Greek Orthodox Church Head Iakovos Dies

Archbishop Iakovos, who led the Greek Orthodox Church in the Americas for 37 years, reaching out to other religious groups as a champion of ecumenism, has died. He was 93.

Iakovos died Sunday at Stamford Hospital from a pulmonary ailment, according to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

The Turkish-born Iakovos _ pronounced YAWK-oh-vose _ headed the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America, with an estimated 2 million followers, from 1959 until 1996. He was apparently forced out over his support for the idea of uniting the various Eastern Orthodox branches in a single American church.

He met with Pope John XXIII after his 1959 enthronement, becoming the first Greek Orthodox archbishop in 350 years to meet with a Roman Catholic prelate, and spent nine years as a president of the World Council of Churches.

Iakovos marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Ala., in 1965 and received the Medal of Freedom from President Carter in 1980.

"Ecumenism," he said in 1960, "is the hope for international understanding, for humanitarian allegiance, for true peace based on justice and dignity, and for God's continued presence and involvement in modern history." ADVERTISEMENT

During his long tenure as archbishop, Iakovos led the U.S. Greek Orthodox church out of immigrant isolation and into the mainstream of American religious life, playing a leading role in bringing English into the liturgy.

When Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, a Greek-American, ran for president in 1988, Iakovos called the United States "a country resplendent with successful Greek Orthodox believers and citizens."

Iakovos was instrumental in setting up dialogues between Orthodox churches and Anglicans, Lutherans, Southern Baptists and other denominations. He opposed the Vietnam War, supported Soviet Jews and sought to aid the cause of Middle East peace.

In September 1987, he took part when U.S. Christian leaders of many denominations met with Pope John Paul II in South Carolina. Iakovos said the meeting "may very well serve as a milestone in modern efforts by Christians to seek reconciliation and the attainment of full and lasting unity in Jesus Christ."

He sought to maintain Orthodox traditions such as opposing the ordination of women, while at the same time championing human rights and improved race relations.

Iakovos came into conflict with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the titular leader of world Orthodoxy, in 1994 after he convened a meeting of 29 bishops from the 10 North American branches of Eastern Orthodoxy.

In an unprecedented move, the bishops recommended placing all of the churches under one administrative umbrella while maintaining ties to their separate "mother churches" in Greece, Russia and the other countries.

It is widely assumed that Bartholomew forced Iakovos to resign in 1996 because he had endorsed the idea.

Bartholomew then appointed Archbishop Spyridon, who was deemed too imperious and was forced to resign in 1999. Spyridon was replaced by the current archbishop, Demetrios.

In a statement, Demetrios hailed Iakovos as "a superb archbishop who offered to the church an intense, continuous, multifaceted and creative pastoral activity."

Iakovos was born Demetrios Coucouzis in 1911 on the island of Imvros, Turkey. He earned a master's degree at the Ecumenical Patriarch's Theological School in Istanbul in 1934.

Arriving in the United States in 1939, he was ordained to the priesthood in Lowell, Mass., in 1940 and earned a second master's degree from Harvard Divinity School in 1945. He became a U.S. citizen in 1950.

Iakovos is survived by a niece, Maria Daoussi, of Montreal, and relatives in Greece.

I'd frankly be surprised if Bp. Tikhon belonged to any party, let alone would discuss the matter. I wouldn't even be surprised to learn that he didn't vote. He has drawn the ire of folks on FR because of his comments opposing the war in Iraq, which basically puts him on the same side as the Pope in that particular issue -- someone who isn't usually accused by Catholics of being a theological liberal.

I think that many hierarchs (Orthodox and Catholic alike) feel that they must not openly support any taking of life that is not clearly self-defence, and I can't say that I might not do the same thing if I had their spiritual responsibilities. There are those who believe that an anti-war position equals an anti-American position, but I just don't buy that.

In every parish of Bp. Tikhon's diocese, we pray at numerous points in the services for the President and for our armed forces. We don't see this as a conflict to say these prayers and to privately oppose a given war. Believe me, it was extremely hard for many Orthodox Christians in America to pray for our President and our armed forces during the Balkans wars of young Billy Clinton, knowing that he was bombing Orthodox Christians into the Stone Age and helping Muslims solidify their European toehold. But we prayed for them both anyway, because it is our country. During the Russo-Japanese war, St. Nicholas of Japan (who was their Russian bishop) blessed his Japanese Orthodox clergy to serve molebens in church for the Japanese armed forces.

The relationship between religious belief and political conviction is a complicated one in the Orthodox world. Orthodox Christians as a group tend to be fairly apolitical, and our sermons certainly are. One of the Psalms sung at the beginning of every Liturgy in the Slavic tradition includes the line: "Trust ye not in princes, nor in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation." I repeat that line to myself and to my family a lot, especially when I'm reading the newspaper.

While the Orthodox Church's stance on abortion is unequivocal, even this topic is one that some don't like to have enter the church in a political sense. Right now, the OCA has a primate who is avidly pro-life and doesn't hesitate to march in pro-life rallies and issue very stern letters to be publically read to every congregation in the country. We hope this lasts.

The late Abp. Iakovos of the Greek Archdiocese, for instance, avoided talking about abortion, and actually forbad his priests from speaking of the issue from the pulpit, I've been told. He certainly supported Dukakis firmly and covered for the fact that Dukakis wasn't allowed to receive communion in an Orthodox church (for a number of reasons.) The younger generation of Greek priests is much more outspoken on pro-life issues, unlike the older generation of priests, such as George Stephanopoulos' father.

There are a lot of Democrats amongst cradle Orthodox, just as there are amongst Jews and Catholics, and for many of the same reasons: they were forced to live "on the wrong side of town," weren't allowed to join the Republican's country-clubs, and were socially snubbed for generations. Many of the old-timers owed their first decent jobs to labor unions, and few in the first generation were worrying about the progressive income tax rates.

Many of the younger set are now becoming Republican for all the right reasons, much to the chagrin of their grandparents! Most (but by no means all) converts to Orthdoxy do tend to be quite politically conservative -- certainly on social issues such as gay marriage and abortion. I think that in this day and age, political and theological polarization is running closer together than in earlier generations.

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