Posted by Archbishop Nathaniel
(ABNathaniel) on 7/14/2007, 11:04 pm, in reply to "Repose of Abp Kyrill"
Memory Eternal! His Eminence, Archbishop Kyrill was the last of the ruling European-born hierarchs of the Orthodox Church in America. He led the vast majority of the Bulgarian-American Orthodox to be an integral part of the OCA. It seems that now the Bulgarian Diocese must weigh who will be the next hierarch. There will be some speculation that the diocese should be "absorbed" or should "self-disolve" into the OCA. It would be a blow to the vision of an all-emcompassing Orthodox Church in America should that happen. The reality of the multiplicity of Orthodox traditions cannot be denied nor should that treasure be eradicated. The Orthodox Church of America must be a loving caring Mother to all the traditions of her faithful through the years to come. The clergy and faithful of the Bulgarian Diocese will be pressed from the inside and out to respond to her "widowhood." But how can the clergy and faithful make a choice, take a decision without her shepherd? It is not a church/diocese without a shepherd and thus cannot act. His Beatitude, HERMAN, as "locum tenens" cannot allow such an decision to take place. He must call a diocesan assembly to elect an hierarch but he cannot himself allow the diocese to self-disolve into the OCA nor to allow the OCA to "absorb" it. The Diocese must be integral; hierarch, clergy and faithful and then, should it be the decision of the church/diocese to allow itself to "self-disolve" it can. On the other hand, it would be a great error should the diocese (now complete with her new hierarch) take such a decision. The various Orthodox traditions in North America will be watching carefully to see how the OCA and the Bulgarian Diocese respond to this present "widowhood," as a sign either of the graciousness of the Autocephalous OCA to one of the traditions which willingly acknowledged her autocephaly and which values her ministry to all traditions or to comfirm "fears" (unwarranted and unfounded, we think) of themselves being "slavisized" should they come "to close" to the OCA. Just as the old Metropolia dioceses do not have "Russian" hierarchs as diocesan bishops but each respects that traditions, so too,it is not essential that the Bulgarian Diocese have an "ethnic" Bulgarian for her new shepherd. As long as the clergy and faithful are pleased to maintain and live their Bulgarian traditions within the OCA and her new hierarch respects these traditions for the sake of the salvation of those faithful, he need only be Orthodox! This can be seen reflected in the fact that five of the hierarchs now presiding in the "russian" OCA dioceses are not themselves Russian by ethnicity!
In this regard the OCA is an example for the various traditions in North America that to be called to the episcopal rank does not entail being of any particular chosen ethnic origin. Memory Eternal, Vladyka Kyrill...you continue to challenge us "post mortem" just as you did "vivens et inter nos!" His Eminence, KYRILL was one of my episcopal consecrators and I will miss his wry humor and gratefully recall his love for and dedication to administrative unity in North America and his service to the territorial Autocephalous Orthodox Church in America. +NATHANIEL, Archbishop of Detroit
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