When Archbishop Iakovos first became America\u2019s Greek Orthodox shepherd, he spent most of his time helping immigrants follow a familiar faith in a strange land.<\/p>\n\n
That was in 1959. By the time he finished his 37-year reign, the Turkish-born archbishop faced a different challenge \u2014 helping American converts find their place in the unfamiliar sanctuaries of Eastern Christianity.<\/p>\n\n
Iakovos knew that America would change the Greeks, challenging their faith and traditions. He also knew that Americans would change his church, in ways that would help an ancient faith reach modern America. He spent the final decades of his long life wrestling with both sides of that equation.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI cannot visualize what an American Orthodoxy would look like. \u2026 But I believe that it will exist. I know that it must be born,\u201d said Iakovos, while visiting Denver\u2019s Assumption Greek Orthodox Cathedral in 1992.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI do know this for sure. The essential elements of the Orthodox tradition will have to remain at the heart of whatever grows in this land. The heart has to remain the same, or it will not touch peoples\u2019 souls. It will not be truly Orthodox. I know that this will happen here, but I do not know when it will happen or how.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The 93-year-old archbishop died on April 10 without fanfare, although he was an almost mythic figure among Greek Americans and mainline ecumenical leaders.<\/p>\n\n
Soon after becoming archbishop, Iakovos met with Pope John XXIII, the first formal meeting between an Orthodox leader and a pope in 350 years. This opened a door for later reconciliation efforts between the ancient churches of east and west.<\/p>\n\n
The archbishop marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., in Selma, Ala., and then appeared \u2014 in his flowing black robes \u2014 with King and other civil rights activists on the cover of Time magazine. It was an early glimpse of Orthodoxy on the main stage of American public life.<\/p>\n\n
Iakovos met with presidents, earned a Harvard Divinity School degree, led interfaith dialogues, asked Arab Christians to seek peace, lobbied for human rights and, in 1980, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.<\/p>\n\n
The official church obituary hailed him as a \u201crole model for American Greek Orthodox Christians, thoroughly committed to the vital democracy of his adopted country without forfeiting the ageless values of Greek culture or abandoning Greek Orthodoxy\u2019s spiritual and ecclesiastical roots in the Church of Constantinople.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Nevertheless, it was a showdown with the hierarchy in Turkey that forced his exit.<\/p>\n\n
In 1960, Iakovos pushed to create the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas to promote cooperation between Greeks, Arabs, Russians, Romanians, Serbians and other Orthodox believers. <\/p>\n\n
Then in 1994, he dared to chair a summit for bishops committed to \u201cbringing our household into order\u201d and seeking a plan for Orthodox unity in America.<\/p>\n\n
The document released after that Ligonier, Pa., meeting boldly said: \u201cWe commit ourselves to avoiding the creation of parallel and competitive Orthodox parishes, missions, and mission programs. We commit ourselves to common efforts and programs to do mission, leaving behind piecemeal, independent, and spontaneous efforts, \u2026 moving forward towards a concerted, formal, and united mission program in order to make a real impact on North America through Orthodox mission and evangelism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew was furious, seeing this as an effort to weaken ecclesiastical and financial ties with Istanbul. Then Iakovos retired, stunning Orthodox leaders in America. His exit was an earthquake and the aftershocks have not stopped.<\/p>\n\n
Today, Orthodox unity here remains a dream. But it\u2019s impossible to study the media, education and missions work that Orthodox churches are now doing together without seeing signs of the changes that Iakovos believed were coming. The problem is finding a way to express centuries of Orthodox tradition in such a pluralistic, intensely Protestant land.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cOrthodoxy still has not found its niche yet in American life,\u201d said Father Christopher Metropulos, executive director of the multi-ethnic, convert-friendly Orthodox Christian Network based in Ford Lauderdale, Fla. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t found its unique voice for speaking to this culture. I think the archbishop knew that. \u2026<\/p>\n\n
\u201cBut it is too late to stop the changes. We are working together. We are starting to do mission work together. We are Orthodox and we are in America. That\u2019s the reality.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Archbishop Iakovos first became America\u2019s Greek Orthodox shepherd, he spent most of his time helping immigrants follow a familiar faith in a strange land. That was in 1959. By the time he finished his 37-year reign, the Turkish-born archbishop faced a different challenge \u2014 helping American converts find their place in the unfamiliar sanctuaries […]<\/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":[232,408,627],"class_list":["post-1331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-civil-rights-movement","tag-greeks","tag-orthodoxy"],"yoast_head":"\n