AIOPA History
The Atlanta Inter-Orthodox Parish Association (AIOPA) is a team of clergy and laity representatives from different canonical Orthodox parishes around the Atlanta area.
AIOPA was officially formed during its first meeting on March 17th 2022 as a committee of the Atlanta Orthodox Clergy Brotherhood, which seeks to bring people the knowledge of the Orthodox Church and to assist those throughout the city of Atlanta who are in need.
AIOPA Mission
To make the Orthodox Church presence more visible and to speak with “one strong voice”
To address jointly the common interests, needs and concerns of all church members
To build strong associations of local Orthodox church communities
Parishes of all jurisdictions support and help one another
Share talents, and coordinate ministries and programs
To encourage communication and interaction among parishioners
Minimize jurisdictional barriers among the parishes
Develop a strong sense of one local Orthodox Christian Family
AIOPA Members
Each Parish is represented, for the most part, by one clergy person (usually the Parish Priest), one lay person from the Parish Council, and one lay person not on the Parish Council.
American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese (ACROD)
St. Elizabeth Orthodox Church: Fr. Matthew Dutko | John Marion
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (Antiochian)
Advent Antiochian Orthodox Church: Fr. Ben Bruce | Stephen Brannen
St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Church: Fr. Gabriel Tannous | Joston Brown | Dennis Sparks
St. James Antiochian Orthodox Church: Fr. Steven Ritter | Tara Freeman | Tom Taratsas
St. Stephen's Antiochian Orthodox Church: Fr. Jacob Andoun | Frank Tait
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA)
Annunciation Greek Cathedral: Fr. Paul Kaplanis | Fr. Christos Mars | James Tsismanakis | Toni Taggart
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church: Fr. Theodore Ehmer | Cristina Lekas | Natalia Saratsiotis
Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church: Fr. Panayiotis Papageorgiou | Fr. Michael Tishel | Eliza Markley | Julia Hill
St. Christopher Hellenic Orthodox Church: Fr. George Tsahakis | Jackie Sarantis | Steve Sarantis
St. Philothea Greek Orthodox Church: Fr. Anthony Salzman | Garrett Klawuhn | Regina Nasrallah
Sts. Raphael, Nicholas & Irene: Fr. Barnabas Powell | Evelyn Kemp | Sy Nease
Orthodox Church in America (OCA)
Sts. Constantine and Helen Romanian Orthodox Church: Fr. George Acsente | Florian Ion | Liviu Sofian
St. John the Wonderworker: Fr. Tom Alessandroni | Andrea Uhr | Michael Uhr
Romanian Patriarchate (Romanian)
St. Mary Romanian Orthodox Church: Fr. Nicolae Clempus | Dan Fratiloiu
Serbian Orthodox Church in North, Central & South America (Serbian)
Sts. Peter and Paul Serbian Orthodox Church: Fr. Miladin Blagojevic | Borko Komnenovic | Mirjana M. Brockett
AIOPA Structure
AIOPA is organized in five workgoups: Religious, Charity, Social, Development and Communications.
Chairman
Rev. Fr. Christos P. Mars - Annunciation Greek Cathedral, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA)
Religious WorkGroup
The Religious WorkGroup will create, plan and run activities that allow our clergy and parishioners to participate together in Christian-Orthodox religious events.
The members of the Religious WorkGroup are:
Stephen Brannen - Avent Antiochian Orthodox Church, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (Antiochian)
Fr. Theodore Ehmer - Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA)
Eliza Markley - Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA)
Fr. Michael Tishel - Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA)
Fr. George Tsahakis - St. Christopher Hellenic Orthodox, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA)
Fr. George Acsente - Sts. Constantine and Helen Romanian Orthodox Church, Orthodox Church in America (OCA)
Fr. Tom Alessandroni - St. John the Wonderworker Orthodox Church, Orthodox Church in America (OCA)
Michael Uhr - St. John the Wonderworker Orthodox Church, Orthodox Church in America (OCA)
Fr. Nicolae Clempus - St. Mary Romanian Orthodox Church, Romanian Patriarchate (Romanian)
Borko Komnenovic - Sts. Peter and Paul Serbian Orthodox Church, Serbian Orthodox Church in North, Central & South America (Serbian)
Charity WorkGroup
The Charity WorkGroup will create, plan and run charitable activities that provide for the needs of those around us, share God’s deep love for humankind with others, build connection and fellowship within the Orthodox Church, the Body of Christ, and inwardly transform us as individual Orthodox Christians by heeding God’s call to love our neighbor and encountering Christ Himself when we “do for one the least of these”.
The members of the Charity WorkGroup are:
Fr. Ben Bruce - Avent Antiochian Orthodox Church, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (Antiochian)
Tara Freeman - St. James Antiochian Orthodox Church, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (Antiochian)
Tom Taratsas - St. James Antiochian Orthodox Church, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (Antiochian)
Jackie Sarantis - St. Christopher Hellenic Orthodox, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA)
Steve Sarantis - St. Christopher Hellenic Orthodox, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA)
Evelyn Kemp - Sts. Raphael, Nicholas & Irene, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA)
Fr. Tom Alessandroni - St. John the Wonderworker Orthodox Church, Orthodox Church in America (OCA)
Fr. Nicolae Clempus - St. Mary Romanian Orthodox Church, Romanian Patriarchate
Mirjana M. Brockett - Sts. Peter and Paul Serbian Orthodox Church, Serbian Orthodox Church in North, Central & South America (Serbian)
Social WorkGroup
The Social WorkGroup will create, plan and run activities intended to bring together orthodox parishioners for social events.
The members of the Social WorkGroup are:
Fr. Matthew Dutko - St. Elizabeth Orthodox Church, American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese (ACROD)
Toni Taggart - Annunciation Greek Cathedral, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA)
Steve Sarantis - St. Christopher Hellenic Orthodox, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA)
Garrett Klawuhn - St. Philothea Greek Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA)
Julia Hill - Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA)
Evelyn Kemp - Sts. Raphael, Nicholas & Irene, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA)
Liviu Sofian - Sts. Constantine and Helen Romanian Orthodox Church, Orthodox Church in America (OCA)
Andrea Uhr - St. John the Wonderworker Orthodox Church, Orthodox Church in America (OCA)
Fr. Miladin Blagojevic - Sts. Peter and Paul Serbian Orthodox Church, Serbian Orthodox Church in North, Central & South America (Serbian)
Development WorkGroup
The Development WorkGroup will create, plan and run activities that allow our Parish Councils to learn and grow together as a larger team, deeper and faster than each one of us can do individually in our own parish.
The members of the Development WorkGroup are:
John Marion - St. Elizabeth Orthodox Church, American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese (ACROD)
Tom Taratsas - St. James Antiochian Orthodox Church, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (Antiochian)
Fr. Jacob Andoun - St. Stephen's Antiochian Orthodox Church, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (Antiochian)
Fr. George Acsente - Sts. Constantine and Helen Romanian Orthodox Church, Orthodox Church in America (OCA)
Florian Ion - Sts. Constantine and Helen Romanian Orthodox Church, Orthodox Church in America (OCA)
Michael Uhr - St. John the Wonderworker Orthodox Church, Orthodox Church in America (OCA)
Communications WorkGroup
The Communications WorkGroup will create, plan and run activities intended to spread the word about the work our AIOPA Team is doing and the results is having, as well as staying connected with the main stakeholders (e.g., Hierarchs, Assembly of Bishops, Akron team, other relevant organizations).
The members of the Communications WorkGroup are:
James Tsismanakis - Annunciation Greek Cathedral, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA)
Cristina Lekas - Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA)
Charles Glotzbach - Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA)
Julia Hill - Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA)
Fr. Anthony Salzman - St. Philothea Greek Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA)
Regina Nasrallah - St. Philothea Greek Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA)
Florian Ion - Sts. Constantine and Helen Romanian Orthodox Church, Orthodox Church in America (OCA)
For a deeper understanding of the Church Unity efforts, please go through these resources:
Presentations
The intent of this presentation is to walk us through the AoB history and then what are we doing as AIOPA and how. It’s an opportunity for us to absorb additional knowledge and also to ask questions to make sure we all feel confident about this effort. It can also be used in the future should new people join our team. The presentation is about 30min in length.
Videos
A Vision of a Unified Church in North America. A series of videos on the topic offered by Orthodox Christian Laity.
Podcasts
Correcting a Canonical Anomaly - Protodeacon Peter Danilchick. A 37min program from 2013 that gives background and current status at the time on the one bishop per city canonical organization.
A Path to Greater Orthodox Unity - Bill Marianes. A 90min program from 2020 devoted to a more thorough examination of the Assembly’s accomplishments and plans. Bill's guests include Metropolitan Gregory of the American Carpatho Russian Orthodox Diocese and the current Secretary of the Assembly, Mark Arey its first Secretary, and Nicholas Anton its Director of Operations.
Orthodox Unity - Protodeacon Peter Danilchick and Charles Ajalat. A 60min program from 2020, oral with transcript, about the history and future of seeking unity in the Orthodox Church.
Documents
In order to properly position the effort of our Atlanta Inter-Orthodox Parish Association in the larger context, please find below some useful documents:
AoB 2020 Vision – the most important document showing the vision, mission, goals, organization per committees as well as brief history and accomplishments of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America (AoB)
AoB 2020 Activities Report – the AoB activities that happened in 2020 showing the progress made during that year
For those interested to learn more about the 4th Pre-Conciliar Panorthodox Conference from Chambésy-Geneva, Switzerland, here are the official English documents:
The Decision - The Orthodox Diaspora
The Rules - Rules of Operation of Episcopal Assemblies in the Orthodox Diaspora