Memory Eternal

To Archbishop Iakovos of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in America, forced out of office in 1996 by the Patriarch of Constantinople for calling a meeting of Orthodox bishops at Ligonier, aiming for Orthodox unity in the United States.

The multiple Orthodox jurisdictions in America are a heresy and a scandal; we are bedeviled by cultural misunderstandings, quirks of history, turf wars, and fears of losing American funding for strapped Old Country churches. Archbishop Iakovos acted with great courage and then accepted his punishment gracefully. I hope that his name appears prominently in the history of that search for unity.

UPDATE: This column by Terry Mattingly is a good overview of the archbishop's life and witness.