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The National Herald - April 22, 2005

Opinion / Letters to the Editor

Patriarch Missed Rare Opportunity To Make Amends

To The Editor:

Thank God for the likes of His Beatitude Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens, whose presence illuminated the Cathedral during the Trisagion service in honor of the late great Archbishop Iakovos last Thursday evening (April 13). The absence of the Ecumenical Patriarch was further evidence that His All Holiness does not understand the faithful in the Churches of the Americas.

One would think that after his blunder, in the manner whereby he negotiated the forced retirement of the late Archbishop Iakovos after 37 years on the throne of the Church in the Americas, lending insult to injury,  | and his poor judgment in the way he handled the removal of Iakovos' successor, Archbishop Spyridon, Bartholomew missed a rare opportunity to make amends by ignoring the faithful in America during their mourning of their beloved Archbishop Iakovos.

While people went to the Cathedral from all over the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and South America, the Patriarch of the rich and famous missed the opportunity to make amends with the faithful in Amrica. Literally, he blew it.

How can we claim that the Ecumenical Patriarch speaks for all Orthodox Christians, when he can not find a solution which would make all Orthodox Christians appear as one, but allows the Ecumenical Patriarchate to be out-classed by prelates the likes of Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and Archbishop Christodoulos?

Perhaps now is the time for the Church in America to re-invent itself.

Respectfully submitted,
Demetrios Manolakos
Montreal, Quebec

[ The National Herald - www.thenationalherald.com/article/8359 - April 22, 2005 ]