“Members of one another”

“Members of one another”

ORTHODOX CHURCH IN AMERICA
15th ALL-AMERICAN COUNCIL
November 10-13, 2008 ~ Pittsburgh, PA


November may seem a long way off, but this upcoming council should be the subject of all our thoughts and prayers well in advance.

The latest issue of the Canadian Archdiocesan Messenger is now available at church in hard copy. It should also soon be posted online at our Archdiocesan website. There you will read Vladika SERAPHIM’s article “The Time for Reconciliation”.

The OCA, of which our Archdiocese and thus our parish are both part, has been struggling with a crisis of trust for a long time, more and more openly since the last AAC in Toronto in 2005. This is not a crisis about the Holy Orthodox Faith, but with our failure as a church to live up to that faith in everyday matters of church governance, in particular the stewardship of finances.

You can find a timeline of the development of the crisis at this link. This site, Orthodox Christians for Accountability, is the initiative of concerned lay people. There have been posts from respected clergy and lay leaders in our church, such as Fr. Thomas Hopko and Fr. Theodore Bobosh.

You can find the blog about preparations and news of the upcoming council at this link.

Please pray for the clergy and lay representatives who will go to this council from all over the continent; for the Holy Synod of Bishops; for the Metropolitan Council; for the Pre-Conciliar Commission who are making the plans and preparations; for the ‘town hall’ meetings happening in several locations in advance of the council; and for all the clergy, monastics and faithful of the OCA. The first of these has already taken place in Ottawa, and I have heard an encouraging report of it from Mat. Laurie Rodger, who was there and who presented a statement which is now available online here.

Here is an appropriate prayer to Saint Herman by Mat. Julianna Schmemann.