If the Ecumenical Patriarch proceeded with the meeting, and claimed that it held some kind of doctrinal authority, then we (yes, I am an Orthodox layman) could have a major problem on our hands. Oh, and it also doesn't help that some people keep playing to the press by calling this gathering a kind of "Orthodox Vatican II." I'm not even sure that the endangered circle of bishops surrounding the Ecumenical Patriarch – whose actual church in Turkey now includes about 2,000 surviving Greek members – think that is the case.
So why isn't any of this a story in the American press, even in the back pages of major newspapers? Let me toss out a few theories.
Read Full Article »