Orthodox Church

A year after a tumultuous and divisive fight that led to the resignation of the American archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church, his successor appears to have calmed the waters. Described as fatherly and accessible, Archbishop Demetrios has, at least for now, ended the turmoil that brought down his predecessor, Archbishop Spyridon. But although the internal battling is over, the underlying issues of the Americanization of a once-immigrant church have not gone away.

Father George Stephanides, influential pastor of the large St. Paul's Greek Orthodox Church in Irvine, had died at age 63. He led the congregation's growth from just 57 families when he arrived in 1978 to 700 families now. Born in Boston, Stephanides earned degrees in religion, the classics and theology from Hellenic College-Holy Cross Seminary, Boston University and Princeton Theological Seminary.

Plans by a Syrian Orthodox Church to bury its archbishop on church grounds have been stalled by the Burbank City Council. The St. Ephraim Syrian Orthodox Church on Glenoaks Boulevard had petitioned the council for permission to bury Archbishop Athanasius Samuel, who is now 86, behind the altar when he dies. But that would mean changing city laws, which only allow burials at cemeteries.

Speaking one day after his 83rd birthday, Pope John Paul II said Monday that he is increasingly aware that he is nearing death and that he entrusts himself to divine mercy. "Yesterday afternoon I finished my 83rd year of life and started my 84th," John Paul told a crowd of Polish pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square. "I am increasingly aware that the day is drawing near when I will have to present myself to God to account to him for my life," he said, speaking in Polish.

NEW YORK--Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians, visited ground zero this week and vowed to rebuild an Orthodox church destroyed in the terrorist attacks. "We have come to this place of martyrdom, which endured unprecedented and atrocious acts perpetrated by men on that unforgettable and woeful day of Sept. 11," the 62-year-old prelate said as he presided over a memorial service.

Authorities released three protesters in an effort to defuse a wave of unrest that erupted into violence when officers clashed with demonstrators clamoring for the resignation of President Mikheil Saakashvili. Weeks of peaceful protests turned ugly Wednesday, a day after Saakashvili was forced to back off claims that he had suppressed a Moscow-backed coup attempt. Police with truncheons tried to beat back stick-wielding demonstrators, arresting three. Opposition supporters said dozens were injured.

To outsiders, the cathedral-like, gold-domed Greek Orthodox church sitting on a knoll in Northridge appeared unshaken by the January, 1994, earthquake. But, in fact, St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church sustained $1.7 million in interior damage to its soaring mosaics, walls and windows. Only this month has its 1,100-family congregation been able to worship without scaffolding blocking the view of its Byzantine-style artwork.

The leader of the Greek Orthodox Church criticized the European Union for omitting mention of God or Europe's Christian heritage in its draft constitution. "The peoples of Europe, in their majority, believe in God ... but those who govern are expelling Christianity from the constitution of the European Union," Archbishop Christodoulos said in a sermon. "This is a distortion of history.... No one has the right to erase Christianity," he said.