Livanos

Published by The National Herald, January 28, 2005

Basil Livanos Granted Extension

By Evan C. Lambrou
Special to The National Herald

In proceedings of the Archdiocese of America’s Spiritual Court on Wednesday, January 26, the Court decided not excommunicate Basil Livanos yet, granting him an unspecified extension, instead.

The decision was not officially announced at press time, but sources close to the case informed the National Herald that Mr. Livanos, the Corona community’s elected president of the Transfiguration Church Parish Council, would have an opportunity to meet with His Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios of America.

Mr. Livanos, considered a pillar of the Corona community, was ordered to withdraw from the Transfiguration Parish Council and to not participate in the community’s elections two Sundays ago.

The Archdiocese had declared that the elections would be invalid if Mr. Livanos did not step aside and would not allow any priest to administer the oath of office. Warned that Mr. Livanos would be excommunicated from the Church, Mr. Livanos and other members held the elections, anyway, resisting Archdiocese instructions on the matter.

The situation involved a controversy with the Very Rev. Cleopas Strongylis, former pastor of the Corona parish, and unproven accusations Mr. Livanos had levied against him, alleging misconduct and financial mismanagement.

Mr. Livanos and other parish officials presented what the Archdiocese deemed to be insufficient evidence. Mr. Livanos persisted in the matter, however, and parish officials say they will pursue legal channels to determine whether or not their evidence against the Very Rev. Strongylis is sufficient.

The archimandrite was transferred to the Metropolis of Boston and is serving a parish in Lowell, Massachusetts, but because Mr. Livanos did not drop the matter, and because he refused to relinquish an official leadership role in the Transfiguration community, the Archbishop ordered Bishop Savas of Troas, Archdiocesan Chancellor, to summon Mr. Livanos to Spiritual Court. Mr. Livanos received a letter of summons dated January 10. On January 25, he faxed a letter to the Archdiocese stating he refused to attend the Court hearing, because the Archdiocese did not grant him an adequate amount of time to prepare his defense.

In the letter, Mr. Livanos invokes the Church’s emphasis on love, citing quotes from the Archbishop’s 1996 Enthronement Address. He argues that not only has he tried to follow his conscience, but that he has also tried on several occasions to resolve the dispute, and that, if he is to appear in Spiritual Court, he needs more than two weeks from the time he received the summons to prepare, pointing out that the Archdiocese did not adequately inform him of his rights as a layperson under Archdiocesan procedures and regulations.

"I was deeply disturbed to read that the Church has decided to summon me before Spiritual Court. Before I refute the substance of the allegations in your letter, however, it is important to address the unfair manner in which this summons was issued against me.” There can be no dispute, therefore, that a summons to Spiritual Court is a grave matter. Given the severity of the punishment that the Spiritual Court can levy against me, it is unreasonable to allow me less than two weeks notice to prepare my defense to the accusations in your letter - I have not been able to locate a copy of the regulations which govern the procedures of Spiritual Court. In addition, you do not attach the regulations to your letter," he writes.

"Moreover, the short notice which I received is even more unfair in light of the fact that we are a Church which places an emphasis on the primacy of love and forgiveness. As you are aware, one of the distinctions of the Orthodox Church is its emphasis on love. Archbishop Demetrios himself spoke of this is his Enthronement Address when he said: ‘Our Orthodox Church, faithful to the Gospel of Her Founder, is the Church which loves each and every human person without any limitation, discrimination or reservation, especially when he or she is in a condition of need, pain and ordeal… Simply, She loves beyond any measure… Limitless love, translated into service of the suffering human being, is a basic priority which we have as members of the Church of Christ, especially in view of the dawning third millennium.’ Affording a layperson less than two weeks notice to appear before a tribunal presided over by priests is not an act of “limitless love.” It is not an act of love beyond measure - I feel as if I am being rushed to a judgment which is pre-decided, rather than being afforded a fair opportunity to defend my soul’s ability to be in communion with the Church," he added.



Volume 7 Number 5 - Tuesday, February 1st, 2005	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY