Throughout his 16-city U.S. tour, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople has faced a good news, bad news situation.<\/p>\n\n
The good news is that Orthodox Christianity is growing in America. Then again, the bad news is that Orthodox Christianity is growing in America. This creates tensions. As the Old World\u2019s symbolic leader, Bartholomew has offered many glowing words of praise, and some sharp criticisms, of the New World\u2019s feisty flock.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cOrthodox Christians, who live in a country where full religious freedom reigns and where adherents of various religions live side by side, \u2026 constantly see various ways of living and are in danger of being beguiled by certain of them, without examining if their way of life is consonant with the Orthodox Faith,\u201d he said, at Holy Cross Seminary. \u201cAlready, many of the old and new Orthodox \u2026 are stressing different, existing deviations from correct Orthodox lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Many Americans use \u201cworldly criteria\u201d to judge church leaders, said Bartholomew, who is considered the \u201cfirst among equals\u201d among Orthodox patriarchs. Other converts are, due to ignorance, hanging on to Roman Catholic and Protestant teachings or arbitrarily altering liturgies. This can be observed in the way some Americans sing their chants or in the style of icons they venerate. Some fail to grasp Orthodox architecture or yearn to sit down too much during worship.<\/p>\n\n
Bartholomew couldn\u2019t have chosen a more symbolic place to deliver this sobering sermon on Oct. 30. The Brookline, Mass., seminary has been at the heart of a bitter dispute in the church.<\/p>\n\n
Last winter, a Palestinian seminarian punched a Greek priest after refusing repeated sexual advances during a dormitory party. The faculty disciplinary committee investigated and urged expulsion for the Greek. Instead, Archbishop Spyridon of America deposed the school president and fired three faculty members on the disciplinary panel. Many screamed \u201ccover-up\u201d and Greek-American newspapers have carried reports about a powerful clique of homosexual priests and monks close to the hierarchy.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThis storm isn\u2019t about American rebels rejecting the authority of their bishops,\u201d said Dean Popps of McLean, Va., a leader in a network of angry laity. \u201cThis is about corruption and immorality and incompetence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Greek politics also have affected attempts to build unity among America\u2019s dozen other Orthodox jurisdictions, each with its own foreign ties. In 1994, an unprecedented conference of American bishops called for the birth of a true American Orthodox church. But Bartholomew crushed the effort. On Oct. 25, a ranking prelate linked to that effort publicly told Bartholomew that it\u2019s time for Orthodoxy to stop being a \u201ctribal,\u201d \u201cghetto\u201d faith in this mission field.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWhile we profess our conviction that the Orthodox Church is catholic and apostolic, we live in a way which gives priority to cultural and ethnic loyalties,\u201d said Metropolitan Theodosius of the body known as the Orthodox Church in America, which has its roots in Russian Orthodoxy. \u201cWhile we know very well that we are united in the Orthodox Faith \u2026 we present ourselves as divided and even competitive communities. Thus, what we profess and affirm as our faith is contradicted by how we live and act as a church.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
In reply, Bartholomew said these words placed a \u201cheavy burden\u201d on him.<\/p>\n\n
There are other signs of division. Reports continue that Bartholomew will carve the Greek archdiocese here into several districts, each with a bishop directly beholden to him. The divided U.S. flock would lose clout and stay under Istanbul\u2019s control. Meanwhile, the future of the unified Orthodox Christian Mission Center is unclear and conflicts continue about Spyridon\u2019s role in the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in America.<\/p>\n\n
At some point, the mother church must stop dominating its child, said Harry Coin, a Boston-area layman who runs an Internet site \u2014 www.voithia.org \u2014 about the controversies. \u201cVoithia\u201d is Greek for \u201chelp.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
\u201cNo one wants to make some big change in our tradition, like having female priests. And this isn\u2019t about doctrine. No one is debating who Christ is,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we do need bishops and archbishops who understand that an American church is growing and can accept that. \u2026 We also need trustworthy men who will be solid moral examples for all the people who are coming into our churches.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Throughout his 16-city U.S. tour, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople has faced a good news, bad news situation. The good news is that Orthodox Christianity is growing in America. Then again, the bad news is that Orthodox Christianity is growing in America. This creates tensions. As the Old World\u2019s symbolic leader, Bartholomew has offered many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n