New Converts Flocking To An Ancient Church

Orthodox traditions dating back centuries attract members.

Neannie Kever
January 9, 2011
Houston Chronicle

Like many of his parishioners, Father Richard Petranek came to the Orthodox church in search of the past.

After 30 years as an Episcopalian priest, Petranek converted to the Antiochian Orthodox Church and leads a new but growing parish in west Houston, filled almost entirely with converts to the ancient faith.

"Most people come for the stability," he said. "The same thing that is taught today in the Orthodox church was taught 500 years ago, was taught 1,000 years ago, was taught 1,500 years ago."

At a time when most mainline Christian churches are losing members, Eastern Orthodox churches — which trace their beliefs to the church described in the New Testament - are growing, both in Houston and across the United States.

The numbers are still small: the 2010 U.S. Orthodox census estimates there are about 32,000 active Orthodox churchgoers in Texas and just more than 1 million nationally, although other estimates are higher. But the number of U.S. Orthodox parishes grew 16 percent over the past decade.

In Houston and its suburbs, the growth has been more dramatic, fueled by immigration from Eastern Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere, along with an increasing number of converts.

The Orthodox tradition includes Greek Orthodox, Antiochian Orthodox, Russian Orthodox and the Orthodox Church in America, among others.

"We were amazed the church still existed, and it had never changed," said Lana Jobe, who with her husband, Lloyd, left a Baptist church to join Petranek at St. Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church four years ago. "That was so important to us."

A focus on tradition

To outsiders, the first hint of what lies within is often the architecture; many of the churches are built in a neo-Byzantine style, capped by gold domes and other flourishes, standing out in a city of sleek skyscrapers, strip shopping centers and ranch houses.

Traditions vary from church to church, but in many congregations, members stand for much of the service. The priest faces the altar for long stretches of time, with his back to the congregation. (All Orthodox priests are male.)

Members make the sign of the cross throughout the service, they kiss icons of Jesus and the saints and, sometimes, the Communion chalice and the priest's robes.

"It's pretty freaky for people from the nontraditional churches," said Father John Salem, pastor of St. George Antiochian Christian Church in West University. "If you come from a non-liturgical background, it can be pretty overwhelming."

But to many converts, the traditions are the main attraction.

"People are tired of the mixture of worship and celebrity culture," said Frank Schaeffer, a writer and novelist who converted to Orthodoxy 20 years ago from the evangelical faith of his childhood.

"People are tired of these worship services that look closer to MTV or the Disney channel than something that goes back into the past," said Schaeffer, son of Christian theologian Francis Schaeffer and the author of books including Dancing Alone: The Quest for Orthodox Faith in the Age of False Religion and Patience With God: Faith for People Who Don't Like Religion (or Atheism). "In the Orthodox church, people are not there for the priest, but for the liturgy."

Jobe points to something else:

"You see churches today splitting over doctrinal issues," she said. "In the Baptist church, there's the Southern Baptists. There's the Texas Baptists. There are controversies over Biblical truths or inerrancy or homosexuality; all kinds of issues come up, and the church wants to vote on it. We don't have to vote on anything, because it was settled from the very beginning."

Spiritual healing

Ben and Connie Harrison were lifelong Episcopalians but began looking around after that church was divided over the ordination of a gay bishop in 2004.

As they learned about the Orthodox church, Ben Harrison said, "it became less of a moving away from and more of a moving towards. It just felt right, going to the original Christian church."

Converts account for much of Orthodoxy's growth, making up more than half of the membership in some branches.

But Alexei Krindatch, research consultant to the Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas, said immigration is part of it, too, along with the fact that children raised in Orthodox churches are more likely to remain in the faith than those from many other churches.

Father John Whiteford, pastor of St. Jonah Orthodox Church in Spring, said converts account for about half of his congregation.

He converted, as well, after meeting an Orthodox priest while he was studying to become a Nazarene pastor.

Many new members came from evangelical churches, where Whiteford said they weren't satisfied.

"It's all modern, basically whatever they want to do," he said of some evangelical churches. "That has a rootlessness to it that makes people uncomfortable."

Not everyone feels that way, of course.

Megachurches such as Lakewood Church and Fellowship of the Woodlands have grown dramatically with high-tech outreach, sophisticated music ministries and contemporary services, and evangelical churches report faster growth than other denominations.

But Salem said Orthodox churches, with their rituals and icons and sacraments, can offer spiritual healing for those so inclined.

"The beauty of the church, that's part of it, too," he said. "People come in and say, 'Wow.' "

Christ In An American Prison

This icon of Saint Anthony is the work of an American monastic named Anthony. The unique situation of Anthony is that he does not live in a monastery, but in a Maximum Security Prison in Colorado.

Anthony has never entered an Orthodox church, nor has he attended "live" a liturgy or any other service; he has only seen a liturgy that was video recorded. The same situation exists for the other Orthodox Christians held in Maximum Security, such as the monk Matthew, and the majority of lay people like Loukas and George. This is because they became Orthodox after a personal search while in prison. The Orthodox in the Penitentiary do not recognize each other, since in this prison the detainees go into the courtyard individually, and do not meet each other as they are completely isolated. But they can mail letters to the "outside world", in compliance to certain conditions of course, such as the contents of the letters being checked. Our brothers understand Orthodoxy much more than one would expect. Another detainee, David, makes beautiful woolen prayer ropes, and has sent them to many Christians in various parts of the world.

The Orthodox of this Maximum Security Prison are the fruit of the grace of God through the missionary activity of a remarkable priest, Fr. Stephan Powley, who for years served there (he is now Chaplain of the prison).

Fr. Stephan, a former Evangelical Protestant, was ordained in the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese in the USA (under the Patriarchate of Antioch). He has been a prison Chaplain since January 1985 and has served in every security level from minimum to maximum. He is a priest in the Antiochian Archdiocese and serves the Orthodox Churches of Southern Colorado as needed. He is married to Ashley and they have four children who are all attending different universities.

Fr. Stephan offers weekly stories to "uplift and provoke thought" which can be read at this website: http://www.ocpm-scoba.org/upwardglance.html


Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

Skeptics Question 'Weeping' Virgin Mary Statue

Dalson Chen
November 4, 2010
Ottowa Citizen

The pastor of the Orthodox Christian church to which Fadia Ibrahim belongs is not endorsing her claims that her Virgin Mary statue is miraculous.

"I have nothing to do with that," said Rev. John Ayoub of the St. Ignatius of Antioch Church in Windsor.

"I can't agree with whatever she is saying."

But word continues to spread of the icon located in Ibrahim's front yard at 2764 Garvey Cres.

As of Wednesday, the story of the Madonna that supposedly cries healing oil had reached Detroit television and national news agencies.

Ayoub said he's well aware of the stir the statue has caused in the community and beyond. He said Ibrahim first confronted him with claims about the statue in March, when he was assigned to the parish.

But Ayoub said he has personally investigated the matter, spoken privately with Ibrahim at length, and he does not believe the statue is miraculous. "We don't go by the mob. We don't go by propaganda," he said.

Ayoub did not want his thoughts on the statue to be made public.

"I don't want to be in trouble. I don't believe in that at all, but ... I don't want to hurt the feelings of anybody," he said. "They (might) come here and fight me."

The priest said he has already received angry phone calls. "A week ago, a lady -- I never gave her my number -- she called me and said, 'Don't you believe?' And she started screaming at me."

Ayoub said that Ibrahim remains a beloved parishioner, but the church is not responsible for her, nor her statue. "If you want to believe her, you are free to believe her."

On Wednesday afternoon, a statement by Ayoub was posted on the church's website. It pointed out that the Antiochian Orthodox Christian church does not recognize nor worship statues -- it only recognizes the veneration of holy icons in two-dimensional paintings.

Ayoub wrote that the church will investigate according to procedure "under the watchful eye of our Bishop."

"Like any claim of miracles, our church requires concrete scientific proof of such claims. Such investigations take time and deep scientific and spiritual examination before any conclusion may be made."

Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic diocese of London has decided not to investigate the statue any further. Mark Adkinson, a spokesman for the diocese, said that since Ibrahim is an Orthodox Christian, the matter is the purview of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese.

"It's not within our jurisdiction to investigate," Adkinson said. "Any investigation that could be done, would be done by the Orthodox Church."

Nevertheless, a steady stream of believers continued to visit the statue on Wednesday.

Ibrahim could not be reached for comment. She was seen arriving at the house, but after exchanging some embraces with followers, family members hurried her inside and out of public sight.

"The priest say to her, 'You have to stop,'" said Marija Prepolec, a close friend of Ibrahim.

Acting on a complaint from a neighbour, the city has ordered Ibrahim to remove the statue's shrine or obtain a permit for it by Nov. 19.

Ibrahim is no longer accepting donations to fund a legal battle with the city over the issue.

A sign taped to the statue's enclosure reads: "No money is being accepted now as more than enough has been collected for the permit, variance, etc."

Fe Ligaya, another friend of Ibrahim, said someone has privately agreed to cover all the costs of keeping the statue in place. "The money that has been collected yesterday will go to the London Children's Hospital," Ligaya said.

For some, the miraculousness extends to Ibrahim herself. Prepolec, 64, claims that Ibrahim cured her of her heart condition by visiting her in hospital.

"When I go for angio, the doctor say 'Marija, your heart is like new,'" Prepolec said.

But not everyone felt the healing power. At 4 p.m., the small residential street was so clogged with vehicles that one impatient motorist was seen shouting his displeasure -- plus a few obscenities. "Go! You think this road is only for you?" said the angry male driver of a green pickup truck.

Watching from her porch across the street, Chris Hole said she saw a couple of other examples of bad behaviour earlier in the day.

She said she's aware of people visiting the statue late at night and in the early hours of the morning. But all the commotion doesn't bother her. "I figure it will die down, eventually," Hole said with a good-natured shrug.

Hole's friend, who didn't want to give his name, added: "They're not doing nothing illegal. The traffic is a little much now, but that's only because of all the publicity."

"It could be worse. It could be a drug home. People are allowed to have people come around. We don't see a problem with it."

From an academic perspective, the statue holds little mystery. Anne Shore, co-ordinator of the theology program at Assumption University, pointed out that the phenomenon is not particularly new.

"A lot of these statues that weep are helped, OK?" she said with a laugh. "You don't know until time unfolds whether it's a legitimate thing or not. I mean, there are other cases ... where statues have been found to be helped. People go out at night and put a little oil in, you know."

Shore said the theology program views weeping statues in a very different light than documented miracles in the lives of saints. She said things like Ibrahim's Mary statue are considered expressions of "popular piety" -- religious practices outside the official church, which are not the subject of theological study.



Related article:

'Weeping' Virgin Mary statue draws hundreds of worshippers to Windsor residence

Has Metropolitan Philip Become Another Peter the Great?

According to an OCANews.org story released yesterday, it appears Metropolitan Philip would rather his Antiochian priests look like heterodox priests rather than traditional Orthodox priests. His dictatorial actions in the story below sort of remind me of the infamous Beard Tax imposed by Peter the Great in the 17th century. Here is the story:

On the day the Archdiocesan website officially published the Metropolitan Philip's October 22nd "Implementation" Order (read those 18 directives here or here), the Metropolitan dismissed Fr. David Moretti of Terre Haute IN from his parish, and the Archdiocese, ostensibly for disobedience, that is, wearing a traditional cassock rather than a clergy suit while in public. The letter announcing the Metropolitan's decision was short and direct:

"To the Priest David Moretti:

It is with sadness of heart that I write to you today. Because of your disobedience in following the directives I have set forth for liturgical dress and practice as well as public comments you have made disparaging me personally, I am releasing you from your duties as pastor of St. George Church and as a priest of the Antiochian Archdiocese effective December 1, 2010. Please plan to be out of the parish by that date.

In Christ,
+Metropolitan PHILIP"

Fr. Moretti received a previous warning that his practice of wearing a cassock in public, apart from liturgical duties, was not acceptable. According to parishoners, Fr. Moretti then stopped wearing his cassock in public, and adopted the required attire more than a month ago.

As for the second reason given by the Metropolitan, the making of public disparaging remarks concerning the Metropolitan, Fr. Moretti has denied the accusation. He certainly made none yesterday. In a parish bulletin to his community announcing the Metropolitan's decision, published yesterday, Fr. Moretti wrote:

"Dear to Christ, the community under the protection of our beloved Saint George,

The news of my release seems to be "out" and making the rounds. Rather than there be multiple stories with little truth to them, I wanted everyone to be able to read the words, verbatim, that Metropolitan PHILIP sent to me. Your continued prayers for our hierarchs, especially Metropolitan PHILIP are NECESSARY now more than ever. Any and all responses must be done in love. We cannot be true witnesses to Christ and not weigh our motives against what would be pleasing to our Lord! Please know that we trusted our lives to God coming here to Terre Haute and we know full-well that He has not abandoned us, nor will He. Do your best to be stalwart in your prayer and make whatever response you may have to this a BLESSING and not divisive or vindictive."

A second priest, Fr. Paul Alberts, was transferred from his parish of 20+ years in Sylvania, Ohio, near Toledo, without warning yesterday, to replace Fr. Moretti. Not conincidentally perhaps, both priests were associated with Bishop Mark of Toledo, who was dismissed from his See by the Metropolitan earlier this week. According to locals Bishop Mark frequently attended daily Matins at Sylvania, while Fr. Moretti had posted photos and comments concerning Bishop Mark's visit to his parish during Great Lent 2010 where he washed the feet of parishoners on Great and Holy Thursday.

-Mark Stokoe

Source

Related article: Priest Dismissed for Wearing a Cassock!

Message of the Episcopal Assembly 26-28 May 2010

Message of the Episcopal Assembly Of the Canonical Orthodox Hierarchs of North and Central America May 26-28, 2010

We glorify the name of the Triune God for gathering us at this first Episcopal Assembly of this region in New York City on May 26-28, 2010 in response to the decisions of the Fourth Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference held at the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy, Switzerland, from June 6-12, 2009, at the invitation of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

Gathered together in the joy of the Feast of Pentecost, we humbly recognize our calling, in our unworthiness, to serve as instruments and disciples of the Paraclete, who “holds together the whole institution of the Church” (Hymn of Vespers of Pentecost).

We honor and express gratitude to the Primates and Representatives of the Orthodox Autocephalous Churches who assembled at the Ecumenical Patriarchate from October 10-12, 2008 to affirm their “unswerving position and obligation to safeguard the unity of the Orthodox Church” (Chambésy Rules of Operation, Article 5.1a) and emphasized their will and “desire for the swift healing of every canonical anomaly that has arisen from historical circumstances and pastoral requirements” (Message of the Primates 13.1-2)

We call to mind those who envisioned this unity in this region and strove to transcend the canonical irregularities resulting for many reasons, including geographically overlapping jurisdictions. For, just as the Lord in the Divine Eucharist is “broken and distributed, but not divided” (Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom), so also His Body comprises many members, while constituting His One Church.

We are grateful for the gift of the doctrinal and liturgical unity that we already share, and we are inspired by our leaders, the Heads of all the Orthodox Churches throughout the world, who proposed that which we painfully yearn for in this region, i.e., the “swift healing of every canonical anomaly” (Message of the Primates 13.2). We are also grateful that they established a fundamental process toward a canonical direction and resolution.

We are thankful to almighty God for the growth of Orthodoxy, for the preservation of our traditions, and for the influence of our communities in this region. This is indeed a miracle and a mystery.

During our gathering, and in accordance with the rules of operation of Episcopal Assemblies promulgated by the Fourth Pan-Orthodox Pre-Conciliar Conference, we established:

1. A registry of canonical bishops (Article 6.1)

2. A committee to determine the canonical status of local communities in the region that have no reference to the Most Holy Autocephalous Churches (Article 6.2)

3. A registry of canonical clergy (Article 6.3)

4. Committees to undertake the work of the Assembly, among others including liturgical, pastoral, financial, educational, ecumenical, and legal issues (Articles 11 and 12)

5. A committee to plan for the organization of the Orthodox of the region on a canonical basis (Article 5.1).

In addition to the above, we agreed that a directory would be created and maintained by the Assembly of all canonical congregations in our region.

We as Episcopal Assembly understand ourselves as being the successors of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA), assuming its agencies, dialogues, and other ministries.

Moreover, at the formal request of the Hierarchs who have jurisdiction in Canada, the Assembly will submit to the Ecumenical Patriarch, in accordance with the rules of operation (Article 13), a request to partition the present region of North and Central America into two distinct regions of the United States and Canada. Additionally, at the request of the Hierarchs who have jurisdiction in Mexico and Central America, the Assembly will likewise request to merge Mexico and Central America with the Assembly of South America.

As Orthodox Hierarchs in this blessed region, we express our resolve to adhere to and adopt the regulations proposed by the Pan-Orthodox Conferences and approved by the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches, and to do everything in our power by the grace of God to advance actions that facilitate canonical order in our region.

We confess our fidelity to the Apostolic Orthodox faith and pledge to promote “common action to address the pastoral needs of Orthodox living in our region” (Chambésy, Decision 2c). We call upon our clergy and faithful to join us in these efforts “to safeguard and contribute to the unity of the Orthodox Church of the region in its theological, ecclesiological, canonical, spiritual, philanthropic, educational and missionary obligations” (Article 5.1) as we eagerly anticipate the Holy and Great Council.

The Assembly concluded with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy on Friday, May 28, 2010 at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Archdiocesan Cathedral in New York City. During the Liturgy prayers were offered for the repose of the eleven victims of the current ecological disaster in the Gulf Coast, for the consolation of their families, for all those adversely affected by this catastrophe, as well as for all people living under conditions of war, persecution, violence, and oppression.

Of the sixty-six Hierarchs in the region, the following 55 were present at this Assembly:

Archbishop Demetrios, Chairman
Metropolitan Philip, Vice Chairman
Archbishop Justinian, Vice Chairman
Bishop Basil, Secretary
Archbishop Antony,Treasurer
Metropolitan Iakovos
Metropolitan Constantine
Metropolitan Athenagoras
Metropolitan Methodios
Metropolitan Isaiah
Metropolitan Nicholas
Metropolitan Alexios
Metropolitan Nikitas
Metropolitan Nicholas
Metropolitan Gerasimos
Metropolitan Evangelos
Metropolitan Paisios
Archbishop Yurij
Bishop Christopher
Bishop Vikentios
Bishop Savas
Bishop Andonios
Bishop Ilia
Bishop Ilarion
Bishop Andriy
Bishop Demetrios
Bishop Daniel
Bishop Antoun
Bishop Joseph
Bishop Thomas
Bishop Mark
Bishop Alexander
Metropolitan Hilarion
Bishop Iov
Bishop Gabriel
Bishop Peter
Bishop Theodosius
Bishop George
Bishop Ieronim
Metropolitan Christopher
Bishop Maxim
Archbishop Nicolae
Bishop Ioan Casian
Metropolitan Joseph
Metropolitan Jonah
Archbishop Nathaniel
Archbishop Seraphim
Bishop Nikon
Bishop Tikhon
Bishop Benjamin
Bishop Melchisedek
Bishop Irineu
Bishop Irinee
Bishop Michael

Source

Orthodoxy in Guatemala: An Interview With Abbess Ines

Abbess Ines is the head of the only Orthodox parish in Guatemala – the Monastery of the Holy and Life-Giving Trinity, the “Lavra of Mambre”, under the Patriarchate of Antioch. She comes from an influential and well known family in Guatemala which has produced many outstanding individuals. When [then Catholic] Sister Ines was 36 years old, she made an extreme change in her life, leaving a Catholic monastic order and becoming an Orthodox nun.

Holy Trinity Monastery was founded by Mother Ines and Sister Maria Amistoso in April of 1986. In 1989, the engineer Federico Bauer donated a piece of land on the shores of Lake Amatitlan, not far from Guatemala City, to the monastery. The land is 1188 meters [about 3900 feet] above sea level and is located near Pacaya, one of the most active volcanoes in Central America.

On the day of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in 1995, the “Act of Creating an Orthodox Church in Guatemala” was signed by Bishop (now Metropolitan) Antonio Chedraoui of Mexico, Venezuela, Central America and the Caribbean (of the Antiochian Patriarchate), and also by the head of the monastery, Mother Ines and her nuns, and 25 parishioners.

Buildings rose on the site donated by Federico Bauer and the consecration of the monastery took place in November, 2007, with 18 participating clerics, who came to Guatemala especially for this occasion.

The iconography in the Monastery church is being done by Russian masters from the International School of Icon Painting, based both in the town of Kostroma in Russia and in the USA.

In 1996, the government of Guatemala gave the monastery control of an orphanage built to house 800 children, the “House of Rafael Ayau” in the country’s capital, Guatemala City. At present they have just over 100 boys and girls – from newborn babies to 16 year old adolescents. The workers at the orphanage give the children a high-school education and familiarize them with basic Orthodox concepts. They also give them professional skills. Soon, the orphanage will be moved to the monastery.

In February of 1997, the church of the Transfiguration of the Lord was blessed in the orphanage building. In the absence of a priest, the services are led by a reader [called Reader’s Services]. Two children’s choirs sing antiphonally, where one choir sings one stanza, and then the other choir sings the next stanza. The exclamations and the dismissal are read by Mother Ines. The parish is made up of Guatemalans, Arabs, Greeks, Russians, and Ukrainians.

Holy Trinity Monastery has fairly large agricultural holdings, where rabbits and fish are raised and vegetables are grown. All that they produce goes to the orphanage.

In July of 2009, Mother Ines came to Russia to visit the holy places and to broaden her ties to the Russian Orthodox Church. The Abbess was accompanied Sister Maria and two teenagers from the orphanage.

This conversation with Mother Ines took place during that visit, on a trip from Sretensky Monastery to the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra. [lavra: a large monastery]

Abbess Ines, Sister Maria, and two of the “graduates” of the orphanage, Reina and Edgar Rolando

– Mother Ines, how did you become acquainted with the Orthodox faith?

– When I was 20 years old, I became a Catholic nun, and entered a monastery under the order of the Dormition of the Holy Theotokos. They gave me to read the conversations of St. Seraphim of Sarov with Nicholas Motovilov, and the texts of the Orthodox Liturgy. What I read astonished me to the depths of my soul. One of the nuns showed me several Orthodox icons, including a reproduction of Andrei Rublev’s “Holy Trinity.” I was interested, and I burned with a desire to find the roots of all of this. From that time, I began saying the “Jesus Prayer” [“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”].

I studied theology for ten years – with the Salezians in Guatemala, with the monks of the Holy Spirit in Mexico, with the famous theologian Jean Daniélou in France, and with the Jesuits in Belgium and El Salvador. I continued to be bothered by one question: where are the treasures to be found that I came across at the beginning of my Monastic life? Once, in Brussels, the nun who was in charge of my spiritual growth brought me to a Russian Paschal [Easter] service. It was held in a chapel on the second floor of a private home, but even then, I did not find an answer to my question.

I did not want to serve in Latin America: in those years, because of the spread of “liberation theology”, Church-government relations had become seriously strained. I received permission to go to the Philippines. There, to my amazement, I met more Sisters of the Dormition, who were seeking the same thing I was. We found out about Eastern Rite Catholics, and considered reforming our community to use the Eastern Rite. Unfortunately, most of the Sisters left, and several got married. Only the native-Philippine Sister Maria and I remained. The nuns of my order, which has great influence in the Philippines, asked me to leave the country, because they thought I was spreading revolutionary sentiments.

I went to Jerusalem, where I finally came into contact with real Orthodoxy. Sister Maria came to me from the Philippines, and together we traveled across the Holy Land, started to learn different liturgical services, and talked to priests.

– How did your family take your conversion to Orthodoxy?

– My father is a very educated person, but when I told him that I want to join Orthodoxy, he said “What do you mean? This does not exist in nature!” Nevertheless, our conversation intrigued him. In a few weeks, Dad went to Turkey. When he got there, he hailed a cab, and told the taxi to take him to an Orthodox church where he could see an Orthodox service. After that, he went by ship to the Holy Land, where he did the same thing. From that time, Orthodoxy became for him a reality.

My mother supported my decision right away. She was interested in Russia, and read a lot about it. She read a book about the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in Alaska with great interest. When the Antiochian Bishop Antonio Chedraoui, during his first visit to Guatemala, received some Arabs into Orthodoxy, my mother also went forward and was received into the Orthodox Church through chrismation. Later, my father also became Orthodox.

– How did you join the Antiochian Church?

– Sister Mary and I decided to form an Orthodox monastery in Guatemala. On our way from Israel, we stopped in the Swiss town of Chambésy [not far from Geneva], where we visited Metropolitan Damaskenos Papandreu of Switzerland (Patriarchate of Constantinople). He blessed the opening of our Monastery, and said that we had to join a jurisdiction of one of the Orthodox patriarchates. To do this was not easy. The Orthodox Churches that had a presence in Latin America then did not have a particular interest in the local population. The Patriarchate of Constantinople served the Greeks, the Patriarchate of Antioch – Arabs, the Russian Patriarchate – Russians. Only after asking for ten years did we get accepted by the Antiochian Church’s Metropolitan Antonio (Cherdaoui).

For the registration of a parish, we needed 25 signatures of Guatemalan citizens. We did not have that many parishioners. So my relatives, the relatives of another nun, Sister Ivonne, and our friends also signed the petition.


– Why did your community choose the ancient Russian style when building your church?

– We sincerely love Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church. The crosses on our cupolas are Byzantine, but everything else is Russian: the architecture, the icons, and the frescos. People, when they see the Russian cupolas, understand right away that there is an Orthodox church before them. Our parish keeps to Russian traditions in the services, keeps to the Julian calendar; and the nuns wear the Russian monastic habit.

– Where is the monastery?

– We built the monastery 20 kilometers [about 12½ miles] from Guatemala City, on the top of a hill. Around us there are woods, and not far away, Lake Amatitlan. It is a very beautiful place, although it’s true that it is not entirely fitting for a holy monastery because we are so close to the city and come across the problems that exist in any suburb of a large Latin American city–overpopulation and the drug trade.

– How large is the Sisterhood?

– Three nuns live in the monastery. Besides me, there is Sister Maria Amistoso, who is a native of the Philippines, and Sister Ivonne Sommerkramp who came to the monastery five years after it was founded. She is a Guatemalan with German roots. Earlier, we had more nuns.

– Who performs services?

– We do not have a permanent priest yet. Two times a month, groups of missionaries and volunteers come from places such as the USA, Norway, Japan and other countries; and those groups always have a priest. Russian priests have also been with us: Protopriest Basil Movchanuk – head of the church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Yartsevo, in the Smolensk region; and Protopriest Igor Kropochev – a helper for the missionary department of the Kemerovo diocese.

The katholikon of the Monastery of the Holy and Life Giving Trinity, the “Lavra of Mambre”

– Tell us about the monastery’s orphanage please.

– Our orphanage, the oldest and largest in our country, is located right in the heart of Guatemala City. My ancestor, Rafael Ayau, organized it in 1857. He was a philanthropist, and a very pious person. Monks from the charity organization “Caridad” took control of the orphanage from [my ancestor] don Rafael when he, from France, invited them to do so. In 1960, the government deported the members of “Caridad”, and the government itself took over the care of the orphanage. After 40 years, President Alvaro Arsu handed over control of the orphanage, which was in terrible shape, to our monastery. It is unlikely that any other politician would have done that; they are afraid of Orthodox people. Arsu was not afraid, because there were some Orthodox people in his family.

Because of changes in the social laws, our orphanage began to look more like a boarding school. In twelve years, over 1000 children from poor and underprivileged families have gone through our orphanage. All of them are raised in the Orthodox spirit. Many of them return to their parents, but do not break their ties to the monastery, and continue to go to liturgy on Sundays. Over 300 of our orphans have been adopted by Orthodox families, mostly in the USA.

The Russian ambassador to Guatemala, Nicholas Vladimir, had told me that the Russian government grants stipends for higher education in Russia to young people from other countries, and we have taken advantage of that opportunity. Two of our children, Reina and Edgar Rolando, have come with us to Moscow. They will start studying Information [Computer] Science and Engineering at a Russian university in September.

– How are your monastery’s relations with the Catholic Church?

– We have a warm, friendly attitude towards them, but the Catholic Church has been quietly waging war against us, warily, secretly. For example, after we sent our petition to register the parish with the [Guatemalan] Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we did not know what happened to it for several years. When President Arsu asked the monastery to take the orphanage under its wing, I said that we could not do it, because we did not officially exist. The President entrusted his lawyer with solving the problem. As it turned out, our documents had been located in the curia the entire time; Catholics had spirited them away. Fortunately, President Arsu then gave the Holy Trinity Parish the status of a jurisdictional body by special decree.

Protestant denominations, of which there are hundreds now, do not worry the Catholics. Orthodoxy puts fear into them. There are several reasons for this, but, the biggest reason is that the Catholic hierarchy fears that the Orthodox Church will convert some of their flock. The Cardinal of Guatemala admitted this to the Russian ambassador.

Nonetheless, it is impossible to escape contact with the Catholic Church. Catholicism dominates Guatemala. My father is a public person; I was a Catholic nun for 16 years; the Cardinal is the cousin of my godfather, and has known me since childhood.

– What are Orthodoxy’s prospects in Guatemala, in your opinion?

– I am convinced that Orthodoxy has a great future in our country. Two priests, one 20 years ago, and another recently, [unofficially] converted to Orthodoxy from Catholicism, and brought their flocks with them. In total, that is over 100,000 people. They consider themselves Orthodox, though they have not been officially joined to the Orthodox Church, and, from my observations, know very little of Eastern Christianity. Among them are Ladinos (descendants of the Spanish) and Indians. Both groups intend to ask for entrance into the Russian Orthodox Church.

– What are your impressions of Russia from your visit?

– I have no words to describe the feelings that I have when I am here. I am astonished by everything: the architecture, and the interior decoration of the churches and monasteries, the architecture of the cities and towns, the nature [flora and fauna]… I especially notice the piety of the people, their deep faith, which they have preserved through decades of the godless Communist regime.

Interview conducted by Miguel Palacio.

Translated into English by Adrian Fekula. Translation edited by Br. James Hazen

Мигель Паласио

16 / 07 / 2009

Source

More Protestants Find a Home in the Orthodox Antioch Church

October 2, 2009
Nick Berezniak

LINTHICUM HEIGHTS, MD — Cal Oren was threading his way through the Santa Cruz Mountains of California early one evening in 1993, driving his wife, brother and three tired children back from a day of hiking amid the redwoods. As their car neared the town of Ben Lomond, Mr. Oren said, his brother pointed to a church on the roadside and said: "I've been inside this. It's really neat."

So Mr. Oren pulled to a stop, and as the children stayed in the car, the grown-ups gingerly padded into the sanctuary of Saints Peter and Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church. A lifelong Presbyterian, Mr. Oren knew virtually nothing about the Antiochians or, for that matter, Orthodox Christianity in general. He had always associated Ben Lomond with hippies, geodesic domes, and marijuana fields.

As he entered the sanctuary, a vespers service was underway. Maybe two dozen worshippers stood, chanting psalms and hymns. Incense drifted through thedark air. Icons of apostles and saints hung on the walls and adorned the altar. The ancientness and austerity stood at a time-warp remove from the evangelical circles in which Mr. Oren normally traveled, so modern and extroverted and assertively relevant.

"This was a Christianity I had never encountered before," recalled Mr. Oren, 55, who is a marketing consultant in commercial construction. "I was frozen in my tracks. I felt like I was in the actual presence of God, almost as if I was in heaven. And I'm not the kind of person who gets all woo-hoo."

The ineffable disclosure of that evening, a 15-minute glimpse into Byzantium, rattled everything certain in Mr. Oren's spiritual life. Even as he and his family kept attending a Presbyterian church near their home in suburban Baltimore, he stepped down from his positions as a ruling elder and Bible-study instructor. In 1995, he attended his first service at Holy Cross, an Antiochian church here, about 10 miles south of Baltimore. By late 1996, he was a regular, and in May 1997, he and his family converted and joined.

Any person's conversion is by nature an individual and idiosyncratic journey, and Mr. Oren's reflected not only his visceral sense that Orthodoxy had a "core of holy tradition" but his intense concern over theological concepts like giving the Eucharist to baptized infants, which may not animate other believers quite the same way.

Yet in its broader outlines, his movement from the Protestant realm into the Orthodox one, specifically into the Antiochian branch, attests to a significant and fascinating example of denominational migration. Over the last 20 years, the Antiochian Orthodox Church — with its roots in Syria and Lebanon and its longtime membership in America made up almost entirely of Middle Eastern immigrants and their descendants — has become the destination of choice for thousands of Protestants of Northern European ancestry.

The visible shift began in 1987 with the conversion of nearly 2,000 evangelical Christians, led by Peter E. Gillquist and other alumni of the Dallas Theological Seminary and the Campus Crusade for Christ. More recently, a wave of converts has arrived from such mainline Protestant denominations as the Episcopalian and Lutheran.

Some 70 percent of Antiochian Orthodox priests in the United States are converts, according to Bradley Nassif, who, as a professor of Bible and theology at North Park University in Chicago, is one of the nation's leading scholars of the religion. A generation or two ago, Professor Nassif said, converts made up barely 10 percent of Antiochian clergy.

Professor Nassif went so far, in a 2007 article in Christianity Today magazine, as to suggest that the 21st century might become the "Orthodox century" as disenchanted Protestants grew attracted to the historical roots, theological rigor and social conservatism of the Eastern Christian denominations.

Whether or not the prediction pans out, it is certainly true that no American convert comes to the Antiochian church by convenience or ease. The denomination has only about 250,000 members in 250 congregations in the country, Professor Nassif estimated. Worshippers stand during most of the two-hour Divine Liturgy each Sunday. Nearly half the days in the year require fasting from meat, dairy, eggs and most fish.

Yet when Mr. Oren and his family joined Holy Cross, they found kindred spirits in more ways than one. The church's pastor, Father Gregory Mathewes-Green, had left the Episcopal ministry to convert. His wife, Frederica Mathewes-Green, had written perhaps the definitive book on the subject, "Facing East: A Pilgrim's Journey Into the Mysteries of Orthodoxy" (HarperOne 2006).

Alienated by what he called "spiritual and theological chaos and moral confusion" in the Episcopal church, Father Mathewes-Green, 62, started Holy Cross in early 1993 with 19 members, five of them from his own family. When he formally renounced his Episcopal vows, he lost not only his annual salary but the rectory that was his home.

"There were many times," he recalled in a recent interview, "when I thought, `Today is the day I have to look through the Help Wanted ads.' "

In the years since, though, Holy Cross has grown to 120 members, nearly two-thirds of them converts, and has bought and paid off a $265,000 building. Fittingly for a congregation of spiritual seekers, Holy Cross occupies a stone structure built by Methodists and most recently occupied by the Pentecostals of the Korean Full Gospel New Generation Church.

While the sun streams through a stained-glass window of Jesus that was installed by the original congregation, most of the icons were painted within the last dozen years by an Orthodox convert, Carolyn Shuey. The other day, Father Mathewes-Green was tutoring the latest prospective convert, a Catholic immigrant from Congo.

The unexpected evolution of the Antiochian church has had only one drawback, at least at Holy Cross. When Father Mathewes-Green was persuaded several years ago to raise money with a church supper, people flocked to Holy Cross, expecting the savory specialties of the Levant. What they got was the culinary outcome of the priest's former life as an Episcopalian from South Carolina: hot dogs and brownies.

The fund-raiser, all prayers and chants to the contrary, was a loser.

Metropolitan Philip and the Future of Monasticism in the Antiochian Archdiocese

Metropolitan Philip of New York

The Antiochian Archdiocese of North America has for a long time been controversial regarding its liberal attitude in discarding what many Orthodox consider to be precious and sacred traditions. This attitude has most often been traced to its current Metropolitan, Philip. The fact that he wrote the foreword to the misleading book Orthodox Fundamentalism published by Conciliar Press should give the more traditionally minded Orthodox an idea of what he stands for.

Metropolitan Philip prides himself in trying to be a "progressivist" by relating to the common American in his attempt to win people to Orthodoxy. Of course, he is most famous for bringing into the Orthodox fold the "Evangelical Orthodox" en mass, and even this move is looked upon as controversial the way he went about it. And his attempt to fit in with the common man has gone so far as to even appear shamelessly in a cowboy suit, complete with a bandana and a six-shooter (his episcopal panagia was tucked in his shirt pocket) at the Archdiocesan convention that was held in Dallas, Texas in 1982 (there is a picture of this in the Word magazine in 1982 with the Metropolitan pointing the six-shooter at a Reader, with the inscription "Pay your diocesan assessment, or else," or something similar).

Besides the ludicrousness of the above, however, his extremes have reportedly even gone over canonical boundries. One issue has been that he has allowed clergy to be remarried while continuing to serve as priests. Another concerns the abolishment of all fasting from the feasts of Pascha until the Ascension, though this is more of a modern innovation of the entire Antiochian Patriarchate than of the Metropolitan himself.

Perhaps the most controversial innovation of Metropolitan Philip is his complete prohibition for Antiochian clergy in America to walk around outside of church property wearing the rasson (cassock) with an untrimmed beard and hair in a pony-tail. He considers this unbecoming for clergy in America and insists on clergy adopting his style of wearing a suit with a collar, being completely shaven or with a very trimmed beard, and short hair. The controversy over this decision in the 1990's caused many traditional Orthodox clergy in the Antiochian Archdiocese to leave and enter more traditional jurisdictions like ROCOR. His justification for this, besides his "common man" argument, has been the example of St. Tikhon, Enlightener of America. He claims to possess a photograph of this Saint from 1905 walking around in a suit with a collar in San Francisco and argues that St. Tikhon encouraged this look for all his clergy in America. However, besides the fact that there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that St. Tikhon sought to impose Papist or Episcopal attire on his clergy (Fr. George Florovsky evidently disputed the authenticity that St. Tikhon made such a directive), it is almost certain that this photo is taken out of context and used as a means to justify his innovation. We know that for St. Tikhon it was the norm for him to walk around in a blue cassock while in America. Fr. Feofan Buketov recorded the travels of St. Tikhon in 1906 (a year after the photo) and describes Archbishop Tikhon with a blue cassock and hat from which flowed long hair. He says that he would travel like this on public trains throughout America and it would not only catch peoples attention, but they would stand up in his presence out of reverence and would go up to him to shake his hand (so much for Metr. Philips comment that Americans would never approach a traditional looking clergyman to say hello) . For all we know, the picture of St. Tikhon from 1905 could have been a one-time incident and it may have something to do with the vast amount of Uniates who were converting to Orthodoxy at the time, for whom St. Tikhon went to great lengths to win them over to Orthodoxy. Whatever the case may be, the early mission to America allowed certain practical accomodations as Orthodox were in the process of forming their identity in the New World. The facts are that we are no longer a new mission, nor are we living in a country where everybody dresses the same as they did in the beginning of the twentieth century. Contemporary diversity in America allows for the acceptance and educational value of traditional Orthodox clerical attire.

Currently there are over 70 Orthodox monasteries in America among all the canonical jurisdictions, and it should be of little surprise that until now there has only been one monastery under the jurisdiction of the Antiochian Archdiocese. The Skete of Saint Paul in Memphis, Tennessee is under the omophorion of Metropolitan Philip and it is administered by Bishop Basil of Wichita (this same Bishop Basil is considered the only monk in the entire Antiochian Archdiocese by Metropolitan Philips own admission a few years ago), though it is considered a dependent of the Holy Dormition Monastery in Rives Junction which is under the OCA. Apparently there is only one monastic in the monastery, Mother Nektaria, and it has failed to attract others. Recently news has come out (see below) that Metropoitan Philip has established another monastery known as the Convent of Saint Thekla in Antiochian Village in Pennsylvania with one schema-nun named Mother Alexandra.

Many have claimed that the reason the Antiochian Archdiocese lacks a monastic presence in America is because Metropolitan Philip is anti-monastic. I don't think this is entirely true. I believe that Metropolitan Philip comes from the old school of Orthodoxy in the 1950's and 1960's America where the priority of the Church in America was to establish missions and parishes and ordain as many clergy as possible, leaving monasteries to be established in the future. This was the same attitude of Archbishop Iakovos of the Greek Archdiocese. The two also had a fear of extremist attitudes arising within their jurisdiction with the presence of monastics. This fear, however, has always proved to be an unhealthy symptom of being an over-controlling hierarch. This same attitude can also be seen in Metropolitan Methodius of Boston today who is the only hierarch in the GOA that opposes the establishment of an Orthodox monastery in New England unless it is under his direct control. This unhealthy attitude however is one of the greatest threats to the spiritual development of Orthodox christians in America, as all the Holy Fathers can attest to.

Metropolitan Philip has described his vision for the future of monasticism in the Antiochian Archdiocese in his official biography. In it he basically describes the good memories of his youth being around monastics and he wants to transfer this same feeling he had to America by establishing a monastery at Antiochian Village where monastics could interact with the youth. Interestingly this is the same attitude of Metropolitan Methodius who plans to build a monastery on the campgrounds of the Boston Metropolis Camp. Just like Our Lady of Balamond in Lebanon has youth programs, Metropolitan Philip envisions the same for this monastery. He also says that once this monastery is established other monasteries will be established under his omophorion. Time will only tell if this truly comes about, but it seems to be slowly coming along. The Antiochian Archdiocese is strongly in need of a monastic ethos that in more recent years has been a very positive influence in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese through its monasteries established by Elder Ephraim.

Mother Alexandra

His Eminence Metropolitan PHILIP Announces the Establishment of the Convent of St. Thekla at Antiochian Village

It is with great joy that His Eminence Metropolitan PHILIP announces the establishment of the Convent of St. Thekla at the Antiochian Village. The Acting Superior of the convent will be Mother Alexandra (Magan), and we welcome her with joy to the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America.

Mother Alexandra will take up residency at the Antiochian Village during the first week of July, and will live in temporary housing until such time as the residence building is constructed on the proposed site for the convent, which is on the main property at the Antiochian Village. This will allow her to experience a good part of the camping season, and to interact with our children.

She also has plans to attend the Archdiocese Convention in late July, and to have a presence at the St. Thekla Pilgrimage which will be held at the Antiochian Village in September.

There will soon be a website established for the convent, where all important news and information will be posted.

A brief biography of Mother Alexandra follows below.

Biography of Mother Alexandra

Mother Alexandra was born on October 11, 1965 in New Bedford, MA and is oldest of two surviving children. She was baptized in Saint James Roman Catholic Church and confirmed at the age of 13 at Our Lady of Fatima Parish. She attended public schools in her home town, graduating from New Bedford High School in 1983. After a short attendance at the University of Massachusetts in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, she left the world and entered a Cistercian or Trappistine Convent where her introduction to Orthodoxy occurred. In 1990, she left primarily to pursue her education, working at several jobs to finance her education and attending Orthodox parishes. In 1994, she was granted a Bachelor of Arts equivalency from Saint Thomas Seminary in Denver, Colorado. When that school closed, she moved and restarted her theological education at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. In 1997, she was awarded Masters of Arts Degrees in Systematic Theology and Church History. While in graduate school, she served as the Assistant Director at the Episcopal House of Prayer in Collegeville. After graduating, she accepted a position at Montini Catholic High School in Lombard, Illinois, where she served as Campus Minister, retreat director, instructor of Theology and Chairperson of the Theology Department for eight of her nine years at the school. After her move to Illinois, she attended Holy Transfiguration Antiochian Church in Wheaton, Illinois where she was formally received into the Orthodox faith and chrismated on Theophany 1998. When the parish moved, she attended Saint Joseph Church in Wheaton, Illinois. Having paid her school loans, she resigned her position at the high school in 2006 to return to a normative monastic life at Holy Myrrhbearers Monastery in Otego, New York. In May of 2008 Bishop Tikhon of the Diocese of Eastern Pennsylvania received Mother Alexandra as a schemanun.

Mother Alexandra is named after Alexander, one of the Holy 40 Martyrs of Sebaste and her name’s day is March 9.

She can also be reached by email at motheralexandra@gmail.com.

Orthodoxy In America: The Myth of Past Unity

This lecture was delivered by Matthew Namee on June 20th during the conference hosted by St. Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary titled Orthodoxy In America: Past, Present and Future. All the lectures can be seen here, though I personally enjoyed this lecture by Matthew the most. He engages the historical sources to evaluate the various myths many hold concerning the unity among the various Orthodox jurisdictions. By doing this he demonstrates that there was never any true unity among the jurisdictions of America and that today there is more unity among us than ever. The significance of this fact is that jurisdictions like the OCA (Orthodox Church In America) are doing a great disservice to the future of Orthodox unity in America when they seek to justify their autocephaly by referring to themselves as the original founders and unifiers of Orthodoxy in America, and promote the myth that the Ecumenical Patriarchate disturbed this unity by laying his claim over America. It is definitely worth a listen as being a good basic overview of this subject.

The OCA Is Being Lead Astray: A Brief Response to Metropolitan Jonah

On March 16, 2009 I had the pleasure to attend a timely lecture at Holy Cross Chapel in Brookline, MA given by Archimandrite Elpidophoros Lambriniadis, Chief Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople. The lecture was titled Challenges of Orthodoxy in America and the Role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Little did I know that from this brief lecture there would arise such a reaction of deep seated hostility against the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

I will not summarize the lecture, since it can be read in full at the link provided below, but the controversy lay in the proposal for the submission of the diaspora to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople as prescribed by the Holy Fathers of the Ecumenical Synods in order to bring unity among all Orthodox abroad. This proposal comes at this time in response to two hierarchs in America, Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church In America and Metropolitan Phillip of the Antiochian Archdiocese in America, who seek unity in the diaspora not according to the Holy Canons of the Ecumenical Synods which provide the true formula of unity, but according to relative quack principles formulated in their own minds as to how the Orthodox diaspora should govern themselves. In his lecture, Fr. Elpidophoros gave very precise answers to previous statements of these two Metropolitans that were beginning to undermine the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarchate with some surprisingly ignorant misrepresentations and misunderstandings of even the most basic form of Orthodox History and Ecclesiology.

On April 5, 2009 Metropolitan Jonah gave a sermon after a Pan-Orthodox Vespers at St. Seraphim Orthodox Cathedral in Dallas, Texas to respond to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Immediately video of this sermon leaked onto the internet and it also can be seen in a link below with the transcript. A response to this sermon is hardly necessary for anyone with a knowledge of Orthodox teaching and history since it is so badly articulated to the point where he is on the verge of ecclesiological heresy. But what further struck me was the utter disrespect and immaturity displayed by this newly-enthroned hierarch.

One heresy that I would like to point out was his interpretation of the hierarchical structure in the Orthodox Church. According to Metropolitan Jonah, who seems to be relishing in his uncanonical "autocephalous" status in the OCA (which I may add fails to even unite the Russians in America), since America has bishops in all its jurisdictions there is no need for these bishops to submit to a higher bishop in a far away land. Such a statement can only be a display of willful ignorance of the canons which clearly speak of certain bishops being under the authority of other bishops as "first among equals", just as he himself is a bishop with authority over other bishops as a "first among equals". Let alone the fact that he ignores Canon 28 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod which clearly unites the diaspora under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (as was the tradition throughout the period of the Roman Empire and even during Ottoman times as attested by the granting of autocephaly to the Russians in 1589). The Metropolitans statement is an uncanonical proclamation for autocephaly which only can be granted with the approval of the Ecumenical Patriarchate as well as the other Ancient Patriarchates. His carelessness in such statements is obviously the result of speaking without thinking to rally a revolution against, his oft quoted, the "Old World" hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and other Ancient Sees.

The main appeal of the Metropolitan is to Convert sentimentalities. In his lecture he constantly derides the Ecumenical Patriarchate as being "Old World", "foreign", "controlling", "a pope", "nationalist", "imperialist", and "ignorant" among other things. He says that because we are Americans the Phanar "doesn't understand" the concept of freedom that we love as well as our rich diversity, and that we can "determine our own destiny" without their guidance because they do not "appreciate our culture". He accuses the Phanar of not listening to its priests and laity, of being Orthodox Christians because they were born into it as opposed to Americans (his Convert audience) who chose it, of following ideologies of a "forgotten Empire", of not allowing "a word of English" in services and have "never heard English" themselves. The Metropolitan expressed his fears of America being imposed with "foreign customs" and "foreign despots" where "all decisions will be made by a patriarchate still under Islamic domination." And he goes so far as to say: "If we wanted a pope, we'd be under the real one."

Metropolitan Jonah's proposition for America is to be independent of foreign influence and be a "unity in diversity" here in America as we seem fit. He offers no plan on how this can be done of course, and offers no authority or example to follow. Basically he knows what he doesn't want, but doesn't know what he does want hoping that in the end his rebelliousness is endorsed by the Holy Spirit.

In his sermon the Metropolitan also expresses some historical beliefs that are common inaccuracies among the OCA as a whole. For example, that the OCA is the direct inheritor of the first Orthodox mission to the natives in Alaska by such luminaries as Sts. Herman and Innocent of Alaska, as well as the founder of the first established church in the New World in San Francisco, and by such a default they should have sole authority in the New World. Also he says that before the establishment of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in 1922 all parishes were under the Russian Patriarchate.

The truth is that the great majority of the OCA, then known as the Metropolia, have their origins in the conversions of the Uniates lead by St. Alexy Toth and were only one of three representatives of the Russian community in America of that time (including ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate) and have no direct episcopal line to St. Herman (who was not even a bishop or priest). Furthermore, Greeks were the first to establish a presence on American soil in New Smyrna, Florida in 1767, 26 years before St. Herman arrived in Alaska in 1794, which was not American at the time (being part of the Russian Empire). Also the first Orthodox parish established on American soil was by Greeks in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1864, three years before Alaska became American and four years before the first Russian parish was established in American territory (in San Francisco). And many of the Greek parishes before 1922, as well as other jurisdictions, because of their remote locations, often pledged their allegiance to either the Church of Greece or Constantinople or any other Mother See. In fact, the Ecumenical Patriarchate held jurisdiction over the Greek parishes until 1908 when authority was transferred to the Church of Greece for a short time until Patriarch Meletios Metaxakis restored the original status of the Greek churches under the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1922. For further enlightenment on the non-canonicity of the OCA, which is rejected by all the Ancient Patriarchates today though is graciously allowed to be in communion with them, one can refer to the 1972 book Russian Autocephaly and Orthodoxy in America: An Appraisal with Decisions and Formal Opinions by the Greek Archdiocese.

If one were to honestly compare the talks given by Fr. Elpidophoros and Metropolitan Jonah, it would be surmised why the Ecumenical Patriarchate correctly sees the Orthodox of America as too immature for true autocephaly. The first maturely tackles the issues and gives appropriate proofs from Synodal decrees and has a firm understanding of our situation here in America with an authentic concern to see spiritual growth and prosperity. The other comes off as embarrasingly ignorant, shallow in its spirituality, and vitriolic as summarized in his last words hoping to stir another American Revolution: "Let us affirm to our bishops that they might tell the churches of the Old World, 'There is an American Orthodox Church! Leave it alone!'"

Americans would be wise to sweep their patriotic pride under the rug when it comes to ecclesiastical matters. Pride is the source of the divide among American Orthodox on this issue. Humility is the source of stability and we should all have faith that when the "fullness of time" comes for our autocephaly, the Lord will make sure it happens without our passions getting involved.

Lecture by Archimandrite Elpidophoros Lambriniadis:

http://www.ecclesia.gr/englishnews/default.asp?id=3986

Sermon by Metropolitan Jonah:

Video - http://video.yahoo.com/watch/4812572/12841013

Transcript - http://www.dosoca.org/files/Pan-orthodox-talk-4_7_09.pdf