What follows is a response by the Primate of the United States to the statement issued earlier today by GnosticNYC. Should you have further questions regarding the details of the matter itself, these are to be directed to GnosticNYC.
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The whole of the AJC, its leadership and clergy, is shocked, saddened, and outraged by recent events, as we are sure are so many others. We stand in solidarity with Father Silvia, St Martin’s Parish, and everyone involved with Gnostic NYC, including if not especially with the people of the Alexandrian Gnostic Church.
What Bishop Langley seems to have done, based on the evidence we have to hand, represents an absolute betrayal of everything that religious institutions of all kinds hold dear. The bond of trust which exists between a Hierarch and his Church, between a member of the clergy and that of the laity, between a Bishop and his Sister and Brother bishops, between a husband and wife; all these Bishop Langley’s alleged actions leave in smoking ruins.
His deeds, again as we understand them in light of the evidence we have, strike at those who have placed their trust in institutions of faith at a time when the representatives of many of these institutions have shown themselves to be untrustworthy. This does harm not just to his own community and family but to the whole of the community of the faithful.
Such actions and the hypocrisy which they seem to indicate shake us to our core because of the closeness with which we worked with Bishop Langley personally and professionally. These events are all the more painful when brought on by a man in whom we placed our trust and our confidence; whom we considered a brother and friend; to whom we offered our respect and our love.
We condemn and repudiate such actions, but our focus remains on aiding the victims, and they are many. We ask you to join us in prayer for his family, the members of his church, the supporters of Gnostic NYC, Father Silvia, his erstwhile colleagues and friends within the Gnostic community and yes, for Thomas himself, who must live with the reality of what he has done and how many he has hurt. Other forms of support, if needed, may be offered to the injured parties.
Our community has weathered storms in the past, and while this is a blow, we will weather this as well. Our community and our church remain strong and loving, and it is this and our faith in each other and in the Divine that will sustain us. I remain
Devotedly yours before the Sacred Flame:
+William Mar Thomas
Archbishop of Wisconsin
Primate for the United States of America