New Chicago Metropolitan to be Elected July 6

CHICAGO, IL – On July 6, the election of the new metropolitan of Chicago will take place in succession of the recently departed Metropolitan Iakovos.

His Eminence Archbishop Geron Demetrios of America, president of the Holy Eparchial Synod of  the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, has duly notified the members of the Synod and also the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

The Synod is comprised of Demetrios, along with Metropolitans Methodios of Boston, Isaiah of Denver, Alexios of Atlanta, Nicholas of Detroit, Savas of Pittsburgh, Gerasimos of San Francisco, and Evangelos of New Jersey.

The process is as follows:They will select the trirprosopon, it will be sent to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, whose own Synod presided by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will elect one of the three, preferably and traditionally the one who gains the majority of the Archdiocesan Synod’s votes.

Of course, the Patriarchate has the privilege to elect anyone of the three. The reason that the election is not done directly by the Archdiocesan Synod is because the Archdiocese is not an autonomous church, but belongs to the Patriarchate. That is also why the Metropolitans do not commemorate the name of Archbishop Demetrios when they Liturgize, but they commemorate instead the name of the ecumenical patriarch.

The Metropolitanate system as it has been set up today is a strange and problematic one to say the least, because the Archdiocese of America as a whole is considered the only Ecclesiastical Eparchy and thus Demetrios is the only ruling shepherd (poimenarhis) ruling hierarch. When he visits the Metropolises on Sundays or of Feast Days,for example in Boston, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, he is commemorated as poimenarhis. In that respect, the local metropolitans are a mixture of titular metropolitans and auxiliary bishops. It is really an ecclesiological travesty.

LIST OF CANDIDATES

On June 13, Demetrios sent a list of candidates for elevation to Episcopacy in accordance with Article 14 of the Charter and pertinent regulations, and in light of the vacancy in Chicago, the Archdiocese publishes the list of candidates eligible for election to the Office of Metropolitan or Auxiliary Bishop. The list includes the names of Auxiliary Bishops, in order of ordination to the Episcopacy; and the names of other clergy in alphabetical order. This list has recently been duly ratified by the Ecumenical Patriarchate with an official document dated March 1 and under protocol number 37.

1) Auxiliary bishops (in order of ordination to the Episcopacy)

His Grace Bishop Andonios of  Phasiane

His Grace Bishop Demetrios of  Mokissos

His Grace Bishop Sevastianos of  Zela

His Grace Bishop Apostolos of  Medeia

2) Archimandrites (in alphabetical order)

1. Rev. Archimandrite Dionysios Anagnostopoulos
2. Rev. Archimandrite Timothy Bakakos
3. Rev. Archimandrite Vasilios Bassakyros
4. Rev. Archimandrite Ambrosios Bitziadis (Bowers)
5. Rev. Archimandrite John E. Constantine
6. Rev. Archimandrite Joachim A. Cotsonis
7. Rev. Archimandrite Nektarios Cottros

V . Rev. Archimandrite Damaskinos V. Ganas

1. Rev. Archimandrite Philip Koufos
2. Rev. Archimandrite Gerasimos Makris
3. Rev. Archimandrite Stavroforos Mamaies
4. Rev. Archimandrite Constantine Moralis
5. Rev. Archimandrite Makarios J. Niakaros
6. Rev. Archimandrite George Nikas
7. Rev. Archimandrite Chrysostom Panos
8. Rev. Archimandrite Christodoulos Papadeas
9. Rev. Archimandrite Nektarios Papazafiropoulos
10. Rev. Archimandrite Eugene N. Pappas
11. Rev. Archimandrite Seraphim P. Poulos
12. Rev. Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes
13. Rev. Archimandrite Nathanael Symeonides
14. Rev. Archimandrite Agathonikos Wilson

3) Presbyters (in alphabetical order)

Rev. Fr. E. Kyprianos Bouboutsis

Rev. Fr. Athanasios DeMedeiros

Rev. Fr. Sokratis Dimitriadis

Rev. Economos Christopher Flesoras

Rev. Fr. Eudokimos-Martin Harding

1. Rev. Archimandrite Andrew Mahaleres

Rev. Fr. Christodoulos Margellos

Rev. Fr. Galenos John Pilafas

Rev. Fr. Polykarpos Steve

Rev. Fr. Michael Ziebarth

In a letter accompanying the list, the archbishop wrote that “each member of the Archdiocesan Council is kindly invited to provide in writing to the Consultation Committee their comments and/or recommendations for the election of a person from the list of eligible candidates to the Metropolitan of Chicago.” The letter, Demetrios instructed, should be strictly confidential and to be received no later than June 23.

BEHIND THE SCENES

It should be noted that Archimandrite Mehaleres comes from the married clergy,but whose wife died, and then Metropolitan Methodios of bestowed upon him the status of archimandrite. Mehaleres is retired.

Archimandrite Poulos is also retired. Three on the list are not assigned anywhere for unknown reasons and one is on medical leave. Despite all that, they continue to be on the list eligible for election.

What happens is that they are used as “dressing.” Specifically, the members of the Synod have agreed in advance or it has dictated to them from above (i.e., from the Patriarchate) whom to select, but they also add two more names on the triprosopon knowingly that are not electable, and thus the selection is made. The irony is that at the end they claim that the Holy Spirit illuminated them at the selection.

TNH has learned that Demetrios and the Patriarchate have received numerous letters and recommendations from hierarchs, priests and laymen in support of the candidacy of Metropolitan Nikitas of Dardanelles for Metropolitan of Chicago. Metropolitan Nikitas had served for more than eight years as chancellor of the Chicago Metropolis under Iakovos.In 1996, he was elected the first Metropolitan of Hong Kong, where he served until 2007. Today, he is the director of the Athenagoras Institute of Orthodox Theology in California.

Demetrios resists Nikitas’ candidacy, using the excuse that he is not on the list of candidates. TNH has learned that Patriarch Bartholomew supports Nikitas’ candidacy.

Bartholomew has made his feelings known to Demetrios and to the members of the Eparchial Synod, behind the scenes as usual, as it has been done in the case of the election of Bishop Apostolos of Medeia, auxiliary to Archbishop Demetrios, serving as Chancellor at the Metropolis of San Francisco.

Another issue that will probably come up at the Eparchial Synod will be “transfer” of a Metropolitan from another Metropolis.

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