The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese (GOARCH), the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), and the Antiochian Archdiocese (AOCA) comprise the three major canonical Orthodox jurisdictions in the United States.

If you search “sexual misconduct” on the GOARCH website, you are taken immediately to a detailed Clergy Misconduct Policy revised in January 2022.

Using the same keywords on the OCA website, you are similarly taken to Resources for the Prevention of Sexual Misconduct. This page contains copious links to external websites and internal documents.

Notably, both GOARCH and the OCA provide—conspicuously displayed—an external toll-free number (as well as a link on the GOARCH website) for confidentially reporting clergy sexual abuse. Victims, witnesses, and confidants alike may make a report.

The same search on the AOCA website takes you to the June 6, 2018 “Regular Article 92,” a  self-congratulatory announcement of the Archdiocese’s first Loss Control Bonus from GuideOne Insurance Company. It explains, in part: Read More

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Grant rest eternal in blessed repose, O Lord,

to the souls of Thy servants who have fallen asleep,

and may their memory be eternal.

Memory eternal. Αἰωνία ἡ μνήμη. Вѣчная память. Veșnica pomenire.

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TOTAL DONATIONS AS OF 12/22/22

$1521.00

22  Donors

Welcome to Orthodoxy in Dialogue ‘s sixth annual Nativity Fast GoFundMe campaign to raise Cash for the Homeless on Christmas. Our extensive contacts with homeless persons on the streets of downtown Toronto convince us of one thing: what they need most is the cash to spend as and where they see fit. This gives them the same sense of dignity as the rest of us when we spend our money as we wish. Few things are more heartbreaking than the sight of a poorly clad man shivering violently in our frigid Canadian winter, sitting cross-legged on the sidewalk among fifty PBJ sandwiches in baggies tossed at him.

As in the previous five years, our goal is to place at least $20—but hopefully as much as $100!—into the hands of 50 homeless persons on Christmas Eve and Day. In this way, we encounter and enter into divine communion with Him who comes to be born as a little Child in Bethlehem, that we may feed Him in the least of His brothers, sisters, and siblings. In our experience, the sky itself becomes the dome of a great cosmic church as we meet Him, again and again and again, up and down the streets of downtown Toronto.

As you plan your Christmas budget, please enter into our joy of bringing joy to those we are called to love the most. Thus will we keep a fast well-pleasing to the Lord as we make our way step by step to the inner Bethlehem of our hearts and the mystical Bethlehem of the Chalice.

Please share widely on social media and ask at least one friend or family member to join you in this worthy endeavour.

With love and gratitude,

Giacomo Sanfilippo, Editor
Orthodoxy in Dialogue

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Archpriest Peter Heers

(Jurisdiction unknown)

When Orthodoxy in Dialogue sees a sudden, unexplained uptick in traffic to a past article that had receded in the collective consciousness of our readers, we make inquiries to discover why the subject of the article has recaptured the interest of the Orthonet. Usually, we can determine quickly enough the reason for the renewed attention.

Such is the case currently with Father Peter Heers. On June 9, 2020, we published Archbishop Alexander (Golitizin) [of the OCA] Issues Warning against Father Peter Heers’ “Orthodox Ethos” Website. Over the past two or three days, this article from two and a half years ago catapulted to the top of our daily trending list in the lower right column on this page. When we questioned this in Orthodoxy in Dialogue’s Facebook group, a scholar who chimes in from time to time responded that Heers’ canonical status was being questioned in a Twitter thread launched by a priest. This compelled us to cull the internet for what we could find. As our readers around the planet have come to expect of Orthodoxy in Dialogue, our mandate has evolved to include reporting on, and often advocating for canonical action against, wayward hierarchs and priests in the Orthodox Church. Even our most vocal detractors have learned from the outcome of the Metropolitan Joseph Scandal that we do our due diligence when reporting on such matters. Read More