A Case Study: Tarpon Springs, Metropolis of Atlanta by Nicholas Bouzos On a recent vacation to Tarpon Springs, Florida, I came across some curious rumors about church politics; and the talk of the town is “The Tarpon Archons!” According to the archons.org website, “An Archon is an honoree by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for his outstanding service to the Church, and a well-known distinguished, and well-respected leader of the Orthodox Christian community.” These individuals are vetted through the local Metropolis? So, what does it take to become an Archon? According to online myths, archonship involve nepotism, cronyism, or…
Browsing: Ecumenical Patriarchate
Source: Ecumenical Patriarchate The Holy and Sacred Synod convened under the chairmanship of His All-Holiness for its regular sessions from Tuesday, November 27, to Thursday, November 29, 2018. During its sessions, it examined all of the items on the agenda, upon which the appropriate decisions were made, including the following: a. Upon the recommendation of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, within the context of his canonical responsibility, the Holy and Sacred Synod reorganized the status of the “Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of the Russian Tradition in Western Europe,” thereby entrusting its faithful to the Hierarchs of the Ecumenical Throne in Europe.…
Source: Ecumenical Patriarchate Click on the image above to view the video CONSTANTINOPLE (October 11, 2018) Presided by His All-Holiness, the Ecumenical Patriarch, the Holy and Sacred Synod convened for its regular session from October 9 to 11, 2018, in order to examine and discuss items on its agenda. The Holy Synod discussed in particular and at length the ecclesiastical matter of Ukraine, in the presence of His Excellency Archbishop Daniel of Pamphilon and His Grace Bishop Hilarion of Edmonton, Patriarchal Exarchs to Ukraine, and following extensive deliberations decreed: 1) To renew the decision already made that the Ecumenical Patriarchate proceed…
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America At its formal session on April 20, 2018, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople voted to proceed with taking the necessary steps for granting autocephaly to the Orthodox Christians of Ukraine. This decision was made after extensive study and discussion based on the responsibilities and rights of the Ecumenical Patriarchate as enumerated by the sacred canons, and the historical reality that in 1589 when the Church of Russia received its status as a patriarchate from the Ecumenical Patriarch, the Metropolis of Kiev, the…
Source: Public Orthodoxy by George Demacopoulos The three-way dispute between Ukrainians, Russians, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate over the possibility of Ukrainian ecclesiastical independence is shaping up to be the greatest challenge to Orthodox Christian unity of our generation. From a purely political perspective, Ukrainian autocephaly would represent an unmitigated disaster for the Russian Orthodox Church. Not only would it deprive the Russian Church of one third of its parishes and undermine its Russkiy Mir project, but it would dramatically belie the claim of the Moscow Patriarchate that it is the leader of the Orthodox Christian world. In a desperate effort to thwart the…
Source: DECR Communication Service The Statement was adopted at an extraordinary session of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on 14 September 2018 (Minutes No. 69). With profound regret and sorrow the Holy Synod the Russian Orthodox Church learned about the statement made by the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople concerning the appointment of its two “exarchs” to Kiev. This decision was taken without an agreement with the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church and His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine – the only canonical head of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. It…
Source: Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in America On Monday, September 3, 2018, before the entire Hierarchy of Metropolitans and Bishops of the Church of Constantinople, who were meeting in the Queen of Cities for the Synaxis of the Hierarchs of the Ecumenical Throne on the feast of Indiction, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew delivered an important address on the status of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, clarifying and reiterating numerous key points concerning the unity of the Holy Orthodox Church and the role within it of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. This instructive address followed a two-and-a-half hour private discussion on Friday, August 31,…
Source: Greek Reporter Europe By Philip Chrysopoulos The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate has decided to allow a second marriage for Greek Orthodox priests in the event that they are widowed or abandoned by their wife, religious news website Romfea.gr says. The decision, that is considered historic in the Orthodox Church, specifies that a second marriage will not be allowed if the priest wishes to leave his wife and marry another woman. It is underlined that each case will be examined separately and the bishop of the priest’s parish will be sending the specifics to be judged by the Holy Synod…
Source: Orthodox Christian Laity “In order to successfully confront the…challenges, we have to …become fully aware of where we are and what we are.” – Archbishop Demetrios, Keynote Address to 44th Biennial Clergy-Laity Congress July 2018. The speech to the Archons of Metropolitan Apostolos of Derkon (today’s resort villages of Durusu/Terkos, Turkey) reflects a distorted and overreaching reality of desperation to survive in a hostile land. It is incumbent on all of us living in the Orthodox Christian reality of the United States to be guided by the truth and to come to grips with correcting the irregular and uncanonical…
Source: Greek Herald Archbishop Demetrius’ possible retirement has been discussed more and more often, and not only in the media but also in Orthodox forums and blogs, which highlights the importance of this event and the difficulties the GOA will soon face. However, the accents drastically differ from those in official statements and open letters. The GOA issues are much more complicated as Demetrius is not the root cause of the crisis. The point is that even after at the moment of its birth the Archdiocese wasn’t independent enough, and now it’s even less so. Each of its Dioceses is…
Source: Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate On Wednesday, July 4, 2018, His Eminence Apostolos Elder Metropolitan of Derkon addressed the Archon Family Reception which was held at the 44th Clergy-Laity Congress in Boston, MA. Your Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, Geron of America, Your Eminences and Graces, Reverend Fathers, Esteemed Dr. Anthony Limberakis, Archon Aktouarios of the Great Church of Christ and National Commander of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s Order of St. Andrew the Apostle, Esteemed Archons, Beloved in Christ, It was with great joy that I accepted the kind invitation to be with you at tonight’s reception, which you have lovingly organized to…
Source: The National Herald By Christopher Tripoulas The crisis in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, which has become manifest over the past year, appears to have reached a climax. With Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew reportedly asking Archbishop Demetrios to submit his resignation, the Greek-American community and Hellenism worldwide – considering the importance of this eparchy – awaits to see how the final act of this drama will play out and what the future will hold. After the archbishop seemingly refused the patriarch’s request, stating that he wanted to stay on and see the Archdiocese through the financial crisis, the Patriarchate…