I will be posting this letter along with the letter to Rep. Dina Titus:
His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos
Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco
245 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
Your Eminence
As an American member of the Greek Orthodox Church currently living abroad, I was appalled when I learned that a member of your diocese serving in the United State House of Representatives, Dina Titus, publicly declares that she supports ethics of which Orthodox Christians would be proud and uses her position in Congress to look out for Orthodox issues.
Rep. Titus’ ethics are in direct contradiction to the teaching of the Orthodox Church. Rep. Titus openly supports the federally sponsored killing of the unborn. By her words and actions she is declaring that support for abortion is compatible with Orthodoxy.
Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church in America boldly declared in Washington, D.C. in January of this year, “…the unqualified opposition to abortion that is at the heart of the Orthodox Christian Tradition and is unarguably the teaching and the dogma of the Orthodox Church.” As Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh has said, “It is our obligation as Orthodox to speak up and not remain silent on this issue.”
Rep. Titus has voted in favour of using tax dollars to fund abortion, in House Roll Call No. 571 (the District of Columbia funding bill, H.R. 3170), in House Roll Call No. 643 (the Pence amendment to H.R. 3293), and in House Roll Call No. 884 (the Stupak-Pitts Amendment to H.R. 3962). Such votes unarguably stand in opposition to the ethics of the Orthodox Church. She is openly an accomplice to what the Orthodox Church clearly and unequivocally regards as murder.
As a member of the Greek Orthodox Church, I urge you to fulfil the obligation to speak up and not remain silent. I ask you to call upon Rep. Titus to repent of publicly rejecting the teaching and dogma of the Orthodox Church and Holy Tradition in the Congress of the United States. I call upon you to fulfil your duty to Christ and His Church to guard the holy, life-giving sacraments and demand that Rep. Titus refrain from receiving the Most Precious Body and Blood of our Lord so long as she spends the public purse to rip the bodies of the innocent unborn from their mothers and pours out their blood upon the altar of convenience.
In Christ,
Solomon Hezekiah 
November 23, 2009 at 2:55 pm
A great letter. I hope more will follow your lead.
November 24, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Excellent! I sent my letters last week.
November 25, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Amen
November 30, 2009 at 2:45 am
I won’t hold my breath. This is the same bishop who presented an award to Hilary Clinton (!) for supporting the cause of the Greek Orthodox in regard to making strongly worded statements regarding the Halki seminary. The issue of the seminary in Halki is infinitesimal in importance compared to the very real, bloody, pro-abortion posturing of Ms. Clinton over the years. I also wrote to the bishop at that time. No response was forthcoming.
November 30, 2009 at 3:33 am
Breath very much not held. Responsibility as an Orthodox layman fulfilled, but breathing quite normally.
December 6, 2009 at 11:26 pm
An update…I received today a response letter from Fr. James Adams, Chancellor, of the Metropolis of SF saying,
“His Eminence…received your letter…after reading over carefully…wanted to inform you that we will look into the situation immediately”. “His Eminence has met Ms. Titus but knows nothing of her political views or activity in the Faith. Be assured His Eminence will look into the situation and take the necessary steps.”
December 8, 2009 at 2:28 am
Very interesting! I will be curious to see what His Eminence believes to be the necessary steps.
December 11, 2009 at 10:53 am
I received a reply today from Fr James, with much the same wording, though he did tell me off for “the tone and the lack of respect” of my letter.
July 23, 2010 at 6:51 am
You know, It is quite sickening for politicians to flagrantly disregard the faith that they claim publically and often to some personal benefit. I remember Dukakakis being trotted around Orthodox Churches, thoug he wasn’t remotely practicing.
BUT, the eucharist and excommunication are not matters for petitions. Yes, yes, I know it’s become all the rage amongst Latin pro-lifers to petition the latin hierarchy in a similar manner. You could pray for Met. G and for Dina, you could offer Akathists or prayer ropes, you could fast for both of them. But her excommunication isn’t really your business. Period.
Any Christian who wishes to demand a penance for some one else ought to be willing to fulfill a penance for some one else, out of love.
Priest Yousuf Rassam
July 23, 2010 at 6:58 am
PS. Having read your letter to Titus, I would also add that though it may have been a good thing for you to write her, you were not obligated to do so. Not at all. I am not obligated to be posting about your posts, though I believe strongly that you are crossing boundaries that ought not be crossed in the name of a quite worthy cause. I choose to respond, as you have chosen to write as well. I choose to do so because I like a couple of other posts I have read here and I hope that I will actually achieve a real communication.
We may both be mostly correct in our positions, but our choices to speak may not be the right one never the less.
July 23, 2010 at 9:28 am
Fr Yousuf,
Thank you for your thoughtful comments.
I have not demanded penance from Dina Titus or any of the other Orthodox federal legislators. If they want to repent and be restored to the Church that is their business. I have demanded that they desist from scandalising Christ and His Church by representing to the world in their public position that they are faithful Orthodox and by inference that the Orthodox Faith condones or endorses their actions as accessories to the deaths of thousands of unborn children by funding those deaths with tax dollars.
I would say that ordinarily the excommunication of a member of the Orthodox Church is none of my business. I see an exception here for two reasons. First, Dina Titus has explicitly used her alleged faithfulness to the teachings of the Orthodox Church both to get elected and to describe her work in Congress. She is openly sinning and calling it righteousness. One might say she has crosses a boundary that ought not be crossed. Second, it is the responsibility of Metropolitan Gerasimos to guard the sacraments. This is an example open and before the whole world where this has not been happening, to the scandal of the faithful worldwide.
If Dina Titus had gotten an abortion, did not repent, and her priest or even her bishop knew this and still communicated the sacraments to her, that is a matter between them and God. That is not what has happened here.
I think we perhaps have fundamentally different views as to the relationship between the hierarchy and the laity. I do not take the bow-and-scrape approach. I think the hierarchy are answerable to the faithful. I think this is particularly true in matters of heresy, which, if you read my following post, I think includes this issue.