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The National Herald - June 1, 2019

Let Us Lift up Our Hearts

By Protopresbyter George Dragas Dion Dragas, PhD, DD, DTh

Protopresbyter George Dragas, Professor of Patristic Theology at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology.

The Holy Archdiocese of America has turned a page! This is denoted by the enthronement of our newly-elected and charismatic Archbishop, Elpidophoros of Bursa, to sit on her legendary but aged throne. His good name and his far-reaching ecclesiastical and scholarly ministry in the Primatial Great Church of Christ, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which has been presented in recent years in the mass media and on the Internet, both abroad and here in America, fill us with optimism. He comes into a difficult situation, which he knows, and has already taken his first steps to alleviate it.

His election reminds us of the hopeful message of the Shepherd of Hermas of the Apostolic Era: that the Church in its historical local and ecumenical manifestations "grows old and then turns young," she ages and is revived. It is troubled, but is not disappointed nor distressed. She lives and moves in a world which, as the Apostle says, "lies in wickedness," which goes away and dissolves without return. But she is purified, with her martyrdom, she is sanctified and transfers herself from darkness to Light, to the first resurrection. We would say "from death to life."

The constant renewal, exhilaration, and re-establishment of the Church in her historical journey is accomplished by the change of persons and things as one generation succeeds the other. The "old" are gone until everything is rendered "new." In this case, the "main person" is our new Archbishop and "the things" are what his new leadership will offer us from the Mother Church that sends him for our Archdiocese’s page to turn to a new era. However, in order to achieve this our new Archbishop needs support from all of us in the Greek Archdiocese, clergy and people, and not confrontation. It will take the whole body of the Archdiocese to rally around the new leader so that his leadership can deliver what is sought: renewal with all its beneficial consequences.

The support of all of us in the Archdiocese of America for our new Archbishop also means support of our Archdiocese towards our Patriarchate. Our Archdiocese is the daughter and the Patriarchate of Constantinople, her mother, who confirms our Greek Orthodox identity and our genus, Orthodoxy. The new Archbishop, like all his predecessors, was sent by her, for She is the Protagonist, since as the Primatial Throne she has been entrusted with the "care of all the Churches," who make up her Family, the "One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic, Church." These four essential characteristics of the Church remind us of the resurgent criteria of our renewal: Unity, i.e. the union of many with the first one who represents them; Holiness, i.e. transparency and justice in all actions and generally in the way of life; Catholicity, that is, universality that includes and embraces all without any discrimination and without altering their particularity; and Apostolicity, i.e. our godly mission which is the salvation of the whole world. All these are the tangible assurances of the mystical presence of Christ and His Church in the visible earthly world of human beings.

The new Greek Orthodox Archbishop of America is the 7th in chronological order. His enthronement, which is the beginning of his ministry, reminds us of the ministry of his predecessors, which mark the different stages our Holy Archdiocese of America went through in her historical course up to the present. All of them fought the good fight and sacrificed themselves for her. They were all sent to her by the Mother Church to establish her firmly and to rout its growth and fulfill its soteriological goal. Archbishop Alexander (1922-1931) laid her foundation stone, attracting into her two-thirds of the Greek-American community. Archbishop Athenagoras (1930-1940) reshaped its framework in order to address certain political and autonomy issues.

Archbishop Michael (1949-1958) built her and made increased her brightness with his wisdom and spirituality, and Archbishop Iakovos (1958-1996) brought her to completion with the greatness of his personality. There was a coherent sequence in the work of Archbishops Athenagoras, Michael, and Iakovos until 1977, as the historian researchers point out. But in the second period of the Iakovian era they see an unexpected centrifugal change which ended up in a problematic result, his array himself against the Patriarchate and his ultimate resignation, | which was extended into a negative reaction towards the positive work of the methodical and guileless Archbishop Spyridon (1966-1999) and the biblical moralism of Archbishop Demetrius (1999-2019) for different reasons. The new page that has been opened for our Holy Archdiocese by the enthronement of Archbishop Elpidophoros is crucial, because as a Province of the Primatial Throne of the Ecumenical Patriarchate she plays a primatial role among the multiethnic Orthodox Diaspora of America. This was exactly what the great Archbishop Athenagoras had in his mind when, on leaving his Archiepiscopal throne to go to the primatial throne of the Great Church of Christ, he made the following weighty statement to his flock as his last deposit: "Love your Fatherland and your Church. Never separate yourselves from the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Let its authority be a guiding beacon in your life."

Without the Ecumenical Patriarchate the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America would not be first but probably last in the Orthodox diptychs of America.

Protopresbyter George Dragas is Professor of Patristic Theology
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology

[ The National Herald - Special Edition June 2019 - p. 23 ]

[ The National Herald - newsletter@ekirikas.com - June 1, 2019 ]