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Alice
Moderator
Member
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,906
USA
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Dear Father Anthony,
Suffice it to say that Archbishop Spyridon brought alot of changes back to traditional Orthodoxy. I had never seen a prostration until he sent out a mandate to all the churches about reinstating their practice. I still remember my parish priest showing all the Sunday School teachers at our monthly meeting how to do one, and when to do one, because the 'new Archbishop' wants us to.
Another mandate that was given, (my husband was on the Parish Council at the time) by Archbishop Spyridon was that icon of the feast day should be set in the middle of the entrance to the church. Until then, they generally were not.
He got crucified for it, but fortunately, they seem to be sticking.
The GOA was notorious for the liberal changes it made during the years of the long time administration...perhaps not as bad as the ones that Michael is describing in the Byzantine Catholic Church, but close. Most Greeks visiting from Greece didn't recognize the church as being the same one they knew at the time. Even fasting and confession had become passe for a few decades.
Regards in Christ,
Alice
P.S. Many of our churches still do not offer vespers. I still remember this being a sore point that a former Orthodox poster (who grew up in the GOA but moved to another jurisdiction) here used to bring to my attention privately.
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