LOS ANGELES -- Declaring that their church had come of age, the North American convention of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church has voted to ask the mother church in Syria for autonomy.
The 721-11 vote with six abstentions at the church's General Assembly came after Archbishop Philip Saliba, the church's North American leader, declared that Orthodoxy's growth and vitality is to be found in the New World.
``This is the new Antioch,'' he said, referring to the ancient city where the New Testament (Acts 11:26) says followers of Christ were first called Christians. ``Antioch is here in North America.''
While the number of Christians and their influence are diminishing in such ancient centers, the Antiochian Church has 500,000 members in the United States and Canada, half of them American converts.
Started in Brooklyn in 1895 as a small Syrian mission of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Antiochian Church today has 350 priests and deacons and 235 parishes and missions.
Despite the growth, Saliba said he is not optimistic that the North American church will be granted autonomy any time soon by the Damascus-based Antiochian patriarch, Ignatius IV, and his Holy Synod of metropolitan bishops.
Earlier, during his address to the General Assembly, Saliba declared, ``Do not fall under the illusion that the old patriarchate (mother church) desires (Orthodox) unity in this hemisphere . . . Unity cannot be given. It must be taken!''
Under the resolution, delegates did not seek full independence, but autonomy. That would mean, if Damascus approved, the Canadian and American Antiochian Orthodox convention could elect its auxiliary bishops and tend to its internal affairs. Damascus would still have the final word on who the top bishop would be. The beliefs and liturgy of the church would remain unchanged.