To the Editor:

The results of the July 4th “Question of the Week” about whether the Archdiocese and Metropolises should make the Greek language a priority EQUAL to that of its religious mission actually surprised me.

I would have thought that the subscribers and readers of TNH would have voted more positively than the 39% who voted yes. After all, those of us who read this periodical are very interested in the Greek news and most likely also in Greek history, language, culture, etc. If this question were to be presented to the general population of Greek Americans, I believe that the “No” results would have been significantly higher than the 57% results in TNH.

I love my church, I am fluent in Greek, born in America, but Greek was my first language. It mystifies me that the Archdiocese and the Metropolises would still consider us a “diaspora” church, since we are in at least the seventh generation of Greek Americans in the United States (5th generation in my family); none of the 4th or 5th generation speak Greek.

The Roman Catholic Church converted to the native language of the land 45 years ago; the Greek language was never the language Greece (Russia, Serbia, Rumania, Ukraine, etc.were always allowed to have the Liturgy in their language). The local Russian Orthodox churches use English exclusively and they are called the Orthodox Church in America, having dropped the ethnic reference of Russia. Unfortunately, many Greek Americans attend these churches instead of Greek Orthodox Churches.

The church should concentrate its efforts on religion. We have wonderful young clergymen who are adept at chanting in English; the Choir at the Archdiocesan Cathedral sings in English and Greek; this needs to be encouraged to all the choirs throughout the Archdiocese.

The ethnicity is acceptable and certainly encouraged, but it should not be equally weighted to religion. Greek Schools, dancing, cooking etc. should be taught but only to those who want to avail themselves of these extra-curricular activities; the curriculum of the church is RELIGION. This is and must be the main focus for us to survive as Orthodox Christians in the United States into the 22nd century.

George K Lavas
Rockville Centre, NY

Dear Andrew,

You said it. Fr. Hans et al have done a remarkable job attracting some of the most reasoned bloggers in the Orthodox world here (present company excluded). The commentary here is head and shoulders above that found elsewhere on the web.

My hat is off to them…you all are recreating the Church of the First 15 centuries…We many times forget that an engaged and literate laity was a hallmark of the church for many centuries.

Different forum, same result.

Nice job!

Best Regards,
Dean

I am afraid you are in the end correct.

However, this whole little exercise shows The National Herald readership is very small and inconsequential. AOI readers were able to enact a 20% swing on this survey. It does say AOI has more online readers and more dedicated online readers than the National Herald website has.

So lets give a cheer for the informed and engaged community we have here.

I’m afraid that regardless of the vote, the very question itself –and it’s posting on the last major Greek-American daily–means that the GOA/homogeneia crowd has already lost the evangelical war. Moreover, it tarnishes all Orthodox in this way: if it ever got out to the general public, we who are not GOA would be caught flat-footed yet again, having to explain the whole jurisdictional imbroglio. Comical yes, but terrible at the same time.

Besides the fact that the answers were inadequate, the question itself was of the “have you stopped beating your wife variety?” You condemn yourself which ever way you answer. But that’s another story.

Re: “GOA – confusing the mission since 1921.”

You get the prize…funniest thing I’ve read all day.

I’ll take 100 of them.

Toooooooooooooooooo funny!!!

Dean

To the degree it does reflect the mindset of the membership, it stands as a terrible indictment of current catechesis and adult formation. This, however, is a challenge that can be addressed, provided that one sees it as a problem to begin with.

So far as it reflects the position of the leadership, such a perspective would be more problematic. Such a position, were it ever to be enshrined in some kind policy, would ensure that the archdiocese is permanently defined as provincial. Can anyone imagine the Roman Catholic Church considering the use of its parishes to promote Italian culture – or Western European culture? (Even the Church of England, which seems to have a remarkable elasticity regarding the criteria of faith, would not overtly promote English culture.) Such a perspective would seem to be stepping awfully close to violating the prohibition against philitism. The letters of St. Paul make quite an issue of insisting that one must not elevate or impose any extraneous criteria – in this case Jewish (which could at least point to practices with an actual divine mandate)- in addition to the claims of the faith, not even upon people of potentially problematic cultural backgrounds (ironically, Greeks).

As Dean said, you can’t make this stuff up.

You can, however, make up fun, new slogans. IF true, however – and I pray it is not – one can imagine a popular Orthodox bumper sticker being revised to say: “GOA – confusing the mission since 1921.” (God forgive me.)

It was 52% YES 41% NO Before I put up the note on AOI

Now its 51% NO and 41% Yes with 8% voting maybe. (Who votes maybe, we could have a Obamakis button for “present” but maybe?)

Way to go AOI readers……. I say vote and make them think twice about putting such surveys up. You know these folks want YES to prevail.

Keep the votes coming in people.

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The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America launched a new Greek language educational initiative this week. Over the past hundred years throughout the United States, Greek Orthodox parishes were established to serve as centers for both the Orthodox Faith and Greek culture. Should the Archdiocese and the Metropolises make the promotion and preservation of the Greek language a priority EQUAL to that of its religious mission?

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I say don’t vote…let’s see what the pure, unadulterated numbers are. It might tell us everything we need to know about moving forward with the Greeks (or not).

You couldn’t make this stuff up.

Best Regards
dean

Hey folks http://www.thenationalherald.com has an interesting poll on the front of its webpage concerning ethnicity and the Church.

I hope my AOI friends will go to the site and help push the poll in right direction.