Probably not many people who follow international affairs think the intricacies of Orthodox Church governance are particularly important. Well, the US Department of State does. Barely a week ago, the State Department, via the statement of a senior official, Ambassador Michael Kozak, publicly pledged that Washington would stay out of the contentious question of the status of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine: “any decision on autocephaly is an internal church matter.” (Without repeating all of the details of my previous commentaries on what some may regard as an arcane and peripheral issue, there is reason to expect that Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople may … Continue reading For US, Meddling in Orthodox Church Affairs