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The Orthodox Church - January/February 1998

SCOBA hierarchs condemn bombing at Ecumenical Patriarchate

NEW YORK, NY — Hierarchs representing the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in America [SCOBA] issued a strongly-worded official statement expressing "outrage and dismay" over the December 1997 bombing of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul, Turkey.

"The Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in America, representing six million Orthodox Christians in America, expresses its outrage and dismay regarding the bombing of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul on Tuesday, December 3, 1997," the statement reads. "The bombing of the Ecumenical Patriarchal compound seriously injured a clergyman and damaged the Patriarchal Cathedral of Saint George and has again renewed feelings of insecurity and terror for the Orthodox Christian minority living in Istanbul, Turkey."

"The member hierarchs of SCOBA stand united in condemning all violence and persecution of human beings everywhere, regardless of national origin, faith, or personal political conviction," the statement continues. "The bombing of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople is an attack on basic human rights which must be condemned by all people of good will everywhere."

In addition to His Eminence, Archbishop Spyridon of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, SCOBA Chairman, the statement was signed by all member hierarchs including His Beatitude, Metropolitan Theodosius of the Orthodox Church in America. ■

[ The Orthodox Church - January/February 1998 - p. 11 ]