Ligonier Meeting


The Ligonier Meeting was a meeting of twenty-eight or twenty-nine Orthodox Christian hierarchs in North America, specifically those affiliated with SCOBA, held November 30 to December 2, 1994, at the Antiochian Village in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. The bishops met together, held multiple sessions and presentations, and issued two statements, specifically on evangelism and on the notion of American Orthodox Christians being a "diaspora."
It was not strictly a council or synod per se, but it had many of the characteristics of a synod, particularly the conciliarity or sobornost which results in the meeting of the Church's bishops together in collegiality, referring to itself as an "episcopal assembly." The conference was presided over by Archbishop Iakovos of America, primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and SCOBA chairman.

History

Preparation

The original idea for the meeting at Ligonier was generated in the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America some years prior to the invitation by SCOBA, according to Archbishop Nathaniel of Detroit:

At Ligonier

In November 1994, the invited hierarchs assembled at the Antiochian Village in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, hosted by Metropolitan Phillip of the Antiochian Archdiocese and presided over by Archbishop Iakovos of America, primate at that time of the Greek Archdiocese and SCOBA chairman.
Five months before, Metropolitan Spyridon Papageorge of Italy gave a speech at the 32nd Biennial Clergy-Laity Conference of the Greek Archdiocese, in which he plainly stated that both he and the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew, wanted an end to "ethnic ghettoes" which divided Orthodoxy in America. He denounced ethnic insularity at the expense of "our spiritual identity," and that it was time to cut the "Gordian knot of nationalism." Spyridon was generally regarded at the time to be the natural successor to the aged Iakovos, and his bold words for unity seemed the perfect cue for what transpired at Ligonier.
Though Iakovos officially presided over the event, he "graciously receded into the background as Ligonier was under the jurisdiction of Metropolitan Philip, who was thus the host and official prime mover behind the conference." Philip gave the address to the gathered bishops, and Archbishop Dmitri of Dallas gave the official response. "By all accounts, unity and amity of purpose abounded. The assembled bishops came to an agreement and issued a statement declaring their intention of forming a united American Orthodox Church".

Aftermath

The documents which were issued by the conference did not include negative language regarding the old world patriarchates. Indeed, they were mentioned quite positively in the context of the origins of the immigrant churches on American soil. There was close attention to canonical protocol, and no declaration to form a separate religious denomination was attempted, nor was there a declaration of the formation of an autocephalous American Orthodox Church. The meeting can be quite fairly described as simply a gathering of Orthodox bishops in America, thinking and speaking together with one voice on the canonical problems facing their ministry in America. Michalopoulos and Ham continue:
What is clear from the reports and documents of the conference, however, is that there was no agenda to force a submission of some American Orthodox to others. The senior hierarchs all had something to lose from unification, whether it was property, prestige, revenue, seminaries, orphanages, and so on. The focus was not on "pecking order," as The American Orthodox Church puts it, but on "the canonical irregularities that plagued American Orthodoxy".
In any event, if any of the "big three" hierarchs—Iakovos, Theodosius or Philip —had been elected as the American Orthodox primate, the reign would have been a short one. All three were old men. None of these three men could have been an "empire builder," but rather only a "transitional figure". There was no attempt to make such a move, however.
The American Orthodox Church characterizes the move for unity at Ligonier to have ended up a failure:
The death-knell for the accomplishment of Ligonier seemed to sound in the subsequent removal of Iakovos from his see. It could be that Bartholomew "feared the loss of financial support from America," that he "feared the loss of American political clout in facing the Turks," or that it perhaps was "nothing more than a power struggle between two strong men". No matter the reasoning, in 1997, the patriarch sent a delegation from the Holy Synod of the Church of Constantinople which forced Iakovos to resign after a nearly 40-year tenure. "Despite missteps along the way, to the fullest extent possible, Iakovos bridged ethnic divisions and forged an Orthodox consensus. He almost succeeded in creating the American Orthodox Church".
Not all commentators view Ligonier as a failure, however. Certainly, many of the hierarchs who met one another now know something of their brothers in the episcopacy, and that cannot be undone. Additionally, the very idea of what happened at Ligonier continues on in the consciousness of American Orthodoxy. It may eventually be that Ligonier will be seen not as a failure of unity, but one step along the way toward its pursuit. Archbishop Nathaniel of Detroit has this to say:

Documents

Two statement documents were issued at Ligonier, one on the Orthodox Church in North America and one on Missions and Evangelism. Their content may generally be characterized as a rejection of the notion that Orthodox Christianity in America constitutes a diaspora, that the ongoing uncanonical disunity of American Orthodoxy must come to an end. Additionally, the statement on evangelism makes it clear that American Orthodox bishops regard the purpose of the Church in America as a missionary one.
The following hierarchs signed the documents of the Ligonier Meeting, with one exception noted. The list reflects the titles of these bishops at the time. Whether there were twenty-eight or twenty-nine bishops actually present, there are twenty-eight pictured in the group photograph taken at the meeting, and there are twenty-eight different signatures on the documents.
In the November 2004 issue of Word Magazine, the comments of SCOBA bishops on the 10th anniversary of the Ligonier meeting were published, including the following:

Primates

Metropolitan Herman of Washington, primate of the OCA:
Metropolitan Philip of New York, primate of the Antiochian Archdiocese:
Metropolitan Nicholas of Amissos, bishop of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese:
Metropolitan Joseph, Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese of the USA, Canada and Australia:

Other bishops

Archbishop Kyrill of Pittsburgh, OCA:
Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh, Greek Archdiocese:
Archbishop Peter of New York, OCA:
Bishop Nikolai of Sitka, OCA:
Archbishop Nathaniel of Detroit, OCA:
Bishop Ilia of Philomelion, Albanian Diocese:
Bishop Antoun of Miami, Antiochian Archdiocese:
Bishop Basil of Wichita, Antiochian Archdiocese:
Bishop Joseph of Los Angeles, Antiochian Archdiocese:

Other comments

Expanding on his remarks published in the November 2004 Word Magazine, Bishop Nikolai of Sitka had this to say in an open letter in the Winter 2005 issue of his diocesan publication, The North Star :
A was published in February 2005 on the website.

Primary sources

Documents