Ligonier Meeting

The bishops met together (many for the first time), held multiple sessions and presentations, and issued two statements, specifically on evangelism and on the notion of American Orthodox Christians being a "diaspora".

The original idea for the meeting at Ligonier was generated in the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America some years prior to the invitation by SCOBA, according to Archbishop Nathaniel (Popp) of Detroit: In November 1994, the invited hierarchs assembled at the Antiochian Village in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, hosted by Metropolitan Phillip of the Antiochian Archdiocese and presided over by Archbishop Iakovos (Coucouzis) of America, primate at that time of the Greek Archdiocese and SCOBA chairman (by custom, the chairman of SCOBA is elected by its members, but the one elected is always the primate of the representative of the Church of Constantinople in America).

Five months before, Metropolitan Spyridon Papageorge of Italy gave a speech at the 32nd Biennial Clergy-Laity Conference of the Greek Archdiocese, in which he plainly stated that both he and the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew, wanted an end to "ethnic ghettoes" which divided Orthodoxy in America.

Spyridon was generally regarded at the time to be the natural successor to the aged Iakovos, and his bold words for unity seemed the perfect cue for what transpired at Ligonier (Michalopoulos and Ham, 180-181).

In any event, if any of the "big three" hierarchs—Iakovos (GOA), Theodosius (OCA) or Philip (AOA)—had been elected as the American Orthodox primate, the reign would have been a short one.

Archbishop Nathaniel (Popp) of Detroit has this to say: Two statement documents were issued at Ligonier, one on the Orthodox Church in North America and one on Missions and Evangelism.

Their content may generally be characterized as a rejection of the notion that Orthodox Christianity in America constitutes a diaspora, that the ongoing uncanonical disunity of American Orthodoxy must come to an end.

Additionally, the statement on evangelism makes it clear that American Orthodox bishops regard the purpose of the Church in America as a missionary one.