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The National Herald - September 9-15, 2017
Archdiocese Denies TNH Report
By Theodore Kalmoukos
DIMITRIS PANAGOS
His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America kissing the
hand of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at
their recent meeting in Contantinople.
NEW YORK – The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America issued an announcement denying
the The National Herald’s revelation that the Ecumenical Patriarchate proposed that His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of
America resign voluntarily and
be elected to Metropolitan
Geron of Herakleia. In the announcement, the Archdiocese
called the information as “false
and baseless.”
The entire announcement
follows: “The Greek Orthodox
Archdiocese of America announces that information published in a daily Greek-American
newspaper stating that His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios
Geron of America was asked by
the Ecumenical Patriarchate to
resign, is false and baseless.
“His Eminence is returning
to the United States from Constantinople to continue to work
dynamically and creatively for
the edification and progress in
Christ of the Holy Church in
America, a sacred mission to
which he was elected by the
most venerable Ecumenical Patriarchate 18 years ago.”
TNH responded as follows:
“The National Herald stands
by the accuracy of its article and
its sources are beyond any
doubt, and for the time being it
points out the following:
1) We wonders why it took
them three days to issue the
press release.
2) We notes with interest
that the press release issued
does not quote His Eminence directly; an important point, so as
to give him flexibility later on
regarding his actions.
3) We note the silence from
the Ecumenical Patriarchate, so
far.”
According to exclusive information obtained by TNH, |
the
Patriarchate proposed that
Demetrios resign voluntarily because it does not want to show
that it dethrones Archbishops as
was the case of Archbishop
Spyridon.
The proposal for Demetrios
to be elected Metropolitan of
Herakleia is because it is considered a prominent Eparchy of
the Patriarchate that was destroyed during the catastrophe
of Asia Minor and is left without
any flock. His election there
would be considered an ecclesiastical promotion.
Regarding the issue of the
election of a Metropolitan to the
Chicago Metropolis, Demetrios
presented to His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew and the Holy
Synod of the Patriarchate an extensive report outlining the
process of selecting the triprosopon (three-person ballot).
The archbishop read the report to the members of the Holy
Eparchial Synod on August 29,
the evening before the meeting
with the patriarch and the Patriarchal Synod was scheduled
to take place, because the Archbishop wanted to show that the
report reflects consensus among
the Eparchial Synod.
At the conclusion of the report, Demetrios proposed that
the election for the Chicago Metropolis proceed according to
the selected triprosopon, in
which Bishop Sebastian of Zela
had gathered the majority of the
votes of the Eparchial Synod,
but which the Ecumenical Patriarchate had discarded.
Despite the disagreement
that was raised by members of
the Eparchial Synod, urging the
archbishop to draw out that
proposal, and the promise given
by the archbishop to do so, he
did not do so but instead attempted to pass it through the
Patriarchal Synod without success. The Patriarchate told the
archbishop that the triprosopon
has been rejected and in the
new one that will be selected
not to include the name of
Bishop Sebastian.
[ The National Herald - September 9-15, 2017 - pp. 1 & 6 ]
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