The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America

George Michalopulos over at Monomakhos has honoured the Dormition of the Theotokos by posting what, upon consideration by anyone reasonably acquainted with the Orthodox Church, amounts clearly to no more than gossip-mongering—Breaking: The OCA to Go under EP!

Michalopulos begins:

According to two different sources, Syosset [the headquarters of the Orthodox Church in America] has been in negotiations to cede its autocephaly and go under Istanbul [the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople]. One source says that this is “a done deal,” the other says that negotiations are “ongoing.”

Given the significant difference between done deal and ongoing reported by his two “sources,” and the fact that that he relies on “word on the street” in his pentultimate paragraph, one might have wished that Michalopulos had exercised the responsibility of simply not publishing his piece at all. Even at the highly controversial and widely mistrusted Orthodoxy in Dialogue, we generally do not report news that cannot be corroborated by, and linked to, numerous other online sources.  Read More

The Department of Theological Studies at Concordia University in Montreal is hosting a conference called Theology in the City: Resilience and Hope in an Age of Fear on October 31-November 1. I submitted the following proposal, which I share with Orthodoxy in Dialogue’s readers to generate reflection and discussion on all that “Orthodoxy as a way of life” consists of.

Theosis in the City: An Orthodox Reflection

Orthodox spirituality, anthropology, soteriology, eschatology, even cosmology, revolve entirely around the doctrine of theosis, or deification: the eternal purpose for which God created us, and for which the Son and Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us, finds its fulfilment in the transfiguration of the human person by grace into all that God is by nature.

As a foretaste of the age to come, the experience of deification here and now is often thought to lie uniquely within reach of Christian mystics who practice hesychastic spirituality in remote hermitages. Read More

As Orthodoxy in Dialogue approaches its second anniversary on August 22, our original readers will remember our three “pre-launch” posts: Open Letter to Our Beloved Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America (8/16/17), Response to Racist Violence in Charlottesville, VA (8/18/17), and Editorial: Our Response to the Assembly of Bishops (8/20/17). These established Orthodoxy in Dialogue, from its inception, as American Orthodoxy’s loudest and most persistent voice against white supremacy and racism in the social, political, and religious life of the United States—found even within the Orthodox Church. Between then and now, the White Supremacy and Racism section of our Archives has grown to almost 45 of our 643 titles, or 7% of our publishing activity.

We post the following call to collective, peaceful action as consistent with our publishing history and our values. Please share it widely with your activist-minded brothers, sisters, friends, and colleagues. Imagine how wonderful it will be for Orthodox laity, clergy, and hierarchy to show up in large numbers.

To learn about Orthodoxy in Dialogue’s partnership to provide legal and humanitarian assistance at the US-Mexico border click

HERE

Across the country, millions of hearts beat with El Paso, from Pasadena to Parkland, Phoenix to Philadelphia. And on September 7, our hearts will beat to gether in El Paso for a day of action and creative resistance against white supremacy. We are calling for our sisters and brothers from across the country to come down to the border and join Border Network for Human Rights and other local organizations in this fight. What has been polluted by hatred and racist violence, we can begin to cleanse with song and collective action. Read More

A homily for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (this past Sunday in the Melkite Church, tomorrow in the Orthodox Church).

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Matthew 14:14-22

More than thirty-five people were shot and killed in the USA last weekend by solitary shooters wielding assault-style guns.

They were shot in a Walmart in El Paso, Texas; a bar in Dayton, Ohio; a park in Chicago, Illinois.

Just a few days earlier, another lone gunman killed more people at the Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California.

These figures just count the dead; they don’t include the wounded. They don’t include the devastated family members and friends. They don’t include the traumatized bystanders and first responders, and the terrified community members. They don’t count the orphaned children and the children and parents who are suffering nightmares. Read More

On July 30, after an exchange of several emails between Orthodoxy in Dialogue and the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), we published Mariel Moore’s invitation to each and every one of our readers to partner with them in the delivery of legal and humanitarian assistance to refugees and asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border.

In the ensuing eleven days, fifteen people—including a 13-year old Orthodox Christian who committed three weeks of her allowance to this initiative—have contributed $747 toward our $15,000 goal. 

Orthodoxy in Dialogue set the goal high because, in just under two years, 210,000 individuals have visited us almost 378,000 times. Imagine: if only 1,500 readers contributed only $10 each, we would reach our goal overnight.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency, RAICES emails you your tax receipt as soon as you make your donation. At Orthodoxy in Dialogue you will be listed permanently on our Angels Unawares page.  Read More

Randy Johnson (L), Tevin Johnson-Campion, Paul Campion (R)

Growing up can be a challenge.

Your childhood ebbs and flows, and you are often times left to your own devices to figure things out. As you age and become an adult, it’s expected that you learn from your mistakes as a child, thus, making you a better person. Your parents are usually the ones taking the credit for the person you’ve become.

But what happens when your parents are a same-sex couple? Shockingly, there is no difference. I know this from my own personal experience, because I have two dads. Yes, my parents are gay. Read More

Metropolitan Nathanael (Symeonides) of Chicago

Orthodoxy in Dialogue, and I personally, have been quick to draw global attention to bishops and priests of the Orthodox Church who “teach” and conduct their “ministry” in ways that inflict incalculable harm on Orthodox children, youths, women, and men whose deeply embedded sense of personal identity before God and their fellow human beings falls somewhere along the LGBTQ spectrum.

Too often, this harm includes increasingly unbearable feelings of worthlessness, rejection by God, verbal and physical violence, suicidal ideation, and—as one Orthodox bishop has recently testified on our pages (anonymously, for fear of his own brothers in the episcopate)—a path straight from the confessional to completed suicide.

So it’s not only LGBTQ persons, but also their families, friends, allies, and other loved ones, who are forced by these churchmen to endure unimaginable suffering—and sometimes death. Read More