Criticism

Submitted September 28, 2004

Response to Criticism of “Orthodox Churches in USA Not Ready for Unity”

By Harry Katopodis

I was not going to respond to Gregory Orloff’s letter to the editor criticizing my article, but he distorted history so bad it would be unethical if I didn’t correct him.

First, he said that until 1917 there was only one single Orthodox Christian episcopate in North America that the cannons mandate. When Russia sent missionaries to Alaska (1794) the territory belonged to Russia, the United States bought the land many years later (1867) and Alaska didn’t became a state until 1959. He claims that the Russian Church served all the ethnic Orthodox, wrong again. The first Greek Orthodox parishes in North America were under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople which had over the centuries assumed responsibility for the diaspora communities and assigned to them their priests. In 1908 this jurisdiction was temporarily transferred to the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece. In 1972 the Patriarch of Constantinople took over the jurisdiction of the Greek Churches in America.

Second, Orloff claims the Greeks are uncanonical because they incorporated Greek Churches not under the Russian bishop. Strictly speaking the OCA is uncanonical because they are the ones who established parishes and were granted autocephaly, violating Church rules. When Constantinople granted the Church of Russia autocephaly, it fixed the border of the Russian Church in the issuance of a Great Seal. For the Church of Russia to venture out of its jurisdiction into lands abroad, would have required permission of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. That is why many Orthodox Theologians say that the OCA is uncanonical.

Third, Orloff skirts around the abortion issue, but if you read between the lines he is saying that if you vote for a candidate who is pro-choice (regardless of political party), you are not a Christian. He says that I was wrong when I said that the “fathers did not tell the Christians to lobby the Emperor” because they were Christian Emperors; however, he is the one who is wrong because when the fathers wrote about abortion they were living under pagan rule. He insults Senator Sarbanes. The senator is a good man who has helped working people all of his life fighting for just causes and to improve the lives of working people. I think he deserved his award. We cannot legislate Orthodox Theology in a secular country that is moving further and further away from Christianity. How dare he tell us how to vote. My personal belief is that no party will ever outlaw abortion.

Fourth, he says that there should only be one bishop per city. That issue is not black and white, because that canon was written for countries that were of one race and Orthodox (the phylitism condemnation was meant to keep Orthodox countries from having ethnic enclaves that will grow into problems). America is a multicultural country and we must respect all cultures, races, and religions. In a country like ours where many ethnic people live in a city, more than one bishop is ok. We have SCOBA if work needs to be done.

Orthodox unity will evolve on its own a long way down the road, and when it does it will be a beautiful thing. Trying to force unity now will only create an unnecessary and ugly schism. Let’s let unity happen when God wants it to.



Volume 6 Number 40 - Tuesday, October 4th, 2004	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY