Posted by by Metropolitan Jonah on 6/20/2009, 10:30 pm, in reply to "Address of Metropolitan Jonah to the SVS Conference Part I" Link: click here to read the original on oca.org
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It is the task of the Church in this country not only to offer the life of the Orthodox Church to the American people, but also to bring to the practice of Orthodoxy all that is best, all that is valiant, all that is most noble, in our American life.
We are very willing to work with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and other churches to resolve the issue of Orthodox unity in America, and earnestly desire to resolve any obstacles. But we will not surrender our integrity as a local territorial indigenous church. We have a kenotic vocation; but that only opens out into a more fully catholic expression of an indigenous local Church. I earnestly hope that we will all, eventually, come together to fully incarnate the one Body of Christ here in this land.
It is the prerogative and responsibility of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to convene the churches to resolve this issue of unity in the Diaspora, so called. This needs to be done both on the international pan-Orthodox level, as well as within America and each region of the so-called “diaspora.” As long as the mother churches agree to let their extra-territorial dioceses go, then the EP can convene them in each locale, so they can determine their own future, and the structure of their new local churches. Eventually these new churches must be universally recognized as fully autocephalous. But the conciliar principle must be followed: every community must have a voice in its own destiny. Otherwise, the result will be illegitimate, and be rejected. This will lead to only greater division.
Ultimately, but hopefully not eschatologically, the only acceptable resolution is a fully autocephalous united Church in North America, embracing all Orthodox, and freely electing its own hierarchy and, in time, its own patriarch. We stand for conciliarity, the participation of the whole body of the Church in the life and decision making process of the Church. This is very American, but it also resonates with the ideal of sobornost that inspired St Tikhon and the renewal of the Russian Church by the Council of 1917. This is the vision of the OCA, and of many other Orthodox in America. Only for this vision would the OCA surrender its own autocephaly, to joyfully meld into the fulfillment of that vision which was given with the Tomos in 1970.
Many in this continent are not ready to give up their ties to their mother churches. Many of the mother churches are not ready to give up their ties to their American missions. Episcopal assemblies are fine, though we believe their president should be freely elected. But they are not synods, much less autocephalous churches. Perhaps the time has not come to move beyond this point.
PATRIARCH ST TIKHON’S VISION RENEWED
If as the OCA we are to renew Patriarch Tikhon’s vision, there is a way to build a provisional unity between all the churches in this country that are ready for it, and yet to maintain a real link with their mother churches. Our canonical situation is unique in history. It demands a creative solution.
One possibility might be to “open” Synod of the OCA to include canonical bishops who preside over American archdioceses of foreign churches, and thus to begin to create a united Synod of Bishops in America. These bishops would be members of the Synod here; they would represent us to their mother churches, and their mother churches to us. A council of Metropolitans of the various archdioceses would be formed, as well as a general synod of all bishops, with the possibility of organic growth. Once all Orthodox come into agreement, it could be restructured as an American Patriarchate, and territorial lines drawn. The presiding bishop would be freely elected, and perhaps rotate.
Whether this is possible or not remains to be seen. But let us explore all possible avenues, with the best minds working at the task together in free and open discussion. Only in this will we be able to move forward in the mission to which God has called us. Let us build a community of love and mutual respect, because the Church can only be incarnated in a spirit of love.
In the meantime, let us strengthen the bonds between ourselves. Local clergy associations are an excellent way to overcome the division of jurisdictions. They provide a context of common activity and build the communion between the churches on a grass roots level. So also it is very valuable for the bishops of each region to come together to serve the Liturgy and discuss common issues.
If certain of our jurisdictions should wish to join together, before all can come into unity, it is a good and wonderful thing that contributes to the unity of the whole. For example, if the OCA and Antiochian Archdiocese were to joing together, or rather to come back to their previous unity, who could dare object?
Most of all, let us keep Jesus Christ, Crucified and Risen, before our eyes, in our minds and our hearts, as we seek not to build up institutions and organizations, but the very Body of Christ, to the glory of God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit.
[1] The records of the Russian Mission, in the OCA archives, testify to the transformation that was occurring. The Church had grown and expanded significantly from the Alaskan mission, which in 1850 had 9 churches, 37 chapels, 9 priests, 2 deacons and about 15,000 members. By 1905, according to the report of St Tikhon, in his diocese there were 72 churches and 83 “houses of prayer,” 80 church schools with 2000 students, 8 orphanages with 120 children, and 79 brotherhoods. By the time St Tikhon became bishop in San Francisco, in 1898, emigration had set in from multiple quarters, and the movement of the Uniates into Orthodoxy, guided by St Alexis Toth, was in full force. This was in addition to other Orthodox communities, Greek and otherwise, that formed parishes independently.
By 1917, in the Missionary Diocese of New York itself there were 272 parishes: in the USA, 191; in Alaska, 15; in Canada, 65. On the eve of the Revolution there were five bishops: Archbishop Evdokim, Bishop Alexander, Bishop Stephan, Bishop Philip, Bishop Evfimi. The Diocese was divided into five districts and 27 deaneries, in which there were 306 churches and chapels, with 242 priests. Registered membership was approximately 300,000. In addition to the Russian Missionary Diocese itself, there were several missions: the Syro-Arabic mission consisting of 32 churches and up to 30,000 parishioners; the Albanian Mission, consisting of three parishes and 30,000 parishioners; the Serbian Mission, consisting of 36 churches and up to 15,000 parishioners. In all, within the Diocese, were 461 churches and chapels, 309 priests and up to 500,000 parishioners. Beyond this were over 100 independent churches, some aligned with the Churches of Greece or Constantinople. (Statistics from the OCA Archivist, A. Liberovsky).
[2] Unity of Orthodoxy in America before 1921
17. And we assert that the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in North America has fulfilled all these requirements and conditions in full, in connection with which, her Mother-Church, the Patriarchate of Moscow, granted this Holy Church Autocephaly, which act was expressed in the Patriarchal and Synodal Tomos of 10 April, 1970. The right of the Holy Council of the Patriarchate of Moscow to perform the above-mentioned act, rests on the undisputed fact that the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of North America is the Child and Branch of the Moscow Patriarchate. And, though the missionary and enlightening work of the Holy Russian Church in North America is strangely evaluated in Your Holiness' Letter (in particular, to our amazement, it is considered as propaganda and proselytism, in reference to the pastoral care for the Slavs, former Uniates, who returned to Orthodoxy), the unalterable fact remains that, until the arbitrary establishment by the throne of Constantinople of its own archdiocese in North America in 1921, an act which we have already mentioned in our last letter to Your Holiness, and which was in absolute violation of the Sacred Canons (Ap. 34, Carth. 131, Fourth Ecumenical Council 17, Sixth Ecumenical Council 25), strict canonical order was followed on this continent under the hierarchical leadership of the Church of Russia. This order was challenged by no one, and was recognized by all the Local Orthodox Churches. including the Church of Constantinople. (LETTER OF METROPOLITAN PIMEN to PATRIARCH ATHENAGORAS August 11, 1970 No. 1505).
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