Recent discussion (Sept 24) about St Markella's in Astoria (GOC)
Anastasios
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.religion.christian.east-orthodox/browse_thread/thread/fa9b7e49232623d6/382e8e5cb317662e?lnk=gst&q=Bishop+Christodoulos#382e8e5cb317662e
while doing some web surfing. It seems there were some questions so I
thought I would clarify a few points. I didn't want to reply to the
thread per se because it had a lot of side discussions that were of a
personal nature between posters and I didn't want to rehash any of
that.
One poster was confused as to whether St Markella's had joined the
Ecumenical Patriarchate. The Church that joined the Ecumenical
Patriarchate was St Irene's which is down the street, under
Metropolitan Paisios. www.stirene.org. They joined the EP in 1998.
They had previously been in the Greek Old Calendar Church, Synod of
Archbishop Chrysostomos II (www.ecclesiagoc.gr) but had left. They
have a parish in Clearwater, Florida named Holy Ascension.
St Markella's is the Church that did not leave the GOC in 1998. It
was founded in the 1950's by then-Archimandrite Petros (Astyfides) who
was later made a bishop by ROCOR bishops Leonty and Seraphim. Bishop
Petros, a close friend of Archbishop Averky, remained close to ROCOR
his entire life, and briefly was a member of the ROCOR Synod in 1995
during the tumultuous times in the GOC Synod in Greece. He later
returned to the GOC Synod, but did concelebrate in Jordanville one
last time in January 1996.
His nephew, Metropolitan Pavlos, was consecrated in 1998 right around
the time that St Irene's Metropolitan Paisios was joining the EP;
Metropolitan Pavlos has a parish in Clearwater named Holy Dormition.
Metropolitan Pavlos and Bishop Christodoulos, who were mentioned in
one of the articles were present in the altar at the installation of
Metropolitan Laurus (whom Metropolitan Pavlos knew since Metropolitan
Pavlos was a boy) in 2001. Metropolitan Pavlos was also particularly
close with Archbishop Hilarion when he lived in New York. After 2006,
two priests, Fr Thomas Marretta and Fr Mark Gilstrap, asked for
canonical releases to join the GOC for matters of conscience and these
were granted by Metropolitan Laurus and Archbishop Alypy respectively.
Some slanderous things were said about Bishop Christodoulos on a very
scandalous and questionable gossip blog, which particularly upset me
since I know the bishop well and respect him for his spirituality,
devotion to Christ's Church, and humility. He didn't deserve the
things that were said about him, and it distressed me as well to see
people buy into the blog's tortured (and incorrect) canonical
interpretations as to why this holy man should not have been made a
bishop. But thankfully, that wind has passed, as we know our bishop
and we would never want him to resign. I encourage people to avoid
that blog, which says inaccurate things about everyone. One may get a
laugh when their "opponent" is being attacked, but due to the volatile
nature of that blog, one never knows when he and his Church will be on
the receiving end.
Thank you for the opportunity to clarify things. I realize that most
of you are not pro-Old Calendarist which is why I have attempted to
provide these details in a neutral way. Please feel free to email me
if you have any further questions as I am quite busy and may forget to
log back into this newsgroup for some time (although I will try in
case anyone responds here).
As for the website, basically we had paid for a company in California
to do it; we decided to use someone else, and in the process the old
site got taken down before the new one was put up. The new one was
being hosted on a parishoner's server until we could redesign the site
(which we just did, and are working on tweaking some of the features,
etc). As for the name hotca, that was the original corporate name
which was made in the early years when English was not the native
language of those concerned. That is why that name exists still; but
we are most commonly referred to as the Holy Metropolis GOC of America
or Greek Orthodox Old Calendar Church of America.
I wish you all a blessed week and ask for your prayers.
In Christ,
Anastasios
Co-Webmaster, hotca.org
Orthodox News
of vagante!
Al
"Anastasios" <anastas...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1192724426.1...@q3g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
++
puzzle. I was the one who wrote the particular post you responded to.
I, too, have no desire to get involved in baiting the emotionally
disturbed. I was only interested int he church in Astoria, which I have
attended long ago.
Anastasios
Thank you for expressing your views. I don't mind being called
uncanonical as, from your point of view, we are, and you are just
being consistent and honest, which is something I value.. But we are
not vagantes. Vagantes are a different religious phenomenon, distinct
from the Old Calendar movement, although it can be confusing when some
vagantes take on an Old Calendarist facade. However, that is not our
problem, just as it is not the Indians' problem when vagantes imitate
them (the various Anglo-Saxon Mar _______ characters floating around).
I hope you have a blessed day Al.
In Christ,
Anastasios
On Oct 18, 12:41 pm, "Orthodox News" <OrthodoxN...@nospamsnet.org>
wrote:
> ***And we all hope and pray that your church will become canonical instead
> of vagante!
>
> Al
>
> "Anastasios" <anastasios0...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>
> news:1192724426.1...@q3g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
>
> > Hello everyone! I stumbled across a discussion here:
> >http://groups.google.com/group/alt.religion.christian.east-orthodox/b...
Orthodox News
Al
"Anastasios" <anastas...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1192727535.1...@y27g2000pre.googlegroups.com...
rm_nyc
Just curious because I live in Astoria ...
So St. Markella isn't part of HOCNA or associated?
The local ROCOR priest in talking very informally about the
complexities and unpredictability of church politics had cited you
guys as an example say something to the effect of: One day they were
okay, and then the next day we get told we can't serve with them. I
guess I'd assumed that was connected to the HOCNA break, but maybe it
was something totally different?
Rebecca
Anastasi...@gmail.com
Dear Rebecca,
HOCNA is a breakaway from ROCOR directly whereas we were ROCOR's
sister Church. We are not connected with HOCNA and remained close to
ROCOR well after HOCNA left ROCOR. I am not sure what the context of
what your priest said and he mentioned it informally so we should
probably leave that be.
Yours in Christ,
Anastasios
++
Anastasi...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>
>Dear Rebecca,
>
>HOCNA is a breakaway from ROCOR directly whereas we were ROCOR's
>sister Church. We are not connected with HOCNA and remained close to
>ROCOR well after HOCNA left ROCOR. I am not sure what the context of
>what your priest said and he mentioned it informally so we should
>probably leave that be.
>
>Yours in Christ,
>
>Anastasios
>
>
Dear Anastasios,
Here is a small NY article which mentions Hagia Irene and Markella and
other Greek churches in Astoria:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/medny/halsall7.html
>
>
>
athair ambrois
> Some slanderous things were said about BishopChristodouloson a very
> scandalous and questionable gossip blog, which particularly upset me
> since I know the bishop well and respect him for his spirituality,
> devotion to Christ's Church, and humility.
The same blog is now reporting a scandalous incident of +Christodoulos
attacking a man with a spade!
" Marineas Sued Christodoulos For Chopping Off His Nose "
http://sbn-nathanael.livejournal.com/
What is the truth of the story?
