Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, now seeking support...

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, now seeking support for the Republican presidential nomination, will receive an extra “halo” from the 10th Angel Awards ceremony Feb. 19 at the Ambassador Hotel.

Robertson, founder-president of Christian Broadcasting Network, won a Gold Angel in 1981 from the annual ceremony produced by Mary Dorr of Religion in Media. It was announced this week that Robertson would attend to be “the first statesman to be inducted into the International Communications Galaxy of Fame.” The location of the galaxy was not specified.

Gold Angel awards will be presented by the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale to his wife, Ruth, and by actor-producer Michael Landon to Victor French, his partner on the TV series “Highway to Heaven.” Other Gold Angels will be received by actor William Christopher, who played Father Mulcahy on the TV series “MASH,” and Ben Armstrong, executive director of National Religious Broadcasters.

In addition, Joseph Barbera will be honored for Hanna-Barbera’s animated video production of “The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible.”

The bulk of the long program at the Cocoanut Grove will be the awarding of Silver Angels to winners of competition in various communications categories for excellence in communicating religion and moral themes. The emcees will include actress Kim Fields of the “Facts of Life” TV program, comedian Tom Dreesen and actress Donna Douglas of the old “Beverly Hillbillies” series.

DATES

Archbishop Iakovos, New York-based primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America, will convene a synod of the archdiocese’s ten bishops Thursday at the Anaheim Hilton and Towers, the first time the synod has convened in the western states. The prelate will also meet Friday with the 100-member Archdiocesan Council, an advisory board of clergy and laity. The centennial of the birth of Athenagoras I, the ecumenical patriarch from 1949 to 1972, will be observed during the weekend events, with a folk dance and exhibits. Archbishop Iakovos will also celebrate a Divine Liturgy with local clergy at 9 a.m. Feb. 15 in the Anaheim Convention Center.

Most leaders of the small Evangelical Orthodox Church, based near Santa Barbara, will formalize their acceptance into the Antiochian Orthodox Church in ceremonies this Sunday and next. As a part of an agreement reached last year, Presiding Bishop Peter E. Gillquist and a dozen fellow bishops--all married and from an Evangelical Protestant background--will accept a reduction in ecclesiastical rank because Eastern Orthodoxy does not have married bishops. Antiochian Metropolitan Philip Saliba, primate of the ancient church, will officiate Sunday at St. Michael’s Orthodox Church in Van Nuys, where most of the Eastern Orthodoxy bishops will be ordained deacons. They will then be ordained priests in a second ceremony Feb. 15 at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Los Angeles.

PEOPLE

Cardinal Timothy Manning, retired archbishop of Los Angeles, will speak 11 a.m. Sunday during ceremonies dedicating the new parish church at Mission San Juan Capistrano in the namesake city.

The Rev. Ben Weir, moderator of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and a former hostage in Lebanon, is making a three-day visit to Southern California churches and seminaries, starting with a Presbyterian missionary rally this morning at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach. He will be at Point Loma Community Church, San Diego, tonight and will speak at the 8 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. services Sunday at Burbank’s First Presbyterian Church.

MEDIA

The 23rd book by the prolific Lloyd J. Ogilvie, senior pastor of Hollywood Presbyterian Church, offers interpretations of 15 “hard sayings” in the New Testament, most of them attributed to Jesus. They include: “Let the dead bury their dead” (Luke 9:60), the reference to the difficulty of a rich man entering the kingdom of God (Mark 10:25) and the “unforgivable sin”--blasphemy of the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:28-29). The book is titled “The Other Jesus” (Word Publishing Co.).