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Authentic Transparency and Accountability
April 6, 2019

The Pressure Continues

By: Georgia T. and Tom S.

After months of asking questions, the faithful are wondering if the Eparchial Synod is ready to answer the questions we have been asking or are they going to continue to beg for more money to support the failed initiatives of the GOA (i.e. Saint Nicholas Shrine, HCHC, etc.)?

The GOA Eparchial Synod will be gathering together this upcoming week for their regular Spring session. Tensions are high because our spiritual leaders have not been acting like spiritual leaders. The Metropolitans are quick to cast blame on Archbishop Demetrios of America for not properly informing them about the severe problems facing the Archdiocese. To date, not one of our spiritual leaders has been willing to take responsibility for their involvement, or lack thereof, in this mess.

According to a Hierarch of the Ecumenical Throne who was recently in Constantinople, the Ecumenical Patriarchate is looking to revoke the Charter of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and establish multiple Metropolises in the United States. Because the GOA Metropolitans were unable to work together to avoid this epic catastrophe, the Ecumenical Patriarch has allegedly had enough of trying to make the Archdiocesan model work in the United States and wants more direct control to ensure this type of mismanagement can be swiftly dealt with in a timely manner.

If the Metropolitans in the GOA were working together then this mess would have been avoided, but our spiritual leaders were too focused on avoiding each other to care about the wide-spread mismanagement. The Ecumenical Patriarchate is exploring the possibility of not only returning us to a Metropolis model but potentially restructuring and creating additional Metropolises.

It has been rumored that the Ecumenical Patriarch believes there should be no Archbishop of America because there is no hierarch who would be able to stabilize and restore the Archdiocese to its once healthy condition. The GOA has collapsed beyond our ability to immediately repair it, and to stop the bleeding, the Ecumenical Patriarchate is likely to take severe measures to restore confidence in leadership with the local parishes.

It was also suggested that by revoking the Charter of the GOA, the Ecumenical Patriarchate will then have complete control over determining who would be elected to become Metropolitans in the United States without the need of an approved list of eligible candidates. It has been stated that the Ecumenical Patriarchate is not satisfied with the current list of eligible candidates for the Episcopacy. This is a motivating factor for the Ecumenical Patriarchate to want to have direct elections for Metropolitans in the United States and for the authority to assign and transfer Assistant Bishops in the United States.

The final motivating factor for this possible move is the severe chaos with Hellenic College Holy Cross School of Theology. Revoking the Charter of the GOA would result in substantial reductions in expenses through the elimination of departments and ministries that are not widely used by the parishes throughout the United States. There is uncertainty about what would happen to certain institutions already established. While there is a lot of speculation, the Ecumenical Patriarchate is potentially looking into taking "control" of HCHC in order to make it a Patriarchal School of Theology in the United States.

Even though the School is located within the Metropolis of Boston, under this potential move to revoke the Charter, the School would be under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate with many of its leadership positions being determined directly by the Ecumenical Patriarch. The Archdiocesan officials have had decades to find means to support the School with no success and the Ecumenical Patriarchate is looking to take over the School before it is closed down permanently under the current Archdiocesan leadership.

This move will likely not be supported by the current Metropolitans of the GOA, but it would be a welcome change to avoid having such wide-spread mismanagement happen again.

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