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The Dionisije Conundrum and why deference doesn’t work
Matthew NameeI’m assuming, in this short article, that you’ve read about Serbian Diocese v. Milivojevich. But for those who haven’t: the Serbian Holy Assembly deposed Bishop Dionisije Milivojevich, and Illinois courts basically overruled the deposition…
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Orthodoxy & the Courts: ecclesiastical questions are unavoidable
Matthew NameeUntil the early 1980s, some OCA parishes in the Diocese of Eastern Pennsylvania used the Old Calendar. In 1982, then-Bishop Herman Swaiko of Philadelphia ordered all of his parishes to switch to the New…
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Neutral Principles of Law in a Bulgarian parish dispute
Matthew NameeToday I’ll be discussing Aglikin v. Kovacheff, a 1987 Illinois appellate court case involving a dispute over control of St. Sophia Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Chicago. The key question, in this case, concerns the extent of the…
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Hanna v. Malick: the Russy-Antacky schism in the Michigan Supreme Court
Matthew NameePrior to Bishop Raphael Hawaweeny’s death in 1915, pretty much all the Syrian (Antiochian) Orthodox in America recognized his authority. This included St. George Syrian Orthodox Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan, which was incorporated…
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Ecumenical Patriarch denied appeal of Bishop Dionisije
Matthew NameeWell, this is interesting. Lately, I’ve been looking at the Supreme Court case Serbian Diocese v. Milivojevich, which pitted the representatives of the Serbian Church against the incumbent American bishop, Dionisije, who had been…
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Neutral Principles of Law and the Problems of Deference
Matthew NameeSo far, we’ve been discussing the role of civil courts in church property disputes in the context of the “deference” approach: that is, the courts will defer to the decisions of the highest church authorities. This was the…