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Spyridon ... The Legacy

THE PRESENCE, VITALITY, AND ROLE
OF THE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH IN AMERICA
( Address by Archbishop Spyridon delivered at the University of Athens – February 11, 1999 )

Your Grace the representative of the His Beatitude the Archbishop of Athens and all Greece,
Most erudite Dean of the Theological Faculty,
Learned Professors, Reverend Clergy, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Good evening! Rejoice in the Lord!

Introductory Remarks

People born abroad of Greek parents and who come to visit Greece, regardless of their citizenship, feel doubly Greek! It happens to all Greeks from the Diaspora when our eyes behold the sky, the deep blue sea and the sun in Greece; her famous Acropolis and renowned ancient monuments that have glowed for centuries with a secret, impenetrable glory; her aged churches that have survived the wrath of conquerors who pillaged her treasures over the course of history; the newer sanctuaries that embody the uninterrupted integrity of her sacred tradition; her venerable soil, blessed by heralds of Christ and countless holy Fathers of the Church; her atmosphere redolent of the incense of ceaseless prayer to the Holy Trinity; and so many other [436]miracles within this immortal Greece of ours. This experience is repeated and confirmed within us, as children of this great and universal Greece –as we like to be called– each time we come to the cradle of Greek civilization. It is also confirmed in our daily lives as Greeks living abroad –as vehicles of universal Hellenism– who have undertaken the weighty and arduous mission of preserving our ancestral faith and Hellenic consciousness while simultaneously bringing people of other nations and faiths nearer to Hellenism and Orthodoxy. I would not be able nor would I even try to describe to you the emotions suffusing my soul the moment I set foot again on this blessed ancestral land. But tonight I am especially moved by the place in which we stand, the sacred symbol of Greek Orthodox civilization, the tribune of the National University in Athens.

Here ends my lyricism. I was moved to express the enthusiasm, joy and satisfaction that flood my heart as I stand here and extend to you my warmest thanks for the honor bestowed upon me tonight. On this occasion, I would also like to convey to you the brotherly sentiments of the Greek community of America and the paternal blessings of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the warmest greetings of love and respect sent to you by the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts. The Archdiocese of America and I personally as its Board chairman would like to express our deep gratitude for the enduring, heartfelt and constant support given our Theological School by the first institution of higher learning in metropolitan Greece. It suffices to mention Deans and professors of our School who were graduates of the Theological Faculty of the University of Athens: the first Dean, subsequently Archbishop of Thyatira Athenagoras Kavvadas, and the second Dean, Ezekiel Tsoukalas, subsequently Archbishop of Australia, Metropolitan of Kos and later of Pisidia. We have always had professors who were graduates of the Theological Faculty of the University of Athens and many distinguished professors from your Faculty have taught in our School of Theology or given special lectures, as you, beloved and learned Dean, did recently. I must also make special reference to our most recent visiting professor, Dr. Nektarios Papadopoulos of the Department of Biblical Theology, who not long ago passed into the hands of the Lord. He taught classes in his field during the last academic year with great success. May his memory be everlasting! Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Rectorate of our National University, which last year on its own initiative sent its Deputy Rector to encourage us and lend our Archdiocese a hand in our effort to renew our own institutions of higher learning, the Hellenic College and the Holy Cross School of Theology. I deeply appreciate that gesture and hope our School will take advantage of it in the future.

Our topic tonight is three-fold: “the presence, the vitality, and the role of the Greek Church in America.” The first part offers a historical perspective of past events that have led us to our current situation, to the present moment. The second refers to the present, to actions and reactions of the Greek Church in America today. The third deals with the contemplative aspect, as it would be called by theoreticians or by an army preparing for battle. My talk will be more of an outline rather than an exhaustive portrait. Emphasis will, of course be given, to issues of particular interest today that stimulate words and thoughts of Greeks everywhere.

1) A History—The Greek Church in America Yesterday

The Greek community in America today numbers between two and three million according to conservative and liberal estimates. In addition, there are about 550 organized ecclesiastical communities in the eight dioceses that constitute the Holy Archdiocese of America. Where did all these people come from? How did this story begin?

Some say the history of the Greek community in America began with Christopher Columbus, who, they claim, was of Greek descent. Others consider the arrival of Greek sailor Dorotheos Filotheos (fateful name!) in America in 1528 to be the starting point. Still others situate the beginning in 1768 when the first Greek community of New Smyrna was founded in St. Augustine, Florida, the current site of the St. Photios National Shrine. Certainly the roots of the Greek community in America were established by the latter decades of the 19th century, marked by the foundation of Greek Orthodox parishes that served as the first links in an unbroken historical chain reaching up to the present. Between then and now, we can distinguish six periods in the history of the Greek Church in America: the preliminary period beginning in the 1850s and ending with the implementation of the Patriarchal Founding Charter of the Archdiocese of America in 1922; and the periods of archpastoral tenure of five Archbishops who have served since then: Alexander (1922-1930), Athenagoras (1931-1948), Michael (1948-1958), Iakovos (1959-1996), and myself (1996-present).

In 1862 the first Greek Orthodox Church of Saints Constantine and Helen was established in Galveston, Texas, followed by Holy Trinity in New Orleans in 1864. Then to cite a few key events, in 1891 Holy Trinity, now home to our Holy Archdiocese’s cathedral, was founded in New York, Holy Trinity was founded in Chicago in 1892, the Annunciation in New York in 1983, Holy Trinity in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1894, the Annunciation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, St. Nicholas in Newark, New Jersey in 1901, Holy Trinity in Birmingham, Alabama in 1902, Holy Trinity in San Francisco and the Annunciation in Boston in 1903, and St. Nicholas in St. Louis, Missouri in 1904. By 1906 there were 29 Greek parishes in the United States.

With the unfolding of the 20th century and the development of the immigrant movement, accelerated after the disaster in Asia Minor, Greek Orthodox parishes multiplied rapidly. Between 1862 and 1922, 140 Greek parishes were established by the approximately 500,000 Greek immigrants who came to North America during that time followed by priests from the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Church of Greece. These two ecclesiastical centers played a pivotal role in establishing the purely ecclesiastical nature of these parishes.

The first hierarch to concern himself with the organization of these parishes into an Archdiocese was Meletios (Metaxakis), Metropolitan of Athens. He came to America for the first time in 1918 as Exarch of the Church of Greece –accompanied by Bishop Alexander of Rodostolon, serving as Synodic Delegate– and communicated the Church of Greece’s decision to found a Greek Archdiocese in America. Meletios’s removal (as a Venizelist) from the Archbishop’s throne of Athens in 1920, his return to America in 1921, and most significantly his ascension to the Ecumenical Throne that year were decisive events in the evolution of the Greek Church in America, laying the foundations for the Church’s return from the jurisdiction of the Church of Greece –to which it had been conceded by Patriarch Ioakim III in 1908– to that of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In 1921 Meletios convened the first Clergy-Laity Congress and drew up the first Archdiocese charter, under which the Greek Church was recognized by the State of New York. At the same time, he established the first Greek Orthodox Seminary in America, St. Athanasios, which remained in operation for two years. In 1922, after his ascension to the Patriarchal Throne, he restored the Greek Church in America to the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate by synodic decision and, on May 17, issued the Founding Charter of the Archdiocese of North and South America. Alexander of Rodostolon, who had been serving as Synodic Delegate of the Church of Greece in America, was chosen to serve as the first Archbishop. The first dioceses were founded at the same time in Boston, San Francisco and Chicago. The Eparchial Synod was composed of their bishops, together with the Archbishop. Nevertheless, after Meletios’s deposition from the Constantinopolitan Throne, the Church of Greece, which had until then maintained guardianship of the Greek Church in America, sent Germanos of Monemvasia to replace Alexander of Rodostolon. The inevitable dispute between Meletios and Germanos and the later dispute between Alexander and Germanos, were resolved in 1924 by an agreement between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Church of Greece.

Archbishop Alexander’s tenure was beset with many contentious issues. To begin with, the parishes were facing basic cultural problems: as immigrant communities, they did not fit into their American surroundings, and felt pressured to assimilate and to Americanize in keeping with existing church models. Most of these communities had already been founded and organized as independent associations emulating Protestant parish models, and they did not recognize the authority of the ecclesiastical Hierarchy. Another basic issue confronting these communities was that they were politically divided into two violently opposed groups, the royalists and the Venizelists. The Venizelist communities were accountable to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, while the royalist parishes, originally organized by the second Exarch of the Church of Greece in America, Metropolitan Gemanos of Monemvasia, were led after 1924 by the royalist Metropolitan Basil of Chaldia as a separate and autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church in the United States and Canada. There were also several other small groups, either independent or subject to the jurisdictions of other church bodies. The royalists resisted Archbishop Alexander, as did some of the Venizelists, for reasons of their own. Despite these obstacles, Archbishop Alexander’s work progressed. In the end about 133 of the 200 existing parishes followed him, laying the foundations for the future in the two Clergy-Laity Congresses of 1922 and 1927. But the central concern remained the unification and canonical ecclesiastical organization of these Greek communities. Ratified in 1927, the new Archdiocese charter did not significantly alter the structure of the first. Therefore it did not substantially contribute to the resolution of these parish problems, which intensified as the third decade of the 20th century drew to a close.

The year 1929 saw a significant and decisive development. Ecumenical Patriarch Fotios II and Archbishop Chrysostomos of Athens sent Damaskinos of Corinth (later Archbishop of Athens and regent of Greece) to America as Patriarchal Exarch and official Envoy of the Church of Greece to bring about a reconciliation of the opposing parties. Damaskinos managed to isolate the leaders of the dispute, including Archbishop Alexander and Metropolitan Basil of Chaldia, as well as the bishops, who were all transferred to dioceses in Greece. He also abolished the eparchial synodic system, which had proven divisive, making the bishops subordinate to the Archbishop and their dioceses subordinate to the Archdiocese, which became simply an eparchy of the Ecumenical Throne. Thus practically all of the different factions were unified and incorporated into the Ecumenical Patriarchate under Athenagoras, a new charismatic Archbishop, until then Metropolitan of Corfu and subsequent Ecumenical Patriarch, who exchanged places with Alexander. At the time, the Archdiocese included 220 parishes in five episcopal districts (New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Carolina), entrusted to five newly appointed bishops. Damaskinos’s success was of undeniable importance, a true saving grace. Though he did not altogether solve the problems stemming from the smoldering congressionalism, the exertion of excessive power by laypersons in church administration, he managed to introduce to a certain extent the traditional hierarchical system, which had a unifying influence. It was obvious to Damaskinos that in America the existence of autonomous or semi-autonomous eparchies was counterproductive, especially when the cultural surroundings were not only heterodox but also extremely antithetical to the spirit of the Orthodox Church.

When Athenagoras became Archbishop in 1930, a new period began for the Greek Church in America. The first years of his tenure proved extremely difficult and bitter– some might say a true martyrdom. These difficulties were caused by the clergy, who for reasons of self-interest wanted to remain independent and resisted every episcopal initiative. The clergy’s intransigence was made apparent by its reaction to the new charter ratified in 1931 by the Archdiocese’s fourth Clergy-Laity Congress. There were two points of contention: the abolition of the eparchial synodic system and the subordination of the Archdiocese to the Patriarchal Synod. Both of these decisions had been made to accomplish the primary goal of establishing ecclesiastical and canonical unity within the Greek Church. Critics of Athenagoras called the new charter too hierarchical, too monarchical, and too radical in comparison with both the two previous charters and the laws of the United States. During the fifth congress, when the opposition clamored for decentralization, Archbishop Athenagoras was unyielding. The unity of the Church was of primary importance, and he was not going to put that unity at risk. Great upheavals ensued. The Archbishop’s opponents took refuge in the courts. Their leader, Father Christoforos Kontogiorgis, was defrocked. An opposing Archdiocese –which finally gave way shortly after the death of its chief architect in 1950– was founded with its center in Lowell, Massachusetts. Nevertheless, Athenagoras persisted, and achieved his primary goals. In 1942 basic steps were taken to meet the Archdiocese’s financial needs by instituting a yearly contribution of a single dollar by each church member. In 1931, the Ladies Philoptochos Society was founded on the national level. In 1937, the Holy Cross School of Theology was founded in Pomfret, Connecticut, with Bishop Athenagoras (Kavvadas) of Boston as the first President and Dean. In 1943, Saint Basil Academy was founded to prepare teachers of the Greek language. In 1947, the School of Theology moved to its current location in Brookline, Massachusetts. In 1948, Athenagoras was elected Ecumenical Patriarch, having significantly furthered the work of his predecessors by unifying and further organizing the Church, confronting her financial needs, and establishing her basic philanthropic, educational, and social institutions.

Athenagoras’s work was continued and substantially advanced by another humble and charismatic clergyman, Metropolitan Michael of Corinth, who was elected Archbishop of North and South America in 1949. Michael was not unanimously accepted immediately. Numerous members of the clergy claimed he was ignorant of the American reality and the peculiarities of the Greek Church in the New World. Moreover they criticized him for being a strictly traditional clergyman who introduced extreme conservatism (today we would call it fundamentalism) into a progressive church environment. In truth, however, Michael’s personality was multifaceted. In addition, he had acquired an astonishing amount of experience, serving in Russia, England, and Greece. He also took an incomparably broader perspective than those of most Greeks in America at the time. Michael’s primary concern was the advancement of Orthodox spirituality and faith within the Church and ecumenically. He promoted Sunday schools and published the first Greek Orthodox Catechism books in English. He allowed sermons to be given in English. He raised the academic standards of the School of Theology, appointing a new dean and introducing stricter academic regulations. He organized the youth ministries, founding the Greek Orthodox Youth of America (GOYA) in 1950. He increased the Church members’ yearly one-dollar contribution to ten dollars. He promoted ecumenical relations and dialogue, representing the Ecumenical Patriarchate in various ecumenical encounters, particularly in the World Council of Churches, to which he was elected co-president in 1954. In general, Michael helped unify the Greek Church in America, providing a qualitatively superior service and promoting national church programs. His chief concern was how to govern congressionalist elements of a decidedly Protestant bent who entrenched themselves in Greek Orthodox parishes from the outset. He tried to control those elements by instituting the Uniform Parish Regulations: heavily criticized, they were never widely implemented. Lastly, Michael improved the Church’s public profile, making it more acceptable to American authorities and American society in general. In fact, during his tenure, the Church was officially recognized by 27 states. In 1956, President Eisenhower and Vice President Nixon came in person to speak at the 13th Clergy-Laity Congress. Two years later, President Eisenhower said of Archbishop Michael’s sudden death, “It is a great loss not only for the Orthodox Church, but for the entire country, because he has proven himself a distinguished citizen and a worker for peace.”

Archbishop Michael’s unexpected death brought Iakovos of Melite to the Archi- episcopal Throne in 1959. Archbishop Iakovos was selected by Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras. The Patriarch was familiar with the talents and abilities Iakovos had demonstrated in his successful service as permanent delegate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the World Council of Churches. Furthermore, his thorough knowledge of America, where he had previously served, made him suitable for the post, as did the vast experience he had gained during his tenure in Europe, which indeed proved extremely valuable. From the very beginning, despite certain dissidents’ reactions –they were never absent during his long tenure, and at times came into fierce conflict with him, even to the very end– he moved on more solid ground than his predecessors had done. The institutional unification of the Greek Orthodox parishes within the Archdiocese and the consolidation of at least some of its chief institutions had already been achieved to a satisfactory degree, making it much easier to confront whatever problems might arise in the parishes and communities. From this point of view Archbishop Iakovos was certainly in a stronger, more advantageous position than his predecessors. The groundwork had been laid for improving organization and expanding in all directions, a fact made immediately apparent during Archbishop Iakovos’ first major appearance, at the historic 15th Clergy-Laity Congress in 1960. The issues at hand, as described by one serious observer, illustrate the guiding principles of his tenure:

• the revitalization of the Greek Orthodox faith and a more ardent adherence to Greek Orthodox traditions in America by promoting a Church ministry for internal mission and introducing a greater number of supervising bishops;
• the enhancement and preservation of the Greek language by encouraging mothers to take interest in their children’s Greek education, more adequately preparing teachers for Greek day and afternoon schools, and strengthening the daily and periodical Greek press;
• a more systematic response to the Church’s economic needs through a more consistent and widely implemented yearly ten-dollar contribution, and also by creating a solid trust fund based on bequests or other sources of income;
• the achievement of greater homogeneity and a stricter observance of discipline on the part of both the clergy and the laity during service;
• the increase and consolidation of retirement funds for the clergy and for the laity serving at the Archdiocese headquarters;
• the reorganizing and enhancement of Sunday schools and Holy Cross School of Theology;
• the further support for the cause of the Ladies Philoptochos Society;
• the consolidation of GOYA’s ministry and its association with the parishes.

There were other important issues as well, but the principal undertaking emphasized at the Congress was the “preservation of the sacred traditions of Hellenism and of Orthodoxy.”

In all of these areas, the efforts of Archbishop Iakovos made remarkable progress. It would be impossible for me to summarize that growth tonight, however briefly, given that Iakovos’s tenure covered thirty-seven consecutive years of ecclesiastical service, over a third of this century. During this period numerous issues arose in various arenas. Of course, it was impossible to fully resolve all the issues in every sector. Thus these issues will be addressed in the new direction opening up before the Church today. I believe that the success of this process will depend not on triumphant assessments or opportunistic and self-interested planning, but on the amount of serious self-criticism we undertake, beginning with my comments today. The fact that the Greek Church in America has become to a certain extent a reality of national proportions, having spread throughout the United States and embraced the entire country, not only signifies success, but it also raises a challenge, and indeed a very serious challenge. As with every undertaking that expands beyond the means and resources to accomplish it, there is a very grave danger of centrifugal powers taking over. Thus, due to her tremendous expansion, the Greek Church in America today faces not only major financial difficulties, but also problems of a qualitative nature, as the extent of her dehellinization and cultural alteration render her largely foreign to her roots in Greece and Constantinople. Many operational aspects of the Greek Archdiocese, especially those that define its very being, need to readjust to the new circumstances in which it finds itself, after the lengthy and expansive growth in which it was led by the truly noble-minded Archbishop Iakovos.

But let us now turn our attention to the present. Where are we today? What does it mean that we have reached a national level? A general outline of the present workings of the Greek Church in America will give us an idea of her vitality.

2) Present Vitality—The Greek Church in America Today

When Archbishop Iakovos became the leader of the Greek Church in America in 1959, there were 390 parishes that came under three archdiocesan districts. Within a year he had increased the districts to ten and placed ten new bishops over them: eight in the United States, one in Canada, and one in South America. Seventeen years later, in 1977, a new Archdiocese charter, which remains in effect to this day, elevated these districts to dioceses and promoted the auxiliary bishops in charge to diocesan bishops. In general, the relationship between the bishops and their dioceses was largely based on the Sacred Canons, but it was also governed by certain special provisions of the charter, deemed necessary to ensure Church unity. After the recent Patriarchal visit to America in 1997, the Patriarchate honored the bishops by promoting them to the rank of Metropolitan and granting them titles of ancient dioceses no longer in existence. The new Metropolitans were simultaneously appointed to serve as temporary overseers of their former dioceses so as to continue their ministry in accordance with the Sacred Canons and the charter in effect. Currently we are witnessing the first reaction to these elevations, which indicates the Church’s energy and vitality Church, as well as the danger of the centrifugal tendencies threatening Archdiocese unity.

The request that the dioceses be elevated to metropolitanates or dioceses with metropolitan status is not wholly without serious complications. In fact, it seems to put at risk the Church’s efforts to keep Hellenism unified, a unity achieved through the Homeric trials described above. Thus the central problem that remains unsolved (bringing the parishes under the governance of the Archdiocese and its dioceses) will most likely be exacerbated by the increased number of metropolitanates, becoming an even thornier problem.

Moreover, in some circles, people are demanding that the charter be revised in keeping with the previous charters of 1922 and 1927, which considered the Greek Church of America a semi-autonomous, if not entirely autonomous, eparchy with a full eparchial synod. At this point, however, a reasonable question might be: if in 1927, when there were only 220 parishes, Athenagoras considered the problem serious enough to warrant the dissolution of the synodic system and the immediate subordination of the Archdiocese to the Patriarchate as only one large eparchy of the Throne, how much more threatening must the situation be today, with about 550 parishes that make up today’s Archdiocese? Of course some claim that today, unlike in the 1920s, the Church has been unified and has undergone such growth that it can no longer be considered merely an ethnic entity. Shouldn’t, they say, such a large and national, that is, nationwide Archdiocese be divided into eparchies that would constitute a local autocephalous Church? I consider the use of the term “national” misleading, however, because our Church is not national in the same sense as, for example, the Church in Greece or Romania. In these two countries Church and nation (ethnos) are to a large degree identified with one another, in terms of both geography and population, so that one often defines the other. But this does not apply to the United States. In the United States, not only the Greek American community, but many other ethnic groups (Orthodox Slavs, Romanians, Arabs) enjoy a nationwide presence and are members of the National Council of Christian Churches. In reality, dispersed throughout the entire country, the Orthodox are a mosaic. Orthodoxy, despite its distinct cultural character, is certainly not unified, divided as it is into separate ecclesiastical jurisdictions of ethnic character. Nor does it begin to constitute a national majority, dwarfed as it is by the millions of Roman Catholic and Protestant faithful. Thus, in an multiethnic society like America, the need to reinforce unifying forces must be of overriding importance, a sine qua non. I am reminded of the wise saying, strength in unity, particularly when I think how much Hellenism –the direct and primary vehicle for the Orthodox faith, both in metropolitan Greece and in the Greek Orthodox Diaspora throughout the world– has receded, making unification and unity of paramount importance today. We can draw inspiration from a parallel situation, that of the Jews, who by preserving their identity and their unity in the world, resurrected a state and acquired power, despite their minority status.

I have entered into a detailed consideration of a single aspect of Greek Church life in America to underscore a point I have previously attempted to make: what is required is a thorough examination and appropriate readjustment of the Church to the new reality, in which the Greek American community finds itself, rather than haphazard, unilateral initiatives, which would either create new divisions or disorient many Greek Americans. Just as serious study and judicious action toward unification are needed to structure and organize the Archdiocese appropriately on both the diocesan and parish levels, such efforts are also needed to update and enhance the ministries of the Church. Though time limitations preclude a through analysis of these ministries in this talk, I will list them briefly to illustrate more fully the vitality of our Church, which is the basic and essential vehicle for the preservation of the Greek American community. According to the program of the 34th Clergy-Laity Congress in Orlando, Florida, the first congress in my tenure as Archbishop, the chief national ministries of the Church are the following:

• Our only institution of higher learning, Hellenic College-Holy Cross School of Theology, which for the past 62 years has prepared our priests and parish leaders, and is recognized by the Ministry of Education of the Greek State as well as the official US educational authorities.
• The National Ladies Philoptochos Society, which has purely philanthropic goals and is one of the largest women’s organizations in America.
• The Order of St. Andrew of the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, whose fundamental goal is directed at an ongoing concern for the welfare and advancement of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
• The Ecumenical Office, which co-ordinates relations with other Orthodox, Christian, and religious groups at a national or local, multilateral or bilateral level.
• The Orthodox Christian Stewardship (Logos), which promotes pastoral issues related to the Orthodox faith.
• St. Basil Academy, in existence for 54 years, which after the changes of 1972 dedicated itself to helping Orthodox young people in need through educational and other programs.
• The Department of Greek Education, a kind of ministry of education that organizes the Archdiocese’s educational and cultural programs in order to promote the values of our Greek Orthodox heritage, the teaching of the Greek language, the history of the Greek people, and elements of the Orthodox faith, as well as to provide guidance for the Greek Schools within the Archdiocese. In 1997-98, there were 19 day schools serving 4,432 children, and 277 afternoon schools attended by approximately 20,000 children.
• The national office for Youth and Young Adult Ministries, which organizes various programs to meet the needs of the Greek American Orthodox youth.
• The Archdiocese Benefits Committee, which is responsible for the operation of the clergy’s Pension Plan.
• The “Ionian Village,” located on the northwestern coast of the Peloponnesus, where each year 150 Greek American children explore their Orthodox roots in a true, authentic Greek environment, visit historic Greek sites and make pilgrimages to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople and other holy places.
• The Department of Religious Education, which assists the parishes in issues of religious teaching by providing suitable publications and coordinating programs of religious study, seminars, and so on.
• St. Michael’s Home, founded in 1958 by Archbishop Michael to care for the aged and the infirm.
• The Orthodox Christian Mission Center in St. Augustine, Florida, which was founded by the Archdiocese and became a pan-Orthodox ministry in 1994. The center maintains missionaries, missionary centers and programs in various parts of the world and has a yearly budget of one million dollars.
• The Orthodox Observer, the Archdiocesan newspaper, originally monthly and now bi-monthly, which contains all the Archdiocese’s current news and also has a page on the Web.
• The Greek Orthodox Telecommunications (GOTelecom), a new instrument of the Church, founded to provide basic information concerning Orthodoxy today, producing programs of quality that can be distributed on television and through video. It already has over 150 programs to its credit.
• The Internet Ministries, considered a pioneer among other such programs being advanced by other Churches, both Orthodox and non. This department continues to expand and to prove itself particularly beneficial to the needs of today’s youth.
• The Office of Publications, which oversees the Archdiocese’s Yearbook, as well as other publications of informative and general interest.
• The Registry, which keeps records of the sacraments performed in the Greek Orthodox community, including baptisms, marriages, and deaths.
• The Department of Finance, which is responsible for the oversight of all financial matters of the Archdiocese. Its constant task is to oversee all the institutions of the Archdiocese and the Dioceses.
• Last but not least, I would like to mention the Department of Monasticism, still in its planning stages, which will be responsible for contributing to the furtherance of Orthodox spirituality, our Church’s primary concern, according to the Greek Orthodox tradition. Greek Orthodox monasticism in America is a new development that bodes well for the advancement and growth of our Church. Suffice it to say that there are already more than ten Greek Orthodox monasteries in the United States. Moreover the Archdiocese’s recent success in bringing the Old Calendar Monastery of Chrysovalantou, an entity with branches all over America, under the shelter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, suggests the dawn of a new age in the cultivation of traditional Orthodox spirituality.

If we add to the ministries mentioned above the various local activities at the diocese and parish levels, the extraordinary vitality of the Greek Church in America becomes evident. The presence of all of these ministries attests to the role our Church is playing throughout the United States. Finally, in an attempt to draw a more complete picture of what is required and what we will need to accomplish in the future, I would like to offer some thoughts and perspectives about the work of these ministries and the overall activity of the Church.

3) A Future Role—The Greek Church in America Tomorrow

The fundamental role of our Church in the period opening up before us with the approach of the third millennium is dual in nature. First of all, provision must be made to consolidate and promote the fundamental need for internal unity and canonical configuration of the Archdiocese on all ecclesiastical levels, particularly that of the parishes. Then we need to perfect our Church’s administrative infrastructure and the ministries, by modernizing and readjusting them, while simultaneously creating new structures where needed so as to effect a qualitative and profound revitalization of the entire Archdiocese.

And I believe this can be achieved, if we rekindle the Greek Orthodox spirituality that infuses our lives with the power of divine grace and love that wells up through the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. If we stand tall as Greek Orthodox Christians and truly respond to our call on the basis of our ethnic and ecclesiastic tradition. To move forward, we must acknowledge our true kinship with all Greek Orthodox as well as other brothers and sisters, since through Christ we are “members of the same body,” one flesh, the flesh of the Church. Our perspective is defined by the Holy Eucharist and Communion, through which we are continually renewed, becoming the “one body” of the Lord and “members one of another.” And since the body of Christ remains one and indivisible, through it we too become, are and will be, a single, indivisible reality. Thus, we will be able to confront justly and effectively the great new challenges, many of which my predecessors could not have foreseen. One of these involves expanding the Church beyond her ethnic boundaries, as narrowly defined, into the greater arena of American society. Our Church today is Greek, but it is also American, since many Americans find solace and shelter in her bosom. That fact alone gives rise to new perspectives and creates new needs. There is the need to Christianize according to Greek Orthodox principles the many people who are coming to Orthodoxy, particularly those who are uniting with members of our Church in mixed marriages, offering us a unique opportunity and challenge. In all these undertakings we must and will gain a clearer understanding of what the growth of our Greek Orthodox Church means in both quantitative and qualitative terms. Only when we achieve this will we be able to meet the challenge of our times and help our children find their path and their mission within the realm of our Church. The Church’s new diversity demands attention and care, lest it alter our glorious Greek Orthodox identity, our priceless spiritual heritage, and the birthright given us by divine grace. That is our debt to our young members. They are the pictures of extraordinary vitality. They give wing to our hope. But they also confer upon on us the responsibility of educating them properly and offering them a genuine orientation as Greek Orthodox Americans.

It is within the context of such growth that the Mother Church’s initiative to raise certain dioceses to the rank of Metropolitanates and to establish new Metropolitanates in some areas of the American continent must be considered. The creation of the Metropolitanates of Canada, Central America, and South America is neither divisive nor counter-productive despite opinions to the contrary. It is a responsible response to the challenges of our time. It is, moreover, a call for new achievements and expansion – the essential and blessed fruits of our Church’s tremendous progress and growth in the Western hemisphere. These changes in the structure of the Archdiocese attest to appropriate spiritual growth and care. The only real goal of the Church in this circumstance is to pursue her missionary task in the contemporary social context in a better, more effective manner.

*  *  *

The message of truth and love that springs from “the mystery of our religion” (I Tim 3:16), the incarnation and redemption through the crucifixion and resurrection, will continue to be the central concern of the Church. The ecclesiastical perspective must be defined by that and that alone and not just by individuals who happen to be Church leaders. We are all responsible for this, both the few serving in positions of leadership and the many faithful within the body of the Church. I stress this because I have come to know this first-hand through my many visits to parishes and dioceses during these first years of my tenure in the New World. Not only the leaders and members of various committees (the Archdiocesan Council, Leadership 100, the Order of Archons, the Ladies Philoptochos Society, the Parish councils, and so on), but also each and every member of the body of the Church (the grandmothers, the Sunday school teachers, those who work with the youth, and so on) is deserving of great praise. This realization offers hope for the future, as it indicates the endless possibilities that God has granted us through our local Church, her parishes, her clergy and her laity.

Finally it is the reason that love, the true catalyst of every aspect of our Church life, enables us to proceed with determination, certain that we will reach the goal of our “upward call” (Phil 3:14). Love is the divine power that drives the work of our creation and salvation. Love draws us to the body of Christ and makes us truly members of one another. Love guides us successfully in every act and effort of our ministry, in the family, in friendship, in the parish, in missionary work, in the diocese, in the Archdiocese, and in the greater society. Christ, who in accordance with His promise is present among us, is also the embodiment of love. It is to that “pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Heb 12:2) that I aspire, as I continue the arduous and difficult task entrusted to me by the Great Church in Constantinople.

[ Translated from the original Greek ]

[ Spyridon, Archbishop of America (1996-1999), The Legacy, Athens 2005, pp. 436-450 ]