Metropolitan Herman retires and Archbishop Seraphim steps in temporarily

I was asked for a summary of why this whole thing is happening.

The Chancery was found to have, under a veil of secrecy and convolution, to have squandered and mismanaged millions of dollars. Check were written with little oversight and hundreds of thousands of dollars vanished in the shuffling of funds. When a whistleblower went to tell people legal walls were put up and an attempt to confound the fact-finding process was enacted. Naturally the faithful have been and continue to be very upset about this and the events of this week and the recent months are the natural consequence of it all.

This is a chronology of the scandal: OCA News

SYOSSET, NY (OCA Communications) -- The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America, meeting at the OCA Chancery in Oyster Bay Cove, NY, on Thursday, September 4, 2008, issued the following statement.

“On September 4, 2008, The Holy Synod of Bishops received a letter from His Beatitude, Metropolitan HERMAN. In this letter, His Beatitude asks for Retirement, effective immediately, 'in the best interests of The Orthodox Church in America, and taking into consideration the current condition of my health.'

“Effective this date, The Holy Synod of Bishops grants His Beatitude’s request to retire from the Office of Metropolitan of All America and Canada of the Orthodox Church in America.

“The Holy Synod of Bishops resolves that, in retirement, the title will be ‘Former Archbishop of Washington and New York, Metropolitan of All America and Canada.’

“The Holy Synod of Bishops expresses to His Beatitude, Metropolitan HERMAN, their fraternal love and gratitude for his primatial service and archpastoral labors.

“The Holy Synod of Bishops resolves that His Eminence, DMITRI, Archbishop of Dallas and the South, be Locum tenens of The Orthodox Church in America. In liturgical commemorations, he is to be commemorated as ‘His Eminence, DMITRI, Archbishop of Dallas and the South, Locum tenens of the Metropolitan See.’”

---

SYOSSET, NY (OCA Communications) -- On Thursday, September 4, 2008, the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America issued the following statement.

“The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America resolved that His Eminence, SERAPHIM, Archbishop of Ottawa and Canada be the Administrator of the Metropolitan’s See to assist the Locum tenens, effective September 4, 2008.”