(
OCA) - Bringing to a close an initial round of prayerful consideration, which began shortly after the repose of the ever-memorable Archbishop Nikon in 2019, the Albanian Orthodox Archdiocese has inaugurated a new period of reflection and recruitment in its search for a bishop. Proposed and endorsed by popular acclamation at the September annual assembly of the archdiocese, this renewed process invites all potential candidates to submit their names for consideration. Interested parties are strongly encouraged to reach out to the Archdiocesan Chancery for more information. Due by November 12, submissions will be reviewed and thereafter submitted to the Holy Synod.
Posts
The Albanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Church and presumably has no trouble finding men qualified to be bishops of Albanians. If Albanians in the US are having trouble finding a bishop, I suggest they move back home.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI would sincerely hope that your spiritual father would [dis]approve the bigotry you've spouted above.
Delete'Twould be most ironic considering the number of bishops, including the Albanians, practicing the phyletism which Orthodoxy supposedly condemns.
This conundrum should have been resolved long ago, once it became clear to the hierarchs that their flocks could just pick up and leave once the wars started or the government wrecked the economy.
It seems that it's phyletism only when the EP says it's phyletism. When it's Bulgarians and Albanians wanting a national church, that's heresy. When it's Ukrainian rebels trying to take down a legitimate Ukrainian Orthodox Church headed by a legitimate Ukrainian Metropolitan, that's perfectly ok for +Bartholomew to go back on his word and press a reset button as it were.
DeleteThe difference is that the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople granted autocephaly to those local Churches. Greece too was schismatic prior to being recognized by Constantinople. Throughout history, whenever the Mother Church recognized that her separated children would remain obstinate in their schism, she self-sacrificially granted them autocephaly in order to bring them back into communion with her.
DeleteIt is in this context of kenosis that we can correctly understand what appears to be Patriarch Bartholomew going back on his word, as you said. In the interest of peace and fraternal relations among the local Churches, Constantinople had divested itself of of its some its responsibilities concerning Ukraine, while hoping that the Patriarchate of Moscow would resolve the Ukrainian schism. When it became apparent that there was no desire to do so, the fact that millions of Orthodox Christians were out of communion with the Church due to political matters could no longer be overlooked and so the Ecumenical Patriarchate had no choice but to reclaim its privileges in order to heal the schism.
What was one of those privileges? Responding to the question about whether Constantinople has exclusive jurisdiction to judge the affairs of the other local Churches, the 1663 letter of the eastern patriarchs (Dionysos of Constantinople, Paisios of Alexandria, Makarios of Antioch and Nektarios of Jerusalem) to the Russian Orthodox Church stated that "This privilege was held by the Pope until the universal Church was divided...now that he has separated himself from the Church, the matters of all the Churches are referred to the Throne of Constantinople from whom responses are given..."
Nice try, but not buying. Millions of Orthodox went into schism because they stepped outside of the canonical church in the name of Ukrainianism. Don't lecture me, I was a Ukrainian nationalist. I gave it up because I couldn't reconcile hating Russians with my faith in Christ. I certainly do hate the evil done on all sides, especially if done in the name of Christianity. Even if Moscow had granted autocephaly to Ukraine, the extremist Ukrainians would say that it is not Moscow's to give. I don't suppose any arguments will keep you and others like you to cease spouting the EP party line.
DeleteIf you actually have any arguments related to what I said above then feel free to share them.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAnti-Gnostic: The Albanian Orthodox Church has ~140 priests/200parishes with most of its hierarchy ethnic Greeks, its just rebuilding after the turks and communism nearly wiped it out. They have 2 churches and 2 missions in NA with one bishop. The Albanian Archdiocese, under the OCA, has 12 parishes with only half being ethnic Albanian anymore, most being in America since 1920's.
ReplyDeleteI believe Met. Tikhon's struggle in finding a bishop is more OCA's pivot to vigorously vet bishops and have an assembly vote on a pre-vetted list vs an assembly voting on eligible individuals and submitting it to the synod. (too many controversies over the years where the candidate eventually got rejected like the South or Canada).
I believe you are mistaken, the hierarchy is ethnically Albanian bar its primate. The head of the Church of Albania is ethnically Greek, but he was sent to revive the Church after the fall of Communism in the country. After his repose the hierarchy will return to being fully Albanian again...
DeleteYour correct, thanks for pointing that out
Delete