The End Of "Self Rule"?

On Tuesday February 24, 2009, the Holy Synod of the Antiochian Orthodox Church made a major decision concerning the Bishops and Dioceses in North America. The Decision? There will be no more Bishops and Dioceses in North America. In a meeting called to discuss this single issue, the Synod delegated all authority and pastorate to the office of Metropolitan, in effect reverting all existing Diocesan Bishops to the role of Auxiliary Bishops and eliminating their oversight of each Diocese.

This is a major departure from the 2002 Synod ruling that created the existence of the Self Ruled elements of the North American Antiochian jurisdiction allowing Bishops and the Metropolitan to oversee the flock. Now, there is only one sole ruling Bishop in North America, the Metropolitan himself, and he answers directly to the Patriarch in all matters. The questions remain: Why this change and does this in all practicality eliminate the status of Self Rule from North American Antiochian Church? Does this also eliminate the Local Synod and the method of governance? No reason or explanation has been given for the restructuring and no advanced notice.

The 2002 Self Rule decision states:

1. Self Rule and Jurisdiction The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America is and shall remain self-ruled within its present jurisdiction (The United States of America and Canada) and shall constitute one unified ecclesiastical Antiochian entity.

2. Governance
The Archdiocese is governed by the Holy Scripture, the Sacred Tradition, the Holy Canons, the Constitution of the Church of Antioch and this Synodical resolution and by its Constitution and Bylaws.

3. Recognition of Auxiliary Bishops as Diocesan Bishops and Local Synod
Upon adoption of this resolution, the Auxiliary Bishops of the Archdiocese shall become Diocesan Bishops and bear their given titles. The Diocesan Bishops will constitute under the Metropolitan the Local Synod of the Archdiocese which will be its governing authority. The Local Synod shall determine the number of dioceses and their boundaries.

According to OrthoxWiki, an Auxiliary Bishop is a bishop with no territorial authority and is technically uncanonical due to the fact that they are given a title within the jurisdiction of another Bishop. The being true, the future of the six former Bishops are in question.

The new Synod Ruling states,

THE DECISION REGARDING THE AMENDING OF ARTICLES CONCERNING BISHOPS ACCORDING TO THE BY-LAWS OF THE PATRIARCH

Chapter VI, The Bishop

Article 75 The Patriarch is the reference point of all Bishops in Damascus, Patriarchal Monasteries and Vicariates; and they are under his authority.

Article 76 The Metropolitan is the point of reference of all bishops in his Archdiocese and they are under his authority.

Article 77 All Bishops within the Antiochian See are auxiliary Bishops and are directly under their spiritual authority.

Article 78 The Metropolitan defines the responsibilities of the Bishop and the place where they should serve. The Bishop does not do anything contrary to the will of the Metropolitan.

Article 79 The aforementioned article 75,76,77,78 are applied in all Antiochian Archdiocese and whatever contradicts these articles is null and void.

The notification of the change will come in the form of a letter from Metropolitan Philip which will be required to be read in all parishes on Sunday February 26, 2009.

Metropolitan PHILIP writes:

Esteemed Members of the Board of Trustees of the Archdiocese,
Beloved Clergy and Parish Councils and all Faithful of our God-Protected Archdiocese,

Greetings and blessings to all of you in the spirit of this Holy and Great Lent.

Enclosed, please find two copies of the Holy Synod decision regarding all bishops within the Holy See of Antioch. This decision was adopted by the Holy Synod of Antioch which was convened at the Patriarchate in Damascus, February 24^th, 2009. The Patriarch and the Holy Synod are the highest authority in our Antiochian Church. You will find enclosed the Arabic text and the English translation which is mine. Since this was a special Synod meeting with only one item on the agenda concerning the bishops, the proposed text of this decision was sent to the members of the Holy Synod, who were not present, for their approval.

We take this opportunity to wish you the blessings and spiritual rewards of this Great Lent which was described by St. John Chrysostom as the "springtime of souls."

Your Father in Christ,

We can only hope that the Antiochian leadership will be forthcoming about the reasons that such a major restructuring has been so abruptly implemented. The heart and soul of the Orthodox faith is that we are all accountable to one another as seen by the fact that all, even Laymen, are considered Priests. With a stroke of a pen our Bishops are gone and with a stroke of a pen the future of the Self-Ruled Antiochian Christian Archdioesese of North America is in question. This change is too major to simply expect parishioners to accept without question.