Be it known to all men

By the Authority of The North American Holy Synod we have declared that the individual known as Dominic Martin, who claims the title of Archbishop, has violated the Sacred and Divine canons as follows;

The Canons

Canon XIV of the 17 canons:

Anyone who Leaves his Patriarch without cause or verdict as required by the canons shall suffer the punishment directed by the council. A Bishop, especially a Patriarch, cannot be ousted from office without a trial and in this case no charges were made, and no trial took place. The Council has decreed that anyone who leaves his Patriarch shall be deposed from office.

Canon VI of the 21 Canons: If someone has set up an altar separate from the Church the canons direct him to be anathema.

Canon LV of the 85 or Apostolic Canons: If any clergyman should insult the Bishop, let him be deposed from office.

Canon VI of the 7 canons: If anyone shall fabricate charges against a bishop he shall suffer the same punishment as the Bishop might if found guilty.

In this instance Martin has caused to be published false claims about the Patriarch and a claim the synod acted against the Patriarch when it did not. This is evidenced by Martin's own documents stating he was leaving the Church. The Canons state here that the accuser is supposed to agree in writing to accept the same penality as the accused if they are found to be untruthful.

Canon XVIII of the 30 canons: prohibits conspiracy against a bishop or fellow clergy. The canon directs they shall forfeit their own rank altogether.

Numerous canons speak of theft. We view the false claims that another is our Church when they are not part of this Church as theft of our Church property, such as our Registered Service Mark. The use of our materials under our Copyright is theft according to U.S. law.

Canon 11 of the 85 canons: If anyone who is a clergyman pray[s] in company with a deposed clergyman, he shall be deposed from his office and removed from the ranks of the clergy.

Findings of Fact

On November 23, 2009 Dominic Martin was sent an email along with other clergy suggesting if they could not or would not obey the canons they should consider leaving the Church.

On November 30th Dominic Martin sent an email to the clergy acknowledging his wrong doing for the good of the Church. He stated he did not understand a local canon about a mandate being required for all ordinations.

On December 8, 2009 Dominic Martin sent an email that he was leaving THEOCACNA. In one email he stated he or his clergy did not depose the Patriarch. The only vote mentioned was to leave the Church. Once you leave you have no authority to act against the hierarchy of that Church and no legal right to use the name, history, etc of the Church you walked away from. By walking away from the Church without the required letters he has violated the canons.

In no message did Dominic Martin or any other clergy claim to have voted to remove the Patriarch from office or to retire the title of Patriarch. This appears to show Martin and his associates have fabricated charges against the Patriarch after they walked away from the Church.

The Metropolitan of the group Dominic Martin is an "Archbishop" of stated in a recent email (Jan 2011) that "no one was claiming to be THEOCACNA". This was part of a response to a complaint of copyright infringement for using a photograph without permission.

Martin's Church is known as The Holy Eastern Orthodox Christian Apostolic Church: North American Synod or THEOCACNAS. An act to cause confusion with this Church. This shows he has setup a separate altar contrary to the Canons.

Martin claim's after the fact that they, his group, voted to remove the presiding hierarch of THEOCACNA from office. This is not possible under the circumstances and by the Church Constitution. We believe this shows a conspiracy against the Patriarch and the Church. They cannot take over the Church corporation so they defame the Patriarch and claim to be the continuation of something, in this case the Church, that continues to exist as a Canonically established othodox Church.

Fact: The email Martin sent just said he and his associates were leaving THEOCACNA. This false claim of removing the Patriarch from office on one page and breaking communion with him on another page condradicts the facts. These claims insult the Bishop, or in this case the Partiarch.

On Feb. 7, 2011 the photo was still posted on Martin's internet website. We view this as theft of copyrighted property.

Decision

The Holy Council of the North American Holy Synod declares as follows;

By his claiming to still be part of this Church but under a similar name the Synod claims authority over the individual.

That Dominic Martin is deposed from office and anathamatized as directed by the Sacred and Divine canons for his violation of the canons named above and the punishment they direct.

His actions have been aimed at attacking the Church. to cause harm, to destroy any trust in the Church and her clergy, to defame the Church and clergy in an effort to get people to turn to his independent jurisdiction and in any other ways to prevent this Church from carrying out is intended ministry within our canonical jurisdiction. We also determined that his actions insult Archbishop Aftimios Ofiesh the Blessed Memory.

His actions are an act of Schism against this Church, the Patriarch and our clergy. All related acts mentioned above ave violated the Sacred and Divine Canons.

This Church was canonically established and Chartered on Feburary 2, 1927 and incorporated on Feb. 1, 1928. As such this Church was, and is, entitled to the same honor and respect that other Othodox Churches and jurisdictions seek and demand.

Signed and dated
the eighth Day of February, 2011.

Archbishop Victor

Signature of the Archbishop
is required by the Constitution
to verify approval

Bishop Joseph,
Diocese of the North East

Andrew
Choirepiscopus
[Minor Bishop]
Assistant to the Patriarch