Signs In ROCOR In 2001

№59 (222) October, 2007

NEW WONDERFUL AND TERRIBLE SIGNS IN THE RUSSIAN DIASPORA

Inok Vsevolod (Filipiev)

...On the night of the 19 October/ 1 November 2001, when the Church celebrates the memory of the righteous John of Kronshtadt, and the non-Orthodox world celebrates the demonic feast of Halloween, a fire broke out at Holy Trinity Monastery...

...A venerable icon of the Iveron Mother of God, which used to belong to Metropolitan Filaret (Voznesenskii) is found in the graduation hall of the seminary. The fire, which broke through the window into the graduation hall, was stopped by the firefighters where the icon hangs. Despite the fact that the wall around the icon was burnt the icon itself was not damaged. A little while after the fire, some people remembered that Lev the Jordanville "Idiot" used to ask, "Did you venerate the Iveron icon? The one, which is in the seminary. No? Then go and venerate it!"...

...This sad event took place on the night that the Most Reverend Laurus, the abbot of the monastery and rector of the seminary, returned from synod after being elevated to the rank of metropolitan and chosen the fifth first-hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia...

To read more click here.

Dear Readers,
Visiting the St, James Parish website mentioned in the previous post, I learned that Jose Munuz Cortez was murdered on October 31 n.s. in 1997. And the myrrh-streaming icon he carried for 15 years was one of the Iveron Mother of God. -jh

Canonical Release Has A Post-Condition

Upon the ROCOR union with the MP...

In 2007 ROCOR-MP Bishop Alypy agreed to release Priest Mark Gilstrap (St. James, Tulsa) to the GOC. The release was then soon granted by Administrator Bishop Peter at a Diocesan Council.

As a belated condition for Priest Mark Gilstrap's release, he was required to close down a 15 year old ListServ mailing list, which was characterized by free and uncensored content regarding the Union with Moscow.

"Indiana" Orthodox List - Synod List CLOSED as of June 2007.

Visit the parish website http://www.stjamesok.org/

Book Review Reveals Hidden OCA History

(This is an old 1994 book review, but very timely. ROCOR-MP is now in communion with the OCA and all of World Orthodoxy, thus inadvertently confirming these lies about itself. -jh)

Book Review: A History of the Orthodox Church in America (1917-1934)

Reviewed by Michael Woerl
by Bishop Gregory (Afonsky), former Bishop of Alaska of the OCA, Saint Herman's Theological Seminary Press, Kodiak, Alaska 1994.

The work under consideration here represents the latest effort of "The Orthodox Church in America" to prove that "The Orthodox Church in America" (OCA) is canonical and legitimate, and consequently, that the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) is not. This perennial campaign has been characterized by deceitful, exaggerated, and at times irrational claims. This exercise in self-validation on the part of the OCA employs a technique known as "the Big Lie," that is, repeat a lie often enough, and eventually people will begin to accept it as the truth. The present book does not depart from this standard feature of polemical practice of "The Orthodox Church in America," with the result being that the lie (or, rather, lies) is repeated yet again. All the justifications to demonstrate the canonicity of the Orthodox Church in America and the illegitimacy of the Russian Church Abroad have appeared before in one form or another.

To read more click here.

Fr. A. Schmemann The Renovationist

The OCA was built by the Parisian-schooled Alexander Schmemann with his bare hands. Here is a reminder of what that means...

"RENOVATED ORTHODOXY"

THE LITURGICAL THEOLOGY
OF FR. A. SCHMEMANN

By PROTOPRESBYTER MICHAEL POMAZANSKY

In past centuries the greatest peril to the Church of Christ came from false teachers who were singled out and condemned because of their dogmatic errors. Thus the early Fathers and Councils condemned Nestorianism, Arianism, Monophysitism, Iconoclasm, etc. But the enemy of man's salvation does not sleep, and in our day, when there is no basic new heresy—unless it be that conglomeration of heresies, ecumenism—he has inspired various currents of "renovationism" within the Church, which have attacked chiefly the life and practice of traditional Orthodoxy, beginning with the outright Protestantism of the "Renovated" or "Living Church" in Russia in the 1920s, through the reforming uniatizers of the Church of Constantinople (Patriarchs Meletios Metaxakis and Athenagoras, Archbishop Iakovos) to the numerous would-be reformers who may be found in almost every Local Orthodox Church today.

In this article the work on liturgical theology of one well known and widely respected contemporary Russian theologian is carefully criticized and its "reformist" tendency pointed out. In all fairness it should be noted that Fr. A. Schmemann probably does not see himself as a "reformer," and it will doubtless be left to other less sensitive souls, another generation removed from the life of genuine Orthodoxy, to draw the inevitable iconoclastic conclusions from Fr. Schmemann's already Protestant views.

The author of this article, Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky, one of the last living theologians to have graduated from the theological academies of pre-Revolutionary Russia, has taught theology to generations of Orthodox priests, and now teaches and resides at Holy Trinity Monastery at Jordanville, New York. (Text from ORTHODOX WAY, Jordanville, 1962. All page numbers in the text below are from the English edition of Fr. Schmemann's book.)

To read more click here.

When We Find Ourselves Under An Evil Government

When the people of God fall under the power of a pagan or heterodox ruler, the reason is their sinfulness, which makes them unworthy of an Orthodox king and in need rather of the chastisement that the harsher rule of the heterodox brings upon them. For “If My People had heard Me, if Israel had walked in My ways, quickly would I have humbled their enemies, and upon their oppressors would I have laid My hand.” (Psalm 80. 12-13). A believing people will not rebel against this situation, knowing that, in submitting to a pagan or heterodox ruler, they are in fact submitting to the Lord and that He, in Whose hand are the hearts of all kings, and Who rules “over all the kingdoms of the heathen“ (II Chronicles 20.6), will protect them from evil.

In such cases, as St. Isidore of Pelusium writes,

“(The ruler) has been allowed to spew out this evil, like Pharaoh, and, in such an instance, to carry out extreme punishment or to chastise those for whom great cruelty is required, as when the king of Babylon chastised the Jews.”

Or, as St. Irenaeus of Lyons puts it:

“Some rulers are given by God with a view to the improvement and benefit of their subjects and the preservation of justice; others are given with a view to producing fear, punishment and reproof; yet others are given with a view to displaying mockery, insult and pride – in each case in accordance with the deserts of the subjects. Thus... God’s just judgement falls equally on all men.”

However, such submission must never turn into sympathy with the aims or faith of the heterodox ruler, otherwise they will receive the same rebuke that King Jehoshaphat of Judah received from the Prophet Jehu: “Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? Therefore is wrath upon thee from the Lord” (II Chronicles 19.2).

source: http://www.orthodoxchristianbooks.com/downloads/59_THE_BATTLE_FOR_THE_RUSSIAN_ORTHODOX_CHURCH.pdf

Synod Building in the Movies

From: (prefers not to be named)
Date: October 6, 2008 11:55:13 AM EDT
Subject: Synod Building in the Movies

In theaters out now, is a humorous movie, "Ghost Town," set in New York City. At one point in the movie, the main character signs out of a hospital and leaves the building. Suddenly, he's walking out of the main gate of the Synod building courtyard, with the icon above the entrance covered up, and a sign with the hospital name hanging on the wall. This entrance is the smoking area for the hospital in the movie, so there are a number of actors smoking at the gate.

Sadly, the use of the Synod building is not restricted to the one tawdry TV show, "Gossip Girl," a series that follows the exploits of over-sexed, rich girls in Manhattan. The church administration has apparently registered with the New York City Film Commission to have the site included in a list of possible movie set locations. So for the sake of a little money here and there, the site that is the historical heart of the Church Abroad can double as a movie set. The building that housed our founding heirarchs, that witnessed the historic canonizations of the New Martyrs and Blessed St. Xenia, that saw so many memorable meetings, services, is now a backdrop for secular Hollywood. This is similar to the purported plan to sell off the church and property in Mahopac. Again, a location central to the history of the Church can be sold off like unneeded excess baggage, instead of finding new purposes for these sites.

Why this scramble for cash? Wasn't the merger with the Moscow Patriarchate supposed to result in an infusion of money? After all, they have such respect for the history of the Church Abroad, or do they? Maybe the MP has other plans, and they don't include keeping the Church Abroad alive. We do know the MP's business plans are on a much higher level, focused on pilgrimage sites of global importance, such as the Holy Land, Bari, Italy, and elsewhere. Perhaps, the concerns of Russians abroad who do not belong to the clique in Moscow mean little to the MP.

Related Post: ROCOR-MP Eats Mahopac Alive

ROCOR-MP Priests Will Be Replaced

On 9/22/08 Fr. Alexander Lebedev posted to the ROCOR-MP Yahoo Group that Fr. Igor (St. Andrew's parish) joined the Agafangelites. Discussion followed, and Fr. Igor's possible motives were mentioned. Fr. John Shaw suggested that Fr. Igor might have been afraid he was going to be "ousted." (by whom -the implication is not clear whether by his bishops or by his parishioners)

Next, Vladimir Koltypin asked more in general about the fear of clergy being "ousted". (by whom - the implication is clearly by the MP). Then Fr. John Whiteford responded to Vladimir's question.

Vladimir's question and Fr. John Whiteford's answer are excerpted below:

***

Re: Fr. Igor Chitikov takes St. Andrew's Parish into Agathangelite schism.

Dear In Christ Father John (Shaw),

Please explain to me how a spiritual father, knowing full well that he may be ousted can provided spiritual guidance for his flock. The question arises why have him be a priest in the first place? Then the question arises why are the parish rectors being replaced or have this fear of being replaced? Isn't this the United States, land of Opportunity, Security, and Spiritual Freedom? Why all of a sudden does it feel like Soviet Russia?

With all due respect

Vladimir Koltypin
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/orthodox-rocor/message/9216

Vladimir,

In the Orthodox Church, since the time of the Apostles, any priest can be "ousted" by his bishop. If a bishop decides a priest would better serve the Church in another parish, or that he would best serve the Church by no longer serving as a rector... he has the right to do so, because he is the pastor of the diocese. In ROCOR, there have been many cases in which our bishops might have exercised that power for a lot less, and yet have not. Our bishops have been longsuffering to a fault. Please cite the examples of priests who have been "ousted" for no good reason? Has a black limo pulled up to your house to take you away? It doesn't seem like the Soviet Union to me.

Fr. John Whiteford
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/orthodox-rocor/message/9217

***

I post this because it is a concise and succinct example of how ROCOR-MP addresses sincere reservations about the union. "Vladimir, has a black limo pulled up to your house...?" Vladimir's question does not get answered. Instead he is made to feel ignorant and irrational. He gets a condescending little lesson in Church protocol. His uneasiness is dismissed as imaginary since he has no concrete examples.

Vladimir asks, "Then the question arises why are the parish rectors being replaced or have this fear of being replaced?"

I'll tell you why, Vladimir. It is because they ARE going to be replaced. Somehow they have caught wind of it. Just after the union I was discussing it with a Russian who has kept up with what's been going on since 2001. I told him that I thought many of the ROCOR priests would go along with the union because otherwise they would lose their parishes.

He responded, "They are going to lose their parishes, anyway! Don't they know they are all going to be replaced with MP priests? Even the ones that support the union will be replaced. That's the agenda."

The replacing of all ROCOR-MP clergy with MP clergy points to the hidden long-term goal of MP to make ROCOR nonexistent.

Met. Cyril Gundyaev Really Hates ROCOR

THE BATTLE FOR THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
by Vladimir Moss

page 357

Those who love ROCOR as she used to be must hope and pray that God will count them worthy of a sobering-up. In the meantime, they cannot say that they have not been warned – and not only by us anti-uniates. They can do no better than listen to the words of the second hierarch of the Moscow Patriarchate, and probable future patriarch, Metropolitan Cyril (Gundyaev) in his August, 2006 letter to Putin. After calling Metropolitan Laurus a “heresiarch”, and his clergy “false pastors”, he writes:

“No contacts whatsoever are permitted with the schismatic collaborationist Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, which has not repented publicly before us for the great sin of blessing the stooge Fascists by her heresiarch and collaborator, Anastasy.

“We confirm the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate which excommunicated from our Church the false Metropolitan Anastasy and the schismatics of the ROCA during the years of the holy war [WWII] of the Soviet people under the leadership of our great Orthodox leader, Joseph Stalin, against the fascist enslavers. This verdict against the criminal was pronounced by the State Court.

No assembly whatsoever, much less one of the political character, or pannikhidas for the followers of Vlasov or the Cossacks, who entered into the service of Hitler, can be allowed. We bless all our faithful children to publicly expel the followers of the Karlovchanians from the parishes of the ROC/MP and of the ROCA. Our clergy and laity are permitted to overthrow the monuments of the fascists stooges von Panwitz, Sultan-Girey, Kras nov, Shkuro, and Vlasov on the territory of the Patriarchate's metochion of All Saints at Sokol and of the parishes of the ROCA...

“May the Lord aid you in the God-pleasing labor of eradicating the impious Karlovchanians with their Vlasov-Fascist world-view, headed by their false Metropolitan Laurus...”

source: http://www.orthodoxchristianbooks.com/downloads/59_THE_BATTLE_FOR_THE_RUSSIAN_ORTHODOX_CHURCH.pdf

The Atrocities Will End

The atrocities, insanities, absurdities, the mockings that we see going on in MP and ROCOR-MP today: it will all end. Take heart dear readers!

Two Prophecies Concerning Russia's Future: click here.

MP Concelebrates With Roman Catholics

From: Vertograd Orthodox Journal 9/28/08

Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople (Ecumenical Patriarchate), Metropolitan Valentine of Orenburg and Buzuluk (Moscow Patriarchate) and representatives of eleven more "sister-churches" accompanied Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II in blessing the Chrism for Armenian Apostolic Church in Etchmiadzin on September 28 ...Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches led the delegation for the Roman Catholic Church...

To read more click here.