St. Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church
Serving Emmaus and the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
On Saturday, December 6, St. Paul’s pastor Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick attended the enthronement services of the newly-elected Metropolitan Joseph, which were presided over by Patriarch John X of Antioch. Also in attendance were other St. Paul’s faithful and many hundreds of the clergy and faithful from through the Archdiocese, as well as most of the Metropolitans of the Holy Synod of Antioch and many other bishops.
On Wednesday, December 10, 2014, twelve of the faithful from St. Paul’s traveled to St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Little Falls, New Jersey, to attend Vespers and a reception following. St. Paul’s pastor Fr. Andrew concelebrated the Vespers service with other clergy, which was presided over by His Beatitude, Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East.
At the completion of Vespers, a gift icon was given by the local parish to the patriarch, and speeches were made by His Beatitude, along with His Eminence, Metropolitan Joseph and the local pastor, the Archpriest Dmitri Darwich.
At the reception, all those gathered individually received the blessing of the Patriarch and Metropolitan and spoke with them briefly.
On June 5, 2014, delegates from St. Paul’s in Emmaus participated in the Special Nominating Convention of the Antiochian Archdiocese to nominate names to submit to the Holy Synod of Antioch for their consideration in choosing the next Metropolitan Archbishop of the Archdiocese.
The official convention report from the Archdiocesan Synod of Bishops (source):
On June 5th, 2014, the Special Convention of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America was duly convened in Chicago, Illinois, and voted to nominate three candidates who will be eligible for election as the metropolitan of this Archdiocese.
The list of eligible candidates was the one approved pursuant to the Archdiocese Constitution, Section 5, paragraph [D. (1)] by the “Local Synod in agreement with the Board of Trustees” as a result of the meetings of the Local Synod and Board of Trustees that occurred from May 13-14 in Chicago, Illinois.
The delegates attending this convention, pursuant to the Archdiocese Constitution Section 5, paragraph [D. (2)], “did select, by secret ballot, three candidates from the list of eligible candidates”. The specific procedures that were followed were according to the Procedures for Voting, Counting of Votes and the Announcement of the Results of Voting, as approved by the Board of Trustees at its meeting of May 14th, 2014 and which is completely consistent with the Archdiocese Constitution.
According to the tally sheets remitted to us by the Counting Committee, we certify that the counting of the ballots proceeded without any issue or anomaly.
Immediately following the counting of the ballots, and pursuant to the Archdiocese Constitution, Section 5, paragraph [D. (3)], “the Local Synod did convene a special meeting in order to certify the results of the nomination”.
The Local Synod did indeed certify these results, and hereby announces that the three candidates who received the highest vote totals are as follows, in alphabetical order:
Bishop Basil
Bishop John
Archbishop Joseph
Pursuant to the Archdiocese Constitution, Section 5, paragraph [D. (3)], “the Local Synod will submit the names of these candidates to the Holy Synod, who will elect one of the nominees to be the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Archdiocese”. Therefore, the Patriarchal Vicar will inform His Beatitude, Patriarch JOHN X about the result of this Special Convention, pursuant to Article 67, Paragraph 1 of the By-Laws of the Patriarchate of Antioch.
This result is assured by our signatures affixed below on this 5th day of June in the year 2014 at Chicago, Illinois.
More on the convention and the candidates can be read at the Archdiocese website.
It is expected that the Holy Synod of Antioch will elect the new Metropolitan Archbishop at its meeting on July 1-2, 2014.
On Saturday, December 7, 2013, members of the Antiochian Women of St. Paul’s visited St. Thekla Convent in Glenville, Pennsylvania, accompanied by St. Paul’s pastor Fr. Andrew. During the visit, the ladies received a tour of the monastery and saw the new censer stand that had been donated by the Antiochian Women for the chapel and had just been delivered. The ladies also brought with them groceries donated by Soumaya and Sons Bakery, as well as incense from the parish.
Mother Eisodia and Sister Kathrina showed true Christian hospitality during the visit, offering a shared meal and also explaining about the plans that have been made for the convent’s development.
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