Posted by Dean Calvert (dcalvert) on 10/1/2007, 4:24 pm, in reply to "Re: OCA Bulgarian Diocese remarks here" I agree completely with your last comments, i.e., "it would be better to wait and do it right, than to rush it and risk unnecessary divisiveness, grudges, traumas, etc" I think there is a tendency to confuse administrative unity with instant "homogenization" - none of the supporters of Orthodox Unity that I know intend for the latter (homogenization). As you said, Abp Nathaniel is certainly on the cutting edge of support for administrative unity...it would seem at first incongruous that he would be supportive of keeping any of the ethnic distinctions alive. In Abp Nathaniel's response, one sees the distinction between what is truly important (allowing locally elected bishops to sit around the same table as a synod) vs what is a red herring (language distinctions and the maintenance of temporary ethnic distinctions). In examining these two items, the true motives of supporters of Orthodox unity, such as His Eminence, become obvious. What is of paramount importance is to STOP the jurisdictionalism which is dividing us, replacing it with a common synod of locally elected bishops. Indeed, his response illustrates that if we are to chose between the overlapping territories vs a common synod, the Archbishop has clearly shown what is preferable....the common synod. At the same time, the His Eminence's approach guarantees that what you suggest, 'change at the pace of the slowest sheep' will also occur - in other words, the newly landed immigrants will NEVER be abandoned by their Church. In sum, I think the OCA's informal policy of 1.) having territorial dioceses as well as ethnic dioceses makes AND 2.) allowing the geographic dioceses to have first call on missions, makes a lot of sense. It assures that the immigrant population will be taken care of - while assuring that growth will occur in a sensible, controlled manner (primarily, but not exclusively through the geographic dioceses). Sorry to ramble...but it makes a lot of sense to me. Best Regards,
Hi Leo,
Dean
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