Centralized Power and Darkness

I must confess that my posts are harsh. Maybe too harsh. But I do believe that what I am saying is true and I do not hide my intentions.

But I am trying to make a point that has been lost in a lot of over-the-top rhetoric regarding Metropolitan Jonah Paffhausen and the supposed “conspiracy” against him that seems include the entire Holy Synod of the OCA.

I hardly think a conspiracy can be formed from a majority. It would be more accurate to call it a “consensus”.

While Mark Stokoe may secretly wish to remove Paffhausen from office most of us think that would be awful. Yes I am absolutely certain that Paffhausen’s removal from office should be the last thing that should happen. On a purely political level this would be a disaster for the OCA because having three white hats on the retired bench would make the whole OCA look like a tribe of idiots. We are not.

There are several problems with the American Orthodoxy that are in play here. The first is that there is simply too much centralizing of power in American Orthodoxy. No I am not saying we need a congregational model. I am saying that our bishops need to work cooperatively rather than trying to one up each other for personal power.  Metropolitan Philip Saliba got caught up in great shame of having his power and lack of willingness to share it exposed on the internet. 

The Greeks have been relatively quiet of late in large part because of the horrid reign of Archbishop (Now Metropolitan) Spyridon Papageorge who tried to replace the superpowerful Archbishop Iakovos Coucouzis by acting like an over-caffeinated teenager fresh out of a GOYA rally.  Patriarch Bartholomew Archontonis effectively reorganized the GOA to the point where nobody is quite certain who is in charge and it seems to be working well for them.

Both Herman Swaiko and Theodosius Lazor abused their roles as central authoritarians.  After two unsuccessful centralized administrations the OCA’s Holy Synod is now in a peculiar position- all of the bishops have less than ten years of episcopal ministry aside from Archbishop Nathaniel Popp. The culture of a strong metropolitan is foreign to them because they came into ministry in a time when the office of metropolitan was already being degraded by its last two occupants.

This is especially important if one remembers some of the rhetoric about Paffhausen leading the OCA in a new direction. The new direction was fait accompli when Archbishop Job Osacky passed away and Archbishop Seraphim Storheim was arrested (after his stupid public announcement many of us are hoping he comes back only to clean out his desk whether the charges stick or not)- Popp as leader of the autonomous Romanian Episcopate is in no place to lead the OCA, leaving the most experienced bishops as Nikon and Peterson. As the chair of the SIC, Peterson is no big supporter of the ‘old ways’ of the OCA.

What Paffhausen has is the perfect Synod for changing the OCA. But what he has to do is communicate with the Holy Synod. Instead he started off by challenging the Ecumenical Patriarchate and then theorizing about whether the Tomos could be cashed in for a deal with the Greeks. Top that with an obsession about moving the Central Administration to DC when the OCA is broke and you have a real failure to communicate that even Luke Jackson would understand.

Paffhausen does not need to leave, he needs to listen to his bishops.

He also needs to stop listening to the remnants of the old regime like Fester.

Fester was with Kondratick when Kondratick was leading the Lavender Mafia. Fester got Royster in trouble defending the Mafia and now he is getting Paffhausen in trouble while conspiring with Soraich.

Let’s think about this- it has been two weeks since the embarrassing emails and messages from Fester have gone out into the world. Have we heard from Fester? Is he happy now that others continue to belittle the Holy Synod in defense of him?

Fester could prove his morality by asking everyone to stop fighting. That is what both Royster and Maymon did when destructive arguing ensued in the DOS. Fester is silent.

Fester also could have tried to explain his actions openly but we notice he has not. He has never stated what exactly he was trying to accomplish with his calls to Soraich other than what the leaked emails reveal.

That is because Fester was trying to lead Paffhausen back to the old ways, where the Metropolitan ran the OCA Central Administration with little oversight and less accountability to the other bishops. And that is exactly the environment in which the Lavender Mafia thrived. While Paffhausen does not have a “secret life” the way Lazor was rumored to have, the darkness of the old system would allow other things to grow.

The Lavender Mafia that developed under Lazor eventually reached too far and got caught. It fought for survival under Swaiko. Now Fester is trying to bring back Soriach with Fitzgerald’s unwavering support for him and Kondratick. The fabulous Four thrived under the centralized system that left them unchecked. Mutual accountability amongst the bishops will stop any one of them from allowing one of them to develop a secret life.