A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 20 - Tuesday, May 18th, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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FOUR 'NEW LANDS' METROPOLITANS FAIL TO ATTEND HOLY SYNOD MEETING Athens News Agency, May 12, 2004 - Four out of six 'New Lands' metropolitans participating in the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece on Wednesday failed to attend a meeting, while two of them wrote to say that they intend to stay away until a dispute between the Greek Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate has been resolved. Their stance has incensed the leadership of the Greek Church and the Synod, which considers them unjustifiably absent and has warned that it will activate the provisions of the church charter and the penalties contained herein, up to and including their replacement, if they insist on this stance. The 'New lands' is the name given to a number of Greek dioceses, mainly in northern Greece, which were liberated from Turkish rule after 1912 and whose ecclesiastical administration was given to the Church of Greece in 'trusteeship' with an act in 1928 though they remained under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The dispute concerns episcopal elections for these bishoprics, with the Patriarch demanding to be allowed to approve and list of candidates and make additions to it, something that the Church of Greece believes would compromise its Autocephalous status and contravene Greek laws. A Synod spokesman said that the repercussions of a decision by Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos to break off communion with the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Christodoulos will be examined at the next Synod meeting, after the conclusion of the government's initiative to mediate in the dispute. The spokesman also advised the metropolitans to await for the outcome of these efforts and for the Greek Church's position on the issue before adopting a position themselves that put their dignity and responsibility at risk. ''The obligation of every member of the Synod is to support his positions within the Synodic body,'' he said. During the meeting, Christodoulos informed the Synod on the government's initiative and the contents of his talks with Education and Religious Affairs Minister Marietta Yiannakou. The meeting decided to await the results of the government initiative, expressing its desire that a solution be found quickly to avoid shocking the congregation and irrevocably damaging its morale. Regarding the letters sent to the Archbishop from the Moscow Patriarchate, the Synod's spokesman said only that these were ''within the spirit of good relations with the other Orthodox Churches''.
He also announced that Georgia Patriarch Ilya II
was due to arrive on Thursday and that an official
mass will be held at the Athens Metropolitan
Church immediately afterward. |
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