VOTE FOR A PATRIARCH

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 969, 12 May 1930, Page 9

VOTE FOR A PATRIARCH

GREEKS IN CONFLICT FOR OVER A YEAR LAYMEN AND ARCHBISHOPS A man who is interested “solely in luxury, in soft living in palaces. In wearing garments of silken and golden tissues” is not the kind of a candidate the Greek-Orthodox community wants to fill gthe age-old See of the Patriarchate of Antioch. A conflict has been in progress for more than a year, since the death of the last Patriarch of Antioch, between the Greek-Orthodox clergy and the lay community. The laymen assert their right to vote, while the Archbishops demand as their exclusive right the selection of the occupant of the chair of Sts. Peter and Paul. The laity issued a declaration addressed to the Archbishops setting forth their demands. It said: "We do not want the candidate to be chosen from among the egoists solely interested in luxurv, in alcoholic drinks, in soft living in palaces, in wearing garments of silken and golden tissue, while the clergy and the lay community go hungry and naked, lacking the means to teach their children, to care for their sick and to clothe and feed their unhappv families. “The whole Orthodox community regards with detestation the appointment of a person who cares for naught but to entertain his relatives at the expense of the community and to waste religious funds, according to the customary rules of the game.”