An observant reader informed Orthodoxy in Dialogue yesterday afternoon that Father Mark Hodges has been removed from the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) clergy directory pursuant to our reporting (see the Mark Hodges: The Scandal section in our Archives 2020-21). You can see the H section of the directory here.

Later in the day yesterday, a parishioner from the Lima OH mission parish informed us in a letter to the editors that Hodges has been suspended—a decision delegated canonically to his diocesan bishop, Archbishop Paul (Gassios). We are deeply grateful to His Eminence for recognizing the gravity of the situation. (ADDENDUM: An hour or so after we published this report, another observant reader directed us to the formal notice of Hodges’ suspension on the diocesan website. He was suspended swiftly, only two days after our anonymous author’s open letter to the Archbishop.)

Yet another reader informs us of Hodges’ appalling record of pastoral malfeasance over two decades, which led from his being assigned to “attached”—to a parish where he has apparently been forbidden to attend since at least a year ago, so toxic was his presence there. This may explain how a priest found the time to spend the Feast of Theophany at a rally leading to violent insurrection against the US government.

We have invited the Archbishop and Father Paul Jannakos, diocesan chancellor, to issue a public statement on this very public matter.

We have also pointed out to Archbishop Paul and Father Jannakos that the “Father Mark Hodges” public figure page on Facebook contains nothing of spiritual edification for Orthodox faithful, but rather a steady stream of alt-right conspiracy theories, election denialism, Trumpism, anti-vaxxism, promotion of the rally where Donald Trump committed the impeachable offense of inciting an insurrection, etc. Even though his Twitter account @FrMarkHodges hasn’t been touched in over six months, it contains more of the same.

Whether Hodges is deposed from holy orders rests with the Holy Synod of Bishops to decide.

Father Seraphim Holland of ROCOR might be well advised to be more circumspect concerning with whom he makes common cause.

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