By Jim Jatras (source “X”)
They’ve been talking about this for years, but here we are already in Lent, and nothing has been done. It had seemed they labored mightily and brought forth not even a mouse. From the beginning, it seemed clear to me that if any change would be made on the dating of Pascha/Easter, Rome would have to make it — for the simple reason that the Pope can make any change he wants in his confession but the EP simply has no such power. It turns out I was wrong. Note: “In supporting Orthodox Christians of its jurisdiction in North America to celebrate Pascha according to the rules established at the Council of Nicaea [sic] and accurate astronomical realities, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, for example, would not require the consent or corroboration of other autocephalous churches.”
It seems that before he shuffles off this mortal coil, Patriarch Bartholomew wants to crown his dismal tenure in the once-venerable see of Constantinople and New Rome with a unilateral change that I suspect almost nobody outside his immediate jurisdiction will follow (much like his Ukraine “autocephaly” fiasco). Note the reference to the Church of Finland, which from the start was a camel’s nose under the tent experiment. Note also the reference to the “irrelevance” of those jurisdictions that didn’t attend the 2016 Robber Council of Crete. Delusional.
He’s the one who’s becoming totally irrelevant, whatever his masters at Langley and Foggy Bottom might think. Note too the supposed excuse of pastoral concern for Orthodox/non-Orthodox mixed marriages. (BTW, whatever happened to the GOArch proposal to commune non-Orthodox spouses? Did they drop that or just quietly instruct priests to commune them?) The GOArch leadership still has its head in the 1950s, where they still think of the flock in terms of Orthodox Greeks marrying non-Orthodox ξένοι, and how to deal with it. Have they not noticed the flood of converts into OCA, ROCOR, and Antiochian parishes? (Yes, some GOArch and Carpatho-Russian parishes too, thank goodness, the farther away from the NYC ethno-bubble, the better.) Yes, the mixed marriage issue was and to some extent remains a pastoral concern. But the solution is not to make our Church more non-Orthodox user-friendly (which, BTW, I think is just a pretext for the EP’s hell-bent — literally — course toward union with Rome) but to MAKE AMERICANS ORTHODOX. (Note this video, right at the start, where I ask out of 200+ participants at the 2025 conference how many are Orthodox “ethnics”: only SEVEN of them, or which two were me and my daughter.
With profound sadness and regret, if in his darkening twilight Patriarch Bartholomew is determined to become a Uniate, let him go ahead and do it with whatever (I think small) part of the Church that will follow him — and don’t let the Narthex door hit him on the way out.
Shakespeare would have never stuck with the quote “Something’s rotten in Denmark” if he could ever envision the level of spiritual “stench” emanating from Constantinople’s sphere of jurisdiction in the 21st century…It might have been more like “hold your noses and close the windows…the easterly winds are blowing again”…
Some will always be traitors, but the authentic faithful will never follow them. There were a few cases in Ukraine where the priest transferred from UOC to OCU, but the faithful remained in OCU. If Patr. Barto is confused about when he should celebrate Easter, then let him go and celebrate with the Catholics and leave us alone. He is doing serious damage to our church and it is better that he leaves than continue his destruction in the OC. His supporters here always take his side and say this is not about celebrating together with the catholics, but only the blind can’t see. What other proof do you need when he is already commemorating the pope (like recently in Nicaea)?
CORRECTION: There were a few cases in Ukraine where the priest transferred from UOC to OCU, but the remained in UOC.
I like that in most years we Orthodox celebrate Pascha on a different date. In the US it gives us a chance to bring Protestants to our services.
Jim, as most always, your insights regarding the EP are spot-on.
Be proactive, Patriarchs, Metropolitans, and all bishops. You need to defend the conciliatory way the Church arrives at decisions.
If you wait to react to Patriarch Bartholomew’s likely, unilateral proclamation about the date of Easter, it may be too late. The Church might already be in schism like it happened when the calendar was changed in the 1920’s.
Also enlightened monks and theologians, where are you? In the past, we laity have been guided by your wise words that told us how to deal with the foolish utterances of deluded clergymen.
Act before the out-of-control Patriarch does more damage to the Church.
Silence will be interpreted as approval.
It is the fault of all of those that accept things as they are. Why give a patriarch an honorary professor title, when he forgot he is a monk in the orthodox church, and now commemorates the pope? Why make him a statue? Why call him your holliness when he clearly is not holy? Why recognize OCU by GOC even though it was “reognized” in a very suspicious way wiith no vote, and many GOC hiearchs do not commemorate Dumenko and are vocal about not recognizing him? Why honor a creator of a schismatic “church” in Ukraine with anything that most of the other OCs do not recognize? He is making all those decisions as if he is the only OC patriarch.
https://uoj.news/news/86604-ecumenical-patriarch-bartholomew-named-honorary-professor-in-zakynthos