“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


Sunday, August 4, 2013

THE CONSEQUENCES OF BYZANTINE MINDSETS

The situation now existing in our Church community is, sadly, the rational consequence of an irrational and absurd system of governance. Our Metropolitan has once again proved that Lord Acton was absolutely correct: "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

The Greek Orthodox flock in this community continues to suffer under a set of top-heavy, convoluted, contradictory and absurd regulations instituted by a naive and short-sighted lay "leadership" that carries the water for an arrogant clergy and hierarchy demanding unreasonable and tyrannical control.

A wise and compassionate spiritual leadership should never have demanded such of their flock. Even given such power, a truly spiritual leadership would have used their prerogatives more carefully and more thoughtfully.

As my late father often said, "ότι κάνεις λἀβεις, καρδιά μην σου πονέσει!" (Whatever you do, you receive, don't let it break your heart!"  The Biblical equivalent is "As you sow, so shall you reap.")

- Barbara Billinis Colessides

No comments: