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Religion News Service - Late August 1996 The Making of an Archbishop Profile of Spyridon: Commitment, Calling and Desire
By Steven Heilbronner VENICE — He has spent most of his 51 years in Europe, studying, preaching and building his church. He rarely travels to the United States, has never lived in New York City and speaks Italian and Greek more often than English. Like many Italians, he eats lunch at 2 p.m. Yet, when Archbishop Spyridon is enthroned on Sept. 21 in New York as the fifth leader of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, the Ohio-born prelate will be celebrated as the first American-born chief of an institution that has largely completed the transition from an immigrant church to a fully American church. In fact, few American Orthodox leaders know Spyridon's style or his intentions. He was a surprise choice of the 12-member Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate that elected him unanimously last July in Constantinople, the ancient name of Istanbul used by the church. "I was surprised because I was not among the candidates," he said in an interview. "I wasn't looking for another solution to my service or my life." Moreover, he said, "others might know more about the American church than me." Notwithstanding that admission, none of the other candidates had the American birthright and vast European experience that Patriarch Bartholomew I, leader of some 250 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, seemed to be looking for. "Having been born in the United States will appeal to an overwhelming number of people who were born on this continent," said Metropolitan Philip, leader of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, which has 205 parishes and half a million members. Philip, born in Lebanon, added, "It will also enable him to understand the unique problems which the church in this hemisphere is facing in 1996." Wearing a plain black robe, Spyridon gives a visitor a tour of the 400-year-old Church of St. George of the Greeks that has been his home for the past four-and-a-half years. The church sits on the San Lorenzo canal, about a five-minute walk from St. Mark's Square. Small groups of tourists filter through the partly shaded courtyard. A Japanese man, unfamiliar with Greek, points to a plaque on the church and asks Spyridon, "Is this Jewish?" A rare smile crosses his pale face. "No," he says, "it's Greek." Though unrelated to his new assignment, the question is an emblem of some of the basic and challenging work that lies ahead as Orthodox Christianity attempts to communicate its message beyond old boundaries of nationalism and ethnicity. "We are on our way towards the construction of an American Orthodox Church that is acquiring American characteristics, slowly but surely, and abandoning its ethnic elements," Spyridon said. His 85-year-old predecessor, Archbishop Iakovos, held the reins of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America for 37 years. lakovos ruled with a firm hand and a loyal coterie of supporters. Some critics said he inflamed ethnic divisions within the Orthodox churches, which include Lebanese, Armenians, Ukrainians and others. Spyridon said he will employ "teamwork," "listening" and "cooperation" to lead the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, which has been downsized to include only the United States. New metropolitans will be named to head separate jurisdictions for Canada, South America and Mexico, all part of a restructuring announced by the Ecumenical Patriarchate intended to simplify administrative functions. "We're not talking of imposing unity, we're talking of constructing unity," Spyridon said, and "I think the American people are for such a unity." In a reference to the Greek-born Iakovos, he added, "Of course, somebody that comes from Greece doesn't have this concern, and doesn't have a feel for this, not because he is basically against such a thing but because he has no experience on what the lack of unity means." George Papageorgiou is a first-generation Greek-American, born Sept. 24, 1944, in Warren, Ohio, to devout Orthodox parents whose links to the mother country were passed on to their six children. Clara and Constantine, a physician, raised their children in Ohio, Florida and on the Greek island of Rhodes, where they learned the language, customs and religion of their forbears. In a family from which each of the four previous generations had produced priests, it would come as no surprise that among the immigrant clan one of the six Papageorgiou children would inherit the family duty. For Spyridon, the path of the priesthood was a combination of commitment, calling and desire.
"Somehow it's been a tradition of the family," he said, speaking slowly in hushed tones from behind his desk in his wood-paneled office above the courtyard. "Each family has one only that has to deal with the church. I was the one that was chosen. I had this inclination more than the others. I discovered that this was one way I could go to feel happier, better about my life."
He graduated from the Theological School of Halki, Turkey, in 1966 and furthered his religious education in Switzerland and Germany. From there, Papageorgiou served the Ecumenical Patriarchate at the World Council of Churches in Geneva.
He was ordained a priest in 1976, and was named dean of the Greek Orthodox Community of St. Andrew in Rome. In 1984, he was appointed to head the church's theological commission between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches.
In 1991, he became the first metropolitan of Venice, and assumed the name Spyridon, after the 4th century Cypriot saint who was a skilled shepherd.
Spyridon said he relishes his success in the Orthodox community in Italy, which has 120,000 members. He increased the number of parishes to 25 from seven, created two monasteries and established an Orthodox youth movement.
Last December he expanded his reach, setting up a homepage on the World Wide Web, where he posted his biweekly church bulletin in English and Italian. The newsletter features articles on church affairs in Italy, news from the patriarch in Constantinople and reflections on theological issues.
The effort, he said, paid off, because many Orthodox, including some in the United States and Canada, wrote to him, seeking his counsel or expressing their ideas. He receives about 30 messages a day on the Web site, which he hopes his successor will continue.
Over the past two years, the Orthodox Church in the United States has posted church information on an electronic bulletin board accessible on the Internet. But Spyridon said he will likely upgrade that system to mirror the home page in Italy.
"It is the easiest, and perhaps the cheapest way, to get yourself known," he said.
"I'm leaving with part of my heart here because what was ever done here was done with great sacrifice," said Spyridon who typically works from nine in the morning to midnight, with a one-hour lunch at 2 p.m. The work has left little time for him to read Camus or Dostoevsky, or watch old movies on television, a favorite past-time.
In Italy, Spyridon has been surrounded by the richness of a city in perpetual motion. He seems cloistered, weighted down by official duties. Yet, he does not feel deprived.
"It was a wonderful time I had here. It was exciting. It was a challenge. I hope I can do something useful in America, too."
Spyridon said his chief aims in the years ahead will be to expand the church, which has already gained new members from a growing number of disenchanted Episcopalians, Evangelicals and others. He also intends to increase reconciliation efforts between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, which remain divided.
But his top priority will be to seek unity among the 6 million Orthodox Christians in the United States, most of whom are of Greek and Russian descent, but also include Albanian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Serb and Ukrainian Christians. while the American Orthodox churches share the same dogma and a common religious ancestry as the original Apostolic churches, they differ on matters of ethnicity, style, management and leadership.
Unity is an old issue and it's certainly one of the major issues he will have to confront," said Ron Roberson, assistant director of the secretariat for economic and interreligious affairs at the U.S. National Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Roberson, who knew of Spyridon from his dozen years of service in Rome, added, "I think virtually all of the (Orthodox) churches in the West want unity. The problem is administrative. Each of them is autonomous. It's a very complicated situation."
"We're spending money, we're expending efforts in different directions," Philip said. "We have too much duplication. Instead of numerous educational facilities, we could have one strong Christian education department, better materials, more researchers and create more impact on the spiritual and moral life in this country."
Ironically, a meeting of 10 of the 13 Orthodox denominations in the United States nearly brought about what I called "administrative ecclesial unity in North America," in 1994. But the declaration alarmed Bartholomew, who saw it as an effort by Iakovos to centralize his power.
In many respects, Spyridon uses the same language in seeking unity among Americans. But with a twist.
"I have a feeling that (the churches) are developing in their very American way, which means more isolated," said Spyridon, who intends to increase contacts between European and American seminary students and pastors.
"I think an exchange would be good for both. We know very little about America in Europe. And I suppose that in America they know very little about Europe."
Ultimately, he said, "we have to feel part of the world Orthodox family. When you speak of American unity you risk creating the impression that Orthodoxy is on its own in the states. I really do think that the church of America should be brought closer to world-wide Orthodox reality. And I think that in that sense I could offer a good service."
[ Religion News Service
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