St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church (Seattle) - History - The 1960s - A Change in Leadership

A Change in Leadership

The official history of the church describes the mid-1960s as "an era of good feeling, a calm period of enjoying a beautiful new church and each other under the able and dedicated leadership of Fr. Neketas Palassis". It also writes that this era "came to a surprising halt on January 9, 1968." Father Palassis and the parish council were informed on two-and-one-half week's notice that Father Palassis was being reassigned to Sioux City, Iowa.

The issue at hand was that Father Palassis' dislike of the ecumenism advocated by the archdiocese. In his sermon of January 21, 1968 he declared, "The Orthodox Christian faith… is not an item to be bartered, debated, and finally compromised on the ecumenical altar of humanistic and anthropocentric love which excludes truth and real divine love. … Being part of a church which is becoming Roman Catholic in its administration, Protestant in its faith and Greek Orthodox in its ritual is not for me."

Parish council president Constantine Angelos sent a telegram to Archbishop Iakovos indicating the parish's strong support for their pastor and asking the archbishop to reconsider. 300 parishioners signed a petition to the same effect. The archbishop did not relent. Father Palassis informed the parishioners that he did not intend to go to Iowa; instead, he went under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, forming the American Orthodox Parish of St. Nectarios. Some sixty parishioners, including four members of the parish council, would leave with him over the next few months.

Father Palassis in his last two sermons at St. Demetrios nonetheless urged the remaining parishioners to give their cooperation and assistance to his replacement, Father A. Homer Demopulos. After the March 3 departure of four parish council members, the remaining council reorganized itself. Bishop Meletios of the Diocese of San Francisco wanted to dissolve the Board and elect another. Father Demopulos (who would come to be called "Father Homer" by his parishioners) informed him that if that were to occur, he would resign. The bishop relented.

Read more about this topic:  St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church (Seattle), History, The 1960s

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