Musings of the Executive Director: The Time for an Autocephalous USA Orthodox Christian Church is NOW!
(OCL) - The Synaxis of Patriarchs in 2008 decided that the Orthodox Church in the USA is uncanonical. How many more years can this situation fester? The Synaxis developed an Assembly of Bishops of all the canonical bishops in the USA to address the issue. They have been meeting for ten years and have reached an impasse. It is now up to the Patriarchs to act either in a synodical conciliar meeting with the 14 Self Ruling Patriarchs/Hierarchs, or if that cannot happen, the Ecumenical Patriarch needs to act as he did in Ukraine. On his visit to the USA in July 2019, he can call the Assembly of Bishops together to establish timelines for a canonical Autocephalous Orthodox Christian Church in the USA. In this way, he can surely demonstrate to the faithful that he is doing so: “…because the time has surely come for us to move beyond words to actions. We know much better than what we actually do. We are called to put our theory and theology into policy and practice. We are called to move beyond what is “mine” and what is “yours” to what is “ours.” From now on, this is how we should conceive and conduct all of our ministries and resources, all of our departments and initiatives. Otherwise, we do not practice what we preach. It is really up to us to accept the challenge or to refuse the call.” (Message of Patriarch Bartholomew to the Assembly of Bishops gathered in Dallas in 2014). The time to move beyond words to actions in NOW!
See 40 years of calls for unity by various sources:
Metropolitan Philip’s 1979 Address to Faithful on the Sunday of Orthodoxy in Los Angeles, CA.
Statement on Mission and Evangelism and Statement on the Church in North America with the signatures of the bishops from Proceedings of the 1994 Conference of Orthodox Bishops Ligonier, PA.
Orthodox Christian Laity: A Resolution for Autocephaly adopted on October 10, 1998 in Los Angeles, CA.
Thursday, May 2, 2019
Exec. Director of Orthodox Christian Laity... read it yourself.
Can you imagine what would happen if the EP unilaterally declared an autocephalous Church for the US? I shudder to think. But really, if you want to see how one Church declaring an autocephalous Church for North America would go, look to the OCA. How has that autocephaly fared? Not even the fellow Russian jurisdictions of the MP or ROCOR feel compelled to rest under Syosset's omophor. OCL continues to make a fool of itself with their posts.
Broadly speaking, I agree with your point about an American church; however, I think the OCA has fared rather well despite limited resources and a canonically shaky foundation. It has managed to right itself after a bruising, public scandal. Who else has done that?
ReplyDeleteIndeed. So I’m sure the EP will just recognize and affirm their autocephaly and move her parishes under it. :)
DeleteThe OCA is fine, but there is a modernist element there. Fortunately, one can still be a traditionalist in some areas.
ReplyDeleteDid not know that the OCA had a modernist bent, that's actually the total opposite of my experience with OCA parishes around Texas. Is it geographical?
DeleteThe Diocese of the South is more traditional, thanks to Archbishop Dimitri of Blessed Memory. I'm referring to the practice of the priest reading the silent prayers out loud, the practice of serving with the Royal Gates always open, allowing Altar girls(one Albanian parish in Philadelphia) etc.
DeleteThe OCA is not ROCOR, that's for sure, but there are no altar girls at my church and the Royal Gates open and close at the appropriate times at my church. I'm not sure whether or not the silent prayers are read aloud...I think they are done correctly at my church but honestly its a detail I might not notice. I am in the Diocese of the South.
DeleteThat is what I just said, Archbishop Dmitri left his imprint on the Southern Diocese.As for the altar girls, it's on YouTube. There are two Albanian OCA churches in Philadelphia, I forgot which one has the Altar girls. The priest simply moved the Altar out in front of the Iconostasis, so the girls don't enter the sanctuary.
Delete@BorisJojicj, RE "moved the Altar out in front". Are you serious? I'm having a hard time believing that; not saying that you're making it up...just that is so hard to believe.
DeleteIt reminds me of a story I heard once about a priest who hand edited his own Gospel book, editing out the parts he didn't agree with. When he passed, his bishop buried him with that Gospel so that the priest could account for it himself.
I saw the video on YouTube. It is possible it has been removed. I also spoke with an Albanian cleric, non OCA, who confirmed it. The priest has some special name for the girls,not altar girls.We condemn Constantinople for their excesses and rightly so. But it isn't just them.And Fr. Patrick Reardon said quite clearly that one of his greatest pleasures is going into synagogues and reciting the psalms in Hebrew.
DeleteI used to respect OCL, but over the last few years it has become selfevident that they've become a modernist / progressivist organization out of touch with both the Tradition of the Church and contemporary reality. OCL was a nice idea, but, sadly, its time has come & gone.
ReplyDeleteWell stated. They were always in trouble with a leadership/membership that has the highly secularized GOA folks overrepresented. They also have a hammer (i.e. NA jurisdictional unity) for which everything is a nail. Have a problem with your parish, or your wife, or perhaps a hang nail? Jurisdictional unity will solve it!
DeleteAmerica is the one place where the EP could try that and it would be a net negative for the EP. I say go for it! The OCA will still be there along with the other jurisdictions but the GOA will be finally freed from the Phanar. Can someone say Ligonair II?
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ReplyDeleteGiven how GOARCH/HCHC are in financial straits, and the debacle that was the St. Nicholas Shrine, maybe they are finally starting to realize that they cannot rely on the old ethnic club to support them any longer. There are a lot of GOARCH parishes that are doing very, very well and it is bc they have dropped the ethnic shtick and have a lot of converts. Personally, I think GOARCH/OCA/AAOA should merge, combine resources & also have the Orthodox Christian Mission Center focus on domestic as well as international evangelization.
ReplyDeleteGiven the (perceived) laxity/modernism, whatever you want to call it, in GOARCH, there is a lot that could be benefited from the more traditional jurisdictions.
Soapbox Over
"Given the (perceived) laxity/modernism, whatever you want to call it, in GOARCH, there is a lot that could be benefited from the more traditional jurisdictions."
DeleteExcept that never works. Secularism and the pragmatics of Christianity within it is just too "successful" at its evangelism. What actually happens is the marginalization and then conversion of the traditionalists into modernists.
Traditionalists and Traditional Christianity is never served by trying to "save" modernists...
I think the point is well taken that if there's ever an autocephalous US Church, it will be because the parishes simply take autocephaly and the new reality is acknowledged, however grudgingly. But the US is a sociological mess, so I don't see that happening.
ReplyDeleteApparently Abp. Demitrios has submitted his letter of recommendation
ReplyDeleteIf that’s true, can’t wait to see the ultra Greek that replaces him
Resignation**
DeleteSome of the younger bishops who surround Pat. Bartholomew take a very strong Monarchial line -- I suspect that they've influenced some of the Patriarch's actions in the past few years. If one of these becomes GOA's chief hierarch (or replaces Pat. Bartholomew), tensions in the Orthodox world will most likely get worse.
DeleteAbbaMoses, I agree. Sadly, by all measures it seems like it's only a matter of time before this happens rather than a question of if it will happen. Wolves in sheep's clothing...
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