You, of course, put your finger right on the weak point of leadership under the Churches of Russia or Greece, i.e. the specter of ethnic nationalism.
My fundamental problem with Patriarchates like Constantinople, Jerusalem, or Alexandria being the focus of oversight is that they really don't have the internal buffering influence of a church with lots of parishes, parishioners, monasteries, and clergy in the "old country."
Were the EP to oversee the Church of America, he would essentially become the "Patriarch of America," and I fear that the tail would soon begin to wag the dog, since the purse-strings would be in America, even more than they already are right now for the EP.
It would run the very real danger of becoming a sort of de facto American autocephaly, but with the Americans wielding the prestige of the EP.
I therefore believe that we would actually be better off with autocephaly than with oversight by a Patriarchate like the EP. At least with autocephaly, we'd have the rest of the Orthodox world putting pressure on us as the "upstart Americans," rather than being in the position of having to put pressure on both the EP and America, were we to misbehave (as we most certainly would.)
In any event, no one of import (in fact, no one at all) has called me recently (or ever) to ask what my position is on this matter, so I'm just typing out into the ether, and my opinions are pretty meaningless! :-)
"In any event, no one of import (in fact, no one at all) has called me recently (or ever) to ask what my position is on this matter, so I'm just typing out into the ether, and my opinions are pretty meaningless! :-)"
Gee, every time they call me I refer them to you! I didn't think they would listen to me and now I know! :)