Some background. There is continued discussion of creating a separate episcopal assembly for Canada. Not being Canadian, I have natural TexoAmerican hegemonic tendencies which make me question the need for such a bifurcation of North America. Thankfully, no one is asking me so I'm confident my betters will make sure things will fall out as they should.
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Toronto, ON (archdiocese.ca) – A Special Session of the Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops hosted by the Chairman of the Conference, His Eminence Metropolitan Archbishop Sotirios of Toronto, Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Canada met on March 17, 2011 between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.
The Conference took place at the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Toronto. The session was attended by the following Members of Conference: His Eminence Metropolitan Archbishop Sotirios, Chairman (Greek Orthodox Metropolis), His Eminence Metropolitan Yurij (Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada), His Eminence Archbishop Nathaniel (Romanian Episcopate OCA), His Eminence Archbishop Nicolae (Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese), His Grace Bishop Ilia (Albanian Orthodox Church), His Grace Bishop George (Serbian Orthodox Church), His Grace Gabriel (Russian Orthodox Church (ROCOR), His Grace Iov (Russian Orthodox Church (MP), His Grace Christophorus (Greek Orthodox Metropolis), His Grace Irénée (Archdiocese of Canada OCA) and Archpriest Panagiotis AVGEROPOULOS, secretary (Greek Orthodox Metropolis).
The entire discussion was focused on the documents related to the Organization of Episcopal Assembly in Canada and other common concerns. These Episcopal Assemblies have been authorised by the Fourth Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference which met at the Orthodox Centre of Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy, Switzerland June 6th – 13th, 2009. The Hierarchs decided unanimously that the first such Episcopal Assembly shall be convened during the Post-Pentecost Week of 2010, and took place in the last week of May in NY. The next such assembly will take place this year in Chicago, IL.
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Funny. I heard Texas was going to revert back to independent Republic status just so they can have their own 1 of everything!
ReplyDeleteI'm a dual Canadian/US citizen, so I agree with you, but from the perspective that it'd be nice to belong to an international, multiethnic Orthodox Church not beholden to any one state or ethnicity (unlike the majority of the Orthodox Churches in existence today in the Old World). Plus I'm not sure which Church I'd ethnically belong to if separate Canadian and US Orthodox Churches were created ;-).
ReplyDeleteFrom my little corner of Canadian Orthodoxy I'd say that the Church here is a generation or two behind the US, not to mention some cultural differences. So, I'm not sure if we need our own completely autonomous or autocephalous church, but I do think that the Canadian bishops need to get together from time to time to hash out issues particular to us.
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