This is your opportunity to ask the due diligence questions you need to know answers to prior to deciding on the Unity issue.
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Archive for May 2014
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| A pan-Orthodox meeting was held in Cleveland, Ohio on October 27, 2013 to discuss Orthodox Unity in America. A video of part of this was made available on the “assemblyofbishops.org” website on Nov. 1, 2013. When asked about the plans for a United American Orthodox Church, whether or not it was to be autocephalous, and if not, under whose authority it would be, the American Greek Orthodox Archdiocese’s Metropolitan Savas responded: “We are not charged with coming up with a blueprint for an autocephalous church. We are being charged with coming up with a solution to a canonical anomaly… If they [Orthodox Patriarchs] thought that we were interpreting it [their directives to us] as coming up with a blueprint for our own independence … this [process] wouldn’t be happening.” This statement seems to contradict the main goal of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in North & Central America as found on their website with the lead proposal being: “… the promotion and accomplishment of [Orthodox] Church Unity in North and Central America …” When asked if one can therefore assume that the Assembly of Bishops has a fundamental desire/commitment to that vision of the United Orthodox Church in the Americas, whether we use the A [autocephaly] word or not, Metropolitan Savas responded that he did not know if that was the case! This uncertainty translates into the fourth shot across the bow of the most recent attempt at a united Orthodox Church arc here.
In addition, following a territorial dispute over Qatar, between the Antiochian Patriarchate and that of Jerusalem, the Synod of the Patriarchate of Antioch decided to temporarily withdraw from all Assemblies of Canonical Orthodox Bishops worldwide. This was posted on the “assemblyofbishops.org” website in Dec, 2013. Qatar and its few Orthodox faithful are now impacting millions of Orthodox around the world, including those of us here. Orthodox unity discussions are now suffering because of foreign territory issues! This is the fifth shot across the bow of the most recent attempt at a united Orthodox Church arc here. And just a few days before Easter 2014, it was announced on the “assemblyofbishops.org” website, that the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in North & Central America will be reorganized with an Assembly for the USA, one for Canada, and with Central America being merged into the Latin American Assembly. Don’t our leaders see how few we are in these neighbouring countries? And after we barely manage to organize ourselves into something relatively noticeable, we immediately proceed to dividing it into small and insignificant pieces… In this context, how can we be considered here as a principal Christian faith - Orthodoxy - the root of Christianity? In spite of this, with the creation of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the USA, Canada and Latin America of a few years ago (whose mandate is to unite all Orthodox churches in these territories into three jurisdictions), discussions regarding the ROEA (OCA) and ROAA (BOR) unity/merger issue are now obsolete, particularly after 4 years of total inactivity. Therefore, the May 2012 Administrator article remains valid. |
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