Posted by from The National Herald
on 7/22/2009, 12:31 am
From The National Herald, July 18, 2009:
The Orthodox Church has Only One Priority: Religion
To the Editor:
The results of the July 4th “Question of the Week” about whether the Archdiocese and Metropolises should make the Greek language a priority EQUAL to that of its religious mission actually surprised me.
I would have thought that the subscribers and readers of TNH would have voted more positively than the 39% who voted yes. After all, those of us who read this periodical are very interested in the Greek news and most likely also in Greek history, language, culture, etc. If this question were to be presented to the general population of Greek Americans, I believe that the “No” results would have been significantly higher than the 57% results in TNH.
I love my church, I am fluent in Greek, born in America, but Greek was my first language. It mystifies me that the Archdiocese and the Metropolises would still consider us a “diaspora” church, since we are in at least the seventh generation of Greek Americans in the United States (5th generation in my family); none of the 4th or 5th generation speak Greek.
The Roman Catholic Church converted to the native language of the land 45 years ago; the Greek language was never the language Greece (Russia, Serbia, Rumania, Ukraine, etc.were always allowed to have the Liturgy in their language). The local Russian Orthodox churches use English exclusively and they are called the Orthodox Church in America, having dropped the ethnic reference of Russia. Unfortunately, many Greek Americans attend these churches instead of Greek Orthodox Churches.
The church should concentrate its efforts on religion. We have wonderful young clergymen who are adept at chanting in English; the Choir at the Archdiocesan Cathedral sings in English and Greek; this needs to be encouraged to all the choirs throughout the Archdiocese.
The ethnicity is acceptable and certainly encouraged, but it should not be equally weighted to religion. Greek Schools, dancing, cooking etc. should be taught but only to those who want to avail themselves of these extra-curricular activities; the curriculum of the church is RELIGION. This is and must be the main focus for us to survive as Orthodox Christians in the United States into the 22nd century.
George K Lavas
Rockville Centre, NY
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