Source: The National Herald By Theodoros Kalmoukos NEW YORK – Over 20 parish councils from various parts of the country, including cathedrals from Florida, New York, Connecticut and elsewhere, intend to reduce or even completely stop their payments to the Archdiocese. Parish council presidents who spoke to The National Herald on the condition of anonymity, to be protected for obvious reasons –in the future they plan to go public – said that “we refuse to pay the 16% increase that we received from the metropolises.” Some of them signaled to their local metropolitans that they are not going to send…
Browsing: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
Source: The National Herald By Theodoros Kalmoukos NEW YORK – His Grace Bishop Andonios of Phasiane, Chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America will take a medical leave, as was announced at the Archdiocese in a meeting on September 26. TNH has learned that Bishop Andonios will undergo some type of surgical procedure at the end of the month and will recuperate at home for a few weeks. Some in the Archdiocese, though, allege that his taking a leave now is a golden opportunity for him to distance himself from the Archdiocese’s looming bankruptcy. Andonios has assumed some additional…
Source: Orthodox Christian Laity How is it possible that in 2017, almost a thousand years after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks, the leadership of the Orthodox Church in the world, but especially in the United States, continues to operate as though it is still a part of the Eastern half of the Roman Empire? Our Churches have “Bishop’s Thrones” that were long-ago erected for the Emperor to sit upon. Our Hierarchs carry miters, and wear robes and crowns evocative of long-gone Emperors. While nostalgically retaining some of these displays and accoutrements may not in themselves be harmful;…
Source: The National Herald By Theodoros Kalmoukos BOSTON,MA – The annual amounts New England parishes are obligated to give to the Archdiocese are really revealing and interesting. They are required to give 15% of their annual expenses to the Archdiocese, as it was decided abruptly without any information or advance notice to the Parishes in 2006 at the Clergy-Laity Congress in Nashville, TN. That formula was changed from 15% of income because the Church officials believed that many parishes were not reporting all their annual income or keeping double sets of records in order to avoid disclosing how much money…
Source: The National Herald By Theodoros Kalmoukos NEW YORK – Archdiocesan Finance Committee Chairman George Vourvoulias, although his position is a volunteer one, received $900,000 from the Archdiocese over the past ten years for travel expenses. The National Herald has learned that this discovery was made by the newly appointed CFO, Fr. Soterios Baroody, who reported the finding to Archbishop Demetrios. In turn, Demetrios asked Vourvoulias for an explanation and directed the Finance Department to cut off money transfers to Vourvoulias. The archbishop, Vourvoulias, Baroody, and recently ousted Executive Director of Administration Jerry Dimitriou, all did not respond to TNH’s…
Source: The National Herald By Theodoros Kalmoukos NEW YORK – In a lengthy and at times tense emergency meeting of the Executive Committee of the Archdiocesan Council of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America on September 19, the existence of an $8.5 million deficit, as The National Herald had previously reported, was officially announced, as was that the Archdiocese’s finances were mismanaged for years. His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios Geron of America and Council Vice Chair George Tsandikos did not respond to TNH’s request for comment. The emergency meeting notwithstanding, the Archdiocese had already taken steps in the last few months…
Source: The National Herald Theodoros Kalmoukos Analysis: The least that His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, the Holy Eparchial Synod, the Archdiocesan Council, and the Finance Committee should do is to publicly ask forgiveness from the parishes and from the Greek-American community in general for the bankruptcy of the Archdiocese. Maybe the archbishop is trying to hide behind Jerry Dimitriou’s resignation, but the reality is that Demetrios, not Dimitriou, is the archbishop. Dimitriou was an employee of the Archdiocese, certainly a high ranking one, but it is not just and fair to place all the heavy blame and the responsibility on him.…
Source: Orthodox Christian Laity Why have there been no announcements all these weeks about the resolution of the Election of the Metropolitan of Chicago? Members of the Holy Synod went to Istanbul before August 15. What were the results of this meeting? They are going back in early September? Why is the work of the Greek Archdiocese (GOA) done with no input from the faithful? The Church is a community, a communion. It is about communication. Where is the transparency in its actions and decisions? What role does the Archdiocesan Council play in this process? Do they just pay and…
Source: The National Herald Theodoros Kalmoukos BOSTON, MA – His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America and members of the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America will travel to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople on August 30. First, they will have an audience with His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, following a meeting with the Patriarchate’s Holy and Sacred Synod. The goal of the visit is an attempt to reverse Bartholomew’s and the Synod’s decision regarding the cancelation of the election of Bishop Sebastian of Zela to Metropolitan of Chicago. TNH has learned that it is expected…
Source: Orthodox Christian Laity The Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL) supports the decision of Archbishop Demetrios and the Eparchial Synod of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America to elevate Bishop Sevastianos to lead the Metropolis of Chicago as its new Metropolitan. As Elaine Jaharis pointed out in her recent Open Letter published in The National Herald, the stakes for the Metropolis of Chicago, the Archdiocese and the Ecumenical Patriarchate could not be higher. The Orthodox Christian Laity has supported the efforts of the Ecumenical Patriarchate where it believes that those efforts have merit: (a) The convening of pre-conciliar meetings over the years; (b) the…
Source: Orthodox Christian Laity by George Matsoukas It is difficult to discern the Holy Spirit-Spirit of Truth in the process of selecting the hierarchs in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of the United States. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America [GOA] is headed for another wrenching crisis! What happened to the post conciliar spirit of Orthodoxy one year after Holy and Great Council? Are we experiencing the consequences of the imposed 2003 Charter? We have a clash of cultures in our understanding rules and regulations. The voices of the hierarchy, clergy and laity living in America are being ignored in the…
Source: The National Herald To the Editor, I read again and again the open letter that Elaine Jaharis wrote to “All” and published in the National Herald on July 1. And I read it many times because this is not just a “letter.” This is a homily, this is a sermon, this is a wake-up κήρυγμα that should be read from the pulpit, from the amvona to all the parishioners every Sunday from every priest and every hierarch. The Ephraimite teachings are not the Orthodox Monasticism as we know it, it is not even Christian. It is a devious medieval…