The Scandal of the Cross

What did ye go out into the desert to see?

The words of the Saviour are poignantly addressed to us, not just those who went out in the desert to hear the testimony of St. John the Baptist. Many times, we answer by our lives that we went out to see ourselves and our self righteousness, our wants and desires affirmed by a Prophet of God and our pride and intellectual cloud castles given divine sanction, no matter the inconsistencies and outright moral and theological contradictions involved. We have gone out to the desert so we must be right!

While what we really are denying is the Cross and Precious Blood of Christ who has born our sins and justifed us before the Father by uniting our nature to Him. All we need is to take up the cross and follow Him, to live a Christocentric life and imperative to holiness to allow freely given grace to be operative within us.

Therein lies the scandal: not carrying our cross but daring to act, that we will return to Cyrene and say that we have witnessed it, even assented to it, but never will do it, for to our pride "it is an unrealistic standard," which to us is unnecessary folly. "We have a better way" we have come up with.

But in actuality WE DON'T. No, we must bear the Cross, for it has borne up our sins and washed them away with His Precious Blood shed on it for our salvation.

So today we have in Moscow (and wherever he is sent) a person so scandalized by the Cross and the Church's witness of the life in Christ that he dares to deride it as "superstition," (No, no, the deifying witness of twenty centuries must be modified by a post Soviet "modernization")as a "war of fanatics against wafers (No for Him, Christ is not the "leaven of life" Who is now the Leaven for the "bread of haste"-TO THIS RENOVATIONIST UNIATE, Christ bears no fulfillment of the Holy Scriptures)," a war of the "spiritually ignorant" against papal erudition (Indeed, Timothy Ware and the higher critics know more than the Saints and even the Canons and the Scriptures /which it turns out, "they didn't really write"/, but somehow it MUST BE IGNORED! WARE's NEO RENOVATIONIST ECUMENISTS have missed how the WAY OF ORTHODOX SAINTS ALONE and their pathes have produced the fragrance of deified Holy Relics or even how they faithfully bear witness to the MIND OF CHRIST and the VOICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO ABIDES WITH HIS CHURCH EVEN TODAY AND SAYS, "I AM GOD, NOT A DEMIGOD. DO NOT BLASPHEME THE WORK OF HOLINESS AND GRACE-I PROCEED FROM THE FATHER."), a "rebellion against the enlightened authority of modernity," (After all, St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite was an innovator according to Professor Erickson, formerly of St. "Vlad's," while the Holy Canons of the Seven Ecumenical Councils are only the bigotry of antiquity-We must accept that heretics have valid Mysteries for modernity mandates a rending of the Body of Christ to achieve this demonia) all without the Saviour, His Precious Blood and the Redemption on the Cross. What did Metropolitan Alfeev come to the Church to see? Not the Cross, but a papal tiara. Has he even ventured into the wilderness?! No, the only cross a Nikodimite will bear is a stamp on a CPSU passport or a scrawling on a vaunted Order of Lenin and the only wilderness he will suffer is a papal concert hall.

Just recently, the OCA has been confronted with the fruits of pushing a FAILED RENOVATIONIST ECUMENIST agenda to the point of suicide. Thoroughly marginal personae have given way to further cover ups of sexual immoralities in at least the persons of the "resting" Archbishop of Canada and the formerly embezzling, male hustling Metropolitan Theodosius. A SECTARIAN ECUMENIST-RENOVATIONIST priest by the name of Father Leonid Kishkovsky seems to think that even by his very name, he is a "true blue" American native while speaking with a Russian accent. The recession is blamed for further declines in membership, now approaching 85% declines of 1976 total membership (It seems, they can't fit that many Orthodox Christians in their churches, but they sure can fit in the Renovationism, the New Calendar, embezzlements and homosexual hierarchs). Metropolitan Jonah has only presided over an increase in flight from and financial ruin for the OCA while his appeals to Anglicans to "forge concordats" for a "new Christian unity in America" have only been met with curses from the Anglicans and reproofs from those Orthodox faithful to the Holy Tradition. Indeed, the way of New Skete comprehensiveness and veneration of clearly spiritually deluded heretics like Francis of Assisi, John of the Cross, Therese of Lisieux, Rowan Williams et al. has not produced any type of spiritual renewal but only affirmed the evil banality and ineffectiveness of the quieted apostasy of ecumenism. No, St. John of San Francisco was never enough for Metropolitan Jonah. Fr. Seraphim (Rose) bore a "cross of bigotry" he would never bear. His mentor Archimandrite Anastassy (Newcomb) was simply a dupe for the "Russian Bishops" who was "too spiritually immature" to get that the scandal of the Cross was "inessential," because modernity's cross offers cheap grace without the Precious Blood with a modern messiah and a Marin County "enlightenment" channeled by a "new" guru preaching inclusiveness and not the "reaction of the Crucifixion." Joan Baez is singing in Bolinas! The OCA is lost, because it has resorted to such charlatans in cassocks with their ecumenist gimmicks and betrayals of Christ. Ersatz "traditionalists" who worship their delusions to simply allow them to see themselves in a mirror, rather than face the love and salvation of Christ IN FAITHFULNESS TO HIM IN HIS SOLE TRUE CHURCH. They don't want to see the Cross.

Over ten years ago now, the Holy Order of MANS group left quasi Greek Old Calendarism (in counterfeit of ROCOR) for mainly the OCA. Since that time, its communities have increasingly become more "modern" and "enlightened" in the Metropolitan Jonah mould. Gone are the Feasts on the Old Calendar, conferences about piety and fasting, "Synodal services," and in Phoenix, AZ all mention of even Platina. Indeed, Bradley Nasif and Frederica Matthews Green are the new gurus. Pews, flower petals, priests in gym shorts and resident charismatic theologians are all the rage. No, the Cross is not only a scandal, but an antique which will be kept in a photo album while we rap our ways to 21st. century American Orthodoxy without "the interference of the Russian Bishops." All that is missing is Shirley McClain and a service to "Mother Goddess Sophia."

In ROCOR, the mask has fallen away and the masonic forces which led Russia to Golgotha and martyred the Royal Family are now unashamedly the "enlightened masters" of ROCOR's fate. Where a Metropolitan denies participation in this luciferian cult while receiving its patronage in Latin American courts to fight schism. And ROCOR silences any talk of a freemasonic Metropolitan. It toils to shout down denunciations OF A SECTARIAN WHO WORSHIPS AT TWO ALTARS. For them, their "precious blood" is precious even when it comes from a thirty third degree black mass, BUT THIS IS NOT THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST, AND IT IS NOT THE SALVATION OF THE CROSS! Indeed, all those years of Red Bating were a camouflage for the truly inherent evil ROCOR sheltered in receiving the freemasons who SACRIFICED RUSSIA to their dark lord. They kept their secrets safe in order to serve them WHEN THE TIME CAME. With this current scandal of a Metropolitan, their time has come. The demons singing in the trees St. John of Kronstadt heard now give concerts against the Cross outside of Synod.

Just recently, the pathetic Neo-Sergianist Pashkovsky of Odessa began commemorating the DEPOSED Patriarch of Jerusalem. Compounding error with folly. The "Authentic Orthodox" of Greece, Bulgaria and Romania maintain Communion with this DEPOSED churchman, even joining in the chorus of condemnation of "party members in cassocks" while failing to recognize that Pashkovsky IS A VERY REAL ORANGE party member in a cassock. Do they even see the Cross? Do they even recognize the Precious Blood that has cleansed their sins in Christ's Church or are they our twenty first century Tartars of Kazan who are bathing in the Volga trying to wash it off? On the cross of Pashkovsky, Christ is not to be found. On his cross, Stepan Bandera and George Soros have opened a Walmart and a theatre devoted to a Passion play for Neo Sergianist schismatics.

Let us pray for the Holy Spirit to lead us in faithfulness to follow Christ in His Holy Church in witness of the sovereign Love of God the Father, to bathe ourselves in Jesus' Precious Blood and carry the Cross which has born away our sins. Let us convict ourselves and renew our faithfulness to Christ and His Church this Lent. Convict ourselves and reflect on how we must overcome ourselves and put on Christ who has put on and saved our humanity.

For His Cross will even save a vile reprobate like me and His Precious Blood washes my sins away. I believe and I confess that HE ALONE IN HIS ONE TRUE CHURCH, HIS PRECIOUS BODY, IS TRULY THE CHRIST, THE SAVIOUR OF ALL MANKIND. I confess with my intellect, my heart, my body and soul, by my entire being.

We all are sinners, and I am much worse the filth than all I have mentioned and beg Christ to help me repent. I recognize my mistake of going out into the wilderness only trying to catch a glimpse of myself to make my pride and falleness hallowed.

Please forgive me, brothers and sisters. God forgives.

Rostislav Mikhailovich Malleev-Pokrovsky, Tserkovnye Vekhi blog

Evangelism and Culture

By Fr. Michael J. Oleksa

The most obvious gospel paradigm for the theme evangelism and culture is the parable of the sower. The seed is the Word of God.


But as St. Maximos the Confessor wrote in the seventh century, the Word of God is constantly revealing himself, becoming “embodied.” The Word establishes the created universe, the heavens tell his glory, the firmament his handiwork, for it is by the Word that everything that was made came into existence and is sustained in being. The Word is embodied first of all in the entire cosmos. The Word in the Cosmos has been misunderstood, after all. It was as if the Message revealed by the Word was written, as C.S. Lewis once said, in letters too large for us to read clearly. In the pre-Christian societies, he was wrongly identified with Neptune, Zeus, Adonus, Apollo, or in the modern world with the forces of the natural world, with the “laws” of chemistry, physiology, genetics.



So in the second embodiment the Word became easier to decipher. The Word of God is also embodied in the Holy Scriptures, in some ways in amore focused and understandable form. Even there, the possibility of misinterpretation arose, and the Scribes and Pharisees were constantly criticized for missing the intended meaning of the Law and the Prophets.



So ultimately, at the fullness of time, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He is called “Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” He is called “the Messiah.” “the Christ,” the Way, the Truth and the Life.” He calls himself “the Living Bread,” “the Son of Man,” “Living Water,” “the Good Shepherd.”



All of this is the Word of God, the seed in the parable of sower- and more. The gospel is also the Church, the mystical body of Christ, and the scattered seed can refer to the evangelical establishment of the church as the faith spreads geographically throughout the world. And fullness of the gospel, of the Christian faith, is Orthodoxy. The seed then means all these-the Word of God in all embodiments, the Gospel of Repentance, of the Kingdom, the sacramental and iconographic presence of Christ, the Truth of the Orthodox faith. And none of these existed in a vacuum. The seed always requires a specific place, some oil, in which to grow.



The Word of God as scripture must be expressed in human language, and language is culture. The gospel of the kingdom must be preached in human words, and words are culture. The presence of Christ must convey, manifested with signs, symbols, art, music, liturgical action, sacrament, and all this is culture. The Truth, like the seed, needs soil in which to grow, and the soil is culture.



The seed in the parable is scattered and some grows, some does not. But even the seed that reaches maturity produces different harvests, some thirty or sixty or a hundredfold. The same truth, the same gospel, the same Christ, when introduced into specific cultural context produces a unique harvest, for different soils have different levels of fertility. Climatic conditions vary from time to time and place to place. The reception of the Word of God varies accordingly, not only as individuals hear the gospel, understand the Truth, confront Christ, enter the church, but as cultures do as well.



No one plants without expecting a harvest. The results the church anticipates and for which it prepares, the goal of all that it says and does, is revealed in the gospel passage read on more Sundays during church year than any other: John ch. 17. It is no accident that the church presents our Lord’s prayer for unity to us more often than any other, for this is the ultimate goal of his life and mission, the fulfillment of the gospel. In the end, the scriptures tell us, Christ will be “all in all.” He will hold us, all people of all races, nationalities, ethnic groups, political parties, religious sects and creeds, and with all others, our friends, neighbours, and the enemies Jesus Christ commanded us to forgive, to bless, to love. For those who have loved and served him- and the neighbour the have abused, despised, rejected, exploited, hated- will be their sorrow, humiliation, their torment, their hell. Heaven and hell are not places we “go to,” but spiritual conditions we are already in.



We must become one, the way our Lord prayed to his heavenly Father, as the Holy Trinity is one, in total humility and love, each of us fulfilling the will of the Father as the son and the Holy Spirit perfectly and eternally do. This is the end toward which the church labours and strives. The church plants the seed in order to reap this harvest. No one can be the image of the Holy Trinity alone, as isolated individual. While only human beings, by an acct of faith and commitment, can be saved, no one is saved alone. There is no such thing as an individual salvation, for salvation is to enter into the community of interpersonal love, love of God, fulfilling his will in all things, and the love of one’s neighbour, the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.



This is the goal, the harvest the church expects, awaits, and in which it invites all humanity to participate. The church’s vision, her soteriology and eschatology, while focused on Christ, is not exclusively Christocentric but Trinitarian. And the essence of his interpersonal unity-in-love, the possibly for many persons to be one, is revealed in divine love, tri-personal Agape, which, which makes the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, the three equally divine persons, one. We must always keep the thirteenth chapter of St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians in mind in all the evangelists think, say and do. There is no place for coercion, persecution, intolerance or violence in planting the seed, in announcing the good news to the nations, for these tactics would render the ultimate goal, total Agape, unattainable.



Syncretism and inculturation



Perhaps no question is more heatedly discussed in various ecumenical mission conferences today than the attempt to distinguish theologically between syncretism and inculturation. Within the World Council of Churches, the problem, it seems to me, is that there are different kinds of seed. In this context, the temptation to syncretism is inescapable.



What is syncretism? It has bee difficult if not impossible for many Protestant theologians to arrive at consensus, a definition of exactly what constitutes syncretism, but the historic, patristic Orthodox tradition offers us clear guidelines. The church, during the period of ecumenical councils, sought to express its faith in terms intelligible to Hellenic culture without being distorted, without being “contaminated” by it in the process. This was no easy task, and it required five centuries and seven councils to accomplish it. Syncretism was successfully voided. The church, guided by the Holy Spirit, did not add to its doctrines, practices, beliefs, anything extraneous or incompatible with the faith of the Apostles, the witness of sacred scripture, the Truth revealed in Christ. Syncretism is precisely the introduction into Christian doctrine or worship elements that are incompatible with the fullness of the Apostolic tradition.



Thus, when we learned Chinese Protestant theologian attempted to include within her presentation at Canberra general assembly of the World Council of the Churches an act of reverence to the Chinese goddess of mercy, the Orthodox were correct in rejecting such an inclusion as syncretistic. There is no place for “goddesses of mercy” in Christian doctrine or piety. (Orthodox missionaries, however, encountering a culture with a personification of a merciful feminine principle might attempt to present this pre-Christian intuition as typologically prefiguring the Theo-okos.



If syncretism must at all costs be avoided as distorting or corrupting the gospel message, inculturation, on the other hand, is inevitable and necessary. However, inculturation is only possible when the evangelist knows the Orthodox tradition and can therefore discern what is and what is not compatible with it. Inculturation is the planting of the gospel, the seed, the presence of Christ, in the unique soil of new culture, and allowing it, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to mature at its own pace, to produce ultimately a new, indigenous church.



The Alaskan Orthodox mission



When, for example, the Valaam Mission analyzed the spirituality of the Kodiak native peoples in 1795, they expressed a willingness to tolerate certain aberrations (such as polygamy) for a short time, to discuss others (the belief in the inua/yua) and to overlook still others (for example, fasting norms).



Polygamy endured for one generation after the baptism of the Kodiak Alutiiqs. This was a necessary accommodation, since to require the separation of multiple wives from their husbands would have created severe social upheaval and economical hardship for women and children. Fasting norms could not be enforced in a land of hunter-gatherers whose food supplies were never stable or predictable, and starvation was an annual possibility. Only today, after two centuries, is fasting being gradually introduced. Everywhere, however, the reception of the gospel ended inter-tribal warfare and the enslavement and mistreatment of the prisoners. This was seldom recognized or even noticed by later observers, who had not complained that the Orthodox natives had not absorbed much doctrine, had not memorized much scripture, and thus had not, in their estimation, been properly evangelized.



Belief in the Yua persists. The Yua, in Yup’ik Eskimo culture, is the spirit that makes a living thing to be alive. It is the life force, which in pre-contact times was believed to be conscious but interpersonal. Animals and human beings have essentially the same Yua, and differ only in their outward physical form.



Animals have abilities that surpass those of human beings. They see, smell, and hear what we cannot. They have strengths and capabilities that surpass ours. They are not viewed as inferior beings, but in some ways as superior creatures. Their sensory input permits them to know things that we cannot perceive. To be changed into an animal in all native Alaskan folklore is viewed not as a curse (typical of European stories; - “the Frog Prince,” “Beauty and The Beast,” werewolves, etc.), but as a promotion. Some Alutiiq stories end with the hero deciding to remain an animal and “live happily ever after.” This belief in the intelligence, sensitivity and even superiority of the animals made traditional Alaskan peoples reverent towards the game they needed to kill in order to feed themselves, in order to survive. And it is the universal beliefs that since the animals know more, see more, hear more, sense more, they are willing victims who offer to the hunter. But they only sacrifice themselves to feed those human beings who treat them reverently, respectfully, not only during the hunt, in the act of killing the and butchering them, but in the way the meat is thoroughly eaten, wasting none of it, and how various parts of the animal (such as the pelts) are used. The unusable remains must also be treated respectfully, returned to the habitat from which the animal was taken. Recycling is an ancient practice in the Arctic.



Orthodox missionaries did not discourage this belief that life in all its form should be treated reverently. Their Alaskan converts heard the Paschal gospel from within the context of their traditional worldview, and saw Christ in the whole created universe, the Word of God in the Cosmos, in a way even the missionaries had not seen him before. The life of the world, the life of all, yes-all the Yua are really him. And the first chapter to the Colossians took on a meaning that was always there, but had gone unnoticed, or at least under appreciated, for centuries.



The seed found especially fertile ground, for the text “He is before all things and in him all things subsist” affirmed that what the Alaskans had intuited centuries before was now affirmed in the gospel. Only now they knew his identity. Alaskan Orthodoxy affirms a cosmic dimension to the Christian faith that many, perhaps most, modern Christians fail to grasp. John 3:16 is probably the most widely memorized verse in the New Testament, few who study the Bible in English translation grasp its full meaning the way most Eskimos do. The original text speaks of God’s love for the world, and most suppose the Greek word here is oikoumene, the inhabited earth, the human beings, and indeed the evangelist could have chosen this word. In fact, however, he did not. This famous verse affirms “For God so loved cosmos the sent his son.”



In the missionary context of the industrialized world, where secularism is in some instances giving way to a revival of “paganism” or the emergence of “new age” spirituality, or an interest in oriental religions, the theology of St. Maximos, in which the “logoi”: of God are affirmed, in which the created universe plays a mediating and sanctifying role in God’s divine plan, which the cosmos is to be blessed, reclaimed, transfigured and transformed, sanctified and blessed to become “the Kingdom of our God and His Christ” presents a Christian alternative. The Alaskan church goes forth in procession each January for the great blessing of water, in most places walking on the frozen river, standing on the ice in subzero temperatures, to sanctify the one small piece of the cosmos on which their lives have always depended. The river is their highway, their cleansing, their supermarket, their home, their life. In their pre-Christian past they thanked the animal spirits for offering themselves, sacrificing themselves to feed the people, and put their inflated intestines and bladders through the holes in the ice in order to recycle their Yua. Now they go to the river and bless the waters, putting the cross through a cruciform hole in the ice; it is Christ they bless, Christ they thank, for his sacrifice, prefigured in the cycle of the natural world as they understood it.



This not, I would submit, syncretistic, for these patterns were always there, in the liturgical life of the church. The gospel texts were always there, within the hearing of all believers. But the Eskimos have discovered a meaning hidden from those of other cultures and they offer this meaning back to the church. This the pattern of all genuine inculturation-the missionary, and, through the evangelist, the whole church, discovers heretofore unnoticed or disclosed treasures of her own sacred heritage.



When Navajo Indians of the American southwest were asked to make a film about production of their famous rugs, they submitted a video depicting a sunrise, wild flowers blooming, rain falling, sheep grazing, wind blowing, the sun setting, and finally a few seconds showing a half-finished rug on a traditional loom. The producers who had commissioned the film were confused and disappointed. They had expected to see wool being spun, dyed and woven, and none of this was included in the video. But to the Navajo, it takes more than wool, vegetable dyes, a loom and a grandmother to make a rug. They assumed a much wider frame of reference: The sun must rise. The rain must fall. The flower must bloom. The sheep must graze. And if all is harmony, you can get rugs out of it. It takes the whole cosmos to make a rug.



It this not equally true of our Eucharastic Gifts? We so often perceive it as merely bread- flour, water and yeast. But what does it take to produce that flour? The sun must shine. The wind must blow. The rain must fall. The earth must be fertile. Human beings must appropriately interact with it. And if all is in harmony, you can make bread. On every altar, in every church we offer the universe in joy and thanksgiving back to God. But our frame of reference can be too small.



Christ fed thousands with only a few a few loaves and two fish. Those who witnessed this considered it a miracle. Our Lord also said, “The son only does the works he sees his Father do.” The Father is always taking a little wheat and feeding thousands, but we fail to see it, we don’t get the message. He is taking some seeds each spring and making food in every wheat and corn field, but the pagans said it was Apollo or Zeus or Minerva or “Mother Nature” at work, and secularists say it is all “natural processes.” So the Son does the same thing he sees his Father do, but on a smaller scale and a faster speed, and suddenly the miraculous element becomes evident. It is the same Word of God made manifest and the feeding of the thousands will have its full impact when we can recognize it continuously in the miracle of the cosmos, the Word written in letters so large we could not read the message before.



Be reminding the church of the cosmic dimensions of its faith and mission, the Greek evangelized become evangelists. In the Patristic age, Greek language, Greek culture, Greek philosophical language enriched the life of the church forever. As the seed, the gospel, the church, as Christ’s presence enters into the context of other cultures, these too offer something back to God. The same seed, the same faith, the same Orthodox truth, implanted in another culture produces a unique harvest, a Serbian, a Romanian, a Russian, a Ukrainian, an Albanian, an African, an Alaskan, an Indonesian, a Korean or Japanese (or even an American), expression, each the product of the same holy faith, yet each irreplaceable and unique.



Father Alexander Schmemann defined in his most famous book, For the Life of the World, what it means to be Christian. “A Christian, “ he wrote, “is someone who, wherever he/she looks sees Christ and rejoices Him.” I read this book many times. I was blessed for several years to attend Father Alexander’s lectures. I read Holy Fathers. But it was my Eskimo parishioners who revealed to me the depth of the passage, revealed to me the cosmic dimension of the prologue to the gospel according to St. John, showed me the magnificence of the Apostle Paul’s Christocentric experience and vision. This is what inculturation means for the church. Unlike syncretism, which distorts the gospel, corrupts the faith, renders a Christian harvest impossible, inculturation enriches and deepens and expands the genuine apprehension of the Apostolic faith, to the glory of God and building up of his holy church. The church, while resisting any syncretism, delights and rejoices in inculturation.





Conclusion



The church scatters the seed, offering the gospel to all, and in so doing, discovers the new harvest dimensions of the faith it had not consciously known, noticed or appreciated fully before. Evangelism enriches the church. Inculturation blesses the church. Our Greek patristic legacy is the historic evidence of the creative process. The seed always needs soil in which to grow-the gospel always needs a culture in which to be planted, and the Holy Spirit produces various harvests in each culture and in each of us.

SiR Archbishop Chysostomos Responds to EP Episcopal Assembly

To: Exarchate, Clergy, and Faithful
From: Archbishop Chrysostomos

Re: First Episcopal Assembly of Canonical Orthodox
Hierarchs in North and Central America

Evlogia Kyriou. Gospod' blagoslovit. May God bless you.

Many of you know that there was a convocation of Orthodox Bishops at the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel in New York City last week, described, in a somewhat addled way, as the "First Episcopal Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Hierarchs in North and Central America." Some of you have inquired of me about it.

This meeting (see the attached photograph) was convened by Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Needless to say, no Old Calendarist resisters, including the Hierarchs of our Synod in Resistance and its Sister Churches, were invited attend, whether as participants or observers.

The question, below, which gives me a platform from which to address the inquiries that I have received, was sent to me by a well-placed individual who teaches in an Orthodox seminary and who discussed the meeting with two Bishops of his acquaintance, both of whom were in attendance.

Most of the questioner's letter, containing unedifying material of no interest to anyone (gossip euphemistically passed on by those who discussed it as "information"), I have erased. (He repeated this gossip, incidentally, not in an insulting or accusatory way, but in order to express his own dismay at the abject level of discourse between the discussants in question.)

I have copied the questioner's more general reference to that material and his inquiry about my reaction to the assembly, as I said above, to provide me with an opportunity to comment on the assembly for those who have inquired about it and in an attempt to set it in the wider context of American Orthodoxy.



QUESTION:


...It was XXX and XXX who discussed you and your bishops personally with XXX, who said that your synod is made up of schismatics and is outside the church, along with the bishops of Metropolitan Agafangel. ...I was disgusted at the scuttlebutt about you and Metropolitan Kyprianos and your supposed religious vagaries before monasticism. ...This all showed a lot animosity and a desire to discredit you and Metropolitan Kyprianos. For example [examples deleted].... I'd be glad to set the record straight on a number of the these rumors if you want. They both know that I know the real facts. ...[Getting on], did you read Archbishop Demetrios's presentation to the gathering? What do you think of it?


ANSWER:


I do not address, beyond what I have said in the past, my private life before I became a monk or misrepresentations of, and fantasies about, it. All of this is irrelevant, and I let my Orthodox confession, the truth, and my monastic life speak for me. I have no interest in this sort of gossip, which is wholly inappropriate for men who represent the Church of Christ and which is, at least in the case of laymen, more properly answered by legal action, in my opinion. This self-serving nonsense has long been spread about me and Metropolitan Cyprian and is simply meant to try to discredit us personally, rather than address the valid and pertinent issues that we raise in our resistance.

As for the accusation that we and the clergy of and faithful of our Sister Churches are schismatics and outside the Church, the Blessed Elder Philotheos (Zervakos) once made an interesting observation about such statements with regard to Old Calendarists and resisters. (He was himself in the New Calendar Church at the time, I should stress.) If we are to be judged in such a way, so are the Fathers of the Church who stood for the principles that we defend and who, like us, severed communion with, and walled themselves off from, those whom they considered in error. Let the fact that we do not visit such compliments on those whom we believe to be in error speak for us, as well.

I did, indeed, read Archbishop Demetrios' presentation, which was clear and intelligent, as one would expect from such an erudite and dedicated Churchman, whom I in many ways greatly admire. However, I would take exception, despite his good intentions, with the manner in which unity and the pressing problems of the Church, today, were examined in his keynote address at this meeting. (I keep in mind, of course, that he was not expressing only his personal views but those of the Archdiocese and the Oecumenical Patriarchate, as well.)

At a time when belief, the daily practice of Orthodoxy (Orthopraxy), and adherence to the Canons which regulate our Faith and how we live as Christians are waning widely, one cannot help but be unimpressed by the preoccupation of the so-called canonical Bishops with matters of administrative prerogative, jurisdictional squabbles, and so on. Archbishop Demetrios admittedly acknowledged that these latter concerns could be set aside and considered in the future, and that unity of action and purpose were the matters of the moment, but such concerns surely the elephant in the room, I am sure.

Looking at that elephant, I might just note that a number of the Bishops attending the assembly were from the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, from which we derive our Apostolic Succession and with which we were in full communion for a number of years. If technicalities of who is canonical and who is outside the Church are of such moment (the mere title of the meeting attests to this fact), might I ask whether the ROCA Bishops in attendance were re-Chrismated, re-ordained, and re-Consecrated in preparation for this meeting of the "canonical" Orthodox Bishops on this continent?

If this question seems out of line or absurd, it is not. Certainly, if our Bishops are schismatics and outside the Church, then these Bishops must have been of similar status with us when they Consecrated our Bishop and when we were in communion with them. Logically, something must have been done about their former assault on the canonicity of the other Bishops represented at the meeting. Moreover, there is the further complication posed by the fact that Bishop Auxentios and I, "schismatics and outside the Church," took part in the Consecration of one of the ROCA Bishops.

While my comments may seem a bit provocative or even cynical, they nonetheless highlight what I said about the artificial nature of the way in which concerns for unity and the problems of the Church are expressed in "official" Orthodoxy today. My questions, in point of fact, are very serious and apropos, if one is to approach matters of unity and administrative authority in their full dimensions, and not in some Procrustean manner wherein "canonical" is separated from the Canons and "unity" is a preconceived "covenience" established by common consent.

Beyond this perception, I also noted that Archbishop Demetrios himself admitted that many issues in the Church today that involve serious canonical and confessional issues (the Baptism of converts, the Ordination of non-Orthodox clergy [he refers, for example to questionable acceptance of Roman Catholic clergy by vesting in some jurisdictions], relations with the non-Orthodox, etc.) remain unresolved among the so-called canonical Orthodox, who find themselves more greatly preoccupied with administrative Canons than canonical directives that touch on these matters of ecclesiology, confession, and the practice of the Faith.

You can imagine that, being accused of schism and being outside the Church, we are not overly impressed by deliberations aimed at administrative primacy and which, when they do turn to the canonical problems of Faith and confession in Orthodoxy, do so in the context of preparing for an ecumenical synod that, if one carefully reads the agendum put forth for it over the years, aims at solving these problems by "reform." Thus, instead of restoring traditional standards, those involved in these deliberations aim at revising and overturning the Canons that regulate fasting, clerical dress, the remarriage of widowed clergy, prayer and worship with the non-Orthodox, and so on. They are fixed on the very same reforms that led to the "Living Church" in Russia, after the Bolshevik Revolution, and to the reform of the Church Calendar early last century.

I have already expressed my views with regard to the spectacle of responsible, mature Churchmen discussing, even if only in private and personally, street gossip of the kind that you mention: gossip which I have excised from this note for the purpose of responding to you and sharing my response with our clergy and faithful, a number of whom have asked about the nature of this assembly and why we were not invited.

I will set aside any further reactions (and I have some) and not comment on ecumenists who disallow words like "schismatic" and "outside the Church," except when applying it to those of their own religion who happen to oppose their ecumenical excesses!

Episcopal Assembly issues message, ends with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy: ROCOR is Now Part of What Was SCOBA ENDORSES ECUMENICAL ACTIVITY

NEW YORK, NY [OCA] -- The Episcopal Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Hierarchs of North and Central America closed with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Archdiocesan Cathedral here on Friday morning, May 28, 2010.

His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, and the diocesan and auxiliary bishops of the Orthodox Church in America were among the hierarchs who communed at the Divine Liturgy celebrated by the Rev. Dr. Frank Marangos, Holy Trinity Cathedral Dean.

Assembly sessions came to a close on Thursday afternoon with the signing of a statement by the sixty-some hierarchs, the text of which reads as follows.

Episcopal Assembly

Of the Canonical Orthodox Hierarchs of North and Central America May 26-28, 2010

MESSAGE

We glorify the name of the Triune God for gathering us at this first Episcopal Assembly of this region in New York City on May 26-28, 2010 in response to the decisions of the Fourth Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference held at the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy, Switzerland, from June 6-12, 2009, at the invitation of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

Gathered together in the joy of the Feast of Pentecost, we humbly recognize our calling, in our unworthiness, to serve as instruments and disciples of the Paraclete, who “holds together the whole institution of the Church” (Hymn of Vespers of Pentecost).

We honor and express gratitude to the Primates and Representatives of the Orthodox Autocephalous Churches who assembled at the Ecumenical Patriarchate from October 10-12, 2008 to affirm their “unswerving position and obligation to safeguard the unity of the Orthodox Church” (Chambésy Rules of Operation, Article 5.1a) and emphasized their will and “desire for the swift healing of every canonical anomaly that has arisen from historical circumstances and pastoral requirements” (Message of the Primates 13.1-2)

We call to mind those who envisioned this unity in this region and strove to transcend the canonical irregularities resulting for many reasons, including geographically overlapping jurisdictions. For, just as the Lord in the Divine Eucharist is “broken and distributed, but not divided” (Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom), so also His Body comprises many members, while constituting His One Church.

We are grateful for the gift of the doctrinal and liturgical unity that we already share, and we are inspired by our leaders, the Heads of all the Orthodox Churches throughout the world, who proposed that which we painfully yearn for in this region, i.e., the “swift healing of every canonical anomaly” (Message of the Primates 13.2). We are also grateful that they established a fundamental process toward a canonical direction and resolution.

We are thankful to almighty God for the growth of Orthodoxy, for the preservation of our traditions, and for the influence of our communities in this region. This is indeed a miracle and a mystery.

During our gathering, and in accordance with the rules of operation of Episcopal Assemblies promulgated by the Fourth Pan-Orthodox Pre-Conciliar Conference, we established:

1. A registry of canonical bishops (Article 6.1)

2. A committee to determine the canonical status of local communities in the region that have no reference to the Most Holy Autocephalous Churches (Article 6.2)

3. A registry of canonical clergy (Article 6.3)

4.Committees to undertake the work of the Assembly, among others including liturgical, pastoral, financial, educational,ecumenical, and legal issues (Articles 11 and 12)

5. A committee to plan for the organization of the Orthodox of the region on a canonical basis (Article 5.1).

In addition to the above, we agreed that a directory would be created and maintained by the Assembly of all canonical congregations in our region.

We as Episcopal Assembly understand ourselves as being the successors of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA), assuming its agencies, dialogues, and other ministries.

Moreover, at the formal request of the Hierarchs who have jurisdiction in Canada, the Assembly will submit to the Ecumenical Patriarch, in accordance with the rules of operation (Article 13), a request to partition the present region of North and Central America into two distinct regions of the United States and Canada. Additionally, at the request of the Hierarchs who have jurisdiction in Mexico and Central America, the Assembly will likewise request to merge Mexico and Central America with the Assembly of South America.

As Orthodox Hierarchs in this blessed region, we express our resolve to adhere to and adopt the regulations proposed by the Pan-Orthodox Conferences and approved by the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches, and to do everything in our power by the grace of God to advance actions that facilitate canonical order in our region.

We confess our fidelity to the Apostolic Orthodox faith and pledge to promote “common action to address the pastoral needs of Orthodox living in our region” (Chambésy, Decision 2c). We call upon our clergy and faithful to join us in these efforts “to safeguard and contribute to the unity of the Orthodox Church of the region in its theological, ecclesiological, canonical, spiritual, philanthropic, educational and missionary obligations” (Article 5.1) as we eagerly anticipate the Holy and Great Council.

The Assembly concluded with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy on Friday, May 28, 2010 at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Archdiocesan Cathedral in New York City. During the Liturgy prayers were offered for the repose of the eleven victims of the current ecological disaster in the Gulf Coast, for the consolation of their families, for all those adversely affected by this catastrophe, as well as for all people living under conditions of war, persecution, violence, and oppression.

Of the sixty-six Hierarchs in the region, the following 55 were present at this Assembly:

Archbishop Demetrios, Chairman
Metropolitan Philip, Vice Chairman
Archbishop Justinian, Vice Chairman
Bishop Basil, Secretary
Archbishop Antony, Treasurer
Metropolitan Iakovos
Metropolitan Constantine
Metropolitan Athenagoras
Metropolitan Methodios
Metropolitan Isaiah
Metropolitan Nicholas
Metropolitan Alexios
Metropolitan Nikitas
Metropolitan Nicholas
Metropolitan Gerasimos
Metropolitan Evangelos
Metropolitan Paisios
Archbishop Yurij
Bishop Christopher
Bishop Vikentios
Bishop Savas
Bishop Andonios
Bishop Ilia
Bishop Ilarion
Bishop Andriy
Bishop Demetrios
Bishop Daniel
Bishop Antoun
Bishop Joseph
Bishop Thomas
Bishop Mark
Bishop Alexander
Metropolitan Hilarion
Bishop Iov
Bishop Gabriel
Bishop Peter
Bishop Theodosius
Bishop George
Bishop Ieronim
Metropolitan Christopher
Bishop Maxim
Archbishop Nicolae
Bishop Ioan Casian
Metropolitan Joseph
Metropolitan Jonah
Archbishop Nathaniel
Archbishop Seraphim
Bishop Nikon
Bishop Tikhon
Bishop Benjamin
Bishop Melchisedek
Bishop Irineu
Bishop Irinee
Bishop Michael

(Russian Bishops In Itallics: MP, ROCOR, OCA resp.)



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