Holy Synod holds summer meeting

OTTAWA, ON, CANADA [OCA]

The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America held a summer meeting at the headquarters of the Archdiocese of Canada, in conjunction with a spiritual retreat for the hierarchs.  The gathering took place at Annunciation Cathedral in Ottawa, ON, beginning on Tuesday, June 24, 2014 with the celebration of the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy by His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, Primate of the OCA, on the Feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.

In addition to Metropolitan Tikhon, the following hierarchs were in attendance:  His Eminence, Archbishop Nathaniel of Detroit and the Romanian Episcopate; His Eminence, Archbishop Nikon of Boston, New England and the Albanian Archdiocese; His Eminence, Archbishop Benjamin of San Francisco and the Diocese of the West; His Eminence, Archbishop Alejo of Mexico City and the Diocese of Mexico; His Eminence, Archbishop Melchisedek of Pittsburgh and the Archdiocese of Western Pennsylvania; His Grace, Bishop Mark of Philadelphia and the Diocese of Eastern Pennsylvania; His Grace, Bishop Michael of New York and the Diocese of New York and New Jersey; His Grace, Bishop Alexander of Toledo and the Bulgarian Diocese; His Grace, Bishop David of Sitka and the Diocese of Alaska; and His Grace, Bishop Irénée of Quebec City, Administrator of the Archdiocese of Canada.

Among the items considered in the deliberations of the Holy Synod were:

• State of the Church Report, presented by Metropolitan Tikhon;
• The convening of a Spiritual Court in the matter of His Eminence, Archbishop Seraphim;
• Diocesan vacancies and Locum Tenencies in the South, the Midwest and Canada;
• Review of vetted candidates for the Episcopacy;
• Matters of clergy discipline;
• Discussion of Paper:  “The Ministry of Bishops in the Orthodox Church” by Metropolitan Tikhon;
• Review of the Assembly of Bishops’ Proposals for Canonical Restructuring, in preparation for the Assembly V Meeting in Dallas in September;
• Candidates for Ordination to the Diaconate, proposed by the Board of Theological Education;
• Review of the Agreements between the Orthodox Church in America and its ethnic dioceses; and
• Individual matters of concern by the various diocesan hierarchs.

The next meeting of the Holy Synod is scheduled for October 21-24, 2014 at the OCA Chancery in Syosset, NY.