The foundation of our church building development took place before the 1960’s and were grassroots and local enterprises. Indeed many were built before ethnic archdioceses came into existence. The church here was organized to be autonomous as the early charters indicate. Since the 1920’s the ancient Patriarchates have done all they can do to erode the autonomy of the American church. The great example is the development of the latest charter imposed upon the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese by the Patriarch of Constantinople despite the arguments and petitions presented to it by participants of the Los Angles Clergy Laity Congress at the end of the 1990’s and the over 4,000 names gathered and sent by Orthodox Christian Laity.

During this same time period American Orthodox Christians helped preserve Orthodoxy in Europe. Cold War politics enabled Archbishop Athenagoras to become Patriarch in Turkey and he flew back to his homeland in the airplane of the U.S. President. Orthodox faithful who came from what were to become communist dominated lands kept the faith alive by sending and carrying books into those lands. They participated in the American political system as citizens and voters and were able to influence foreign policy. This history of American Orthodoxy needs to include that history in its narrative. The fact that the autonomy of the American Church was negated after the fall of communism is part of the story.

The new waves of immigrants after the 1960’s took what they found and insisted on adhering to their ethnicity. The parish of St Catherine in West Palm Beach is now very ethnic and has become a destination Church for those interested in holding receptions in Palm Beach. The new wave of immigrants from the former communist dominated lands are influencing the OCA, Romanian and other jurisdictions. The Church has also developed to accept converts and seekers that find the Historical and Apostolic Church. These faithful are helping us better communicate with the general Christian public. But I see that how they have been brought into the Church is creating a separate entity. They seem to write and print information that stresses differences between cradle and convert Orthodox. We also have the rise of monasticism in the United States. In the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese these institutions insist on using Greek and are almost hostile to the use of English. It behooves them to teach and demonstrate the great gift of Orthodox spirituality in English. All these recent trends are regressive. We wonder where is the leadership within the Church to bring about unity- – -which is the roots of Orthodoxy in America.

Orthodox Christians living the faith for the last 110 years in America have at grass roots levels worked together to build and to do the work of the church. The laity formed what were formerly SCOBA Agencies such as IOCC, Orthodox Christian Fellowship, Senior Housing, Children Care and Adoption Centers and outreach to Feed the Poor Hungry and Homeless. In nineteen sixty three the Triumph of Orthodoxy in America was the organizing, hosting and successful presentation of unity at the Eastern Orthodox Religious Cultural Festival presented by the Council of Eastern Orthodox Youth Leaders of the Americas CEOYLA. Orthodox Christian veterans returning from World War Two were the catalysts of this grass roots movement. By mid-1960’s CEOYLA had a membership of over 50,000 individuals. How and why was this movement allowed to dissipate? Why has not Orthodox Christian Fellowship – the program for youth on college campuses been a priority by the hierarchy? It lacks funding and organization. At the 20th Anniversary Meeting of Orthodox Christian Laity it was made known to us that youth on are college campuses seek to be unified so that they can remain Orthodox. Where will all these flowers go if we maintain fragmentation and promote counterproductive trends.

In 2008 the hierarchy worldwide came to the realization that Orthodoxy in lands outside of the Roman Empire – the so called diaspora need to be regularized. Assemblies of Bishops have been moving very slowly since then on matters of administration. Old world patriarchs cannot agree on how to work with the diaspora. The concept is alien to Christianity. The real issue before them is to decide when the New World Churches – all those outside of the Roman Empire will be autocephalous. The dependence on forces whether they be foreign or national interests, ancient patriarchates, global interests, internal appointed leadership dedicated to preserve the status quo, archons and awards, do not serve Orthodoxy in America. Our Church is where our bishops are in specific geographic areas and we strive to live sacramental lives within our churches in order to prepare for a state of theosis-being one with God. Our narrative needs to address all these issues.

New York split up very quickly. Chicago too. But New Orleans and Galveston seem to have remained pretty diverse for a long time.

Some of this depends on how you pick your dates. Galveston didn’t get a formal church until the mid-1890s, but there was a self-conscious Orthodox community there beginning in the 1860s. The New Orleans church started in either 1865 or ’67, but the community predated it by a decade or more.

See, the problem with the “myth of unity” is that it’s one-sided. It ignores the very real disunity that existed from the beginning. But in the past, I worry that I’ve pushed back so hard against that myth that I’ve discounted the actual unity that coexisted alongside the disunity. The fact is that, just as today, there was a mix of unity and disunity, of cooperation and separation.

New Orleans
San Francisco
Galveston
New York
Chicago
Portland
Seattle

All those parishes were founded in the 1890s, and all originally were multiethnic. Yes, of course they broke apart into ethnic parishes as soon as the numbers permitted, but that was sort of my point: in the beginning, there was a recognition that we’re all Orthodox and we need to cooperate. As the numbers for each ethnic group increased, the need for cooperation became less acute, and ethnic fragmentation began. But that original idea — we’re fundamentally the same, and we need each other — is the same idea that we must promote today if we’re ever to have a unified American Church.

All of this is to say that although I think you have your eye on a key word–encounter, the narrative of that encounter still needs to be written. There’s much more work to do.

And on that note, I truly appreciate the two problems you’ve highlighted. Both are real–all too real. Concerning clergy, I once told a friend that in Orthodoxy, I see both the best pastors I’ve ever seen and the worst I’ve ever seen (in comparison to my experiences and observations across American Christianity). We’ll never eliminate sin, but I agree that we need some better steps in place. For instance, to get into Luther Seminary, I had to go through psychological screening. For SVS? Nope. Not a hint of such analysis. There really are some basic things we could do. With youth, the same applies. Keep an active Sunday/church school. Of course, there one has parents who treat Orthodoxy as a neat cultural relic and do keep that in mind. Priests and teachers can only work with the students who attend, but that said, work we must!