Orthodox Bishops Seek Greater Unity, Relevance in 21st Century

WASHINGTON (RNS) -- Five months ago, the bishops of eight Eastern Orthodox churches in the United States asked honest questions about whether their rich liturgical tradition was still relevant at the advent of the 21st century.

After three days of meetings here, they pronounced last week(May 3) that indeed their churches do have something to offer a modern society, but only if they can learn to speak with one voice.

Inside the splendid Cathedral of St. Nicholas, under the watchful eyes of brilliantly colored icons, 34 bishops of eight ethnic Orthodox U.S. churches concluded their second joint meeting with a call for unity and a re-evangelization of the faithful.

"Many in our society are morally adrift. We cannot remain silent," said a statement issued at the end of the summit. "The oneness of our voice will help to provide spiritual direction not only to our own faithful, but will also offer a witness to those around us of the truth of the Gospel."

Known together as the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA), the hierarchs pledged to find ways of working together, even if their mother churches in Europe do not like the idea.

When the SCOBA bishops first met in 1994, they concluded with a sweeping call to unify the 6 million members in the ethnic Orthodox churches, a proposal that was swiftly vetoed by Orthodox leaders in Europe and the Middle East. While this year's summit ended with a less zealous tone, the bishops said their goal remains the same.

"Sometimes we speak too much and have too many things to do and haven't organized ourselves to do it," said Metropolitan Theodosius, head of the Orthodox Church in America, adding that the hierarchs saw the need to "put it down a gear."

As part of that quest for unity, the bishops said they realized the need to develop a centralized infrastructure, similar to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, so that the separate ethnic churches could speak with one voice on social and theological issues.

The bishops also decided that their joint meetings should be held annually to increase participation and communication between the member churches.

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