ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY<\/strong>
\nPress Release
\nNovember 3, 2009
\nFor more information contact: George Matsoukas 877-585-0245<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL) described Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew\u2019s remarks to the recently-held SCOBA (Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas) meeting held in New York City on October 27, 2009 \u201cas another important step on the road to Orthodox Unity in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBy reaffirming his support for the unity process which commenced a year ago in Istanbul and subsequently refined this past June in Chambesy, Switzerland, His All Holiness delivered a clear message to America\u2019s Orthodox leadership that he backs the unity effort,\u201d said Bill Souvall, newly-elected President of OCL. <\/p>\n

Mr. Souvall added that the Patriarch \u201cdemonstrated an acute understanding of our situation in the United States,\u201d citing excerpts from his remarks which referred to the evolving status quo of the Church in America. \u201cPatriarch Bartholomew\u2019s recognition of the changing reality of Orthodoxy in America is most encouraging to those in OCL and others who support church unity,\u201d Mr. Souvall continued.<\/p>\n

George Matsoukas, OCL Executive Director, said: \u201cWhat was especially notable about the Patriarch\u2019s remarks was his openness to new ideas; and I quote him: \u2018We welcome positive suggestions and, as is said in our modern world, \u201cthinking outside the box,\u201d so that we may construct models of ecclesiastical polity and governance sunk deep in the venerable tradition of our One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and at the same time are relevant to the spiritual needs and societal conventions of the world within which our faithful live\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Souvall and Mr. Matsoukas agreed that the Patriarch\u2019s remarks provide clear direction for the Orthodox prelates as they prepare for their first-ever Episcopal Assembly of all Bishops in North America which will take up unity issues scheduled for after Pentecost in May 2010.<\/p>\n

OCL, an independent movement established in 1987, has been a leading and consistent advocate for Orthodox unity in North America and for the laity\u2019s full participation in Church life; and in that spirit, anticipates that all members of the Church will fully engage in the process leading to a unified North American Church.<\/p>\n

Visit OCL at www.ocl.org<\/a> or www.orthodoxnews.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY Press Release November 3, 2009 For more information contact: George Matsoukas 877-585-0245 Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL) described Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew\u2019s remarks to the recently-held SCOBA (Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas) meeting held in New York City on October 27, 2009 \u201cas another important step on the road to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1784],"tags":[1040,101,296,458,1021,137],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4359"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4359"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4367,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4359\/revisions\/4367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}