A Tale of Two Cities – 2005 Update

Submitted March 27, 2005

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” The best of times was Worcester; the worst of times was Pittsburgh for the 2005 Sunday of Orthodoxy in America.

Worcester celebrated the 50^th Anniversary of its Council of Eastern Orthodox Churches of Central Massachusetts with a Sunday Hierarchical Divine Liturgy with the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) presiding. The clergy from the twelve Orthodox Churches composing the Council and representing four of the canonical jurisdictions served around the altar with their bishops and over 1000 people participated.

Pittsburgh was another story. There was no combined vesper service as in former years when thousands of the faithful would gather to celebrate the Sunday of Orthodoxy. The Greeks and the Serbians celebrated a Saturday vesper service, and the Orthodox Church in America held a vesper service Sunday evening. The Carpatho-Russians held their service on Sunday evening as well, but in Johnstown. The Antiochians and the Ukrainians stayed at home. How sad! In Pittsburgh the chasm between jurisdictions grows, and the clergy and the faithful are in a state of disappointment, frustration, and anger.

Why this difference between these two American cities? What motivates the Worcester community to give public expression to their shared Orthodox faith? What demonic dynamic is at work in Pittsburgh that embarrasses faithful Orthodox Christians?

Let us review the two cities briefly. Worcester formed its council of Churches fifty years ago as an act of love. Clergy and Laity serve on the Council headed by lay officers. Its first project was to purchase a common burial ground to bury its departed loved ones. Its second was to celebrate a combined hierarchical Divine Liturgy on the Sunday of Orthodoxy with one of the jurisdictional bishops presiding. Over the course of the fifty years the Council grew and now sponsors a number of events and programs that bring the Orthodox faithful together to share the one Cup, not only for the Sunday of Orthodoxy but also for all the Pre-sanctified Liturgies during Lent. It hosts programs for its youth, it sponsors a food pantry for homeless and poor people, it hosts a lecture series, and a weekly radio program. Ten years ago it established an Orthodox Nursing and Rehabilitation Center for its parishioners in need of extra care. As a consequence the ethnic barriers among the Albanians, Antiochians, Greeks, Slavs, Romanians and American converts lowered and each group discovered that they share the Orthodox faith and recipes for grape leaves.

Pittsburgh on the other hand once held a combined Divine Liturgy in its Civic Center that brought together over 10,000 of the faithful. There are 120 Orthodox Churches in the Greater Pittsburgh area and six bishops. There is no bishop in Worcester! The Orthodox Clergy in the Pittsburgh area formed a Brotherhood of Orthodox Clergy that meets once a month and sponsors a few combined programs including a meal each Saturday for homeless people, and every other year an Icon Festival in conjunction with the Sunday of Orthodoxy Vesper Service. Now the fate of the Icon Festival is even unclear. There are no laypeople in the Brotherhood.

From an angel’s eye view the differences are striking. No bishop in Worcester, a combined clergy and laity Council with lay leadership, much cooperation, and only twelve churches. Pittsburgh is blessed with six bishops, 120 churches, and no lay participation or leadership in its Brotherhood.

What would an angel surmise from these statistics? Too many churches in Pittsburgh? No chance for cooperation? Too many bishops in Pittsburgh? Is turf more important than conciliarity? That lay participation and leadership pay dividends!

Let’s review that last conclusion about lay participation and leadership. In the fifty year history of the Worcester Council there were some bumps along the road. At one point the two Albanian Churches in the Worcester area were under the OCA omophorion and not in the Council because the Greek Bishop of Boston [forty-five miles away] did not recognize them. This situation was awkward because parishioners of the two Worcester area Albanian churches were friends with Orthodox from the other Orthodox Churches. To correct this uncanonical situation the lay president of the Council insisted upon a meeting with the Greek bishop and asked on what canonical grounds were they to exclude the Albanians, their brother and sisters in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church? The Greek Bishop was unable to offer a canonical reason for his action and withdrew his objections.

Pittsburgh is another story. Four weeks before the 2005 Sunday of Orthodoxy, the Greek Metropolitan of Pittsburgh, unilaterally moved his churches to celebrate Sunday of Orthodoxy Vespers from Sunday night, the date that the Brotherhood had established a year before, to Saturday Evening. His priests appealed, but to no avail, and given the priests’ loyalty to their bishop, they had to comply. Unlike Worcester there was no lay leadership to protest or to meet with the Greek Metropolitan.

What is the Angel to conclude? The Greek Metropolitan is acting for his own ends and pride? Does he not remember he is to be a Shepherd to his flock and not an autocratic monarch? Why is there no cooperation among the six bishops in Pittsburgh? Bishops nursing grudges? Not forgiving each other? Only God knows.

It was a sad day in Pittsburgh for Orthodoxy when bishops chose to perpetuate divisions and discord rather than build bridges among the faithful. Do they not see what seeds of destruction they are sowing for the future of Orthodoxy in America? Do they not see how un-Christian they are acting? Why would bishops act contrary to the Gospel? What rationale could those bishops offer? Do they not realize that they are an embarrassment to their flock and to other Orthodox Christians?

For American Orthodox Christians who sincerely desire to fulfill Christ’s command - to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit – monarchal bishops are an impediment. It is not the mother churches; it is the self-righteous, egotistical, and monarchal bishops. For there to be a united autocephalous American Orthodox Church we require pastoral bishops who put their flocks ahead of themselves and act according to Scripture and to the saintly and revered bishops of our common heritage such as Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp, and Ambrose.

(Peter Haikalis is a member of the Board of Directors of the Orthodox Christian Laity and has served as President from 2002 to 2004.)



Volume 7 Number 13 - Tuesday, March 29th, 2005	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY