A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 31 - Tuesday, August 3rd, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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Bishop Allegedly Blocks Philoptochos AwardsTo the Editor: On Monday July 26, 2004 the Philoptochos, a major philanthropic organization of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, celebrating its 50th Anniversary year, will host a banquet and honor Orthodox Christian women who live and personify the example of our Lord by reaching out beyond their parish community to touch our brothers and sisters who are poor, thirsty, naked, strangers, sick, and in prison. (Mathew 25: 40). These women are truly extending our faith to the least of us as Christ teaches. To honor these women, a process and criteria were established by the national Philoptochos office. They reached out to the dioceses and they in turn went to the parishes. Women were nominated by parish priests and a selection committee established by the national Philoptochos made the selections. The selected honorees were directly informed by the national president of the Philoptochos Society of their selection. This process has now been compromised in the Diocese of San Francisco. A selected honoree who was informed by the Philoptochos president of her selection is now not to receive the award. The honoree, who is serving her second term as president of the Parish Council of St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Los Angeles and who is an acclaimed philanthropist in the greater Los Angles community, is being denied this honor by the intervention of the bishop of the diocese who has twice approved her election as a parish council president. Why?—Because she is a member of the Board of Directors of Orthodox Christian Laity. Furthermore, this bishop threatened to rescind the “economia” that he had bestowed upon this faithful Orthodox Christian servant if she attended the Clergy-Laity Congress as a legitimate delegate of her parish by the fact that she is Parish Council President. This is truly spiritual blackmail and uncanonical. When an “economia”, which is an act of love-based upon the law of love of our Lord, is extended it cannot be later withdrawn. When the bishop learned that the Parish Council President of St. Sophia Cathedral was the recipient of the Philoptochos philanthropy award he pressured the national office of Philoptochos to rescind the award. The recipient of the award was informed that the honor was withdrawn by her parish priest who received a letter written by the auxiliary bishop of the Archbishop who is the “spiritual” advisor to the Philoptohos. The servant of God who is the rightful honoree was not officially and directly informed of the rescinding of the award by the president of the Philoptochos. This incident really is bigger than this Philoptochos event. We must ask ourselves what are the rules that govern us as Orthodox Christians living within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese. The institutions of the Archdiocese have been compromised by hierarchs who see themselves as monarchs and not servants. The relationship of the diocese to the archdiocese and its national institutions has been compromised. Who is running the show—the will of one Bishop or the Archbishop? An illegal imposed Patriarchal Charter, declarations to the court that the Archdiocese has no members, the proposed punitive regulations being hastily forced upon the Congress, intimidation of archons and former Archdiocesan Council members—all of these actions affect each and every one of us as Greek Orthodox. Do we the faithful have to give up our first Amendment rights as citizens of the United States to be Orthodox Christians? When one of us, who makes up the body of Christ is hurt—are we all not hurt? Let us reason together and put back the good order in our Church, which is governed by the synergy of hierarchy, clergy and laity respecting each other and working together.
George Matsoukas |
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