is bound to be created by the so-called “election” of Elpidoforos of Bursa at the helm of our Greek Orthodox Church in America.  Elpidoforos definitely deserves the title of “Cardinal”.  First, he recently authored a diatribe titled “Primus Sine Paribus” (“First Without Equals”), submitted to the University of Thessaloniki, in which he throws out more than 17 centuries of democratic/synodical Orthodox traditions and explains why the Patriarch cannot be “equal” to the other church leaders; he also spent at least the last 10 years…

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Metropolitan Elpidophoros with Patriarch Bartholomew

The Mother Church is Sending Hope to America

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: The Pappas Post written by Gregory Pappas Like many in our community, I have been following the demise of the institution of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America with great pain, not to mention the dismal state of affairs with St. Nicholas National Shrine at Ground Zero and the decaying condition of the Seminary in Brookline. These logistic and administrative failures clearly are the fault of Archbishop Demetrios. In Greek we say that “the fish smells from the head” and if the types of things that happened in our Church had happened in corporate America, Demetrios would have been fired…

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Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople

A Byzantine Pronouncement

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: The National Herald By TNH Staff The announcement issued yesterday by the Ecumenical Patriarchate regarding America and Australia contains three interesting points: First, they accepted the resignation of Archbishop Demetrios, but it will “become effective Saturday, when a new Archbishop will be elected.” What does that mean? Second, it also states: “The Synod also expressed its gratitude for his many years of ministry.” But if that is so, holy hierarchs, why did you not let him remain in office? And, third, regarding the election of a new Archbishop of Australia, I also read in the communiqué: “Having heard the…

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George D Karcazes

A message for those gathering in Atlanta at this time of crisis and transition in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: Orthodox Christian Laity I write to you as an eighty-year old grandfather; a life-long, active member of our Church.  My message has not been approved by the board of Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL).  It is a deeply personal message. I received the news of the retirement of Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America with sadness…and a glimmer of hope. Sadness, because the condition of the Archdiocese entrusted to his care is in dire straights…not just financially. The crisis is deeper than that. The lack of transparency and accountability in the governance of the Archdiocese has dealt…

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The Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople. (Photo by Eurokinissi/Christos Bonis)

The Church in Crisis

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: The National Herald By Amb. Patrick Theros The Orthodox Church has lived through and survived many near-existential crises in the 2,000 years since the Apostles established it. It would appear that the 21st Century brings a whole smorgasbord of existential threats to the table. One would think that the headline issues threaten us the most. To wit: Constantinople and Moscow are locked in a titanic struggle for political leadership of the worldwide Church. Antioch has picked a fight with Jerusalem over jurisdiction in the Arabian Peninsula and the Persian Gulf despite the fact that the former must deal with a…

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Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

An Appeal to the Patriarch

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: The National Herald By Antonis H. Diamataris From one end of America to the other, our community follows, with justifiable anxiety, the issue of the successor of the resigned Archbishop Demetrios. The community has lived the decline in which the successors of Archbishop Iakovos have led to our Church and endured the consequences with remarkable patience. But it has reached its limits. That’s why it wants to prevent another mistaken choice. So, the Greek-American community is turning to the voice that it trusts, to The National Herald. People are telling us: “Do something.” But what can a newspaper do,…

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The Time Has Come for a Good New Beginning

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: The National Herald By Antonis H. Diamataris At last, Archbishop Demetrios, submitted his resignation. The first time he was asked to resign was almost 20 months ago. Since then, there were at least two more requests by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. But he refused. He did everything he could to dodge it. To gain time. But to what end? No one is pleased with the situation that has been created in our Archdiocese – no one was happy to see the agony experienced by the Archbishop as the situation unfolded, or the pain of his ultimate resignation. There was, unfortunately, no…

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George Matsoukas, Executive Director of Orthodox Christian Laity

UNCANONICAL DISORDER: FRAGMENTATION, MISINFORMATION, RESIGNATION OF GOA ARCHBISHOP – FURTHER CASE FOR AUTOCEPHALY NOW

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance Top Stories

Source: Orthodox Christian Laity Historically, the administration of the Orthodox Christian Church is shepherded by a bishop in a geographic area.  Geography, bishops and cities are interrelated.  This reality remains until today, and this is a major cause of the impasse among Patriarchs and Assemblies of Bishops in the USA and other parts of the world. Historically, the Orthodox Christian Church taught the faith and conducted its missionary work in the language of the people where they lived and in their own cultural setting. It helped create written languages where the people had none, and it taught in that language…

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