Kicking Out The Archbishop

How U.S. pressure led to the ouster of a prelate

The Archbishop's fall had a bit of everything: a sex scandal, an Internet cabal and even a Stephanopoulos. Not to mention speed. Last week, three short years after the Greek Orthodox Patriarch in Istanbul installed Ohio-born Archbishop Spyridon, leader of 1.5 million American believers, Spyridon bitterly gave his resignation. It was as if the body religious had rejected a transplanted organ.

Spyridon first alarmed his flock in early 1997, when one of his appointees reassigned seminary staff members who had recommended expelling a priest involved in a homosexual-harassment complaint. Critics claim Spyridon wanted to hush the case up. They also said...

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