The first time I saw Archbishop Job of the Orthodox Church in America, he was singing the simple, yet haunting, hymn that the Orthodox sing during funerals — Memory Eternal.
Of course, the fact that he was chanting this hymn while standing in front of the U.S. Supreme Court made the scene especially poignant. Year after year, Archbishop Job was in the middle of throngs of people marching behind the “Orthodox Christians For Life” banner at the March for Life in Washington, D.C. He marched the march, led the prayers and was there for his people at an event that usually attracts very few bishops — Orthodox, Catholics, whatever.
But it seemed like Archbishop Job was always there, surrounded by people singing Memory Eternal. Now his flock will sing the hymn for him, after the monk’s stunning death this week at the age of 63.
There’s no particular reason for newspaper readers to know about Archbishop Job of Chicago, because he isn’t all that famous outside a national flock of Orthodox believers who are committed to (a) Orthodox unity, (b) integrity in church government and, of course, (c) the sanctity of human life.
In terms of hard news, he was a key figure calling for reform during the recent era of scandal in the OCA and many thought he would become the new Metropolitan. But Bishop Job really wanted to retire and focus on ministry — not administrative work. He was poised to retire, in fact. Click here for a podcast tribute to him.
As you would expect, mainstream press coverage of his sudden death has been light. However, the Chicago Tribune has now published a nice feature by religion-beat specialist Manya A. Brachear that captures why he was a symbolic figure. Here’s the top of the report:
Before Archbishop Job rose to national prominence for hastening reform in the Orthodox Church in America, the mild-mannered Chicago native earned acclaim for the twinkle in his eye and an ability to engage and entertain youth.
Fellow clergy and parishioners were astounded in 1996 when the Archbishop of Chicago and the Midwest accompanied a church youth group in Ohio on what was then the world’s tallest and fastest roller coaster. That lighthearted act of courage illustrated how the soft-spoken bishop didn’t balk when it came to serving the church — an ironclad devotion that would serve him a decade later when he called for an investigation of church leaders accused of financial misconduct.
“He asked one simple question, four words that turned the church upside down, inside out: ‘Are these allegations true?’ ” recalled the Rev. John Adamcio, rector at Holy Trinity Cathedral, the seat of the Chicago diocese. “Everyone was skirting the issue. … He wanted to find the truth and make the church grow.”
I especially appreciated this glimpse into the life of the archbishop’s family, the kind of complicated history that is so typical for many Orthodox believers during this sometimes tense era in which so many people are converting into the faith.
Born Richard John Osacky in 1946 to an Orthodox Christian mother and a Roman Catholic father, Archbishop Job grew up on the Southwest Side. Although baptized Catholic, he became enamored during childhood with Eastern Orthodoxy. …
His father disowned him when, after graduating from St. Rita Catholic High School in 1964, the young Osacky declared that he wanted to become an Orthodox priest, Adamcio said. After completing studies at Northern Illinois University and St. Tikhon Orthodox Seminary in South Canaan, Pa., he was ordained in 1973. Decades later, he and his father reconciled. …
Read it all. And, if you wish, please join Orthodox believers in praying for this quiet, but courageous, monk, composer, iconographer, priest, bishop and archbishop. Memory eternal, indeed, for a man who suffered much while leading his flock.
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Comments (12) |
December 20, 2009, at 6:13 pm
Memory Eternal!
Vladyka was my bishop and tonsured me a reader. On hearing of his death I was amazed at the sadness and loss I felt. The small amount of time I did spend with him had had a more profound effect on me than I knew. It took his death to bring that out. Axios.
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December 20, 2009, at 6:57 pm
It this era of stonewalling and media spin, his life shows what can happen when one upholds the banner of truth. I have no doubt that many who are not known uphold truth, but finding someone in public religious authority who actually upholds truth is quite refreshing. One might even call it Biblical.
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December 20, 2009, at 7:17 pm
Talk about a blackout in media coverage. I don’t think I have ever read in the MSM of the Orthodox presence in the pro-life movement. Yet it is not surprising since the Orthodox moral heritage—like the Catholic— goes back to the earliest Christians who were pro-life and while pro-life conquered the Roman Empire’s culture of death.
Hopefully Archbishop Job’s reconciliation with his Roman Catholic father is a living prophecy of an eventual reunion between the Orthodox East and the Catholic West.
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December 20, 2009, at 7:42 pm
If you can catch it on the internet somehow: 60 minutes just did a long segment on the sufferings of the Orthodox Church in Turkey. It struck me —as a Roman Catholic— to be very sympathetic and quite accurate—especially with regard to the second class status and possible violence Orthodox Christians face in that country. Every Christian who feels for brother and sister Christians around the world should see it.
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December 20, 2009, at 8:45 pm
Further note: Zenit News Service on the internet (from Rome and the Vatican) has just published a long report on the persecution of Christians in Turkey (a follow-up to 60 Minutes???). It includes some of the depredations Syrian Orthodox have had to endure.
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December 20, 2009, at 11:24 pm
Vichnaya pamyat’. Requiescat in pace.
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December 21, 2009, at 10:04 am
Tmatt, or anyone else who knows, what’s the symbolism of the three candles in the right hand and two in the left?
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December 21, 2009, at 11:04 am
If I had to guess, the three is for the Trinity and the two for Christ’s twofold nature. I’ve seen them used by Greek Catholic hierarchs in the past, but I don’t know their name.
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December 21, 2009, at 2:17 pm
The candles are the Trikeri & Dikeri. They symbolize the three persons of the Trinity and the two natures of Christ. The bishop uses them during a hierarchical Divine Liturgy to bless the temple. Imagine the bishop, in that photo swinging the candlestick down to the floor, raising them back up to level and then crossing them back and forth in front of him. Then imagine, hours later, a poor subdeacon cleaning beeswax off the floor.
They are affectionately referred to as “Trixie” and “Dixie.”
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December 21, 2009, at 2:24 pm
Axios. Axios, indeed.
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December 21, 2009, at 6:38 pm
Some years ago, with an alumnus, I visited St Procopius College for Catholic men near Chicago - which is associated with a Benedictine Abbey of the same name, which at the time was very heavily into raprochment between Catholic and Orthodox. Chicago has a lot of Eastern Europeans and I was told that monks of East and West were supposedly in residence there. I wonder if the Archbishop had any connection to that institution. The alumnus told me that late at night (or early in the morning?)bearded men in dark robes would sometimes come through the halls of his dorm incensing the guys’ rooms.
Unfortunate to lose such a man at a youngish age.
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December 24, 2009, at 12:14 am
Bishop Job is my first cousin; we grew up together on the Southwest side of Chicago. He now rests in peace reunited with his mother Anna, father John. I will miss him. I had planned to visit with him when he retired in Black Lick. Say hello to all our departed parents and relatives for me, Bishop Job, cousin Rick.
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