The recent news that Mark Stokoe had been dismissed from the OCA Metropolitan Council and his Diocesan Council by Bishop Matthias is deplorable but not surprising, given the history and culture of the Church, and a pronouncement this spring from the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America.
Among their concerns, many laudable, the bishops pointed out that June was “internet safety month” and urged “priests and parishioners to raise awareness and secure appropriate protection for our children and communities from the many and diverse prevalent dangers, including pornography, cyberbullying, perils by predators, risks of geotagging, and in particular dissension in the Church.” (Emphasis added.)
Dissension in the Church is apparently more important than pornography for the bishops when it comes to the Internet. It is interesting that they coupled dissension with the Internet. Did they have Mr. Stokoe’s web-site in mind? A few years ago, in the Greek archdiocese, then-Archbishop Spyridon would have liked to have the web-site “Voithia” (“Help”) taken down, but Voithia was “speaking truth to power”, and it was the Archbishop who was removed by Patriarch Bartholomew, after the ground-swell from the faithful. To read more, click here.
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The news happening in the OCA is relevent to your readers who are either in, or supporters of, the ac/na. It was, after all Metropolitan Jonah who endorsed the ac/na at its inception. There are also many within the ac/na who believe that some kind of "communion" can be reached with the OCA. It will be interesting to see how or whether Metropolitan Jonah will survive the upcoming All American Sobor of the OCA, later this year. Both Ray Sutton and Bob Duncan are close friends and supporters of Jonah.
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