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Live event on Tuesday, October 19, 2021

The Holy Synod of Bishops and Metropolitan Council of the Orthodox Church in America will be convening in Cleveland, OH for their regular Fall Sessions in person, respectively on October 21-22 and October 18-19. On Wednesday and Thursday, October 20-21, the Holy Synod and the Metropolitan Council will meet in an expanded joint meeting which will also include Diocesan Chancellors, representatives from the three OCA Seminaries, and four Monastic Superiors.

This joint meeting will be an opportunity for the participants to come together in fellowship after a long hiatus due to the pandemic. Although the Holy Synod met in person in May 2021, the Metropolitan Council has not been able to have an in-person meeting for almost two years.

Along with fellowship, this joint meeting is intended to be a platform for the leadership of the Church to discuss and prepare for the upcoming 20th All-American Council which will take place in Baltimore, MD on July 18-22, 2022.

The work of the joint meeting will follow a workshop format in which the participants will be divided into 8 groups. Each group will be assigned a topic to discuss over three sessions. The topics and related questions will be considered and discussed within the framework of vocation and, particularly, along the theme of the upcoming 20th All-American Council, “Becoming Vessels of Grace.”

Although not unprecedented, an expanded joint meeting comprising of various leadership bodies in the Church has not taken place in decades. To know more about this meeting and the conciliar work and process inherent to the very structure of the Orthodox Church in America, all the faithful are invited to join His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon on Tuesday, October 19 at 9 PM for a live-conversation with Archpriest Thomas Soroka. Father Thomas will host His Beatitude and other participants of the expanded joint meeting at his weekly Ancient Faith Live show to discuss “The Church Working in Council.”

Among the items on the proposed agenda for this session, both the Metropolitan Council and the Holy Synod will receive reports at their regular sessions from His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon, OCA Primate; Archpriest Alexander Rentel, Chancellor; Priest Alessandro Margheritino, Secretary; and Mr. Andrew Smith, Treasurer. In addition there will be updates on the OCA Departments, the All-American Council, Property Committee, Communication, and Pension Plan, amongst others.