Source: The National Herald By Theodoros Kalmoukos BOSTON. The Ecumenical Patriarchate seems to be leaning to replace His Eminence Archbishop Geron Demetrios of America, after the seismic revelations made exclusively the last three months by The National Herald about the economic bankruptcy of the Archdiocese, including the St. Nicholas Church in N.Y., where construction has stopped due to lack of payments by the Archdiocese. There are some strong indications towards the workings of the Archbishop’s replacement: the cancelation of the Archbishop’s visit to the annual Epiphany celebration in Tarpons Springs, Florida, and the visit of the Deputy Foreign Minister of…
Browsing: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
Source: Orthodox Christian Laity State of Orthodoxy in the U.S.A. Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL) completed its 30 years of service calling for transparency, accountability, unity and advocating to maintain the voice of the laity as an equal in the administrative life of the Orthodox Church, thereby contributing to Church renewal. As we have seen and experienced in 2017, disrespect and disregard for this principle has contributed to the disorder, financial mismanagement and disunity that has furthered the decline of Orthodoxy in the USA. The census statistics, surveys, research on the status of growth, retention and development confirm this decline. Since…
Source: The National Herald By Theodoros Kalmoukos BOSTON, MA – His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios Geron of America sent to the Ecumenical Patriarchate the List of Candidates for Election to the Episcopacy or to be eligible for election to the Metropolis of Chicago, exactly as Patriarch Bartholomew and the Synod had requested. The List is divided into four categories: the first consists of the archimandrites, the second of widower priests, the third of active metropolitans of the Archdiocese and the fourth of those who previously served the Archdiocese and now are metropolitans in Ecclesiastical Eparchies of the Ecumenical Patriarchate abroad, namely,…
Source: The New York Times By SHARON OTTERMAN Sixteen years after the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church was destroyed in the terror attacks of Sept. 11, its reopening at the World Trade Center site remains frustratingly out of reach. The latest setback to the project came this month, when Skanska U.S.A., the construction company rebuilding the once-simple church into a luminous, Santiago Calatrava-designed shrine, ceased work at the site in Liberty Park, just south of the 9/11 Memorial Plaza. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, despite receiving $37 million in donations for the shrine, was unable to pay its bills, the company…
Source: Ekathimerini The Greek-American community is faced with a deep crisis. It’s time the Phanar – the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate – made some important decisions before it’s too late. If it fails to appoint a new archbishop soon to replace the outgoing Demetrios or if it does not make the right choice, it will lose America. And if it loses America, it will lose everything. It is from there that it draws a large part of its power and economic support. Who would want to see such a development? And who can disregard the profound implications that would result from the…
Source: The Pappas Post by Gregory Pappas Construction at the site of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox National Shrine at Ground Zero in New York City has been halted by the main construction company because the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America has defaulted on payments, according to a letter sent by the company to its subcontractors working at the site. The letter from the site’s main contractor, Skanksa USA Building, notifies its subcontractors to withdraw from the building site immediately. A copy of the letter was obtained by The Pappas Post by one of the project’s subcontractors that was working under…
Source: Public Orthodoxy by Mark Arey As the last General Secretary of SCOBA (the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas) and the first Secretary (albeit for less than an hour) of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America, I have always marveled at the ‘Golden Age’ syndrome around “Ligonier” of many Orthodox Christians when it comes to Orthodox unity in the Western Hemisphere. There are still many who believe that the Ligonier gathering in 1994 of most of the Orthodox Bishops in America (represented by SCOBA primates) was an inflection point for Orthodoxy in…
by Rev. Fr. Charles Joanides Twenty years ago, I was hired by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese (GOA) to develop an outreach ministry to intermarried couples and their families, otherwise labeled with descriptors like interfaith, inter-Christian, inter-Christian and intercultural couples. The reason why this subject was given special attention was because 85% or more of Greek Orthodox were intermarrying. Today, this static has not dramatically changed. One of my first tasks was to review what information existed from an Orthodox perspective on the subject. What I discovered was a small body of literature written essentially by theologians for other theologians. Conspicuously…
Source: The National Herald By Theodoros Kalmoukos NEW YORK – Chase Manhattan Bank recently notified the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and also the National Philoptochos that it is essentially “throwing them out” and it doesn’t want to do business with them any longer. The issue was kept secret from both the Archdiocese and the Philoptochos until now. Sources from within the Archdiocese told The National Herald that Chase arrived at this decision because the Archdiocese continuously issued checks with insufficient funds in the accounts and as result the checks bounced. This check-bouncing practice increased over the last few years,…
Source: The National Herald By Theodoros Kalmoukos NEW YORK – Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew issued an announcement about the decisions of the Holy Synod during their November 26-29 meetings, presided by him. He wrote among other things that “the members of the Holy Synod surround His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios Geron of America “with brotherly love and esteem.” The entire announcement is as follows: “The Holy and Sacred Synod convened for its regular meetings on November 26–29, 2017, presided by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. “During these meetings, all the issues on the daily agenda were reviewed and appropriate decisions were…
Source: The National Herald By Theodoros Kalmoukos BOSTON, MA – The National Herald reveals the confidential documents of the Legal Committee of the Archdiocese sent to His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew regarding the election of the Metropolitan of Chicago relating to the List of Candidates. The issue of those hierarchs serving in Metropolises abroad but who had served as priests in the Archdiocese of America is examined here. We also reveal the letter of Judge (Ret.) Paul C. Lillios from Chicago who is also a member of the Legal Committee of the Archdiocesan Council but he didn’t sign the…
Source: The National Herald By Theodoros Kalmoukos The issue of the salaries and benefits of the clergy comes up very often for discussion in many if not all parishes, and certainly at various gatherings of Greek-Americans through the country. Something has to be done to review this issue, because the way we are going, fewer and fewer parishes will be able to afford the high salaries and the demands of many of our priests. Let me say that I have great respect and honor for those faithful, humble, and ethical priests and bishops, no matter in what corner of the…