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The local Russian Orthodox Cathedral has two priests, the younger of which is a neighborhood boy, which I learned by attending their liturgy with a friend, who was distressed at having gotten schedule wrong, so we missed her preferred priest.

Careful what you wish for.

Amen !

Talking about fifedoms:

How about an ungodly parish board that treats the priest like he is an uneducated, ignorant, lowly, paid serf?!!

I have seen this case far more often ....

I have also seen a priest run roughshod over a board. There's no perfect answer.

Slava Isusu Khrystu!

We have a priest in our parish who has been there for 19 years. We are pleased that Father has been with us for so long. We do not want him to leave. He is not the Pastor, but Senior Priest in Residence. He is very involved in the parish life and celebrates almost all of the funerals by request. He is also very involved among the senior citizens.

Take care,

John Doucette

Have you ever thought that a priest might want to get rid of his parishoners too? The street works both ways my dears.
Stephanos I

That makes my blood boil. The CHURCH belongs to the parishoners NOT the priest. My Mother says it, my Grandmother said it, and now I say it. Priests come and go but the Parish is FOREVER. We, the parishoners, are the ones who PAY for the great big houses and the large yards and all the utilites of the priest. We are the ones who donate our time, our effort, and our lives. We are the lifeblood of the church NOT the priest, who, by all means, can be replaced, and in many cases SHOULD be replaced to meet the needs of the people. The people SHOULDN'T be pushed away to meet the needs of the priest.

If the Priest is serving the faith properly and the parishioners want him out because of it, then perhaps it is they who should leave for another denomination that would suit them better rather than try to water down the faith.

Truth and faith should never be watered down to suit the parishioners..the Priest's job is our salvation, period...

I don't mean to be offensive, but we all come from different experiences, and our views are formed by them. These are my particular views.

I have never bought into the American mentality of 'we pay the priest's salary' so he has to do as we want. He is not OUR servant, he is God's servant, and will have to answer to Him in a more profound way, than to his parish board. It is unfortunate that the Greek Orthodox church and other Eastern churches don't have priest's salaries paid by a central Archdiocese.

In Christ,
Alice

There should be respect for the priest by the laity, and respect for the laity by the priests and the hierarchy. The examples of a lack of respect on each side are unfortunately too abundant. That goes for the Catholic and Orthodox churches AFAIK.

Alice I think you captured and interpreted my point exactly.
Of course I love my people and I serve them faithfuly.
My point was that not all parishoners are angels.
And you are right on target. The priest are not the servants of people but of God and His representative.
And the Church does NOT belong to the people it belongs to God.
And if you have a correct understanding of the Church, without Priests, the Church does not exist.
Too many in America have been influenced with a protestant evangelical understanding of the Church,
Stephanos I

You exhibit the exact embodiment of what is wrong with the Byzantine Faith, and in fact support my argument that it is not in touch with the needs of today. You say there is too much protestant evangelical influence in America. If it is so widespread perhaps YOU are the one who is looking at this incorrectly. Perhaps your viewpoint is stuck in what YOU think is correct as opposed to what the majority believes. In America, majority rules, and it seems that your statement indicates the majority of Byzantine Catholics think �incorrectly.� Ever think maybe your view points are wrong and need to adjust to the needs of the people as oppose to simply saying, �I�m right your wrong�, which by the way, is EXACTLY, what this is about. It is why the Byzantine Faith is dying a slow death, it is why I personally quit parish board. It is why many do understand that the parish board in it self is a waste of time and lastly, it is a selfish way to view the Church.

You want your people to leave? Well you got it and at a break neck speed. I have met few priests of this generation that care about the TRUE future of the church. I wonder, I truly wonder, how many of todays EC priests applied to the Roman Rite first, was turned away, so choose the Eastern Catholics.

In my years of experience in the ugcc I have met no such priest.

Our eparchy has had for many years such a system. All parishes pay a monthly stipend to the eparchy. The eparchy in turns pays each priest a monthly stipend, travel allowance; and the eparchy is able to put a little amount away for healthcare and pension. All priests are treated the same, young or old; celibate or married; in a large parish or small. And we all know that in a few years we could be moved to another parish, and when this occurs, no one (either a parish or priest) loses out.

I agree with the theology of Church and of ministry you sketch here. The last statement regarding influences on all of us though is, I believe, more complex. A secular individualism that views each person as a consumer seems to pervade our cultures which to me seems to go far beyond any one Christian Church or movement.