Ancient Faith Radio has just aired a 56-minute long interview with Fr. Mark Arey, General Secretary of SCOBA and a key coordinator of the first meeting of the Episcopal Assembly. I haven’t yet listened to the interview, but this is how AFR describes it:
In our continuing effort to keep you informed about the recent and on going work of our Hierarchs to bring about administrative unity, we present an extensive interview with Fr. Mark Arey. The discussion centers on the first Episcopal Assembly meeting in New York on May 26-28, 2010. You will hear first hand what took place behind the closed doors of the Assembly and how it impacts all of us for the future. Fr. Mark is the current General Secretary of SCOBA (the Standing Conference of Orthodox Bishops in America) and was the initial Secretary of the Assembly in New York. He was one of very few non-Bishops in the meetings.
To listen to the interview, click here.
Quotes from Arey worth noting:
“Everything that was done in the Assembly was done unanimously. There was not a dissent on any occasion.”
“We’re going to need the whole body of the Church to put forth its best effort to do this…. The day of armchair strategists and bloggers who have opinions about how the Church should be run are [sic] over, because now it’s time to do the work…. It’s time now to do the work, and the question will be: Is there a real willingness amongst the faithful and the clergy to roll up their sleeves? I’ll tell you as someone who had the privilege, and I consider it a unique privilege, to be in the room with those bishops: They clearly are willing to roll up their sleeves. And that may surprise some of your listeners, but that’s the truth. I can bear witness to it.”
His comments at the SVS Symposium last summer on the Tomos, recorded by AFR were also very good. I think it was in the responses to Met. Jonah’s presentation. I keep meaning to go back and take them down, but…