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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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,…
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…
Source: The National Herald By Christodoulos Athanasatos NEW YORK – Archbishop Demetrios, in his sermon at the end of the Divine Liturgy on Sunday of St. Thomas May 5, at the Resurrection parish in Brookville Long Island, used the Biblical verse that “there is a time for everything” making reference to his recent resignation from the Archbishopric Throne of the Archdiocese of America. The Archbishop spoke about his meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and his written resignation from the Archdiocese. He said that “I understand many of you are here today because of the news you learned yesterday. Yesterday, we were…
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…
Source: The National Herald By TNH Staff NEW YORK – A day before His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America resigned, His Grace Bishop Andonios of Phasiane submitted a letter announcing his intent to begin his retirement process. His Grace did not cite a specific reason for his retirement, but did mention his age, challenges and stresses of his work, as well as his health. During his retirement, Bishop Andonios promised to devote himself to the completion of St. Michael’s Home, an assisted living/retirement home for the aging Greek-American community. The full text of his letter follows: May 3, 2019 My dear…
Source: The Pappas Post by Gregory Pappas According to an official announcement on the Facebook page of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Archbishop Demetrios of America has submitted his resignation to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. The move comes after years of pressure on the embattled Demetrios to resign, following numerous scandals that have plagued his episcopacy, including a financial scandal involving millions of dollars of misappropriated funds, as well as the Archdiocese’s theological school at the brink of losing its accreditation. Demetrios was elected to head the American church in 1999 after the three-year leadership of Archbishop Spyridon. The official announcement of…
Source: Critical Research on Religion by Stratis Psaltou National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece This paper considers the emergence of Mount Athos’ monk elders in Greek society in recent decades until the current economic crisis. Their social influence has grown over these decades, especially after some of them were recognized as charismatic and gerontismos (elderism) became one of the most important forms of religious discourse in contemporary Greek society. These elders were presented as a kind of cultural resistance in the service of an alternative economy of desire. This analysis suggests that they have ultimately worked in the service of a…
Source: Orthodox Christian Laity The Synaxis of Patriarchs in 2008 decided that the Orthodox Church in the USA is uncanonical. How many more years can this situation fester? The Synaxis developed an Assembly of Bishops of all the canonical bishops in the USA to address the issue. They have been meeting for ten years and have reached an impasse. It is now up to the Patriarchs to act either in a synodical conciliar meeting with the 14 Self Ruling Patriarchs/Hierarchs, or if that cannot happen, the Ecumenical Patriarch needs to act as he did in Ukraine. On his visit to…
Source: Peter Anderson Today (Thursday) [April 18, 2019], at the invitation of Archbishop Chrysostomos (primate of the Church of Cyprus), a meeting was held in Nicosia with Patriarch Theodoros of Alexandria, Patriarch John X of Antioch, and Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem. There was no advanced notice of the meeting. The meeting was especially significant in that these four Local Orthodox Churches were all recognized as separate churches in the first millennium. In the Orthodox diptychs, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem follow immediately after Constantinople. In the last few minutes, the full text of the final communique of the meeting has been…
Source: Romfea News by Emilios Polygenis At this moment, a summit of four Primates is taking place in Cyprus on the unique topic of the Ukrainian issue and how to deal with it, according to exclusive information by Romfea.gr. At the meeting, the Patriarchs Theodore of Alexandria, John of Antioch, and Theophilos of Jerusalem, participate at the invitation of Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus. There is a possibility, according to ecclesiastical sources, even to issue a joint statement on the issue of recognition of the new autocephalous Orthodox Church in Ukraine. Related Articles PRIMATES OF 4 ANCIENT AUTOCEPHALOUS CHURCHES MEET TO…