Eastern Orthodox Church organization

By George Gilson

When Greek Orthodox Archbishop Athenagoras of America was elected Ecumenical Patriarch - the first among equals with a coordinating role in Eastern Orthodox Church, which is said to have 300 million faithful worldwide) - in 1948, he travelled to Istanbul, Turkey, for his enthronement on the presidential aeroplane of US President Harry Truman.

By George Gilson

Those who are at all familiar with the Eastern Orthodox Church are well aware that Archbishop Elpidophoros (Lambriniadis) of America long before becoming leader of the Greek Orthodox Church in the US was one of its most eminent and respected hierarchs.

This decision was made by the Holy Synod of Bishops as the supreme canonical authority in the Church, authorized to schedule sessions of the highest church body.

Archbishop Elpidophoros of America said he mourns the death of Paul Sarbanes, a Maryland Democrat who served in the US Congress for more than three decades, calling him "a true giant of the omogeneia (diaspora) and the nation."

Greece's Orthodox Church will resist a push by its Russian co-religionists for talks to stop Ukraine's Church breaking away from Moscow's orbit, Greek church officials said on Tuesday, deepening a rift within the global Orthodox Christian community.

If the Ukrainian Orthodox Church receives recognition of its independence from Moscow from the Ecumenical Patriarch, the similarly isolated Macedonian Church hopes for a similar breakthrough.

The Russian Patriarchate has openly disputed the first-among-equals status of the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate after the latter's decision to grant independence to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from Moscow.

This Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) official told the daily Politika that such a move would be opposed "by the entire Orthodox world."