NEW YORK SUPREME COURT JUSTICE DISMISSES OCL LAWSUIT
AGAINST GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA
GREEK
ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA
8-10 East 79th
St. New York, NY 10021
Tel: (212) 570-3530
Fax: (212) 774-0215
Web: http://www.goarch.org
Email:
communications@goarch.org
For
Immediate Release
August 12,2004
Contact: Nikki Stephanopoulos
Tel.: 212.570.3530
New York, NY - On February 2, 2004,
several individuals brought an action in New York State Supreme Court against
the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and Archbishop Demetrios seeking to
invalidate the 2003 Charter granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of
Constantinople.
On August 6, 2004, Justice Ira
Gammerman of the New York State Supreme Court rendered a decision granting, with
costs, the motion of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese to dismiss the lawsuit. The
Justice wrote, “I do not think it can seriously be disputed that the Greek
Orthodox Church is hierarchical.” The Court relied on a United States
Supreme Court decision, Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese for the USA. v
Milivojevich, 426 US 696 (1976), stating such decision was “squarely on
point.” The Court further stated that pursuant to the Milivojevich case,
“the courts simply do not have the authority to interfere with the manner in
which churches organize the titles of their clerics, to determine the
eligibility criteria for candidates for Archbishop or bishop, to oversee
monasteries, or to inject the state judicial authority into other matters raised
by this action.”
The Court’s memorandum decision is
posted at the Archdiocese website at
http://www.goarch.org/en/archdiocese/documents/.