All I can say to that is shame, shame, shame to all. Whether it be Serbs who, coming from communist backwoods have no clue about Orthodoxy or manners for that matter, whether it be power-grabbing games that go on between the "big" and the "petit" (Hermann the Cherusker's favorite expression -- but apparently quite true!) Patriarchiates, whether it be "independent" minded OCA and its pretend "authocephaly" supported by the "coalition of the willing" (where have I heard that before), made up of such "giants" known to toe the line as the Bulgarian (on-again, off-again) Orthodox Church, the mighty Czech Orthodox Church, etc., whether it be "who's the first" in the Orthodox world, whether it be "inclusive" freaks, etc. -- it all boils down to one and the same thing: we are no better than any other church but we like to act holier than thou!
Yet, Orthodoxy teaches us that this is not what we should do; rather we should point the finger of blame first and foremost on ourselves, because although we say we are first among the sinners, we really don't believe it for one moment. We certainly don't act as such!
False humility is the one most prominent feature of many a Christian. But, Faith must be shown through deeds ("works"), as +James says, and not only in words. I have stayed away form any particular parish, "denomination," or church politics for a long time. The more I approach the Church the uglier it gets. Hypocrisy is alive and well. Everything seems to define Orthodoxy nowadays except Orthodoxy! Whether it be ethnic pride (what are we proud of -- pride is a sin!), whether it be self-importance; whether it blaming others; whether it be power-grabbing, etc. none of this is Orthodoxy.
We have not only much work ahead of us; we are still at the start line. Shame on us all!
Wanting to go to church in one's native tongue is not 'ethnic pride'.
"Reading the back-and-forth exchange between Kolo and x5452 must do anything but encourage Queen Beruthiel -- and she and her husband have already made up their minds! How is what appears to be anything but Orthodoxy to encourage others with all the infighting and re-engineering going to match words with deeds Orthodoxy makes claim to?"
Gee, Kosta, I didn't think X5452 and I were arguing anything. Did you, X? In all honesty, Kosta, the status of the OCA hasn't caused me to loose one wink of sleep in the last 35 years. Nor, apparently, does it cause problems for the SCOBA hierarchs.
As for ethnic exclusivity among Orthodox jurisdictions, none of it bothers me. As I have told you before, I'm quite comfortable among Arabs, Slavs, Greeks, even Ethiopians. I, like you, know what's going on in the Liturgy. If my local Orthodox parish was Serbian etc, that's where I would go. Would I personally miss hanging out with my fellow Greeks, sure (well, hanging out with Serbs or Lebanese is pretty much the same thing), but it wouldn't affect my faith. Same goes with hanging out with people in the OCA. As a matter of fact, I have a distant Irish cousin who is an OCA priest!
You misunderstood what at least I was speaking of with X, Kosta. You shouldn't be so suspicious of your Balkan brother, my friend! :)
I think you should substantiate why what I and Kolo is 'put offish'.
I have already said in this thread I think there is a place for non-ethnic parishes, and there exist flourishing ones in fact in all three (OCA, ROCOR, AOCA, probably GOA also, I don't know much about them).
However there are plenty of reasons not to encourage already ethnic parishes to give up the Slavonic liturgy, and ethnic customs. As I said the OCA Parish I attend dropped the Slavonic liturgy some time ago (and for MarMema, if I recall there actually are a few things in the English version that are a bit out of place as compared to the slavonic one... I'd have to spend some time looking for the list of them). It seems to me that the Parish has dwindled in size since that time, I am a convert and quite like the traditional slavonic liturgy. My wife is Russian and the Slavonic liturgy is easier to understand, and is the one she's familiar with. Up until recently we had a priest who could speak Russian, which given as there are a fair number of Russian immigrants who've started attending our church is very helpful to communicating with them. The new one replacing him apparently doesn't speak Russian.
If the church were more evangelical about finding coverts I could see at least some reason to make the church more palatable to non-Slavic folks, but on a parish by parish basis when the parish is already in a slavic community, I think it drives people to more slavic churches to do away with the traditions and liturgy they know.
I also don't see whereas it is neccessarily put-offish to converts.
As for the who is more canonical arguments and who has the authority to grant whom autocephally etc I think it's silly to argue about.
This is just my perspective, of course-- I was brought up in the "church of good taste," of respectability, discretion, and not-rocking-the-boat. So matters within the OC undoubtedly appear greatly different to me than they would to a cradle Orthodox.