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On Tuesday, September 26, the Preconciliar Commission met at the Chancery office in Springfield, VA, under the presidency of His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon. Members of the PCC include Archpriest Alexander Rentel, Chancellor, Archpriest Alessandro Margheritino, Secretary, Archpriest Andrew Jarmus, Protodeacon Peter Ilchuk, Council Manager, Ms. Lynnell McFarland, Ms. Hollie Benton, and Mr. Andrew Smith, Treasurer.
This was the first in-person meeting of the Commission after its formal appointment this past Spring. The PCC met to continue planning for the 21st All-American Council, slated to take place at the Arizona Grand Resort in Phoenix, AZ, on July 14-18, 2025.
As Fr. Alexander pointed out, “This was a very productive meeting that gave us the opportunity to think creatively and even outside the box about one of the most important events in the life of our Church.”
The PCC spent the first part of the meeting discussing the 20th AAC, the agenda and schedule of the past Council, and the survey results. The members discussed ideas for the theme of the upcoming Council, major agenda items, and a preliminary overall agenda.
The PCC plans to meet again next December and more frequently starting in 2024. While some of the members of the PCC have already visited the Arizona Grand Resort, the PCC plans to hold one of its upcoming meetings in Phoenix in early 2024.
The All-American Council, convened at intervals of three years, and bringing together all the various elements of the Church, is the highest legislative and administrative authority within the Orthodox Church in America. The Orthodox Church in America has convened more than 30 All-American Councils since the first in 1907. In order to differentiate between the councils before autocephaly and after it, when the church began a new existence, it was decided that the councils from 1907 to 1970 would be called by the term “Sobor” and that these gatherings since autocephaly in 1970 would be called by the equivalent term in English “Council”.
