GOC of Greece in the Americas becomes the GOC OF AMERICA!!!

Lounger · Post by **Lounger** » Thu 15 January 2004 10:17 am

Hellenic Orthodox Traditionalist Church of America

Holy Metropolis Genuine Greek Orthodox Church
of North & South America

New York, October 30th, 2003

ENCYCLICAL 2

Dear Children in the Lord,

There is nothing more valuable than the soul of man,

as even Christ Himself pointed out, "What profiteth it a
man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?" (Mark 8:36).
If all the riches of the world cannot purchase a single soul,
what treasures could equal in value the souls of every
member of the Church from Adam and Eve to the
Present day?

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What indeed, is the Church?

The Church is the communion of the saints; it is the

totality of those who have attained the likeness of God
(our purpose of existence) or are struggling to attain it.
Those who have already become saints and have passed
on the other life comprise the invisible Church; while
we who are yet in this world struggling to achieve that
purpose for which God made us (that is, to become like
Him - to become saints) are members of the visible
Church. The Church, visible and invisible, is one because
Christ is one. He is the Head of the Church, and we
together are His Body.

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It should be obvious, then that the Church, the sum

of the saints and of those who are being sanctified, is
the most precious thing on earth. This treasure is unique
and unsurpassed in worth, existing throughout all ages.
we believe that She will exist until the end of the world,
even though She is surrounded be [sic] enemies who
ravenously seek to devour Her. To protect Herself,
the Church since the time of the Apostles has organized
the faithful into groups, not only to instruct them and
shepherd them into safe pastures, but also to better
resist Her foes. This is the "ruler of the darkness of this
world" (Eph. 6:12) - the devil with his lackeys, the
powers of darkness, heretics, and the like.

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Christ founded His Church on the bedrock of the

Holy Apostles. On these foundation stones are set all
the members of the Church, laid on order of hierarchy,
as the Apostle Paul explains, "And God has set some
in the Church, first apostles, secondary teachers, after
that miracles, then gifts of healing..." (1 Cor. 2:28).

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The Apostles were responsible for the whole

Church. They were the spiritual fathers of the
Christians, grouping the first Church into dioceses
and parishes. After the Apostles, God gave the
Church "prophets". These prophets, such as were
the Apostles who continued their work both in
teaching the true faith - the Orthodox faith - and
in properly organizing the Church. Thus Christians
were arranged according to locality into bishoprics,
or local churches, all of which together comprised
the One Church. b these means, many parishes
came to constitute one diocese. Many dioceses
together comprise a local church, and all the local
churches combines make the One Church, the
Orthodox Church. During Byzantine times, there
were five great local churches, called Patriarchates:
Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and
Jerusalem. The Ecumenical Councils in the divinely
inspired canons established the jurisdiction of each
of the local churches. for example, the 28th canon
of the 4th Ecumenical council states that the
Patriarchate of Constantinople has jurisdiction only
over Thrace, Pontos, and part of Asia Minor.

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Today because of Ecumenism, that part of the Orthodox

Church, which is in Greece, is called "The Church of the
Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece". Its head is the
His Beatitude Chrysostomos II (Kiousis), Archbishop of
Athens, and it is governed by the Holy Synod of Bishops
under him. The Genuine Orthodox Christians of all of
America, from the time of the ever-memorable Bishop Petros
of Astoria, have always belonged to the Church of the
G.O.C. of Greece. This is the same Holy Synod, which
after the death of Bishop Petros, consecrated my unworthiness
as Metropolitan of America, making me one of the members
responsible for the pastoral care for the Orthodox faithful
of America.

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The Holy Synod in Greece, however, has confirmed that

it is difficult for it to be continuously concerned with the church
affairs in far-off America. For this reason it decided at its
meeting on October 2nd, 2003, to grant independence to the
Church in America in regard to all questions of pastoral and
administrative concern. According to this resolution, a local
Holy Synod will bear these responsibilities, while spiritually
the American Church will remain inseparably united with the
mother Church of the G.O.C. of Greece.

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Henceforth, the Church of the G.O.C. of America will be

administered according to the 10/15/03 Synodal Act of the
Church of the G.O.C. of Greece. The Metropolitan of
America shall be its Primate and under him will be a local
synod, which will be composed of at least three members,
following the consecration of another bishop. Thus, the
Church Constitution for America will be completed and
approved by lawful procedures based on the Holy Canons
and the precepts of Orthodoxy.

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In making all these things known to the pious flock of our

Church of America, we glorify the name of Our Lord and
God and Savior Jesus Christ for this gift. We beseech Him
to bless the new arrangement of our Church and provide
many young and worth clergy who can spread the message
of Orthodoxy throughout America, thus leading as many as
possible to salvation, for such is the Lord's will. Christ
"desireth that all should be saved and come to the knowledge
of the truth." (1Tim. 2:4).

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The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God

the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

[signature]
[seal]

+PAVLOS
Metropolitan of North & South America

Justin Kissel · Post by **Justin Kissel** » Thu 15 January 2004 10:53 am

Thank you for posting this $/\$

PS. For those interested, here is another interesting Encylical.

OrthodoxyOrDeath · Thu 15 January 2004 11:14 am

I guess we now know what Encyclical 1 was.

尼古拉前执事 · Thu 15 January 2004 11:48 am

That answered my first question. LOL. Is there a web site for the GOC of America, OOD?

OrthodoxyOrDeath · Thu 15 January 2004 12:08 pm

from what I know they are still getting this ready for launch, kinda like the Mars rover, they don't seem to be in a rush.

http://www.thegreekorthodoxchurch.com/m ... index3.php

尼古拉前执事 · Fri 16 January 2004 11:06 am

So my question for Daniel and OOD, is what do you think of this and why do you think it was done?

Daniel · Post by **Daniel** » Fri 16 January 2004 1:35 pm

OOD is more (for want of a better cliche) 'in the know' than I, but...

Met. Paul says this in the encylical:

The Holy Synod in Greece...has confirmed that
it is difficult for it to be continuously concerned with the church
affairs in far-off America. For this reason it decided at its
meeting on October 2nd, 2003, to grant independence to the
Church in America in regard to all questions of pastoral and
administrative concern. According to this resolution, a local
Holy Synod will bear these responsibilities, while spiritually
the American Church will remain inseparably united with the
mother Church of the G.O.C. of Greece.

That's probably the best explination as to 'why'. I haven't read the resolution from October.

How do I feel about it? I think in the long run, I think, it will be good for the growth of our Synod. I'm actually quite excited about it, really. God willing, it will be a rather smooth transition to self-gonvernance. But, we'll see how it all goes.