11/1/2018
Matthew Namee
Lately, a meme has been circulating online, claiming that the number of Orthodox Christians in America has grown from 700,000 to six million in just four years, 2020 to 2024. This is a complete fiction – but it has quite a history.
In 1744, a masonic lodge was founded in Constantinople, and a few years later, Ecumenical Patriarch Photius II condemned the movement in one or more patriarchal encyclicals.
This newly-independent church dealt with many challenges, one of which was the emergence of unauthorized teachers.
Prior to 1923, the Patriarchate of Antioch did not have an official presence in North America.
One of the keystone prerogatives claimed by the Ecumenical Patriarchate is its jurisdiction over the so-called “diaspora” – regions not included within the geographic boundaries of the other Autocephalous Churches. Many Churches don’t accept this claim.
Today I’m going to try to tell the story of how the Romanian Orthodox Churches became independent.
Leaving those disagreements aside, let’s examine each of the fourteen universally-recognized autocephalous churches. When did they become autocephalous?
Putting the edgy Athenagoras at the head of the old school Phanar was like mixing oil and water.
It’s pretty amazing that these documents are public, as they represent the beginnings of the fairly well-known but not well-documented relationship between Archbishop Athenagoras and US intelligence officials.
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Before Nicola were at least two paths—one narrow and one broad. The broad path would have been remarriage, and you could hardly fault him for choosing that path. The narrow path was kind of an unheard-of path.
