“Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them,

and they that are great exercise authority upon them.

But it shall not be so among you:

but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;

And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:

Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto,

but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28, KJV)


The word the Athenians used for their Assembly was Ekklesia, the same word used in the New Testament for Church
(and it is the greatest philological irony in all of Western history that this word,
which connoted equal participation in all deliberation by all members,
came to designate a kind of self-perpetuating, self-protective Spartan gerousia -
which would have seemed patent nonsense to Greek-speaking Christians of New Testament times,
who believed themselves to be equal members of their Assembly.)

- Thomas Cahill, Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter




ΦΙΛΟΤΙΜΟ: THE GREEK SECRET


Friday, May 21, 2010

Still waiting.........

Seven weeks ago (on Holy Friday) the proistameno of Prophet Elias only was feverishly scampering to mail the letter which was the cause of a chain reaction of letters leaving several beloved members of our community wondering as to their ecclesiastical status. The last of this chain of letters was explained to the parish council by the proistameno of Prophet Elias only at their recent meeting. In this instance, there was no feverish scampering by the proistameno of Prophet Elias only to mail THIS letter from the Metropolitan to the community.

As we have read, the Metropolitan's first letter of April 16, 2010 was harsh in tone even saying to these members, "From the standpoint of the Church, this is outright robbery. " After listening to more than one side, the Metropolitan, to his credit, changed his position.

Some questions remain unanswered:

  • Why hasn't the proistameno of Prophet Elias only and the parish council mailed this letter to the concerned parties and to the community?
  • Why wasn't the same urgency exercised with this letter as the one of Good Friday?
  • Why is the proistameno of Prophet Elias only holding tight to this letter?
  • Do the contents of this letter conflict with the agenda of the proistameno of Prophet Elias only?
  • Is the proistameno of Prophet Elias only stalling to convince the Metropolitan to change the decision to fit his agenda?
  • Why have the people initially accused not been contacted regarding their ecclesiastical status?
  • Is there a fear that this latest letter exposes our assigned clergy to the community?
Answers and accountability from our assigned clergy and parish council certainly IS EXPECTED.

ΗΓΓΙΚΕΝ Η ΩΡΑ

1 comment:

Steven Gamvroulas said...

I trust that in the spirit of transparency and the most sincere concern of the community and the Church that they will distribute the letter at the spring general assembly.

We can all have faith that the Proistamenoi and our esteemed parish council members will not keep any information of such gravity from the community!