There was a little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead; when she was good, she was very, very good, and when she was bad she was horrid. — Mother Goose
The Orthodox Church in the United States is somewhat like that apocryphal little girl of Mother Goose fame. The two men behaving badly, the subjects of these posts, have shown us something of the horrid side of the Orthodox Church. Today we look at the Greek layman and the articles he published. Though the article is ostensibly about politics, some of his remarks point to another underlying vein of anger. In the interests of self-disclosure, I am a registered Democrat, not a member of the Republican Right.
For instance, when he speaks of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, he speaks about its not following the religious right into politics, but then adds that they are into, “. . . preserving the Greek faith, language, and culture. In hindsight, this has proven to be a wise decision.” Here is the first clear indication that his anger is not simply about politics, but about his interest in preserving a particular national identity as the identity that he expects that the Orthodox Church will have. [Note: That is not to say that he is not angry about politics. We do have moral conservatives involved in politics in Orthodoxy.]
When I first read his articles, and this statement in particular, my mind drifted into a remembrance of the movie, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” Do you remember the father in that movie? He was so Greek that even the Japanese word “kimono” came from the Greek. In the same way, one of the problems facing Orthodoxy in the USA is the tendency, by some, to so closely identify the faith with a particular cultural expression that they are unable to see the faith in any other context. Some of these folk are even unable to fully acknowledge that people from another Patriarchate are of equal standing and equally valid. This is the pathological version of wanting to preserve your culture. Frankly, that is the reason that, “Most converts end up in the Antiochian Archdiocese and the OCA.” It has little to do with secular politics and lots to do with inappropriate ways to try to preserve a culture. I know for a certainty that there are moral conservatives involved in politics in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.
There are benign, and very appropriate ways, to preserve your culture. As a Latino, I am quite interested in preserving my culture. Our three daughters are all fully bilingual. And, in a reply article, the author does try to argue for that more benign viewpoint. He begins tossing off stock catch phrases, “Our culture respects all races, nationalities, and creeds. Multicultural diversity is the only way we can go. . . There is nothing wrong with an ethnic church . . . We are free in America to worship the way we want.” [Note: it takes a white man to say that our culture respects all races, nationalities, and creeds. None of us non-whites would agree with that statement. But, that is a side subject.] It all sounds good, until he goes on. At that point, again an attitude shows up that causes problems for the American Church.
“They [Ed.: the converts] do not like the many ethnic jurisdictions and feel that there must be only one Orthodox Church in America because Canon Law calls for one bishop in each city.” There is only one problem with that statement. It is not merely the converts that feel so. Our hierarchs feel so as well, with Metropolitan Philip of the Antiochians being one of the lead hierarchs. But, it is not merely them either. The Ecumenical Patriarch just finished statingsuch at a synaxis of representatives of all the Patriarchates. But, it is handy to put off on the “converts” the idea of one Orthodox Church in the “Diaspora” as our Ecumenical Patriarch called it. Because, ultimately, if that happens, the Church in the USA will not be Greek (or Arabic, or Serbian, etc.). And, it is clear that the author not only wishes an ethnic Greek Church but wishes it to the point that he would be willing to endanger the unity of the Church in order to get his Greek Church.
Mind you, it is not just Greeks that feel that way. I know of at least one Antiochian mission that split over the issue of Arabic in the worship, etc. But, this does highlight the other side of the problem plaguing Orthodoxy in the USA. And, that is the extreme ethnophiletism that is all too present among some of us. It is against that philetism that the priest reacted and went off on the other extreme.
“. . . and when she was bad she was horrid.” And so we have come to the end of our story. Two men behaving badly have helped us to highlight some of the problems present in the American Church. But, in highlighting the problems, it gives us the hope that they can be resolved. After all, do we not have that old saying about acknowledging the problem being the first step in solving it? May the Holy Spirit help us to realize our sin and lead us to obedience to His will, that the Church may indeed be One here in America.
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