A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 38 - Tuesday, September 21st, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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Orthodox Churches in USA Not Ready for Unity By Harry C. Katopodis Upon reading the guest opinion of Frederica Mathewes-Green, I could not let historical inaccuracies and dangers to Orthodoxy go unanswered. I also was a proponent for Orthodox unity for many years and have even written articles pushing for Orthodox Unity in America in The Hellenic Chronicle and The Greek American. In search of more English in the services I have attended Orthodox Church in America (OCA) churches over the past several years. Orthodox unity in America sounds good. Orthodoxy is getting lots of converts and progress toward unity seems to be proceeding. However, I have shifted my position over the past few months. While Orthodox unity may be a good long term goal, at this point in history Orthodox unity is filled with dangers. Mathewes-Green claims that the only reason we don’t have a self-governing united Orthodox Church in America is the 1917 communist Bolshevik Revolution in Russia because funding and communication stopped for missionary work in America. That cannot be true for two reasons. The first reason is that the Russian Orthodox missionaries to America arrived in Alaska on September 24, 1794, 123 years before the Bolshevik revolution. Greek immigrants began arriving in the mid 1800s and the first Greek Orthodox Church was established in 1864, in New Orleans, Louisiana (53 years before the Bolshevik Revolution). By 1916 (one year before the Bolshevik Revolution) 59 Greek Orthodox Churches were established. These Churches were established to serve immigrants and to protect Orthodoxy and Hellenism in America. Other ethnic Orthodox churches were being established during the same time. The Russian missionaries were not close to spreading Orthodoxy across America and establishing an American Orthodox Church in 1917. The second reason Mathewes-Green is wrong is because even if there was an American Orthodox Church the Greeks would of started their own churches because they needed to keep their culture and language. Mathewes-Green correctly states that Orthodoxy used the language of the lands where the church grew. Because the United States is a country of immigrants from many lands, the issue is not black and white. Using ethnic languages and English in Orthodox services in America are both correct positions. Many Greek-Americans want to preserve their Greek roots and their Greek Churches. Once America had a melting pot theory where we would melt into one race. The Civil Rights Movement turned the melting pot theory on its head. Multicultural Diversity is the rule of the land. We respect all cultures and faiths. We seek to peacefully co-exist with every race, religion, and ethnic group. It is OK to keep your Greek identity and be proud of it. It is OK to have a Greek Orthodox Church and be proud of it. Multicultural diversity is the best route for America to take. Mathewes-Green states, “A united American Orthodox Church will be much better able to speak for itself in the American culture, better able to partner with Protestants and Catholics in joint projects, better able to do outreach, evangelize and serve.” In reality this can tear parishes apart, for example, the OCA has started to do this in the area of abortion. Many clergy and laity in the OCA are involved in the Right-to-Life movement and are actively supporting the Republican Party. A group called Orthodox for Life have asked the bishops to not give Holy Communion to Senators Paul Sarbanes (D) Maryland, and Olympia Snowe (R) Maine (both are members of the Greek Archdiocese and both are pro-choice). Can a request to ban Democrats from Communion be far behind? Already many Orthodox Right-to-Life supporters are calling those who vote for pro-choice candidates non-Christians. Abortion is legal in Greece and the Greek Churches in Greece and America hold to the teaching that abortion is wrong, and teach their members that it is a grave sin, however, they don’t get involved in politics to legislate morality. Orthodox Churches in other Orthodox countries do the same. The early Church Fathers wrote about how wrong abortion is and handed out penance to those who had abortions, however they did not ask Christians to lobby the emperor to outlaw abortion. Why has this happened in the OCA? There are many converts in the OCA and they bring some baggage with them. They are so fanatic against abortion that no other issue matters, their zeal is unshakable and they control much of the OCA. The Greek Church stays away from fanaticism and politics. Many converts recently came into Orthodoxy and now some of them treat us like ignorant immigrants by telling us how to be Orthodox. The Greek people have protected and preserved Orthodoxy for 2,000 years. Greek missionaries (Saints Cyril and Methodius) took Orthodoxy to the Slavic world. In a pluralistic, multi-cultural, multi-religion country like America our overall culture is not a very Christian one-virtually every movie, song, TV show, magazine are all filled with ideas that say "there is nothing wrong with sex between unmarried people, or swearing, or homosexuality etc." There are a lot of people in society that do not feel abortion is wrong or murder. The Republican Party is divided 50%-50% over the abortion issue. 43% of Democrats personally oppose abortion. This is not a society on the verge of outlawing abortion. Anti-abortion politicians have been promising to outlaw abortion and select Supreme Court Justices to outlaw abortion for 30 years to no avail. President George Bush Sr. said a few years ago that ultimately the decision to have an abortion is the woman’s, whether abortion is legal or not. President George Bush Jr. said that many hearts have to be changed in America before abortion can be made illegal. Morality cannot be legislated because morality comes from the human heart. It is wrong to focus on one sin (abortion) when there are so many sins in our society. Also let’s not forget that the United States Constitution calls for the separation of Church and State. The Greek Archbishops have attended both the Republican and Democratic Conventions and pray for both parties. The Greek Church stays out of politics and that is the way it should be. Orthodox should be able to vote for whoever they see fit. The Orthodox Church is a healer and not a divider. The Interfaith Alliance opposes involvement of religion in politics because politics is divisive and the church should be a healing force and not a divisive force. If there are charitable works that need to be done, the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops (SCOBA) can act as one to help people in need. SCOBA can also work together in many other ways to help continue God’s work on earth as a unified Orthodox voice. This situation makes me appreciate that the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese is under the Ecumenical Patriarchate because we are less likely to be too influenced by Protestantism, Catholicism, and religious fanaticism. Because the Patriarch can see the Church around the world, he is likely to be balanced and understanding of our needs and more likely to do the right thing. The Greek parishes are not likely to be politicized. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese must remain under the Ecumenical Patriarch for the foreseeable future. Orthodox unity in America has to wait until the Orthodox Churches here are more mature.
Harry C. Katopodis is an award-winning editor for
the International Association of Machinists and
Aerospace Workers. He has won 41 journalism
awards over the past 12 years (from 4 different
journalism organizations). Harry also studied
Theology at the University of Athens, in Greece
and holds a BA from the University of Detroit. |
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