Greek Orthodox Leader Won’t Fire U.S. Primate

In an apparent rebuff to rebellious Greek Orthodox bishops in the United States, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians on Tuesday declined to fire the church’s controversial American primate, His Eminence Archbishop Spyridon.

His All Holiness Bartholomew I, after a five-hour closed-door meeting in Istanbul with Spyridon and five dissenting metropolitan bishops, firmly instructed the Americans to return home and work out their differences.

But opposition to Spyridon remains strong. Speculation continues that, after a cooling-off period, he will be replaced.

Bartholomew’s decision was not unexpected. Spyridon, appointed 2 1/2 years ago to head the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, has been an unabashed loyalist to Bartholomew. But he has been viewed by critics in the U.S. as dictatorial and autocratic.

When Spyridon decided to sue leading lay members on grounds that they had illegally obtained an archdiocesan mailing list to send out a newspaper critical of his leadership, all five of the church’s metropolitan bishops issued a strongly worded statement criticizing their archbishop.