The Russian Orthodox Church has over 190 MILLION members. How many members do all the other jurisdictions have that do not support the OCA? All the jurisdictions that do not support us amount to about 5 million members. Unless you include Serbia and others into that non-supportive group, then it would be about 35 million.
Still though, 190 million vs. 35 million. That is 84% of Orthodox Christians in the world.
Of course, we cannot say that 100% of the Russian Orthodox Christians support the OCA, but still, the amount of support from the Russian Orthodox Church probably does not go as low as only 60% (which if you removed 40% of support from Russian Orthodox Church, support would be split 50/50 in the Orthodox world)
_______________________
Recognise: Russia, Poland, Czech Lands ans Slovakia, Bulgaria
Opposed: Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Greece, Cyprus
The rest don't have any official statements. The numbers are equal.
As I said before, if you take the actual members of those Churches, then support for the OCA clearly rests in the majority. Does conciliarity mean that it is just the Patriarchs that make up the Orthodox Church, and that their opinions are really all that matters, or is it rather the 200 and some million members that really make up the Orthodox Church and what we practice/believe?
_______________________
Also, it seems there are opinions here that if the OCA doesn't submit, then we might as well schism... But there is absolutely NO canon that states, that we must submit to a foreign Patriarch if we have our own Metropolitan. Does any other Autocephalous Church answer to any Patriarch of another jurisdiction? Does Ukraine answer to the Moscow Patriarch? Does Romania answer to the Ecumenical Patriarch? No, they don't...
The OCA is an autocephalous church whether anyone likes it or not, and we have majority support in the Orthodox world. Accept it, don't try to force us under the authority of any foreign power.
If any of us desires the schism of another, does that not make us the schismatic? We must watch ourselves and make sure we are not desiring or asking for the schism of another Orthodox Christian because we don't agree with them. That is Satan and his demons working to divide the Church, pray that none of us fall under that temptation. (yes, I recognize this goes for me too)
Do not desire the schism of another because you disagree with them, but pray for more Orthodox unity, and leave it to the Lord's will. God will do what he wills, and man will choose whether or not to do his will, but just because you hold an opinion, that doesn't mean it is de facto God's will. Just because a Patriarch says something, doesn't mean it is always God's will.
___________________________
Lastly, the Ecumenical Patriarch will NOT say to the OCA: "You want to be left alone, then be alone, form your own church" Because, he will then have to answer to the Moscow Patriarch. I'm sorry, but the EP is only really symbolic now, with only really and influence over a very small number (relatively) of Orthodox Christians around the world. The MP has influence in a jurisdiction of over 190 million Orthodox Christians. (out of about 225 million) The EP would probably not go so far to say that an independent child of the MP might as well not be Orthodox and should schism.
I am not angry, and I am not in despair either. I personally am leaving this up to God and I'm going to let the hierarchs of our Church fight it out. But I want people to recognize that America is a vastly different culture and nation, and it is unlikely that native-born Americans will want to submit to a culture and ethnic background that is utterly separate and different from our own. While those cultures and ethnic backgrounds are very rich and wonderful, they aren't American. We are a melting pot, not dominated by one culture/ethnicity over another. We celebrate Russian, Greek and all other cultures/ethnic backgrounds.
Do not forget where you came from, but remember, you are American and part of a larger picture. Your brothers and sisters in America may be Russian, but they may also be Chinese, Aleut, Mexican, French, African, Dutch, Italian etc... Everyone can celebrate everyone's heritage, but we are all one, united by a common language while celebrating the diversity of languages that exist.
I am not against any other ethnicities or cultures. I even enjoy singing or even sometimes saying prayers in other languages, and am making an attempt to slowly learn Russian and Greek. But that doesn't mean I want to live my life dominated by a foreign culture that I don't really have any connection to.
