A "Lesson" for All of Us???

In the latest Messenger, which one cannot find, at this date, online, we are asked to consider the following "...lesson for all of us."

We sin if we reckon that we owe it to our kinsfolk to hate those whom they hate. Such a hate infects us like a a hereditary disease. Adopting the loves of our kinsmen, we also adopt their hatreds. Even great spiritual giants were sometimes given to this weakness. Patriarch Theophilus could not bear Saint John Chrysostom, and remained his bitterest opponent to the end of his days. Saint Cyril, his kinsman and heir on the Alexandrian throne, inherited his hatred for Saint John and carried it himself for a long time. Saint Isidore of Pelusium exhorted Cyril in vain to change his mind about St. John Chrysostom and inscribe him in the Diptych of Saints, but Cyril was unable to overcome his ill-will. Then the Most Holy Mother of God, for whose honor and glory Saint Cyril had fought so fiercely against Nestorius, appeared to him in a vision, surrounded by angels and accompanied by Saint John Chrysostom in great glory, and the Most Pure Mother of God begged Saint John Chrysostom to forgive Cyril and embrace him. This vision completely reversed Cyril's attitude to Chrysostom, and he repented with shame that he had so hated him, doing his utmost for the rest of his life to glorify Saint John as a great saint of God.

--- Saint Nikolai Velimirovic

We submit that before our clergy in the latest Messenger ask us to consider this lesson, they themselves ought to consider it. Both Fr. Michael and Fr. Matthew have expressed a desire to live/retire here as our spiritual leaders, presumably, but also as members of our community. One would hardly know it.

Fr. Michael, in particular, has expressed an absolute disdain regarding Holy Trinity and the many parishioners in our greater community who mainly attend our original church, Holy Trinity - the CATHEDRAL in this city. Further, considering his attitude toward those who, a) have taken exception to his years-long UNWILLINGNESS to RARELY even set foot in the Cathedral, except when asked to perform services there (for which he undoubtedly receives "tychera" in addition to a handsome salary), and, b) his general disdain for those who still consider Holy Trinity, ALONG WITH PROPHET ELIAS (since it was the "spousal" extension when the community grew of Holy Trinity) their spiritual home we say the following:

First, this lesson needs to be espoused FIRST, by YOU, Fr. Michael, and please, while you are at it, ask Fr. Matthew to take it to heart as well, BEFORE you deem it necessary to remind your flock of its larger lessons. The Biblical exhortation of "physician, heal thyself!" comes directly to mind.

Second, while we, for generations now, may at times have some mild-to-intemperate differences of opinion among ourselves, we GENERALLY, do NOT adopt the notion that we have HATED those who our kinsfolk hate, or conversely, have indiscriminately LOVED, those who our kinsfolk might love.

Most of us have become educated enough, ENLIGHTENED enough, SECURE enough, to make decisions based on our faith, our experience, and our education and our God-given intelligence. And, despite any differences among us, we still LOVE and RESPECT each other.

These differences we have may or may not always be aligned with those of our current kinsfolk, and probably not always, as seems to be the case, with the mindset of today's clergy who perversely enough seem to wish to control all our thoughts and actions in order to "deem us worthy" for Christ's Kingdom. We know Christ is above such pettiness. As St. Nikolai's passage indicates, even our most revered and renowned clergy were sometimes guilty of the all-too-human frailty of finding fault, even with those considered among the most revered saints of our faith.

We would submit that those who sought to put forth this "lesson", which was undoubtedly aimed at those of us who might find fault with the all-too-evident failings our current leadership, take this lesson to heart THEMSELVES FIRST, before PRESUMING to ask others to consider it.

- The Moderators

Spring General Assembly.

A sad occurrence in the history of our Community

It is indeed a sad event what those of us who were allowed to participate and those who were not, saw unfolding on the premises of Prophet Elias. We were supposed to meet and expedite the usual business of our community, but before the meeting even began we started arguing about who was eligible to vote or not, resulting in angry conversations between board members and parishioners.

Of significance, however, during the Assembly, was the report given by our Internal Auditors on the financial status and business practices of our community, especially after several years of inactivity of any auditing committee.

The report was a masterpiece of unbelievable reality of mishandling and mismanaging proportions of the various funds and accounts of both church offices and for a great period of time. The Auditing Committee gave credit where credit was due, but by majority found fault to just about all facets of the community’s finances. For example, no one expected to read about the co-mingling of funds, the allowance of the clergy to write checks and foremost, to have the Church pay Internal Revenue Service the sum of almost $15,000.00 for negligence.

These and other findings in the Auditor’ Report are very serious in nature and substance and a recommendation should be made to the Board to incorporate it with the next Messenger so that the whole membership of our community take note and prepare itself to come to the Fall General Assembly ready to ask any relevant questions.

The correction(s) will take considerable time and those of us who were in attendance, and foremost, the members of the Auditing Committee, will be eager and anxious to find out when the Fall General Assembly convenes, if their labor of so many hours became a great benefit to our Community or a loss of their valuable time.

Sakis Sakellariou

Nick Colessides Comments on Yesterday's General Assembly

Dear Parishioners,

As one of the participants in yesterday’s General Assembly, I would like to express my personal thanks and gratitude to the following:

To Christina Gamvroulas for her most insightful comments about the total lack of integrity and leadership of the two Proistamenoi. It is worth saying it again to both of them: NTROPI, NTROPI.

To the Audit Team. A magnificent performance, by a group of high level professionals, showing what transparency should mean in our Parish.

To the Chairman of the General Assembly who allowed everybody to speak and did not use the old ploy of “out of order” used by past chairmen. Thank you for allowing us all to participate equally.

Best regards,

Nick J. Colessides

P. S. If you think it appropriate please free to disseminate to others. (Click here for the link to this post.)

Ignoring the UPRs at its Best!

Less than half of our community received the agenda for the upcoming general assembly which included the "new rules" regarding who is and who is not considered a member in good standing. The below is taken from the upcoming Sunday bulletin and was included in the mailing of the general assembly agenda.

SPRING GENERAL ASSEMBLY HELD TODAY

Please note that the SPRING GENERAL ASSEMBLY of our parish will be held TODAY at 3pm at Prophet Elias. Only committed stewards (Orthodox) who are current on their pledge through first quarter 2010 or those who made donations in first quarter 2010 will be allowed to participate in the General Assembly. Those speaking can assist in maintaining the decorum of the General Assembly and by limiting their comments to two minutes. In addition, in an effort to make sure everyone has an opportunity to speak, individuals who have spoken to the assembly on specific issues will be allowed to speak on the same subject only after everyone who wishes to speak has done so. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. (Emphasis added)

Our local leaders, who pride themselves on following the Uniform Parish Regulations, have in this instance (again) made up these rules which are contrary to that which they so desperately try to hold on to. Below is the actual Uniform Parish Regulation addressing membership in good standing:

ARTICLE 31
http://www.goarch.org/archdiocese/documents

PARISH ASSEMBLY

Section 1: A Parish Assembly may be convened for matters other than those involving canonical and dogmatic issues. The Parish Assembly is the general meeting of the Parishioners in good standing of the Parish and is the general policymaking and appropriating body of the Parish.
Section 2: Notice of a Parish Assembly shall be mailed to all Parishioners in good standing at least ten (10) days prior to the Assembly and shall include the agenda. The agenda shall be prepared by the Priest and the Parish Council and shall include all items to be discussed at the Assembly.

Section 3: A Parish Assembly consists of parishioners in good standing of the Parish who have met their stewardship obligations to the Parish in accordance with the Parish Bylaws. A person whose name appears on the Stewardship rolls but who is in arrears in the payment of his/her stewardship obligations may take part in the Parish Assembly by meeting such stewardship obligations on or before the date of the meeting. If a Parishioner is delinquent for more than the current calendar year, he or she may vote at the Parish Assembly only after that parishioner has met the unfulfilled stewardship financial obligations at least thirty (30) days before the Parish Assembly. (Emphasis added)

We urge everyone to attend the general assembly and demand from the proistamenoi and the parish council to show the documents contradicting the Uniform Parish Regulations regarding membership. It is a shame that these proistamenoi and the hand picked parish council resort to these underhanded tactics in an attempt to keep members of our community from fully participating in the life of THEIR CHURCH.