Talk:History of Antiochian Orthodoxy in Australasia

Permission

Unless later withdrawn for whatever reason, permission is granted to OrthodoxWiki to replicate any article or image from the official website of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand, and All Oceania, without further request, provided attribution of the source is provided on each occasion. chrisg (antiochian weblord) 2006-06-01-1318 EAST

Amendment to official biography

Dear Deacon Andrew

It was standard practice of Metropolitan Philip of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America to refer to parish priests as being 'of' a particular location. It is standard practice of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand, and All Oceania to refer to parish priests as being 'of' a particular location.

Metropolitan Philip appointed Archimandrite Paul (Saliba) 'Parish Priest of Washington DC'.

Metropolitan Paul describes himself as having been 'Parish Priest of Washington DC'.

Metropolitan Paul's official biography describes him as having been 'Parish Priest of Washington DC'.

Your amendment is at variance with the archbishops, and is at variance with the official biography.

It is also very interesting to see you amend Metropolitan Paul's preference.

If you persist with your amendment then I appeal to the primary webmaster.

chrisg 2006-06-07-2344 EAST

1. I am completely baffled as to why this is important. Please explain it to me, providing citations (other than an official biography, which has never been the overriding documentation for OrthodoxWiki, which is not an official extension of any jurisdiction).

2. I am a cleric of the N. American Antiochian Archdiocese and have never seen in any of our publications this kind of usage. References to parish clergy are typically in connection with the name of the parish. For instance, the March 2006 Word magazine includes on p. 25 the wording "He is assigned as pastor of that Mission," rather than "pastor of Boise, ID" (which is where the mission is), even though it is the only Antiochian parish in the city.

3. Is User:MetBoulos in fact Metr. Paul (Saliba)? He seems to use one of the same IPs you do (I presume it must be an office computer). If Metr. Paul is in fact contributing to OrthodoxWiki, we welcome His Eminence's assistance with this project and hope that he enjoys working with us.

4. The point, of course, is the meaning, not the terminology. In terms of meaning, the English word "of" for clergy usually denotes a territorial claim. Bishops are "of" certain geographical regions, while parish priests are "of" their parish churches. If this particular wording—"parish priest of Washington, DC"—is insisted upon, then there should also be an explanatory note that this is perhaps an "official" wording, but that the meaning is that this is the priest assigned to this parish which is in Washington, DC (which, in my opinion, makes for a lot of awkward language). I'm at a loss to understand what is objectionable about the much simpler and clearer wording "parish priest in Washington, DC" or even the more specific "parish priest of St. George Church in Washington, DC." Please explain to me what is the problem with this wording.

5. Please, absolutely feel free to appeal to FrJohn. I encourage it.

6. The amount of time I've spent trying to figure this out is disproportional to what I perceive to be its level of import. Though I am very much interested in having explained to me why this non-standard usage should persist, I am no longer going to try to regulate it in the Australasian articles. I leave it to others. —Dcn. Andrew ^{talk random contribs} 08:56, June 7, 2006 (CDT)