More from Damascus

I apologize for not having the time today to translate the entire thing, but the Holy Synod has released its final report for its meeting this past week. While the website of the Patriarchate has been down all day, it is available in Arabic in today's an-Nahar here. I hope to have the whole thing posted by tomorrow evening, but here is the part about North America:


[On the second day], the Fathers listened to a report by Metropolitan Philip (Saliba), Metropolitan of the Archdiocese of North America about the status of the Archdiocese and aspects of apostolic and pastoral work there, indicating the developement of the Archdiocese in all fields.

On the third day, in light of a study prepared by Metropolitan Basil (Mansour) about the historical status of the bishop in the Orthodox Church, and after long and detailed discussions, the Fathers affirmed that the bishops of the Archdiocese of North America are auxiliary bishops (asaqifa musa3idun) assigned to dioceses and entrusted by the Metropolitan of the Archdiocese to dioceses. They are subordinate to their spiritual point of reference, the metropolitan of the Archdiocese, who has general authority over the whole Archdiocese.