A Cloud of Witnesses



A Cloud of Witnesses

August, 2005

Thou wast transfigured on the mountain, O Christ our God, showing to Thy disciples Thy glory as each one could endure. Shine forth Thou on us, who are sinners all, Thy light ever-unending, through the prayers of the Theotokos, Light-Bestower, glory to Thee.

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In giving birth, O Theotokos, thou hast retained thy virginity, and in falling asleep thou hast not forsaken the world. Thou who art the Mother of Life hast passed over into life, and by thy prayers thou dost deliver our souls from death.

All Saints Orthodox Church

Salina, Kansas

All Saints Orthodox Church

2818 Scanlan Avenue, Salina, KS 67401

Church: 823-3735  Home: 309-0858   Cell: (785) 820-0287

E-mail: allsaints95@

Right Rev’d. Fr. Daniel S. Griffith, pastor

(E-mail: frdaniel@)

Very Rev’d. Fr. Thomas Neustrom, (823-2410)

++++++++++++

Recently Fr. Thomas asked me for statistics on the Orthodox Church in the US & worldwide. I came across this study which is a couple of years old & thought I would share it with you. The following is an excerpt from & adaptation of a dissertation of Alexei D. Krindatch. With the reorganization of the Archdiocese, I thought it might help to put our situation in perspective:

ORTHODOX CHURCHES IN THE USA AT THE BEGINNING OF A NEW MILLENIUM.

QUESTIONS OF NATURE, IDENTITY & MISSION.

In 1794, the founding of a mission on Kodiak Island in Alaska by Orthodox monks from Russia marked the introduction of Orthodox Christianity to America. 2 centuries later, the presence of over 2 million faithful in 2,400 local parishes witnesses the firm establishment of the Eastern Christianity in this country.

Estimates of the total number of Orthodox Christians world-wide vary from 180,000,000 to 216,000,000. Orthodox Christianity is not a single, monolithic ecclesiastical organization, but, rather, a sisterhood of Churches, each sharing a common faith, doctrine & sacraments; & they are in full communion with one another. At the same time, they are fully independent administratively, vary greatly in size & possess many distinctive liturgical & cultural features. The members of this Orthodox family can be divided into 2 categories: (a) Churches which have clearly defined territorial boundaries within which they constitute unified bodies & (b) the diaspora, Orthodox Christians living outside the traditionally defined Churches, dispersed in predominately non-Orthodox lands & divided into a multiplicity of ethnically or culturally defined bodies.

The traditionally defined Churches are as follows:

The ancient Patriarchates of (1) Constantinople (Eastern Turkey & Greek islands along the Turkish coast), (2) Alexandria (all of the African continent), (3) Antioch (Western Turkey [location of Antioch], Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran & Kuwait) & (4) Jerusalem (Jordan, Israel & the West Bank); the Orthodox Churches of (5) Russia (including Belarus, the Ukraine & Moldava), (6) Serbia (Serbia & Montenegro), (7) Romania, (8) Bulgaria, (9) Georgia, (10) Cyprus, (11) Greece, (12) Crete (autonomous, dependency of Constantinople), (13) Poland (autonomous, dependency of Constantinople), (14) Albania, (15) the Czech & Slovak Republics (autonomous, dependency of Constantinople), (16) Finland (autonomous, dependency of Constantinople), (17) Japan (autonomous, dependency of Russia) & (18) Mount Sinai (autonomous, dependency of Alexandria).

A significant Orthodox Diaspora is found in the following lands:

North & South America, Western Europe & Great Britain, Australia & New Zealand.

The notion of "1 state–1 Church" is historically characteristic of Eastern Christianity. Therefore, when the Orthodox Church is mentioned, one tends to think of its ethnic aspect. Orthodox Christians being asked about religious affiliation almost always add an ethnic qualifier: Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, etc. Consequently, many Orthodox Mother-Churches which have faithful in diaspora have organized their own jurisdictions (at 1st, individual separated parishes that were later united into dioceses) to minister to the religious needs of the corresponding ethnic communities of immigrants. Thus most Orthodox jurisdictions are still related or even directly subordinate to the 1 of the "Mother" Churches in the Old world. Therefore one could liken the institutional composition & administrative structure of Eastern Christianity in America to a layered cake, with the networks of dioceses & parishes belonging to the independent Orthodox jurisdictions co-existing & overlaping on the same territory. This is the un-canonical situation which prevails among Orthodox Christians in the U.S

2) THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHES IN USA DURING 20th CENTURY: PREMISES, TRENDS & CHALLENGES.

With the exceptions of Russian & less so of Greek, the 1st parishes of most Eastern Orthodox jurisdictions have been founded in North America around the turn of the 19th cent., prior to WWI. The unifications of these initially autonomous parishes into centrally administered dioceses with US based headquarters have occurred 20-30 years later, mainly, between WWI & WWII. The 20th cent. was a period of dynamic & multi-faceted development of ethnically diverse communities of Eastern Christians in North America.

1st. Several stages of immigration originating in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe & the Middle East dramatically increased the total number of Orthodox. In 1903, there were no more than 50,000 Orthodox Christians in the US. Today, with estimates sometimes as high as 5-6 million, most of experts & scholars agree on smaller but still impressive number of 2 million Orthodox in the US.

2nd. The institutional & ecclesiastical compositions of Orthodoxy in North America have become much more complex. In 1906, Orthodox Christians had 74 parishes (including 16 in Alaska) united in what was called the "Missionary diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church in North America". This diocese included 7 parishes of the Syro-Arab mission serving Orthodox Christians from the Middle East & 6 parishes of the Serb mission. In addition to the Russian missionary diocese there were a handful of dispersed, independent Greek (5 in 1900) & Romanian (1 founded 1904) Orthodox parishes. Today Eastern Christianity in North America represents a phenomenon of great jurisdictional diversity. More than 15 major Orthodox jurisdictions have above 30 dioceses consisting of 2,400 parishes & monastic communities. The "religious infrastructure" of 6 Orthodox jurisdictions (Orthodox Church in America, Greek Archdiocese, Serbian diocese, Carpatho-Russian diocese, Russian Church Outside of Russia & Ukrainian Orthodox Church) includes also theological schools to train American-born Orthodox clergy.[pic]

3rd. From the geographically limited areas of Alaska (Russian colonists, native Alaskan converts), California (Russians & Greeks in San Francisco, Serbians in Jackson), the coal mine & steel centers of Pennsylvania (Serbians, Carpatho-Russians who immigrated from the Carpathian mountain region of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire) & the few further urban centers (Greek communities in New York, Chicago, Boston; Arab Orthodox community in New York; Romanians in Cleveland; Albanians in Boston; etc.), Orthodox have spread across the country. In the last 20 years the most dynamic growth was in the South &, especially, in the West. This was because of continuing immigration & a new mobility among the children, grandchildren & great-grandchildren of the original Orthodox immigrants.

4th. The ethnic diversity of Orthodox immigrants living in the United States increased greatly during the last cent., & this process continues. With exceptions of early-settled Carpatho-Russians, Greeks, Romanians &, less so, Serbs & Arabs, Orthodox immigrants began arriving in the USA in large numbers on the eve of WWI & later (specifically, in early 1920’s, in the wakes of WWII & of the civil war in Lebanon).

Indeed, development of the Orthodox jurisdictions in North America is intimately linked to the history of ethnically diverse communities of Orthodox immigrants who came to the USA, at different times from many countries of Central & Eastern Europe & from the Middle East. Because of this & the link to the Mother Churches, Orthodox jurisdictions in the USA were always effected by political, social & religious transformations in the Old World.[pic]

The Communist revolution in Russia (1917) resulted in the formation of 3 jurisdictions that have historic roots in the Russian Orthodox Church: the Orthodox Church in America (until 1970, the Russian Orthodox Metropolia), the Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia & the Patriarchal parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church. Communist governments in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria & Romania strictly limited & supervised all church activities. This led to politically-motivated schisms among Serb (1963), Bulgarian (1963) & Romanian (1951) Orthodox parishes in USA, whose membership increased at that time significantly by refugees & displaced persons fleeing Eastern European Communism. Like the Russians, the Serbs, Bulgarian & Romanian dioceses also split in 1950-60’s into hostile factions. A majority of parishes denounced their resident bishops & the Patriarchates they represented as "tools of Communism". The dissident parishes then formed new, independent jurisdictions of their own. Another group of parishes, however, remained faithful to the Mother Church–to the Patriarchates of Belgrade, Sophia & Bucharest. In 1958, in former Yugoslavia, the Macedonians separated from the Serb Church to form their own "Macedonian Orthodox Church". Subsequently, starting from 1963 an increasing number of Macedonian Orthodox parishes appeared on the American religious landscape. [pic] 

In the 20th cent. nearly all Orthodox immigration from Old World arose from political circumstances. After WWII, the largest groups of Orthodox immigrants were:

·                    Some 100,000 Eastern European refugees & displaced persons in the wake of WWII (Romanians, Bulgarians, Serbians, Ukrainians, Albanians);

·                    About 160,000 Greek immigrants in the wake of the Cypriot crisis;

·                      Orthodox Christians from the Middle East in the wake of the Lebanese civil war;

·                      Refugees who came from the former Yugoslavia after its break-up (1991) & the following bloody conflicts & who increased & renewed the membership in old Serb, Macedonian & Albanian Orthodox parishes.

Because of this forced pattern of immigration, it became common for Orthodox in the US to view themselves as ethnic communities dispersed from the motherland. Each jurisdiction came to see itself as a "diaspora" Church &/or as a geographic extension of the mother-church.[pic]

Consequently, instead of being a Church serving American people, the purpose of each Orthodox jurisdiction was to care for "its people". Parishes became centers not only of religious but also of social life.

1. They have served to attract & to consolidate in the certain geographic areas the newly arriving immigrants.

2. Their functions transcend the religious needs & include, for instance, financial aid for the needy paid by the richer members of the community, help to find a 1st job & a place to live, legal assistance, organizing free English language lessons, etc. At the beginning of a new millennium, these "immigration services" are still an essential part of the work of many Orthodox bodies in the USA.

As a result "ethnarchy"–the combining of priestly vocation & of socio-ethnic leadership–has become a feature of Orthodox jurisdictions in the USA. Side by side with social assistance intended to help newcomers to begin a new life in the US, many Orthodox jurisdictions gave a high priority to the preservation of ethnic culture & identity among members. This was done in several ways:

1) By retaining in the churches the language of the mother country.

2) By setting up all-day schools for children of immigrants born in the US as an alternative to American public schools. Such all-day schools are especially to be found in certain Greek ethnic communities.

3) By organizing a system of 1-day schools that exist separately from Sunday-schools & are intended to teach the language, history, literature & geography of the mother country. Today the parishes of the Greek, Ukrainian & the Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia have the densest networks of 1-day schools.

4) By establishment & maintaining of America-wide Orthodox Women & Youth organizations with a network of the local branches attached to the individual parishes of each Orthodox jurisdictions. With the few exceptions, all Orthodox Churches in the USA have such Women & Youth associations.

5) By restrictive policies with regard to mixed inter-Christian marriages. Today few Orthodox jurisdictions require unreservedly the Roman Catholic or Protestant partner to change his religious affiliation & to become Orthodox in order to be married canonically. Recognizing the rights of their members to marry Non-Orthodox Christians (especially Roman Catholics) certain Orthodox jurisdictions require that there first be signed an agreement to baptize future children in the Orthodox faith. Some Orthodox jurisdictions (especially Greek & Antiochian Archdioceses), while not requiring, do encourage the conversion to Orthodoxy of the "Non-Orthodox" party.[pic]

The common situation of ethnically diverse Orthodox jurisdictions in the context of American society in 20th cent. was brilliantly characterized by contemporary Orthodox historian Mark Stokoe as follows:

In externals, Orthodox Christians in North America resemble Roman Catholics. They share a similar sacramental view of life; liturgical forms of corporate worship; traditional forms of piety such as fasting, prayer, monasticism; & generally "conservative" positions on contemporary moral issues. In administration the Orthodox in North America resemble Protestants & are splintered into distinct administrative "jurisdictions", divisions based on ethnic origin & politics, both secular & ecclesiastical. In self-identity, however, Orthodox Christians in North America are like Orthodox Jews; a people apart, unable & at time unwilling to separate the claims of race, religion & politics: people for whom the Greek terms "diaspora" ("dispersion") has been an expression of enduring meaning.

A pronounced ethnocentric approach, which was typical for the most of Orthodox jurisdictions for the greater part of 20th cent., has had 3-fold consequence:

a) The movements toward greater ecclesiastical & administrative unity of the different jurisdictions were discouraged by those who saw the Orthodox Church as an instrument to preserve not only religious faith, but also the particular ethnic identity, culture & language.

b) There was little concern for mission. The ethnic emphasis of Orthodox jurisdictions & the concerns with survival & preservation appeared to be incompatible with a commitment to the reaching out to others who were not a part of their jurisdiction.

c) There was no question of the responsibility of Orthodox Church to the wider society, because many jurisdictions tended to see themselves as people who were not really part of the American society.[pic]

Starting in the 1970’s, it became obvious that fundamental changes had occurred in the demographics of the Orthodox Churches (dominance of the 2nd -3rd American-born members & an increasing numbers of converts coming mainly through inter-Christian marriages), new developments in religious education & liturgical life & grassroots movements encouraging greater Orthodox unity for the sake of mission have changed essentially the standing of the Orthodox Churches on the American religious scene. During the last decades Orthodox jurisdictions are increasingly struggling with the issue of the changing identity & the mission of the Orthodox Church in this country.

The 1st serious controversies & difficult discussions were over the granting of autocephaly–full independence from the Mother Church-to the former Russian Metropolia. In 1970, it became the "Orthodox Church in America". In the same year, the disagreements among hierarchs & clergy of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese on the question of usage of the English as a liturgical language paralyzed & almost split this largest of American Orthodox jurisdictions. Later, in 1988, mass conversions of 2 disparate groups, the Protestant "Evangelical Orthodox Church", an offshoot of the Campus Crusade for Christ (with some 2,000 members in 12 communities), to the Antiochian Archdiocese; & the New Age "Holy Order of Mans" (with some 3,000 members in 20 communities) to various Orthodox jurisdiction testify to Orthodoxy’s growing evangelical appeal when presented to an American audience & in English language. In 2000, the persistent request of the delegation of the "Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in North America" to the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to change the Archdiocesan charter & to provide the Archdiocese with a greater level of the administrative independence from Constantinople has confirmed the deepening indigenization of Orthodox Churches in the USA. Most recently, summer, 2001, the Convention of the North American Antiochian Archdiocese voted almost unanimously to request the Mother Church to grant them autonomy.

Parallel with the new developments in the sphere of the Church’s internal affaires & policies, other tendency related directly to the lives of ordinary Orthodox believers in this country became obvious. Religious faith & ethnic identity once seen as inseparable, were increasingly less understood as such by the socially mobile, geographically dispersed, English-speaking 2nd, 3rd & 4th generations of Orthodox in America, not to mention an ever-increasing number of Orthodox converts raised in other religious backgrounds.

3) ORTHODOX CHURCHES IN THE USA AT THE BEGINNING OF 21st CENTURY: COMMON FEATURES & TENDENCIES VERSUS JURISDICTIONAL DISTINCTIVINESS.

The establishment of "Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas" (SCOBA) in 1960 was viewed by many as an expression of a growing Orthodox unity. SCOBA is the national church organization that brings together the leaders of nearly all major Eastern Orthodox jurisdictions in the USA.

SCOBA began to oversee various grassroots Pan-Orthodox organizations in North America. In 1992, SCOBA formally sanctioned the establishment of "International Orthodox Christian Charities" (IOCC) founded initially by a group of laypersons from various Orthodox jurisdictions to organize the shipment of food & medical supplies to Eastern Europe & to the former-USSR republics. When IOCC was affiliated with SCOBA, it became an official humanitarian aid agency of Orthodox Christians in the USA & an organization that provided a new means for Orthodox in America to co-operate in charitable endeavors. Today, IOCC works for local communities in Serbia, Georgia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Russian Federation, Greece, Albania, the West Bank & Jerusalem. It assists worldwide in programs for orphans, refugees & displaced persons, elderly, children, hospitals & schools.

The Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC) in St. Augustine was originally established as the Mission Center of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese & focused for many years on missionary work in Africa. In 1993, OCMC came under the supervision of SCOBA. It co-ordinates SCOBA's program of Orthodox missions & evangelism worldwide. The programs of OCMC function in Guatemala, India, Kenya, Indonesia, Congo, Philippines, Madagascar, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Albania, Romania, Ghana, Uganda & Tanzania.

Nevertheless, SCOBA began as, & has always remained, no more than the consultative body & a voluntary association of the bishops who are the heads of particular jurisdictions. Each presiding hierarch maintains his own ultimate autonomy in regard to other SCOBA bishops. Each jurisdiction maintains its own distinct independence & characteristic features. Finally, most of jurisdictions associated with SCOBA are the overseas provinces of Mother-Churches in the Europe & in the Middle East. Therefore, the common goals of the members of SCOBA often come into conflict with the policies of the Mother-Churches.[pic]

Consequently, SCOBA has no authority over member jurisdictions. Any decision has to be approved by each jurisdiction & in many cases by the Mother-Churches. SCOBA was able to bring together clergy & laity from various jurisdictions to discuss common concerns or to establish a national association of American Orthodox clergy. To the contrary, whereas relationships between various jurisdictions had frequently been strained because of differences arising over qualification for ordination, the requirements for inter-Christian marriages, the way to accept converts to the Faith & the manner in which new parishes are established, SCOBA was always hard pressed to deal with these points of discord. Finally & most importantly, SCOBA was not able to speak in the name of the Orthodox Church in the U.S., to express the position of the Church in relationship to other religious & ecumenical bodies, to charitable institutions or to governmental agencies. In fact, the current abilities of SCOBA to function effectively even as a consultative body is very limited. Thus, it is also very unlikely that Orthodox jurisdictions in America will be reorganized into a unified structure in the near future.

CONCLUSION

The future of the Orthodox Churches in the USA & the "niches" they will have in the context of the changing American religious landscape depend on their ability to articulate clear policies & strategies with regard to the 4 major problems:

·         The dichotomy between religious & ethic identities of their members;

·         The relationship to the Mother Churches in Old World;

·         The understanding of their missionary work in North America;

·       Their social responsibility to the American society at large.

The following are the statistical data obtained by the author:

|Jurisdiction |Parishes |Full parish members |Communicants (who attend at least on major holidays) |

|Greek Orthodox Archdiocese |525 |N/A |440,000 |

|Orthodox Church in America (includes 3 "ethnic" diocese: Albanian, Bulgarian & |465 |39,400 |115,100 |

|Romanian) | | | |

|Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese |206 |41,840 | 83,700 |

|Serbian Orthodox Archdiocese |118 |N/A | 57,500 |

|Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia (soon to be restored to full communion |128 | | |

|with Church of Russia & thereby to full communion with all Orthodox) | | | |

|Ukrainian Orthodox Church |106 | 9,200 | 30,000 |

|Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Archdiocese | 76 |11,753 | 20,000 |

|Parishes subject to the Church of Russia |33 |N/A |N/A |

|Romanian Missionary Diocese |14 |N/A | 6,200 |

|Bulgarian Orthodox Archdiocese | 9 |N/A | 4,340 |

|Macedonian Orthodox Church (not yet restored to communion with Serbian Church) | 16 |N/A | 14,500 |

|Albanian Orthodox Archdiocese |  2 |  350 |   500 |

Finally, let us never forget that, although statistics & historical data are very useful tools, it is the Lord Jesus Who is Pilot of the Church, this Ship of salvation, & that it is the Holy Spirit Who fills the sails of that ship, guiding her & directing her to safe & secure anchorage. While laboring to do whatever is needed, let us place ourselves & our hope in the living Hands of Our Heavenly Father.

News of the Parish Council (Sun., July 17th)

* Fr. Daniel’s expenses for the Archdiocese Convention in Detroit will be covered by the order of St. Ignatius of Antioch.

* Wine Festival (as delivered by Justina): We will be able to seat 540 people; 170 inside & 370 outside because of the expansion program which the vineyard is currently undertaking. The meal will consist of pork kabobs, Mediterranean salad, Mediterranean rice, pita, a large dolmade (grape leaves), tirópita (cheese pie) & baklava. The kids’ meal will have no rice or salad & have a smaller kabab. Adult meal: $15, Kid meal: $5. Reader Jeremiah noted we need to be more involved in the food-making process so that it does not all fall on the shoulders of Bill Fekes. Tom Cannon cannot man the sound system, so we need to find one or see if we can borrow his equipment. Tickets will be available soon. Justina will ask Reader Andrew to contact radio advertisers. We are waiting to hear back from our potential entertainers. The ladies will share the booth space with Sam W. & his amazing Sno-Cone machine. The reader John will provide an awning for the booth.

* Fr. Daniel noted that Fr. Deacon Christopher & Anastasia’s expenses have been partially covered. The donations are as follows: St. George: $600, Sts. Peter & Paul: $500, St. Mary Magdalene: $200, St. Mary: &200 & an anonymous donor: $300, for a total of $1700. This covers only the cost of their housing. This more than covers the hotel expenses. Their personal expenses were covered by Fr. Daniel. The reader Jeremiah will be seeking donations from the parishioners to help cover some of Fr. Daniel’s expenses.

* Altar-wine. There have been donations toward the purchase of wine to be used for the Eucharist. This is an on-going expense. The average cost per month is $12.00. If you wish to make an offering as a form of prayer for yourself or for another or to express in some small way your .thanksgiving for God’s many blessings, this is a perfect opportunity.

* Icons & east Wall: Monica has received 2 e-mails from Jan Isham, who is backlogged & will probably not be available to continue with the East Wall for the next 3 years.

* Adult Christian Education: Fr. Daniel stated that he is anxious to undertake a program, but it requires input from the parishioners as to the subject to be studied &, of course, attendance & participation of parishioner in such a program.

* Maintenance/ Repair.  The stumps have been leveled by Mike Neustrom. Reader John will poison them.

* Reader Jeremiah noted this was our 2nd largest concern in the congregational survey. Aaron Johnson of Sound Solutions provided us a booklet with 2 options: a large speaker suspended before the congregation that would broadcast 1 stationary mic in front of the chanters’ stand & 3 wireless mics for $8172. For $7348, we could have the same system with 1 less mic. Fr. Daniel suggested we look into individual headsets for congregation members who cannot hear well even with the new speaker; The reader Jeremiah noted such headsets could be incorporated into the model suggested by Sound Solutions.

* Fr. Daniel reported that Ashley Houchin was a counselor at St. Raphael’s Camp for 2 weeks.  2 children (Stefan Nagy & Noah McCallum) from St. Mary Magdalene attended (scholarships were given from the Order of St. Ignatius of Antioch.). Fr. Daniel also requested that donations be made to the Sunday School (Justina Houchin, superintendent) to cover the Sunday School manuals & materials since these expenses are not included in our budget.

News from St. Mary Magdalene Mission

This year our patronal festival fell on a Friday, so our celebration was transferred to the next day, our usual liturgical day. We began with Vespers, after which light fasting refreshments were served & Fr. Daniel gave a talk on "The Real Mary Magdalene", debunking both common Western errors & the more bizarre speculations about the Holy Myrrh-Bearer & Equal-to-the-Apostles, which derive from gnostic sources & have been popularized of late by the novel The DaVinci Code & in 'women's spirituality' circles.

In the morning, at the Festal Liturgy, Fr. Daniel preached an edifying homily on the role of women in Holy Orthodoxy, reviewing the lives of many women saints, especially those whom the Church honors as "Equal-to-the-Apostles", & reminding us that the highest of all created beings, more honorable than the Cherubim & more glorious than the Seraphim, is a woman, the Holy Theotokos & Ever-Virgin Mary.

We wish all the faithful of our mother parish of All Saints a good fast as we enter the Dormition Lent, & invite you all to join us some Saturday, perhaps keeping the Feast of the Holy Transfiguration with us.

Breaking News: Convention 2005

The 1st Archdiocese Convention of the Self-Ruled Antiochian Archdiocese convened in Troy, MI, July 25th-31st. Despite early information to the contrary, His Beatitude Patriarch Ignatius did not attend. The featured speaker for the Convention was Fr. Thomas Hopko, dean emeritus of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, Crestwood, NY. The focus of his several addresses was that of Orthodox unity on the North American continent. There were 2,500 faithful registered & in the General Assembly 1,000 clergy & lay delegates participated, either in person or by proxy.

• His Eminence Metropolitan Paul (Saliba) with a delegation from the Archdiocese of Australia was present & gave a report on Archdiocese.

• The Archdiocese voted unanimously to withdraw from the National Council of Churches, because, for some time now, the moral and theological stand taken by the Council have been & continue to be incompatible with those of the Orthodox Church. Similar concerns have been raised about our membership in the World Council of Churches; however, the Antiochian Archdiocese is not a member of the WCC. Our Mother Church, the Patriarchate of Antioch, is a member; thus our involvement with that organization is only indirect through the Patriarchate..

• The delegates approved a voluntary contribution plan for clergy and full-time employees of the Archdiocese whereby the contributor may deposit up to 3% of his or her salary into the fund, and the parish (for pastors) or the Archdiocese (for full-time employees) may match this 3% contribution.

• The proposed budget for 2007, $4,882,00.00, was approved.

• Because of the deficit which would result it was decided that, rather than the per capita assessment until now employed in the Archdiocese, each parish would submit to the Archdiocese a percentage of its operating budget (special funds, i.e., building, icon funds, etc. & organizational funds, i.e., Antiochian Women, SOYO, would be exempt). Beginning in Jan., 2006, each parish would be responsible for 8%, in 2007, 9% & 2008 10%.

• His Eminence introduced a resolution calling upon SCOBA to take immediate & concrete steps to further Orthodox Unity.

News of the Parish & Diocese

Aug. 13th-14th        Work days for the Wine Festival

Aug. 15th         Feast of the Dormition of the Holy, Ever-Virgin Mary

Aug. 25th            Enthronement of His Grace Mark as bishop of Toledo & the Mid-West.

Aug. 25th-26th  Work Day for the Wine Festival

Aug. 27th         Annual Wine Festival

Sept. 9th-10th          Rummage Sale, sponsored by Antiochian Women

Sat., Sept. 17th: Church cleaning & Repair Day.

Sun., Sept. 18th: Parish Council.

Sat., Oct. 15th: Fall Soup Dinner, chaired by the reader Andrew Walker.

Sat., Nov. 12th: Thanksgiving Dinner (This year we plan to invite the needy & the broader community of Salina to join us.).

April 29: Big Greek Dinner.

Prayer Requests

• Our shut-ins. Sophia & Sarah (Martha) Osborn, Catherine Stavropoulos & Richard (James) & Rikki (Joseph-Mary) Hale.

• Our seminarians:

• Fr. Deacon Elia & his family,

• Reader Paul Sidebottom, instructor at St. Herman's Seminary, Kodiak, Alaska

• Fr. Deacon Christopher & Anastasia Morris

• Kh. Angie Keiser, wife of Fr. Michael Keiser, missioner for the Diocese of Mid-America, who is suffering from lupus & is recovering from emergency surgery for severe spinal stenosis.

• Mrs. Lucille Hatfield (Fr. Chad's mother), who has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, for which she is being treated with chemotherapy.

• For the repose of the soul of Sarah Megan, recently-departed sister Kh. Thekla Hatfield & Sid Gray.

• For the repose of the soul of Kathleen Murphy, sister of Samuel Wygal, who reposed on Sun., July 17th.

• For the repose of the soul of Morris Burwell, father of Jeanine (Johna) Walker, who reposed on Mon., July 18th.

• For the repose of the soul of Najla Mufarrij, mother of His Grace Alexander, Bishop of Ottawa, Eastern Canada & Up-State New York. She fell asleep in the Lord on Tues., July 19th, in Lebanon.

• For the repose of the soul of Fr. Elias Meena, pastor of St. Luke, Solon, OH, who fell asleep in the Lord on Mon., July 25th.

God Grant You Many, Many Blessed Years!

Names' Days

Preston & Larry Gapter (Holy Martyred Deacon Lawrence, Aug. 10th), Charlene Fekas & Aileen Berquist (Holy Empress Irene, Aug. 13th), Lucille Hatfield & Rikki Hale (Our Lady Theotokos & Ever-Virgin Mary, Aug. 15th), Reese Baxter (Holy Martyr Diomedes of Tarsus, Aug. 16th) & Sid Hays (Venerable Eanswyth, Aug. 31st).

Birthdays

Nick Karabinas (Aug. 4th), Jerry Houchin (Aug. 5th), Audrey Muchow (Aug. 6th),

Lucille Hatfield (Aug. 14th), David Pantle & Reese Baxter (Aug. 15th)

& David Yetter (Aug. 20th).

Wedding Anniversaries

David & Georgette Yetter (Aug. 1st), Jan & John Mai (Aug. 4th), Willis & Ardyce Bell (Aug. 12th) & Larry & Adrienne Gapter (Aug. 17th).

A Letter from Fr. Deacon Christopher & Anastasia

Dear Fr. Daniel & the Faithful of All Saints,

We want to express our sincere gratitude for all that you have done for us this summer. Our time at All Saints was an invaluable experience; I have learned much that will be of great use. Fr. Daniel essentially re-arranged his entire life for us for a whole month [June 20th-July 20th] & kept us alive (he fed us so well that I gained weight). He cared for us in many ways & was as a father for us. For that, we are extremely grateful. It was wonderful to see all of you, to be home again. We are impressed by your faithfulness to this parish & to the Faith. May you continue to be witnesses to Jesus Christ & His Holy Church.

Dn. Christopher & Anastasia

A Heartfelt “Thank you”

• To the Salina Rescue Mission whose residents have been mowing our lawn.

• To Sam Wygal who has taken it upon himself to serve as our landscaper.

Well done, O good and faithful servants.

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