The most legitimate Orthodox jurisdiction in the USA has struggled as of recent years and with the ousting of Patriarch Jonah, seen by many as politically motivated, the Orthodox Church in America elected a new Patriarch to lead the Church last month. It is customary for greetings to flow from other Orthodox bodies around the world but the most important recognition of a new Church leaders comes from the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople and from a jurisdiction’s original mother church.
As the greetings flowed in, the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow, the third Rome, and America’s mother in Orthodoxy greeted the new American Patriarch in a gracious yet pointed fashion.
Russian Patriarch Kirill took the unusual step to remind his American children that the ousted Jonah should not be left uncared for after the long battle to force his removal by a small but powerful faction of the OCA. Worded carefully, the Russian Patriarch reminded the OCA to “make comfortable the further life” of Metropolitan Jonah.
Thank you, your Beatitude. Let us hope that your children listen.
