[immoceefe]

In re-reading above posts, I note that the Patriarch of Moscow claimed 200 million in his flock, not the 2 million that I had read! I pray that someday we can get honest about these figures.

Regarding bishops, IMHO, the bishop ought to live amongst his flock. The primary flock of the Ecumenical Patriarch is composed of Greek Orthodox in the U.S. The last figure I saw was that there were 600,000 names on the GOA mailing list. With approx. 600 parishes this is probably an inflated number, but close enough. The problem of course is that were the Ecumenical Patriarchate to move to New York, it would in some sense make the Archbishop superfluous. But money from the U.S. Church is what supports the Patriarchate. So there are a number of historical anomalies here.

Things change, and I see no doctrinal issue at stake here. So the Patriarchate would do well to move. But it will not likely happen in my lifetime.