Episcopal Assembly names new chairs

NEW YORK – (EA) - During their February 27th meeting, the Executive Committee of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops USA (ACOB) appointed Metropolitan Tikhon as Chair of the Committee for Monastic Communities and Archbishop Benjamin as Chair of the Committee for Liturgy.

The Committee for Monastic Communities is tasked with archiving and cataloging, as well as studying and comparing the different monastic constitutions in use within the various jurisdictions and monastic communities in a given region. The Committee for Liturgy is expected i) to catalogue and compare various translations, rubrics, Typika, and liturgical books; and ii) to develop and suggest a common translation of basic liturgical texts. I wonder if this second goal is at all possible. Given that we have more Our Fathers in use than I have fingers on one hand, any uniformity is welcome. Even WITHIN jurisdictions basic things like the creed can differ from church to church. Cataloguing is the easy part. Changing anything is the hard bit.

Additionally, the Executive Committee appointed Nicholas Anton as ACOB’s first Director of Operations (DO). The DO is responsible to carry out the mission and vision of ACOB in order to achieve its goals. The DO reports directly to the Executive Committee through the Office of the Chairman. The DO works closely with all the bishops, committees, volunteers, and stakeholders of ACOB in conjunction with the Executive Committee and the Secretariat.

Nicholas served as Ecumenical Officer and Director of the Department of Inter-Orthodox, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA) from 2018-2020 and as Coordinator of United Nations Programs for the GOA from 2014-2018. He earned a Master of Divinity from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, a Master of Arts from Boston College, and is completing a Graduate Certificate in Leadership of Nonprofit Organizations. He specializes in negotiation, diplomacy, peacemaking, and change leadership. While assuming his new role as Director of Operations for ACOB, Nicholas will also continue to serve the GOA as a Special Advisor on Inter-Orthodox and Social Issues.