Fr. Barnabas Powell revisited

"Angela, thank you for your insights and your support of the EP. I will add there is some value to hearing the words of Jesus when He said "Agree quickly with your enemy while you are in the way, lest he take you before the magistrate and the magistrate turn you over to the jailer."

"At the same time, I don't want anyone to accuse me of glossing ... See Moreover historical weaknesses of the Patriarchate. This is just as unreal as the notions that some have held that the EP is a mason and the source of all evil in the world. Reality is always the friend of Orthodoxy."

"I am an ardent supporter of the EP, especially in his ministry of assisting the other Churches in witnessing to the unity of our faith."

"I know you would never suggest that by simply the virtue of a bloodline someone is a faithful Orthodox Christian. His All Holiness emphatically stated that the EP is a Pan-Orthodox and multi-ethnic institution that is committed to fighting any notion of phyletism. While I have no confidence in the fly by night novelty of the world I was raised in, I also reject the notion that simply because something is old, it is true."

"Finally, it is usually a waste of time to attribute all criticism to the devil's work. This is simply a rhetorical tool meant to shut down discussion. And, it is rarely true that all criticism is the devil's work."

"There will be a day when the Orthodox in the West will experience the proper Orthodox ecclessiolgy based not on ethnicity but geography, and that day will be a wonderful day of the fullness of Orthodoxy for seeking people everywhere. that day will come in a more healthy way with the Ecumenical Patriarch guiding and leading the process."

"Thank you again for your insights."

Thank you for your charitable comments something which alludes me at times. there is a patriarch for America the church has already provided. the idea that a [seperate] patriarchate is the inevitable end result for all countries is silly. you are well aware that the GOA is hardly 'ethnic' for example Met. Isaiah, Met. Methodios, Met. Nikitas (to name just a few) etc. Some of the other Met. have been in the Americas for decades and are barraged for their accents. the difficulties in America stem from the false assertions of the OCA and its irregular and provisional autocephaly, the distorting of canon 28 to somehow not apply to the Americas or to Russian expansionism. there is more effort expended to discredit or religate the Phanar to the past then to encourage or build up relations. this tension and conflict is unique to the U.S why? because of greeks? no because of irregularies, illegitimacies and a proactive internet pentarchy who fancy their own ramblings to church position.