The 339,000-member Orthodox church voted to leave the NCC on July 28 during its General Convention in Troy, Mich. The decision to leave the New York-based NCC was supported by its leader, Metropolitan Philip.
Topping a list of grievances, apparently, was the NCC's liberal drift and actions by its outspoken general secretary, the Rev. Bob Edgar. "It got to be too much," church spokesman the Rev. Thomas Zain told Ecumenical News International. "There was no reason to be part of it."
Zain also said, "We just feel we don't have much in common with the (other NCC-member) churches," pointing to a decision by the United Church of Christ to support gay marriage, and the Episcopal Church to approve an openly gay bishop.
The Antiochian Orthodox Church traces its roots to Arab-speaking immigrants who previously belonged to the Russian Orthodox Church. In 2003, it was granted full autonomy by Antiochian church leaders in Syria.
Pat Patillo, director of communications for the NCC, declined to comment on the church's decision, in part because the agency had not been formally notified of it. "There was no word before, during or after," he said.
But Mark Tooley, a frequent NCC critic at the Washington-based Institute on Religion and Democracy, said the Antiochian decision should prompt the 35 remaining Orthodox and mainline churches in the NCC to "seek out alternatives that actually strengthen the body of Christ rather than divide it with dubious political causes."
Patillo said he doubted the Antiochians would prompt an exodus. "A denomination will do what it wants to do (for its own reasons), rather than because somebody else did it," Patillo said.
