Category: Churches
-
Defrocking Outside the Sanctuary
Father Lazarus Abboud The Antiochian Synod took a decision yesterday to defrock a retired metropolitan, justifying the decision: the former metropolitan alleged the establishment of rights in his favor over assets and funds belonging to the diocese without any right, and resorted to the civil judiciary in the United States of America, and the fathers…
-
Obedience and Disguised Servitude
Father Lazarus Abboud How do we understand obedience in the Church, how do we obey? Does the ecclesial institution resemble the military institution, so that the one of lower rank becomes subject to the one of higher rank? Is obedience a matter of command (receiving orders, wise leadership)? In that case, what is the difference…
-
Metropolitan Hilarion and Questions Concerning Church Administration
Father Lazarus Abboud: The dismissal of Metropolitan Hilarion from the post of head of the Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Church was announced, and his removal from permanent membership in the Holy Synod, in the session of the Russian Synod held today, where the position of Patriarch Kirill, Patriarch of Russia, was…
-
Boasting in Ignorance
Lazarus Abboud. Many of us Orthodox take pride that the light springs forth in the Holy Sepulchre at the hands of the Patriarch of Jerusalem and no one else, and that there have been several attempts throughout history that failed to bring forth the light. Some therefore regard this event as an occasion to boast…
-
The Nomination of a Metropolitan: Divorce.
Lazarus Abboud The Archdiocese of America became vacant following the resignation of Metropolitan Joseph Zahlawi, and the procedures for electing a new metropolitan for the archdiocese began according to its internal statutes (the Constitution of the Archdiocese of North America). It is noteworthy that this archdiocese is the only one that enjoys such an organization…
-
The Priesthood of Women: Does the Church Have the Right to Change Canonically and Theologically?
Therefore, from the standpoint of canonical church law, the Church is progressive, because it is able to add to it, to omit from it, or to make in it whatever modification and alteration suits the needs of every time and place. If the Church takes a decision to ordain women within the orders of the…