“To respond especially to Fr. Deacon John. I think one of the most important things that could happen as a step toward the unity for the entire Orthodox community in America would be for the OCA and the self ruled Antiochian Archdiocese to come together into a single synod of bishops, a single church so that we can pursue together that common mission which is, for most of our churches, is basically indistinguishable…we have a common mission, our churches are virtually indistinguishable from one another…neither one of us…is focused on the particular ministry…and these ministries to ethnic communities are very important and we’ll not minimize the importance of those ministries…but the kind of missionary outreach ministry which is done by the Orthodox Church in America and the Antiochian Archdiocese is virtually identical in its scope and it’s form and we need to completely unify our efforts.”

Personally, I thought these were the boldest comments of the entire conference.

Best Regards
Dean

I wish I could have been there. Keep up the good work.

geo

The “executive producer” was a bit of a spoof, played on me by my fellow St. Andrew House board member in the credits. It was a group effort, directed from above, as is usually the case at St. Andrew House. We have a small but creative board, one that doesn’t back away from anything in the pursuit of unity (including our president, Abp Nathaniel).

We thought the timing of the conference would be propitious, given the Pan Orthodox conference in Switzerland (originally planned for Cyprus) and the upcoming AOCA clergy laity meeting. In the meantime, a meeting of the Holy Synod in Damascus just happened to occur.

The metropolitan’s comments certainly did not disappoint – particularly the comment about moving forward with the AOCA. To be honest, I think he is sincere about this, and I think we all need to help him. As Charles said, “this needs to happen both from above and below.” I think the metropolitan was absolutely correct…we need to move forward with a coalition of the willing. Time’s a wastin.

The significant OCL presence at the meeting should also be noted. Deacon John Zarras, without whom this would not have happened, Charles Ajalat, and Archbishop Nathaniel are all current or past OCL board members. Our sincere thanks go also to the fine St. Vladimir’s staff who greeted our offer with enthusiasm, and patiently accommodated us as we bumbled our way thru it. I’m sure they wondered on more than one occassion, “What did we get ourselves into with these folks?” Particular thanks to Fr. Chad Hatfield and Archdeacon Kirill Sokolov. Great people to work with all. I’ll tell you this – the seminary is in GOOD hands!!! These are good people.

The internet data was interesting. We had visitors from 25 countries around the world including Russia, Greece, Finland, Syria, Egypt, Macedonia, Serbia, and Romania. In total almost 3000 visitors viewed the conference. At any one time, there were normally 140+ viewing the webcast. This does not include the AFR audience. If our past experience is any guide, the downloads of the program during the upcoming weeks will be many multiples of that.

Finally, I think it was interesting (and no coincidence) that on the same weekend, the first webcast was occurring at St Vlad’s, while in Oklahoma City John Maddex of Ancient Faith Radio and the AOCA was conducting the first media “immersion” of a city into Orthodoxy. For details, people should go to http://www.tryorthodoxy.com

I think St. John Chrysostom (coincidentally the patron saint of John Maddex) was probably looking down on us, and saying, “Well done guys.” Or perhaps, “It’s about time!!!” LOL

In any case, I think the American saints were certainly smiling.

Thanks for your continued encouragement and support.

Sincerely,
Dean Calvert
Treasurer
St Andrew House
visit us online at http://www.orthodoxdetroit.com

http://ancientfaith.com/specials/st._vladimirs_seminary_summer_conference_2009