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CONFIDENTIAL

July 8, 1986

Dear Brother in Christ,

Now that the 28th Clergy-Laity Congress has completed its work, and while you are preparing for your vacation, it would be good and useful for you to collect and arrange -—to reflect upon, analyze, and examine (as objectively as you can)—- your impressions, thoughts, and observations on [the congress] and to draw your own (I hope correct) conclusions. It is our duty, both to ourselves and to our Church, if not also, I would say, to God, to do so, since His thought is always in our mind, at the center of our life and ministry.

I, personally, have gathered my own conclusions, and it is these that impel me to write to you this letter, to assist you somewhat in categorizing your own thoughts, judgments, and even concerns. I [shall] not proceed to assess the entire congress as an institution. I [shall] proceed only to compare certain "phenomena" that are noticed at every Clergy-Laity [Congress], and which, in my opinion, require our special attention.

The first of these is that our clergy (most of them) want to acquire added power and influence, not at the parish level anymore (they have for the most part succeeded in that) or in the Archdiocese (they have accomplished that with the creation of, in fact, the best pension system), but over us. That is what they aim at with their constant negative criticism of our person and work and with the recent declaration of their desire to "advise," like the Archdiocesan Council (as if they were a special body), on the candidates for the episcopacy. Perhaps at the next Clergy-Laity [Congress] they will even present us (if the need is not pointed out to them to begin judging themselves and their priesthood) with their own list of candidates.

A second phenomenon (present for a long time) is their attempt to prejudice us and even to pit us against one another, with the ultimate intention of creating a distance between us ourselves. They have succeeded partly in this, too, since either through their friendly and flattering approach or through their bitter criticism and even calumny of their colleagues they have prejudiced us in favor of or against certain priests and "in favor of" or "against" us ourselves.

And while we, perhaps, may act from good motives in behalf of the Church, the same cannot be said for all our priests. We forget that in our personal relations with priests we ought to proceed from a principle fundamental for the unity of our Church: "Obey your leaders and submit to them" (Hebrews, 13:17).

A third phenomenon (which was to be expected) was their opposition to the wage scale that we had introduced and recommended as fair and just. If we examine [their] opposition at its root, we will see that it is not merely a defense of their interests but also of their "independence" from the Church and her hierarchy. They refuse to acknowledge that our Church is hierarchical. They want us as their "friends" but not as their superiors.

We have an obligation to seek the establishment of a hierarchical Church, as opposed to a congregationalist or presbyterian one, not as a worldly authority but as an Ecclesiastical responsibility. It is our duty to set the foundation of our Church on her cornerstone, Christ, and to make the systematization and promotion of her evangelical and saving work our major occupation and pursuit.

Those three phenomena, occurrences, or, if you will, warnings that were noted at the 28th Clergy-Laity [Congress] suffice for us to make a study of their deeper meaning. What is necessary is for us to examine them objectively and in depth and to deal with them calmly and responsibly.

I would never resort to disruptive actions or reactions. They would do greater harm. With the beginning of the new ecclesiastical year, it would be beneficial for us to refer to the Gospel of the day (September 1) arid to believe in, and transubstantiate into our personal creed and ministry, the [scripture], "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me" (Luke 4:18-19). Some ideas that must concern us are those that follow:

1.  More frequent Christian-spiritual contacts or even retreats with our priests, if only in groups if it is not easy to have all our priests in a single Episcopal-priestly gathering.
2.  More frequent Christian-spiritual gatherings with the officers of the Parish councils, at which we could help them both to understand the Ecclesiastical meaning of their duties and to appreciate our own responsibilities in their full gravity.
3.  More frequent Christian-spiritual gatherings, with the executive committees of the Philoptochos chapters. From the meeting we had in my suite in Dallas, I think it became clear that the ladies need to understand well the issue of their relations with the Diocese and the Archdiocese.
4.  More frequent Christian-spiritual meetings with the leaders of [our] (adolescent) youth, so that they can see more clearly the scope of their organization's mission, which is to prepare themselves for life in a Christian manner and to prepare, from among them, tomorrow's laity leadership for our Parishes and Philoptochos [chapters].
5.  More frequent Christian-spiritual, paternal meetings with young people from our community [who are] in the last year of high school or in the first year of college, which would give us the opportunity to speak to them about our Theological [School] and about the nobility and beauty of a spiritual offering, which they could make through a self-mobilization for service in, and for the survival of, our Ecclesiastical organization.

Please be careful with the contents of this personal confidential letter (which is not to be made public either through print or through general dissemination). Perhaps —and may it be so— your summer will renew you in your physical and spiritual strength and make your ministry more enjoyable and more productive.

With the love of Him Who loves us,

THE ARCHBISHOP
[Signed]
IAKOVOS OF AMERICA