c. 1997 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s U.S. visit will mark the 75th anniversary of the 1.5 million-member Greek Orthodox archdiocese in America, but in some respects, it will be an uneasy celebration.

The largest, most affluent and most visible of American Orthodox Christians, Greeks are divided over the policies of Archbishop Spyridon, whom Bartholomew appointed last year and whose authoritative ways have chafed many church members. While they are devoted to the patriarchy in Constantinople, they also want to retain some measure of administrative control over their affairs.

As Bartholomew’s visit nears, Greek Orthodox dissidents in many communities are organizing discussions about how they can reassert control over the church their immigrant forebears founded.

Assimilation of immigrant Orthodox is crucial not only for Greeks but for the Russian, Serbian, Romanian, Arab and other ethnic branches of American Orthodoxy.

Bartholomew came down hard on the Orthodox in America three years ago, when archbishops of the various branches met for a cautious discussion of Orthodox unity.

In the wake of the meeting, in Ligonier, Pa., Bartholomew called for the retirement of Greek Orthodox Archbishop Iakovos and replaced him with Spyridon, whom his critics contend is far more attuned to the interests of the Phanar _ the headquarters complex of the church in Istanbul _ than he is to the concerns of the American church.

Bartholomew’s authority over Orthodox in America and elsewhere around the world resides in a canon (church law) adopted by the 4th-century church giving the patriarch control over the Orthodox diaspora _ those who had traveled beyond the borders of the Byzantine Empire to what the canon describes as”barbarian”lands.

But to apply notions of barbarism to the Orthodox Church in the West strikes some American believers as ludicrous: Orthodox Christians here often are better educated and more grounded in their faith than their once-persecuted co-religionists in the various patriarchates and mother churches.

And, though hierarchs such as Bartholomew and Spyridon are pledged to celibacy, Orthodox priests, who are allowed to marry, fulfill a far different set of expectations in the West than in the East. “Our priests are highly trained in theology and beyond; they are supported well by their parishes,”explained one Orthodox academic, who spoke on condition of anonymity.”We look at our priests not only as religious leaders, but as social workers, psychiatrists, fund-raisers.”Their priests tend to be monks who preside at liturgies. Does the church of the East understand us? Do they appreciate what we are doing? I don’t think so.” Archbishop Philip Saliba, head of the 800,000-member Antiochian Orthodox Church _ composed primarily of Christian Arabs from the Middle East and a number of evangelical and mainline Protestant converts _ hosted the Ligonier meeting that raised Bartholomew’s ire.

Philip contends the Ecumenical Patriarch was misinformed about its intent and over-reacted to legitimate concerns of American Orthodox.”We Orthodox bishops got together; I delivered a paper on Orthodoxy and evangelism; (Greek Orthodox) Bishop Maximos delivered a paper advocating Orthodox unity and support of the ecumenical patriarchy. We prayed together, ate together and had fellowship. Then we went home. There was no talk about rebelling against the mother churches,”Philip said.”But at Ligonier, we rejected the term `diaspora,'”he added.”We told the mother churches that we are not in dispersion. The people here are fully American; they were born in this country; we’re talking about people who have fought in two world wars. They have no intention of going back to Serbia, Romania or Russia. They are here until the second coming of Christ.” Bartholomew has scheduled a visit in New York Oct. 24 with the leaders of the various branches of Orthodoxy and will celebrate a pan-Orthodox liturgy in Madison Square Garden Oct. 26.

It remains to be seen whether his encounter will be ceremonial or substantive on the issue of administrative autonomy for the American church. Observers of the delicate encounters are attuned to the nuances of ecclesial diplomacy, speculating, for instance, on what occasions Bartholomew chooses to speak in English or less-accessible Greek.

Archbishop Philip and other non-Greek Orthodox are poised to follow Bartholomew’s lead.”Unity among the Orthodox churches in America is inevitable; it’s an imperative; it’s an irreversible historical trend,”Philip said.”The ecumenical patriarch sets the agenda. If he wants a substantive discussion, we will have it. If he doesn’t, we cannot impose it on him.”We are ready at any time to give assurance to the mother churches that we continue to support them spiritually, morally and financially. Because the reality is that the church is one _ in America, Russia, the Middle East or Greece.” MJP END CONNELL