In late February a decision came down from the Holy Synod of Antioch regarding the status of all Bishops in the Patriarchate. The effect of that decision has been to reduce every Bishop not currently a Metropolitan to "auxiliary" status. This largely affects the Bishops in the United States, who, according to the agreement for self rule, had been enthroned as diocesan Bishops and now are faced with returning to the status of being functionaries for our Metropolitan.
The fallout has been passionate where discussion is occurring and there are many questions being asked as people are trying to make sense of the implications of this with little official information to use as sources. Some deep disagreements have been exposed. Personal issues that have simmered for some time are bubbling to the surface. And there are lot of anonymous www posts floating through the blogosphere. Feelings are hurt and people are confused. It may be a rough few months before the Archdiocesan Convention this summer and the convention itself, who knows?
The hardest part for me is that I still don't have something I can tell my people that has any substance. I know what happened but I don't know why. There seems to be a fog of byzantine intrigue in all of this and some cryptic statements neither of which help when I want to guide my own heart and those I care for through these times. It matters when you change the structure of a whole archdiocese and I wish I knew the facts behind the actions from an official source and didn't have to get information from blogs and personal contacts.
That being said it looks like I'll just have to sort it out like everyone else. One thing is certain, I'm not letting this stop me from being Orthodox. I'm here for the long haul and if things get nasty in the Antiochian Archdiocese I'm not giving up my Faith. I'm going to pray always, take a stand when I need to, take my hits if I have to, and ride it out. If you're Antiochian and you're reading this I encourage you to do the same. Scars may come be we will make it through.
life, faith, music, and miscellania along the great river road...
Wisdom
…Often when someone throws a rock at a dog rather than rushing at the person who threw the stone, the dog will run and bite the stone. We do the same thing. The tempter uses someone else to tempt us, either in word or deed, and rather than deal with the tempter who threw the stone, we bite the rock, our fellow man that the hater of the good used against us.
Posts
Faith
- Ancient Faith Radio
- Antiochian Archdiocese
- Atheism is Dead
- Early Church Fathers
- Greek Orthodox Archdiocese
- Orthodox Biblical Studies
- Orthodox Christians for Accountability
- Orthodox Church in America
- Orthodox Mission Center
- Orthodox Peace Fellowship
- OrthodoxWiki
- Orthodoxy in America
- SCOBA
- St. Elias Church
- Western Rite Orthodoxy
- Words from the Desert
Miscellania
Archives
- June 2009 (3)
- May 2009 (16)
- April 2009 (21)
- March 2009 (12)
- February 2009 (14)
- January 2009 (37)
- December 2008 (38)
- November 2008 (42)
- October 2008 (36)
- September 2008 (20)
- August 2008 (22)
- July 2008 (24)
- June 2008 (31)
- May 2008 (23)
- April 2008 (17)
- March 2008 (28)
- February 2008 (26)
- January 2008 (35)
- December 2007 (15)
- November 2007 (20)
- October 2007 (19)
- September 2007 (7)
- August 2007 (11)
- July 2007 (16)
- June 2007 (19)
- May 2007 (23)
- April 2007 (23)
- March 2007 (33)
- February 2007 (27)
- January 2007 (23)
- December 2006 (24)
- November 2006 (32)
- October 2006 (29)
- September 2006 (22)
- August 2006 (20)
- July 2006 (12)
- June 2006 (4)
- May 2006 (4)
- April 2006 (4)
- March 2006 (10)
Visitors
2 comments:
Father, If I may be so bold, the best example and pastoral advice you can give to your flock is what my (Antiochian) spiritual father told me, "Forget all that crap and pray."
After being part of quite a bit of Antiochian and now OCA (and a bit of Greek) "Byzantine intrigue" and scandal and archdiocesan weirdness on both a parish and diocesan level, the only thing that matters ultimately for most of us is humility and obedience, not "justice" and fairness or even information. The reality is most of us are only in a position of preaching, blogging or emailing our opinions on the state of affairs and have no power or control over anything. It for most of us merely an exercise in ego and passions. The only "stand" we are called to as Christians is to be Christians under those who are given authority over us whether it is an unjust civil authority or a screwy heirarchy du jour. This too will pass, the Church has survived worse and if a Bishop gets his riassa in a wad over being humbled and humiliated, maybe that says more about his "lust of power" than anything else. That's my "blog" take on the situation...keep peace among your people, stir them to good works, not passions over things they have no control over. That's my 2 cents.
Actually that's what I've been doing. I've asked my people to pray for our Bishops and that when news comes I'll tell them. I've encouraged them to stay faithful and we'll be okay. On some of the blogs I've seen I've asked people to at least be civil as they discuss this (too often they aren't) and pray. I do wish, though, that there was more official information so I could pass it on.
Post a Comment