“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, February 24, 2012

Letter from Metropolitan to Parish Council, 23 Feb 2012

Moderators' Note: the original of this letter may be viewed HERE.

+ GREEK ORTHODOX METROPOLIS OF DENVER

February 23, 2012

Rev. Michael Kouremetis,
Rev. Matthew Gilbert,
Mr. Phillip Floor, Council President
The Esteemed Parish Council
The Greek Orthodox Church of Greater Salt Lake City
Holy Trinity Cathedral – Prophet Elias Church
c/o 279 South 300 West
Salt Lake City, Utah 84101

Beloved in the Lord,

I am in receipt of your letter informing me that the fifteen parishioners who accepted to be on the Interim Parish Council for 2012 have taken the Affirmation of Office as prescribed by our Archdiocese Regulations and are now working as one entity for the growth and progress of the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Salt Lake City area.

I hereby accept the fifteen parishioners as members of the canonical parish council of the Greek Orthodox community and parish for the year 2012, as provided by Article 26, Section 5 of the Uniform Parish Regulations.

As I mentioned in my letter to you dated January 12, 2012, the Parish Council is to facilitate the continuity of all parish ministries for the good of the members. It shall also prepare to have canonical parish council elections as soon as it is practical.

Having received word from your president, Mr. Phillip Floor, that by consensus you believe that a general assembly for proper parish council elections should be held soon after the Great Fast and the glorious Paschal celebrations, I accept the date of Sunday, April 29, 2012 which you have proposed to me, as practical for such an assembly.

Information has come to me that a group calling itself the Greek Orthodox Church of Great Salt Lake has proposed elections for its “CORPORATION” in the near future. Clearly, this has nothing to do with you and your parish, since the Church is not a “corporation” but a cell in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, which is under the Ecumenical Patriarchate. It is obvious that attempting to reduce the Body of Christ, which has existed for nearly 2,000 years, to the status of a modern secular organization is absurdity.

I express my complete confidence in all fifteen members of the parish council to work together as sons and daughters of our loving God, Who established His Church in the world for the salvation of His people.

With paternal blessings,
/s/
+ Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver

2 comments:

Steve Gamvroulas said...

Χρειαζόμαστε ένα θαύμα...χειροπέδες και συλλήψεις

Bill Rekouniotis said...

Let me get this straight "the Church is not a corporation" yet he and the P.E. miracle worker orchestrated a Prophet Elias Church corporation. Ain't that the pot calling the kettle black?