Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Archbishop Demetrios's Failure to Help Two Orphans May Cost Him His Job

Fr. Johannes Jacobse, Editor of the American Orthodox Institute (AOI) website, writes that the National Herald reported on January 15, 2010 on the plight of two Congolese boys who were not allowed to join St. Basil's Academy by Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese. The boys -- born of a Greek father and Congolese mother -- recently lost their father, and their mother is dying of cancer.

Having no relatives in the Congo, relatives in America approached the Archdiocese to see if the children could live at St. Basil's. The answer was no!

It was a "no" heard round the world -- at least in Greek circles -- and soon newspapers were buzzing with the alleged cold-heartedness of Archbishop Demetrios.

Metropolitan Theoliptos -- ranking hierarch of the Ecumenical Patriarch -- said in a letter "If he (Archbishop Demetrios) is not in apposition to help two orphan boys ten years old, then it is bad that he remains in his position."

Consequently, it appears that the Patriarch of Constantinople is planning to force Archbishop Demetrios into retirement. This scenario reminds me of the plight of the late Archbishop Iakovos several years ago, when the Patriarch of Constaninople forced him to "retire" because of Archbishop Iakovos's initiatives in his attempt to make the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America more independent of Constantinople.

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