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Our Synod & Local HistoryThe Diocese for Western
Europe of that Old Calendarist Greek Orthodox Church which (after receiving a
Hierarchy with the aid of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of
Russia) was united under Archbishops Akakios and Auxentios. This Diocese was
granted a Tomos of Autonomy as a Synod for the Western World in 1984 from
Archbishop Auxentios in order to pursue missionary work among the non-Orthodox
people of the West. The title of the Synod at this time was the Metropolia of
Western Europe. After the transference of its first Chief Hierarch, Metropolitan
Gabriel of Portugal, to the Autocephalous Church of Poland, Bishop Evloghios of
Milan was chosen as second Chief Hierarch. Ten years later, Metropolitan
Evloghios remains at the helm of the Holy Synod of Bishops. The Milan Synod uses
the Julian calendar exclusively, and firmly resists the heresies of false
ecumenism and trans-religious syncretism. – From the original Milan Synod
Website Within the formation of Orthodox parishes in Western Europe and the Americas over the last century, one finds two strains of thought, both of which have a legitimate place in Orthodoxy due to the ecclesial realities of missionary migration and ethnic reawakening to long-lost Christian heritage. One can find these two roles in the Russian Saint Innocent of Kamchatka and the Aleutian Islands, who wrote the first document, a Christian catechism, in a Native American Language, and Dr. Joseph Overbeck, a former Roman Catholic priest who established the practical ecclesiological basis for a native Western Orthodoxy to form. From this history, detached somewhat from the tragedy of the Russian Revolution and the Western experiments of the Antiochian Archdiocese in recent decades, comes forth the story of the Holy Synod of Milan. The history of the American
Archdioceses of the “Milan Synod” predate the creation of a Western European
Synod in 1984 by Archbishop Auxentios of Athens, but even this date predates the
eventual splintering of the “Florinite” divisions of the True Orthodox Church of
Greece. The two Archdioceses Both Archdioceses were closely tied to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, figuring closely into Her recent as well as Her early history. The election of the Bishop
of Texas occurred in 1977 under Archbishop Joseph (McCormack), who was a
spiritual
The gradual establishment
of Traditional Orthodox communities, formed primarily of converts in the West,
was a fact not lost on Archbishop Auxentios of Athens (+1994), who first
established a West European Diocese in 1978 with the election of Archimandrite
Gabriel to the Episcopate of Lisbon. Six years later, a second Bishop, Tiago of
Lisbon was established for Western Europe, as well as a Patriarchal blessing to
exist as an autonomous Body on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross,
1984. With this blessing, the Synod of the West grew well beyond its boundaries
in Portugal at a rapid rate, while the Synod in Greece began to fall apart
through repeated schisms. In 1990, the Western Synod elevated Archimandrite
Evloghios of Milan to the Episcopate,
In 1990, the Western Synod
entered into communion with Metropolitan Mystyslav (Skrypnyk)
of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Exile, which in 1991 became the Orthodox
Patriarchate of Kyiv. In 1994, Patriarch Volodymyr(Romaniuk)
, a former catacomb clergyman, recognized the autonomy granted by Archbishop
Auxentios and confirmed it with his blessing before his death in 1995. Sadly, however, the situation in Ukraine was to show to be similar to the one in Greece, as the Patriarchate of Kyiv would eventually split into factions. This factionalization forced the Bishops of the Synod of Milan to separate from the newly-elected Patriarch, former Bishop Filaret (Denisenko), of the Moscow Patriarchate.) Since then, the Milan Synod has not been in official communion with any particular Patriarchate, but maintains a friendship with all canonical Orthodox Churches. In 1997, the Archdiocese of Texas established by the Ukrainian Church was received into the Western Synod, making Archbishop Hilarion the senior Bishop for the Americas, and the Archdiocese of New York and New Jersey under Archbishop John became the Diocese for the Eastern part of the United States for the Milan Synod. Archbishop John remains one of the only Orthodox Bishops who lives according to the Orthodox Western Rite at the Abbey of the Holy Name. Source: http://www.milansynodusa.org/
Related Articles:Is The Milan Synod Canonical?
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son
of Archbishop Palladius (Rudenko) and was made Bishop ten years earlier. The
formation of the St Hilarion monastery in Austin, TX, predates the election of
its Abbot as a Bishop by two years, and has, for the past twenty-seven years,
been known as a center for Orthodox Monasticism in Texas. The Abbey of the Holy
Name, the spiritual center of the Archdiocese of New York and New Jersey, has
been the continuation of a monastic compound extending back 100 years.
Archbishop John (LoBue) was originally the spiritual son of Metropolitan William
Henry Francis (Brothers– reposed 1979), who had been ordained as a Western-rite
Bishop at St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral in 1931, and who had extensive
ties to Metropolitan Anastassy of the Russian Church Abroad. Archbishop John was
made abbot of the Monastery in 1973.
re-establishing
an Orthodox Episcopate in the see of St Ambrose for the first time since the
schism of the West. The new Archbishop of Milan was chosen as Primate of the
Synod of the West (hence the popular title “Milan Synod”) and became known for
its stance against ecumenism as well as her frequent use of pre-schism Western
services, something which was not well-understood within the Old Calendar
community.
