By: NickNagorny

NickNagorny — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:49:41 +0000

This snapshot misses the Pan Orthodox Congress of 1923 under Ecumenical Patriarch Meletios Metaxakis. There are two recent books by Fr. Patrick Viscuso on this important council, “Quest for Reform of the Orthodox Church: The 1923 Pan-Orthodox Congress: An Analysis and Translation of Its Acts and Decisions” and “Vested in Grace: Marriage and Priesthood in the Christian East”. Disclosure, I wrote an article and bibliography in the Vested in Grace book.
The impact of this council on Orthodoxy in America was substantial. First, three of the attendees were primates of Orthodox jurisdictions in America at various times. Patriarch Metaxakis was the primate of the Greek Archdiocese, Bishop Nemolovsky with the primate of the Russian jurisdiction, and Archbishop Anatassy later would become the primate of the Russian Synod in Exile. This congress authorized the use of the new calendar and the remarriage of Orthodox priests. What is not known is that this Congress condemned the “Living Church” then propped up by the Soviet regime. The recognition of the Living Church by Ecumenical Patriarchate happens after this congress. However for decades Russian church diplomats despised the Ecumenical Patriarchate for recognizing the legitimacy of the Living Church. It would be interesting piece of historical research to find out how extensive was the Russian Living Church phenomenon in the 1920s in America outside of their cathedral church on 97th Street in Manhattan.
Considering the intense passions and lawsuits here in America regarding the new calendar, it is a surprise that so few Orthodox know anything about the Congress of 1923.

Comments on: A Snapshot of Interwar Orthodoxy: The Ecumenical Patriarchate

By: NickNagorny