denominations, many of them scandalizednover anti-Christian NCC activitiesnbankrolled by their donations. Thenarchbishop, who has a name for practicalitynand who would not at all like tonsee a similar hemorrhaging of his (relatively)nconservative communicants,nhas, to put it crudely, acted to protectnhis turf This, no doubt, was part of hisnmotivation, and was certainly goodnreason for his actions. Nevertheless,nthere are central tenets of the faith thatnrender Orthodox participation in thenso-called ecumenical movement objectionablento begin with: canons explicitlynrequiring the Orthodox, particuladyntheir hierarchs, to avoid the kind ofnjoint worship with the non-Orthodoxnthat perforce occurs at NCC gatherings,nlest the Faith be compromised.nBut note that Archbishop lakovos’nmove to suspend (rather than resignnfrom) NCC membership, pending annautumn meeting (not yet convened asnof this writing) of the Standing Conferencenof Orthodox Bishops, to datenamounts to no more than a protest andnthreat. Members of the Standing Conferencen(it consists of the prominentnOrthodox national jurisdictions in thenWestern Hemisphere) theoreticallynstand on an equal footing. But thenall-too-human fact is that the StandingnConference’s two biggest constituencies,nthe Greek Archdiocese and thenOrthodox Church in America, havenlong vied informally for informal Orthodoxnhegemony in America. Andnconsidering that the Reverend LeonidnKishkovsky of the OCA currentlynserves as the president of the NCC,nsome feel that the archbishop’s movesnwere, among other things, an effort tonput the OCA’S leadership of the NCCnin a disreputable light.nLending weight to this reading was anmeeting in Cairo, Egypt, this pastnMay, at which the Greek Archdiocesenannounced its determination to remainnactive in the WCC. This was in apparentnreaction to threats made by othernOrthodox jurisdictions, at the WCC’snFebruary 1991 powwow in Canberra,nAustralia, to resign from the woridnbody owing to the WCC’s insistencenon whoring after strange gods. (ThenWCC bosses at Canberra, for instance,nallowed a Korean female “theologian”nto summon up the spirits of her ancestorsnin a homemade ritual confabulatednfrom parts of Buddhism, Christianity,nanimism, and radical feminism.) Sincenthe positions and activities of thenWCC and NCC display no qualitativendifferences, it is hard to discernn(theo)logicality in the archbishop’s reaffirmationnof membership in the onenand his suspension of membership innthe other a few weeks later.nBut God works in strange ways, and,neven though some Byzantine maneuveringnappears operative here, thenmove by the American Greeks (andnindeed the restiveness of the othernOrthodox) is certainly encouraging.nEven if he accepts whatever sops arenoffered him and resumes full NCCnmembership. Archbishop lakovos hasnat the least further exposed the NCC’sndeterminedly anti-Christian thrust.nAnd if he eventually goes to the pointnof resigning from the ecumenicalnbody, perhaps taking other Orthodoxngroups with him, the loss of prestigenattending the defection of the ancientnOrthodox jurisdictions would onlynclarify NCC —and WCC —status asna failed movement bent on engineeringna lowest-common-denominatornworld religion in which anything andneverything is tolerable and permissible.n—James GravesnCLYDE WILSON —a contributingneditor of Chronicles, a professor ofnhistory at the University of South Carolina,nand editor of The Papers of]ohnnC. Calhoun — will be the guest ofnhonor at the USC Graduate HistorynAssociation’s spring symposium, to benheld at the university on March 26-28.nThe symposium will both honor ProfessornWilson and celebrate the publicahonnof volume 20 of the Calhounnpapers. Guest speakers’ will includenEugene Genovese, M.E. Bradford,nLacy K. Ford, Carol Bleser, and JohnnShelton Reed. Our congratuladons gonout to Professor Wilson on this muchdeservednhonor.nGREAT TOPICS, GREAT ISSUESnCultural Amnesia – September 1991 – JacobnNeusner on the loss of knowledge and its consequences,nGeorge Watson on the role of thenliteral man, Anthony Harrigan on the importancenof dreams and reveries, and TheodorenPappas on the meaning of the New WorldnOrder. Plus Frank Brownlow on DineshnD’Souza’s Illiberal Education, Jack D. Douglasnon the sex studies of Alfred Kinsey, andnLorrin Anderson on the politics of televisionndocudrama.nWestern Writing – November 1991 – ChiltonnWilliamson, Jr on the work of Laura IngallsnWilder, A. Carl Bredahl on why Western narrativenis so American, Stephen Bodio on thenlife and literature of ranchwomen, and a shortnstory by Kent Nelson. Plus M.E. Bradford onnthe Western Writers Series, Thomas Flemingnon traveling in Italy, and John Shelton Reed onnthe environment and the role of the federalngovernment.nTitlenCULTURAL AMNESIAnLIFE ON A SMALL PLANETnWESTERN WRITINGnAMERICA FIRST: 194I/1991nBACK ISSUES ORDER FORMnEach issue $5.00 (postage and handling included)nLife on a Small Planet – October 1991 – GarrettnHardin on why good fences make goodnneighbors, Jacqueline Kasun on populationncontrol and the environment, and Richard D.nLamm on the role of culture in determiningnnational success. Plus Chilton Williamson, Jr.non the politics of writing histories of Columbus,nThomas Molnar on capitalism and EasternnEurope, and Florence King on JonathannAgronsky’s Marion Barry.nAmerica First: 1941/1991 – December 1991-nFour views of the America First Committee:nby Justus D. Doenecke, Wayne S. Cole, RuthnSarles Benedict, and Leonard P. Liggio. PlusnE. Christian Kopff on the Veterans of FuturenWars, Thomas Fleming on the lessons ofn1941, Samuel Francis on the need for a newnAmerica First policy, Theodore Pappas on thenTyler Kent affair, and John B. Thompson onnthe art of indoctrination.nDate Qty.nSEPTEMBER 1991nOCTOBER 1991nNOVEMBER 1991nDECEMBER 1991nTotal Enclosed $ _nCity State ZipnMail with check to: Chronicles * 934 North Main Street * Rockford. IL 61103nnnCostnJANUARY 1992/9n