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The Christian Century - June 2, 1999

Greek Orthodox leader acts to stop boycott-controversy
over the Greek Orthodox Church of America's threat
to remove a priest if his parish joins in a planned
boycott against Archbishop Spyridon.

The head of the Greek Orthodox church of America's Chicago diocese has threatened to oust a priest in Des Moines, Iowa, if his congregation considers joining other Greek Orthodox parishes in a financial boycott organized to protest the policies of Archbishop Spyridon, head of the national church. Peter Cade of St. George Church received the April 23 directive from Metropolitan Iakovos two days before the Iowa parish was set to consider withholding its monthly contributions to the national church's Stewardship Fund.

"If for any reason our directive is ignored or in any way not followed we will have no other alternative than to remove you from this particular parish assignment," Iakovos said in a letter to Cade. After receiving the letter, the St. George congregation's general assembly dropped all consideration of the issue at its April 25 meeting. The letter has since been circulated by Greek Orthodox dissidents seeking Spyridon's ouster because of what they view as his authoritarian management style and mishandling of church finances.

Cade indicated April 28 that he would not buck Iakovos. "When our metropolitan gives us a directive we are obliged to follow it. That's just the way the hierarchy of our church works," he said. Demetri C. Kantavelos, the Chicago diocese's chancellor, said Iakovos would not comment on the issue.

Ironically, Iakovos earlier this year joined four other Greek Orthodox American metropolitans in siding with Spyridon's critics. The metropolitans traveled to Istanbul, Turkey, to meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos, the Greek Orthodox Church's international spiritual head, to urge Spyridon's ouster. After the patriarch rebuffed the metropolitans, some Spyridon opponents accelerated an effort to get the archdiocese's more than 500 parishes to withhold their regular donations to the national treasury. So far, fewer than a dozen parishes have joined the effort. Those parishes have generally been in dioceses where reigning metropolitans have given their tacit support to the financial boycott campaign.

Given Iakovos's public opposition to Spyridon, St. George member Charles Notis said the metropolitan's action was "despicable and hypocritical. He's basically trying to muzzle us." Notis said he believes a majority of the congregation of 143 member families would back withholding donations from the archdiocese if allowed to vote on the matter. The Chicago diocese covers Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, all of Missouri except Kansas City, and portions of Indiana.

Just days after Iakovos's action, a major Greek Orthodox parish in Cleveland voted to withhold its monthly contribution to the national church due to its differences with Spyridon. At a special assembly April 25, members of Sts. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral voted 157 to 17, with two abstentions, to withhold its $4,000 monthly contribution to the archdiocese's Stewardship Fund beginning with its May payment. The money will instead be placed in escrow.

The congregation of about 320 member families is the largest contributor to the fund of the 50 parishes in the denomination's Diocese of Pittsburgh, said parish council president Richard Warren. The diocese covers all of Pennsylvania except the Philadelphia region, as well as much of Ohio and West Virginia

[ The Christian Century - June 2, 1999 ]