Who or What is
“SCOBA”(1)
and
What does the future hold for the UOC-USA?
Some thoughts from an OCA hierarch...
Preface:
SCOBA
(Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of America, to which the
UOC-USA hierarchs belong since 1995) continues to work toward the unification
of all of North America into one non-ethnic, generic, American church. Such
Russian theologians as Schmemann, Meyendorff, as well as Kallistos Ware, and
other SCOBA members (who, also, you should be aware, have always denied the existence
of Ukraine, espousing the “Kyivan Russia” revisionist view of history)
spearheaded this effort. Now books by
these individuals and others propagating these views grace the shelves of the
Bound Brook bookstore. Didn't the UOC-USA spend a lifetime defending against
this?
Where will it all lead? Bishop Nathaniel
of the OCA(2) (Orthodox Church in America), former diocese
of the Moscow Patriarchate and one with whom our bishops so gleefully now
"fellowship” within SCOBA provides us with a glimpse of what the future
will hold…. We quote:
“....
The Standing Conference of Orthodox Canonical Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA),
which is representation by "ethnic" principle, is incapable of
becoming the Synod of the American Church. ...We propose that the present
jurisdictional administrative structures remain in existence in favor of the
unification of all hierarchs into one Synod which, together with the clergy and
faithful of the united Orthodox Church of America, under the guidance of the
Holy Spirit, will determine the future territorial basis for dioceses. There is no doubt that the Greek, Antiochian, Serbian, Ukrainian
and Romanian dioceses would not be prepared, AT THIS TIME, to
disassemble their administrative
structures as a "sine qua non" to have one bishop in one city nor for
the formation of a unified Synod. Would it not be plausible, however, that
they would accept the unification of all hierarchs into one Synod and that the
present administrative entities continue under their hierarchs. AS TIME GOES ON, this Synod will
review and, with the entire American Church, shape future diocesan
jurisdictions. Thus, in place of an "Ethnic SCOBA" there would be a
Synod of metropolitanates, working together in one Synod. With the formation of the Holy Synod, a Patriarch
would be elected and the Orthodox Church of America would begin to
"self-resolve" the discrepancies, which presently exist within
her.... "
+NATHANIEL,
Bishop of Detroit /Episcopate of the Orthodox Church in America
COMMENTARY: In
the democratic, free countries of the West, the Ukrainian Orthodox faithful
fervently prayed and worked toward the day when they would help Ukraine shed
Moscow's yoke and join with us in one free and independent Church. Isn't
it ironic, that although Ukraine may
finally rid herself of Moscow's yoke, (and hopefully ANY foreign entity), the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the US & the Diaspora not only gave up her
independence so willingly, but, indeed, if Bishop Nathanial’s plans hold true, the
UOC-USA may in the future, indirectly fall under the very Moscow Patriarchate's
control that the UOC-USA fought against? Have we forgotten the heeding of our spiritual father, Patriarch
Mstyslav (then Metropolitan) at the 37th UOL Convention of 1984,
when he forewarned, "Let us not forget that the enemy of Christ and of our devout people would want to drown our Holy
Ukrainian Orthodox Church in an international sea and erase from our memory the
image of our pious ancestors and those who suffered martyrdom for the
Martyr-Church--the Holy Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In particular let us remember that atheistic Moscow which uses
diverse means does all which it can to drown our Church outside of the fatherland
in an international sea."
Dr. Lysyj, DR. Krywolap, Mr. Heretz,
and
Metropolitan Council members, past and present,
ask yourselves,
is this the legacy you want to leave behind?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Footnotes:
[1] What
is SCOBA? The Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas
(SCOBA), established in 1960 with Archbishop Iakovos (Greek Orthodox
Church of America, Ecumenical Patriarchate) as Chairman brings together the
“canonical” hierarchs of the Orthodox jurisdictions in the United States and
Canada. The former Russian Metropolia, (now the OCA, Orthodox Church in
America) plays a prominent role in this organization. For decades, SCOBA
refused to “recognize” the UOC-USA unless they agree to certain conditions: (1)
officially recant the Church’s claim of autocephaly (independence), and (2) the
disavowal of the founding fathers of our Church, the bishops of the Ukrainian
Orthodox Autocephalous Church of the 1920’s (this included Lypkivsky and John
Teodorovich, the UOC-USA ‘s first Metropolitan). The SCOBA 1962 minutes attest to this. Meyendorff discusses this
issue at length in his various writings. Needless to say, Patriarch Mstyslav
would not agree. The “official” purpose
of the Conference (as per orthodoxonline is:
to make the ties of unity among the canonical Orthodox Churches and
administrations stronger and more visible.
SCOBA has spearheaded the movement toward one generic Church as one can
see by the late 1994 SCOBA Resolution, (then presided over by Archbishop Iakovos), which
declared that "...all of our efforts
should be coordinated within an overall ecclesiastical framework…to allow us to
organically become an administratively united Church."
2 The Orthodox Church
in America, despite its formal name change in 1971 which eliminated the word
“Russian” from their title, remains closely tied with the Moscow Patriarchate
and has recently opened its first representative office and church in Moscow.