Regarding the All-American Council

As most of you know, our bishops, priests, and lay delegates are meeting in Pittsburgh this week for the All-American Council. One of the major orders of business will be to elect a new Archbishop of Washington, DC, who will be the Metropolitan of All America and Canada.

It is obvious that Orthodoxy in America is at a turning point. The present condition of separate jurisdictions is untenable (no matter what the Ecumenical Patriarch and all other Old World patriarchs thinks). Along these lines I think we should prayerfully consider electing perhaps the most dynamic bishop in North America. That would be Bishop Basil Essey of Wichita.

Even though he belongs to another jurisdiction, his reputation is well-known. I would like to quote Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev of Vienna, another dynamic young bishop, so that you may see what he thinks about Basil:

"I believe that the bishop should be both the father and brother of the priests of his diocese. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen very often. If a diocese is too large or a bishop too vusy, it is difficult to establish a kind of family relations built on mutual trust and love. I have seen, however, a very inspiring example of such relations in one American diocese, the Diocese of Wichita of the Antiochian jurisdiction...I was a speaker at their annual retreat and was able to observe their life for several consecutive days. I must admit that I had never seen such a strong bond of friendship and spiritual lve between the clergy and their bishop. Since then I have regarded Bishop Basil of Wichita as a model of a true shepherd."

Let us pray that Bishop Basil, or someone very like him is elected Metropolitan.