c. 1999 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ The new head of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America was officially appointed Friday (Aug. 20), as both critics and backers of his ousted predecessor pledged to work to heal the bitter rifts that have divided the 1.5-million member church for almost three years.

In a formal ceremony in earthquake-ravaged Istanbul, home of the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Bishop Demetrios of Greece was officially selected to replace Archbishop Spyridon. Spyridon resigned under pressure Thursday.

Demetrios, 71, has a doctorate from Harvard University in New Testament studies earned during an earlier stay of more than 20 years in the United States that ended in 1993. He also taught at the church’s Holy Cross School of Theology in Brookline, Mass., during that time.

He is said to speak seven languages, has published three major books, and in 1968 rejected a church appointment in Greece to protest the rule of that military government then in power.

Spyridon, the first-American born leader of the church, resigned after losing the support of Bartholomew, the church’s ultimate authority and the man who appointed him over Demetrios in 1996.

In his brief reign as archbishop, Spyridon managed to alienate his church’s five senior bishops and many of its priests and lay leaders, precipitating an unprecedented effort to oust him. Critics charged Spyridon with being an authoritarian who ignored the church’s established rules for power sharing. They also charged him with being an ultra-conservative who squandered church financial resources.

Bartholomew issued a statement Friday, to be read in American Greek Orthodox churches Sunday, in which he urged support for Demetrios and an end to the rancor that divided the denomination.

“We patently admonish you from the depths of our heart … to be united around (Demetrios), as one soul and one heart … forgiving and committing to oblivion anything which may have upset or dismayed or separated in the past anyone of the members of the archdiocese from one another,” Bartholomew said.

Spokesmen for both sides in the dispute indicated their desire to restore calm to the church.

“We pledge our full cooperation with the new archbishop even before he arrives, and we will do whatever he asks of us,” said Spyridon supporter John Catsimatidis, a New York businessman and lay head of the church’s Archdiocesan Council.

“It is the institution of the church, after all, which matters most, so we will rise above individual concerns to do what is best for our community of faith.”

Greek Orthodox American Leaders (GOAL), the dissident group that led the lay opposition to Spyridon, also pledged its support for Demetrios. GOAL had urged Bartholomew to assign him to the American church.

“The election of Archbishop Demetrios resolves the crisis in church governance, and it serves the immediate and future needs of our archdiocese,” GOAL said in a statement.

The group called Demetrios “a man of deep spirituality and intellectual strength (and) a world-renowned theologian who possesses an insightful understanding of our church in America.”

Demetrios was born in Greece, where he had been serving the church in Athens. He is expected to arrive in New York, site of church headquarters, with the next few weeks.

Nikki Stephanopoulos, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said Demetrios will formally be enthroned soon after his arrival in a ceremony at New York’s Holy Trinity Cathedral. She also said retired Archbishop Iakovos, who preceded Spyridon, will preside over the ceremony.

Until his arrival, Bishop George, who leads the church’s New Jersey diocese, has been named by Demetrios to temporarily administer denomination affairs.

DEA END RIFKIN