by Fr. Alexander Schmemann Editor’s Note: As the Assembly of Bishops meets in Chicago on September 15-17, 2013, please review some of the following canonical issues related to unity. The Canonical Problem [St. Vladimir’s Seminary Quarterly, 1964, Vol. 8, # 2, pp. 67-85.] 1. An Uncanonical Situation No term is used—and misused—among the Orthodox people in America more often than the term canonical. One hears endless discussions about the “canonicity” or the “uncanonicity” of this or that bishop, jurisdiction, priest, parish. Is it not in itself an indication that something is wrong or, at least, questionable from the canonical point of…
Browsing: Governance & Unity Essays
Child of Governance
Source: Greek Orthodox Christians for Truth and Reform Two recently published articles, one in the Orthodox Observer and the other in The National Herald caught the attention of our Editors. Both concern the administration and the future of our Church and Faith. They come from two different perspectives yet both accurately indicate the present condition. Both authors draw upon their own views and reach, in our minds, the identical conclusion that foreshadows the future of our Church. These authors have not yet fully appreciated the foresight, power or the precision of their observations. Remarkably, it is as if both of…
“After this I will pour out my spirit on all humanity….Your old men will have dreams, and your young men will see visions.” Joel 2:28 Since the imposition of a Charter on the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America without the input and approval of the Clergy and Laity within that particular Orthodox grouping in the United States, the consequences have been chaotic. There is no accountability within the Archdiocese. The Metropolitans each report directly to the Patriarch in Istanbul. They see the Archbishop as a figurehead. Each Metropolis sees itself as an independent entity. The Metropolitans in these geographic areas…
Source: Orthodox Evangelist Newsletter By Joseph Abbate Vice President of the Brotherhood of St Symeon the New Theologian For those of you who may have just discovered St. Symeon’s Ministry, you might have found the word Renewal in many of the Ministry’s publications. For those of us who have been involved in this Ministry through the years, it is important to refresh our memories on the meaning of this word. First of all, Renewal does not bring any additions to doctrines or theology. It does not involve new teachings or motives other than what our Church Fathers have taught.…
Pentecost 2013 As we take leave of the Paschal Liturgical Cycle of Lent through Pentecost, I want to take this opportunity to reflect upon a book I re-read during this period: Christ in Our Midst by Father Theodore Stylianopoulos. The book was written in 1980, and I was familiar with it when I was putting together the Chapter on “Spiritual Renewal” in the OCL publication “Project for Orthodox Renewal”. You can read this work online on our website. The discussion and insights presented in Christ In Our Midst, which was written by Father Ted as he worked on the Commission…
Source: The National Herald by Theodore Kalmoukos, Special to The National Herald The preservation of small Greek Orthodox parishes, and their ability to continue to exist in the United States, is very serious matter which should concern all of us as members of both the Church and the Greek American Community. Some of our small parishes have already gone down on a withering path. Among them are parishes which flourished in the past, especially during the early decades after their establishment by Greek immigrant pioneers. With the passing of time and changing of demographic circumstances, and the loss of jobs…
by George Matsoukas, Executive Director of Orthodox Christian Laity The Orthodox Christian Church is in the Paschal Season. Having attended the many services of preparation for the Resurrection of Christ and as we await Pentecost, we know that the Holy Spirit is present everywhere and that brothers and sisters must dwell together in unity, which is the Christian norm. During this season, we must continue to pray that the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops finds the humility to move ahead with their work of developing the blueprint and foundation for a unified Church in the United States. We must pray…
Grace, Mercy and Peace from God, and from us our fatherly love and hierarchal blessing. CHRIST IS RISEN! “We believe that having died with Christ we shall return to life with him; Christ, as we know, having been raised from the dead, will never die again. Death has no power over him anymore. When he died, he died, once for all, to sin, so His life now is life in God; and in that way, you too must consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6: 8-11). Dearly Beloved: You heard these select…
Source: The National Herald by Antonis H. Diamataris – Publisher/Editor of The National Herald It is the first time, as far as I can recall, that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew allowed himself to publicly express a grievance. He must really be hurting. At the same time, he opened a small window into his soul, large enough to enable us to have a peak into the philosophical influences, apart from the Christian thought, that formed him as a person and set him on the course that shaped his life and the Patriarchate. The occasion for his comments was an event organized by…
By Fr. Johannes L. Jacobse Source: Catholic Online Pope Francis is faithful to moral tradition and also appears to be courageous (these days there is no faithfulness without courage). He understands the moral crisis in Christendom and appears to be as committed to the restoration of the Christian foundations of culture as his predecessors were. This portends a good future for Orthodox-Catholic relations and will hopefully make more Orthodox aware of the grave crisis facing us. NAPLES, FL. (Catholic Online) – Several weeks ago I spent a weekend with Catholic and Orthodox scholars in a colloquium titled “Liberty, Society, and…
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America by George E. Demacopoulos, PhD Amid the crush of news reports in the past month that followed Pope Benedict’s unprecedented resignation from the papacy, one of the most intriguing was the decision by His All-Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, to attend Pope Francis’ installation as Bishop of Rome. The occasion is being presented in the media as something that has not happened since the ecclesiastical schism that separated Christian East and Christian West in the eleventh century. But that characterization is almost certainly wrong–this is quite likely the first time in history that a Bishop…
Source: Orthodox Christian Laity Sunday April 1974…Sunday of Orthodoxy…Why the failure to unite the Orthodox Church in the United States? The Assembly of Bishops has this task in 2013. Let us pray that they have the strength and courage to work in synergy with the Holy Spirit to do God’s Will for His Church. “It is high time that the Orthodox Christians in America rise to the demands of the time, look ahead and endeavor to respond to the unanswered questions of a whole generation – the generation of the American-born Orthodox, who do not understand the reason or reasons…