Your Eminence, it's a question of trust

In the history-filled chambers of the Holy Synod of the Phanar a week ago, Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios finally asked Archbishop Demetrios of America to submit his resignation.

Demetrios refused. "I still have a lot of work to do," he responded. It was an astonishingly rebellious act.

Vartholomaios had entrusted him to lead the must-keep Eparchy of America almost 20 years ago.

Furthermore, it became clear that Demetrios was in utter denial that under his watch the Archdiocese had become insolvent, and to make matters even worse, the Office of the Attorney General as well as the New York State Attorney General's Office are examining the Archdiocese's financial records.

Never before in the long and proud history of our community in America had we fallen to such a low point. Having gone through the tumultuous years of Spyridon - 1996 to 1999 - the...