c. 1999 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ A Houston church has become the largest Greek Orthodox parish in the nation to side with dissidents who hope financial pressure will drive the denomination’s embattled spiritual leader from office.

Annunciation Cathedral _ whose more than 3,000 members make it the fourth largest of the nation’s more than 500 Greek Orthodox churches _ voted earlier this month to stop sending donations to the New York-based Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America’s national Stewardship fund.

Dean Popps, a spokesman for Greek Orthodox American Leaders (GOAL), which has led the effort to oust Archbishop Spyridon, arguing that his actions have harmed the church, called Annunciation’s move”very significant because it was a firm action by one of our largest parishes. This will have an important ripple effect.” GOAL hopes financial pressure will persuade the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to remove Spyridon. Bartholomew, who appointed Spyridon, is the Istanbul-based Eastern Orthodox leader with final authority over the American church. So far, Bartholomew has backed the archbishop in his dispute with GOAL.

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, which claims about 1.5-million baptized members, is the wealthiest of the national Orthodox churches under Bartholomew’s authority.”We think financial pressure could do the trick with Bartholomew and seal Spyridon’s fate,”said Popps.

The Rev. Mark Arey, Spyridon’s chief spokesman, Thursday (March 18) criticized GOAL’s effort as”contrary to the bylaws of the church and the traditions of the church.” Arey noted that the”overwhelming majority of our parishes continue to support the archdiocese.”He also dismissed the notion that GOAL’s effort will gain the support of a growing number of congregations.”Our people do not want to hurt the church’s institutions just because they disagree with some actions by the archbishop. This is the work of a small number of activists with a political agenda in opposition to the archbishop,”he said.

Annunciation’s annual commitment to the $9-million Stewardship fund _ the denomination’s primary source for financing national programs _ is just shy of $100,000, according to its pastor, the Rev. Andrew Eugenis. Annunciation parishioners voted more than 3-to-1 to suspend sending money to the archdiocese, despite Eugenis’ opposition to the move.

Until now, just two small congregations in Rutland, Vt., and Lewiston, Maine, had moved to cut off Stewardship fund payments, although others have said they are considering doing so.

In addition, Oakland’s 1,200-member Ascension Cathedral has reduced its annual fund contribution from $73,000 to $12,000. The Rev. Thomas J. Paris, pastor of the California congregation, said the action was taken”to get the attention that might lead to change.” In a further sign of opposition to Spyridon, parishioners at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Weston, Mass., have urged all 63 parishes in the denomination’s Boston diocese covering most of New England to go on record as advocating his ouster.

St. Demetrios’ parishioners also voted in early March to consider in June whether to begin withholding their congregation’s own Stewardship fund payments. St. Demetrios, with about 2,000 members, is one of the largest Greek Orthodox churches in the Boston area.”The people of the parish are disheartened and disappointed with the leadership they’ve seen thus far (from Spyridon) and feel they have no other recourse,”said the Rev. Christopher Stamas, St. Demetrios’ assistant pastor.

Almost since his installation as archbishop in 1996, Spyridon, 54, has been engulfed in controversy. Critics in the church say his autocratic management style is out-of-step with the needs and expectations of Greek Orthodox Americans who are more independent-minded than European Orthodox Christians. Although born in Ohio, Spyridon has spent most of his life in Europe.

Critics have also accused him of financial mismanagement, attempting to cover up a sex scandal at the denomination’s Hellenic College and Holy Cross School of Theology in Brookline, Mass., and summarily dismissing or demoting church officials who question his actions.

Five Greek Orthodox bishops _ known as metropolitans _ and more than 100 priests around the nation have also criticized Spyridon publicly, a major step in a denomination that places great emphasis on hierarchial authority.

After denying for months that it was actively encouraging parishes to withhold funding from the archdiocese, GOAL has begun holding meetings around the nation to drum up additional support for its effort. Recent meetings have been held in Denver and Phoenix.

DEA END RIFKIN