A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 7 Number 43 - Tuesday, October 25, 2005 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian Laity
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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To
the editor: Glory
to God for all things! The
Concerned Orthodox Christian Alliance was started
in July 2005 by a group of 55 Orthodox Christians
who resigned from the Antiochian Archdiocese as a
matter of conscience over the treatment of clergy. Since
that time, our group has functioned as a legal
not-for-profit charity dedicated to a mission of
Orthodox clergy beneficence.
We currently are working with 4 Orthodox
priests from various jurisdictions, and the number
is growing. Our
original members have now joined other Orthodox
churches and are now being joined by concerned
laity and clergy from around the U.S. from all
jurisdictions with the common goal of improving
the lot of all Orthodox priests in the U.S., but
especially those who find themselves treated in an
uncanonical
or capricious manner by anyone: laity or
hierarchy. One
example of this type of activity is indefinite
suspensions of clergy without an honest, impartial
hearing or spiritual court as provided for by the
canons. Our
efforts are supported by priests, monastics and
hierarchs from many Orthodox jurisdictions who
recognize that justice must be tempered with
mercy, and that we must all be guided by the love
of Christ. Earlier
this month our group submitted a letter to all
SCOBA hierarchs urging study, consideration and
adoption of 4 measures regarding treatment of
clergy in the U.S.: net/concernedorthodox/scobaletter.html Our
membership is not interested in politics or the
“politics of power”, but rather following
Christ’s direction: “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your
feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
For I have given you an example, that you should
do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to
you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor
is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If
you know these things, blessed are you if you do
them.”
John 13:12-17 On
judgment day we must each answer for our actions
in this life.
We are the body of Christ, those of us who
take our faith seriously will gladly suffer any
temporal consequences as we strive to “Bear
one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of
Christ.”
Gal. 6:2 We
pray for all Orthodox: including both the
oppressed as well as the afflicted, including His
Grace Bishop Mark and His Eminence Metropolitan
Philip; may they return to full health soon.
We urge all to support the COCA clergy
initiative currently before SCOBA. Yours
in Christ, John Pappas Chairman Concerned Orthodox Christian Alliance Fort Wayne, IN (419) 745-8213 http://mysite.verizon.net/concernedorthodox
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