Metropolitan Moses of Portland and his auxiliary, Bishop Sergios of Loch Lomond, of the 'Holy Orthodox Church of North America' (the HOCNA, a Greek Orthodox Old Calendrist schism from the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia) have petitioned to be received into the Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece, a large Greek Orthodox Old Calendrist synod with a heretofore minor presence in North America. More here.
In his statements on the matter Metropolitan Moses rejected the "gerontocracy" that has ruled the HOCNA since its founding as a jurisdiction effectively governed out of Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Brookline, Massachusetts. His comments on the issue and his reasons for appealing to the Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece for reception into its jurisdiction can be found here.
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I left the Orthodox Church years ago, due to the incredible bickering and infighting that I saw. A disagreement would come up and this group would side with that group, then with a different group, then it would break away from that group to join yet another group. One jurisdiction would claim to have "more faithfulness" to Orthodoxy than another jurisdiction. Accusations were hurled, scandals revealed, plots uncovered, and alliances and loyalties forged and broken. A lot of money must have been spent on changing parish stationery and signs due to all of this priest-lead, arrogant, self centered silliness, and many faithful suffered as a result - unless of course they were content to remain with whichever priest personality cult appealed to them. Are there good and faithful priests, nuns and lay people out there? No doubt, but they don't belong to any ONE jurisdiction or parish.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear that! I can certainly understand your reasons though as they've been a source of great discouragement for me at times. In such times, however, I've been fortunate to have the memory of the holy men and women I've met to keep me going. (And they do indeed represent a multiplicity of Orthodox Churches.)
ReplyDeleteWere you involved in the HOCNA in the past?