tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10207152644651918962024-02-20T02:35:23.702-08:00A History of the Russian Church AbroadJoannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12000679422093371576noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1020715264465191896.post-48995496363905248112014-03-31T18:00:00.000-07:002014-05-11T23:42:17.317-07:00A History of the Russian Church Abroad 1917-1971<br />
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;">
A HISTORY OF THE RUSSIAN CHURCH ABROAD</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;">
AND THE EVENTS LEADING TO THE AMERICAN METROPOLIA'S AUTOCEPHALY</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;">
Original Title: The History of the Russian Orthodox Church in the United States</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;">
Published By: St. Nectarios Press, 9223-20th Ave. N.E., Seattle, WA 98115</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;">
Library of Congress Catalog Number: 72-79507</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;">
ISBN 0-913026-04-2</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">PREFACE OF THE EDITORS</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Our Saviour told us that the tree shall be known by its fruit, whether it be healthy or not. Fifty-five years have passed since the ungodly Bolshevist revolution overran the Russian land and many Russian people were found abroad as refugees. Although in the beginning this was essentially a political emigration, i.e., fleeing from the Bolsheviks, today, with the passage of time, it has shown forth to be a religious emigration. Now after fifty-five years, one is in a better position to taste of the fruit and discern whether the tree be healthy indeed.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
We, as non-Russians, came to the Russian Church Abroad as spiritual refugees, fleeing the heresy of Ecumenism. We have come to love the Russian Synod Abroad and to appreciate her pastoral care for our spiritual growth and salvation. Notwithstanding this, of late especially, many half-truths and untruths have been printed concerning the Russian Orthodox communities in the diaspora. Since there are claims made by at least four distinct groups -- the Synod Abroad, the Metropolia, the Paris group, and the Soviet church -- it is difficult for those who neither read nor speak Russian to be able to assess who is right and who is wrong. For a long time now, there has been a need for a chronicle in English of events and developments in Russian Church affairs outside Russia, so that students of Church History and individuals concerned might be able to make a true assessment of the state of affairs in this sphere.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
We of the Holy Transfiguration Monastery have always contended that the differences between the various Russian groups were not personality conflicts, but primarily matters of faith and order. Today, after fifty-five years, one is better able to discern and to verify the spiritual witness and strength of the Russian Synod Abroad, and the laxity and spiritual poverty in those groups which have chosen to be separated from her.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
For the early part of this history, much information was taken from Michel D'Herbigny and Alexandre Deubner, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Les Eveques Russes en Exile</span>, Rome 1932. Both these authors were extremely ultra-conservative Roman Catholics of a breed now virtually extinct, and the purpose of their book was to demonstrate to the Orthodox peoples and to all students of Church History, that without a central, supreme authority such as the Papacy it was inevitable that one should come to the state of affairs of the Russian Church at that time: a state of confusion, divisions, claims and counterclaims. Yet their account is an excellent and objective work of scholarship, full of interesting and enlightening information not found elsewhere. We have used this source, therefore, because the authors were completely disinterested in the Russian Church groups [actually the book was written against them all to show up the "organizational weaknesses" of Orthodoxy. They have merely recorded events and statements in an objective and scholarly manner. Yet, the conclusion of their book is that if anyone has a sound foundation and claim, it is the Synod. We are fortunate in having a copy of this book in our library; should anyone wish to have a copy, we can make a Xerox copy.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
At times, original source material has not been available to us and so, when using quotations, we were forced to translate into English from other translations because we were not able to find a copy of the original Russian text. We ask the readers to forgive this unavoidable shortcoming.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
It is evident from the scope of this present work that no one individual could have written it, but rather a group of dedicated Orthodox scholars and laymen have laboured, translating from the Russian, French, Greek, German, and from other sources. We are indebted to all who have contributed: the authors, the typist and the publisher. Such a work in English has been long overdue.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Glory to God for all things</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
The Holy Transfiguration Monastery,</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Boston (<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: yellow;">1972</span>)</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #660000; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #660000; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">CONTENTS</span></div>
<div style="color: #660000; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #660000; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #660000; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<b>page 2</b> <br />
<u>Chapter I</u>: A Brief History of Orthodoxy in America Before the Bolshevist Revolution of 1917 </div>
<div style="color: #660000; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #660000; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<b>page 9</b><br />
<u>Chapter II</u>: The Russian Church Abroad After The Revolution of 1917 </div>
<div style="color: #660000; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #660000; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<b>page 66</b><br />
<u>Chapter III</u>: The Orthodox Church In America Since The Bolshevist Revolution</div>
<div style="color: #660000; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #660000; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<b>page 120</b><br />
<u>Chapter IV</u>: Is The Metropolia Ready For Autocephaly? <b> </b></div>
<div style="color: #660000; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #660000; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<b>page 150</b><br />
Chapter V: Ought The Metropolia To Have Dealt With The Moscow Patriarchate?<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #660000; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<b>page 175</b></div>
<div style="color: #660000; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<u>Chapter VI</u>: The Fruits Of The Autocephaly<br />
</div>
<div style="color: #660000; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<b>page 210</b></div>
<div style="color: #660000; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<u>For Further Reading</u><br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12000679422093371576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1020715264465191896.post-32241706072635536852011-03-30T18:01:00.000-07:002011-04-23T16:16:03.309-07:00Chapter I: A Brief History of Orthodoxy in America Before the Bolshevist Revolution of 1917<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><b>page 1</b></div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">CHAPTER I</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">A BRIEF HISTORY OF ORTHODOXY IN AMERICA BEFORE THE BOLSHEVIST REVOLUTION OF 1917</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><b>page 2</b></div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">The undistorted faith of our savior Jesus Christ and His Apostles reached the American continent in 1974, when eight missionary monks from Valaam monastery in Russia came to Kodiak Island and established an Orthodox Church there. 1 For the next century Holy Orthodoxy grew slowly but steadily on the new continent. During the mission's early years two radiant saints appeared in her ranks. In 1815 an Aleut named Peter suffered martyrdom at the hands of Roman Catholic Franciscans in California for refusing to renounce his faith, and twenty-two years later the holy Herman reposed in Alaska.</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">In 1872 the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church founded the diocese of Aleutia and Alaska with its cathedral in San Francisco. The transfer of the cathedral from Sitka, Alaska, to San Francisco was indicative of the growth of the Orthodox population on the West Coast. Two years previously [1870] the first Russian parish was organized in New York City under the direction of Fr. Nicholas Berring, a convert from Roman Catholicism. The parish was even able to publish a journal in English, the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Oriental Church Magazine</span>.</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">The so-called "San Francisco period" [1870-1905],named for the location of the diocesan cathedral, was a time of considerable growth. As Basil Bensin puts it, "During the San Francisco period great progress was made by Russian Orthodoxy in America. The center of Orthodoxy was gradually moving from the Pacific to the Atlantic States with an increasing number of churches and parishes." 2</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">1. Most of the information in this section is taken from Basil M. Bensin, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">History of he Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of North America</span>, New York, 1941.</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, pp. 10-11.</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><b>page 3</b></div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">These were years of heavy immigration to America. Many emigrants from western regions of the Russian Empire came to make a living in the "land of opportunity." There also came a large number of Russian Uniates from Austro-Hungary. In 1891, led by the dynamic Fr. Alexis Toth, himself an immigrant from Austro-Hungary, the latter began to throw off the yoke of the Unia. Fr. Toth and his large Minneapolis parish were accepted into the Orthodox Church by Bishop Vladimir of San Francisco. Under Bishop Nicholas [1891-98], Vladimir's successor, nine Uniate parishes were received into the Church, and a "missionary school" for the training of clergy was established in Minneapolis. Two Orthodox journals, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Russian-American Orthodox Messenger </span>and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Svit</span>, began to be published in Russian. From 1896 on the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Messenger</span> also included sections in English.</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Under Bishop Tikhon [1898-1907], later to become Patriarch of All Russia and a confessor of Orthodoxy under the Bolsheviks, "the Orthodox movement grew among the Uniate parishes and immigration from Russia to America increased many-fold." 1 Under Tikhon, more than twenty new parishes - many of them sizable - were founded in America, and for in Canada. Bishop Tikhon soon acquired two suffragan bishops: Bishop Innocent was placed in charge of Alaska, and Bishop Raphael, an Arab, given charge over the Syro-Arabian Mission in America, which had been founded in 1895.</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">In 1903 Tikhon was elevated by the Russian Holy Synod to the title of Archbishop of Alaska and North America. Two years later the see was transferred from San Francisco to New York,in order to meet the </div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 13.</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><b>page 4</b></div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">exigencies of the population shift in American Orthodoxy. In 1905 a rudimentary seminary was founded in Minneapolis, and in 1906, St. Tikhon's Monastery, "the first Russian monastery in the United States," was opened by Hieromonk Arseny Chagovetz at South Canaan, Pennsylvania.</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Under Archbishop Platon [1907-14], who after the Revolution became Metropolitan of North America and subsequently led his flock into a disastrous schism, Orthodoxy continued to grow. Forty new parishes were organized in the United States and ten in Canada. Among them were formerly Uniate parishes." 1 In 1912 the seminary was transferred from Minneapolis to Tenafly, New Jersey.</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Under Archbishop Evdokim [1914-17], who after the Revolution also disgraced himself by joining the "Living Church," thirty-five new parishes were organized in the United States and two in Canada. Thus in the ten years [1907-17] of Platon's and Evdokim's administration <span style="text-decoration: underline;">seventy-five</span> new parishes were founded in America, a truly extraordinary rate of growth which was the result of mass conversion from the Unia and large-scale immigration. By 1916 Evdokim had four suffragan bishops to assist him-- Alexander [Nemolovsky] of Canada, consecrated in 1908; Phillip of Alaska, consecrated in 1916; Eftimios, Syro-Arabian Bishop of Brooklyn, consecrated in 1916; and Stephen, Bishop of Pittsburg, consecrated in 1916 "chiefly for work among Pennsylvania parishes consisting of Carpatho-Russians from Hungary." 2</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">A word about the Greek parishes in America is in order at this point. Before the 1890's the parishes of the Greek Church were "naturally and</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 16</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 17</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><b>page 5</b></div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">canonically under the protection and care of the Orthodox Catholic jurisdiction established by the Russian Holy Synod for all American residents." 1 There may have been exceptions, as the American Greek Archdiocese now claims, but, generally speaking, adherence to the Russian Church was the rule for Greek parishes in America.</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Beginning with the 1890's, however, priests began to be sent to America by both the Holy Synod of Greece and the Œcumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople. In 1907 Constantinople agreed to allow all Greeks in America to be under the Holy Synod of Greece. Thus from 1908-1918 the Greek parishes were directed by the Church of Greece, although no bishop came to take charge of the flock. The existence of a jurisdiction [even without a bishop] apart from the Russian diocese obviously boded ill for Church unity in America. This was soon realized by those who had the interests of the Church rather than of themselves at heart.</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">In 1912 Patriarch Joachim III of Constantinople "realizing that the Russians had already established a diocese in North America, suggested that the Russian bishop in America, through the Holy Synod of Russia, recommend to the Holy Synod of Greece that 'a Greek bishop be appointed for America who had studied in a Russian theological academy.'" 2</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">"This statement by Patriarch Joachim III, "Alexander Doumouras comments, "together with his expressed wish that the Orthodox in America would live in harmony,matched the program which had already been inaugurated in America by the Russian Church. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">This plan called for the</span></div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">1. Alexander Doumouras, "Greek Orthodox Communities in America before World War I," <span style="text-decoration: underline;">St. Vladimir's Seminary Quarterly</span>, vol. XI no. 4, p. 188.</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">2. Doumouras, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p. 191.</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><b>page 6</b></div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">establishment of an American Orthodox exarchate which was to be governed by a synod of the bishops of various racial or national groups.</span> It was begun in 1904 with the consecration of Bishop Raphael to head the Syrian Orthodox Mission and, at the same time, to be a vicar of the Russian Archdiocese. This plan was formulated by Archbishop Tikhon [who later became Patriarch of Moscow]." 1</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">The vision bequeathed to the Church by Patriarch Tikhon was thus that a strong American Orthodox Church should emerge under the watchful guidance of the Russian Church, to whom the American mission had been entrusted by Divine Providence. No Russian "dictatorship" was envisaged. Rather, full-scale and influential participation by the Greeks, Syrians, and other immigrant groups was to be encouraged, and each group was to have its own bishops. Surely here was the guarantee of a missionary Church against which the enemy of mankind could not have prevailed! All too soon, however, the blessed unity provided for by Archbishop Tikhon and other far-sighted archpastors was to be shattered on the rock of ecclesiastical greed and ambition.</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Looking back at American Orthodoxy as it was before 1917, the following features stand out as particularly relevant to the ensuing developments:</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">1. Before the latter part of the XIX century the Orthodox mission in America was very small. One cannot contest the statement of a Protestant student of American Orthodoxy that, "the real growth of the Orthodox diocese in the United States began with the mass return of the Uniates to Orthodoxy, and the increase of Greek, Slavic, and Syrian immigration.</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><b>page 7</b></div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">This occurred around the end of the nineteenth century."</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">2. The remarkable growth of Orthodoxy in America at the turn of the century gave, great grounds for optimism. It is therefore no wonder that Archbishop Tikhon, riding the crest of this movement, we led to foresee the day when an independent American Orthodox Church would evolve.</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">3. It is equally evident that prodigious efforts were required to educate this heterogeneous Orthodox population in the faith. The newly-converted Uniates, who made up a considerable part of the flock, had yet t be thoroughly divested of Uniate customs and habits of mind. The newly-arrived immigrants, for the most part uncultured and with a tendency towards unruliness, presented a problem to be handled with great wisdom and skill. By 1917 only the initial steps had been taken to solve these and other problems. The American mission, so full of potential, was in dire need of the wisdom and guidance of a Church steeped in a thousand years of Orthodoxy. It was definitely not prepared to set out on its own,and such venture could lead to nothing buy disaster.</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">4. The importance of the control exercised by the Russian Church over Orthodox America is also demonstrated by the subsequent fate of a number of bishops who served in the United States and Canada before the Revolution of 1917. Archbishop Platon became a schismatic. Archbishop Evdokim, who governed the American Church at the time of the Revolution, entered the "Living Church." Of his four suffragans <span style="text-decoration: underline;">three</span> followed similar paths. Alexander of Canada, who succeeded Evdokim, had to leave America.</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">1. M.L.J. Schrank, "Problems of Orthodoxy in America: the Russian Church," St. Vladimir's Seminary Quarterly, vol. VI, no. 4, 1962, p. 186.</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><b>page 8</b></div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">because of his financial irresponsibility and eventually ended up in the Moscow Patriarchate. Eftimios of Brooklyn eventually abandoned the episcopacy for marriage. And Stephen of Pittsburg became a Roman Catholic.</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">5. Finally, all Orthodox in America, with the partial [and unjustifiable] exception of the Greeks, came under the ecclesiastical supervision of the Russian Church before the Revolution. If Archbishop Tikhon's plans had been followed, a strong American Orthodoxy encompassing all Orthodox ethnic groups could have resulted. Unfortunately this was not to be.</div><div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12000679422093371576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1020715264465191896.post-79378185816434530522011-03-30T18:00:00.005-07:002014-05-11T14:58:29.837-07:00Chapter II: The Russian Church Abroad After The Revolution of 1917<br />
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px; text-align: right;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">CHAPTER II</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">THE RUSSIAN CHURCH ABROAD AFTER THE REVOLUTION OF 1917</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 10</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">One cannot hope to understand the ecclesiastical situation in America after the Revolution of 1917 without being well-acquainted with the history of the Russian Church at home and abroad after that period. This chapter will explore the circumstances that led to the schism of Metropolitan Evlogy and the Western European diocese from the Church Abroad, and the relations of both these groups to Moscow and the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox patriarchates. Much of the information to be presented in taken from Michel D'Herbigny and Alexandre Deubner, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Les Eveques Russes en Exil</span>, Rome, 1932. This book, though written by extremely ultramontane Roman Catholics of a breed now virtually extinct, is - despite its obvious ideological shortcomings - an excellent and objective work of scholarship. It traces with meticulous care the events in the Russian Church following the Revolution.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">In 1917 under the Provisional Government a great Sobor [Council<b>] </b>of the Russian Orthodox Church was convoked. This Council,which continued its sessions until after the Bolsheviks seized power, was the last free manifestation of the "catholic" spirit of the Russian Church in this century. A number of important changes were introduced by the Sobor, the most important being <span style="text-decoration: underline;">[a]</span> the restoration of the Patriarchate,which had been abolished two centuries before by Peter the Great; and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">[b]</span> the reestablishment of the conciliar principles of the Church. In the final vote for patriarch a considerable majority of the votes went to Metropolitan Antony of Kharkov, later to become the first bishop of the Church Abroad until his death in 1936. 101 votes were cast for Antony, 27 for Archbishop Arseny, and 23 for Tikhon. This vote, held in conditions of absolute political freedom. shows what confidence was put in him by the bishops, clergy, and laity of the </span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 11</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Russian Church, all of whom were represented at the Council. In drawing of lots, however, the choice fell upon Archbishop Tikhon, formerly of America, and this meek and eminently worthy man was enthroned as Patriarch. The members of the Holy Synod elected by the Sobor were Metropolitans Vladimir, Arseny, Antony, Sergy, and Platon, and Archbishops Anastasy and Evlogy. The first was to be a martyr and the second a confessor under the Bolsheviks. Antony and Anastasy were successively to direct the difficult life of the Church Abroad until the repose of the latter in 1965. Sergy was later to submit the Russian Church to the Communists in his shameful "Declaration" of 1927. And Platon and Evlogy were to rend the holy unity of the Church Abroad with their soul-destroying schisms.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The Bolsheviks,led by Vladimir Ulyanov-Lenin, a baptized Orthodox Christian, moved against the Russian Church almost immediately after seizing power. They stripped the Church of all her property, including churches and monasteries, asserting that all property now belonged to the State. This was soon followed by the legalizing of civil marriage, and the government began to make plans to separate the Church from the state and from the educational system. In a government professing a fanatical atheism and materialism these moves had, of course, much more ominous implications than they would have had in a country such as the United States. Realizing that the Church was in mortal danger, Patriarch Tikhon "without waiting for the publication of the law [on the separation of Church and State] or for the reconvening of the Sobor [which was recessed for the Christmas holidays] went into action." 1 On January 19 he issued "a</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. Matthew Spinka, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Church in Soviet Russia</span>, New York, 1956, p. 15.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 12</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">strongly worded condemnation of the acts already passed by the Soviets, such as the secularization of marriage and the nationalization of schools, the confiscation of Church property, and various acts of desecration of churches and monasteries. He called it 'a Satanic act, for which you [i.e., the Bolsheviks] shall suffer curses of posterity in this present, earthly life.' He thereupon forbade those guilty of such deeds to come 'to the sacraments of Christ' and summarily anathematized them. Furthermore, he abjured the faithful 'not to commune with such outcasts of the human race in any manner whatsoever.'" 1</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">When the Sobor reconvened, "it wholeheartedly approved the Patriarch's declaration and added to it some harsh and uncompromising statements of its own." 2 When the decree on the separation of the Church from the State was published by the Bolsheviks the Sobor declared that "any participation, either in the printing of the legislation which is at enmity with the Church, or in attempts to put it into effect, is incompatible with membership in the Orthodox Church, and will bring down upon the guilty parties punishments p to and including excommunication from the Church." 3</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Thus in the final closing moments of ecclesiastical freedom in Russia both Patriarch Tikhon and the entire All-Russian Sobor of 1917-18 took an uncompromising stand against he Bolsheviks, the majority of whom, like Lenin, were baptized Orthodox who had repudiated the faith of their fathers.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 15 [The full text in English appears in M. Spinka, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Church and the Russian Revolution</span>, N.Y., 1927, p. 118-122.]</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 16</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. Archpriest George Grabbe, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Truth About the Russian Church At Home and Abroad</span>, Jordanville, 1961, p. 30 [in Russian].</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 13</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Soon the Bolsheviks were to rise up against the Church of Christ with a ferocity matched only by the persecutions of the first centuries of the Christian era.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">When the Civil War broke out, all possibility for Church unity in Russia was lost. On November 7/20. therefore, Patriarch Tikhon issued ukaz No. 362 which stated that, "If a diocese should find itself cut off from the Highest Church Administration, or if the Highest Church Administration itself, headed by the holy Patriarch, should for any reason cease its activity, then the diocesan bishop should immediately enter into relations with the bishops of the neighboring dioceses with the aim of organizing a body to serve as a supreme authority. . . In case this should prove impossible, the diocesan bishop takes on himself the totality of authority." 1</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">This ukaz, of which more will be said later in this chapter, was in the circumstances so logical a decision that a group of bishops had anticipated it on May 6, 1919, when at Stavropol in the Caucasus they formed a Temporary Highest Church Administration for South-Eastern Russia. This organization, which united several vast dioceses, began its functions immediately. The decisions of the Temporary Highest Church Administration were later confirmed by patriarch Tikhon, who of course, fond its actions completely in accord with his ukaz No. 362. According to Michael D'Herbigny, the Temporary Highest Church Administration was "recognized by all the episcopate of the region" and "had in obedience to it more than thirty bishops and was in direct relations with the heads of autocephalous Churches." 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. Quoted in I.M. Andreev, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">A Short History of the Russian Church from the Revolution to our Time</span>, Jordanville, 1952, p. 90 [in Russian].</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 14</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">At a council of the Temporary Highest Church Administration held on October 1, 1920, at Simferopol, and presided over by Metropolitan Antony of Kiev [formerly of Kharkov], Archbishop Anastasy of Kishinev was designated as the Administration's representative to Constantinople and the Œcumenical Patriarch. Thus the Administration early "extended its jurisdiction beyond the frontiers of Russia." 1</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">At the same session of October 1, the Administration assigned Archbishop Evlogy of Volhynia, at his own request, to take charge of he dioceses in Western Europe. The administration showed itself to be the Highest Church Administration of South-East Russia in many ways. Two bishops were consecrated, one was removed from his post, one was retired, etc. 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The changing course of the Civil War, however, began to force large numbers of believers and their clergy to flee their homeland. On November 1, 1920, in Constantinople, a group of Russian bishops-- metropolitans Antony and Platon, Archbishops Anastasy and Theophan and Bishop Benjamin -- "profiting from the hospitality of the Greek Patriarch, "held a council and created "a central organ of the Russian Church Abroad," which they named the Highest Russian Church Administration Abroad. 3 Thus, because of political developments the Temporary Church Administration ceased to exist and was replaced by the Church Administration Abroad.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">In May, 1921, another council of the Russian episcopacy abroad was</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. Michel D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Les Eveques Russes en Exil</span>, Rome, 1932, p. 14.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. Andreev, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p. 90.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, pp.15-16.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><b>page 15</b></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">held in Constantinople. Here a more definite form was given to the Administration Abroad founded the previous November. metropolitan Antony of Kiev and Platon of Odessa and four other Russian bishops were present. 1 It is important to note, in view of what followed, that the two formative councils of the Highest Russian Church Administration Abroad were held with the blessing of the patriarch of Constantinople. Further, it should be observed that Platon of Odessa, later to come to America, was one of the founding fathers of the administration.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The Administration, into which all the Russian bishops abroad soon entered, began to act for the immediate care of its flock, which was literally scattered over the face of the earth. On July 22, 1921, showing that its jurisdiction extended to North America, the Administration made <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Alaska</span> a separate diocese. 2 Although Archbishop Alexander of America protested this action, he was forced to accept it as a coming from the Highest Church Administration abroad. On August 31, 1921, the Administration conferred the spiritual stewardship of the Russian parishes in Bulgaria upon Bishop Seraphim of Loubny. 3 On September 21, it put Metropolitan Antony of Kiev in charge of the Russian communities in Serbia. Previously, on August 20, it issued a call for assistance to relieve the famine of the Russian people in an appeal to its flock in Western Europe, Constantinople, Bulgaria, North America, China, and Japan. 4</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Thus the Highest Russian Church Administration Abroad, as D'Herbigny</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 17</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op cit.</span>, p. 18</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">4. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span> pp. 18-19.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 16</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">says, "had an immediate jurisdiction" over all rectors of Russian parishes abroad. It's authority was recognized by Antony of Kiev, Platon of Odessa, Evlogy of Volhynia, and all other Russian bishops abroad, as well as by the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Serbia. In addition it established contacts with the autocephalous Churches of Greece and Bulgaria. 1 "On the eve of the Council of Carlovtsy in 1921 the Highest Russian Church Administration Abroad incontestably exercised the prerogatives of an imperative authority over the Russian emigration.2 Its jurisdiction extended both to Western Europe and America.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The Carlovtsy Conference was held in November-December, 1921, in Carlovtsy, Yugoslavia, to which seat the Highest Church Administration had transferred itself at the invitation of the Serbian Church. The Council was greeted by Patriarch Dimitri of Serbia and received his blessing. Two Serbian bishops, Hilarion and Maximilian, as well as Stefan, Metropolitan of Sofia, Bulgaria, were present at the Council. Consisting of 13 bishops, 23 clergy,and 67 laymen, the Council was patterned after the 1j17-18 Moscow Sobor. As at Moscow, the bishops had the right to veto any of the Council's decisions. In addition to those present almost all bishops abroad acknowledged the Council in writing. Among them were Antony, Bishop of Alaska; Alexander, Archbishop of North America; and Stephen, Bishop of Pittsburg. 3</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The avowed purpose of the Council of 1921 was to "unite, regularize,</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 19.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. Andreev, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op.cit.</span>, p. 91.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page17</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">and vivify the activity of the Russian Church abroad." 1 Some of its aims were [1] to avert the disorganization of the Russian Church outside the U.S.S.R.; [2] to prevent the inroads of Masonry, Theosophy, and spiritualism among the faithful; [3] to offset the activity of certain sects such as Adventism and Anabaptism; and [4] to halt the influence of socialism and communism among believers. The Highest Church Administration was solemnly commended to the protection of the Blessed Lady Theotokos and Holy Archangel Michael.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The existing form and structure of the Administration was confirmed by the Council. Archbishop Anastasy made an appeal for world attention to be directed to the starving peoples of Russia. Steps were taken to allay the spiritual demoralization of millions of emigré's who had been abruptly wrenched from their homeland.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">In addition to attending to these matters, the Council also issued two open letters. The first was called "An Epistle to the Children of the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile and the Diaspora." The second was an "Epistle to the World Conference" in Genoa.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The former letter affirmed that "the duty of those of us abroad, who have preserved our lives in the dispersion and have not known the flames which are destroying our land and its people, is to be united in Christian spirit, gathered under the sign of the Cross of the Lord, under the protection of the Orthodox Faith. . . ." 2 The epistle called for a return of the monarchy to Russia and specified that the new monarch should come from the House of the Romanoffs. The "Epistle to the World Conference" called</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p. 22.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. Andreev, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op.cit.</span>, p. 97.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 18</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">for a world struggle against the communists. "People of Europe!" it appealed, "Peoples of the world! Have pity on our good, frank, and noble-hearted Russian people, who have fallen into the hands of evil men. Do not support them [i.e., the Bolsheviks]. Do not strengthen them against your children and grandchildren!" 1</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The action of the Council in issuing these letters caused no small controversy at the time and has continued to create disagreement up to the present. Fr. John Meyendorff of the American Metropolia, for example, recently attacked the Council of 1921 in violent terms, although he mistakenly places it in 1922. 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">It should be pointed out at the outset that <span style="text-decoration: underline;">all</span> the representatives to the Council<b>, </b>including Evlogy, were monarchists. As D'Herbigny writes, "This principle [i.e., that of re-establishing the monarchy in Russia] was admitted by everyone. . . ." Commentators such as Fr. Meyendorff, who play upon the noted intolerance of Americans [including American Orthodox] towards political systems other than their own, neglect to inform their flock of this. They could have pointed out that monarchy had as a longer and closer connexion with Orthodoxy than has democracy. Fr. John of Kronstadt and Bishop Theophan the Recluse, God-bearers of the XIX century, were theoretical monarchists, as were such highly-respected intellectuals as Fydor Dostoevsky and Alexis Khomyakov. it is no wonder, then, that in 1921, only four years after the Revolution, for the Russian people the question of restoring the monarchy was no minor one.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, pp. 97-8.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. In <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Orthodox Church</span>, February, 1970, p. 4.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 19</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The only point debated at the Council was whether it was the Romanoff dynasty that should be restored. Six bishops were for and six against restoration. Those such as Metropolitan Antony, who were for the proposal, felt that the regicide perpetrated by the Bolsheviks should not be construed as a legal action that permitted a change of dynasty. Those such as Anastasy and Evlogy who voted against the measure felt that the new dynasty should not be specified. 1 By a slight majority of those present at the Council Antony's party carried the measure. After the Council, Anastasy stated that he had come to realize that while the Church was "not bound to any form of government and that "no form of government can be made a dogma by the Church," nevertheless, she cannot remain silent as to the preferability of one form of government to another. 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Thus the Council of 1921 condemned the regicide committed by the Bolsheviks and censured, in accordance with the last free actions of Patriarch Tikhon and the Council of 1917-18, the Bolshevik persecution of the faith. The warning which the Council addressed to the Genoa World Conference has, in fact, been justified by history. Not only did the Bolsheviks descend on their homeland like the legions of hell, slaughtering some twenty million of their countrymen in the process of forced collectivization and purges, but they successfully exported their anti-Christian philosophy of venom and destruction to the rest of the world.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The Communist Party of the U.S.S.R. has never forgiven the Church Abroad for the Council of 1921. Recently <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Izvestiya</span>, the Soviet Union's</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. D'Herbigny, p. 39.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, pp. 42-3.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 20</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">second-ranking newspaper, published an article entitled "Not by Prayers Alone" in which is slanderously attacked the Church Abroad. The beginning of the "Carlovtsky schism," <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Izvestiya</span> declares, "goes back to 1921 when, as a result of the defeat of the White Guard bands by the Red Army, the reactionary emigré clerics and laity convoked in the city of Sremski Carlovtsky [Yugoslavia] a council of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad. At its head stood the ardent monarchist Metropolitan Antony [Khrapovitsky]. The <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Karlovchane</span> did not submit to the demand of the Moscow Patriarchate that they occupy a loyal position in relation to the Soviet government, and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">thereby placed themselves outside the Russian Orthodox Church.</span>" 1 The demand for loyalty actually did not come until after the Council, but we can forgive the communist authors of the article for not being too conversant with ecclesiastical fact. In any case their intentions are perfectly clear.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">After the Council of 1921 the Highest Church Administration continued to extend its activity abroad. On December 5, 1921, it named personnel to the Russian Mission in Jerusalem. 2 On January 17, 1922, it made Archmandrite Simon suffragan bishop of Shanghai, China, at the request of the Archbishop of Peking. On the same day it permitted Bishop Damian of Tsaritsyn to open a pastoral school in Bulgaria, on condition that its budget and structure be approved by the Administration. On March 24 it named Archbishop Methodius as bishop of Harbin, China. 3 On April 4 it declared that the following should have the rights of granting divorces in the Church</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. Cited from <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Golos Rodiny</span>, September, 1969, p. 5 [our italics].</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. D'Herbigny, op cit., p. 43.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, pp. 44-5.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 21</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Abroad: Evlogy in Western Europe, Antony in Yugoslavia, and Alexander in North America. Rights were also given to the Bishop of Alaska. 1 On April 27 it named Appolinary of Belgorod its representative to Jerusalem. On May 30, on obtaining the consent of the Archbishop of Athens, it sent Bishop Hermogen of Ekaterinslav to Greece where he was put in charge of the Russian community in Athens. 2 Metropolitan Antony, head of the Administration, wrote to the Patriarch of Constantinople concerning his plans to grant autocephaly to the churches of Georgia, the Ukraine, Finland, and Poland.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">When Patriarch Tikhon was arrested on March 15, 1922, for condemning the actions of the Bolsheviks, the Highest Church Administration appointed special prayers to be said for him. Also letters were sent to all Orthodox bishops throughout the world warning them against entering into communion with the Russian "Living Church" schism.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Then unexpectedly, on September 2, 1922, the Administration received a copy of Patriarch Tikhon's <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> of May 5,1922,in which its closing was ordered. Some, such as Fr. Meyendorff in his above-mentioned article <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Orthodox Church</span>, feel this <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> should have been obeyed. Most do not. Before this <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> is discussed, however, one would do well to follow D'Herbigny in summing up the activities of the Highest Russian Church Administration Abroad before its receipt of the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span>.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">In Orthodox countries</span> the Administration had, with the consent of the ruling bishops of these nations, erected a Russian diocese in Constantinople [under Anastasy], Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia. "According to the</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 48.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 22</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Highest Russian Church Administration Abroad the bishop of these Russian dioceses which had been created received all his jurisdiction from it, i.e., the Administration, but the exercise of this jurisdiction could be limited by the Bishop of the locality. Thus in Constantinople the Greek patriarch decided that all matrimonial questions among the emigrés were to be regularized by his patriarchal authority." 1</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">In non-Orthodox countries</span> the jurisdiction of the Highest Russian Church Administration Abroad "extended to Western Europe, where Archbishop Evlogy recognized it, and to North America, where it was accepted without question by the Bishop of Alaska, Antony. In Europe, as in America, the Highest Russian Church Administration Abroad created a diocese, that of Western Europe and of Alaska, and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">both of these acts were recognized by Patriarch Tikhon.</span>"</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">In the Far East the Administration "established two suffragan bishops in China at the request of Archbishop Innocent of Peking,and a veritable archdiocese in Manchuria - despite the local bishop's protest removing a whole territory from the diocese of Vladivostok." 3</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The Highest Russian Church Administration Abroad, D'Herbigny correctly concludes, had thus the same authority vis-vis the Church Abroad as the Patriarch of Moscow had for the Russian Church in the confines of the U.S.S.R.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Then came the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> of May 5, 1922. According to this <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span>, [1] the Encyclical of the Council of Carlovtsky to the Emigrés and the Letter to the Genoa Conference could not be considered as the official thought of the</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><b>page 23</b></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Church; [2] the Administration Abroad must be suppressed "because it had dared to engage in politics in the name of the Church'; and [3] the emigré bishops who had engaged in "politics" were to be subject to ecclesiastical judgment. 1 The <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> also stated that the Western European parishes were to be "temporarily" placed under the control of Metropolitan Evlogy.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">When this <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> was received nobody believed that it was a free expression of the will of Patriarch Tikhon. Metropolitan Evlogy, who was later to make great use of the document, wrote to Metropolitan Antony, "This <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> surprised me by its suddenness. I was stunned at the thought of the terrible trouble it could introduce into our ecclesiastical life. Without any doubt, it was written under pressure from the Bolsheviks." 2 As late as April 24, 1925, Evlogy was of the same opinion. Writing in <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Vechernee Vremya</span> he observes, "I did not attribute any obligatory value to this document even if it were in reality composed and signed by the Patriarch. It is political and not ecclesiastical. it concerns neither dogmas, nor canons, nor rites, but treats of the attitude one should have towards the Soviets within the limits of the Soviet state. Beyond those limits, therefore, it has no value." 3</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">By August 19, 1926, Evlogy, now in schism from the Church Abroad, had changed his mind. In an Encyclical Letter to the Faithful he writes, "To wish to reject this clear and precise <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> from the authority of Moscow because it happens to displease one is an act of insubordination con-</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 54.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 55.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 24</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">trary to the canons." 1 Evlogy was thus eventually led into temptation by the fact that the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> recognized his authority in his own diocese. The communists, for reasons which will be indicated later, had concluded as early as 1j22 that Evlogy would be the best means to employ for sundering the unity of the Church Abroad; hence the conferring of powers on him by the Bolshevik-dictated <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span>.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> ordering the closing of the Highest Church Administration Abroad presented the episcopate abroad with a new and very difficult problem. What should it do about a <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> from Moscow which was clearly political in intent and clearly dictated by the Soviet government, the persecutor of Russian Christians?</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Before the Bishop's Council met, Metropolitan Antony pointed out that, although Patriarch Tikhon had never explicitly confirmed the Highest Russian Church Administration Abroad as such, he had nevertheless sanctioned several of its decisions - for example, the erection of the diocese of Alaska in 1921, and the establishment of the archdiocese of Harbin, which had been removed by the Administration Abroad out of "filial obedience," but because of "the obscurity of the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span>, the impossibility of suppressing even for one instant all supreme authority in the Russian Church abroad, the disorganization of the central ecclesiastical government of Moscow, the arrest of the Patriarch, and finally the evident fact of Bolshevik influence in the</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 25</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span>," it decided that, until such a time as the Patriarch should be liberated and could freely explain his decree, the Highest Church Administration should continue to function abroad.1 On September 2, 1922, the Bishop's Council resolved to suppress the "Highest Russian Church Administration Abroad" and to convoke a council of the episcopate, clergy, and laity of the Russian Church Abroad to organize a "Temporary Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad," which should have highest jurisdiction. 2 The proposal for the formation of the Temporary Episcopal Synod came from none other than Metropolitan Evlogy of Western Europe, and was unanimously agreed upon by all bishops present. All present, including Evlogy, signed the Council's decisions.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Thus the Church Abroad reacted cautiously but wisely to the first patriarchal <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> evidently influenced by the Bolsheviks. The temporary Holy Episcopal Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad inherited the powers of the Highest Russian Church Administration Abroad, and the Church Abroad avoided capitulating to the first attempt by the communists to bring its existence to an end. The Temporary Episcopal Synod began to function immediately. It removed Archbishop Alexander from administering the North American diocese and replaced him with Metropolitan Platon of Odessa.3 On September 15, 1922, it upheld the judgment of Metropolitan Evlogy versus the priest V. Znosko who has been deposed by the Metropolitan.4 On September 29, 1922, it authorized the bishops of the Far East to hold a council</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, pp. 58-9.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 59</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 60</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">4. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 26</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">to organize a central administration of the churches of the Far East on condition that the administration should depend on the Temporary Episcopal Synod and, through it, on the Patriarch. 1 On December 2, 1922, it conferred the Russian mission of Korea upon Archbishop Sergius of Japan. On December 15, it registered the act by which the bishops of Harbin, China, joined in condemning the erection of an autocephaly in Poland. 2 On January 4, 1923, "as the supreme authority over three million Russian emigrés and the Russian dioceses of America, Japan, China and Finland, i.e., of fifteen Russian dioceses" it joined other Orthodox Churches in condemning the humiliations inflicted upon the Patriarch of Constantinople by the followers of Mustapha Kemal [later Atatirk]. 3</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">On March 29, 1923, it sent a letter to Patriarch Meletius of Constantinople and the other autocephalous Orthodox Churches asking that they not send representatives to a synod of the "Living Church." 4</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The jurisdiction of the Temporary Episcopal Synod,in the words of D'Herbigny, "<span style="text-decoration: underline;">was recognized unanimously by the Russian episcopate abroad.</span>" 5 It was expressly acknowledged by Metropolitans Antony, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Evlogy</span>, and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Platon</span>, Archbishops Methodius or Harbin, Innocent of Peking, Seraphim of Finland, Elevthery of Lithuania, Anastasy of Kishinev, Theophan of Poltava, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Eftimios of Brooklyn</span>, Bishops <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Antony of Alaska</span>. Sergius of Belsk, Vladimir of Belostok, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Adam </span>[of America], Meletius of Zabaikal, Nestor of Kamchatka, Simon of Shanghai, Jonas of Tien-Tsin, Appollinary of Belgorod, Daniel of Okhotsk, Sergius of Novorssysk, Gabriel of Cheliabinks, Hermogen of Ekaterinslav, Theophan of Kursk,</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, pp. 60-1</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p.62</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">4. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op cit.</span>, p. 63</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">5. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 27</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Michael of Alexandrovsk, Seraphim of Lubny, Benjamin of Sebastopol, Michael of Vladivostok, Damian of Tsaritsyn, Panteleimon of Pinsk, Marllia, Stephen of Pittsburg, Alexander of North America, John of Latvia, Sergius of Tokyo - in all, thirty-five bishops. 1 It ought to be remarked that, although many of the above bishops are listed by their Russian sees, they were either ruling bishops or members of the Holy Synod of the Church Abroad.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Then jurisdiction of the Temporary Episcopal Synod extended over the following dioceses: In Europe: over the Western European diocese and those of Finland, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Turkey. In Asia: over the dioceses of Peking, Harbin, Vladivosto, Tokyo, Zabaikal, and Kamchatka. In America: over the diocese of North America, Aleutia [Alaska], and Chicago. In all, its jurisdiction comprised fifteen dioceses. 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">At the Bishops' Council of 1923 the bishops confirmed the canonical organization of the Temporary Holy Episcopal Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. Metropolitan Antony announced that he would like to surrender his duties and retire to Mt. Athos to devote the remaining years of his life to prayer [he had previously spent a short while on the Holy Mountain after the Civil War, but had been summoned to care for the flock of the emigration]. metropolitan Evlogy was asked temporarily to take over the leadership of the Episcopal Synod. When, however, Antony was prevented by circumstances from entering the Holy Mountain, a plea from a considerable part of the emigration forced him to renounce his intentions and remain at the helm of the Synod. The incident does indicate, however,</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 28</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">how little Antony relished his position of power and how he yearned for the monastic life.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">At the Bishops' Council of May-June, 1923, attended by Antony, Evlogy, Anastasy, and ten others, it was resolved that the Church Abroad should have a yearly episcopal council and a permanent synod of bishops located at Carlovtsy. The first Synod was composed of Antony [chairman], Evlogy, Archbishop Theophan, and Bishops Sergius, Michael, Gabriel, and Hermogen. 1 At the session of June 1, 1923, the Bishops' Council elevated Metropolitan Evlogy's diocese to the rank of an autonomous diocese in a charitable attempt to appease his growing ecclesiastical ambitions. Such matters as the court of highest appeal, the confirmation of bishops, and other clearly defined matters remained, however, in the hands of the Temporary Episcopal Synod. 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">On April 11-12, 1924, at the request of Evlogy, the Temporary Episcopal Synod elevated archimandrite Tikhon to the episcopal rank, naming him as Evlogy's suffragan bishop of Berlin.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">At the Bishops' Council of October 16, fourteen bishops were present, including Antony [chairman], Metropolitans Evlogy and Platon [of America], and Archbishops Anastasy and Antony of Alaska. 3 Sixteen other bishops sent letters in which they answered forty questions which had been put to them by the standing Synod.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">At this council Metropolitan Evlogy began to exhibit sensibilities which would soon lead him into schism. When the question of the wisdom</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p. 69</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 71</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 29</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">of the relative autonomy of his diocese was raised, he immediately became angered and threatened to leave the council. Such behavior was soon to become his trademark.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Nevertheless, he continued to use the Temporary Episcopal Synod for his own purposes. At the session of October 24, 1924, his request for a second suffragan bishop located in Prague was granted. Later, on April 9, 1925, he petitioned for another suffragan bishop in central France, with Archbishop Vladimir of Belostok as a titular bishop.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The year 1925 was also the year of Patriarch Tikhon's repose. On November 12, 1925, the Temporary Episcopal Synod recognized Peter of Krutitsk as guardian of the Patriarchal throne in conformity with the will of the Russian episcopate in the U.S.S.R. 1</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">During 1925 the pernicious winds of schism also began to blow stronger. Professor A. Kartashev of the Western European diocese charged that the Temporary Episcopal Synod was planning a schism from the Patriarchate, a charge refuted by the Synod at Carlovtsy.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">At the annual Bishops' Council held in Carlovtsy June 12-25, 1926, and attended by both Metropolitans Evlogy and Platon, matters came to a head. The opening days of the council went quite smoothly. Matters concerning parish life, divorce, and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">"the situation of the Russian Church in America"</span> were regulated by the council. 2 When the matter of Evlogy's relative autonomy was raised, however, the Metropolitan demanded as immediate and full discussion of the question. The council agreed to do so only when the official agenda had been covered. To show his displeasure,</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op cit.</span>, p. 75.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 80.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 30</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Evlogy immediately left the council and retired to the Khopovo monastery in Yugoslavia, where he remained until the council ended. The council, seeking to avert a schism and to pacify the emotionally volatile Metropolitan, granted Evlogy a fourth suffragan bishop, but resolved that he "and his suffragans must declare in writing that they attribute to the councils and the Synod of Bishops [of the Church Abroad] more than moral authority, but rather a true canonical right of jurisdiction, the right to judge and administer the Russian Church Abroad."1 This was precisely what Evlogy would not do. Although he was willing to use the Temporary Episcopal Synod for his own purposes, such as obtaining bishops, he was not willing to allow it any authority over him.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The Council of Bishops, now fully aware of Evlogy's duplicity, presented him with a number of questions, including the following: [1] Why had he composed a special rule concerning suffragan bishops? [2] Why had he refused in writing to put into practice the rule elaborated and confirmed by the Synod of Bishops [of the Church Abroad] in keeping with the decrees of the Moscow Council of 1917-8 on the subject of suffragan bishops? [3] Why had he opened, without the previous consent of the Synod, the Theological Academy of Paris, and why had he not presented its rule for the approval of the Synod? [4] Why had he for five years administered his diocese by means of a diocesan council which had not been elected by a diocesan congress and had been approved by the Synod for only a temporary period of time? [5] Why had he named priests for Australia, which was not in his jurisdiction? 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p. 84.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 85.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 31</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Later on, when a copy of Evlogy's correspondence with Patriarch Tikhon fell into the hands of the Synod, it became clear that since 1922 "Metropolitan Evlogy had been acting against Metropolitan Antony and the episcopate of Carlovtsy." 1 In 1926 the Synod discovered that Evlogy had been intriguing to have the Synod of Bishops Abroad dissolved by the Patriarch, and himself confirmed in his rights with his jurisdiction extended to include the Russian Mission of Jerusalem. Patriarch Tikhon, however, wisely refrained from granting Evlogy's requests. 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The 1926 Bishop's Council also dealt a blow to the theological and spiritual modernism which had begun to undermine the life of the Western European diocese. It refused, for example, to approve the Russian Student Christian Movement,centered in Evology's diocese,which stubbornly refused to call itself "Orthodox Christian" and opened its ranks wide to the heterodox. At the fourth general congress of the Russian Student Christian Movement held September 1-5, 1926, the Synod's negative judgment of the Movement received confirmation.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">At this council P.S. Lopukhin attempted to speak out as a voice of traditional Orthodoxy. "The goal of the Movement," he said, "is to attract</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 255.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. D'Herbigny, o<span style="text-decoration: underline;">p. cit.</span>, p. 95.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 32</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">the youth to the Orthodox faith and the Orthodox Church. Thus its work cannot be foreign to that of the Church and the bishops who are the responsible guardians of the Church. The Movement must act essentially in concert with the hierarchy. 1 It must, he added, "become Orthodox, even in name, and call itself the 'Orthodox Christian Movement'"; for, "how," he asked, "can an organization which fears to call itself <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox</span> attract members to Orthodoxy?" 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">P.S. Lopukhin's speech "displeased the assembly." 3 Nicholas Berdyaev, the free-thinking philosopher, objected that, "One must distinguish two conceptions of the Church: [1] that of the visible Church, i.e., the material temples, the parishes, the hierarchy, and hierarchial dependence; and [2] that of the invisible Church, the mystical body of Christ. The Movement, he said, is a movement belonging to the invisible Church. It is thus autonomous in regard to episcopal directives and the Orthodox hierarchy." 4 Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov added that, "One must not be ashamed of the word 'Christian.'" 5 The assembly decided that "the name of <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Christian</span> corresponds more to reality because the Movement possesses circles who do not call themselves <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox</span>." 6</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The Russian Christian Student Movement thus reacted to the strictures of the 1926 Bishops' Council by affirming its <span style="text-decoration: underline;">independence</span> of the hierarchy and by proclaiming a "branch theory" form of ecclesiology.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 115.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, pp. 115-16.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p. 116.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">4. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">5. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 117.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">6. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 33</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">As far as the Parish Theological Institute is concerned, as early as April 9, 1925, the Synod at Carlovtsy had refused to approve it before examining its statutes. On June 30, 1926, the Bishops' Council decided that the Institute "must be directly submitted to the authority of the Synod, which alone could confirm the statues and the list of the professorial staff; that the Institute could not be recognized until after approval of its statutes, which must be presented to the Synod by Metropolitan Evlogy; that professors should not be admitted until after an attentive examination or their writings; that the Institute should be free of all Masonic subsidy; that Metropolitan Evlogy should present to the Synod both the old and the new statutes of the 'Brotherhood of Sophia.'" 1</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">At an early date the Western European diocese also moved into the now-fashionable field of ecumenical concelebrations. Metropolitan Evlogy, for example, cased a sensation by holding a service for the Roman Catholic Cardinal Mercier. 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">In view of Evology's continued refusal to submit to the judgment of a council of his brother bishops, the Church Abroad, January 25-26, 1927, suspended him and informed Evlogy's clergy and all heads of Orthodox Churches of this fact. On February 1, Evlogy replied by stating that he considered the Synod's decisions "anticanonical." 3</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">On February 4, the Synod addressed an encyclical letter to the flock of the Western European diocese exhorting them not to communicate with their suspended Metropolitan. 4 The same day Metropolitan Evlogy</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p. 146.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, [. 96.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 139.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">4. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 34</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">announced that his diocese would be henceforth independent like the American Church under Metropolitan Platon. Evlogy was unfortunately supported by most of his flock, particularly its modernist elements. Nicholas Berdyaev even saw him as an outstanding instrument of God. "Metropolitan Evlogy," he wrote, "is the man charged by Providence with renewing the Church on the conciliar principle of the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">free accord of believers with the episcopate.</span>" 1</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">On March 31, 1927, the Synod of the Church Abroad published a pastoral letter directed against the "modernism" of the Theological Institute of Paris. The letter conveyed the results of a thorough investigation of the academy, its staff, and their writings, that had been carried out by Archbishop Theophan of the Standing Synod.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">According to this letter, "The Theological Institute of Paris was founded by Metropolitan Evlogy without the authorization of the Council and Synod of the Church Abroad, without the approval of its programs or its professors, of whom some have not received higher theological education and others are of an Orthodoxy which is at least suspect." 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The letter paid particular attention to the neo-Gnosticm preached by Fr. Sergius Bulgakov and his disciples under the name of "Sophiology." "Up to now, in full accord with the Apostle Paul and the Fathers of the Church, we have known only <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, unto the Greeks foolishness. . .Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God</span> [I Cor. 1. 23-4]. They, on the contrary, profess a new doctrine of 'Sophia,' the feminine principle in God. For them this</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 143.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p. 147.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 35</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">feminine principle is at times an individual substance, an hypostasis which, while not being consubstantial with the Holy Trinity, is nevertheless not alien to it. At times for them this feminine principle appears as an 'hypostatic' aptitude to a hypostasis." 1</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The letter concludes: "Metropolitan Evlogy hears and sees all this, and yet not only has he not condemned the innovators, not only has he not taken any measures against the modernism which is infiltrating the Church Abroad, but he chooses as collaborators men who profess this doctrine and confers upon them the task of raising future pastors of the Church." 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">On July 3, 1927, a conference of the Western European Diocese was held. There Evlogy attempted to counter the Synod's charges. He had not submitted the matter of approving the Institute to the Synod Abroad, he said, because, with the exception of Metropolitan Antony, the members of the Synod were not "friendly" toward it. He had, nevertheless, brought the statues of the Institute to the 1926 Bishops' Council, but his own sudden departure had prevented his offering them for inspection. He countered the charge that he was fostering modernism by claiming that Orthodoxy was more precious to him than life. At his request Professor A.V. Kartashev denied the Synod's claim that he was recommending a "reformation" in the Church, and Professor Bulgakov affirmed that his doctrine of "Sophia" was "traditional." 3 Furthermore, Evlogy stated that, "The new ideas preached by the two professors are in conformity with Tradition in every respect. The Church is not opposed to the development of theological</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, 148.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, 148-9.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p. 154.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 36</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">thought." 1</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">At the same conference of the Western European Diocese, Professor Bulgakov read a report on the Theological Institute of Paris, after which "the Assembly [i.e., the conference] declared that the Theological Institute was doing its job, and that the written explanations of professors S. Bulgakov and A.V. Kartashev established the perfect Orthodoxy of the professorial body." 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Bulgakov then read yet another report on the "Brotherhood of Sophia," after which the conference recognized the organization as perfectly "Orthodox."</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Finally, after a report by Nicholas Zernov, the conference offered its full support to the Russian Student Christian Movement.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Thus, on the question of the theological modernism of the Western European diocese, the Synod Abroad and the diocese took totally opposed positions. Forced to choose, two bishops [Archbishop Seraphim of London and Bishop Tikhon of Berlin] and six priests left the Western European diocese in 1927 for the Church Abroad.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Once Evlogy cut himself off from the Church Abroad, he immediately fell prey to the Soviet Communists, who in the same year [1927] had finally established full control over the Moscow Patriarchate - a control which they have maintained up to this day. In 1926, Metropolitan Sergius of Nizhni-Novgorod succeeded Peter of Krutitsk as temporary guardian of the Patriarchal throne after Peter's arrest by the Bolsheviks. On being reached by a person who wished him to mediate the dispute between Evlogy</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 159.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 37</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">and the Church Abroad, he replied with his letter of May 28/June 10, 1926, in which though promising not to engage in political actions against the Soviet Union, he nevertheless stated:</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">But let us be sincere to the end. We cannot pass over</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">in silence the contradictions which exist between our</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Orthodox [people] and the communists who govern</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">our Union. The latter struggle against God and His</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">rule in the hearts of the people, while we see the sig-</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">nificance and aim of our entire existence in the confes-</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">sion of faith in God as well as in the widest dissemina-</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">tion and affirmation of that faith in people's hearts.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">They accept exclusively the materialistic conception of</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">history, while we believe in divine Providence, in mir-</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">acles, etc.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Far from promising the reconciliation of that which is</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">irreconcilable, and from pretending to adapt or faith</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">to communism, we will remain, from the religious</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">point of view, what we are, i.e., members of the Tra-</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">ditional Church. 1</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Passing from this statement of belief to consideration of the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">emigré</span> plight, Sergius writes:</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">To inflict ecclesiastical punishment on clerical</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">emigrés</span> guilty of unfaithfulness toward the Soviet</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Union would not produce the desired effect, and</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">might offer new proof of the allegations that such</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">decisions had been forced on us by the Soviet govern-</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">ment. The only thing that appears to us desirable</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">and perfectly feasible is to assert or complete dis-</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">avowal of such political clergy, and to repudiate in</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">advance all responsibility for their political action.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">To that end it suffices to establish the rule that all</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">members of the clergy who do not acknowledge their</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">civil obligation towards the Soviet Union ought to be</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">excluded from the ecclesiastical community of the</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Moscow Patriarchate, and ought to place themselves</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">under the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Churches in</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">the countries where they reside.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The same obligations ought to condition the exis-</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">tence abroad of administrative organs such as the</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Holy Synod and diocesan councils. 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. M. Spinka, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Church in the Soviet Union</span>, New York, 1956, p. 158.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. Spinka, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p. 160</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 38</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Metropolitan Sergius wrote in a similar vein to the bishops at Carlovtsy on October 12, 1926, when they asked him to mediate between themselves and Metropolitan Evlogy. "He declined to serve as a judge and specifically asserted that since there was no actual contact between the Moscow supreme administration and the churches abroad, there could be no supervision of governing of these churches by Moscow. Consequently he concludes that 'in non-Orthodox countries independent congregations or churches may be organized, members of which may be even non-Russians.... Think it over, please. For such a solution of the problem obviously corresponds better t the existing circumstances even of our Church.'" 1</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Thus Metropolitan Sergius, while seeking what was soon shown to be impossible - namely, a modus vivendi with atheist communists, - gave very responsible advice to the Russian Church Abroad. Those foreign clergy who did not wish to fulfill the obligations of the Soviet government should <span style="text-decoration: underline;">separate</span> themselves from the Moscow Patriarchate. When in countries ruled by autocephalous Orthodox Churches they should function with the approval of these Churches. The Holy Synod of the Church Abroad and its diocesan councils should function independently of the Patriarchate. In effect, therefore, Sergius was simply expanding the force of Patriarch Tikhon's <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> No. 362 of 1920 to cover the life of the Church Abroad more explicitly. In addition to the disorganization of the Church mentioned in Tikhon's <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span>, now the complication of political loyalty to an atheist regime is cited by Metropolitan Sergius as another reason for the temporary self-government of the Church Abroad.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 63.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 39</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">This letter of Metropolitan Sergius did not please the Bolsheviks. He was summoned to Moscow and ordered,among other things, to excommunicate all the Russian bishops abroad. The Metropolitan replied with a "categorical refusal." 1 On December 13, 1926, he was arrested.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Sergius spent three-and-a-half months in prison, and then, "contrary to all expectations, "was released on March 30, 1927. For reasons and because of threats which may never be known, while in prison he decided to "comply with the demands of the government," and agreed to the terms later made public in the now-famous "Declaration" of 1927. This "Declaration" issued on July 16/29, 1927, altered the whole course of the Moscow Patriarchate. 2 Its central passage stated that the Russian Orthodox believers,</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">need to show not in words, but in deeds, that not only</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">people indifferent to Orthodoxy, or those who reject</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">it, may be faithful citizens of the Soviet Union, loyal</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">to the Soviet government, but likewise the most fer-</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">vent adherents of Orthodoxy, to whom it is as precious</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">with all its canonical and liturgical treasures as truth</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">and life. We wish to remain Orthodox and at the same</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">time recognize the Soviet Union as or civil father-</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">land whose joys and successes are or joys and succes-</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">ses, and whose misfortunes are our misfortunes. Every</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">blow directed against the Union. . . we acknowledge as</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">a blow directed against us. Remaining Orthodox, we</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">regard it or duty to be citizens of the Union 'not from</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">fear, but from conscience,' as the Apostle has taught</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">us [Romans 13:5]. And we are hopeful that with God's</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">help, by our mutual cooperation and support, we shall</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">accomplish that task. 3</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Turning its attention to the Church Abroad, the "Declaration" stated:</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The problem of the emigré clergy under these circum-</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">stances is especially poignant. The openly anti-Soviet</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op.cit.</span>, p. 112.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. Text in Spinka, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op.cit.</span>, pp. 161-65</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 163.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 40</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">actions of some archpastors and pastors, greatly</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">detrimental to the relations between the government</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">and the Church, have forced the late Patriarch, as is</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">known, to depose the Synod Abroad [April 23/May 5,</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1922]. Nevertheless, the Synod has continued to exist</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">hitherto, and has not changed its politics. Moreover,</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">by its pretensions to rule, it has lately divided the ec-</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">clesiastical community abroad into two camps. In</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">order to put an end to this state of affairs, we demand-</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">ed from the clergy abroad a written promise of their</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">complete loyalty to the Soviet government in all their</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">public activities. Those who fail to make such a prom-</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">ise, or to observe it, shall be expelled from the ranks</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">of the clergy subject to the Moscow Patriarchate. We</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">think that having set up such limits, we shall be secure</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">against all unexpected happenings abroad. On the other</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">hand, our demand may perhaps cause many to pause</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">and consider whether the time has not come to revise</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">their attitude toward the Soviet regime, so as not to be</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">cut off from their native Church and land. 1</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">With Sergius' 1927 "Declaration" the now-familiar voice of the Moscow Patriarchate is heard for the first time. That this 1927 document completely contradicts Sergius' freely expressed sentiments of the year before is obvious.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The "Declaration" was vehemently opposed by many of the best-known and most respected archpastors of the Russian Church. Peter of Krutitsk, still legally Guardian of the Patriarchal Throne, wrote from Siberian exile on September 27, 1927: "For the first bishop, such a declaration is not permissible. I furthermore do not understand why the Synod was organized from such unhopeful individuals who, as I notice from the signatures appended to the declaration, compose it. Thus, for instance, Bishop Filipp is a formal heretic. I was asked, in more fitting terms, to sign the Declaration, but I did not consent, and was for that reason exiled. I trusted Metropolitan Sergius, and now see that I was mistaken." 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. Spinka., <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p. 164.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, pp. 70-1.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 41</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The eldest of the Metropolitans of the Russian Church, Cyril of Kazan, who perished in exile in 1936, "declared himself opposed to the 'Declaration.'" 1 So did Metropolitans Agathangel, Joseph, and Archbishop Seraphim, all three of whom had been designated deputies by Peter of Krutitsk. Bishop Varlaam of Perm and Evgeny of Rostov protested, as did the bishops exiled to the Solovki Islands in their "Open Letter" of September 27, 1927. Metropolitan Antony of the Church Abroad protested vehemently. The contemporary martyr of the Russian Church Boris Talantov, who recently died in a forced-labor camp in the Soviet Union, has pointed out the fatal results of this "Declaration." 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Thus at home and abroad, in 1927 and the 1960's, those who have represented the true conscience of the Russian Church have protested against this death-sentence leveled at Holy Orthodoxy.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Shortly after issuing his "Declaration," Sergius wrote to Metropolitan Evlogy demanding that the Metropolitan and, through him, all the bishops and priests of the Church Abroad sign the following pledge: "I, the undersigned, promise that, in view of my actual dependence on Moscow, I will not permit myself either in my social activity or, above all, in my work for the Church, any action which could be suspected of showing a lack of loyalty towards the Soviet regime." 3 Those who refused to sign were to be removed from the lists of clergy of the Moscow Patriarchate.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">On September 12, 1927, Evlogy wrote Sergius informing him that he</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. Spinka, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p. 71.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. See Michael Bourdeaux, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Patriarch and Prophets</span>, New York, 1970, pp. 330-31.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p.145.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 42</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">could not take a loyalty oath since his diocese was not subject to the political control of the U.S.S.R. Sergius responded by saying that "the word 'loyalty' does not signify submission to Soviet laws but abstention from all politics." 1 Each of Evlogy's bishops and priests was to be free to formulate his loyalty oath as he saw fit.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Sergius [or rather, his Bolshevik masters] was thus attempting to ensure that the West European diocese would neither criticize communism nor the communist persecution of religion in the U.S.S.R. In one of the most disgraceful acts ever performed by an Orthodox clergyman, Evlogy <span style="text-decoration: underline;">agreed</span> to sign the oath as interpreted by Sergius. He then sent copies of Sergius' two <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukazes</span> to his clergy with a request that they too sign the oath. Upon receiving such a demand from his Metropolitan, Archpriest Orlov and his entire Geneva parish immediately separated from Evlogy and re-entered the Church Abroad. 2 Others soon followed.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Seeing that for the sake of legitimizing his authority Evlogy was willing to submit to the most humiliating demands, on October 21, 1927, Sergius issued <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> No. 549, in which he ordered that the Soviet regime was to be commemorated during Divine services. On June 21, 1928, Sergius issued another <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> in which "Metropolitan Evlogy, Archbishop Vladimir of Belostok, Bishop Benjamin of Sebastopol, and all the clergy who, after them, have signed the promises required by Metropolitan Sergius, are to continue to remain a part of the Moscow Patriarchate." 3 The council of Carlovtsy, which refused to submit, was "deprived of all</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p. 166.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 167.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 168.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 43</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Jurisdiction abroad." 1</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> of June 21 instructed Evology, as being the Moscow Patriarchate's representative, to present the following conditions to the Church Abroad: "[1] Those who should make a promise of loyalty to the Soviet regime would continue to be inscribed in the list of clergy of the Moscow Patriarchate; [2] Those who, while submitting to the order to suppress the Synod and Council of Carlovtsy, refused to sign the promises asked for would be removed from the lists of the clergy of the Patriarchate, and Metropolitan Evlogy was to remove them from their post; [3] Finally, those who should stubbornly support the Synod and Council. . . were to be given over to a synodal court and judged as rebels against legitimate authority, and as the guilty parties in a schism. . . " 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">In his pastoral letter of June 25, 1928, Evlogy invited the Carlovtsy bishops to submit. "It is impossible to be in union with the universal Church if one disobeys a legitimate authority," he said. 3</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">On June 8, 1928, the Moscow Patriarch formally expelled the Church Abroad from its ranks. The admitted reason for this expulsion was that "the Carlovtsy group refused to sign a promise of loyalty to the Soviets. . . " 4</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Angered by Evlogy's servile attitude towards an obviously unfree <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> of Metropolitan Sergius, Archimandrite Chariton, the rector of the Vienna parish, together with a part of his parish, broke with Evlogy. Shortly thereafter Fr. Boris Molchanov, who had been secretary of the</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op cit.</span>, pp. 168-9</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 169</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">4. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 44</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">diocesan education committee, followed suit. 1 The situation, in fact, greatly resembled what took place when in 1969-70 the American Metropolia decided to enter into communion with an obviously unfree Moscow Patriarchate. In 1928 as in 1970 the most alert members of the clergy and laity re-entered the Church Abroad.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Alarmed, Evlogy issued an official notice on August 26, 1928, in which he maintained that, "Metropolitan Sergius has never renounced the faith. He has only recognized the authority of the Soviets as the first Christians recognized that of the pagan emperors. The Russian Church abroad is only subject to the Moscow Patriarchate in questions of dogma, morals, sacraments, liturgy, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">discipline</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">sanctions</span>, and ecclesiastical organizations. If the bishops and clergy of the Church Abroad must abstain from all politics, the lay faithful are free to engage in it." 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">D'Herbigny, whose account we have been following, correctly sees the Evlogy-Sergius pact as having been ruinous both for Paris and Moscow. Evlogy and his followers were led by Sergius to sign loyalty oaths to the Soviet government, while Sergius gave tacit approval to the theological modernism of the paris theologians. 3</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">It was obvious that Evlogy's flock, which was far from sympathetic to the Bolsheviks, would soon grow restive under Sergius' yoke. When on February 2, 1930, the Pope of Rome, Pius XI,invited the whole world to pray for those believers persecuted by the "impious" Soviet government, Evlogy, "after a certain hesitation, openly joined his voice to that of the</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 170.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, pp. 170-1.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 174.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 45</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Pope,in spite of the counter-declarations of Metropolitan Sergius, who denied any persecution by the Soviet regime in the U.S.S.R." 1 As a result of this action, on June 10, 1930, Evlogy was relieved of his duties by <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> No. 108 of Metropolitan Sergius. Archbishop Vladimir was appointed as Evlogy's temporary successor.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">On June 23, Evlogy convoked a diocesan congress which declared that, "for the good of the Church, the Metropolitan did not in goo conscience have the right to obey Sergius' order." 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Sergius persisted. On October 28, 1930, he demanded that Evlogy completely retract his anti-Bolshevist activity. Evlogy refused, and in late January, 1931, he and his bishops were suspended by Sergius. 3 At the session of January 28, 1931, the congress decided that Evlogy should once again direct his activity independently of both Moscow and the Church Abroad, and that he should follow <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> No. 362 of Patriarch Tikhon. 4</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Almost immediately afterwards, however, Evlogy tried new tactics. Appealing to the ever-growing ecclesiastical ambitions of the Œcumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Evlogy asked Patriarch Photius to take the Western European diocese under his wing. This proved agreeable to Photius, and on February 17, 1931, he announced the formation of a "Temporary Patriarchal Russian Orthodox Exarchate in Europe." 5 This was done over sharp protest of the Church Abroad.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">It is both interesting and instructive to see how Fr. John Meyendorff</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 175.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op cit.</span>, p. 175.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">4. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 177.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">5. Andreev, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p.146.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 46</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">of the American Metropolia describes Evlogy's relations with the Moscow Patriarchate: "When the ecclesiastical authorities in Moscow finally asked him [Evlogy] to submit a written statement of loyalty to the Soviet state, Eulogios appealed, in 1931, to the Œcumenical Patriarch, and became the latter's exarch for the Russian parishes in Europe." 1 Has Fr. John told the whole story?</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">In 1935 Evlogy accepted an invitation from Patriarch Varnava of Serbia, who heeding our Savior's words, blessed are the peacemakers," had summoned Evlogy and Metropolitan Theophilus of America to Yugoslavia so that they might reconcile their differences with the Church Abroad. At the conference's sessions Metropolitan Evlogy expressed a "willingness to unite with all parts of the Church Abroad if the Œcumenical Patriarch should give his blessing. The Serbian Patriarch offered to intercede in this, and Metropolitan Evlogy accepted the offer with thanks." 2 Evlogy and Theophilus both signed the "Temporary States" which were to govern the life of the Church Abroad henceforward. Both were thus reconciled to the Church Abroad. Almost immediately after returning to Paris, however, Evlogy submitted to the "mob rule" of his constituency and repudiated his signature. In February, 1936, he requested the Œcumenical Patriarch "not to release him from his jurisdiction," 3 thus completely nullifying the assurances he had given in Yugoslavia.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Evlogy's zig-zag jurisdiction-hopping, however, was not at an end. In the fall of 1944, enthusiastic over the Soviet Union's predictable defeat</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. J. Meyendorff, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Orthodox Church</span>, New York, 1962, p. 187.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. Andreev, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op cit.</span>, p. 148.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 47</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">of Germany, Evlogy entered into correspondence with the Moscow Patriarchate through the Soviet ambassador in Paris and expressed "his readiness to be immediately united [with Moscow]." 1 When in 1945 Alexis was "elected" Patriarch of Moscow, Evlogy immediately ordered all his parishes to commemorate Alexis in the liturgy as the "lawful head of the Church." Strange behavior for a supposed Constantinopolitan exarch!</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">On August 29, 1945, an "informal meeting" of the clergy of the Western European diocese gathered to hear a speech by Metropolitan Nikolai of Krutitsk, Moscow's representative. When a number of those present boldly challenged the wisdom of submitting to Moscow, Evlogy "<span style="text-decoration: underline;">dictatorily</span> broke off the sessions and decisively announced his submission" to Moscow. 2 The following day he sent a telegram to the Patriarch of Constantinople asking his blessing for the return of his diocese to the Russian Church. Upon receiving assurances from Metropolitan Nikolai that the Œcmenical Patriarch had "as it were already given his consent," a solemn liturgy was concelebrated on September 2 to seal the union. 3</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">On October 3 Evlogy issued an encyclical letter informing his flock that the exarchate had been taken into the Moscow Patriarchate. However, he added, he was to continue to be commemorated as "exarch of the Œcumenical Patriarch" until the receipt of a canonical release from Constantinople. 4 Thus the Exarchate was solemnly proclaimed to belong to two Churches simultaneously.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The uncertainty of the exarchate's status was allowed to continue until,</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. Andreev, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, pp. 148-9</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 149</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">4. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 48</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">on August 8, 1946, Evlogy unexpectedly died. Moscow, understandably unnerved by this event, sent a telegram the following day to Constantinople stating that she had decided "to consider the temporary jurisdiction of the Œcumenical Throne over the Western European parishes at an end." 1</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">On August 12, 1946, Metropolitan Grigory arrived from Moscow to serve a funeral service for Evlogy together with all the hierarchs of the Exarchate. Two days later Grigory announced that Archbishop Vladimir had been replaced by Metropolitan Seraphim [Lukyanov] - a hierarch who had been pressured 2 into joining the Patriarchate by Nikolai of Krutitsk - as head of the exarchate. This high-handed action so angered the exarchate faithful that at a diocesan meeting on October 16, 1946, they voted to stay under the Œcumenical Patriarchate with Archbishop Vladimir as their head. Thus the exarchate's second flirtation with Moscow came to an end.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Under Vladimir and his successor, Georgy, the exarchate was to remain under Constantinople until 1965,when it was ejected from the Œcumenical Patriarchate by Patriarch Athenagoras under intense pressure from Moscow. Currently the exarchate exists as a self-governing "archbishopric" with only two bishops. A third submission to Moscow would appear to be a distinct possibility.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Such are the bitter fruits of Evlogy's 1926 schism from the Church Abroad, Torn away from its canonical and moral foundations, the Western European diocese was rendered defenseless before the modernizing theology of Fr. Bulgakov and a host of lesser heresiarchs. Such dubious organizations as</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. William C. Fletcher, in <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Nikolai</span>, New York, 1968, p. 75, suggests simple blackmail.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 49</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">the Brotherhood of Sophia and the Student Christian Movement were encouraged rather than suppressed. And, finally the exarchate became a helpless prey to the ecclesiastical intrigues of Moscow and Constantinople.</span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; text-decoration: underline;">The Relations of the Church Abroad with Other Orthodox Churches</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">When the Church Abroad first came into existence, nearly all the autocephalous Orthodox Churches extended her the hospitality due to representatives of an Orthodox nation which had been seized by an apostate and militantly anit-Christian government.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The autocephalous Church of Antioch, ruled by Patriarch Gregory IV until his death in 1928, was one of the best friends of the Church Abroad, recognizing her without qualification. Metropolitan Antony, the head of the Church Abroad, was in fact so popular in Antioch that his name was seriously considered as a successor to Patriarch Gregory when rival factions were unable to settle upon a candidate in 1931. 1</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The Church Abroad received full recognition from the Patriarch of Jerusalem, the Archbishop of Cyprus, and the autocephalous Church of Sinai. The Rumanian Church extended recognition, and in 1925 Patriarch Myron of Romania acclaimed the Church Abroad "as the hope of the Russian Church." 2 The Bulgarian Church also recognized the Church Abroad. The Serbian Church extended hospitality to the Carlovtsy Synod, and relations with Patriarch Dimitri [died 1930] and his successor, Patriarch</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p. 214.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p. 215.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 50</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Varnava, were extremely cordial. 1</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Relations were strained in the formative years of the Church Abroad's existence only with three autocephalous Churches, those of Constantinople, Greece, and [after 1925] Alexandria. A brief examination of the causes for these conflicts is in order.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Constantinople</span>: As has been shown at the beginning of this chapter, initially Constantinople was very friendly to the Church Abroad. On November 1, 1920, a "central organ" of the Church Abroad was created in Constantinople with the blessing of the Œcumenical Patriarch. In May, 1921, a more definite form was given to the organization at a council of the Russian episcopacy presided over by a representative of the Patriarch of Constantinople. 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Soon, however, relations soured. Under Patriarch Meletius IV Metaxakis of Constantinople, whose calendar "reform" still divides the Orthodox Churches, the Œcumenical Patriarch undertook a vast expansion scheme designed to profit from the weakness of the Russian Church after the Revolution. On April 5, 1922, Meletius named an exarch for all of Western and Central Europe, claiming that "all the Orthodox in the barbarian lands depend on the Patriarch of Constantinople" 3 On March 7, 1923, he created an Orthodox archdiocese in Czechoslovakia, and on March 28 by letter No. 1336 he denied Metropolitan Evlogy any jurisdiction over the Russian Orthodox in Western Europe and Czechoslovakia. 4 When Evlogy protested and a conflict arose between Evlogy and Meletius' appointed</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. See D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, pp. 15-17.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 194.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">4. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, pp. 194-5.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 51</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">exarch, SaLaty, Patriarch Tikhon in 1924 requested through an intermediary that Metropolitan Antony solve the matter.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">In 1924, Meletius' successor Gregory VII founded a new metropolitan district of Central Europe with Budapest as the bishop's place of residence. 1 By the time of Gregory VII's death in November, 1924, Constantinople had already carved out an empire in Western Europe. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Six</span> dioceses were submitted to the Œcumenical Patriarch; the autonomous Archbishopric of Finland under Germanos Aava, the autonomous Metropolia of Estonia under Metropolitan Alexander, the Archbishopric of Prague and Czechoslovakia under SaLaty, the Exarchate of Central Europe under Metropolitan Germanos of Berlin, the Exarchate of Western Europe under Metropolitan Germanos of Thyatira, residing in London, and finally, the diocese of Bishop Gregory of Paris. 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">This astonishing thrust for power was, of course, bound to meet with opposition from the Church Abroad, which legitimately claimed to represent the enslaved Russian Orthodox Church in her foreign dealings. Constantinople's desire to be sole master of Europe and Great Britian could scarcely go unopposed. Furthermore, by extending her influence into Finland, Estonia, and Czechoslovakia, regions which unquestionably belonged to the Church Abroad and which had originally submitted to her before national ambition and governmental pressure combined to induce them to turn to Constantinople, and by granting these countries a wide autonomy for which they were not prepared, the Œcumenical Patriarchate dealt a serious blow to the soundness of Orthodoxy in Europe.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. Ibid., p. 195.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. Ibid., p. 196.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 52</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Another serious bone of contention between the Church Abroad and Constantinople was the latter's persistent recognition of the schismatic Russian "Living Church." Despite the "repeated warnings of the Synod," Meletius IV, Gregory VII, Constantine VI, and Basil III who ruled Constantinople until 1929, all recognized the "Living Church." 1</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">To show the extent to which Constantinople became affiliated with the "Living Church" one need only look at the actions of Patriarch Gregory VII. In 1924 Gregory asked Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow, then literally battling for his life against the "Living Church" and the Bolsheviks, to "sacrifice himself for the unity of the Church and the benefit of the faithful by immediately renouncing the government of the Church." 2 This stab in the back by the Œcumenical Patriarch, who correctly supposed that the "Living Church" would prove more amenable to Constantinople's ambitions and emerging modernism, was answered by Tikhon with a firm refusal to step down. Gregory VII, however, continued to support Archbishop Evdokim [previously of America] and his Living Church "synod" against Patriarch Tikhon. This action by Constantinople pleased the Soviets greatly. Before co-operating with Constantinople, however, they decided to impose the condition that, "Gregory VII should forbid Archbishops Anastasy and Alexander, who were residing in Constantinople, from committing any action or making any publicity against the Soviets." 3 Like Metropolitan Evlogy in later years, Constantinople hastened to obey the dictates of the Bolsheviks. Anastasy and Alexander were ordered to break with the Church Abroad and "expressions of political opinion were absolutely prohibited." 4 Constantinople's</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op cit.</span>, p. 197</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 184.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 186.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">4. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p 188</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 53</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">connections with the "Living Church" ended only when the schismatic organization lost all influence due to lack of support by Russian believers.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Perhaps the most serious case of conflict between the Church Abroad and Constantinople, however, was the Church Abroad's reaction to the Pan-Orthodox Council [eventually termed a "commission" because several Orthodox Churches refused to attend] convoked by Meletius IV May 10-June 8, 1923. Antioch and Jerusalem refused to attend, and Alexandria did not even respond to the invitation from such a well-known modernist and Mason as Meletius was. There were many Metropolitans of the Œcumenical throne which did not even recognize Meletius Metaxakis as canonical Patriarch, since he was a political appointee, and not duly elected. Therefore, they refused to attend his councils and were awaiting the outcome of the Greco-Turkish war in order to voice their protest and take action. 1 Fr. Ephraim of the Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Boston writes concerning Meletius, "What Metaxakis wanted was an Anglican Church with an eastern tint, and the faithful people knew it, and they distrusted everything he did. While in Athens, he even forbade the chanting of vigil services because he considered them out of date and a source of embarrassment when heterodox - especially Anglicans - visited Athens. . . Besides advocating the new calendar at Constantinople, Metaxakis also wanted shaven clergy, no rassa, marriage after ordination for both priests and bishops, shorter services, etc." 2</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Meletius' council was attended by Serbia, Rumania, Greece, Cyprus, and the Russian Church, represented by Anastasy and Alexander of the </span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. See Spyridon Loberdos, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Metropolitan of Smyrna Chrysostom</span>, Athens, 1929, pp. 191-193 [in Greek].</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. Fr. Ephraim, "Letter on the Calendar Issue," St. Nectarios Education Series, No. 2, p. 3.</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 54</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Church Abroad. The council soon set about examining the following questions: "calendar reform, impediments to marriage, the second marriage of priests, the episcopal ordination of married priests, the shortening of the Liturgy, the question of the fasts." 1</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">When on June 4, 1923, Archbishop Anastasy made his report to the Carlovtsy episcopate on the "commission's" activities, the Bishops' Council of Carlovtsy "rejected the calendar reform completely, as contrary to the canons, and likewise rejected the second marriage of priests." 2 When on June 25, 1923, Meletius informed the Synod Abroad in writing of the "decrees" of the "Pan-Orthodox Congress," the Synod decided on August 7, that "all the decisions of the Congress are unacceptable because they are contrary to the holy canons." 3 It also pointed out that, since Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria had been absent, the Council's decisions were not binding. Only an Œcumenical Council, the Synod declared, could deal with the questions touched upon by Meletius' council. This was also the view of the Patriarch of Alexandria, Photius. The council's actions were protested by Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Cyprus. 4</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">One tragic result of Meletius' "congress" was to destroy the centuries-old liturgical unity of the Orthodox Chrch. In spirit it resembled the interpolation of the Creed by the Roman Church. From 1923 on, some Orthodox would be on the 'new" calendar, a fact leading to great demoralization among the Orthodox faithful. The new calendar</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p. 198</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">4. Fr. Ephraim, l<span style="text-decoration: underline;">oc. cit.</span>, pp. 1-2</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 55</b></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">sponsored by Meletius was demonstrably inferior to the "old" one; its </span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">purpose was to facilitate union with the heterodox.</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The opposition of the Church Abroad to Constantinop1e's modernism earned it the permanent resentment of the Oecumenical Patriarchate. The firm opposition of Archbishop Anastasy to Meletius' modernism was not appreciated by those who were rushing to transform the Orthodox Church</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">into "this world."</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Constantinople did not abandon her dreams of a modernist Oecumenical</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Council (a kind of Vatican II <span style="text-decoration: underline;">avant le mot</span>). On June 3, 1924, Patriarch</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Gregory VII invited the "sister Churches" to an Oecumenical Council to be</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">held in 1925 on Mt. Athos. On October 30, 1924, the Carlovtsy Synod</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">"declared that the convocation of an Oecumenical Council was inopportune</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">because the Russian Patriarchate could not be represented there." 1 The</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Serbian Church also cited the incapacity of the Russian Church to be properly represented as a reason for not holding the Council. A number of Greeks argued that Oecumenical Councils were to be held only to combat heresies. The combined efforts of the Church Abroad, Serbia, and these Greeks staved off the council. </span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">In 1926, Basil III of Constantinople again raised the spectre. On March 30, 1926, Metropolitan Antony protested sharply against Basil's having invited the "Living Church" and the "autocephalous Ukrainian Church of the U.S.S.R." to attend. 2 Once again the council did not take</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">place.</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">It is instructive to observe that now in 1970 when Patriarch Athenagoras</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p. 199.</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 203.</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 56</b></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">of Constantinople, acting very much like a Metaxakis reincarnate, is hurrying towards the same longed-for Oecumenical Council with the same "reforms" in view (married bishops, second marriage of priests, shorter services, abolition of the fasts, etc.), it is again the Church Abroad, in the person of its courageous and meek first-hierarch, Metropolitan Philaret (who succeeded the righteous Anastasy as Metropolitan upon the latter's death in 1965), which is, together with tradition-minded Greeks, opposing Constantinople's modernism and rallying the faithful. Thus Constantinop1e's quarrels with the Church Abroad reflect very favorably on the Church Abroad. By opposing Constantinop1e's irresponsible expansionism, her shameful recognition of the "Living Church" and the Ukrainian "autocephaly," as well as her espousal of theological and canonical modernism, the Church Abroad has borne witness to the Orthodox faith. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Alexandria:</span> As long as Patriarch Photius was Patriarch of Alexandria relations with the Church Abroad were "more than courteous." 1 When Photius reposed on August 22, 1925, the worst enemy of the Synod Abroad ascended the throne, Meletius Metaxakis. This time he was Meletius II. "With him the attitude of the Patriarchate of Alexandria became hostile." 2 According to Meletius, the Church Abroad was "an illegal institution, contrary to the canons and the tradition of the Church." 3 These are, of course, the words of a notorious despiser of the canons and traditions of the Church. One is not astonished to discover that Meletius sided with Evlogy in his quarrel with the Church Abroad. Meletius was, apparently, particularly</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p. 212. </span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">lbid.</span> </span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 213.</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 57</b></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">venomous because Metropolitan Antony of the Synod had qualified him as a "heretic" on account of his pronounced sympathies for immediate union with the Anglicans. 1 At both Constantinople and Alexandria, therefore, the Church Abroad's first and most violent enemy was Meletius Metaxakis. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Greece:</span> Relations with the Church of Greece were strained due to the hostile attitude of Archbishop Chrysostom Papadopoulos, a modernist who was even willing to lie consciously to his own Synod in order to assist Metaxakis' program. 2 His refusal to allow a bishop of the Church Abroad onto Greek soil to care for the Russian faithful in Greece was hardly motivated by love for the emigré faithful who were thus deprived of needed pastoral care. 3 Later a bishop was allowed to come.</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; text-decoration: underline;">The Canonical Position g the Church Abroad</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">There is a considerable literature on the canonical position of the Church Abroad. Able and convincing presentations of the canonical and moral (for canons cannot be isolated from the Christian life) correctness of the Synod's position have been written by the late Protopresbyter M. Polsky (<span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Canonical Position of the Highest Church Authority U.S.S.R. and Abroad,</span> Jordanville, 1948) and Protopresbyter George Grabbe (<span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Truth About the Russian Church At Home and Abroad</span>, Jordanville, 1961). Both these books are in Russian. In them one may find convincing refutations of the various arguments conjured up by the followers</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">of Metropolitan Evlogy in Paris and then seized upon by such diverse enemies of the Church Abroad as Meletius Metaxakis and Alexander Bogolepov</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span> </span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. See Fr. Ephraim, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">loc. cit.</span>, p. 3 </span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. D'Herbigny, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op. cit.</span>, p. 214.</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 58</b></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">of the American Metropolia.</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">In approaching the question of the Synod Abroad oue should not overlook an obvious fact, viz. , that Church history had never before witnessed</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">a phenomenon comparable to the emigration of the Russian Orthodox faithful after the Revolution. Several million refugees were literally scattered over the face of the earth. In addition, immigrants to America and elsewhere who were of Russian descent were left without adequate ecclesiastical guidance. Physically, many emigrés were in a state of semi-starvation; spiritually, many were utterly demoralized. It was imperative that this vast and widely-disseminated flock be immediately attended to, especially since it became prey to sectarianism, spiritualism, socialism, and other corrupting "-isms" of the time. In unity is strength, in division, weakness. It was evident that a centralized emigre ecclesiastical organization was needed for the spiritual survival of the new dispersion. As early as 1920 such an organization was founded with the blessing of the Oecumenical Patriarch. The Russian episcopate abroad immediately saw the wisdom of and the necessity for the existence of the Church Abroad. This group included Evlogy and Platon. The need for the Church Abroad was also recognized by almost all Orthodox Churches, many of whom, as true Orthodox brothers in Christ, offered her all the assistance they could. Those such as Meletius Metaxakis and Chrysostomus Papadopoulos who refused assistance or persecuted the Church Abroad stand condemned by their own</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">words and actions regarding other matters as clear enemies of Christ. </span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The possibility of the existence of the Church Abroad is recognized even by Professor Bogolepov of the American Metropolis. According to</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 59</b></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">him, the Russian dioceses in Western Europe, the Far East, and America, i.e., those Russians not in lands clearly belonging to autocephalous Churches, would have been justified in forming a superior ecclesiastical</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">organization in accordance with Patriarch Tikhon's ukaz No. 362 of November 20, 1920, and Metropolitan Sergius' proposal of September 12, 1926. 1 What Bogolepov objects to is the fact that Russian Orthodox in Orthodox countries such as Serbia and Bulgaria also joined the Church Abroad. </span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Reflection on the spirit of canons 37 and 39 of Trullo, l3 and 18 of Antioch, and 17 of Sardica will show, however, that the autocephalous Orthodox Churches were bound to shelter and recognize as bishops those who had fled persecution by an apostate government. Owing to the disorganization of the Russian Church and the controls exerted by an atheist government, the bishops abroad were forced to be temporarily independent of the Patriarch of Moscow. This "temporary" state would obviously continue until the Russian Church should again be free to function abroad as an Orthodox Church and not the vehicle of communist intrigue. </span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">There is no reason why the Russian parishes located in Orthodox countries could not adhere to the Church Abroad as long as they received permission from the autocephalous Churches of those countries. Thus, before the revolution, the Russian Orthodox Church had holdings on Mt. Athos in Greece and in Jerusalem with the permission of the Church of Greece and Church of Jerusalem. The logical nature of the position of the Church Abroad was appreciated by all Orthodox Churches except those</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">whose ambitions or modernism ran athwart the Church Abroad's unyielding</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. Alexander Bogolepov, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Toward an American Orthodox Church</span>, New York, 1963, p. 63.</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 60</b></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">devotion to Orthodoxy. </span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Furthermore, if an autocephalous Church did decide to impose re- strictions on Russian Orthodox in her bounds, she had to be able to justify her actions canonically. Thus Archbishop Theophan of the Synod Abroad protested sharply against Constantinople's attempt to restrict archbishops Anastasy and Alexander. He showed that Constantinople's action contra- dicted the canons of the Church (i.e., canon 6 of the Second Council, 21 of Trullo, 128 and 129 of Carthage, and 74 of the Apostles). 1 </span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Opponents of the Church Abroad such as Professor Bogolepov always try to show that she has violated the territorial principle of the Orthodox Church. Such objections always rest on a misunderstanding. The Church Abroad does not claim to be an autocephalous Church in the sense that the established patriarchates are. Nor does she claim to be an autonomous Church in the sense that, for example, the Church of Finland is. Rather she claims to represent the autocephalous Russian Orthodox Church abroad; she claims those dioceses and missions of the Russian Church not behind the Iron Curtain. Following the spirit of Patriarch Tikhon's l920 <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> and Metropolitan Sergius' freely-given counsel of 1926, the Church Abroad is the temporary administrator Q the foreign dioceses o_f the Russian Church. Were the communists to be ejected from the Soviet Union and the enslavement of the Moscow Patriarchate brought to an end, the Church Abroad, after carefully ascertaining that the Russian Church was in fact free, would integrate herself again with the Patriarchal Russian Orthodox Church.</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. D'Herbigny, op. cit. p. 189.</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 61</b></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Even enemies of the Church Abroad agree that she faithfully keeps the traditions of the Russian Church. She contrasts sharply in this respect with the Moscow Patriarchate, which is rapidly casting off all vestiges of traditional Russian Orthodoxy. Yet her adherence to Russian tradition is not blind. Thus in the matter of the "limits of the Church," where the main current of Russian theology felt the effects of Roman Catholic influence in the XVIII and XIX centuries, the Church Abroad has followed such men as St. John of Kronstadt, Alexis Khomyakov, and Bishop Ignaty Bryanchaninov, who professed the correct view. Metropolitan Antony and Fr. George Grabbe of the Church Abroad have been influential in restoring awareness of the Biblical and Patristic attitude respecting this point. </span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Hence, in the final analysis, the validity of the position taken by the Church Abroad depends on whether or not she was and is justified in not maintaining relations with the Moscow Patriarchate. As has been shown, at first the Church Abroad was compelled to separate herself from Moscow because of the disorganization of the Russian Church. Later, especially after Sergius' "Declaration" of 1927, when the disorganization of the Church was "repaired" in its own way by the Soviet regime, the sole reason for not dealing with Moscow was the Patriarch's total subservience to an atheist government. This last-mentioned fact, as has been shown, prompted Sergius in 1926 to ask the Russian bishops abroad to break relations with the Moscow Patriarchate if they did not wish to be subservient to the Soviet government. Those such as Evlogy who were foolish enough to deal with Moscow soon found themselves caught in a spider's web of political "loyalty" to the Soviets .</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 62</b></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The Church Abroad refused and refuses to deal with the Moscow Patriarchate, knowing that the Patriarchate in its foreign relations is directed not by a free episcopate or even a relatively free episcopate (as was the case of the Greek Church under the Turks) but by atheist communists manipulating docile puppets for purposes aimed directly at the destruction of the Church.</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">The Western European diocese under Evlogy, as has been shown, at times professed a "legalistic" view of the situation. The fact that they were dealing with puppets was declared unimportant until the pressures for political obedience and subservience grew to be intolerable. The American Metropolia has had the same ambivalent attitude towards Moscow. At times she has declared the Moscow Patriarchate an entirely legitimate organization even in her foreign dealings. Then, when Moscow would suspend her for lack of political obedience, she would join the Church Abroad and declare that the demand for political subservience to communism allowed - or rather, demanded - disobedience to the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukazes</span> of the Moscow Patriarchate. Occasionally the Metropolia has tried to steer a course between these two views, declaring that suspensions for political disloyalty to the Soviet government are invalid, whereas actions such as the granting of autocephaly (which are obviously just as much politically motivated by the communist overseers of the Patriarchate's foreign policy) are valid. In one thing, however, the Metropolia has been quite consistent--in claiming that when Moscow's <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukazes</span> are directed against the Church Abroad (even when they have explicit political motives behind them, as did, for instance,</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Tikhon's <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> of 1922), they are valid and have to be obeyed. Thus Fr.</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Meyendorff of the Metropolia, basing himself on this <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> of'l922, states,</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 63</b></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">"Since 1922 the 'Synod of Carlovtsy' has no independent canonical existence." 1 Fr. Meyendorff then concludes that since 1922 the Church Abroad has been in schism from her Mother Church, the Moscow Patriarchate. At the same time Professor Bogolepov can write concerning an action by Metropolitan Platon of the American Metropolia, "In 1933 Metropolitan Platon rejected the demands of the Moscow Patriarchate for submission of the American Metropolia and a declaration of loyalty to the Soviet Government on the part of the American clergy." 2 If, as Fr. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Meyendorff asserts, the Church Abroad was bound to obey a <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> from</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Moscow, even one with a clear political motive behind it, why did not the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Metropolia also have to obey a similar ukaz from her "Mother Church"? </span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Obviously we have here an untenable double standard. </span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Furthermore, the free actions of the leaders of the Moscow Patriarchate before Sergius' submission in 1927 show what value it ascribed to the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukazes</span> extracted from it by the communists. Thus after the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> of 1922, when Mr. Colton of the Y.M.C.A. approached Tikhon on the matter of confirming Metropolitan Platon, the Patriarch directed him to take the matter to the Synod of Bishops of the Church Abroad, showing that, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">unlike Fr. Meyendorff in 1970, be ascribed no significance to the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> of l926 issued over his name, 3 Metropolitan Sergius' advice to the Church Abroad in 1926 showed that he too ascribed no importance to the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span>. Archbishop Seraphim of Finland, who served as a go-between or Patriarch Tikhon and the Church Abroad, gives the following testimony: "I</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. In The Orthodox Church, February, 1970, p. 4.</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. Ibid., March 1970, p. 5</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. D'Herbigny, op. cit., p. 133</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 64</b></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">used all my influence so that the Patriarch should not suppress the Synod (Abroad) and he wished to follow my advice. When in January, 1924, Evlogy requested the suppression of the Synod by the Patriarch, the latter refused. A similar refusal came from Metropolitan Peter (of Krutitsk, Guardian of the Patriarchal Throne after Tikhon's death in 1925), to whom Evlogy addressed himself in l925." l The Bolsheviks would, of course, have been delighted if Tikhon had done as Evlogy wished. He incurred their displeasure by not doing so. The fact, already discussed, that Patriarch Tikhon sanctioned such actions of the Church Abroad as the creation of new dioceses, shows that he considered it his legitimate representative abroad.</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">One last matter remains to be mentioned. Professor Bogolepov has attacked the Church Abroad's claim to be a part of the Russian Church. "Being part of the Russian Church means belonging to it, being in administrative contact with it and, above all, recognizing its supreme authority." 2 He asks, "How can canonical communion endure after the Church Abroad has interrupted all relationships with the Moscow Patriarchate, and after Patriarchs Sergius and Alexis have suspended the bishops of the Synod Abroad? It follows that only spiritual communion remains. . . . In any case such communion has no canonical significance." 3 The history of the Church shows many cases when relations between bishops and the administrative center have been broken. It is especially prevalent during times of Persecution. In all such instances, including the early years of Patriarch</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. <u>Ibid.</u>, p. 255.</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">2. Bogolepov, <u>Towards</u>, p. 73.</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">3. Bogolepov, <u>Towards</u>, p. 74.</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;">
<b style="background-color: white;">page 65</b></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Tikhon, when the Bolsheviks were supporting the "Living Church, only "spiritual communion" with the center was possible. If the Moscow Patriarchate's political servitude to an atheist government is a justifiable reason for not having relations with her, as the Church Abroad asserts and the American Metropolia alternately asserts or denies as she finds expedient, then such "spiritual communion" with the Church of Russia is indeed possible. To show that such communion does exist, here is a letter from the Soviet Union addressed to Metropolitan Philaret and Archbishop Antony of Geneva of the Church Abroad: "<b><i>Spiritually we are united. Our divisions are external and therefore temporary</i></b>. We Russian Orthodox people remain at one with you in our hearts, we pray for you and beg your holy prayers and blessings. With great joy we have heard your words of brotherly love and compassion broadcast to us. We were glad to hear that our fellow-countryrmen of the dispersion are zealously preserving our true Orthodox faith ..." 1 Is such communion, as Professor Bogolepov asserts, really "of no canonical significance"?</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">1. In Michael Bourdeaux, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Patriarch and Prophets</span>, New York, 1970, p. 162.</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<br /></div>
Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12000679422093371576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1020715264465191896.post-26313751627609000592011-03-30T17:58:00.001-07:002018-11-15T14:10:15.258-08:00Chapter III: The Orthodox Church In America Since The Bolshevist Revolution<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;">
<div style="text-align: right;">
<b>page 67</b></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
CHAPTER III</div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
THE ORTHODOX CHURCH IN AMERICA SINCE THE BOLSHEVIST REVOLUTION</div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
In his Toward an American Orthodox Church, Alexander Bogolepov canonist of the American Metropolia and the ideological architect of its recently-received "autocephaly" from Moscow, writes: "In determining the canonical status of the American Metropolitanate two periods must be distinguished: (1) from the arrival of the Russian Orthodox Mission in Alaska in 1794 to the Fourth All American Sobor in Detroit in 1924; (2) from 1924 to the present. During the first period the Russian parishes in America existed as part of the Russian Church. In the course of the second period <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the Archdiocese of North America became an independent Local Church</span>." 1 Thus for Bogolepov the Metroploia was already an autocephalous (local-autocephalous) Church, that is, in 1963. As we shall see, Bogolepov actually dates the Metropolia's autocephaly from 1924. What Moscow did in 1970 was merely to recognize forty-six years of autocephalous existence.</div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
A man who can make such claims deserves closer inspection. In a recent issue of <span style="text-decoration: underline;">St. Vladimir's Seminary Quarterly</span>, published by the Metropolia's principal seminary, we find an article on Bogolepov entitled "Role of Honor," written by Fr. Alexander Schmemann, dean of the seminary. According to Fr. Alexander, Bogolepov was born in Russia in 1886 in the family of a priest, and was graduated from a theological seminary in 1906 at the age of twenty. He did not continue his theological education at the academy, however. "Instead of continuing in an ecclesiastical career he enrolled at St. Peterburg's School of Law. It is as if the Church were</div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Towards an American Orthodox Church</span>, New York, 1963, p. 78</div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;">
<div style="text-align: right;">
<b>page 68</b></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
losing to secular culture its best sons only to recover them much later . . . 1 Bogolepov was graduated in 1910 from the school of law and in 1915, after receiving his Master;s degree in law, he was appointed a <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Privat-Dozent</span>, and in 1921 a full professor of law, at St. Petersburg University. In 1922 he emigrated and moved to Berlin where he became an instructor in Russian.</div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
When he came to the United States in 1951, he was invited (because of his legal training, no doubt) to teach canon law as well as the Russian and Slavonic languages at St. Vladimir's. Thus Bogolepov found himself a canonist and theologian at the age of 65. His first publication on canon law followed two years later, 2 in 1953, when he was sixty-seven. His previous publications concerned law, politics, Russian grammar, and Church hymns.</div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
We have dwelt on Bogolepov's biography to point out certain facts. After an elementary theological education he entered the field of law, and then after the Revolution, that of secular culture. He returned to theology in his mid-sixties. It is obvious that one should be able to expect of Bogolepov, a former professor of law, the ability to handle words and construct logical arguments. It is also evident that one should be wary, lest the professor's desire to "win his case" and his excessively "juridicial" (i.e., external) approach should lead him to by-pass the truth.</div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
That Professor Bogolepov has been effective in winning supporters</div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">St. Vladimir's Seminary Quarterly</span> (hereafter S.V.S.Q.), 1966, vol. X, no. 1-2, p. 7.</div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
2. See <span style="text-decoration: underline;">S.V.S.Q.</span>, 1966, vol. 10, no. 1-2, pp. 9-11 for a list.</div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: courier; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: courier; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b><b>page 69</b></b></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<b>
</b>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: courier; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px; text-align: left;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<b>
</b>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: courier; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<b><br /></b>
</div>
<div style="font-family: courier; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: courier; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: courier; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: courier; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
of his point of view is evidenced by the recent article of Katherine Valone, a Greek-American columnist, in the magazine Logos. In her "Requirements for Autocephality of a Church," she writes, "An excellent book on the issue of the autocephalous status of the Orthodox Church in America was published in 1963 by Alexander A. Bogolepov, Professor of Canon Law at St. Vladimir's Seminary." 1 She then reconstructs Bogolepov's arguments and concludes, "The Church in America has all the necessary requirements for autocephality. . . . The time may in fact be overripe." 2 If Bogolepov's argument is wrong, then he has led Katherine Valone and countless others into temptation.</div>
<div style="font-family: courier; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: courier; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
To return to the history of Orthodoxy in America. When Archbishop Evdokim (Meschersky) went back to Russia for the Moscow Council of 1917-18 and then chose to remain there as a leader of the "Living Church" schism, his American flock, whose status at that time has been described in Chapter I, was left without a ruling bishop.</div>
<div style="font-family: courier; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: courier; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
On February 25, 1919, Bishop Alexander (Nemolovsky), Evdokim's suffragan, was elected by the Second All-American Sobor in Cleveland to be Archbishop of North America.3</div>
<div style="font-family: courier; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: courier; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
As has been shown, immediately after the Church Abroad was organized, the American archdiocese came under its jurisdiction. On July 22, 1921, the Administration Abroad made Alaska a separate diocese of the American Church 4 in an action later approved by Patriarch Tikhom. 5</div>
<div style="font-family: courier; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: courier; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
1. Logos, May, 1970, p. 10.</div>
<div style="font-family: courier; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
2. Logos, May, 1970, p. 11.</div>
<div style="font-family: courier; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
3. M.L.J. Schrank, "Problems of Orthodoxy in America: The Russian Church," S.V.S.Q., vol. VI, no. 4, p. 187.</div>
<div style="font-family: courier; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
4. D'Herbigny, op. cit., p. 18.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b></div>
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<b>
</b><b>
</b></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b>page 70</b></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
The Carlovtsy Council of November-December, 1921, was recognized in writing by Archbishop Alexander and Bishops Antony of Alaska and Stephen of Pittsburg.1 On April 4, 1922, the Administration Abroad conferred the right to grant divorce on Alexander of North America and Antony of Alaska.2 Thus the Church Abroad clearly had jurisdiction over America in the early 'twenties.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Archbishop Alexander, unfortunately, proved to be incapable of administering his diocese. After he had become enmeshed in acute financial difficulties, Bishop Antony of Alaska undertook an investigation of his affairs. This prompted Alexander to leave America for Europe.3</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Late in 1922 the Church Abroad, in one of its first actions after Patriarch Tikhon's <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> of 1922, relieved Alexander of his position as administrator of the American diocese, and replaced him with Metropolitan Platon of Odessa.4 Metropolitan Platon thus received his appointment to America from the Church Abroad.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
At the Third All-American Sobor held November 25-27, 1922, in Pittsburg, Metropolitan Platon was formally asked to rule the diocese.5 It was a great tragedy for American Orthodoxy that Platon, like Alexander, proved to be an unworthy man.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Shrewdly sizing up the mood of the disorganized but ecclesiastically ambitious American archdiocese, Platon had already begun intriguing to</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
1. Andreev, op. cit., p. 91.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
2. D'Herbigny, op. cit., p. 48. </div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Russian Orthodox Church in America (An Historical Inquiry)</span>, Jordanville, 1955, (hereafter to be abbreviated <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span>), p. 7.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
4. D'Herbigny, op. cit., p. 60.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
5. Schrank,, loc. cit., p. 188.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b>page 71</b></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
have Patriarch Tikhon recognize him in his rights. When, however, as was shown in Chapter II, Platon's representative, Mr. Colton of the Y.M.C.A., approached the Patriarch in 1922 (accompanied b Fr. Theodore Pashkovsky of the Metropolia, who later became Metropolitan Theophilus and who testified concerning this meeting with Tikhon in an American court.),1 Tikhon gave Colton a "recommendation for the Council of <span style="text-decoration: underline;">emigré</span> bishops who direct the affairs of the Russian Church Abroad."2 Up to the present it was thought by all parties, including the Synod Abroad, that this was a written recommendation signed by the Patriarch. But in the Sea Cliff Parish trial of the Spring of 1971, the very cablegram sent by Colton whole at sea returning to the United States from Europe was procured from the files of the Metropolia for use in the court. The exact wording of the text had been guarded all these years by the Metropolia and was unknown even to the Synod Abroad. The cablegram reads as follows: </div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
On board SS Olympic May 4, 1922</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
W. W. Bouimistrow Esq.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
350 W. 87th St.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
N. Y., N. Y.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Dear Sir,</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Just before leaving Russia I received your earnest cables. I was able to present them in person to the Patriarch, and received his favorable reply. It was not regarded prudent by either of us for him to send a written communication. This proved correct, for my papers were searched at the border. The Patriarch expressed it as his wish and recommendation that the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Supreme Church Administration Outside of Russia request</span></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span>, p. 7.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
2. D'Herbigny, op. cit., p. 133.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b>page 72</b></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
the Metropolitan Platon to remain in America with the full authority asked for, detailing to the Administration in Canada Archbishop Alexander and to the U.S. Anthony. He chose to make this in the form of a recommendation. Since the matter <span style="text-decoration: underline;">was already in the hands of the Administration, that he did not wish to go over their heads</span>. He asked me to convey his answer to the Metropolitan Evlogius in Berlin, and this I did last Sunday morning. In reply to my inquiry when as answer might be expected to you in New York, he replied that he would at once communicate with the Administration with headquarters in the Balkans, believing the final word would not be long delayed.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
I shall look forward to seeing you as soon as my engagements admit of staying in New York. Information is at hand, however, making clear that this will not be the case for at least a week after my arrival on May 10.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
With kind personal regards,</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
yours sincerely,</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
E.T. Colton</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
This document shows most clearly that <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Patriarch Tikhon considered the Church Abroad ecclesiastically responsible for America</span>.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Checked in his plans, Platon soon resorted to plain forgery. Not long afterwards there appeared a "<span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span>" by Patriarch Tikhon dated September 29, 1923, confirming Platon as head of the American Church. This document, however, was drawn up not by Patriarch Tikhon but by Platon himself, and was recognized as a forgery by an American court: "Platon Rojdstvensky, except for the alleged <span style="text-decoration: underline;">forged</span> letter of 29 September, 1923, has no right to administer the trust in the real property herein involved."1</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
1. Russian, p. 8 </div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b>page 73</b></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
This false <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> was used by Platon in the litigation he had with Kedrovsky of the Living Church over the Cathedral of St. Nicholas in 1925. It was the sole document which Platon could produce to support the legitimacy of his rights to the North American Diocese. Not wishing to recognize the authority of the Synod Abroad and to use documents issued by it, he had only one avenue left open: to present to the American Court the false letter of Patriarch Tikhon.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
This was a desperate step for Metropolitan Platon, forever disgracing himself and his followers. Experts from the forces of Kedrovsky and the court proved irrefutably that the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> was an "unmitigated falsehood," and at the same time fabricated clumsily, very poorly, and thoughtlessly. It is enough to say that the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> did not even bear the Patriarchal seal although other less important documents of the time bear the seal of the Patriarch. This false appointment of Platon was concocted in New York and written in the new orthography (the V. Rev. Leonid Turkevich at first printed it in the old orthography, and then redid it photographically in the new) on paper which showed American water marks, easily proved by experts. The <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> was supposedly issued and signed by Patriarch Tikhon on September 29, 1923, and on the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">next day</span>, September 30, it was printed in New York in the old orthography. The editor of the "American Orthodox Messenger," the then Fr. Leonid Turkevich and later Metropolitan of Metropolia, never explained by what secret method this historic document could have flown from Moscow to New York in one day, been composed in the printery and printed in such a short time.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Furthermore, this imaginary "Edict" of Patriarch Tikhon about the appointment of Metropolitan Platon to America bears the number 41. Is</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">
<b>page 74</b></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
it possible that by the end of September 1923, the Patriarchal office could have been using such a small number? Patriarch Tikhon was freed from prison July 1, 1923. Until September 29 (the date of the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span>), three months passed. Still, on November 8 of the same year, the Edict of Patriarch Tikhon concerning the change of the calendar1 bears the number 422. This means that the Patriarch had issued just 41 documents in three months, and within the following five weeks, the number had reached 422!</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
American professors in universities who teach criminal law, unfailingly point out to their classes "the Patriarchal edict" No. 41 of September 29, 1923, "by which Metropolitan Platon was seemingly appointed to a diocese."2 It is truly astounding that Fr. Meyendorff of the Metropolia, writing in 1970, does not know all this, and says, "After his liberation the Patriarch also appointed Metropolitan Platon as head of the Church of North America (Sept. 29, 1923)."3 When Platon appeared at the Bishop's Council in Carlovtsy on October 16, 1924, it was as a bearer of the forged <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span>. The other bishops present, naturally enough, took Platon at his word and did not question the authenticity of the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span>.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
In the early months of 1924, according to the Protestant M.L.J. Schrank, "the situation of the Russian Churches in the United States became chaotic."4 A certain John Kedrovsky of the "Living Church" began agitating among the American flock; he also attempted to seize St. Nicholas cathedral in New York. Worse still, on January 16, 1924, a <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> "of Patriarch Tikhon, duly promulgated jointly with the Sacred Synod"</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
1. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church News</span>, 1923, no. 23-24.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
2. See P.J. Michajlov, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Candid Talks</span>, Philadelphia, 1948 (in Russian).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">In The Orthodox Church</span>, February, 1970, p. 4.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
4. Schrank, loc. cit., p. 188.</div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;">
<b>page 75</b></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
was issued. According to Bogolepov, "By virtue of that <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span>, Metropolitan Platon was dismissed for having engaged in public acts of counter-revoluiton directed against the Soviet government."1 In Bogolepov's words, Platon "had" to obey the ukaz of the Patriarch or find a way out.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Platon reacted by summoning the Detroit Sobor of April, 1924. Here it was decided "that it would be impossible for the American diocese to be directy dependent upon the Highest Church Authority on Moscow, as the Patriarch, in their estimation, did not have the freedom to communicate witht he outside world."2 The Sobor "proclaimed the Russian Orthodox Church in America to be <span style="text-decoration: underline;">temporarily autonomous</span> until the convocation of a new All Russian Council. The head of the Church in America was to be an elected Archbishop. Also, there was to be a council of Bishops, a council made up of representatives from the clergy and laity, and peropdic All-American Sobors were to be held. The Detroit Sobor cofirmed the election of Metropolitan Platon, and asked him to work out a system of rules with which to admnister the American Church in accordance with Orthodox tradition."3</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Although the Sobor merely declared itself "temporarily autonomous," it was in fact making a bid for autocephaly. For the desire fo the Sobor was to be fully ndependent both of Maoscow and of the Church Abroad. The question of "autocephaly" was hotly debated at the Sobor. Fr. Joseph Pishtey, now chancellor of the Metropolia, opposed the move. The majority approved.4 At the Sobor the "Russian Orthdoox Church in North America" became the "American Orthdoox Church." In the future her only</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
1. Bogolepov, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Towards</span>, pp. 79-80.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
2. Schrank, loc. cit., p. 188.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
3. Loc. cit.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
4. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span>, pp. 11-15.</div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; text-align: right;">
<b>page 76</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
connection with the Russian Church was to be "spiritual ties and communion."1</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
In Bogolepov's view this Sobor founded a new autocephalous Church:</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
If we study the actions of the American Metropolitanate</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
in 1924 we realize that it meets all the necessary</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
requirements for the establishment of an</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
independent Autocephalous Church:</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
(a) Its canonical origin is beyond any cavil since it</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
was founded by the Russian Church as its foreign</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
diocese, while its bishops were appointed by the</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
Central Authority of the Russian Church of which</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
it was an integral part.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
(b) By 1924 North American Metropolitanate had sufficiently </div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
matured for self-government. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">It had over </span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">300 parishes, supported a theological seminary for </span></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">the training of clergy</span>, and had a number of affiliated</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
organizations. It comprised three canonically appointed</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
bishops, Bishop Stephan of Pittsburg (appointed </div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
in 1916), Bishop Theophilus of Chicago (appointed</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
in 1922) and Metropolitan Platon.2</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
In his book Bogolepov compares the Detroit Sobor to the Russian Church's declaration of autocephaly in 1448 (which was recognized b Constantinople in 1589 - a parallel, Bogolepov would now add, to Moscow's recognition of the Metropolia's autocephaly in 1970).</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
But was the American Church actually ready for autocephaly (i.e., total self-government) in 1924? No, it was not. The 1924 bid came at a time when the Metropolia more than ever needed firm direction from the Church Abroad.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
According to Michael Lopukhin, writing in <span style="text-decoration: underline;">St. Vladimir's Seminary Quarterly</span>, the period of the early 'twenties marked a low ebb in the life of American Orthodoxy: "By 1922, local priests were saying that <span style="text-decoration: underline;">90%</span> of</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
1. Ibid., pp. 14-15.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
2. Bogolepov, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Towards</span>, pp. 81-2</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; text-align: right;">
<b>page 77</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
the Russians in their community were untouched by the Church."1 He continues, "The 1926 U.S. Census reported only 95,134 members of the (Russian) Church, with 199 Churches. This represents <span style="text-decoration: underline;">a dramatic drop from a report of 212 churches and 200,000 members in 1921</span>."2 This period, in fact, represents the dark ages of the American Church.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
Bogolepov's estimate of "over 300 parishes" in 1924 would appear to be wide of the mark of Lopukhin's U.S. Census figures are correct (there would have been somewhere between 212 and 199 churches in 1924). Even wider of the mark is the thriving "theological seminary" that he claims existed in 1924. According to the article "St. Vladimir's Seminary 1938-58," which appeared in the Summer, 1958, issue of the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Quarterly</span>, a very rudimentary seminary for the training of clergy existed in Minneapolis from 1905 to 1912 and at Tenafly, New Jersey, from 1913 to 1923. "This Seminary was not conceived nor did it function as a school of theology in the full sense of the word, that is, as a center of a theological scholarship and thinking, as well as instruction. Its pattern was that of a pre-revolutionary Russian 'Seminary,' or even a missionary School..."3</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
It is highly doubtful that such an institution could have adequately served the needs of an autocephalous Church. In any case, according to the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Quarterly</span>, the Seminary "collapsed" in 1923 for lack of funds.4 No new seminary was opened until <span style="text-decoration: underline;">1937</span>. Thus the "seminary" referred to by Bogolepov as existing in 1924 is a mere fiction. From 1923 to 1937 the American Metropolia had <span style="text-decoration: underline;">no</span> seminary whatever.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
1. M. Lopukhin "The Russian Orthodox Church in America, A Psycho-Social View," <span style="text-decoration: underline;">S.V.S.Q.</span>, vol. VIII, no. 3, 1964, p. 135.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
2. Lopukhin, loc. cit.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
3. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">S.V.S.Q.</span>, Summer, 1958, p. 3.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
4. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">S.V.S.Q.</span>, Summer, 1958, p. 3.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; text-align: right;">
<b>page 78</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
A demoralized and unchurched flock, no seminary for the training of clergy – these were the conditions under which the Metropolia made the first of her four bids for autocephaly.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
Metropolitan Platon, the head of the new "temporary autonomous" autocephalous Church, soon encountered new difficulties which sent him to the Church Abroad for assistance.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
When, for example, Bishop Adam denied Platon's jurisdiction over the North American diocese, the Synod Abroad saved Platon by deciding in his favor.1 Without the help of the Synod Abroad Platon could not have survived the attacks of Adam and the "Living Church."</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
It was not long, however, before the Church Abroad realized that Platon, like Metropolitan Evlogy, was playing a double game, using it for his own purposes but not ascribing any authority to it.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
When Platon arrived at the Bishops' Council of the Church Abroad convened in Yugoslavia in 1926 (which we have already discussed), he asked for a letter recommending him to the EAstern Patriarchs and his own flock. At the session held on June 27 Platon stated that, "for his part he firmly bore witness that <span style="text-decoration: underline;">he was a decisive enemy of the autocephaly of the American Church</span>, and affirmed his full canonical submission to the Guardian of the Patriarchal Throne, Metropolitan Peter (of Krutitsk), to the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, and the Bishops' Synod elected by it."2 When asked to sign this statement, however, he refused and quit the council. As with Evlogy, his true intentions were made plain for all to see.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
1. D'Herbigny, op. cit., footnote on p. 132.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
2. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span>, p. 19. </div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; text-align: right;">
<b>page 79</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
At the session of July 1, the Council of Bishops decided "to recognize as beyond doubt that Metropolitan Platon, despite his oral and written declarations, is striving toward the organization of an autocephalous administration for the North American Church."1 The Council condemned the decisions of the Detroit Sobor as "extremely dangerous and harmful for the interests of the Russian Church in America."2</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
The reply of the North American episcopate was that the Church Abroad "had no canonical significance."3 Soon Platon was to declare the Synod Abroad "uncanonical."4</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
Bishop Apollinary (Koshevoy), who came to America in 1924 at Metropolitan Platon's request, was invited by Platon to attend the Bishops' Council of the American archdiocese held on January 31, 1927, in which an "appeal" was addressed to the American flock declaring the Church Abroad "uncanonical." The letter of the four other American suffragan bishops of September, 1926, to the Church Abroad (which according to Apollinary was "crude in form and insolent in content") was confirmed.5</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
Apollinary reports, "All the hierarchs approved this 'appeal' to the American flock. I alone did not agree with them. I declared that I did acknowledge and do acknowledge the Synod of Bishops as canonical, both in origin and in its present form; that I did submit and do submit to it as a judicial-administrative authority, that I deny the right of the American diocese to 'ecclesiastical self-determination.'"6</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
1. Ibid., p. 20</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
2. Ibid.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
3. Ibid., p. 21</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
4. Ibid., pp. 28-29</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
5. In "Archbishop Apollinary," <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Orthodox Word</span>, Jan.-Feb., 1970, p. 43.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
6. Loc. vit.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
page 80</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: 15px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 15px;">80</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
When Apollinary proved “firm and unbending” he was (“on the spot, in some five minutes”) deprived of his suffraganship, removed from his position as rector of the church in San Francisco, and relieved of all duties.<sup>1 </sup>After this had been done, Apollinary turned to his judges and meekly stated, “Forgive me for having led you into such temptation.” The other bishops, however, shouted “Go away!” and, although the table was set for dinner, drove Apollinary out with the words, “We do not want to share even a slice of bread with you.”<sup>2 </sup> With Bishop Apollinary, the truth of Christ also departed from Metropolitan Platon’s jurisdiction.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In late April, 1927, The Church Abroad suspended Platon and appointed Apollinary head of the American Diocese. The Platonite schism now in full force, Apollinary began to collect such of the flock as remained loyal to the Church Abroad.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Once Apollinary had been suspended, Platon set to work on a new plan for the attainment of autocephaly, since no autocephalous Church had recognized the North American diocese as a sister church after the Detroit Sobor of 1924. As Basil Bensin writes in <span style="text-decoration: underline;">St.</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Vladimir’s</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Seminary</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Quarterly</span>, “Metropolitan Platon, after the proclamation of the autonomy of the Russian Orthodox Church (in America) of 1924, made a special agreement with the Syrian Archbishop Eftimios to proclaim and independently establish ‘<span style="text-decoration: underline;">The</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Holy</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Eastern</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Apostolic</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">in</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">North</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">America.</span>’ This was eventually chartered by Archbishop Eftimios on February 1, 1928, in the state of Massachusetts. However, this attempt was not realized due to the opposition of the Russian clergy and the Greek</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Loc.</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">cit.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span>, p.29.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
81</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Orthodox Church.”<sup>1 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Realizing that the autocephalous Orthodox Churches would not recognize his Russian American archdiocese Church, Platon decided to let Eftimios form an “American Orthodox Church” under his control, calculating that such an organization, embracing all Orthodox nationalities in America, would be more likely to win recognition. Fr. Leonid Turkevich, the future Metropolitan Leonty, was to be ordained bishop and become Eftimios’ Chief assistant.<sup>2</sup> If Eftimios failed, Platon reasoned, he could put all the blame on the Arab and himself remain head of the Russian Archdiocese of America.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
This second bid for autocephaly also failed because of opposition from the Greek Archdiocese of America (formed in 1922) and many of the Russian clergy. Bogolepov, of course, chooses to ignore this incident in his <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Toward</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">an</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">American</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church.</span> After all, he has no need of <span style="text-decoration: underline;">two</span> declarations of autocephaly. It is an indisputable fact, however, that on December 19, 1927, the “Holy Synod of the American Orthodox Catholic Church” sent a letter to all autocephalous Orthodox Churches informing them of the existence of a new autocephalous sister Church.<sup>3 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Eftimios, briefly head of the “American Orthodox Church,” soon tired of such games, married, and dropped out of Church affairs.<sup>4 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In December, 1929, Platon formed the American Metropolitan district, and what is known as the “Metropolia” came into existence.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
At about the same time Platon informed Bishop Tikhon of the Church</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">S.V.S.Q.</span>, Summer, 1958, p. 15.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span>, p. 35.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 42.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
82</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Abroad, who had come to America to assist Apollinary, that he was prepared to “make peace” with the Church Abroad if he could retain the title “Metropolitan of All America and Canada.”<sup>1 </sup> Evidently Platon’s attitude towards the canonicity of the Church Abroad was nothing if not flexible. The Synod Abroad, however, having learned the Platon was involved in serious financial difficulties as a result of his own irresponsibility, refused the offer.<sup>2 </sup> And fortunately so. Almost immediately Platon went to court to try to drive the Church Abroad out of North America. He lost the cases he started, however, and certain embarrassing details, such as his forged “<span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> of Patriarch Tikhon,” were brought to light. To mention only one case, the Superior Court of Connecticut ruled against Platon and for the Church Abroad in 1931.<sup>3 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In 1933 the righteous Apollinary reposed. He was replaced by Archbishop Tikhon as head of the Synod parishes in America.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In the same year (1933), Archbishop Benjamin (Fedchenkov) arrived in America as the official representative of the Moscow Patriarchate. He demanded “a written pledge of loyalty to the Soviet power” from Platon and his clergy.<sup>4 </sup> According to Bogolepov, when Platon and his clergy refused the loyalty oath and once again declared the Metropolia “temporarily autonomous,”<sup>5 </sup> “the Acting Patriarchal <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Locum</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Tenens</span>, Metropolitan Sergius, and his Sacred Synod <span style="text-decoration: underline;">declared</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">proclamation</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">autonomy</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">North</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">American</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Diocese</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">null</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">void</span>, since it was made without</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span>, p.52.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid</span>.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Schrank, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">loc.</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">cit.</span>, p. 191.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Towards</span>, p. 80.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
83</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
the consent of the Moscow Patriarchate. The group around Metropolitan Platon was declared <span style="text-decoration: underline;">schismatic</span>, and Metropolitan Platon himself, as the initiator of the schism, was <span style="text-decoration: underline;">suspended.</span>”<sup>1</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Thus, in Bogolepov’s words, “the Moscow Patriarchate continued to consider the American Archdiocese’s proclamation that it was ‘self-governing’ Church a <span style="text-decoration: underline;">schism</span> and an arbitrary secession of a diocese from the Central Authority of the entire Russian Church and so suspended its hierarchy.”<sup>2</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
He continues: “It follows, in this connection, that the essential problem in determining the canonical position of the American Metropolitanate is the problem of deciding whether the proclamation of its independence constituted a schismatic secession of a diocese from the entire Church or the establishment of a new self-governing Church.”<sup>3</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
We shall pass over Bogolepov’s indecision as to whether the American archdiocese became autocephalous in 1924 or 1933 and take up another aspect of his thought. According to Bogolepov, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">any</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">action</span> of the Moscow Patriarch <span style="text-decoration: underline;">must</span> be obeyed, since Moscow is a legal “canonical” administration. Moscow’s political servitude to the communists does not, for him, affect the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">canonicity</span> of her activities abroad, even if this should consist in demanding a loyalty oath to the Soviet regime. Writing in the March 1970, issue of <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span>, for example, he remarks concerning the Metropolia’s bid for autocephaly from Moscow, “The question is asked: how can the American Metropolia accept the proclamation of its autocephaly from the Moscow Patriarchate, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">which</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">is</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">dependent</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">upon</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Soviet</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Government</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> pp. 80-1.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 81</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
84</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">always</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">supports</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Soviet</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">external</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">politics</span>…?”<sup>1 </sup> He answers, “When the question is presented in such a manner, a confusion of ecclesiastical-canonical and political problems result. Canons are rules (having the force of law) concerning the organization and government which have been established by the Church itself. The canonicity of each Local Church is defined, in conformance with the Canons, by the consecration of the hierarchs according to the order of the apostolic succession of authority and by recognition of all other Sister-Churches.”<sup>2 </sup> Thus political servitude (though it inevitably leads to an infringement of canons on the election of bishops, etc.) is not seen by Bogolepov as a factor affecting the canonicity and, therefore, the moral correctness (for what is “canonical” is morally correct) of the Moscow Patriarchate’s actions abroad.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The Metropolia in 1924 and 1933 <span style="text-decoration: underline;">had</span> to obey the politically dictated <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukazes</span> of the Patriarchate. Or, like the Russian Church when Constantinople fell under the Turks, she could use the political servitude of the Mother Church as an additional reason for the declaring an autocephaly for which she was already prepared. Either <span style="text-decoration: underline;">schism</span> or <span style="text-decoration: underline;">autocephaly</span> in 1924 (1933 being merely a repeat performance of the suspension by Moscow in 1924) – this is the only choice Bogolepov leaves. “Temporary autonomy” necessitated by the enslavement of one’s Mother Church is not recognized by Attorney Bogolepov as a permissible state of ecclesiastical existence.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Fr. Meyendorff in his statement on the Church Abroad in the February, 1970, issue of the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span> uses a similar kind of reasoning when he claims that the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> of Patriarch Tikhon in 1922, dictated though</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span>, March, 1970.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span>, March, 1970.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
85</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
it was by the Bolsheviks and later <span style="text-decoration: underline;">de</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">facto</span> repudiated by the Patriarch himself, was binding on the Church Abroad.<sup>1 </sup>Here, too, political enslavement does not affect canonicity.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Thus the Metropolia must choose: either she became autocephalous in 1924 (which, considering her state at the time, is clearly ridiculous), or she was <span style="text-decoration: underline;">legitimately</span> suspended by Moscow in 1924 (and 1933). Such is the result of refusing to admit political servitude as a factor justifying temporary autonomy.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Furthermore, if we accept Bogolepov’s fiction that the Metropolia became autocephalous in 1924, then we have to admit that it became autocephalous <span style="text-decoration: underline;">unconsciously</span>. Otherwise it would not have made another bid for autocephaly in 1927 by way of Archbishop Eftimios’ “American Orthodox Church.”</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Metropolitan Platon died on April 20, 1934. In November, 1934, the Fifth All-American Sobor of the Russian Orthodox Church in North America was held in Cleveland, Ohio. The Sobor elected Bishop Theophilus (Pashkovsky) of San Francisco as Metropolitan. On January 5, 1935, Theophilus was <span style="text-decoration: underline;">suspended</span> by the Moscow Patriarchate.<sup>2 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Platon’s death gave the Church Abroad great hopes that the American Metropolia’s tragic schism could be healed. On May 18, 1934, Metropolitan Antony, head of the Synod Abroad, addressed an appeal to “all Russian people in North America and Canada” in which he said, “The Lord commanded Christians that they should always dwell in the union of love and prayed that we should be one as the Holy Trinity is one (John XVII.21).</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, February, 1970, p. 4.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Schrank, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">loc.</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">cit.,</span> p. 192.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
86</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
But instead of such union we see only the emergence of new groups and jurisdictions at mutual enmity with one another. The commandments of the Lord, the good of Holy Church, and, finally, even our duty to the Russian people, suffering from persecutions - all this demands of us that the divisions in the North American diocese cease and that she take her proper place in a united Russian Church Abroad.”<sup>1 </sup> </div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The Church Abroad also decided to send one of its pillars, Archimandrite Vitaly of the Pochaev Lavra, to America as a peacemaker. Vitaly, who had been confessor of Holy Orthodoxy both under the Roman Catholics and the communists, and had been twice sentenced to death only to be providentially rescued each time, was consecrated Bishop of Detroit in Belgrade.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
At his consecration Vitaly realized very clearly that it was his task “to go and establish peace and Church unity in America. I feel this duty with all my being, although I have not yet decided how to do it.”<sup>2 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Upon arriving in America, Vitaly was horrified to discover the extent to which American Orthodoxy was demoralized and corrupted. Everywhere “business” was king.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
According to Vitaly, the flock with which he entered into relations consisted 80% of Carpatho-russians and Galitians and 20% of Russian immigrants from the western provinces of Russia.<sup>3 </sup> His long-time affiliation with Carpathian Russia as archimandrite of the Pochaev Lavra assisted him in finding a common basis of communication with these people. The older clergy were, he found, on the whole for union with the Church Abroad and for “discipline.” The younger clergy constituted a greater</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian,</span> pp. 64-5</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian,</span> p. 64.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Archbishop Vitaly, <i>Motives of My Life</i>., Jordanville, 1955, p. 133.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
87</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
problem: “The younger American clergy know neither Russia, nor Orthodoxy. Its ecclesiastical training is weak. . . For them the priestly calling means ‘business.’”<sup>1 </sup> This element considered its leader to be Bishop Leonty (Turkevich). Of the Russian population in America Vitaly estimated that “not more than 15-20% attend Church.”<sup>2</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
To the Russian population in America Vitaly issued a series of fiery calls to union, such as the following of March 19, 1935: -</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
“How many years has our Church division continued? Eight, perhaps ten years. During that time, fathers and brothers, our hair has not even had time to grey. And, look, the Serbs had a Church division which lasted more than 300 years, through ten generations! Who divided us? I think it was Russian stupidity. But in order to divide the Serbs it took the work of the Turks, the Greeks, and especially of the Germans. . . But after the Great War, Serbian bishops came together from Turkey, from Greece, from the Kingdom of Serbia, from Montenegro, from the Carlovtsy patriarchate, from the Bosno-Herzegovinian autocephaly and the Dalmation autonomous churches. . . Seven jurisdictions, seven schools, seven ordos and forms of Church life. And through all these impediments and obstacles which had been carefully erected by enemies the Serbian bishops extended a hand to one another and said: <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Let</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">us</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">overcome</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">three</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">hundred</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">year</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">division</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">let</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">us</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">be</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">one</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Serbian</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church.</span> And then as a sign of unity they elected the eldest of their number, Kyr Dimitry, as Patriarch. . . And now there is one Serbian Church, consolidated in its parts which had been sundered apart. Let us believe that this</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 134.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Vitaly, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op.</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">cit.,</span> p. 135.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
88</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
experience of our Serbian brethren will inspire us also and that it will help us to come to the unity, organization, and discipline of the Russian Church Abroad.”<sup>1</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
On July 26, 1934, Bishop Tikhon and Metropolitan Theophilus had a meeting. Bishops Arseny, Alexy, and Metropolitan Theophilus of the Metropolia declared themselves in union. The most ardent opponent appeared to be Bishop Leonty.<sup>2</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
On September 13, 1934, as a gesture of reconciliation the Church Abroad removed the ban which had been placed on the American Metropolia.<sup>3 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
At this hopeful stage patriarch Varnava of Serbia intervened with his invitation that the various parts of the Church Abroad come to Yugoslavia in 1935 to hear their differences and reëstablish unity.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In addition to Patriarch Varnava, this conference was attended by Antony, Anastasy (who had succeeded Antony as acting head of the Church Abroad because of the later’s advanced age and poor health), Evlogy, Theophilus, and Dimitry of the Far East (who was in union with the Church Abroad). A “temporary Statue of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad” was drawn up and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">signed</span> by all those present, including Evlogy and Theoplilus. The “temporary” aspect of the Statue referred to the fact that it was to remain in effect until the Russian Church should become free. According to the new Statue, “The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, consisting of the dioceses, missions, and churches located outside the borders of Russia is an inseparable part of the Russian Orthodox Church,</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> pp. 59-60.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span>, p. 65.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
89</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
temporarily existing on autonomous principles.”<sup>1</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
It continues:</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
“The highest legislative, judicial, and administrative organ of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad is the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Council</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Bishops</span> who gather yearly, and its executive organ is the Holy Bishops’ Synod.”<sup>2 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
“The Holy Bishops’ Synod consists of the four member-representatives of each of the four Metropolitan districts (Near Eastern, Far Eastern, West European and North American) under the presidency of Blessed Antony, Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia.”<sup>3 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Antony’s successor was to be elected by the Bishops’ Council.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
According to the Statue the “first judicial instance with authority over bishops was the district council (of bishops). For bishops not belonging to the district and for the metropolitans of districts, it was the Episcopal Synod (of Carlovtsy).”<sup>4 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Complaints against the decisions of a court of the first instance were to be submitted, not later than two months after the trial, “to a general Bishops’ Council (of the Church Abroad) in written form.”<sup>5 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
On November 19, 1935, the signers of the Statue sent an epistle to “Our Beloved in Christ Russian Orthodox Flock of the Dispersion.” It stated that, “after a series of sessions in the work of which His Holiness the Patriarch (Varnava) took a most lively and active part, they (i.e., the signers) had worked out a Statue concerning the structure of the Russian Church Abroad, constructed on the principle of its division into four Metropolitan</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian,</span> p. 70.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 79</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian,</span> p. 79.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
90</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
districts, solidly united in a common center – the Council of Russian Hierarchs Abroad and its executive Organ, the Holy Synod. . .”<sup>1 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Consider the fruits of the great humility and love of Patriarch Varnava and Metropolitans Antony and Anastasy, true archpastors of the Saviour’s flock. No demands for political “loyalty,” no humiliating requirements were imposed on the schismatic jurisdictions of Evlogy and Theophilus. Rather they were welcomed into the Church Abroad on equal terms with the Balkan (or Near Eastern) and Far Eastern districts. All that was asked of Evlogy and Theophilus was that they join the holy catholicity of the Church Abroad, in unity overcoming the weakness and sin of division.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Evlogy soon repudiated his signature, but Theophilus remained true to his. He declared, “The position of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad has been strengthened by the unity and peace which have been obtained. Now we have one center of Church administration in the Bishops’ Synod in Sremsky Carlovtsy, where the American Metropolitan district will be represented by our elected representative.”<sup>2 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
On November 28-30, 1935, the bishops of the Church Abroad and Metropolia met at St. Tikhon’s Monastery in Pennsylvania, and, after hearing Metropolitan Theophilus’ report on his trip to Serbia, they decided to put the agreement - i.e., the Statue - into effect.<sup>3 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In March, 1936, the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">American</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Messenger</span>, which had long been extinct, was revived. In its first issue (March, 1936) it declared, “Through the efforts of His Holiness the Patriarch of Serbia,</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p.71.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian,</span> p. 72.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 73.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
91</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Varnava, and the new head of our North American Metropolia, His Eminence Metropolitan Theophilus, peace between the jurisdictions was at last obtained at the end of last year, and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">it</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">has</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">affected</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">our</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">like</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">breath</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">a</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Grace</span>-<span style="text-decoration: underline;">filled</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">spring</span>.”<sup>1 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
On May 14-17, 1936, a council of the bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in North America was held in Pittsburg. It issued the following encyclical letter to the faithful: “With great joy we inform you, beloved, that at our Bishops’ Sobor in Pittsburg the ‘Temporary Statue of the Russian Church Abroad,’ worked out in November of 1935 by out hierarchs at the conference held under the presidency of His Holiness the Patriarch of Serbia, Kyr Varnava, was unanimously accepted by all of us, with the preservation of the existing autonomy.”<sup>2 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
It continues, “All of our Archpastors, headed by their Metropolitan, enter into the make-up of the Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, which is the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">highest</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ecclesiastical</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">organ</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">for</span> our <span style="text-decoration: underline;">whole</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Abroad</span>, and which remains, at the same time, an inseparable part of the All-Russian Church.”<sup>3</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
This encyclical letter was signed by Metropolitan Theophilus, Archbishops Adam, Tikhon, and Vitaly, and Bishops Arseny, Leonty, Benjamin, Jerome, Makary, and Leonty – i.e., by all the bishops of the two jurisdictions.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The decisions of the Pittsburg Bishops’ Sobor were then submitted for approval to the Bishops’ Council held in Carlovtsy on September 19,</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Messenger,</span> March, 1936, no. 1, p. 1.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Messenger,</span> May, 1936, no. 3, p. 33.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> pp. 33-34.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
92</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
1936, and approved. Thus the requirement of the Temporary Statue that the decisions of the bishops’ councils of the four Metropolitan districts be approved by the Bishops’ Council of the whole Church Abroad was adhered to by the American bishops. Bishop Malary represented the American Metropolia at the session of September 19. On September 20, the Council elected Anastasy as head of the Church Abroad to replace Metropolitan Antony, who had reposed on August 10, 1936.<sup>1</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In October, 1937, an All-American Sobor was held in New York, at which the “Temporary Statue” was accepted.<sup>2 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Alexander Bogolepov, as will be shown later, does not think very highly of the sobor. The author of the article “St. Vladimir’s Seminary 1938-58,” however, is of a different opinion. He writes, “The 1937 Sobor <span style="text-decoration: underline;">was</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">a</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">turning</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">point</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">in</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">history</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">our</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church.</span> Here it manifested a readiness for a constructive planning of our own future. Among other vital decisions, the Sobor acknowledged the urgent need for a theological school.”<sup>3 </sup> Besides opening the seminary, which had been closed since 1923, the Sobor founded a clergy home, guaranteed the further existence of the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">American</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Messenger,</span> and instituted financial reforms.<sup>4 </sup> According to the testimony of her own members, when she became an integral part of the Church Abroad, the American Metropolia received a new lease on life.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The two jurisdictions, the Church Abroad and the Metropolia, were thus fused to form one Metropolitan District under Metropolitan Theophilus.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian,</span> p. 76</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 81.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">S.V.S.Q.</span>, Summer, 1958, p. 4.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Basil Bensin, <i>History of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of North America</i>, N. Y., 1941, pp. 25-6.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
93</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
A group of dedicated men undertook the task of making the newly-resurrected St. Vladimir’s Seminary a respectable institution of theological learning. According to <span style="text-decoration: underline;">St.</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Vladimir’s</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Seminary</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Quarterly</span>, Archbishop Vitaly “took an active part in the preparation of the seminary’s transformation into a graduate school.”<sup>1 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The advantage of the Metropolia’s new canonical position soon became evident. When Archbishop Adam again rebelled, the documents of his trial were forwarded to the Synod Abroad, and it, as a court of second instance, settled the case on June 1, 1939.<sup>2 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
At the Second All Church Abroad Sobor held in 1938 in Carlovtsy, Bishop Benjamin of American represented the Metropolia and participated in the sessions of the Bishops’ Synod.<sup>3</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Between 1938 and 1940, the Bishops’ Council of the Church Abroad raised Bishop Arseny of America to the title of Archbishop, made Archpriest Ioann Nedzelnitsky a protopresbyter, and performed numerous similar actions.<sup>4 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">American</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Messenger</span> of January, 1940, Metropolitan Theophilus stated, “I consider it my duty to testify of my thankfulness toward the chairman of the Synod Abroad, Metropolitan Anastasy, for his benevolent attitude toward us. He has kept his promise to support us in the task of bringing peace to our Church. . . By his influence and elevated authority Metropolitan Anastasy is able to contain</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">S.V.S.Q.</span>, Summer, 1958, p. 7.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span>, p. 84.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 83.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
94</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
the passions of certain restless persons. . . to influence and direct Church life along a more peaceful, normal path.”<sup>1</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Summing up the years 1935-46, when the Metropolia was in union with the Church Abroad, Archbishop Vitaly writes:</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
“The years from 1935 to 1946 were years of the peaceful and fruitful construction of Church life in America. In those years sobors and episcopal conferences were convoked. New parishes were formed and old ones strengthened. Church life became ordered and piety grew. An excellent building for the central cathedral was obtained in New York. The theological seminary was reëstablished in New York and a pastoral school founded at St. Tikhon’s monastery. The orphanage received a large dwelling. Statutes were worked out concerning the central and parish administration. Celebrations of the 950<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the Baptism of Russia and the 150<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the Russian Orthodox Church in America were organized and conducted. The St. Vladimir Church (memorial for the Baptism of Russia) was founded and the celebration of St. Vladimir’s day was instituted. The youth organization named the Federated Russian Orthodox Clubs flourished. Friendly coöperation was established with old and new Russian social organizations. The establishment of an Orthodox Theological Academy was being prepared. Attention was given to the question of financial security for clergy in case of old age or sickness.”<sup>2</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Although a second Metropolia schism occurred only in 1946, its roots reach back to the early ‘forties. Two factors contributed to the dissention which was to sunder the unity of the Church Abroad once more.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 85.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Vitaly, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op.</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">cit.</span>, p. 119.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
95</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
First, the outbreak of World War II soon forced Matropolitan Anastasy in Yugoslavia to lose contact with the American Church for most of the war. Second, Stalin, who has decimated the official Russian Church to the point of virtual non-existence (at one point only four bishops and a handful of parishes were functioning), suddenly decided to use the coöperative Metropolitan Sergius to whip up patriotism and gain control over the Orthodox of the Baltic provinces. Metropolitan Sergius was duly “elected” patriarch, and the Moscow Patriarchate became an international force. The Metropolia, impressed with Moscow’s new ecclesiastical power and even more by Russia’s military successes, soon succumbed to temptation.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
When on September 8, 1943, Sergius was elected patriarch by eighteen hand-picked bishops,<sup>1 </sup>the American bishops decided to recognize him. “Meeting in late October of 1943, the Metropolitanate bishops decided to commemorate the name of the new Patriarch at divine services. They still, though, questioned his freedom in relation to the State, and were uncertain as to whether to accept his jurisdiction in administrative matters over the American diocese."2</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
This decision, which Bishops loyal to the Synod in the Metropolia, being a minority, could not prevent, was an infringement of the Temporary Statue. Such a decision could only have been made by a Bishop’s Council of the entire Church Abroad. Furthermore, according to the Statue the decisions of the bishops’ councils of the Metropolia <span style="text-decoration: underline;">had</span> to be approved by the Bishops’ Council of the Church Abroad. This did not take place.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
When in 1945 Alexis was “elected” Patriarch of Moscow (Sergius</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian,</span> p. 94.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Schrank, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">loc</span>.<span style="text-decoration: underline;">cit.,</span> p. 193.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
96</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
having died in May, 1944), the Metropolia decided to send representatives to the enthronement ceremonies. Bishop Alexis of Alaska, two archpriests, and a legal expert were dispatched to Moscow. On his return, Bishop Alexis brought back the following <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> from Moscow:</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
“His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, and the Holy Synod, having examined the report of Bishop Alexis, arrived from America, concerning the desire of the American dioceses to unite with the Russian Mother Church and concerning the projected structure of the American Church after such a uniting, consider the following decisions to accord with the good of the Church and to be canonically feasible:</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">1. All the dioceses of North and South America and also of Canada are to comprise one Metropolitan district-exarchate of the Moscow Patriarchate. The Metropolitan of this district besides the title of his diocesancity should bear the title of Patriarchal Exarch of all America and Canada.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">2. Not later than the day of Mid-Pentecost, 1945, an All-American Orthodox Church should be convoked in America, consisting of all bishops and representatives of the clergy and laity of both our Exarchate, headed by Metropolitan Benjamin, and of the Metroplitan district, headed by Metropolitan Theophilus.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The Sobor shall be presided over by archbishop Alexis of Yaroslavl and Rostov, who is delegated to America by His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">3. The Sobor (a) is to express the decision of the American Orthodox dioceses to unite with the Russian Mother Church:</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
b) <span style="text-decoration: underline;">is</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">in</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">name</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">American</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">to</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">make</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">an</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">official</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">repudiation</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">any</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">political</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">declarations</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">that</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">have</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">been</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">made</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">against</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">U.S.S.R.</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">is</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">to</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">inform</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">all</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">parishes</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">this</span>;</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
c) is to elect according to the existing order in America, by not less than a two-thirds vote, a Metropolitan – head of the Metropolitan District – and to present the elected candidate for confirmation by the Moscow Patriarchate.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Addition I</span>: The Moscow Patriarchate for its part recommends to the Sobor as candidates for Metropolitan the Exarch of All America and Canada,</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
97</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Metropolitan Benjamin, and Archbishop Alexis, but will not hinder the Sobor in its right to put forward and elect its own candidate to this post.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Addition II:</span> The Moscow Patriarchate has the canonical right to reject the elected candidate if he is judged by the Patriarchate to be inappropriate for any reason whatsoever….”<sup>1 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Point4 stated that “the right of confirming candidates for the episcopate, the right of rewarding clergy with the highest decorations, and the right of the highest court of appeal in relation to bishops and clerics” was to remain in the hands of the Moscow Patriarchate.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Point 5 stated that, if the terms of the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> were accepted by the American Council of Bishops, then, even before the All-American Sobor met, Moscow’s ban of January 4, 1935, would be lifted from the American Church.<sup>2 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> was dated February 14, 1945, and signed by “the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Alexis.”</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
If the Metropolia needed any proof that politically Moscow was still under complete communist control, this <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> furnished it. The Council of American Bishops, held May 22-25, 1945, decided not to accept the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> and declared that the Temporary Statue “was still in effect.”<sup>3 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The Metropolia’s flock, however, was quite impressed by Alexis’ <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span>. At a council of the New Jersey-district priests on August 3, 1945, the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span> was approved; and it was “unanimously” recommended to the forthcoming All-American Sobor that it agree to the Patriarch’s request to “refrain from political statements against the U.S.S.R.”<sup>4 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian,</span> pp. 98-9.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 99</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 100</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian,</span> p. 101.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
98</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In that same month (August, 1945) Metropolitan Anastasy was finally able to reëstablish contact with Metropolitan Theophilus. The resolution of the Chicago Council of Bishops reaffirming support for the Temporary Statue was approved by the Church Abroad.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
On September 17, 1945, Archbishop Alexis of Yaroslavl and Rostov arrived in America. He was met at the airport by the Metropolia bishops Alexis of Alaska and Makary of Brooklyn, and by a number of clergy and laity.<sup>1 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In his meetings with Metropolitan Theophilus, Archbishop Alexis demanded “that the Metropolia sever all relations with the Church Abroad and cease commemorating Metropolitan Anastasy, and that an All-America Sobor be convoked to be presided over by Archbishop Alexis.”<sup>2</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Theophilus capitulated. He wrote to Metropolitan Anastasy, saying that there was no longer any necessity for the presence of the Church Abroad in America and that the Metropolia planned “to recognize the Patriarch (of Moscow) as its spiritual head with only the following privileges: the blessing of myrrh, the hearing of complaints between bishops, the right to have relations with other Patriarchs, and the right of veto over the future elections of metropolitans of North America, but only on moral or canonical grounds.”<sup>3</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Such an “autonomy” would, of course, place the Metropolia directly under the control of the communists. The Patriarchate could and would have used its right to settle disputes between bishops, for example, to</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> pp. 103-4.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 107</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 108</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
99</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
maximum advantage.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
On December 11, 1945, Anastasy telegraphed back to Theophilus: “Your proposed union with the Patriarchate has not only a spiritual but a canonical character that binds you with its consequences. Such a union would be possible only if the Mother Church were completely free, and, moreover, only after a careful discussion of the matter at a general Sobor (of the entire Church Abroad), which at the present time cannot be convoked.<sup>1 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Anastasy concluded, “The overwhelming majority of the bishops, clergy, and believers who have been evacuated to Europe are decidedly against union with the Patriarchate, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">which</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">is</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">unfree</span>. The existence of the Synod is necessary to support the unity of Russian Orthodox parishes abroad and to avoid anarchy.”<sup>2</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Four American bishops – Archbishops Tikhon and Vitaly, and Bishops Ioasaph and Jerome – strongly opposed union. Two others, Makary and Alexis, decided to anticipate union and went over to the Moscow Patriarchate.<sup>3</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Metropolitan Theophilus, now playing a double game, in January, 1946, asked the Synod Abroad to confirm the election of Ioann Zlobin to the episcopate. At his ordination Ioann swore loyalty to Synod Abroad and Metropolitan Anastasy.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
On December 22, 1945, Archbishop Leonty (Turkevich) of the Metropolia, writing in the newspaper <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Rossiya</span>, decided to challenge Archbishop Alexis of Yaroslavl’s demand that the Metropolia break with the Greek</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span>, p. 109.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 111.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
100</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Abroad. He claimed that this could be done only by an All-American Sobor, since the All-American Sobor of 1937 had formed a union. He continued, “To speak as if the Synod Abroad does not exist is wrong, because it really does exist and nourishes Russian Orthodox people in Europe and outside of it. . . <span style="text-decoration: underline;">How</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ethical</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">would</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">it</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">be</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">to</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">abandon</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">these</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">bishops</span>, headed by Metropolitan Anastasy, when they are now in such great need of our moral and financial support? In their time they helped us obtain peace with a part of the American Orthodox flock and up to the present time have done nothing bad to us.”<sup>1</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
At the Great Bishops’ Council held in Detroit, May 22-24, 1946, it was decided (1) “after an exchange of opinions to recognize the necessity of coöperation with the Synod Abroad on the basis of brotherly union, taking into consideration the existing autonomy in America of our North American District; (2) to deem it both beneficial and necessary to send our representatives to the Synod Abroad in the future.”<sup>2 </sup>Bishop Jerome of Detroit was then appointed the Metropolia’s representative to the Synod for the term of one year. The Council also resolved to write the State Department in Washington asking approval for the arrival in America of Bishop Seraphim (Ivanov) and thirteen Russian monks for church work in the United States.<sup>3 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Soon the enemies of the Church Abroad began to move with renewed vigor. On October 27, 1946, five emigré intellectuals of the “Paris”</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span>, p. 113.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 116.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian,</span> p. 116.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
101</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Orientation, M. Karpovich, N. Timashev, G. Fedotov, P. Zubov, and G. Novitsky published an appeal the the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Novoye</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russkoye</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Slovo</span>, a New York Russian daily, asking that the decisions of the 1937 Sobor be abandoned and that the Metropolia go under Moscow on the basis of a broad autonomy. Thus the essentially sound reasoning of the majority of the Metropolia episcopacy was opposed by influential laymen. That one of the intellectuals, G. Fedotov, had even been a professor at the Paris Theological Institute is hardly surprising.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
On November 15, 1946, shortly before the gathering of the All-American Sobor, Theophilus wrote Anastasy: “It is my opinion that all bishops abroad should be in charge of the local administration of their districts, but should unite for natural assistance and cooperation under the leadership of one who is the most worthy and the eldest, either by length or ordination or rank, and who is elected by them. I am deeply convinced that the coming Sobor will obtain positive results and will assist many to understand the inner power of Catholicity in the Church, and that it (i.e., the Sobor) will repudiate a dictatorship stemming from Moscow.”<sup>1</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In his “pre-sobor address,” printed in the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">American</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Messenger</span> (November, 1946, no. 11) Theophilus said, “A particular interest is now being shown in Orthodox Americans by Moscow, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">by</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">so-called</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Patriarchal</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">which</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">in</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">reality</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">does</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">not</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">exist</span> – since, after the blessed repose of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, the election of his successors by All-Russian Church councils were conducted <span style="text-decoration: underline;">not</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">according</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">to</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">canons</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span> but by the ruling(<span style="text-decoration: underline;">ukaz</span>) of the atheist civil</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span>, pp. 120-1.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
102</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
authorities. For this reason, the Orthodox Church in the Soviet Union has become not a ‘Patriarchal’ but, on the contrary, a ‘Patriarch-less’ Church. For us members of the Orthodox Church in America, it is especially necessary that we heed the words of the holy Apostle Paul, ‘see then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise….’ (Ephesians 5:15-16).”</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Excellent advise which unfortunately Theophilus himself was soon to discard! And here is a newspaper-statement of Archbishop Leonty made after the Sobor had actually begun: “<span style="text-decoration: underline;">My</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">conscience</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">does</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">not</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">permit</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">me</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">to</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">submit</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">to</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Patriarch.</span> In the future the synod of Carlovtsy will come to America, and therefore it is not necessary for us to break ties with it.”<sup>1</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Once the All-American Sobor began in Cleveland, on November 26, 1946, however, the advice of the episcopate was thrown to the winds. In reporting this important Sobor we cite the official report given in the Metropolia’s own <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Messenger</span> (December, 1946, no. 12), which was written by the secretary of the Sobor, A. E. Bezsmertny.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
It begins: “Behind the episcopal table sat: in the center Blessed Metropolitan <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Theophilus;</span> to the right of him, the Archbishop of Western America, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Tikhon</span>, the Archbishop of Canada, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ioasaph</span>, the Bishop of Pittsburg, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Benjamin</span>, and the Bishop of Alaska, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ioann</span>, and to the left, the Archbishop of Eastern America <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Vitaly</span>, the Archbishop of Chicago <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Leonty</span>, the Bishop of Detroit <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Jerome</span>, and, as a guest, Bishop <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Seraphim</span> who had arrived only a few days previously.”<sup>2</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 122.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Messenger,</span> December, 1946, no. 12, p. 184.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
103</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
At three o’clock in the afternoon on November 26, the first session of the Sobor began: “It was given over to a hearing of the speeches of (1) the Bishop of Detroit Jerome ‘Concerning the situation of the Russian Church Abroad’; (2) Professor N. S. Timashev ‘Concerning the Church in the Soviet Union’; and (3) the speech of I. Kozitsky about our Metropolitan District during the time between the Sixth and Seventh All-American Sobors.”<sup>1 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Then: “The Sobor proceeded to a hearing of the instructions of the delegates from their places and wishes concerning the question of the mutual relations of our North American Metropolia with the Moscow Patriarchate and the Synod Abroad. In view of the special interest manifested in this question, the Presidium declared that all who wished the state their opinion of the question could do so. Seventy-five persons signed up. The time for each speaker was limited to from five to ten minutes. The hearing of their speeches took almost two full sessions. But, not withstanding the great number of speakers, it was possible to divide them into groups: (a) the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">minority</span> who stated that, in view of the fact that <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Moscow</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Patriarchate</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">was</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">still</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">not</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">free</span> and that the Patriach could not act without the control of the Soviet regime, it was necessary to wait on the matter of recognition (of Moscow) and in no way change the existing order in America. (b) The other group of speakers insisted on <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">immediate</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">recognition</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">by</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">our</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Metropolia</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Patriarch</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Moscow</span> as our Spiritual Head, on the confirmation of him by our existing autonomy of self-government in America. All the speakers strongly</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
104</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Declared that the Head of our church in America must be <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Metropolitan</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Theophilus.</span> There were persons who spoke of the necessity of establishing in America our own Patriarchate, independent of both Moscow and any foreign powers whatever. The majority of the speakers insisted on the immediate cessation of administrative ties with the Synod Abroad, headed by Metropolitan Anastasy.”<sup>1 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Then Metropolitan Theophilus, carried away by the mood of the meeting, gave a speech in which he contradicted his own counsel of the previous month. He declared: “Being autonomous in relation to the Moscow Patriarchate we must also be autonomous in relation to the Synod Abroad, with which, as with the other parts of the Russian Church, we shall have only a prayerful and brotherly relation.”<sup>2 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The report continues:</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
“After the end of the speech of His Eminence to Metropolitan, the Sobor sang him a ‘Many years.’ After this the speech of His Eminence the Metropolitan was translated in abbreviated form into English by Archpriest I. Pishtey. The Sobor was then presented four resolutions. First was the resolution of the Pittsburg clergy which was presented and then accepted by secret ballot. Here is its text:</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
“The Seventh All-American Church Sobor of the Orthodox Church in America, which has gathered in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, on November 26-29, 1946, after having affirmed our indestructible faith in and loyalty to our Eminence Metropolitan Theophilus and after a thorough</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Messenger,</span> December, 1946, no. 12, p. 184.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 185.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
105</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
discussion of our relation to our Mother Church the Moscow Patriarchate, asks His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow to unite us to his bosom and to remain our spiritual father, on condition that we shall keep our full autonomy existing at the present time.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
“’Our highest legal instance must remain our periodic American Church Sobors. At them we elect our metropolitans, select our rules (<span style="text-decoration: underline;">ustavy</span>) and fully direct our life.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
“’<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Since</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Moscow</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Patriarchate</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">is</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">incompatible</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">with</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Synod</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Abroad</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span>, the American Church ceases any administrative submission whatever to the Synod Abroad, although it will dwell in brotherly and prayerful communion with all Churches in the dispersion.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
“’In case His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow should find our conditions inacceptable, our American Orthodox Church will remain in the future self-governing until such time as the Moscow Patriarchate will find them acceptable and grant what we have asked.’”<sup>1</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The vote was 187 for and 61 against this resolution. It was protested by four of the eight voting bishops present (Vitaly, Tikhon, Ioasaph, and Jerome), twenty-six priests, and thirty-one laymen.<sup>2 </sup>After the vote was tabulated, elections took place for the Metropolitan Council and the Revision Commission. All undecided questions were given over to the Metropolitan Council for decision.<sup>3</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The Orthodox Church is, of course, not a Protestant assembly where</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Messenger,</span> December, 1946, no. 12, p. 185.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian,</span> p. 125.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Messenger,</span> p. 186.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
106</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
the simple majority rules. The bishops of the Metropolia, in conformity with the canons of the Orthodox Church, the Temporary Statute, and the rules under which the Metropolia was operating when the Sobor was convoked, were required to ratify the decisions of the Sobor before they could take effect. Since four of the eight bishops present staunchly opposed the Sobor’s decisions, and the other four, as evidenced by their pre-Sobor statements, were hardly 100% in favor of them, chances were very slim that such a ratification would take place. Realizing this, Archbishop Leonty and Bishop Benjamin decided to “hurry their departure” before the bishops could meet. Metropolitan Theophilus then seized upon the absence of the two hierarchs to declare that the meeting could not take place “in view of the departure of the two bishops.”<sup>1 </sup>Thus the Sobor’s decisions were <span style="text-decoration: underline;">not</span> confirmed and remained without any canonical significance.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The Sobor’s request that Patriarch Alexis accept the Metropolia with “full autonomy” drew the following answer from the Patriarch in Moscow: “In principle I do not have any objections to autonomy for our Orthodox Church in America. The Metropolitan of Leningrad, Grigory, will in the near future come to America to discuss with your Eminence (i.e. Theophilus) all questions in a peace-loving spirit. May the blessing of God be upon you and your flock. From now on I consider Your Eminence to be in prayerful communion with us. Concelebrate with Metropolitan Benjamin (of the Patriarchal Exarchate in America) as a sign of this communion.”<sup>2 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian,</span> p. 126.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian,</span> pp. 126-7.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
107</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
On January 28, 1947, Archbishop Leonty, suffering a remorse of conscience, wrote the following to Metropolitan Anastasy, “I am deeply ashamed that my former students of the seminary, now pastors of the Russian Orthodox Church, should have been so in favor, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">following</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">after</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">masses</span> (<span style="text-decoration: underline;">massa</span>), of recognizing His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow while not taking into consideration <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">clear</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">indications</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">his</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">more</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">than</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">submissive</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">position</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">in</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">U.S.S.R.</span> But the masses were in a mood strongly opposed to our connections with the Synod Abroad. . . The only way out was to preserve an autonomous existence both as regarding the Patriarch and the Synod.”<sup>1</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
It is unbelievable that a bishop of the Orthodox Church could write such a letter. Leonty himself bears witness that the Sobor was run by “mob rule.” But since when do archpastors of the Church feel that they have to submit, even against their consciences, to the “mob” dictates of their flock? Had Leonty not fled the Sobor, he could have joined Vitaly, Tikhon, Ioasaph, and Jerome in vetoing the Sobor’s decisions. What Leonty obviously feared was that such a move would lead to an exodus of rebellious parishes from the Metropolia. A number of wealthy and influential Carpatho-russian parishes had threatened to leave the Metropolia if it did not follow their will.<sup>2</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
On May 22, 1947, Archbishop Vitaly, who together with Tikhon, Jerome, and Ioasaph had been excluded from the Metropolia <span style="text-decoration: underline;">without</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">a</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">canonical</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">trial</span> (and such a trial would have been difficult to hold, since they made up half of the Metropolia episcopate, not counting Bishop Seraphim</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 133.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian,</span> p. 129.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
108</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
who was also of their opinion), wrote: “the abnormality of the matter of the resolutions of the Cleveland Sobor is evident first of all from the fact that, notwithstanding the fact that six months have passed, these decisions have been nowhere officially announced, have not been communicated to the bishops and signed by them, have not been presented to the Synod Abroad. One hears of them only from unofficial sources.”</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
He continues: “In accordance with paragraph 37 of the Instruction (Nakaz) to the Sobor (in the 1946, no. 1 <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">American</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Messenger</span>) all decisions of the Sobor can take legal effect only when they are approved by a conference of bishops. The Instruction is in full accordance with the canonical rules and the practice of the entire Orthodox Church, with the order of handling matters at the great Moscow Church Sobor of 1917-18, and with the order established by the North American Metropolitan District, following the decisions of the Chicago Sobor of 1936."<sup>1</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Vitaly concludes: “Such an ordering of ecclesiastical life, in which the highest legal power is vested in Church sobors composed in the main of lower clergy and laymen, with the bishops having only a single vote, is already <span style="text-decoration: underline;">completely</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">non</span>-<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox.</span>”<sup>2 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Vitaly’s statement was signed by Tikhon, Ioasaph, Jerome, and Seraphim.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
On July 17, 1947, Metropolitan Grigory of Leningrad arrived in the United States. He was met at the airport by Archbishop Leonty and a group</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 138</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span>, p. 140.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
109</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
of clergy.<sup>1 </sup>Then he was taken to the Metropolitan’s Second Street Cathedral where he was honored. Almost immediately, however, Leonty and Metropolitan Theophilus cooled toward their new guest. Writing in the Metropolia’s <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Messenger</span>, Leonty heatedly rejected Grigory’s request for a loyalty oath to the Soviet Government.<sup>2 </sup>In the August 8, 1947, issue of <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Novoye</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russkoye</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Slovo</span> Theophilus accused Grigory of trying to destroy the peace of the Church.<sup>3</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In October, 1947, according to Bishop Ioann (Shahovskoy) (a newly-ordained Metropolia bishop and violent enemy of the Church Abroad, who had played no small role at the Cleveland Sobor), Metropolitan Grigory let it be known he was willing to “soften” his loyalty demands. All that was necessary was for the Metropolia to submit to Moscow as an autonomous Church.<sup>4 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
A council of the bishops of the Metropolia held in San Francisco November 12-14, 1947 (Vitaly and his four like-minded brother-bishops were, of course, not invited), decided the following: (1) To put off the formation of canonical ties with Moscow to a more opportune time; (2) To continue to commemorate the suffering Church of Russia in the person of its First-hierarch, His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia; (3) To live on the former basis, carrying out full autonomy in Church life in accordance with the decisions of the Seventh All-American Church Sobor.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
This decision was signed by Theophilus, Leonty, Ioann of Alaska, and the new bishops Nikon of Philadelphia and Ioann (Shahovskoy) of</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 144.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 149.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 151.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 152.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
110</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Brooklyn.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
On December 14, 1947, Archbishop Vitaly convoked a council of those hierarchs who had remained faithful to the Church Abroad. Concerning the decisions of the Metropolia bishops’ conference in San Francisco, it was said, “The participants of the recent Bishops’ Council in San Francisco are <span style="text-decoration: underline;">consciously</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">intentionally</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">concealing</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">truth</span> and leading their flock into temptation by stating that they are now declaring <span style="text-decoration: underline;">not</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">autocephaly</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">but</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">autonomy</span> of the Russian Orthodox Metropolia in America. For anyone even slightly acquainted with the canons of the Church, it is obvious that if the American Metropolia does not have ties and relations with the Moscow Patriarchate of with any other highest Church centers but decides all ecclesiastical matters by herself, in complete independence, without being judicially dependent on anyone, then <span style="text-decoration: underline;">this</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">is</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">not</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ecclesiastical</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">autonomy</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">but</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">autocephaly</span>.”<sup>1</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Professor Bogolepov has recently admitted that Vitaly was right. In discussing the draft which the Metropolia submitted to Metropolitan Grigory of Leningrad, he remarks, “Criticizing this draft, Metropolitan Grigory <span style="text-decoration: underline;">correctly</span> noted that, while recognizing the Patriarch as ‘spiritual father,’ the plan ‘establishes an imaginary, nominal bond’ with him and in essence ‘already proposes not an autonomous but an <span style="text-decoration: underline;">autocephalous</span> government…’”<sup>2</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Upon learning of the Metropolia’s refusal, Patriarch Alexis, or rather his masters, decided that Metropolitan Grigory had done “all that</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span>, p. 154.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span>, March, 1970, p. 5.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
111</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
was possible to halt the division caused by that part of the Russian Orthodox Church which had gone into schism from the Mother Russian Church.”<sup>1 </sup> Archbishop Makary, formerly of the Metropolia, was named Patriarchal Exarch, and Archbishop Adam, also formerly of the Metropolia, was named his deputy.<sup>2 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Metropolitan Theophilus, Leonty of Chicago, Ioann of Alaska, Ioann of Brooklyn, and Bishop Nikon were subjected to an ecclesiastical trial “for stubborn opposition to the calls of the Mother Church to communion, for <span style="text-decoration: underline;">having</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">drawn</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">their</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">flock</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">into</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">schism</span> against the wish of the flock itself as expressed in the decisions of the Cleveland Sobor, and, above all, for the illegal ‘anathema’ (<span style="text-decoration: underline;">proklyatie</span>) placed on Archbishop Makary for having united with the Moscow Patriarchate.”<sup>3 </sup>The ban which had been placed on Theophilus on January 5, 1935, by Metropolitan Sergius and “conditionally removed” in January, 1947, by Patriarch Alexis was declared to be once more in effect. The ban was also extended to cover all the Metropolia bishops who had followed Theophilus into “schism.”<sup>4</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Was this not, one might ask Professor Bogolepov and Fr. Meyendorff, a “canonical” action of the “Mother Church”? If so, then the Metropolia was ejected from the Church and her sacraments rendered null and void for the next twenty-three years.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In February, 1948, the Moscow Patriarchate seized St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York from the Metropolia by a court action.<sup>5</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Russian, p. 155.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span>, p. 155.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 156.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
112</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The Metropolia’s recognition of Patriarch Alexis as its “spiritual head” left it no defense against the Patriarchate, which was to seize a number of Metropolia parishes through the courts in the years which followed.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In September, 1948, the Metropolia lost an even more important legal case to the Church Abroad in the Superior Court of Los Angeles. The trial lasted twenty days. The Metropolia was represented by Metropolitan Theophilus, who was questioned for five entire days, Protopresbyter G. Lomako, Archpriest A. Kukulevsky, two lawyers, the Episcopalian scholar O. Harris, and a Mr. Vysheslavtsev. The Church Abroad was represented by Archpriest Michael Polsky and two lawyers. Archbishop Tikhon was questioned for half an hour.<sup>1 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
“Everyone had the ‘Book of Canons’ in English. The Metropolia’s lawyer had up to thirty books in English and Russian, and he gave them and translations from them to the judge to read. The canons were checked against original Greek and dictionaries were used.”<sup>2</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The representatives for the Metropolia actually bore witness against themselves. When, for example, Fr. Lomako was questioned on a certain canon, he said: “That canon refers to an autocephalous Church. What autocephaly does this Church (I.e. the Metropolia) have?” When asked if the canons spoke of the laity’s right to govern the Church (as happened at the Cleveland Sobor), Fr. Lomako said they did not.<sup>3 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Thus by the mercy of God, the truth about the Church Abroad triumphed over the lawlessness of the Metropolia in Los Angeles civil</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span>, p. 160.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 161.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
113</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
court.<sup>1</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The Court decided: “The Bishops’ council and the Holy Synod of the Church Abroad constitute the supreme judicial tribunals of the Church organization upon matters of faith, discipline, general policy, and tenets of the Church.”<sup>2</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Concerning the Cleveland Sobor of 1946 which led the Metropolia into schism from the Church Abroad, the court stated, “The defendants (viz., the Metropolia) have cited no canon to support their contention that supreme power is lodged in a general sobor composed of bishops, clergy, and laity. As was previously stated in this opinion, a study of the canons has convinced the court that the control of the Church and its maintenance has been placed in the bishops themselves. Unless it is necessary for all matters acted upon by a general Sobor, affecting the whole Church, to be submitted to the conference of bishops, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">it</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">would</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">be</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">possible</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">for</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">control</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">to</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">be</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">almost</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">completely</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">in</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">hands</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">laity.</span>”<sup>3 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Thus a purely objective law court saw what the Metropolia would not and still refuses to see – that the Cleveland Sobor of 1946 was “Robber Council” without canonical significance, and that by separating itself from the Church Abroad in 1946 the Metropolia went into schism and left the unity of the Church of Christ.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Anyone concerned with the canonical status and moral position of the Metropolia should read this decision, which was reprinted in the original English by Jordanville Monastery in 1949 under the title <i>In the Superior Court of the State of California</i>.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">In</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Superior</span>, p. 15.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 18.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
114</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
From 1946 until 1970 the Metropolia continually aggravated her state of schism. Metropolitan Loenty, who in 1950 succeeded the deceased Theophilus, often intimated to Metropolitan Anastasy that union was still possible; yet when in 1963 he was approached by the notorious enemy of Christ, Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningard, Leonty started the negotiations which were to lead to the receipt of autocephaly in 1970 under his successor Metropolitan Ireney. Thus, after the fiascoes of 1924, 1927, and 1946, the Metropolia finally received a nominal “autocephaly” on her fourth attempt.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
To conclude this treatment of the Metropolia’s tragic history, we will deal briefly with the attempts of Professor Bogolepov to rationalize the unjustifiable and explain the inexplicable.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Bogolepov, trying desperately to challenge the 1948 decisions of the California Superior Court in favor of the Synod, first aims his legal arrows against the Temporary Statute, - an embarrassing document for a Church which he asserts to have been autocephalous since 1924. He claims that the Statute was not accepted “in the wording accepted by the Bishops’ Sobor at Carlovtsy in 1935.”<sup>1 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
“The American Metropolitanate could not be united with the Russian dioceses abroad without the approval of the Statute of the All-American Sobor. The Sixth All-American Sobor of 1937 adopted the 1935 Provisional Statute subject to certain adjustments to local conditions of the (American Metropolitan) district.”<sup>2 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Bogoletov, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Towards</span>, p. 64.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
115</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
He continues: “The most important change of the Provisional Statute was the preservation of the All-American Sobor, vested with the power to resolve the problems of Church organization by virtue of its own authority.”<sup>1 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
At the 1937 Sobor, according to Bogoletov, “the bishops appointed by the Bishops’ Synod Abroad requested that the amendments adopted by the Sobor be submitted to the Bishops’ Sobor Abroad for approval, but the All-American Sobor rejected this suggestion.”<sup>2 </sup> Finally the Sobor agreed to submit its decisions to the Bishops’ Sobor Abroad” for its ‘information’ only and not for ‘approval.’”<sup>3 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Unlike Professor Bogolepov, we can scarcely applaud this action on the part of the 1937 Sobor. While conforming the “Temporary Statute,” according to which the highest administrative and judicial organ of the entire Church Abroad was the yearly Bishops’ Council of the representatives of the four metropolitan districts, the Sobor sought to keep the All-American Sobor itself out of the control of the Bishops’ Councils. Thus, while all decisions of the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">bishops’</span> councils of the American Metropolia had to be approved by the Bishops’ Councils in Carlovtsy,<sup>4 </sup>the All-American Sobors themselves were supposed to be free of such controls. It would appear, therefore, that even when entering the Church Abroad the Metropolia engaged in duplicity. However, one wonders if Bogolepov’s attempt to circumvent the clear implications of the 1937 decision actually succeeds. If under the new arrangement the councils of the Church Abroad could veto</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> p. 67.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> pp. 67-8.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Bogolepov, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Towards,</span> p. 68.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> pp. 68-9.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
116</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
decisions of the Metropolia bishops’ councils, could they not also veto the decisions of these councils to convoke an All-American Sobor? Surely the decision of the American bishops was necessary to call the Sobors.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In any case, the Church Abroad, knowing by painful experience what the intentions of the Metropolia were, decided to apply extreme “economy” at this point, hoping that once the Metropolia had entered the unity of the Church Abroad, she would gradually lose her harmful “autocephalous” yearnings.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Bogoletov also tries to cast doubts on the 1937 Sobor by stating that its decisions are suspect because bishops, clergy, and laity of the Church Abroad participated in the voting, and because the vote to accept the Temporary Statute was only 105 for, 9 against, with 122 abstensions.<sup>1 </sup>Thus the great spontaneous thrust for union of the Church Abroad and Metropolia is considered by Attorney Bogoletov as an “evil,” and the fact that 122 individuals were afraid to express their opinion a legal factor. There is no question (here one can agree with Bogoletov) that the union of the Metropolia and the Synod in America was carried out by Patriarch Vatnava of Serbia, the Church Abroad, and a <span style="text-decoration: underline;">responsible</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">minority</span> of the Metropolia. The “masses,” to use Archbishop Leonty’s phrase, were always desirous of autocephaly.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
When Bogoletov comes to the Cleveland Sobor of 1946, which dissolved the union of the Metropolia with the Church Abroad, he again manifests his ultra-juridical mentality: “The question arises. . . as to why the decision of the Seventh All-American Sobor to end its relationship with the Church</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.,</span> pp. 71-2.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
117</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Abroad was not submitted for approval to the bishops who attended the Sobor, although a rule to that effect was promulgated by Metropolitan Theophilus in his ‘Instruction’ prior to the holding of the Sobor. During the course of the sessions this provision was changed by the Sobor, which resolved that its decisions not be submitted for the approval of the Bishops’ Conference.”<sup>1</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Bogoletov admits that this action “violated the rules of procedure” (to say nothing of the Holy Canons), but hastens to add, in what is surely one of the finest pieces of pettifoggery ever: “But a violation of the rules of procedure may invalidate a resolution only if such violation substantially leads to the adoption of the resolution. In this case, however, the resolution of the Sobor – accepted without submitting it to the Bishops’ Conference for approval – <span style="text-decoration: underline;">would</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">have</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">been</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">approved</span> unchanged if it had been submitted to that Conference. The All-American Sobor of 1946 was attended by nine bishops only. One of them, Bishop Seraphim, was there only as a guest and had no right to vote. Four bishops belonged to the Carlovtsy group and were against the resolution of the Sobor, while the other four, headed by Metropolitan Theophilus, supported it. In the case of a tie the deciding vote is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">usually</span> (!) cast by the president.”<sup>2</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
This last statement did not satisfy even Bogoletov’s own colleague at St. Vladimir’s Seminary, Professor Nicholas Aresniev, who wrote in his review of Bogoletov’s <i>Toward an American Orthodox Church</i>, “In one passage (pp. 69-70) where, referring to the fact that the decisions</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ibid., p. 69.</li>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ibid., pp. 69-70.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
118</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
of the All-American Sobor held in 1946 have <span style="text-decoration: underline;">not</span> been submitted for approval to a conference of bishops of the Sobor, the author emits the opinion that no importance has to be attached to these circumstances. He seems to abandon here his usual strongly juridical way of approach and his argument appears to me here less impressive than in other cases.”<sup>1</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Professor Aresniev is too kind. Alexander Bogoletov’s attempt to explain away a shocking infringement of the canons should cause those (such as Katherine Valone of the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Logos</span>) who were impressed by his juridical argumentation to take another look at <i>Toward an American Orthodox Church</i>. Consider how Bogoletov in speaking of the Cleveland Sobor invents a new canonical body – the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">conditional</span> council of Bishops which <span style="text-decoration: underline;">would</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">have</span> done such-and-such <span style="text-decoration: underline;">if</span> it had met. Just as he constructs a fictitious “autocephaly” in 1924, so he has a hypothetical Metropolia Bishops’ Council hypothetically approve the Cleveland Sobor’s actions. For the Orthodox Church, however, a council not held is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">no</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">council</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">at</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">all</span>. The Cleveland Sobor remains what it is, a Robber Council, and the beginning of a new Metropolia schism.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
We conclude this chapter with an appeal to the American Metropolia issued by Archbishop Vitaly after the 1946 schism, and which is particularly relevant today:</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
“Brethren, Orthodox people of America and Canada! It has long been time for us to cease our vacillations, to accept Church discipline, to bring ourselves to order, to abandon our willfulness and arbitrariness, to stand on the path of legality and the Church canons. We cannot continually cast</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">S.V.S.Q.</span>, vol. VIII, no. 1, 1964, p. 50.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
119</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
ourselves from one side to the other, extract autonomy and at times <span style="text-decoration: underline;">autocephaly</span> as well by illicit means, as if there were some dire need for getting around the law. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">There</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">can</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">be</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">no</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Divine</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">blessing</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">on</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">such</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">acts.</span> There is no other way before God, conscience, and law for the whole Russian Church Abroad, separated as she is from the Mother Church by theomachistic, false, and hypocritical regime of deceivers, than to unite under the authority of a council of all Russian Bishops abroad and its permanent organ, the Bishops’ Synod.”1<sub> </sub></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sub></sub><br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Vitaly, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">op.</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">cit.,</span> p. 50.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
Appendix (?)<br />
Undated Decree<br />
possibly included in a later edition of this manuscript.</div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
The Sobor of Bishops, having heard the report of the Synod of </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
Bishops about the fact of the so called Metropolia has received </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
autocephaly from the Moscow patriarchate, approves of all the steps </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
taken by the Synod of Bishops to convince Metropolitan Ireney and his </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
associates of the falacy of their decision, which increases the rift </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
provoked in 1946 by the Cleveland Sobor with the Russian Orthodox </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
Church Outside of Russia.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
The American Metropolia has received its autocephaly from the </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
Moscow Patriarchate, which does not have a true succession from His </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
Holiness Patriarch Tikhon ever since the time when Metropolitan </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
Sergius, later called the Patriarch, broke his obligations toward the </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne, Metropolitan Peter, and </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
embarked on a course which was immediately condemned by the eldest </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
Ecarchs of the Russian Church. The Moscow Patriarchate, more and more </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
subservient to the influence of the atheistic and anti-christ </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
goverment, ceased to be the voice of the Russian Orthodox Church. </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
Therefore, as correctly stated by the Synod of Bishops, none of its </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
acts, including the granting of autocephaly to the North American </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
Metropolia, have any legal effect. Besides, independently of this, </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
this act, which has affected the rights of other numerous Churches </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
has resulted in protests by a number of Orthodox Churches which have </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
severed relations with the American Metropolia. </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
Observing with sorrow this illegal act and acknowledging it to be </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
without effect, the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
Outside of Russia, up to now not relinquishing the hope for the </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
reunification of the American Church unity detects in the </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
announcement of the American autocephaly a step leading the American </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
Metropolia to even further rift away from unification of the Russian </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
Church. Seeing in it a mortal sin toward the subservient and </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
suffering Russian Church, the Synod of Bishops<br />
<br />
DECREES: That hereafter, the clergy as well as the laity should not have spiritual </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
or liturgical relation with the hierarchy and clergy of the American </div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
Metropolia." </div>
<div style="color: #232323; font-family: Courier; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12000679422093371576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1020715264465191896.post-38675451948506723402011-03-30T17:57:00.003-07:002018-11-26T14:23:39.527-08:00Chapter IV: Is The Metropolia Ready For Autocephaly?<div style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
The preceeding chapters have demonstrated that since 1946 the American Metropolia has been in a state of schism from the Church Abroad. Being in such a state, she could of course in no way be considered "ready" for autocephaly.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Moreover, in other respects as well the Metropolia is demonstrably unprepared for autocephaly. This has been pointed out recently by the Church Abroad in a whole series of letters and articles appearing in the Russian daily <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Novoye Ruskoye Slovo</span>, the Synod's bi-monthly Russian publication <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox Russia</span>, and in its English publications <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Orthodox Word</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox Life</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodoxy</span>, and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Orthodox Christian Witness</span>. A typical statement on the question is the letter of Hierodeacon John [Melander] of Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, New York, to the magazine <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Logos</span>: "As for Orthodoxy in America in general, it is not ready for such a move [as autocephaly]. Namely, <b>it has not yet shown the fruits of piety in this new land</b>, in the words of Metropolitan Philaret [of the Synod]. When a regional Church is prepared to receive independence, it must demonstrate that it has matured sufficiently for such a move, that Orthodoxy has become firmly rooted in that region, that its spiritual life is flourishing in the highest degree, and that it is able to look after its own self. Until such a time, it is like a child which must live under the guidance and protection of its mother. But what do we see in America? Can one really say that Orthodoxy is flourishing here? <b>On the contrary, one can say that there is a falling away</b>. <span style="font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Courier;">[Logos, May, 1970, p. 2]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Fr. Melander's comments will no doubt prove unimpressive to Metropolia adherents, who will probably protest that Orthodoxy is flourishing in America, that a "new era" has arrived. To back up Fr. Melander's statement, therefore, we shall call on Fr. Alexander Schmemann, dean of St. Vladimir's Seminary and leading Metropolia spokesman. In a series of articles entitled "Problems of Orthodoxy in America," published in <span style="text-decoration: underline;">St. Vladimir's Seminary Quarterly</span>, Fr. Alexander drew on his long experience with the life of the Metropolia to show the terrible state of affairs the jurisdiction is actually in. Throughout these articles one hears a muted cry of despair over a disintegrating Orthodoxy.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
In his article devoted to "The Spiritual Problem," Fr. Alexander affirms that, "<b>Orthodoxy in America is in the midst of a serious spiritual crisis which endangers its very existence as Orthodoxy</b>." <span style="font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Courier;">[S.V.S.Q., vol. IX, no. 4, 1965, p. 171]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 12px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
He continues:</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
"Nothing probably reveals better the nature of the crisis than the impressive amount of doctrines, rules, teachings, and customs which, although taken for granted for centuries as essential for Orthodoxy, are by a wide consensus declared to be 'impossible' here in America. Speak to a Bishop, then to a priest, be he old or young, speak finally to an active and dedicated layman and you will discover that in spite of all the differences between their respective points of view they all agree on the same 'impossibilities.' Thus you will learn that <b>it is impossible to enforce here the canonical norms of the Church</b>, impossible to preserve from the wonderfully rich liturgical traditions of the Church anything except Sunday morning worship and a few 'days of obligation' common in fact to all 'denominations,' impossible to interest people in anything but social activities, impossible. . .But when you add up all these and many other 'impossibilities' <b>you must conclude, if you are logical and consistent, that for some reason it is impossible for the Orthodox Church in America to be Orthodox</b>, at least in the meaning given this term 'always, everywhere by all.'" <span style="font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Courier;">[S.V.S.Q., vol. IX, no. 4, 1965, pp. 171-2]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
He goes on: "There have always been minimalistic attitudes among clergy and laity. But they were always recognized as such, never accepted as the <b>norm</b>. A Christian could think it impossible <b>for him </b>to live by Christian standards, but it never entered his mind to minimize the demands of the Church." <span style="font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Courier;">[Ibid., p. 172]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
The Metropolia and other jurisdictions in America, according to Fr. Alexander, have done just that -- tacitly agreed to accept the minimal as the norm. If, one is tempted to ask, there is a "consensus" that traditional Orthodoxy is "impossible" in America and that minimalism must be the norm in Church life, then how can it be that the Metropolia is "ready" for autocephaly, i.e., total self-government and the complete management of her own affairs?</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Fr. Alexander continues his indictment:</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Courier; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
"The spiritual crisis of Orthodoxy in America consists, therefore, in the fact that in spite of. . .absolute incompatibility,<b>Orthodoxy is in the process of a progressive surrender to secularism</b>, and this surrender is all the more tragic because it is unconscious." <span style="font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Courier;">[S.V.S.Q., vol. IX, no. 4, 1965, p. 175]</span><br />
<span style="font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Courier;"><br /></span>
<span style="font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Courier;"><br /></span>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Fr. Alexander then moves on to a discussion of various aspects of Church life in the Metropolia. Thus he has the following to say about her bishops:</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
“An old Bishop, himself a holy and lovable man, once told me the story of his pastoral visit to one of the big parishes. Everything ‘went fine’ – the solemn service, the banquet in the best hotel, the visit with the Mayor, Congressman, and other local powers. But then, he said, <b>something strange happened</b>. A young woman asked him for an appointment and wanted him to tell her about spiritual life. The old bishop was deeply astonished. So obviously this incident was out of pattern, out of touch with his whole experience as pastor, administrator, and bishop.” <span style="background-color: #caf0fe;">[<i>Ibid</i>., p. 181.]</span> </div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Concerning the Metropolia parishes he states:</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
“The parish constitutes the main battlefield of the war between Orthodoxy and the growing secularization of the American Orthodox. It is here that the spiritual crisis is made obvious by <b>the progressive lack of communication and understanding between clergy and laity</b>, on the one hand, and by <b>the impoverishment of the liturgical and spiritual content of Orthodoxy</b> on the other hand.” <span style="background-color: #caf0fe;">[<i>Ibid., </i>p. 182.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Of the Metropolia laity Fr. Alexander has this to say:</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
“A recent survey shows that <b>more that seventy-five percent of parishioners in ‘good standing’ have never read the Gospel</b> – except what they hear in Church on Sunday – not to speak of the Old Testament.” <span style="background-color: #caf0fe;">[<i>S.V.S.Q., </i>vol. IX, no. 4, 1965, p. 190.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In another article, “The Task of Orthodox Theology in America Today,” Fr. Alexander asks, “How long shall we leave unnoticed <b>the quick decay in liturgy, spirituality, and monasticism – the traditional sources of Orthodox piety and continuity?</b>” <span style="background-color: #caf0fe;">[<i>Ibid., </i>vol. X, no. 4, 1966, p. 188.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
A jurisdiction rapidly succumbing to secularism, whose bishops, clergy, and laity have virtually abandoned traditional Orthodoxy, a jurisdiction where “liturgy, spirituality, and monasticism” are in a state of “quick decay” – is such a jurisdiction “overripe” for autocephaly as the Metropolia leadership and its <b>Logos</b> fellow-travellers now claim? In any case, the Fr. Alexander Schmemann of 1965-66 witnesses strongly and convincingly to the contrary.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
It ought also to be mentioned the Fr. Alexander omitted certain problems – for example, the very heavy inroads being made by Masonry into the membership of the Metropolia. He also overlooked the woeful shortage of clergy in the Metropolia. In her recent wild and reckless dash for autocephaly the Metropolia boasted that she had <b>over 400 parishes</b>. This was a typical Metropolia half-truth. According to an article by Fr. Kallistos Timothy Ware of Oxford, which appeared recently in the <i>Eastern Churches Review</i> under the title “Orthodoxy in America: Some Statistics,” <b>174</b> of the 411 parishes claimed by the Metropolia are without a priest. <span style="background-color: #caf0fe;">[<i>Eastern Churches Review, </i>vol. II, no. 1, Spring, pp. 73-4.]</span> In Alaska and Canada, where priestly vocations are low, the situation is desperate. As a point of comparison one might take the American Greek Archdiocese, which, according to Fr. Ware, claims 420 parishes. Of these only 41 are without a priest. According to the statistics presented by Fr. Ware, the Metropolia's priestless parish percentage is <b>by far</b> the worst of any jurisdiction in America.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The spiritual life of the American Metropolia is, furthermore, being rapidly undermined by another force which Fr. Schmemann ignores because this time he is one of its foremost representatives. We are speaking of <b>theological modernism</b>.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In Chapter II of this study it was shown that theological modernism was one of the principal causes leading to the schism of Metropolitan Evlogy’s diocese from the Church Abroad. Fr. Schmemann, Fr. Meyendorff, and a number of other <b>emigré</b> Metropolia leaders who received their theological training at the Theological Institute in Paris inevitably brought the “Paris spirit” with them to America. They do not conceal but rather boast of their love for the Theological Institute. Thus, for example, Fr. Meyendorff writes in his book <i>The Orthodox Church</i>, “Paris quickly became the chief intellectual center for the Russian emigration. Nicholas Berdiaev, Serguis Bulgakov, and many other leading thinkers helped to acquaint the West with the thought, spirituality, and traditions of the Christian East. The Theological Institute of St. Sergius in Paris, under the guidance of Metropolitan Eulogios and a group of capable and talented professors, has trained more than 150 Orthodox priests and has taken a very active part in promoting ecumenical discussions over the years." <span style="background-color: #caf0fe;">[<i>The Orthodox Church, </i>New York, 1962, pp. 187-8.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Fr. Meyendorff to the contrary, the thought of Nicholas Berdiaev had precious little to do with the “thought, spirituality, and traditions of the Christian East.” According to his own admission, Berdiaev was most profoundly affected by the wildly heretical Western Gnostic and spiritualist Jacob Boehme and a host of Western free-thinkers. As for Fr. Sergius Bulgakov, Dean of the Theological Institute until his death in 1944, words fail even to describe the attacks he mounted against the Orthodox faith. Condemned as a heresiarch by both the Church Abroad and the Moscow Patriarchate (through the efforts of Vladimir Lossky) for his blasphemous neo-Gnostic doctrine of “Sophiology,” Bulgakov was sheltered by Metropolitan Evlogy and the staff of the Institute.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In our treatment of the Institute staff we shall concentrate not on their neo-Gnosticism (which is obviously un-Orthodox for anyone with even the slightest insight into the faith), but rather on their ecclesiology, for it is here that St. Vladimir’s in New York is the direct heir of St. Sergius’ in Paris.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The question concerns the “limits of the Church.” The traditional Orthodox doctrine, as taught unanimously by Scripture and the Holy Fathers of the Eastern Church, is that the limits of the Church on earth correspond exactly to the canonical limits of the Orthodox Church. No grace is communicated through the Mysteries (sacraments) of those outside the one holy, catholic, and apostolic Orthodox Church. This teaching, illustrated and defended with brilliant lucidity by the holy martyrs St. Cypian of Carthage, has always been maintained by the Orthodox Church, with the qualification that (as formulated in St. Basil the Great’s first holy canon) some heterodox may at times through “economy” be accepted without the repetition of the rites of baptism. Thus for “the salvation of the greater number” the Church is prepared under certain conditions to relax her canonical strictness (<b>akribeia</b>), and give to the dead ceremonial forms of certain heretics upon their being admitted to the Orthodox Church. This practice received confirmation with Canon VII of the Second Oecumenical Council and in subsequent Councils of the Orthodox Church. Outside the canonical limits of the Orthodox Church, however, the sacraments of heterodox are null and void, conveying no Grace. Further, although by the infinite mercy of our Saviour any man may be saved, the Orthodox Church has always taught the necessity of being in her ranks for certainty of salvation. Outside the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Christ the likelihood of salvation is infinitely less than in her Grace-filled Body which unites heaven and earth.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The Western Church fell away from this correct Orthodox teaching at an early date. Augustine of Hippo in his <b>De Baptismo</b> and elsewhere elaborated a theory according to which true sacraments, or at least their “character” or “stamp,” can be administered even in heresy. St. Cypian’s doctrine was rejected. The Western scholastics seized upon Augustine’s mistaken formulations and developed an entire system in which true Mysteries, including the Saviour himself in the Holy Eucharist, can belong to those outside the one Church. This doctrine infiltrated Russia in the XVIII and XIX centuries and was even held by Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow. At all times, however, there could be found men in Russia who voiced the correct Orthodox teaching, which was held unswervingly by the Greek Churches of the time. Thus, Alexis Khomyakov, the great lay theologian, insisted on the uniqueness of the Orthodox Church and denied that true Mysteries could exist outside her. Similar declarations were made by God-bearers such as Bishop Ignaty Bryanchanninov, Bishop Thoephan the Recluse, Staretz Amvrossy of Optima, and Father John of Kronstadt. In the XX century the doctrine was taught by Metropolitan Antony of Kiev and Archbishop Hilarion (Troitsky). Had the Revolution not occurred, it is quite certain that the traditional Orthodox teaching would have prevailed.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The “Paris theologians,” sheltered by Metropolitan Evlogy, elected to take the Scholastic doctrine of the “limits of the Church” to its logical conclusion. Here is a typical statement of Fr. Bulgakov’s: “The efficacy of the Sacraments is mutually recognized by the divided Churches, at least by Orthodox and Rome. The sacrament of the Eucharist is also regarded as effective: it is <b>valid</b>, <b>but not effective</b> <span style="background-color: #caf0fe;">[quibble invented by Augustine and put to great use by the Western Scholastics]</span> beyond the limits of one’s own Church for the members of the divided Churches. Of course <b>if we absolutely deny the validity of the sacraments outside a particular confession</b> (as is the case still with certain Orthodox theologians who are of this opinion, viz., the Metropolitan Anthony (of Kiev) and others), <b>then the very question of any union in the sacrament falls to the ground</b>. But <b>if we recognize the validity of the sacrament</b>, which is in fact the case both with the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Churches, then the question arises, <b>may not this efficacy of the sacrament become real in actual Intercommunion</b>…?" <span style="background-color: #caf0fe;">[<i>Sobornost</i>, June 1935, p. 9.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Consistently following his blasphemous and completely indefensible sophistries to the end, Bulgakov advocated intercommunion – at least for a certain “elect” between Orthodoxy and Anglicanism and Orthodoxy and Rome – before the attainment of doctrinal unity.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Haven given true sacraments to the heterodox, Bulgakov and his followers then turned on all those such as Metropolitan Antony, head of the Church Abroad, who defended the uniqueness of the Orthodox Church.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Thus, Nicholas Zernov, a former secretary of the Russian Student Christian Movement, writes: “<b>It is not heretics and schismatics, but zealous Christians, who have inflicted the greatest harm upon the Church</b>, by cutting off from their fellowship all who would not follow <b>their</b> form of worship, by persecuting those who do not accept <b>their</b> interpretation of the Incarnation. . . . The task before the Christian Church today, therefore, is not reunion – the Church has always been and always will be one – but reconciliation among its disunited members…” <span style="background-color: #caf0fe;">[<i>The Reintegration of the Church</i>, London, 1952, pp. 33-4.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Consider how Zernov blasphemes the decisions of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Oecumenical Councils of the Orthodox Church (“<b>their</b> interpretation of the Incarnation”), and mocks the very idea that heretics could have left the oneness of the Church.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Since all heterodox are granted membership in the one Church through their possession of its sacraments and are therefore “Christians,” the belief that they should be converted to Orthodoxy was attacked by the leaders of the Paris diocese. Metropolitan Evlogy openly condemned the principle of proselytism: “The principle of proselytizing among Christians belonging to a different Church is incompatible with the Spirit of Christ’s teaching and has little in common with apostolic zeal.” <span style="background-color: #caf0fe;">[In L.A. Zander, Vision and Action, London, 1953, p. 158.]</span> Showing that he has inherited the principle of non-proselytism, Fr. Meyendorff of the Metropolia writes in his <i>The Orthodox Church</i>, “Owing to the presence of Russian emigrés, <b>but without and efforts at proselytism on their part</b>, a number of Western Orthodox communities began to be formed in France and Germany….” <span style="background-color: #caf0fe;">[<i>The Orthodox Church</i>, New York, 1962, p. 188.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Fr. Meyendorff seems to be implying that any attempt to persuade heretics to return to the unity of the Church is at least in bad taste and probably morally wrong. He is fully in accord with Metropolitan Evlogy on this point.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
This irresponsible attitude is set forth most clearly in a book by Professor L. A. Zander of the Theological Institute, entitled <i>Vision and Action</i>. Zander, who died in 1964, asks: “What is a heretic for us if we consider him <b>sine ire et studio</b>? In the first instance a brother, <b>a brother in Christ</b>, for <b>only a Christian can be called a heretic</b>.” <span style="background-color: #caf0fe;">[<i>Vision and Action</i>, London, 1953, p. 101.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
One must in all seriousness ask whether Professor Zander has ever read pronouncements of the Church Fathers on heretics. Certainly he presents a totally new and wholly un-Orthodox view of those who have left the Church of the Apostles.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Zander relates the following story as an illustration of his maxim. In May, 1927, Fr. Sergius Bulgakov, “who combined keen confessional consciousness with profound ecumenical conviction,” returned from an interconfessional conference at Lausanne. He was “grieved and disappointed.” “When he had raised his voice to defend the veneration of Our Lady….the chairman of the meeting would not allow him to speak, and Fr. Sergius felt this as an act of hostility towards the most intimate truth of Orthodoxy. Talking about Protestants (whom he viewed, in general, with certain severity) I asked him: ‘But you love them, don’t you? Why?’ His answer may sound like a truism, but he put into it such power of conviction and vision that it seemed to me, as it were, the solution of the whole problem of ecumenism. ‘<b>Because they are Christians</b>,’ he said, ‘And can one fail to love a Christian?’” <span style="background-color: #caf0fe;">[<i>Vision and Action</i>, p. 99.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Bulgakov and Zander exhibit here a strange disregard for those decisions of the Third and Fifth Ecumenical Councils which explicitly anathematize all who will not venerate the Mother of our blessed Saviour.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Evlogy’s principle of non-proselytism elicits the following comment from Zander: “In practice it means that, <b>although I see that my brother is erring, I make no attempt to disabuse him of his errors and to set him in the way of truth</b>. The first conclusion to be drawn from this is that those errors are not an absolute obstacle to salvation, and that <b>heretics can be saved</b>.” <span style="background-color: #caf0fe;">[<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 113.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
What can we say to this? Yes, it is possible that by the infinite mercy of God some heretics <b>may</b> be saved. But it is sheer madness to conclude, as Zander does, that false beliefs have little or no bearing on salvation. Here again Zander shows his complete blindness to the entire Orthodox tradition.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
What are we to think of an episcopate which permitted the dissemination of such dangerous ideas? And why did not the other members of the faculty at the Paris Theological Institute condemn the book? On the contrary, it seems the Prof. Zander’s former colleagues and students – Fr. Alexander among them – retain the most positive impression of Zander.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In an article dedicated to the memory of the recently-deceased Zander, Fr. Schmemann writes: “Professor Zander died in a train while returning to Paris after a lecturing tour in Germany; this death was indeed symbolical: for the last forty years he was constantly ‘on the go,’ <b>a real itinerant apostle of Orthodoxy</b>.” <span style="background-color: #caf0fe;">[<i>S,V.S.Q., </i>vol. IX, no. 1, 1965, p. 40.)</span> Zander’s <i>Vision and Action</i> from which we have quoted is proclaimed by Fr. Schmemann “an important book on the ecumenical movement.” <span style="background-color: #caf0fe;">[<i>Loc. cit</i>.]</span> The testimonial continues: “To us L. A. remains an inspiring image of a layman <b>totally devoted to the Church</b>, truly and fully living her life, the example of a wonderful apostolic zeal, and, last but not least, of <b>genuine Christianity</b>.” Although Fr. Schmemann concedes frequent disagreement between himself and Zander on a number of issues, he concludes as follows: “no disagreement (with Zander), however radical, could have any impact on personal friendship and mutual respect.” <span style="background-color: #caf0fe;">[<i>Loc. cit</i>.]</span> </div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<i></i><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Fr. Schmemann in the Parisian tradition refuses to criticize the disastrous doctrines of Zander. “Friendship – sentimentality interpreted – is here made an ultimate value. The contrast with the attitude of the saintly Fathers of the Church could not be more striking. Could we for a minute imagine St. Athanasius, for example, calling Arius “an inspiring image,” an “example of genuine Christianity”?</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Let us forget that both Zander and Fr. Schmemann lay claim to being theologians.<b> </b>As such, their function is to illuminate the faith for the faithful, to search for means of expressing the eternal truths of Orthodoxy, to build <b>within</b> the living tradition. The intellectual content of the faith cannot, by definition, be unimportant to them. And yet we see Zander unflinchingly and unequivocally jettisoning large and essential parts of traditional Orthodox doctrine, while Fr. Schmemann assumes a <b>laissez-faire</b> attitude towards him.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
It is unfortunate that the whole atmosphere of the Paris Theological Institute was conductive to just such episodes. Where theological innovation was the norm and episcopal control was lax or non-existent, a disciplined commitment to traditional Orthodoxy could not but give way to unbridled speculations and theological license.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Bulgakov, Zernov, and Zander were the more prominent exponents of the Paris Theological Institute. At present the facility can boast of at least two members who are continuing the traditions of Bulgakov, Zernov, and Zander. They are the arch-ecumenist Paul Evdokimov, <span style="background-color: #caf0fe;">[See his <i>“Communicatio in Sacris: a Possibility,” Diakonia</i>, vol. II, no. 4, 1967]</span> and Oliver Clement, whose recent 500-page “saint’s life” of the apostate Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople has drawn rave reviews from ecumenists the world over.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Another member of the Theological Institute, recently deceased, was Fr. Nicholas Afanasiev (1893-1966). This man, though perhaps less well-known than the others we have mentioned, had perhaps the most dangerous theories of all. He is considered to have been Fr. Schmemann’s main theological mentor. <span style="background-color: #caf0fe;">[On this see Rev. B. Schultze in <i>Diakonia</i>, 1969, no. 2, p. 125.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">In his teaching of “eucharistic ecclesiology,” Afanasiev accepts <b>in toto</b> the validity of the sacraments of heretics and sneers at those doctrinal differences which “attempt” the keep the “Churches” apart. Afanasiev rejects the ecclesiology of St. Cyprian of Carthage and the whole canonical structure formulated by the Seven Oecumenical Councils as corruptions of the original teaching of the Church. Like a latter-day Martin Luther, he claims to have discovered this true and undistorted doctrine. </span><span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">[The most complete exposition of Afanasiev’s thought can be found in “<i>Una Sancta,” Irenikon</i>, 1963, no. 4.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">According to Afanasiev, Orthodox and Roman Catholics are <b>one</b> since both have Christ in the Eucharist: “. . . .Everywhere and always one sole and the same Eucharist is accomplished: Christ is ‘the same, yesterday, today and forever’. . . .We should not forget that our separation (i.e., of the Orthodox and Roman Catholics), even if it has been caused by dogmatic divergences has, nevertheless, a canonical character. <b>This separation remains always on the surface of ecclesiastical life and does not reach its depths</b>. . . .<b>These divergences have not touched the very essence of the Eucharist, for we always celebrate one sole and the same Holy ecclesiological Chalice of Christ</b>, after his commandment: do <b>this</b> in remembrance of me.” </span><span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">[<i>Irenikon</i>, 1965, no. 3, p. 339.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">In his <b>summa</b>, entitled “Una Sancta” and dedicated to the memory of John XXIII, the Pope of Love,” Afanasiev derides the very notion that Roman Catholics should become Orthodox. For him this would constitute inacceptable and impractical “ecclesiological suicide” on the part of Roman Catholics. He writes, “For Eucharistic ecclesiology the Orthodox and the Catholic Church are both Churches or, to be more exact, each local church (i.e., parish) of each of these two groups is a Church, whether one speaks of before or after the ‘separation.’ I have put ‘separation’ in quotes because <b>in reality there was not and is not any separation</b>. The Church of God remained and remains always one and unique. The rupture of communion could not cause a division in the Church which, by its nature, cannot be divided into parties.” </span><span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">[<i>Ibid.</i>, 1963, no. 4, p. 465.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">He continues, “The reëstablishment of fraternal communion between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church in the present state of affairs would not be a negation of an actual division, which would thus be considered nonexistent, but would be a victory over this division by the power of Love, i.e., by the Church. . .”</span><span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">[<i>Ibid.,</i> p. 474.]</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> Thus, taking the Patristic maxim that “where the Eucharist is, there is the Church,” and granting the precious Body and Blood of our Saviour to Roman Catholics (and, one would assume, monophysites and Anglicans as well), Afanasiev totally demolishes the doctrine of the unity of the Holy Church. It is not surprising that Professor Trembelas, official theological representative of the Church of Jerusalem, should have condemned this teaching as heresy. </span><span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">[See the 1969, no. 4 issue of <i>Diakonia</i>.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">What is Fr. Schmemann’s attitude to Afanasiev’s new doctrine of “eucharistic ecclesiology”? In his article “The Idea of Primacy in Orthodox Ecclesiology” in <i>The Primacy of Peter</i>, edited by Fr, John Meyendorff (London, 1963), he openly declares himself an adherent of Afanasiev’s theology. Like Afanasiev he repudiates the ecclesiology of St. Cyprian and the entire structure of the Church contained in the canons of the Oecumenical Councils. In this article and elsewhere Fr. Schmemann presents a distorted view of the unity of the Church. Worst of all, however, is that as a true disciple of Afanasiev, Schmemann must hold that Roman Catholics have a true Eucharist, and, therefore, <b>are in the Church.</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">When Fr. Afanasiev died in 1966, Fr. Schmemann wrote the following “In Memoriam”:</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">“Father Nicholas leaves no heavy volumes. His <b>opus magnum</b>, <i>The Church of the Holy Spirit</i>, for which, in 1948, he received his doctoral degree, remains unpublished. He was at his best in short and scholarly essays, a collection of which, I hope, will soon appear in English. In some ways Fr. Nicholas was a man of one idea, or, it may be better to say, <b>one vision</b>. It is this vision that he described and communicated in what appeared sometimes as ‘dry’ and technical discussions. A careful reader, however, never failed to detect behind this appearance a hidden fire, <b>a truly consuming love for the Church</b>. For it was the Church that stood at the center of that vision, and Fr. Afanasiev, when his message is understood and deciphered, will remain for future generations a <b>renovator of ecclesiology</b>.” </span><span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">[<i>S.V.S.Q.,</i> 1966, vol. X, no. 4, p. 209.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Father Schmemann’s admiration for this more than dubious figure is clear. He even “hopes” that a collection of Afanasiev’s essays will appear in English. It is safe to predict that Dean Schmemann would warmly recommend such a collection to his students at the Metropolia seminary.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Fr. Schmemann concludes his obituary with this heartfelt tribute:</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">“As I write this, on the day of his funeral, and remember years of friendship, communion in theological interests, sharp debates sometimes, I want to express again that gratitude which I have had to feel and express so many times in these last years – as we lost one after another of our teachers of that unique and glorious generation, <b>the gratitude for having known Fr. Afanasiev and shared his friendship and been given so much by him</b>.” </span><span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">[<i>Loc. cit</i>.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">But apart from the specific question of ecclesiology, Fr. Schmemann evidences at every step the pernicious influence of “religious modernism,” which was the hallmark of the Paris Theological Institute.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Fr. Schmemann has also recently published a collection entitled <i>Ultimate Questions, An Anthology of Modern Russian Religious Thought</i> (New York, 1965). Although this volume contains a fine selection from Khorniakov, it focuses predominately on some of the most aberrant and misleading works of the so-called “Russian Religious Renaissance” of the late XIX and early XX centuries. Included with other writings are Solovyov’s “Beauty, Sexuality, and Love,” Florensky’s “On the Holy Spirit,” Fyodorov’s “The Restoration of Kinship Among Mankind,” Rozanov’s “Sweet Jesus and the Sour Fruits of the World,” Berdyaev’s “The Ethics of Creativity” and Bulgakov’s “Meditations of the Joy of the Resurrection.” Here truly is a chef’s salad of sensuality, “Sophiology,” and Gnosticism, appealing directly to the religious adventurer and decadent, whatever his confessional background.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">What was the purpose of producing this volume? In his introduction, Fr. Schmemann tells us that the anthology was conceived as “a kind of invitation” to Russian religious philosophy. </span><span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">[P. 8-9.]</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> It is difficult to imagine a less healthy way to attract interest. We shudder to think that these murky gropings, so distant from true Orthodoxy, really represent “ultimate questions” for Fr. Schmemann. While he does insert a mild disclaimer to the effect that the essays may not necessarily be “the official teaching of the Orthodox Church,”</span><span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">[P. 4.]</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> the tone of the introduction is positive and even enthusiastic. An unsuspecting reader is hardly prepared for the poison in this book.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">We have concentrated our attention on Fr. Shhmemann because he is the most visible and vocal representative of the Metropolia and because his connection to the Paris Theological Institute is so direct and evident. But it would be unfair to imply that other prominent members of the Metropolia do not share his views.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">We return again to the problem of ecclesiology which has served as an indicator of deeply-held theological convictions.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Let us hear the words of Fr. Leonid Turkevich, later to become Metropolitan Leonty of the Metropolia. Addressing the heterodox in 1920, he wrote: “What shall be our starting points in our search for unity in Christ, the one Teacher of humanity? Shall we take the long road of theological investigation, or rather, begin with the simple fact of brotherhood in the common life? Should we assemble in interchurch congresses, or choose the more beautiful and reasonable method of joining together in religious ceremonies? . . . <b>Christianity is divided into many different denominations</b>. But its nature is the same, whether it be preached by Paul or Apollos or Cephas. . . . We are Christians, not because we bear the name of some denomination, but because we are <b>Christians</b>. I do not mean to say that the idea of the Church as the foundation of the Truth is not needed because <b>each of us belongs to a radius</b>. The denominations offer their members an atmosphere suited to develop and strengthen their belief in Christ and bring them into communion with Him. Individuals are under the protection of the forms of their particular denominations as those most convenient for them by reason of historical, geographical and national circumstance. But the essence of their Christianity is not to be found in these varying forms, it is something more inward.” </span><span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">[<i>The Constructive Quarterly</i>, vol. VIII, 1920, pp. 192-200.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople might well envy these words! Given Fr. Turkevich’s views on Orthodoxy – merely one “denomination” among many others – it is not surprising that he later turned away from the Church Abroad, where the life-giving uniqueness of the One Church was proclaimed with reverence and gratitude.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">In more recent times we can find similar sentiments expressed in an article of George Barrois, a professor at St. Vladimir’s Seminary and a recent convert from Protestantism. Professor Barrois writes: “<b>There are actually no doctrinal grounds which might preclude intercommunion between Orthodox Churches and the Church of Rome</b>. They have received their hierarchic priesthood by unquestioned Apostolic succession; they profess the faith of the Seven Councils; the variety of their organization, the proper character of their liturgies, the distinctive flavor of their theological developments do not substantially affect their basic unity. ‘We rejoice,’ declared Paul VI addressing the Orthodox in the Encyclical Mysterium Fidei, ‘when we consider your faith concerning the Eucharist, which is of our faith.’” </span><span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">[Georges A. Barrois, “Closed Communion, Open Communion, Intercommunion,” <i>S.V.S.Q.</i>, 1968, no. 3-4, pp. 152-3.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Thus for Professor Barrois the <b>Filioque</b>, the Papacy, Papal Infallibility, Merits, Purgatory, the Immaculate Conception, Created Grace, and other Roman heresies become merely a “distinctive flavor,” presumably to be appreciated for its richness and certainly not to be attacked by the Orthodox. Professor Barrois neglects to mention in his arguments the fact that Orthodox Saints have chosen martyrdom rather than submit to the “flavor.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The same spirit of ecclesiological irresponsibility is characteristic of many other Metropolia spokesmen. We could name, for example, Fr. Thomas Hopko, listed in the St. Vladimir’s Seminary Catalogue as an instructor in doctrine and the institution. His report on an interdenominational “Spiritual Life Institute” leaves no doubts that he has completely abandoned the central and fundamental faith in the Orthodox Church as the true Church of Christ. </span><span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">[<i>S.V.S.Q.,</i> 1965, vol. IX, no. 4. See especially p. 194.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">These examples, which could easily be manipulated, demonstrate the extent to which the corrosive forces of theological modernism have penetrated into the Metropolia. The unwholesome traditions deriving from the Paris Theological Institute and the lack of strict episcopal control have both significantly contributed to this sad state of affairs. But whatever the cause of this theological disarray, it is strong evidence that the Metropolia is most certainly <b>not</b> ready for autocephaly.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Our critics will perhaps challenge such a conclusion. Why, they will say, should internal difficulties affect a decision concerning autocephaly, provided the basic requirements are met? Prof. Bogolepov puts it as follows: “If such small churches as those of Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Albania, with their <b>less-developed ecclesiastical life</b> have been recognized as autocephalous, then why cannot the existing Church in America, providing it meets all the canonical requirements for the recognition of autocephaly, be recognized as such?” </span><span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">[<i>The Orthodox Church</i>, March, 1970.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">If Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Albania could do it, so can we – this is Bogolepov’s answer to charges that the Metropolia is unready for autocephaly.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">What about these autocephalies?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">In his book <i>The Orthodox Church</i> Fr. Meyendorff has this to say about the Albanian Church:</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">“In 1944 the Albanian population consisted of 688,000 Moslems, 210,000 Orthodox, and 104,184 Roman Catholics. <b>Only after political pressure had been brought to bear</b>, did the ecumenical patriarch finally consent to recognize the autocephalous status of the Albanian Orthodox Church in 1937, <b>a minority in the country, practically without schools or traditions of its own.</b>” </span><span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">[J. Meyendorff, <i>The Orthodox Church</i>, New York, 1962, p. 178.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">As for Poland, according to Fr. Meyendorff, in 1924 the four million Orthodox of various backgrounds in Poland were given autocephaly by Constantinople (a move, by the way, protested by the Church Abroad, which correctly considered Poland not ready for autocephaly). Then, “In 1939 the Soviet Union occupied the part of Poland inhabited by the majority of the Orthodox and gained still further territory as a result of World War II. Canonically, these regions were again attached to the Patriarchate of Moscow, while <b>only some 350,000 Orthodox remained on Polish soil</b>. . . In 1948. . . three Polish bishops, including the Metropolitan Dionysius, had to do penance before Patriarch Alexis and receive a new autocephalous act <b>from him</b>. . . <b>The independence of the Polish Church with respect to Moscow is of a very relative nature</b>.” </span><span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">[<i>Ibid.,</i> pp. 179-80.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The Czech Orthodox Church, according to Fr. Meyendorff, consists of native Czech Orthodox, former Czech Uniates (converted from 1930 on) and a small number of Russian <b>emigré</b> parishes. “These four groups were united by the Patriarch of Moscow in 1947 to form one Church. . . . Its first head, Eleutherios (who resigned in 1958) and its present head, Metropolitan John, are both Russian bishops.” </span><span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">[<i>Ibid.,</i> p. 181.]</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">What then, after the information applied by Fr. Meyendorff, are we to think of Professor Bogolepov’s assertion that the American Metropolia was justified in following the examples of Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Albania? Nothing complimentary to the Metropolia, surely.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">In their war for power, a war which is rending and mutilating the twentieth-century Orthodox Church, the communist masters of the Moscow Patriarchate and the ambitious and theologically irresponsible hierarchs of Constantinople are seeking to create more and more autocephalous Churches to vote with them in “pan-Orthodox” Synods and the prestigious Ecumenical Movement. Moscow, currently trailing the “Greek” cluster of Churches, has of late been moving swiftly to make up the difference. Unhindered by any effective opposition at home (which is quickly silenced by the Soviet secret police), Moscow is able to move more rapidly than Constantinople, which still has to make feeble attempts to justify its actions to its flock. Having autocephalized Poland and Czechoslovakia, both of them totally unprepared for ecclesiastical self-direction, Moscow moved on to autocephalize the American Metropolia. Furthermore, in her agreement with the Metropolia, Moscow received Japan as an “autonomous” Church. We shall quite likely soon see the emergence of a woefully weak autocephalous Japanese Church. Moscow’s recent creation of a Ukrainian “filial” was probably the first step toward the creation of an autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Perhaps a Belorussian Orthodox Church will also appear. The recent formation of a Macedonian Orthodox Church in Yugoslavia under direct pressure from the communists brings another “autocephalous” Church into the Moscow orbit.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Constantinople and her Hellenic allies may be expected to retaliate. One may thus expect the emergence of an autocephalous Finnish (or Scandanavian) Church, although the Finnish Orthodox have almost completely capitulated to heterodox customs and even celebrate Easter with the West.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Alexandria may be led to proclaim an African Orthodox Church. Moscow and Constantinople will probably race one another to proclaim a South American Orthodox Church. Moscow has currently lept into the lead there with the creation of an Exarchate of Central and South America under the “politically reliable” Archbishop Nikodim, a Soviet citizen.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The American Metropolia is thus merely a pawn in a reckless scramble for power involving the communist controllers of the Moscow Patriarchate and the thoroughly de-Orthodoxed hierarchs of Constantinople. A disease which one could in all seriousness call “autocephalitis” has struck the Orthodox Church. In this perspective, why Moscow decided to agree with the Metropolia’s claims of readiness for autocephaly becomes all too clear.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Another important factor which seriously undercuts the Metropolia’s claims is the fact that she represents a considerable <b>minority</b> of the Orthodox on the North American continent. Even her highly-inflated figure of 800,000 believers (100,000 of them supposedly in Alaska) leaves her with only half the numbers of the Greek Archdiocese. When one adds to this the Syrians, Serbs, and Bulgarians, not to mention the Church Abroad, the Metropolia’s percentage of the American Orthodox populace is rendered quite small.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">In her recent polemical literature, which is directed chiefly against the Church Abroad but also (more politely, of course) against the Greek Archdiocese, the Metropolia flatly refused to accept this fact as an argument against autocephaly. She argues thus: Before the Revolution of 1917, all Orthodox in America were under the Russian Church. Hence only the Russian Mother Church can grant autocephaly to an American Orthodox Church. The other jurisdictions acquired a doubtful canonical existence from the day of the granting of autocephaly to the Metropolia. Nevertheless, the Metropolia will not sever ties with these jurisdictions but out of true charity will tolerate their existence, hoping that eventually they all will elect to join her ranks with the permission of their mother Churches.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Indeed, one can agree with the Metropolia that before the Revolution all Orthodox did or at least <b>should</b> have belonged (for, as has been shown, from the 1890’s on many Greeks did not) to the Russian Orthodox missionary diocese of America. The Metropolia is also right in maintaining that to the Russian Church belongs the prerogative of granting autocephaly to an American Orthodox Church. She is, however, wrong in maintaining that the Moscow Patriarchate, absolutely subservient to an atheist regime which has caused the Russian land to run red with the blood of new Orthodox martyrs, has it in her power to grant such an autocephaly. And she is wrong in assuming that she could secretly negotiate for autocephaly without consulting her fellow-Orthodox in America. Even if one ignores the case of the Greeks, who founded their own Archdiocese in 1922, there is that of the Serbs and Syrians.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">What do the leaders of the Metropolia say to the fact that His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, on Januray 30, 1922, gave express permission to the Syrians in America to form their own Archdiocese under the Patriarch of Antioch? Or to the fact that as early as October, 1917, Archbishop Alexander of America gave the Serbs in America wide autonomy?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">These two groups unquestionably have, from the Metropolia’s own point of view, a separate canonical existence from the Metropolia. Their consent to the formation of an American autocephalous Church was clearly necessary. But the Metropolia, engrossed in secret negotiations with Moscow as she was, did not take the trouble to prepare the ground at all carefully for such an agreement. Instead, she presented the Serbs and Syrians with a <b>fait accompli</b>, and thereby dealt them a grave and undeserved injustice. Such irresponsibility is not characteristic of a mature religious organism which is ready to embark on its own path. Rather, it bespeaks a body badly in need of sound discipline and firm guidance.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">We shall not here discuss in detail the dissent and ferment within the ranks of the Metropolia itself which was brought on by the news of the impending autocephaly. Clearly this symptom stems from the same cause. The Metropolia had simply not prepared its people for autocephaly, and many were shocked and overwhelmed by the rapid pace of events. How could this be the case of a Church supposedly “overripe” for autocephaly?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Finally, we will point to several other facts which bear upon the readiness of the Metropolia to become the autocephalous <b>American</b> Orthodox Church: Only <b>two</b> of the bishops who signed the Metropolia’s 1970 agreement with Moscow are <b>American-born</b> (Bishop Theodosius of Alaska and Bishop Dimitry of Berkeley). Metropolitan Ireney and certain of the other bishops know English extremely badly; the meetings of the episcopate are therefore conducted primarily in Russian. The chief spokesman of the Metropolia, including Fr. Schmemann, Fr. Meyendorff, Professor Bogolepov, and most of the faculty at St. Vladimir’s Seminary, are <b>emigrés</b>, born in Russia or in Western Europe. Thus the Metropolia is at present headed, administered, represented, and taught largely by “imported” <b>emigrés</b>. It follows that the <b>native-born American</b> sector of the Metropolia – the people proper – is still in a formative stage, and, though perhaps possessed of great potential, is nevertheless unready to assume the burden of leadership.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">This is in no was meant to disparage the vast majority of the people in the Metropolia, who are native-born Americans of Carpatho-Russian descent. Many of them have dedicated their lives and energies to productive and useful church work. Their efforts are very much to their credit. But it is also a fact there are serious gaps in the spiritual achievements of the Metropolia as a whole. Such a fundamental area of Church life as monasticism – traditionally, Orthodoxy’s cornerstone and source of strength – remains woefully undeveloped, virtually a <b>terra incognita</b>. The blame must fall on the episcopate and the academic spokesmen of the Metropolia, who have failed to provide the patient guidance necessary to establish and to nurture a viable indigenous monastic tradition. No doubt the modernist tendencies within the Metropolia have had a part in discouraging monasticism. But the problem remains, and it is a grave one: only a vigorous monastic tradition can produce the staunchly Orthodox and forceful episcopate which the Church requires. How will qualified men be found to replace the current <b>emigré</b> episcopate as time goes on? The prospects are gloomy indeed, and it may not be accidental that there have recently been heard muted voices within the Metropolia suggesting a married episcopate. The whole problem (and even more such a suggested solution!) reveals an abysmal lack of foresight on the part of the Metropolia leadership, together with an irresponsible absence of preparation for self-rule.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">It seems to us, in sum, that the Metropolia is in very dire straits. Plagued by rising secularism among her people, poisoned by the spread of theological modernism among her spokesmen, unequipped with the experience or “spiritual capital” which is accumulated only by generations of true adherence to the living Orthodox tradition, heavily dependent on “foreign” talent in her leadership, the Metropolia vividly demonstrates by her actions her immaturity as a religious organism. Her headlong plunge into autocephaly is the final proof of this immaturity.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Raanana; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The next chapter is devoted to the consequences of the negotiations and the agreement with Moscow. We pray that clear-minded members of the Metropolia will read it carefully and will recognize the agreement with Moscow for the error and temptation it is. We pray also that these readers may once again discover the path of life which leads to the Church Abroad, the confessor of true Orthodoxy in an age of self-delusion and betrayal.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FYKFd5ArcjE/U3As2bZxXsI/AAAAAAAAUeg/hehgz3HuR7s/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0134.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FYKFd5ArcjE/U3As2bZxXsI/AAAAAAAAUeg/hehgz3HuR7s/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0134.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VIw7cjdOzvQ/U3AtBE0DJzI/AAAAAAAAUeo/i_gu8oY-hjY/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0135.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VIw7cjdOzvQ/U3AtBE0DJzI/AAAAAAAAUeo/i_gu8oY-hjY/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0135.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMrMraj6ri047mjd_YpEcOcbIV6v-7oDKaSqOgkw64NZ9j2vNh3xYCbAN3J_HqfCf79fyKy21l-01fiVpLiHNGKeAkzVsKMgxJW7W__Nst1FUf6LztizITJzxDDUXizPjrJDkx9xIa_T-O/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0136.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMrMraj6ri047mjd_YpEcOcbIV6v-7oDKaSqOgkw64NZ9j2vNh3xYCbAN3J_HqfCf79fyKy21l-01fiVpLiHNGKeAkzVsKMgxJW7W__Nst1FUf6LztizITJzxDDUXizPjrJDkx9xIa_T-O/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0136.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Hnwkw5ffYNo/U3AtN7Dq1iI/AAAAAAAAUfA/dJVk9_y9OWY/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0137.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Hnwkw5ffYNo/U3AtN7Dq1iI/AAAAAAAAUfA/dJVk9_y9OWY/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0137.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GrJWoEs_a70/U3AtIjn_FSI/AAAAAAAAUe4/i72sWrgRdHg/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0138.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GrJWoEs_a70/U3AtIjn_FSI/AAAAAAAAUe4/i72sWrgRdHg/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0138.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-760ynjfoGKs/U3AtN2P39pI/AAAAAAAAUfE/Sv9mxZyzduk/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0139.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-760ynjfoGKs/U3AtN2P39pI/AAAAAAAAUfE/Sv9mxZyzduk/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0139.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCaP58URIv4FZGDai_uYNUkvM7lr7SEkJx4FA5DL44AOHMXBV0dPY556Sjv5RCwPcbEpJrethS19S7c4Ftg8HTfugk0gPcVW-7_pH7Xy0kgHTdvg_hAzT7LSqpePoKqMqzOR-PqSjgVHur/s1600/p.+130.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="900" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCaP58URIv4FZGDai_uYNUkvM7lr7SEkJx4FA5DL44AOHMXBV0dPY556Sjv5RCwPcbEpJrethS19S7c4Ftg8HTfugk0gPcVW-7_pH7Xy0kgHTdvg_hAzT7LSqpePoKqMqzOR-PqSjgVHur/s200/p.+130.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O8HsKcMittw/U3AtTyBmI5I/AAAAAAAAUfc/0bmDP739Drw/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0141.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O8HsKcMittw/U3AtTyBmI5I/AAAAAAAAUfc/0bmDP739Drw/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0141.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BasD6oztIZY/U3AtTqpZO5I/AAAAAAAAUfY/zVCOiJ4K4gM/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0142.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BasD6oztIZY/U3AtTqpZO5I/AAAAAAAAUfY/zVCOiJ4K4gM/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0142.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5RgbU12bFdst4iJgQTrAmF75_7rp5YIiUSWzZ7E_1ZlwqB08LL6_OKgiXFBuqmHdBZIfL9yc1VUZMm-HChlNypDDsua2frlC_ZaRUl3vXGKWsYbN4YpK-oD_tfMPzKP2KdWeu_lY6Ravk/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0143.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5RgbU12bFdst4iJgQTrAmF75_7rp5YIiUSWzZ7E_1ZlwqB08LL6_OKgiXFBuqmHdBZIfL9yc1VUZMm-HChlNypDDsua2frlC_ZaRUl3vXGKWsYbN4YpK-oD_tfMPzKP2KdWeu_lY6Ravk/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0143.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fjbRsuyc6sU/U3AtbCIkUSI/AAAAAAAAUfw/jh99felHmfM/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0144.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fjbRsuyc6sU/U3AtbCIkUSI/AAAAAAAAUfw/jh99felHmfM/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0144.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8hugHSL-4ng/U3AtgGQI92I/AAAAAAAAUf4/1_-9jAsaIkY/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0145.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8hugHSL-4ng/U3AtgGQI92I/AAAAAAAAUf4/1_-9jAsaIkY/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0145.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PC4E74qepIE/U3AtgXj4UyI/AAAAAAAAUf8/BbxiM9oNlXM/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0146.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PC4E74qepIE/U3AtgXj4UyI/AAAAAAAAUf8/BbxiM9oNlXM/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0146.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k_pulx_Oa2Y/U3AtjCl3hmI/AAAAAAAAUgI/cDVGnoLHwN4/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0147.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k_pulx_Oa2Y/U3AtjCl3hmI/AAAAAAAAUgI/cDVGnoLHwN4/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0147.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTitfTH22tslP72clR-gMo_uKfDFbFIyLLRE-L_e9vhjepd4_iH_-skc1yYv7ddcWkwfuOKFbKowJgritXa983EnqExhgc66dhIhW94aiLreyaUvJjyRN3p-pd3aH_8kgoNUNjyZLIfjEz/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0148.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTitfTH22tslP72clR-gMo_uKfDFbFIyLLRE-L_e9vhjepd4_iH_-skc1yYv7ddcWkwfuOKFbKowJgritXa983EnqExhgc66dhIhW94aiLreyaUvJjyRN3p-pd3aH_8kgoNUNjyZLIfjEz/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0148.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aN-vexodcgo/U3Atmvbmf_I/AAAAAAAAUgY/AtZpm19ofZE/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aN-vexodcgo/U3Atmvbmf_I/AAAAAAAAUgY/AtZpm19ofZE/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0149.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF2ASSbFGiHlmkxsEELeQLHCuDfuhoiKgQtCES_PeBDGwR5INm6-jjmRXCtrcd1VYyzZgMzE4THI5hVyVy9k1qANOF36P9ZierCmC2rcm1vDLw1PlcVgCgbHVG-1Yq8ugsTOdbTOaOuc6e/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF2ASSbFGiHlmkxsEELeQLHCuDfuhoiKgQtCES_PeBDGwR5INm6-jjmRXCtrcd1VYyzZgMzE4THI5hVyVy9k1qANOF36P9ZierCmC2rcm1vDLw1PlcVgCgbHVG-1Yq8ugsTOdbTOaOuc6e/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0150.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yg7WE10EAx4/U3At83MtiSI/AAAAAAAAUgo/JyC9lx7fxAc/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0151.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yg7WE10EAx4/U3At83MtiSI/AAAAAAAAUgo/JyC9lx7fxAc/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0151.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z_5QWZ3ZIQA/U3At_XccXGI/AAAAAAAAUgw/vyXwwOhsons/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0152.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z_5QWZ3ZIQA/U3At_XccXGI/AAAAAAAAUgw/vyXwwOhsons/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0152.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM4p8pUOkrppc6xGCjSx1gg764nnUu2NegDfgZx_bTJoX7BFtlXrXr3Cw6ZfP_Pm79rtIFqJKzrj-7Laq-lJMcIl6B8Arxbq90zrnCx064oKZHEbgcFysvbV6_h7ymkBIM-ifYNHOuRaPZ/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0153.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM4p8pUOkrppc6xGCjSx1gg764nnUu2NegDfgZx_bTJoX7BFtlXrXr3Cw6ZfP_Pm79rtIFqJKzrj-7Laq-lJMcIl6B8Arxbq90zrnCx064oKZHEbgcFysvbV6_h7ymkBIM-ifYNHOuRaPZ/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0153.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ECGxnht7_as/U3AuEoVpMcI/AAAAAAAAUhA/cymhNLoAWaU/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0154.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ECGxnht7_as/U3AuEoVpMcI/AAAAAAAAUhA/cymhNLoAWaU/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0154.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nK0mHGCgYBc/U3AuJ9thIBI/AAAAAAAAUhM/XVGuWHApFhU/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0155.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nK0mHGCgYBc/U3AuJ9thIBI/AAAAAAAAUhM/XVGuWHApFhU/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0155.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uD3BpKMIBoc/U3AuJXnRcQI/AAAAAAAAUhI/w_Ad4OmDeKQ/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0156.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uD3BpKMIBoc/U3AuJXnRcQI/AAAAAAAAUhI/w_Ad4OmDeKQ/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0156.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jkGUUCJVuFM/U3AuQs5FtAI/AAAAAAAAUhg/_MqSwH0dbjo/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0157.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jkGUUCJVuFM/U3AuQs5FtAI/AAAAAAAAUhg/_MqSwH0dbjo/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0157.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ACQAqeTfo4U/U3AuQX1o_ZI/AAAAAAAAUhY/HXijPfwK_Is/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0158.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ACQAqeTfo4U/U3AuQX1o_ZI/AAAAAAAAUhY/HXijPfwK_Is/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0158.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yjFcNP3lxZg/U3AuQjziseI/AAAAAAAAUhc/F1KOZyjF21k/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0159.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yjFcNP3lxZg/U3AuQjziseI/AAAAAAAAUhc/F1KOZyjF21k/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0159.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<span style="font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Courier;"><br /></span></div>
Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12000679422093371576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1020715264465191896.post-71285371363432815202011-03-30T17:56:00.001-07:002018-11-15T13:58:18.774-08:00Chapter V: Ought The Metropolia To Have Dealt With The Moscow Patriarchate?<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 151 </div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In 1950 the American Metropolia solemnly resolved, “Our temporarily independent Metropolia cannot place itself in any canonical administrative relationshipnship with Moscow Patriarchate because <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">latter</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">is</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">unable</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">to</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">express</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">voice</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Christ</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">freely</span>.”<sup>1</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In 1970 the Metropolia entered into a full “canonical and administrative relationship” with the Moscow Patriarchate and thereby was recognized by Moscow as an autocephalous Church. One would assume therefore that the Metropolia had changed its mind and now in 1970 believed that Moscow could “express the voice of the Church of Christ freely.” Recent testimonies of the Metropolia leadership, however, would lead one to believe that such was not the case.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
When, for example, in 1963 Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad, director of the Foreign Affairs Department of the Moscow Patriarchate, attempted to deny the charges of the meeting of spiritual solidarity held by eminent Orthodox and Roman Catholics in Paris to protest the persecution of believers in the U.S.S.R., Father Alexander Schmemann of the Metropolia wrote the following in his “Notes and Comments: Religious Persecution in Russia”:</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
“To help smooth the deep impression made by the meeting of solidarity <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">communists</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">chose</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">no</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">one</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">else</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">but</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">official</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">spokesman</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Moscow</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Patriarchate</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">itself</span> – <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Metropolitan</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Nikodim</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Leningrad</span>. On March 14, the Communist paper (<span style="text-decoration: underline;">L</span>’<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Humanité</span>) carried an interview with him in which <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Metropolitan</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Nikodim</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">flatly</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">denied</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">fact</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> </div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Cited in M.L.J. Schrank, “Problems of Orthodoxy in America: the Russian Church,” <i>S.V.S.Q.</i>, 1962, vol. VI, no.4, p. 198.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 152</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">persecutions</span>, and this, in spite of Ilyichev’s article in <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Kommunist</span> and the anti-religious instructions in <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Pravda</span>. ‘There is no religious repression in our country,’ said the Metropolitan. ‘I know that recently there were rumors about the trial of two bishops. . . . It is unpleasant to speak of this, but I must say that these bishops were indicted for actual crimes having nothing to do with their ecclesiastical activity. . . .’ This interview took place at a moment when, according to the most reliable information, the number of open churches decreased almost by one-half, five out of eight seminaries were closed and administrative measures against churches are being intensified. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Not</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">only</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">is</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">persecuted</span>, but its hierarchs are forced to deny the persecution!”</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Fr. Alexander concludes his statement by correctly terming the state of the Russian Church under the communists a “truly demonic situation.”<sup>2</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
It was, of course, the Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad who in the period 1968-70 was the chief negotiator for Moscow in the agreement worked out with Fr. Alexander and other leaders of the Metropolia. It should also be pointed out that the two bishops (Iov and Andrey), who Nikodim termed “criminals,” have both been recently reactivated by the Patriarchate after serving prison terms of three and eight years respectively for protesting the persecution of the Russian Church by the communists in the early 1960’s.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Two years after Fr. Alexander’s article, an editorial by Fr. John</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><i>S.V.S.Q.</i>, 1964, vol. VIII, no. 1, p. 49.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Loc</span>.<span style="text-decoration: underline;">cit</span>.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 153</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Meyendorff entitled “The Church in Russia” appeared in <i>St. Vladimir’s Seminary Quarterly</i>. The purpose of this editorial was to discuss the Open Letters of the now-suspended Russian priests Frs. Eshliman and Yakunin. These letters dealt with the persecution of the Russian Church by the communists and the collaboration in this persecution of the leadership of the Moscow Patriarchate. Fr. John writes:</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
“That the authors of the letter to the Patriarch (i.e., Frs. Eshliman and Yakunin) lack sympathy for the candidacy of the young chairman of the Department of Foreign Relations of the Patriarchate, Metropolitan Nikodim (for the position of Patriarch as Alexis’ successor) is clear from their reference to that Department as the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">main</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">channel</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">government’s</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">control</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">over</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span>.”<sup>1</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Fr. John in no way contests the statement that the communists’ “main channel” of control over the Russian Church is the Foreign Department headed by Metropolitan Nikodim.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Fr. John then passes to a discussion of the situation of the Church in Russia. The two priests’ assertion “that <span style="text-decoration: underline;">no</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ordination</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">is</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">performed</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">in</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russia</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">without</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">permission</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Soviet</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">for</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Affairs</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span>, and that <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">clergy</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">is</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">being</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">infiltrated</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">by</span> ‘<span style="text-decoration: underline;">well</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">known</span>’ <span style="text-decoration: underline;">government</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">agents</span>, of which one, bishop Ignatius of Chernigov, is named, is indeed <span style="text-decoration: underline;">frightful</span>.”<sup>2</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
A situation which Fr. Schmemann calls “demonic” is termed “frightful” by Fr. Meyendorff.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
He continues, “The world knows about the struggle for freedom</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><i>S.V.S.Q.</i>, 1966, vol. X, no. 1-2, p. 5.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Loc</span>. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">cit</span>.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 154</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
undertaken in Russia by poets, writers, and intellectuals. It must learn that the Orthodox Church also participates in the struggle. . . . That the high officials of the Patriarchate would not stand themselves on this frontline is understandable, especially according to the principles elaborated during the ‘Sergius period,’ <span style="text-decoration: underline;">but</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">a</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">direct</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">co-operation</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">on</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">their</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">part</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">in</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">silencing</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">true</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">expression</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">consciousness</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">would</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">close</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">every</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">possibility</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">considering</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">them</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">even</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">partially</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">as</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">spokesmen</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">for</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">God</span>.”<sup>1</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Fr. Schmemann has already given us one example of how Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad “cooperated” with the communists in “silencing the true expression of Church consciousness.”</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Here are the words of Anatoly Levitin, a layman of the Russian Church, now imprisoned for protesting communist persecution in the U.S.S.R. Speaking of the late Patriarch Alexis, nominal head of the Patriarchate, whom he knew personally, Levitin writes, “He is covering up unlawful actions by remaining silent, bewildering or confusing people by his lying refutations (see, for instance, the Patriarch’s interview published in the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Journal</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Moscow</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Patriarchate</span>, no. 4, 1966), upsetting all attempts to rectify mistakes and punishing honest priests who defend the Church. He it is who is protecting with his authority anonymous characters who, by making use of their shady connections, have pushed themselves forward into senior bishoprics. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">It</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">is</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">he</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">who</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">is</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">betraying</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">to</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">godless</span>.”<sup>2</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><i>S.V.S.Q.</i>, 1966, vol. X, no. 1-2, p. 6.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In Michael Bourdeaux, <i>Patriarch and Prophets</i>, New York, 1970, p. 294.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 155</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Consider also the words of Feodosiya Varavva (a fearless confessor of Orthodoxy who has been singled out for attack by <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Science</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Religion</span>, the official Soviet atheist journal) and of three other laywomen, “In <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Izvestiya</span> (28 April 1964) our red-cassocked metropolitans and members of the Holy Synod, Nikodim and Pimen, say that no arrests are being made among the clergy. Why, then, do they say nothing about the Pochaev monks who have been imprisoned for the third time?”<sup>1</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
They continue, “We are spiritual orphans who have no pastors. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Most</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">our</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">pastors</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">have</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">bowed</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">to</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">godless</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">communists</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">serve</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">their</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">will</span>, not apostolic traditions and the decrees of the ecumenical councils. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">true</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">pastors</span>, of whom there remain so few, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">are</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">themselves</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">harassed</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">by</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">state</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">officials</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">by</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">those</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">pastors</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">who</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">have</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">submitted</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">to</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">godless</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">communists</span>.”<sup>2</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Boris Talantov, a sixty-eight year old layman in poor health sentenced to two years of forced labor for his bold defense of the Russian Church, and who died a martyr’s death while serving this sentence, has indicted three of the four permanent members of the Holy Synod – Nikodim, Pimen, and Metropolitan Alexis – as betrayers of the faith.<sup>3</sup> Anatoly Levitin testifies that Metropolitan Philaret of Kiev, the forth permanent member, was forced upon the Patriarch by the communists without the views of the Ukrainian bishops being even heard.<sup>4</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
As for Metropolitan Nikodim, one of the vilest and most dangerous enemies of the Orthodox Church alive today, he has been the apple of the</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 173.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 177.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid</span>., pp. 140-1.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>4.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ibid.</span>, p. 279.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 156</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Soviet’s eye since he began his rapid rise to power in the 1950’s. In 1956 he was assigned to the Russian “Mission” of Jerusalem by the Patriarchate, and in 1957 at the age of twenty-eight became its head. In his <i>Opium of the People</i>, Michael Bourdeaux, an Anglican clergyman, recalls, “I have talked to both Christians and Jews in Jerusalem who still remember with anger the proud way in which he (Nikodim) used to be driven around in a luxury car provided by the Soviet Embassy.”<sup>1 </sup>Continuing his account of Nikodim’s career, Bourdeaux writes, “In March 1959 he was recalled (from Jerusalem) to become the administrator of the Patriarch’s office. . . . Nikodim was consecrated Bishop of Podolsk in July 1960, being at thirty-one the youngest bishop in Christendom. Yet almost immediately he succeeded Metropolitan Nikolai as head of the Foreign Relations Department of the Moscow Patriarchate. Just a year after his consecration he was elevated to the office of Archbishop of Yaroslavl and Rostov, nominally holding the title of the diocese. . . . though in fact continuing with the work has was already doing in Moscow. In August 1963 a further promotion made him Metropolitan of Leningrad and Ladoga. He had <span style="text-decoration: underline;">attained</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">supreme</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">power</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">in</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span> (the Patriarch has for long been a mere figurehead) <span style="text-decoration: underline;">at</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">an</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">age</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">when</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">most</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">English</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">clergy</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">are</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">just</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">settling</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">into</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">their</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">first</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">living</span>.”<sup>2 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Metropolitan Nikodim’s biography is ominous in itself. Who rises rapidly to power in a Church controlled by atheist communists but one totally deserving of their trust?</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Here is what Levitin, long close to the center of power of the </div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Michael Bourdeaux, <i>Opium of the People</i>, London, 1965, p. 221.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Bourdeaux, <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><i>Opium</i></span>, p.222.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 157</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Patriarchate, writes concerning Nikodim’s rise. Addressing the late Patriararch Alexis, he asks: “When your assistant, Metropolitan Nikodim (<span style="text-decoration: underline;">he</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">was</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">foisted</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">on</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">you</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">you</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">well</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">know</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">what</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">he</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">is</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">worth</span>), made lying statements about persecutions of the Church, did you refute him by as much as a single word? No. You more than once made similar declarations.”<sup>1 </sup> Who “foisted” Nikodim on the Patriarch if not the communists?</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Elsewhere Levitin writes: “Metropolitan Nikolai. . . was replaced by the complaisant Metropolitan Nikodim who accommodated himself to everything. The new metropolitan organized a foreign department consisting of a few dozen parasites who compile card-index records that nobody needs and reply to unnecessary letters. He holds splendid banquets and receptions on a very pretentious scale. . . . Metropolitan Nikodim travels around in first-class compartments, flies all over the world in the company of his hangers-on and reads out his typewritten speeches roughly and clumsily composed as they are; he engages in intrigues, plays at being a diplomat - and no one at all pays him the slightest attention. . . . He has become the target for malicious pranks and an international laughing-stock. The question arises: <span style="text-decoration: underline;">has</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">state</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">gained</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">anything</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">by</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">placing</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">at</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">head</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">government</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">such</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">an</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">odious</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">personality</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">as</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Metropolitan</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Nikodim?</span>”<sup>2 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The unfortunate answer to this question is – Yes. For although “insiders” like Levitin recognize Nikodim for the pernicious charlatan he is, the State most certainly makes good use of his talents. Among other things the Soviet State gained the cooperation of Frs. Schmemann</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Bourdeaux, <i>Patriarch</i>, p. 277.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Bourdeaux, <i>Patriarch</i>, pp. 283-4.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 158</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
and Meyendorff and the Metropolia leadership with the “odious” Nikodim.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Here are words of the imprisoned Boris Talantov: “Metropolitan Nikodim’s assertion that this letter (of the Kirov believers) was anonymous and did not deserve credence is a shameless lie calculated to prevent those who signed the letter from having the opportunity of exposing this falsehood abroad. . . . <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Instead</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">defending</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">truth</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">faith</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">his</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">fellow</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Christians</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Metropolitan</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Nikodim</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">is</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">lying</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">slandering</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">his</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">brothers</span>. . . . Metropolitan Nikodim is not worthy to bear the high office of Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church.”<sup>1 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Elsewhere Talantov writes: “<span style="text-decoration: underline;">The</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">activity</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Moscow</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Patriarchate</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">abroad</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">is</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">a</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">conscious</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">betrayal</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Russian</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodox</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Christian</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">faith</span>. The Patriarchate appears on the world platform as a secret agent combating world Christianity. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Metropolitan</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Nikodim</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">is</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">betraying</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">not</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">out</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">fear</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">but</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">out</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">conscience</span>; a full unmasking of what he and the Patriarchate are doing would mean the end of his undercover enterprise. The time has come to unmask the betrayal by the Moscow Patriarchate abroad, Metropolitan Nikodim’s hour has struck. . . . ”<sup>2</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Let us once again return to Fr. Meyendorff’s statement of 1966 which was cited earlier. Speaking about the leadership of the Moscow Patriarchate, he affirmed: “<span style="text-decoration: underline;">a</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">direct</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">co-operation</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">on</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">their</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">part</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">in</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">silencing</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">true</span> e<span style="text-decoration: underline;">xpression</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">consciousness</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">would</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">close</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">every</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">possibility</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">considering</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">them</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">even</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">partially</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">as</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">spokesmen</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">for</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Church</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">of</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">God</span>.”<sup>3 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
That Metropolitan Nikodim and his colleagues who direct the activities of the Patriarchate have “cooperated” with an atheist state in “silencing</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Bourdeaux, <i>Patriarch</i>, p. 154.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 331-2.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><i>S.V.S.Q.</i>, 1966, vol. X, no. 1-2, p. 6.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 159</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
the true expression” of Russian “Church consciousness” is, as has been shown, beyond any shadow of doubt. Therefore, according to the Fr. Meyendorff of 1966, they <span style="text-decoration: underline;">cannot</span> be considered “even partially” as “spokesmen for the Church of God.”</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
It was, however, precisely with Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad that the Metropolia entered into negotiations to procure her autocephaly. Three important meetings of representatives from the Metropolia (led by Frs. Schmemann and Meyendorf) with Nikodim were held in 1968-69 in Europe, America and Japan. Then, after all difficulties had been ironed out, Metropolitan Nikodim arrived in America to sign the agreement.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
According to <i>One Church</i>, the official English-language publication of the Moscow Patriarchate’s exarchate in America:</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
“His Eminence Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad and Novgorod, member of the Sacred Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate and universally-known and respected Orthodox leader, spent fifteen eventful days in American from March 18 to April 2, 1970. Several historic matters were dealt with by His Eminence including the finalization of discussions with representatives of the Russian Metropolia concerning the granting of the status of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of America. . . . ”</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In the section “Activities of March 20 to March 22” we read:</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
“The next day, Metropolian Nikodim met with Mr. Jacob A. Malik at the United Nations center. He <span style="text-decoration: underline;">then</span> journeyed to Syosset, Long Island where he visited with Metropolitan Ireney and other representatives of the Metropolia including Archpriests Schmemann and Meyendorff who had</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><i>One Church</i>, 1970, no. 3, p. 118.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 160</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
been prominent in the negotiations earlier.”<sup>1 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<i>One Church</i> neglects to inform its readers that Mr. Jacob A. Malik is the official U.S.S.R. representative to the U.N., a Soviet citizen and a communist. One may suspect that Mr. Malik’s counsel may not have been immaterial in the Metropolitan’s subsequent actions regarding his negotiations with the Metropolia.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Furthermore, after his chat with Mr. Malik, Nikodim had yet another chance to keep in touch with his homeland and receive needed counsel. “While in Washington he (Nikodim) also called upon the Soviet Ambassador Dobrinin at the Soviet Embassy for a brief visit.”<sup>2 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
This visit was a veritable triumph for the visiting Metropolitan. Tuesday, March 31, was undoubtedly the culminating point of the trip. “Tuesday, March 31, a reception and dinner honoring the Metropolitan was held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Park Avenue. It was attended by many prominent ecclesiastics representing almost all of the Orthodox jurisdictions in America, officials of the National and World Councils of Churches, and other friends of the Russian Orthodox Church.”<sup>3 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
As the picture on p. 124 of <i>One Church</i> indicates, the Metropolia was represented at this dinner given in honor of the foremost betrayer of the Russian Church by Bishop Theodosius of Alaska.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
After the dinner an even greater triumph occurred for the Metropolitan of Leningrad:</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
“Later that same evening at the residence of Metropolitan Ireney</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><i>One Church</i>, 1970, no. 3, p. 119.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><i>Ibid.</i>, p. 120.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><i>One Church</i>, 1970, no. 3, p. 125.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 161</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
in Syosset, Long Island, Metropolitan Nikodim and representatives of the Metropolia signed the documents of agreement to the conditions for the granting of autocephaly – Following this <span style="text-decoration: underline;">historic</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">event</span>, a Te Deum was celebrated in the chapel of the Metropolitan’s residence by Archpriest Alexander Schmemann in the presence of the distinguished hierarchs and clergy who had witnessed the signing of the agreement.”<sup>1 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The evening of March 31, 1970, was truly an “historic” day in the life of Orthodoxy in America – it was a day of infamy and betrayal.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The question arises as to why the Metropolia leadership, ignoring God and consequence, elected to enter into canonical relationships with those who are termed betrayers by the confessing Russian Church.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Two reasons appear to be paramount: Fear and ambition.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Fear</span> because the Metropolia was losing court case after court case (and, therefore, parish after parish) to the Moscow Patriarachate. Her very existence, according to a statement of her own Archbishop Sylvester of Montreal, was in danger.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
And fear because, being under ban from Moscow, she was greatly hindered in her ecumenical and pan-Orthodox dealings. She thus felt herself under great pressure to regularize her relations with the “Mother Church,” especially with plans being made for the forthcoming “Eighth” Ecumenical Council sponsored by Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ambition</span> because the Metropolia has since 1924 dreamed of becoming an autocephalous American Orthodox Church with her own patriarch. This dream seemed endangered by the plan afoot, favored by Archbishop Iakovos</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Loc.</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">cit.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 162</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
of the Greek Archdiocese and others, gradually to turn the Standing Conference of Orthodox Bishops in America into the governing Synod of an American Orthodox Church. Outnumbered over 2 to 1 by the Greeks, the Metropolia would clearly be able to play only a secondary role in such an American Church. Her swift agreement with Moscow represented an ecclesiastical <span style="text-decoration: underline;">coup</span>, designed to negate Iakovos’s plan.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Fear and ambition, therefore, were the principal factors behind the Metropolia’s move.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
It is not surprising, however, that the Metropolia has made numerous attempts to justify her actions. The remainder of this chapter will deal with her <span style="text-decoration: underline;">apologia</span>.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
According to apologists of the Metropolia such as Professor Bogolepov and Father Meyendorff, the Moscow Patriarchate, although admittedly politically subject to the Soviet State, is nevertheless a legitimate canonical ecclesiastical body with which the Metropolia had every right to deal. Thus the Moscow Patriarchate represents for the Metropolia the legitimate continuation of the pre-revolutionary Russian Orthodox Church, and only she could canonically grant autocephaly to the American Church, since the American mission had been entrusted to Russia by Divine Providence.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Here again we see at work the Metropolia’s extreme legalistic mentality, which is Western and scholastic rather than Orthodox. The political servitude of the Moscow Patriarchate (total servitude as far as its foreign dealings are concerned) is not regarded as a factor that vitiates the legitimacy of Moscow’s actions. The Metropolia leaders ask, “What about the situation of the Greek Orthodox under the Turks? Was not the</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 163</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Oecumenical Patriarchate subservient to the Turks? And yet who would say that the Church of Constantinople was not a legitimate Orthodox Church body even under Turkish occupation?”</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
This is an extremely critical point. Here many quite sincere Metropolia adherents have been led into serious temptation. Was the situation of the Church of Constantinople under the Turks comparable to that of the Russian Church under the communists?</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The answer is no. Consider how Fr. Meyendorff himself describes the position of the Greek Church under the Turks: “Under Turkish rule. . . . the Church preserved its canonical organization intact and was even able to strengthen itself as a result of certain privileges granted to the ecumenical patriarch by the conquerer.”<sup>1 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Could one say such a thing about the Russian Church today? Anyone who has read the writings of Frs. Eshliman and Yakunin, Archbishop Yermogen, Boris Talanov or Anatoly Levitin dealing with the situation of the Moscow Patriarchate in the 1960’s knows to what extent the Russian Church has been forced into a totally uncanonical position by the atheist authorities.<sup>2 </sup>Furthermore, the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">degree</span> of her subservience to the State is incomparably greater than was that of the Greek Church under the Turks. The limit of interference which the Orthodox Church can tolerate from a state is the following: when a state demands that the Church sacrifice <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthodoxy</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">itself</span>, then the Church has no choice but martyrdom. In the 1960’s the Soviet State, having decided to use the</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>John Meyendorff, <i>The Orthodox Church</i>, New York, 1962, p. 86.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>These writings have been collected in Michael Bourdeaux, <i>Patriarch and Prophets</i>, New York, 1970.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 164</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Moscow Patriarchate as a powerful weapon of foreign policy, demanded that the Russian Church sacrifice Orthodoxy itself. One clear indication of this was the Patriarchate’s recent decision to offer all Sacraments to Roman Catholics and Old Believers, a decision which came from <span style="text-decoration: underline;">before</span> the Metropolia signed its agreement with Metropolitan Nikodim.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In no way, therefore, can the Moscow Patriarchate be considered a legitimate canonical body. Not only have her hierarchs been uncanonically ordained, a fact which even Professor Bogolepov and Fr. Meyendorff admit, but by concelebrating with and even communicating the mysteries to those outside the one holy catholic and apostolic Church of Christ they have subjected themselves to canonical suspension.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Where, therefore, is the legitimacy of the Moscow Patriarchate as claimed by the Metropolia? What is the value of a piece of paper (<span style="text-decoration: underline;">tomos</span>) signed by Metropolitan Nikodim – who <span style="text-decoration: underline;">must</span> be suspended and excommunicated many times over according to the canons, and who the confessing Russian Orthodox Church terms a betrayer of Christ?</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The Metropolia replies to such arguments by asking: I then the Moscow Patriarchate deprived of Grace and no Church at all? Do the simple believers have to suffer in the eyes of God for the betrayal of their leadership?</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
This is another canonical question on which, once again, many sincere people have fallen into temptation. For what Professor Bogolepov and Fr. Meyendorff and their colleagues are trying to do here is simplify the question which is by nature extraordinarily complex. They say: The Moscow Patriarchate is a legitimate ecclesiastical organization, despite</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 165</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
its egregious canonical lapses, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">because</span> its parishes are attended by the faithful. Therefore, they say, we can deal with the leadership of the Patriarchate as the legitimate representatives of these faithful.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The fact that Metropolitan Nikodim and his fellow members of the Holy Synod represent the faithful only “on paper” and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">de</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">facto</span> work directly against their interests is considered unimportant by the legalistic theologians of the Metropolia.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The correct attitude toward the Church in Russia is that of the Russian Church Abroad, which, “not wishing to have any communion with hierarchs whom there is every basis to consider in complete obedience to the Soviet atheists, none the less never brought forth specific judgements over <span style="text-decoration: underline;">all</span> the clergy in the U.S.S.R., as is unfoundedly claimed by Archbishop John and Fr. Joseph Pishtey (of the American Metropolia), basing themselves entirely on the articles of individual persons expressing their private opinions. We know, however, that strict control over ecclesiastical appointments creates an artificially-selected group and that with every year in the Moscow Patriarchate there should be less clergy maintaining their independence. Thus, only Archbishop Yermogen alone out of the few who disagreed with the anti-canonical changes introduced by order of the civil authorities into the Statue on Administration of the Patriarchate, remained faithful to his position and to this day is deprived of a see.”<sup>1 </sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In 1927 a split occurred in the Russian Church over Metropolitan</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Archpriest George Grabbe, “An Answer to Archbishop John and Fr. Joseph Pishtey,” <i>Orthodox Life</i>, 1970, no. 1, pp. 31-2.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 166</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Sergius’ famous “Declaration” which subjected the Russian Church to the communists. Those hierarchs in the U.S.S.R. such as Joseph of Leningrad and Cyrill of Kazan and many others who broke with Sergius on this matter, correctly felt that the “Declaration” would enable the State eventually to gain complete control over the Church. Others, such as Archbishop Hilarion (Troitsky), felt that the Church could survive by making the State adhere firmly to its decree on the separation of Church and State.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Since 1927 the so-called Catacomb or “underground” Church has maintained the position of Metropolitan Joseph and the other hierarchs who broke with Sergius over his “Declaration.” Terribly persecuted by the totalitarian State, often forced to live in forests, the clergy and laity of the catacomb Church have refused to have communion with the leadership of the Patriarchate, knowing that it has betrayed the Russian Church. The American Metropolia has often treated this confessional Church with brutal contempt, considering it “sectarian” for having broken with the Moscow Patriarchate. The Russian Church Abroad, on the other hand, feels that the Catacomb Church has most clearly discerned the truth of Christ, and that it is correct in not agreeing to have relations with a State composed of communist apostates from the Church and dedicated to the destruction of Christianity. The Catacomb Church clearly exists, despite the efforts of the world’s most efficient secret police force to extinguish it. Information about it can be found in such official Soviet publications as <i>The Atheists’ Dictionary</i> (Slovar’ Ateista).</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The literature which reached the West in the 1960’s from those in the “official” Russian Church who are seeking to retain their Orthodoxy</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 167</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
reveals the depth and agony of their position. Like Archbishop Hilarion Troitsky in the ‘twenties, some of them, such as Archbishop Yermogen and Frs. Eshliman and Yakunin, feel that the State should merely be forced to adhere to its own laws on separation of Church and State and the regulation of religious associations. Unfortunately, however, as these writers bear witness, the Soviet State has <span style="text-decoration: underline;">no</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">intention</span> of abiding by its own laws on Church-State relations, laws which are designed primarily to deceive foreign public opinion. Those like Archbishop Yermogen and the two Moscow priests, who attempt to hold the State to its own laws, are soon retired (Yermogen) or suspended (Frs. Eshliman and Yakunin). The “Hilarion” approach thus fails because it has incorrectly gauged the metaphysical evil at the bottom of the communist state. The Soviet government is increasingly intolerant toward any hierarchs or clergy who resist becoming tools of its policy.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
In the writings of Boris Talantov we find an ever-increasing awareness of this fact. Whereas at first he seeks to hold the Soviet government to its own laws on religious associations, his later writings, such as “Sergievsnchina” and “Soviet Society,”<sup>1 </sup>reveal a realization that the inner spiritual laws of the communist party of the U.S.S.R. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">require</span> it to persecute the Church. Likewise, he comes to an awareness that the Sergius “Declaration” of 1927 led inevitably to the collapse of the Russian Church in the 1960’s. In his “Sergievsnchina” Talantov defends those hierarchs who broke with Sergius in 1927 and attacks Nikita Struve of</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1.See a discussion of these works in John Dunlop, <i>The Recent Activities of the Moscow Patriarchate</i>, Seattle, 1970. See also Michael Bourdeaux, <i>Patriarch and Prophets</i>, New York, 1970.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 168</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
the Paris exarchate for defending Sergius’s actions in his book <i>Christians in Contemporary Russia</i>.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Archbishop Yermogen, Frs. Eshliman and Yakunin, are all in agreement on one matter – the “official” Russian Church is in terrible danger and is on the verge of spiritual death. They all agree that the reason for this is the “Sergius” philosophy of the Patriarchate. Their cry for the Church to purge itself of unworthy hierarchs and clergy (Nikodim and the other permanent members of the governing Holy Synod are either implicated of explicitly mentioned), however went unheard. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">They</span> rather than Nikodim were purged.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The fate of these courageous and devout Orthodox shows better than anything else that the State after the 1943-1960 period of relative toleration will now brook no opposition to its policies, even when the opposition bases itself on Soviet legislation. With the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">total</span> enslavement of the Russian Church at home fast becoming a reality, one may expect that virtually the entire Russian Church will as in the 1930’s take refuge in the catacombs.<sup>1 </sup> Now as in the ‘thirties the boundaries between the “official” and “catacomb” are fluid.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
To conclude, by dealing with Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad the American Metropolia has in no way dealt with a legitimate Russian Church authority. Rather it has entered into relations with an odious hireling of the Church’s communist persecutors.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The author of the recent “Open Letter to Fr. Vladimir of the B.B.C.” asserts that only the Church catacombs saved the Russian Orthodox during the 1930’s. See text in Bourdeaux <i>Patriarch</i>, pp. 230-36.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 169</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The Metropolia spokesman also wrongly claim that their agreement entails no dangers to the American Church or the Orthodox faith. How could Moscow gain any control over us, they ask, when we are in a country politically independent of the U.S.S.R.? Here again the Metropolia leaders have led many into temptation. Under the clever leadership of Metropolitan Nikodim, the Patriarchate and her masters have abandoned the coarse demand for “loyalty oaths” and the like which characterized her activities in the ‘thirties, ‘forties and ‘fifties. They have realized that more subtle pressures will bring greater results. Thus “all” she apparently got from the agreement with the Metropolia was (1) the Japanese Church as an autonomous Church under her authority, (2) the right to enter into full canonical relations with Metropolia clergy, to concelebrate, etc., (3) the right to have “friendly” exchanges of professors, seminarians, clergy and laity between the U.S. and U.S.S.R., (4) the Metropolia’s support versus the “Greeks” in pan-Orthodox synods and activities.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The Metroplolia’s surrender of the Japanese Church to Moscow was a gross act of betrayal by which an immature and small body was delivered into the hands of Metropolitan Nikodim and his colleagues. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">reason</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">that</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Metropolia</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">herself</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">always</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">refused</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">autonomy</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">under</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Moscow</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">was</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">that</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">she</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">knew</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">well</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">what</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">that</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">meant.</span> (See Chapter III above.) The fact that the Japanese Church was tricked by Moscow into believing that autonomy would be desirable does not justify the Metropolia. She alone is responsible before God for delivering the Japanese into the hands of the enemies of the Holy Church. She was the mother responsible for the infant Japanese mission.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 170</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The establishment of full communion with the Metropolia helps Moscow greatly both at home and abroad. At home pictures of Metropolia hierarchs and clergy concelebrating with Nikodim or Bishop Juvenaly of Tula (this has already occurred at the Metropolia’s St. Tikhon’s Monastery in Pennsylvania and elsewhere) will serve to <span style="text-decoration: underline;">demoralize</span> the confessing Church. “See,” Moscow will say to her opposition at home, “the American Metropolia freely recognizes us as legitimate rulers of the Church. How dare <span style="text-decoration: underline;">you</span> challenge our authority and actions?” Furthermore, it will lead other Orthodox and heterodox into temptation. Seeing that the Metropolia, headed by such well-known <span style="text-decoration: underline;">emigrés</span> as Frs. Schmemann and Meyendorff and by a majority of <span style="text-decoration: underline;">emigré</span> bishops, recognizes the validity of Moscow’s actions, they will be led to dismiss their own anxieties about Moscow’s canonical and political misdeeds. “Surely,” they will say, Russian <span style="text-decoration: underline;">emigrés</span> know the situation of the Russian Church better than we do. If they deal with Nikodim, then we should also.” Finally, Moscow will not ignore the propaganda benefits of a direct contact with the Metropolia faithful in Metropolia Churches. The parishioners will be invited to come to Russia to see the flourishing state of the Mother Church, asked to support the Mother Church in her struggle for world peace, etc.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The exchanges between Moscow and the Metropolia will be maximally exploited by the Patriarchate’s masters. On the buses taking Metropolia parishioners to St. Tikhon’s Monastery to witness Metropolitan Ireney’s recent solemn concelebration with Bishop Juvenaly of Tula, for example, leaflets were distributed inviting the faithful to come to the Soviet Union and see the religious life of the Russian people. As John </div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 171</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Dunlop has demonstrated in his <i>The Recent Activities of the Moscow Patriarchate</i>, the Moscow Patriarchate has turned the religious “tourist” trade into a lucrative business for the Soviet State. These tourists are, of course, shown carefully-selected sights and religious personnel and are prevented from coming into any contact with the persecuted Church. After such guided tours many foreigners have become enthusiastic defenders of the Soviet Union’s religious policies. “All talk of persecution,” they say, “is untrue. For we have seen <span style="text-decoration: underline;">with</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">our</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">own</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">eyes</span> that the Church is flourishing in Russia.”</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Exchanges of clergy and seminarians will serve a similar purpose. Unlike the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">emigré</span> leadership of the Metropolia, which knows full well what the situation in the Soviet Union is like, their American <span style="text-decoration: underline;">protégés</span> have no compunction about travelling to the Soviet Union and concelebrating with Patriarchate leaders. Thus, while Metropolitan Ireney and Frs. Schmemann and Meyendorff decided to forego the pleasures of a trip to the Soviet Union to pick up the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">tomos</span> of autocephaly, young Bishop Theodosius of Alaska and a group of American clergy and laity (none of them particularly well known outside the Metroplia) enthusiastically traveled to the U.S.S.R. Once there, as is indicated in the newspaper <i>The Orthodox Church</i>, May, 1970, they entered fully into the liturgical life of the Moscow Patriarchate. Bishop Theodosius was even permitted to ordain several candidates for priesthood. It did not, of course, occur to Bishop Theodosius to ask himself questions which would have arisen in the mind of any <span style="text-decoration: underline;">emigré</span> – namely: “Who am I ordaining? Is this man a servant of the Church or an agent of the State being infiltrated</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 172</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
into the Church to destroy her from within?”</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Moscow has shrewdly realized that the bulk of the Metropolia clergy and her future American episcopate (which will soon replace the aging <span style="text-decoration: underline;">emigrés</span> at her helm) do not share the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">emigrés</span> aversion to the Soviet Union. Bishop Theodosius and his fellows will prove much more cooperative than the grudgingly cooperative Metropolitan Ireney. By encouraging the future leaders of the Metropolia to come to the Soviet Union and by showering them with gifts and honors, Moscow will seek gradually to pull the Metropolia ever more closely into her orbit.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
As far as Moscow’s hope that the Metropolia will support her against the “Greeks” is concerned, here she can be quite certain of success. Since the Metropilia’s “autocephaly” has been recognized so far only by Moscow and several other Iron Curtain Orthodox countries, it is obvious that the Metropolia must curry Moscow’s favor or risk being refused admittance to Pan-Orthodox activities. The Greeks have so far even to consider the possibility of recognizing the legitimacy of the Metropolia’s new status: the chance are that they will continue this policy in future. The Metropolia will thus be accepted as an autocephalous Church by the Greeks only if Moscow employs the same heavy-handed tactics she used to pry recognition of the Polish and Czech autocephalies out of the Greeks. The Metropolia’s criticism of Moscow will therefore have to be quite muted, although Moscow in her increased sophistication may permit the Metropolia occasional tepid articles on religious restrictions in the U.S.S.R. as a sop to her conscience. It is interesting to note, in this connection, that when the Metropolia episcopate decided to condemn</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 173</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Moscow’s new practice of administrating sacraments to Roman Catholics (this being after her receipt of autocephaly, of course), she chose not to mention Moscow by name and merely condemned in practice.<sup>1 </sup>Such extreme caution is in the Metropolia tradition. When, for instance, in 1969 she chose to react to Archbishop Iakovos’ frequent celebrations with heterodox, she again merely condemned the practice (or rather she only condemned concelebrations in liturgical vestments) and said nothing about Iakovos.<sup>2 </sup>Given the Metropolia’s time-honored timidity, Moscow has little to fear from her new “daughter” Church.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
To conclude, the Metropolia had no right to enter into canonical relations with a Church enslaved by atheist communists. In dealing with the present leaders of the Moscow Patriarchate, she dealt not with the Russian Church, but with chosen hirelings of the Soviet State such as Metropolitan Nikodim, a man condemned as a traitor to the Church by men such as Boris Talantov, who has been recognized by the Metropolia itself as a confessor of Orthodoxy.<sup>3</sup></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<sup></sup><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The fact, frequently cited by Metropolia apologists, that the other Orthodox Churches throughout the world also recognize the leaders of the Moscow Patriarchate, is no excuse. Nearly half of these Churches are behind the Iron Curtin and are no freer that the Moscow Patriarchate itself. Others, such as Alexandria and Antioch, are also under heavy pressure in the matter of recognizing Moscow because of the political course followed by the nations in which they are located. It is worthy of</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>See <i>The Orthodox Church</i>, April, 1970, p. 1.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><i>The Orthodox Church</i>, 1969.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>See the article on him and Levitin in <i>The Orthodox Church</i>, April, 1970.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Page 174</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
note, however, that the Church of Greece recently refused to admit Metropolitan Nikodim to Mt. Athos because of his attempts to intrigue there and export “monks” from the Soviet Union to the Holy Mountain.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Recognition by itself means little. Did not the Church of Constantinople and others recognize the Russian Living Church and even invite her to a projected Ecumenical Council which never occurred? The only valid criterion for recognition is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">truth</span>. And the Moscow Patriarchate stands convicted by the Holy Canons as a thoroughly uncanonical organization. The leaders of the Metropolia, being fully informed of the ecclesiastical situation in Russia (the letters of Frs. Eshliman and Yakunin and Archbishop Yermogen were even printed in the <i>St. Vladimir’s Seminary Quarterly</i>), committed a blatantly criminal action when they entered into dealings with Metropolitan Nikodim and his colleagues.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Furthermore, the Metropolia did not merely receive recognition from Moscow; it had to <span style="text-decoration: underline;">negotiate</span> recognition, as the recently published tomos indicates.<sup>1 </sup>Among other concessions it surrendered Japan to the jurisdiction of Moscow, permitted forty-three Patriarchate parishes to remain under Moscow in the United States, and entered into full liturgical communion with hand-picked hierarchs of the Soviet government. It also moved into <span style="text-decoration: underline;">de</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">facto</span> dependence upon Moscow in pan-Orthodox dealings.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The disastrous moral and spiritual consequences of this agreement are only beginning to be realized by attentive observers. With time the terrible sin committed on March 31, 1970, when Metropolia signed the agreement with Moscow will become evident to all.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Published in <i>The Orthodox Church</i>, May, 1970.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12000679422093371576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1020715264465191896.post-20431793422156455152011-03-30T17:54:00.001-07:002018-12-25T17:30:45.075-08:00Chapter VI: The Fruits Of The Autocephaly<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>A Brief Chronicle of the Moscow – Metropolia</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Autocephaly Agreement</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>December, 1961</b> – Initial contact made between Moscow’s Archbishop Nikodim (Rostov) and the American Metropolia’s Archbishop John (Shakhovskoy) at the New Delhi Assembly of the World Council of Churches. Nikodim suggests future meetings.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>1963</b> – An important meeting (unofficial) held between Metropolitan Nikodim and Metropolia representatives, including Metropoliatn Leonty, in the United States. Nikodim had come to the U.S. at the invitation of the National Council of Churches.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>1967</b> – Another “unofficial” meeting in the United States between Metropolitan Nikodim and Metropolia representatives.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>May, 1968</b> – The Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate decides officially to recognize marriages between Orthodox and Catholics <b>even when they are performed by a Catholic priest</b>.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>August, 1968</b> – An “unofficial” meeting held between Metropolitan Nikodim and Metropolia delegates to the General Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Uppsala, Sweden. Definite steps are taken. <b>A “platform and a procedure for negotiations” are elaborated</b>. Negotiations enter a new phase.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>January 21, 1969</b> – An “unofficial” meeting held between Metropolitan Nikodim and Metropolia representatives at Nikodim’s hotel in New York.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>February 3, 1969</b> – A second important “unofficial” meeting between Metropolitan Nikodim and Metropolia leaders at Metropolitan Ireney’s residence in Syosset, Long Island.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>March 11, 1969</b> – A Great Council of Bishops of the American Metropolia “accepts and confirms” the report of Bishop Kiprian concerning the meeting of February 3. <b>It is resolved to enter into official negotiations with the Moscow Patriarchate</b>.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>March 20, 1969</b> – Metropolitan Ireney, first primate of the Metropolia, writes Patriarch Alexis of Moscow informing him of the decision of the Great Council of Bishops on March 11.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>August 5, 1969</b> – The Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate “after a discussion of the correspondence with Metropolitan Ireney” and of the “correspondence and earlier contacts between Metropolitan Nikodim and Bishop Kiprian concerning the question of normalizing the relationship between the Moscow Patriarchate and the North American Metropolia,” authorizes Metropolitan Nikodim to “continue negotiations,” and gives him “appropriate instructions.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>August 24-25, 1969</b> – Metropolitan Nikodim meets with Frs. Schmemann, Meyendorff, Pishtey, and Skvir of the Metropolia in Geneva, Switzerland. <b>Basic agreement is reached</b>. It is decided to hold a special meeting in Tokyo, Japan, to treat the question of the Japanese Orthodox Church.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>September, 1969</b> – The Metropolia Council of Bishops approves the “basic content” of the Tokyo agreement. Diocesan conventions are informed and express “unanimous approval” (Fr. Pishtey).</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>October 12, 1969</b> – Metropolitan Nikodim serves a liturgy at the chapel of the Russicum in Rome and <b>communicates a number of Roman Catholics present</b>.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>November 17, 1969</b> – The Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate approves the results of the August meeting in Geneva and “authorizes” Metropolitan Nikodim to continue negotiations.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>November 28, 1969</b> – A crucial “four-sided” meeting occurs in Tokyo, Japan, between Metropolitan Nikodim, representatives of the American Metropolia, and representatives of the two Japanese Missions (i.e., that canonically under the Metropolia and that under Moscow). At this meeting Moscow agrees to found an “autonomous” Japanese Orthodox Church and the Metropolia relinquishes all canonical rights over the Japanese Mission. “A final draft of agreement” between Moscow and the Metropolia is prepared and an agreement <b>signed</b> between Moscow and those Japanese Orthodox formerly under the Metropolia.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>November, 1969</b> – The Russian Church Abroad’s Archbishop Vitaly of Montreal hears of the impending Moscow-Metropolia agreement and asks his laity not to visit the churches of the American Metropolia or to have communion in prayer with it.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>December 6, 1969</b> – An article by the Metropolia’s Chancellor, Fr. Joseph Pishtey, in the emigré daily <i>Novoe Russkoe Slovo</i> announces that agreement has almost been concluded between Moscow and the Metropolia. This is the <b>first public announcement</b> of the negotiations.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>December 8, 1969</b> – Protopresbyter George Grabbe, Director of the Russian Church Abroad’s Public and Foreign Relations Department, pens a reflective protest against the impending “autocephaly.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>December 9, 1969</b> – The Russian Church Abroad’s Archbishop Nikon of Washington and Florida issues a “warning” to the American Metropolia, showing the terrible dangers inherent in the “autocephaly” agreement. The warning is printed in <i>Novoe Russkoe Slovo</i>.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>December 12, 1969</b> – A meeting of the episcopate of the American Metropolia ratifies the agreement reached in Tokyo, Japan. Outside, more than 200 persons gather to protest the ratification and to pray for the enlightenment of the bishops.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>December 16, 1969</b> – The Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate makes an official decision to <b>permit Roman Catholics and Old Believers in the Soviet Union to partake of Orthodox sacraments, including Holy Communion</b>.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>December 19, 1969</b> – A council of the former Metropolia Japanese diocese holds a council which “unanimously” decides to ask Patriarch Alexis to grant “autonomy” to the Japanese Church.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>January 8, 1970</b> – Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople informs Patriarch Alexis of Moscow that he will not recognize the proposed autocephaly and that he considers it uncanonical.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>February 21, 1970</b> – <i>The New York Times</i> (p. 23) announces the December 16 decision of the Moscow Holy Synod under the heading “Russian Priests May Minister to Roman Catholics.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>December-March, 1970</b> – The “autocephaly” controversy rages on the pages of <i>Novoe Russkoe Slovo</i> and various ecclesiastical publications. Official warnings against concluding the agreement are issued by the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad and by Metropoliatn Philaret. Individual clergy and laity and some whole parishes prepare to leave the American Metropolia for the Church Abroad.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>March 15, 1970</b> – On the day of Orthodox Sunday, Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Boston issues “An appeal to the Bishops, Clergy, and Laity of the Russian American Metropolia” urging them to reject the autocephaly agreement. Great stress is put on the fact that Moscow has officially decided to grant sacraments to non-Orthodox and to engage in common prayer with them.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>March 31, 1970</b> – <b>The autocephaly agreement is signed by Metropolitan Nikodim and Metropolitan Ireney of the Metropolia in New York</b>.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>April 3, 1970</b> – The Holy Synod of Moscow Patriarchate decides to remove the canonical suspension “burdening” that section of the Japanese Church formerly under the Metropolia.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>April 9, 1970</b> – The Holy Synod of Moscow resolves to remove the suspension placed on the hierarchy of the North American Metropolia on December 12, 1947.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>April 10, 1970</b> – An enlarged session of the Moscow Holy Synod decides to grant autocephaly to the American Metropolia and autonomy to the Church of Japan.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>April 17, 1970</b> – Patriarch Alexis of Moscow dies at the age of ninety-three.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>April 21, 1970</b> – The American Metropolia’s Bishop Theodosius of Alaska flies to Moscow to participate in Patriarch Alexis’ funeral service. Numerous heterodox, including the American Catholics Vazgen I and Cardinal Jan Willebrands of the Vatican Secretariat, participate in the service.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>May 18, 1970</b> – Bishop Theodosius again comes to Moscow, this time to receive the <b>tomos</b> of autocephaly, which is solemnly handed to him by Metropolitan Pimen of Krutitsk, Guardian of the Patriarchal throne.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>May 26, 1970</b> – Bishop Theodosius of Alaska participates in the forty-day memorial service for Patriarch Alexis. He also ordains a Soviet seminarian to the diaconate.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>May 30, 1970</b> – Bishop Juvenaly of Tula, Nikodim’s first substitute as Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Foreign Department, visits the Metropolia’s St. Tikhon’s Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsylvania, for a solemn liturgical concelebration with Metropolitan Ireney, Archbishop Kiprian of Philadelphia, and Bishop Theodosius of Alaska.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>October 20, 1970</b> – A Council (Sobor) of the Metroplia episcopate, clergy, and laity is held at St. Tikhon’s Monastery. The <b>tomos</b> of autocephaly is read. By a vote of 301 to 7 (with 2 abstensions) the delegates present resolve to change the name of the Metropolia to “<b>The Orthodox Church in America</b>.” A delegation from the Russian Church Abroad (Bishop Lavr of Manhattan and Fr. George Grabbe) is refused permission to address the council.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Notes to the Chronicle:</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Much of the information employed in the Chronicle comes from December 14, 1969, “Communiqué” of the Moscow Patriarchate (see <i>Diakonia</i>, vol. V, no. 2, 1970, pp. 144-47, and from Dmitry Grigorieff, “<i>The Othodox Church in America from the Alaska Mission to Autocephaly</i>”, <i>St.</i> <i>Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly</i>, 1970, no. 4, pp. 216-17, and Protopresbyter Joseph J. Pishtey, “Official Notification” of December 6, 1969, in <i>Diakonia</i>, vol. V, no. 2, 1970, pp. 142-4.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">A glance at the “Brief Chronicle” introducing this Chapter shows that the initial contact between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Metropolia was made at the 1961 Assembly of the World Council of Churches in New Dehli, India. In its initial announcement of the impending autocephaly in <i>Novoe Russkoe Slovo</i>, December 6, 1969, the Metropolia avoided reference to this contact.1 In a later “adjusted” version, written after the granting of autocephaly, the year 1961 is admitted as the “unofficial” beginning of the events which were in time to bring the “Orthodox Church in America” into existence.2</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">See <i>Diakonia</i>, vol. V, no. 2, 1970, p. 143.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">See <i>St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly</i>, vol. IV, 1970, p. 216</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>Newsweek</i> magazine, which interested itself in the Moscow Patriarchate’s activities at New Dehli, reports that initially relations between the Patriarchate and Metropolia at the Assembly were hardly congenial: “<b>Outraged at a Russian</b> (Moscow Patriarchate) <b>statement that their Church was free</b>, a section of American Orthodoxy (i.e. the Metropolia) began quietly distributing mimeographed accounts of Church oppression by the Soviets.”3</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;"><i>Newsweek,</i> Dec. 4, 1961, p. 82.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">This proved to be embarrassing for Archbishop Nikodim (Rostov), the thirty-two year old leader of Moscow’s delegation, and he acted quickly to do something about it. <i>Newsweek</i> in a subsequent article on the Assembly observes, “Relations between the Moscow prelates and an American Orthodox group (the Metropolia) were still a bit scratchy as a result of an argument about religious freedom in the Soviet Union. Hoping to smooth things over, Nikodim suggested a visit to the U.S. might help clear things up. The idea shocked Archbishop John of San Francisco, delegate of a Russian Orthodox body which does not recognize the authority of the Moscow Patriarchate. <b>Perhaps, he said, an unofficial meeting could be arranged in a few years but outside the U.S</b>. ‘Why outside?’ asked the Russians. An aide of John explained: ‘The press in America would kill us.’ The Russians blinked. ‘So who is more free—you or us.’”1</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;"><i>Newsweek</i>, December 11, 1961, p. 56</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">One might wonder how a visit to the U.S. could “clear up” the matter of religious persecution in the Soviet Union. What Nikodim had in mind, of course, was something else, something which Archbishop John Shakhovskoy, who is not naïve, instantly perceived – namely, the possible recognition by Moscow of the legitimacy of the Metropolia’s position. As for Nikodim, he evidently felt that the bait of an escape from “uncanonicity” would serve to blunt the sharpness of future Metropolia statements on the persecution of religion in Russia and would prompt the Metropolia to take a less harsh view of the activities of the Moscow Patriarchate.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Such were the “unofficial” beginnings of the autocephaly process. Two years later a new development occurred. “In 1963 during an unofficial encounter between out late Primate Metropolitan Leonty with representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate it became clear that the latter does no longer insist on canonical dependence and is ready to discuss the question of ‘autocephaly.’”1 According to the Metropolia’s “Official Notification” of December 6, 1969, the death of Metropolitan Leonty in 1965 “delayed for a time the solution of the question, but in the beginning of 1969 negotiations were resumed.”2 Fr. Grigorieff’s post-autocephaly version reveals that negotiations were actually resumed in <b>1967</b>, “during a visit of the Metropolitan Nikodim to the United States.”3 </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;"><i>Diakonia</i>, vol. V, no. 2, 1970, p. 143.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;"><i>Loc. cit.</i></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;"><i>St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly</i>, no. 4, 1970, p. 216.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The Moscow Patriarchate’s decision of May, 1968, to recognize marriages between Orthodox and Catholics even when performed by a Catholic priest apparently caused no alarm among the leaders of the Metropolia, despite its clearly un-Orthodox nature. And no wonder. “Autocephaly” was now in sight.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The meeting between Nikodim and the Metropolia delegates to the Uppsala Assembly of the World Council of Churches in the summer of 1968 proved to be highly significant. A “procedure for negotiations” was worked out, and the drive for autocephaly began in earnest. After two “unofficial” meetings with Nikodim in New York on January 21, 1969, and February 3, 1969, the Metropolia’s Great Council of Bishops resolved to enter into “official negotiations” with Moscow. On August 24 and 25, 1969, Nikodim met with Frs. Schmemann, Meyendorff, Pishtey, and Skvir of the Metropolia in Geneva, Switzerland. Basic agreement was reached. The only two troublesome points turned out to be (1) what to do with those Moscow Patriarchate parishes in America that did not wish to enter the autocephaly, and (2) what to do with the Japanese Orthodox, the great majority of whom were canonically submitted to the Metropolia. It was decided to have another meeting in Tokyo to resolve these problems.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Before this meeting could take place, however, Metropolitan Nikodim had already visited Rome, where on October 12, 1969, he served a liturgy in the chapel of the Russicum, an institution the express purpose of which is the conversion of Russia to Roman Catholicism, and gave communion to a number of Latins there present. This ecumenical “first,” part of the Moscow-Vatican reapprochement of the ‘sixties, soon became known to the leaders of the Metropolia, where it no doubt caused some anxiety. “Will Moscow retain its vestiges of Orthodoxy long enough to grant autocephaly?” is a question which may well have been on some Metropolia minds. Moreover, there was the danger that Nikodim’s act might be negatively received by the Metropolia faithful, the majority of whom were ex-Uniates with a distaste for the Papal See. In fact, it apparently did not become generally known.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">With her goal in sight, the Metropolia chose to ignore this obvious warning signal. By November 28, 1969, Nikodim had succeeded in persuading the Metropolia’s Japanese diocese to accept “autonomy” under Moscow. On that day in Tokyo the finishing touches were put on the autocephaly agreement by Nikodim and the Metropolia delegates. It was decided that Patriarchal parishes in America could remain under Moscow on a temporary basis; “autonomy” was to be granted to the Japanese Church.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">According to Chancellor Pishtey of the Metropolia, “The basic content of the (autocephaly) agreement was approved by our Sobor of Bishops” in September, 1969, “and then reported to the Diocesan conventions of all our Dioceses, where it met with unanimous approval.”1 One cannot help wondering about the accuracy of Fr. Pishty’s last statement. In the uproar following the appearance of his “notification” of December 6, 1969, it turned out that a large number of Metropolia priests and virtually all of her laymen were taken totally by surprise. In any case, it is a fact that a good percentage of the Metropolia clergy and a staggering majority of her laity knew absolutely nothing about the preparations for autocephaly being concluded in Tokyo on November 28.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;"><i>Diakonia</i>, Vol. V, no. 2, 1970, p. 143.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Less than three weeks after the Tokyo agreement, the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate announced an official decision to admit Roman Catholics and Old Believers to Orthodox sacraments in the Soviet Union. This decision of December 16, 1969, became widely known in the United States after it was published by <i>The New York Times</i> of February 21, 1970 (p. 23), under the heading, “Russian Priests May Minister to Roman Catholics.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">With this announcement our most merciful God gave the Metropolia a last providential chance to reconsider what exactly it was that she was doing. If the learned leaders of the Metropolia could not grasp the wrongfulness of dealing with a hierarchy manifestly unfree to perform its Orthodox duty, then, one would have thought, they would have at least scrupled at the impropriety of receiving autocephaly from a body that had officially granted Orthodox sacraments to non-Orthodox.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Ignoring whatever prickings of conscience they may have had, the leaders of the Metropolia decided to overlook this last awesome misstep by the Moscow Patriarchate, and, on March 31, 1970, Metropolitans Nikodim and Ireney signed the agreement for autocephaly. The process begun in 1961 had come to an end.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Immediately following the conclusion of the agreement of March 31, full canonical communion was established between Moscow and the Metropolia. The Metropolia’s young Bishop Theodosius of Alaska flew twice to Moscow, where he participated in both the funeral service for Patriarch Alexis and the forty-day memorial service. The active participation of such heterodox luminaries as the Armenian Catholicos Vazgen I and Cardinal Jan Willebrands of the Vatican Secretariat at the patriarch’s funeral forced Theodosius strategically to disregard the Metropolia’s own prohibition against common liturgical prayer with non-Orthodox.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">On May 30, 1970, Bishop Juvenaly of Tula, Nikodim’s first-substitute as chairman of Moscow’s Foreign Affairs Department, was a “surprise guest” as a much-publicized liturgy at St. Tikhon’s Monastery on South Canaan, Pennsylvania. With great solemnity Juvenaly concelebrated with Metropolitan Ireney, Archbishop Kiprian, and Bishop Theodosius of Alaska of the Metropolia.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Five months later at the same St. Tikhon’s Monastery the First Sobor of the new “autocephalous” Church was held. On October 20, the first day of the Sobor, Chancellor Pishtey read aloud the <b>tomos</b> of autocephaly, and by a vote of 301 to 7, with 2 abstentions, the Sobor resolved the change its name to “the Orthodox Church in America.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">There has been considerable confusion about what this Sobor actually did. Did it give final approval to the autocephaly? Or had this already been dome on March 31, when Metropolitan Ireney signed his agreement with Metropolitan Nikodom? A recent issue of the Metropolia’s monthly publication <i>The Orthodox Church</i> provides the answer. In a letter to the editor of the publication, Fr. John Meyendorff, a certain Fr. Paul Kucynda of Wayne, New Jersey, a delegate to the Sobor, writes, “I do not believe that any delegate voted to accept or reject autocephaly, <b>for this is out of our competency</b>. <b>What we did do was vote overwhelmingly to change the name of our Church</b>. This, I agree, can be and should be taken as nearly full support of the previous action of our Bishops’ Council in whose full competency lies the matter of autocephaly. . . .”1</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;"><i>The Orthodox Church</i>, January, 1971, p. 4.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Fr. Meyendorff answers Fr. Kucynda by agreeing with him: “your interpretation of the Council’s (i.e. Sobor’s) action is correct. <b>The autocephaly was requested and accepted by the Council of Bishops as the supreme canonical authority of our Church</b>.”2</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>Loc cit</i>.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">This interesting friendly exchange to views tells us that the October Sobor in fact had absolutely <b>nothing to do</b> with the autocephaly, which was fully obtained on March 31. Fr. Meyendorff’s statement that the Council of Bishops is the supreme authority in the Metropolia is puzzling when one reads in the Metropolia statues that it is the <b>All-American Sobor</b> which is the supreme authority. True, according to the Metropolia’s statues the decisions of the Sobor must be approved by the Council of Bishops (although this was not done in 1946 at the Cleveland Sobor), but this does not alter the case. Obviously what the Metropolia should have done was to hold an All-American Sobor <b>before</b> Metropolitan Ireney signed the agreement, not afterwards. In the past the Metropolia always left it to her Sobors to make such crucial decisions.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The fact of the matter is that the Metropolia, for all its rhetorics about “<b>sobornost</b>” (i.e., “catholicity”), did not even <b>consult</b> the broad mass of its clergy and laity before <b>concluding</b> negotiations for autocephaly on March 31. The October Sobor <b>could have reversed</b> the autocephaly had it wished to do so; the most it could have done was to reject a proposed change of name.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">It may be argued that this objection is only academic, since, as it turned out, the overwhelming majority of the delegates to the Sobor did support the autocephaly. Such an argument, however, in no way excuses the fact that a serious procedural mistake was (intentionally) made – viz., that the Sobor <b>followed</b> rather than <b>preceded</b> the ratification, as (according to the Metropolia’s own statues) it should have been done. It also ignores the fact that there was considerable opposition to the autocephaly within the Metropolia itself. Once this opposition realized that it had no opportunity to fight against the autocephaly, it simple left the Metropolia ofr the Russian Church Abroad, since it is difficult to rebut a <b>fait accompli</b>.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">It is more than obvious that the leaders of the Metropolia feared that a Sobor held before ratification might give rise to some serious dispute. They therefore decided to present the Sobor with an agreement which had already been concluded.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">After the appearance of Fr. Pishtey’s announcement in the <i>Novoe Russkoe Slovo</i> of December 6, the “autocephaly controversy” began. In defending the Metropolia’s position her apologists usually resorted to arguments which asserted or maintained the following: (1) The “readiness” of the American Metropolia for autocephaly; (2) The “necessity” of this autocephaly for the health and prosperity of Orthodoxy in America; (3) The “full canonical legitimacy” of the Moscow Patriarchate; (4) The “utter impossibility” that the Moscow Patriarchate could gain any influence over the Metropolia; and (5) The “correctness” of the canonical surrender of the Metropolia’s Japanese Diocese to Moscow.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">As far as the “readiness” of the Metropolia for autocephaly is concerned, enough has been said in the preceding Chapters of this study. As was shown, even Fr. Schmemann in his moments of candor has been willing to admit in print the woeful state of the Metropolia’s Orthodoxy.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">As for the “necessity” of the autocephaly for the health and well-being of American Orthodoxy, it should be observed at once that this argument is a favorite one with Metropolia apologists, and has had considerable success among the Orthodox of other jurisdictions in America. “Ought not there to be <b>one</b> Orthodox Church in America?” the Metropolia apologists shrilly cry. This emotional argument finds considerable success among the more idealistic elements of the Greek, Syrian, Rumanian, <b>et al</b>. jurisdictions, who recently have become vocally critical of the disunity of the American Orthodox flock.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Obviously the fact that there is little unity among Orthodox in American is wrong and a sin against God. But to conclude from this that the evil of disunity justifies a minimal unity at any cost, including the surrender of the Japanese Church to Moscow and the entering into communion with hierarchs clearly subservient to atheist dictates (and who are, in addition, in sacramental communion with Roman Catholics), is even a worse wrong and a greater sin. The ends in this case clearly do not justify the means. If true unity among the Orthodox in America is to come about, it must be as the result of a change of heart, of a renewed dedication on the part of the faithful, their pastors, and archpastors, to our merciful Saviour and His Holy Church, the ark of salvation. The Metropolia’s “autocephaly” represents a cynical and mechanically legalistic attempt to impose unity by means of an ecclesiastical <b>coup</b>. As Metropolitan Philaret of the Russian Church Abroad has observed, the Grace of God cannot rest on such an action.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The Metropolia, as we have seen, now unequivocally recognizes the canonicity of the Moscow Patriarchate: “We recognize, and we have always done so, the canonicity and holiness of the Russian Church. . . .”1 “We have always believed in the full presence of grace in the Russian Church, this presence being once more so clearly shown in the manner of recognizing the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church in America.”2</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">Fr. Pishtey, <i>Diakonia</i>, vol. V, no. 2, 1970, p. 202.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">Fr. G. Benigsen in <i>Logos</i>, January, 1971</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: #caf0fe; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">A study of the Metropolia’s past, however, shows that this passionate defense of the legitimacy of the Moscow Patriarchate has had an uneven history. When it seemed that ecclesiastical independence might be extracted from Moscow, then she became the holy “Mother Church.” But when Moscow pronounced various threats and suspensions, as she did under Platon and Theophilus, then the Patriarchate became an institution “subservient to the communists.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Fr. Schmemann, for example, is currently a passionate apologist for Moscow’s legitimacy. Not so long ago, as a member of the Parisian Russian Exarchate canonically under Constantinople, he was an equally passionate defender of the prerogatives of Constantinople against those of Moscow.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">And indeed the Metropolia’s conviction that only Moscow could grant autocephaly to American Orthodoxy has had some weak moments in the recent past. At the Sobor of October, 1970 (to cite only one instance), the Metropolia’s Archbishop John of San Francisco made a startling admission:</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Archbishop John of San Francisco stated in the sessions (of the Sobor) that he had been in Constantinople and <b>had personally offered to Patriarch Athenagoras that he take under his omophor the Orthodox Church in America</b> on the basis of a uniting, in the first place, of the Greek parishes subject to him and our parishes with the aim of uniting other ethnic parishes in the future. The Patriarch categorically refused.1</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">Sobor report of the <i>Parish News of Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Montreal</i>, December-January, 1970-1, p. 11.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">And if he had not refused? Then there would have emerged an “Orthodox Church in America” proclaimed by <b>Constantinople</b>, not Moscow. It is obvious that what the Metropolia wanted was autocephaly. How she obtained it was really a matter of secondary importance. When Athenagoras balked at John’s offer, the Metropolia turned once and for all to the more agreeable Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Clearly, the cynical pragmatism of the Metropolia stands revealed.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The Metropolia admits that there is one group of believers which does have the right to judge the activities of the Moscow Patriarchate – the martyric Russian Church. Thus, Fr. Pishtey writes: “We do not take upon ourselves the right to judge in a blasphemous way the Russian Church or any of its hierarchs. If such judgement is necessary, then he alone is entitled to make it who has traversed along the road of the martyred Russian Church. He who has thus endured has the right to judge concerning its deeds and actions.”1</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;"><i>Diakonia</i>, vol. 5, no. 2, 1970, p. 202.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">An interesting admission when considered in connection with some of the recent statements of the martyric Russian Church on the Moscow Patriarchate leadership! Here is the testimony of Boris Talantov, Orthodox confessor and martyr who perished in a prison hospital in Kirov on January 4, 1971:</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>The activity of the Moscow Patriarchate abroad is a conscious betrayal of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Christian faith</b>. . . .Metropolitan Nikodim is betraying the Church not out of fear but out of conscience. . . .The time has come to unmask the betrayal by the Moscow Patriarchate abroad; Metropolitan Nikodim’s hour has struck. . . .2</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">From Michael Bourdeaux (ed.), <i>Patriarch and Prophets</i>, New York, 1970, pp. 331-2.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Or there is this statement by the confessor Feodisiya Varavva, terribly persecuted by the Soviet state for her bold confession of the Orthodox faith and, especially, for her attempt to bring her children up as Christians:</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">We are spiritual orphans who have no pastors. Most of our pastors have bowed to the godless communists and serve their will, not apostolic traditions and the decrees of the ecumenical councils. The true pastors, of whom there remain so few, are themselves harassed by state officials and by those pastors who have submitted to the godless communists.3</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;"><i>Ibid.,</i> p. 177</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Varavva specifically names Metropolitans Nikodim of Leningrad and Pimen of Krutitsk as betrayers of the Russian Church.1</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>Ibid.,</i> pp. 173-5.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Finally, a statement from the Moscow priests, Frs. Nikolay Eshliman and Gleb Yakunin, who were suspended by the Patriarchate for their courageous defense of the persecuted Church:</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Neither the cunning of the Department of Foreign Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, nor any interviews and authoritative statements, nor any participation of Russian hierarchs in international movements are capable of proving <b>something that does not exist – the freedom of the Russian Church</b>.2</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">From <i>St. Vladimir’s Seminary Quarterly</i>, vol. X, 1966, nos. 1-2, p. 105</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: #caf0fe; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Fr. Pishtey! Has the martyric Russian Church not spoken? Has it not convincingly unmasked the betrayal of the Church by the leaders of the Patriarchate, and especially by Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad, the Metropolia’s negotiating partner?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">That the leaders of the Metropolia knew the testimony of the martyric Russian Church is unquestionable; several documents were even published in Metropolia publications. One must, therefore, assume that is rationalized its dealings with betrayers by saying something like this: “They may be weak sinful men, even ‘betrayers,’ but they are still lawful, ‘canonical’ representatives of the Russian Church.” This argument, of course, could never be based on the New Testament of Church Fathers. And when the Moscow leaders’ betrayal of their flock is considered together with their official decision to grant Orthodox sacraments to Roman Catholics and Old Believers, a decision made considerably <b>before</b> autocephaly was signed, it is clear that the Metropolia made a morally despicable move. One can only assume a total cynicism as regards the real interests of the Church.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The Metropolia’s frequent assertions that the autocephaly agreement led to absolutely no expansion of Soviet influence over her flock are unable to bear the test of an examination of what has actually happened since autocephaly. As the younger, American-born Metropolia clergy have entered into concelebrations with Moscow clergy and have begun to lead “pilgrimages” to the Soviet Union, a considerable growth in sympathy toward the Soviet Union, and particularly, towards the Moscow Patriarchate, has become very noticeable.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Young Bishop Theodosius of Alaska, after having been wined and dined on his two important visits to Moscow, conveyed a positively glowing impression of Soviet life to his chancellor, Fr. Michael Irvin, who then remarked in an interview with an Alaskan newspaper:</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Bishop Theodosius. . . has been to the Soviet Union twice within the last six weeks. He says he expected to see people poorly dressed, the cities drab, etc., but that these aren’t true. He said the stores are filled with items, the cities are clean; <b>life is not uncomfortable and people are not unhappy</b>. They don’t like a lot of things about their government but neither do Americans. <b>As Americans we have to reassess our ideas of life in the Soviet Union</b>. The bishop feels we will see a great change there within 20 years.1</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;"><i>Alaska Empire</i>, July 2, 1970.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Shortly afterwards, an account appeared by a Metropolia priest, Fr. Gerald Sudik of Endicott, New York, who had recently returned along with sixteen of his parishioners from a three-week visit to the Soviet Union. Fr. Sudik enthusiastically reported that they had been treated like kings as representatives of a Church just granted autocephaly by Moscow. The churches, they reported, are overflowing (this Fr. Sudik should have known, is because so few are left open); ancient churches are being restored by the State. Since 1968 the Soviet Union, fearing a war with China, has adopted a benign attitude toward the Russian Church.1</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">Report in <i>Orthodox Russia</i>, September 14, 1970.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Meanwhile, on September 5-6, 1970, a conference of the Russian Orthodox Youth Clubs of America, an organization affiliated with the Metropolia, was held in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. At the last moment it was announced that Bishop Makary Svistun, the recently-appointed permanent director of Moscow Patriarchate parishes in America and Canada and a Soviet citizen, would participate in the conference. At the liturgy on September 6 Makary concelebrated with Metropolitan Ireney. According to an eyewitness, the “leit-motif” of Makary’s sermon was, “What a joy it is to observe that the Orthodox faith is flourishing on the American continent, but one must remember our great homeland, Russia, and <b>her great efforts for peace over the whole world</b>.”2</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">Report of Georgy Nevsky, <i>Novoe Russkoe Slovo</i>, September 16, 1970</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: #caf0fe; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Finally, one should not pass over the appreciation of Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad given by Fr. John Nehrebecki of the Metropolia’s church in Paramus, New Jersey. He was a member of Bishop Theodosius’ delegation to Moscow, and reports: “I have been asked constantly since my return about my impression of Metropolitan Nikodim of the Russian Department of External Affairs with whom the Metropolia had so much contact during the negotiations. I learned that he was raised in the Church by devout parents – particularly his mother who died only last year. He wrote an Akathist to Sts. Boris and Gleb, the first saints of Russia, when he was only 14. He was ordained deacon at 17 and accepted monastic vows. He was ordained a priest at 20 and his theological education continued up to a master’s degree of sacred theology. He was consecrated bishop at 30. He speaks fluent English. A personal impression – <b>He brilliantly interprets the world’s religious situation</b>. In every situation – liturgically, doctrinally, historically, and on contemporary issues, he was excellent. <b>My opinion of him is that this dynamic churchman is one of the world’s greatest religious leaders</b>.”1</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">From the <i>Russian-Orthodox Journal</i>, July-August, 1970.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">This impression, gratefully republished by the Moscow Patriarchate’s English-language journal <i>One Church</i><b>,</b> contrasts starkly with the opinion of the late Russian Orthodox martyr Boris Talantov: “Instead of defending the truth, the faith and his fellow Christians, <b>Metropolitan Nikodim is lying and slandering his brothers. . . .Metropolitan Nikodim is not worthy to bear the high office of Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church</b>. . . .”2</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">Michael Bourdeaux, (ed.) <i>Patriarch and Prophets</i>, N.Y., 1970, p. 154.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">To conclude, it is more than evident that Moscow has succeeded in influencing the future leaders of the Metropolia in the direction she wishes. Furthermore, it should be borne in mind that the Metropolia is hardly free to criticize <b>any</b> actions of the Patriarchate since her autocephaly is recognized only by Moscow and Orthodox Churches such as Poland, Czechoslavakia, and Bulgaria, which are clearly in Moscow’s sphere.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Much to the Metropolia’s disappointment none of the Greek patriarchates and local Churches, nor the Antiochian, Rumanian, and Serbian patriarchates have recognized her autocephaly. At her much-publicized canonization services for St. Herman of Alaska, held in the summer of 1970, Archbishop Paavli of the Autonomous Church of Finland and Metropolitan Audrey of the Bulgarian Patriarchate were the only high-ranking non-Metropolia hierarchs present. This also represented a considerable disappointment. The lack of recognition of the Metropolia’s autocephaly by the great majority of the Orthodox Churches places the new “Orthodox Church in America” in a position of awkward dependence upon Moscow for recognition.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Perhaps the blackest aspect of the Metropolia’s autocephaly agreement was its decision to turn over its small Japanese missionary diocese to the Moscow Patriarchate. Metropolia apologists are sensitive on this point and have repeatedly denied that there was any “betrayal” of the interests of the Japanese flock in the Moscow-Metropolia agreement. Thus Chancellor Pishtey writes: “As to the Japanese Church: <b>It received full freedom to live according to its own constitution</b>, to direct its affairs by its own synod, to choose and elevate its own hierarchy.”1 The decision for the Japanese Church to accept “autonomy” from Moscow was “freely taken by the Japanese Church itself in its synod of bishops, clerics and laity.”2 Anyone who knew Metropolitan Vladimir, the American bishop selected as the first head of the Japanese Church “could only smile at the thought he would enter upon any intrigues with the ‘Bolsheviks.’”3</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">Statement of May 12, 1970 in <i>Diakonia</i>, vol. V, no. 2, 1970, p. 202.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;"><i>Loc. cit.</i></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;"><i>Loc. cit</i>.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Fr. Pishtey’s arguments, repeated by other Metropolia apologists, were accepted on faith by the Metropolia flock and by many autocephaly enthusiasts outside the Metropolia. This is indeed unfortunate, since these arguments cannot withstand even the most elementary criticism. First, Fr. Pishtey’s assertion, so convincing to many, that the Japanese Church “freely” decided to accept “autonomy” from Moscow does not in the least excuse the Metropolia from moral responsibility for giving the Japanese a canonical release. Just as a mother has a moral obligation to care for the health of her young child, so too does a Mother Church (in this case the Metropolia) have a similar moral obligation to care for her young missionary dioceses. Even the most cursory study of the Metropolia’s history since the 1917 Revolution convinces one that she scrupulously avoided accepting “autonomy” under Moscow. Why? Because she well knew the worth of such seeing “independence.” What she always avoided for herself, however, she did not hesitate to advocate for her small, immature Japanese Mission. How can one but conclude that the Metropolia cynically elected to purchase her own “freedom” with the servitude of her Japanese Mission?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">That the Moscow-Japan agreement, concluded while the Japanese Church was still canonically under the Metropolia, does in fact represent a state of servitude for the New Autonomous Church of Japan may be demonstrated by an examination of the text of the agreement, published in <i>The Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate</i>, 1970, no. 5, pp. 9-10. Some selected sections from the <b>tomos</b> of agreement:</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The Metropolitan of Japan, the Head of the Japanese Autonomous Church, is elected by a Local Council of the Japanese Church and is then “confirmed” by “the Head of the Autocephalous Mother Church, His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow. . . .”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">“If he who is elected (metropolitan) does not have the rank of bishop, then his ordination is performed by His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia or by his representative in Tokyo, together, naturally, with the other (Japanese) bishops.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">“In case the candidate elected Head by the Holy Orthodox Autonomous Japanese Church should not possess and confess the Orthodox faith or if his life and activity should contradict the holy canons, <b>he need not be confirmed</b> by His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow” and the Japanese Church must select another candidate.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The Metropolitan of Japan “shall inform His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow. . . of the opening of new dioceses as well as the election of new bishops together with biographical information on them.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">“In the event His Eminence the Archbishop of Tokyo, Metropolitan of All Japan, should be accused of having infringed the dogmas of the Orthodox faith or the holy canons, the investigation of his case shall take place at a Local Council of the Holy Orthodox Autonomous Japanese Church in the presence of a representative or representatives of the Head of the Autocephalous Mother Church, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, He, i.e., The Patriarch, will then confirm <b>or not confirm</b> the decision of the Local Council on this matter. . . .”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">“The highest court of appeals (<b>verkhovnoe parvo appelyatsii</b>) belongs to His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, <b>and the bishops, clerics and laity of the Holy Orthodox Autonomous Japanese Church must address him as a court of final instance (kak k posledney instantsii)</b>.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">“The Holy Chrism of the Holy Orthodox Autonomous Japanese Church must be received from His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The Patriarchal <b>podvor’e</b> (i.e., methochion or embassy church) in Japan shall be outside the jurisdiction of the Autonomous Japanese Church. “The head and clergy of the <b>podvor’e</b> shall be assigned by His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. If it shall be necessary, His Eminence the Archbishop of Tokyo, Metropolitan of All Japan, shall assist <b>as much as is possible</b> the arrival in Japan of clerics of the Patriarchal <b>podvor’e</b> assigned by His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">“The decisions of the Local Councils of the Holy Orthodox Autonomous Japanese Church are sent to His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia for his knowledge.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">“His Holin</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">ess the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia can address the Holy Orthodox Autonomous Japanese Church with pastoral epistles.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Is not Fr. Pishtey, one concludes after an examination of the above cited stipulations, somewhat exaggerating when he claims that the Japanese Church “received full freedom to live according to its own constitution. . . .”? It is more than clear that the Moscow Patriarchate, by using its right “to confirm or not to confirm” the election of the Metropolitan of Japan and its right to have final say when the metropolitan is brought to trial, has a significant voice in the life of the Japanese Church. When, in addition to this, one realizes that Moscow is the “court of final instance” for every bishop, cleric, and layman of the Japanese Church – i.e., that any bishop, cleric, or layman may appeal to Moscow for a final decision over the head of the Japanese episcopate – one becomes aware of the awesome controls exercised by Moscow over the fledgling Church. Furthermore, it should also be realized that it is up to <b>Moscow</b> to decide what constitutes an infringement of faith or canons. At home in the Soviet Union, for example, the Moscow Patriarchate has since 1927 considered criticisms of the politics of the U.S.S.R., including the persecution of religion by the State, as a sphere not open to clerics of the Orthodox Church. By her recent decision to grant Orthodox sacraments to Roman Catholics and Old Believers and by her frequent “ecumenical” common prayer with non-Orthodox the Patriarchate has shown how much it really respects the canons, which, of course, flatly prohibit such actions.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">That the American Metropolia permitted its small, immature Japanese Mission to come under Moscow is, to conclude, perhaps the most shameful aspect of its generally shameful “autocephaly.” One can hardly help concluding that the Metropolia’s leaders consciously decided to purchase the independence for which they hungered at the cost of sacrificing the Japanese Church.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">A few words are also in order concerning the “new mythology” which has been developed by the Metropolia since its reception of autocephaly.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">In a lengthy, effusive speech delivered to the Sobor in October, 1970, at St. Tikhon’s Monastery, Metropolitan Ireney proclaimed: “In truth, inscrutable are the ways of God! <b>Since at that very moment when the catholic consciousness of our Church sensed the necessity of a decisive step for the attaining of canonical clarity and ecclesiastical freedom, we met with understanding on the part of the leaders of the Russian Church.</b>”1 For Metropolitan Ireney the chief proof that the autocephaly was “the work of the Holy Spirit” is “that readiness, which was immediately manifested by both sides (i.e., Moscow and the Metropolia) to speak not about the past but about the present and the future, to cover over this past with love, to seek not the victory of this or that side but only the benefit of the Church. . . .”2</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">From a translation in the <i>Newsletter of the Orthodox Christian Witness</i>, December, 1970, p. 5.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;"><i>Ibid.</i></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">According to the “new mythology” articulated by Metropolitan Ireney, the “catholic consciousness” of the Metropolia mystically sensed that the sacred hour of autocephaly had come in the late 1960’s, while at the same time, through the marvelous workings of the Holy Spirit, the leadership of the Moscow Patriarchate became suddenly and unexpectedly fired with a “love” which sought only the “benefit of the Church.” The result was the emergence of a new autocephalous Church, “the Orthodox Church in America.” As for the Metropolia’s earlier frustrated attempts to attain autocephaly in 1924, 1927, and 1946 – these attempts have now been dismissed from memory. They are not needed by the “new Mythology.” Neither is Metropolitan Leotny’s declaration in 1950 that the Metropolia was fully ready for independence. Now it is necessary to assert that only in the late ‘sixties did the Metropolia realize she had grown into an autocephalous Church.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">This bold rewriting of the Metropolia’s history, however, pales before the Metropolia’s new assertion of the holiness of <b>Moscow’s</b> intentions in granting autocephaly. Here we enter such a world of naked fantasy that one can hardly imaging how sane men could entertain such thoughts. The Patriarchate’s sudden willingness to grant autocephaly is taken as <b>proof</b> of the action of the Holy Spirit.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">To those who would express doubts Metropoliatn Ireney utters the following terrible threat: “To the righteous and impartial judgement of God we give over those who, held captive by human and political passions, are blinded by enmity and find it possible to <b>blaspheme the work of God</b>.”1</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="background-color: #caf0fe; font-kerning: none;">From a translation in the December, 1970, <i>Newsletter of the Orthodox Christian Witness</i>, p. 6.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The autocephaly is the work of the Holy Spirit. Those who oppose it blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, a sin for which, as is well known, there will be no forgiveness in this world or next.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">One is dumbfounded by the simplistic criterion which Metropolitan Ireney and other Metropolia defenders employ for determining what is and what is not the work of the Holy Spirit. Certainly they know that the Orthodox delegates to the Council of Florence, with a few exceptions, also believed that the Holy Spirit had been arranging circumstances for union with the Latin (Roman Catholic) Church. They should know that God often allows the evil designs conceived in the hearts of men to come to fruit. This He does for His own holy purposes and so that evil may be clearly revealed.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">To what should one ascribe the unwillingness of the Metropolia apologists to see such obvious negative features of the “autocephaly” as the surrender of the Japanese Church and Moscow’s decision, adopted before the autocephaly, to grant sacraments to Roman Catholics and Old Believers? Is this cynicism or self-deceit? Most probably, it is both.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Fr. Dimitry Grigorieff’s “<i>The Orthodox Church in America from the Alaska Mission to the Autocephaly</i>,” which appears in the 1970, no. 4 issue of <i>St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly</i>, represents the first sustained attempt by a Metropolia spokesman to give expression to the “new mythology” which has emerged since the granting of autocephaly. As in Metropolitan Ireney’s speech to the October Sobor, Fr. Grigorieff significantly deemphasizes all occurrences before 1969. The Detroit Sobor of 1924, which Professor Bogolepov saw as a veiled declaration of autocephaly, now becomes simply a delicious foretaste of things to come: “This reorganization (i.e., that which was carried out by the Detroit Sobor), <b>as we can see now</b>, actually paved the way for the Autocephalous Orthodox Church in America, to be established forty-six years later.”1</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: #cfe2f3;"><i>St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly</i>, 1970, no. 4, p. 208.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Gone is the boldness which Professor Bogolepov manifested in seeing the Metropolia ripe for autocephaly in 1924. For Fr. Grigorieff the years since 1924 represent “years of natural growth and development,” in which the Metropolia “acquired the prerequisites of a new Church.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">For Bogolepov, the Metropolia was justified in resisting Moscow’s demands for canonical submission only because she herself had <b>de facto</b> “become” a local autocephalous Church. For Grigorieff, the issue is ecclesiastical freedom: “Metropolitan Platon categorically refused to give any pledge of loyalty to the Soviet State. Furthermore, in his epistle to the faithful of America, June 3, 1933, he reaffirmed the principles accepted in Detroit in 1924, rejecting administrative submission to the Moscow Patriarchate <b>as long as it was dependent upon a communist anti-religious government</b>. . . .”2</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>Ibid.,</i> p. 211.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 10px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Fr Grigorieff and the editors of <i>St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly</i> do not seem to see the logical fallacy in proclaiming that the Moscow Patriarchate’s suspensions, as placed upon the Metropolia, were not binding, whereas her recognitions of “autocephaly” and “autonomy” are. Furthermore, is it morally correct to surrender one’s Japanese missionary diocese to a Church which is, in Fr. Grigorieff’s own words, “dependent upon a communist anti-religious government”? Bogolepov’s claim that the Metropolia became <b>de facto</b> autocephalous in 1924 is ridiculous when one considers the condition the Metropolia was in at the time, but it is at least more logical that Grigorieff’s totally illogical claims. The Metropolia’s “new mythology” is no more viable than its old one.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>CONCLUSION</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">In 1946 at the Cleveland Sobor, in a move not even approved by its own Council of Bishops, the American Metropolia went into schism from the body of which it was a canonical part, the Russian Church Abroad. This spiritual crime undid the holy work of reconciliation which had been carried out a decade before by the two great Orthodox hierarchs Patriarch Varnava of Serbia and Metropolitan Antony of the Ruissian Church Abroad. With the arrival in America during and after World War II of “Evlogian” theologians and intellectuals, the ambitions of the Metropolia’s leaders met with men capable of bringing them to fruit. The result was the “autocephaly” of 1970.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">There is little or no likelihood that the Metropolia will return to its proper canonical source, as occurred in 1935. Puffed up with pride, and even entertaining visions of an American Patriarchate, the leaders of the Metropolia would hardly consent to such a step. What return there is will occur, as it did during the “autocephaly controversy” of 1969-70, when individual clergy and laity after a crisis of conscience turn to the light of Christ. In the Russian emigré community in America the autocephaly controversy served quite clearly to separate the wheat from the chaff. Unable to bear the moral compromise accepted by the Metropolia’s leaders, individuals and in some cases practically whole parishes left the “autocephaly” for the Russian Church Abroad. In the emigré daily <i>Novoe Russkoe Slovo</i> and in numerous other publications the emigrés living in America were able to become very well informed about the “autocephaly.” This was to the case, on the whole, for the American flock of the Metropolia, and one hopes that with time a similar winnowing-out of the faithful may take place. May God grant it!</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The tragedy of the Metropolia’s present situation is that she wishes to remain lukewarm in an age of apostasy (Rev. iii. 16). Her clergy and laity want very much to be accepted in an American society which is rapidly abandoning its last vestiges of Christian morality (the proliferation of “legal abortion” on a near-genocidal scale is but one example of this). The Metropolia wishes to be accepted in a “Christian” ecumenical movement which is rapidly opening its doors to Jews, Muslims, and Buddhists, and sees as its sacred duty the financial assistance of certain revolutionary groups throughout the world. The Metropolia thirsts to be recognized by all local Orthodox Churches as a time when one of them (Moscow) is already officially granting sacraments to non-Orthodox, another (Constantinople) is doing so unofficially, and when a number of others cannot but fulfill the dictates of their communist controllers.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Further, a subtle modernizing process, which is all the more dangerous for being subtle, is being carried out by the Metropolia’s Paris-educated theologians.1 Deprived of a vital monasticism and crippled by a weak episcopate, the Metropolia has few defenses indeed with which to withstand the ravages of modernism. When the current emigré leadership, which was at least formed in the traditions of Russian Orthodoxy, gives way to the younger American-born clergy, one may expect the process of modernism to mushroom.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: #cfe2f3;">See Fr. Michael Azkoul’s “<i>Answer to Fr. Schmemann</i>” in the May-June, 1970 <i>Orthodox Word</i> (Reprinted as item no. 53 in the St. Nectarios Educational Series.); Protopresbyter Michael Pomazanshy’s “<i>The Liturgical Theology of Fr. A. Schmemann</i> in the November-December, 1970, issue of the same journal, and the same author’s “<i>Is this Orthodoxy</i>?” in the March-April, 1971, issue of <i>Orthodox Life</i>.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Raanana; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Let us pray our Mericful Lord and God through the supplications of His Most Holy Mother, the righteous St. Herman of Alaska, the holy martyr Peter the Aleut, and all the Saints, will cause the best sons and daughters of the American Metropolia to turn aside from this terrible temptation of “autocephaly,” so recently sown by the enemy of our salvation. May they return to the Russian Church Abroad, in whose Orthodox bosom are the seeds of a genuine American Orthodoxy, and, having returned, may they join with the episcopate, clergy, monks, and laity of the Synod in bearing witness to the unique, saving faith of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ and His Holy Apostles. Amen.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid9gHPg5xw6UYVcbLz2qyPjm9yeHr368uzB3TJwp7S2qNS0jhDoEOyB7UGtDHQb46Qdnhu9LthLu8Z9_v8Wes1YSWthdNvhIVGY58p4MdC1lrxyV54ABlgC0y2kHi5UvLhDNzuEW-jJjF8/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0186.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid9gHPg5xw6UYVcbLz2qyPjm9yeHr368uzB3TJwp7S2qNS0jhDoEOyB7UGtDHQb46Qdnhu9LthLu8Z9_v8Wes1YSWthdNvhIVGY58p4MdC1lrxyV54ABlgC0y2kHi5UvLhDNzuEW-jJjF8/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0186.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1yLNg_PoAeI/U3A4SGNP-0I/AAAAAAAAUlE/QdHtO-qE9l4/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0187.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1yLNg_PoAeI/U3A4SGNP-0I/AAAAAAAAUlE/QdHtO-qE9l4/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0187.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Mo6fvIwKwPM/U3A4V2FUeqI/AAAAAAAAUlM/rqFeLBDkecU/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0188.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Mo6fvIwKwPM/U3A4V2FUeqI/AAAAAAAAUlM/rqFeLBDkecU/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0188.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kg7nbegdPS4/U3A4ZJZyjoI/AAAAAAAAUlU/7OBwLRI2cBM/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0189.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kg7nbegdPS4/U3A4ZJZyjoI/AAAAAAAAUlU/7OBwLRI2cBM/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0189.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT5EMPRe4h-vdc5IlRVybsl5JXsYe0cyIlPxePKIvIrfvPOM2iNvRL2M8Ugo6XktIAhzlwe3NMWDiH7ADFzDGDewWnYQkvGQVOAjfmBl3Dh3EMPLM3wvWpngknHVjgMNX7ZqABnGyCwbMf/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0190.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT5EMPRe4h-vdc5IlRVybsl5JXsYe0cyIlPxePKIvIrfvPOM2iNvRL2M8Ugo6XktIAhzlwe3NMWDiH7ADFzDGDewWnYQkvGQVOAjfmBl3Dh3EMPLM3wvWpngknHVjgMNX7ZqABnGyCwbMf/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0190.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LIYT6Jb7DNA/U3A4ejk8kZI/AAAAAAAAUlk/VSImVT1BSWI/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0191.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LIYT6Jb7DNA/U3A4ejk8kZI/AAAAAAAAUlk/VSImVT1BSWI/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0191.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wgkt-XNnPJk/U3A4fzXrd0I/AAAAAAAAUls/-6JMmoaLHS0/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0192.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wgkt-XNnPJk/U3A4fzXrd0I/AAAAAAAAUls/-6JMmoaLHS0/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0192.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jQ4jP1JYQDk/U3A4kNSc0FI/AAAAAAAAUl0/RNA6riBdmFQ/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0193.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jQ4jP1JYQDk/U3A4kNSc0FI/AAAAAAAAUl0/RNA6riBdmFQ/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0193.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cckc07Vo-vs/U3A4nmiDylI/AAAAAAAAUl8/_3cJQGX5z5o/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0194.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cckc07Vo-vs/U3A4nmiDylI/AAAAAAAAUl8/_3cJQGX5z5o/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0194.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-usuEMrC02fg/U3ZqqoHRA0I/AAAAAAAAUq4/d8VPQVRbvo8/s1600/IMG_2686.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-usuEMrC02fg/U3ZqqoHRA0I/AAAAAAAAUq4/d8VPQVRbvo8/s200/IMG_2686.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWC_fIWVxaqP4cbX967T1QARTA1MFkHyLS1BQ-OopEHYGUC5bkenTYFBOVjac8uSuc6pI1B74Prjw_uted61s7L8CdOYAyEJOTRDE2AuwQs2S-WpwZfd_-P3zbMDfWGnKeeCZYKdfMSY3w/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0196.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWC_fIWVxaqP4cbX967T1QARTA1MFkHyLS1BQ-OopEHYGUC5bkenTYFBOVjac8uSuc6pI1B74Prjw_uted61s7L8CdOYAyEJOTRDE2AuwQs2S-WpwZfd_-P3zbMDfWGnKeeCZYKdfMSY3w/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0196.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFgJIvueXsS8t2RQ8-OYn34RcsqYIR71GLI90BtLPs0wPYJbmwAe4Ymf-6N76K3vZLmtUWbs4E6ChzRF2yLeDBmxkyhyhCWVcYv3wUGVgO8SFtERjDcOG2J-o_HS-mT1ve2RXURohlc9yf/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0197.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFgJIvueXsS8t2RQ8-OYn34RcsqYIR71GLI90BtLPs0wPYJbmwAe4Ymf-6N76K3vZLmtUWbs4E6ChzRF2yLeDBmxkyhyhCWVcYv3wUGVgO8SFtERjDcOG2J-o_HS-mT1ve2RXURohlc9yf/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0197.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmc5gnv2hmCBj83wUIfCE3RAxOcyEid5zomv2Ekq5uVnQ68RvzRlI_sYnyj-4htgFNHaSOYrFMKW3K5SZvnfvbZr_Er5kEBucnXfWOyU7-KkGLKmH8t0A4QzwsiCb0ZGXusPG6MoKbqZWu/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0198.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmc5gnv2hmCBj83wUIfCE3RAxOcyEid5zomv2Ekq5uVnQ68RvzRlI_sYnyj-4htgFNHaSOYrFMKW3K5SZvnfvbZr_Er5kEBucnXfWOyU7-KkGLKmH8t0A4QzwsiCb0ZGXusPG6MoKbqZWu/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0198.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t19l_Dh5Ces/U3A44e8xFjI/AAAAAAAAUmk/wJ0TPvRIFao/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0199.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t19l_Dh5Ces/U3A44e8xFjI/AAAAAAAAUmk/wJ0TPvRIFao/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0199.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RdNjk4UVBSo/U3A46TyE4PI/AAAAAAAAUms/3rkHhJrUmwc/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RdNjk4UVBSo/U3A46TyE4PI/AAAAAAAAUms/3rkHhJrUmwc/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0200.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Pe47meaLXh0/U3A496RSExI/AAAAAAAAUm0/3lXMAoPFsK4/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Pe47meaLXh0/U3A496RSExI/AAAAAAAAUm0/3lXMAoPFsK4/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0201.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eFIWBSs068E/U3A4_dmdlGI/AAAAAAAAUm8/FxLxngZ5jNY/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eFIWBSs068E/U3A4_dmdlGI/AAAAAAAAUm8/FxLxngZ5jNY/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0202.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sihXTjnaDYM/U3A5B2wWevI/AAAAAAAAUnE/r3e4AcO2iAY/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sihXTjnaDYM/U3A5B2wWevI/AAAAAAAAUnE/r3e4AcO2iAY/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0203.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Eb-ERb4uER0/U3A5FKLEU_I/AAAAAAAAUnM/s7u2kTcbl8k/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Eb-ERb4uER0/U3A5FKLEU_I/AAAAAAAAUnM/s7u2kTcbl8k/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0204.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIGgkhGSeuG4CprIixituowEiUtvsO_z6kxT98gLejx8O1Zh5lBWa3ME5DdJyf3GJv9mASplRYrvt9NDCKwDwvuXiWEv07ZlgVE9chsdRaV6DA8N3n4ubHJvC1RrEEqtrOKzzILLTsjG8E/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0205.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIGgkhGSeuG4CprIixituowEiUtvsO_z6kxT98gLejx8O1Zh5lBWa3ME5DdJyf3GJv9mASplRYrvt9NDCKwDwvuXiWEv07ZlgVE9chsdRaV6DA8N3n4ubHJvC1RrEEqtrOKzzILLTsjG8E/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0205.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a5jA6SpUSiI/U3A5LODbxyI/AAAAAAAAUnc/jZJmwrim4bY/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0206.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a5jA6SpUSiI/U3A5LODbxyI/AAAAAAAAUnc/jZJmwrim4bY/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0206.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pQF_Je6aknI/U3A5NecsJ_I/AAAAAAAAUnk/lVZj24sdN24/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0207.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pQF_Je6aknI/U3A5NecsJ_I/AAAAAAAAUnk/lVZj24sdN24/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0207.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Qgar2siAAe0/U3A5k4riaTI/AAAAAAAAUns/BvTzaGcs_Hs/s1600/198.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Qgar2siAAe0/U3A5k4riaTI/AAAAAAAAUns/BvTzaGcs_Hs/s200/198.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyzV-2_a6iYEqKXGguvVwsg4o2jMH1BtJGxydiOImqfDEcfA8W9eva1MAzf1G3IjiKJxGist0j4qeJFqVgoc9q62LP8u61GownXlzHKLZtWsdM4Xq1Tz2UWC-9Dn-7bY-BbLHRn6olvweV/s1600/199.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyzV-2_a6iYEqKXGguvVwsg4o2jMH1BtJGxydiOImqfDEcfA8W9eva1MAzf1G3IjiKJxGist0j4qeJFqVgoc9q62LP8u61GownXlzHKLZtWsdM4Xq1Tz2UWC-9Dn-7bY-BbLHRn6olvweV/s200/199.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN6KSAQdVL9X-zwPnU8TDAW3ZFbrV3p9p7zxqS7cmnYxC1YtYzCKFuRaW4phtFdBTxLSKPMYp4YBHPLQCErdKlk1FxIa8nZd_6h9A5heFk-PoeYtiSMQXfEUE0LEXNcX63K48ZI0widZOv/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0208.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN6KSAQdVL9X-zwPnU8TDAW3ZFbrV3p9p7zxqS7cmnYxC1YtYzCKFuRaW4phtFdBTxLSKPMYp4YBHPLQCErdKlk1FxIa8nZd_6h9A5heFk-PoeYtiSMQXfEUE0LEXNcX63K48ZI0widZOv/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0208.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8HJX5ZwR4hE/U3A5tmXKBhI/AAAAAAAAUoE/04IlNHkbG50/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0209.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8HJX5ZwR4hE/U3A5tmXKBhI/AAAAAAAAUoE/04IlNHkbG50/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0209.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cM8t_56dM4I/U3A50EILGFI/AAAAAAAAUoU/M93od4bgg00/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0210.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cM8t_56dM4I/U3A50EILGFI/AAAAAAAAUoU/M93od4bgg00/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0210.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP_aQwqk8ZHvVHQVDa_zSaMUIHyMGGXy5iQ1yHtP9LVPapNxId2s-yctxJYv-pSw65Y3Ln4Oyv_tvxK_iUllCpOetB5d6BYTTJ14qCTV18tDlG85Bvtix5MJCwjuRQiVOVEaAoU285avk2/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0211.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP_aQwqk8ZHvVHQVDa_zSaMUIHyMGGXy5iQ1yHtP9LVPapNxId2s-yctxJYv-pSw65Y3Ln4Oyv_tvxK_iUllCpOetB5d6BYTTJ14qCTV18tDlG85Bvtix5MJCwjuRQiVOVEaAoU285avk2/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0211.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMLn7R27cWTsbKjHgXxFaoQGdt9O_ZE9l1OL0QvzHLijPkqjd8xlccMVKyZwb__HLasZlegnoaT9jSHXF4vCpm-55jAOKuBSEdAdONHxcgdPticDtkGkiCaJT-Dut2X0yHwBYhSK5t6OMQ/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0212.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMLn7R27cWTsbKjHgXxFaoQGdt9O_ZE9l1OL0QvzHLijPkqjd8xlccMVKyZwb__HLasZlegnoaT9jSHXF4vCpm-55jAOKuBSEdAdONHxcgdPticDtkGkiCaJT-Dut2X0yHwBYhSK5t6OMQ/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0212.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hSwC2Mod2K4/U3A55VBnivI/AAAAAAAAUok/tON3puk2igI/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0213.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hSwC2Mod2K4/U3A55VBnivI/AAAAAAAAUok/tON3puk2igI/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0213.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PmRap9HEM2E/U3A58QgC0bI/AAAAAAAAUos/OzupBhW4iYc/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0214.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PmRap9HEM2E/U3A58QgC0bI/AAAAAAAAUos/OzupBhW4iYc/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0214.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S9qhvkZ2eKI/U3A5_eUEmJI/AAAAAAAAUo0/f6wkRtf7jLE/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0215.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S9qhvkZ2eKI/U3A5_eUEmJI/AAAAAAAAUo0/f6wkRtf7jLE/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0215.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tiz48NsezB0/U3A6C71_NCI/AAAAAAAAUo8/0zm7Ah1kSi8/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0216.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tiz48NsezB0/U3A6C71_NCI/AAAAAAAAUo8/0zm7Ah1kSi8/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0216.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DUxkRztKnk0/U3A6DfP63jI/AAAAAAAAUpA/YDhs4NNZklU/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0217.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DUxkRztKnk0/U3A6DfP63jI/AAAAAAAAUpA/YDhs4NNZklU/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0217.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12000679422093371576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1020715264465191896.post-47693724399594390612011-03-29T20:10:00.000-07:002018-12-20T16:38:50.727-08:00For Further Reading<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">FOR FURTHER READING</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Rev. Michael Bourdeaux, <i>Patriarch and Prophets: Persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church Today</i>, Praeger, New York, 1970.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
John B. Dunlop, <i>The Recent Activities of the Moscow Patriarchate Abroad and in the U.S.S.R</i>., St. Nectarios Educational Series No. 46, Seattle, Washington, 2<sup>nd</sup> printing 1972.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Archpriest Michael Polsky, <i>The New Martyrs of Russia</i>, Monastery Press, Montreal, 1971.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
G.M. Shimanov, <i>Notes from the Red House</i>, Monastery Press, Montreal, 1971.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">PERIODICALS</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<i>The Orthodox Word</i>. Bi-monthly publication of the St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, Platina, Ca., 96076. Frequently has moving accounts of the life of the catacomb church within the Soviet Union.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<i>The Orthodox Christian Witness</i>. Weekly publication of St. Nectarios American Orthodox Church, Seattle, Washington. Contains monthly newsletter which comments on events within the Orthodox world.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<i>The True Vine</i>. Official publication of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. Published quarterly. Subscriptions as $2.50 per year and may be sent to: The True Vine, 8011 Champagneur Ave., Montreal 303, P.Q., Canada</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">PUBLICATIONS OF ST. NECTARIOS AMERICAN ORTHODOX CHURCH</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The recent Activities of the Moscow Patriarchate. John B. Dunlop. $1.50</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Little Supplicatory Canon to the Most Holy Mother of God. $1.50</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
A Lenten Cookbook for Orthodox Christians. Loose-leaf $3.50</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Loose-leaf binder $4.50</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">PUBLICATIONS DISTRIBUTED BY ST. NECTARIOS AMERICAN ORTHODOX CHURCH</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Against False Union. Dr. Alexander Kalomoiros. $1.50</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The History of the Council of Florence. Ostroumoff. $2.00</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">ST. NECTARIOS EDUCATIONAL SERIES</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
St. Nectarios Educational Series is a collection of highly informative Orthodox writings for the layman. The articles are distributed at no cost by St. Nectarios Church. It is through donations, however, that the materials and other costs are absorbed. Write to: St. Nectarios Church, 9223-20<sup>th</sup> Avenue N.E., Seattle, Wash. 98115.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">ITEMS IN THE ST. NECTARIOS EDUCATIONAL SERIES OF INTEREST TO THE READERS OF THIS BOOK</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
No. 1. First Open Letter to the Logos. Holy Transfiguration Monastery.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
No. 32. The Synod and the “official canonical jurisdictions”. Fr. Neketes.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
No. 33. On the Russian Synod. Fr. Michael Azkoul.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
Nos. 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 49 and 53. All relating to the American “autocephaly” and the condition of Orthodox in the U.S.S.R.</div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYj42Hz8v7yakAEeig1uCF1t4Wq864NuqDpYME4hP-f11UBiOsRy7VQEpZq-GlVaDiGLe-GZ6u4N08pQPxfyI1Zs2EGahtmFKgVnRZ6IqMxHpKeGoI-AJ1PjDLd6vgeDHYoZrC6JQx-gpP/s1600/History+of+ROCOR-page0218.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYj42Hz8v7yakAEeig1uCF1t4Wq864NuqDpYME4hP-f11UBiOsRy7VQEpZq-GlVaDiGLe-GZ6u4N08pQPxfyI1Zs2EGahtmFKgVnRZ6IqMxHpKeGoI-AJ1PjDLd6vgeDHYoZrC6JQx-gpP/s200/History+of+ROCOR-page0218.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<br />Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12000679422093371576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1020715264465191896.post-38418927272749773592011-03-28T10:40:00.000-07:002014-05-15T10:41:18.663-07:00Is This Orthodoxy?<br />
<div style="font: 21.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 14.0px 0.0px;">
<b>by Father Michael Pomazansky</b></div>
<div style="font: 21.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 14.0px 0.0px;">
<b>Or Modernism, Subverting True Orthodoxy, and Unacceptable for the Orthodox Conscience?</b></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
A review of the book: <i>Orthodoxy in Life</i>. A collection of articles edited by S. Verhovskoy. Published by the Chekhov Society, New York, 1953, 405 pages.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
As it may be seen from the opening lines by the editor of this collection, the book is intended for a wide circle of readers. Its aim is "to give brief information about Orthodoxy in teaching and life." However, a cursory examination is sufficient in order to see that little is said about the concrete features of Orthodoxy, and that the main part is full of abstract religious-philosophical matter; the other part is composed of articles of a theoretical character. The two articles by A. Kartashev giving church-historical material are an exception. The title <i>Orthodoxy in Life</i>, therefore, is in the latter case, completely unsuitable.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The participants in this collection [Prof. A. Kartashev, Fr. Alexander Schmemann, Fr. Serge Verhovskoy, V. Rev. V. Zenkovsky, Rev. E. Melia, Rev. A. Kniazev, B. Bobrinskoy, N. Arseniev, and N. Struve] are representatives, mainly as professors, of two theological schools: the Paris Institute and St. Vladimir's Seminary in New York. The book is arranged in a widely expanding plan:Orthodoxy and Today's World, Christianity, Christ, The Church, Faith and Knowledge, The Church and State, The Parish, Holy Scripture, Prayer and Services, Orthodoxy and Russia, Great Examples, Spiritual Traditions of the Russian Family. The Collection is internally united by a series of characteristic ideas which, evidently, must be their guide.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
"Orthodoxy is Christianity in its purest form," we read in the first line of an introductory article by the editor. A further reading of the content of the articles of this collection permits us to accept these first words as the formula for the basis of the whole book. In this phrase, Orthodoxy is equated with the general, ideal image of Christianity. It follows that everything the authors say about Christianity, in its purest form, is Orthodoxy. The treatment of the subject of Orthodoxy in the basic essays of the book is guided in this direction.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Orthodoxy, however, has its own historical image, representing a way of life, and properly presenting itself as "Orthodoxy in Life." This image is touched on very lightly in the introductory chapter entitled, "Orthodoxy and Today's World." Here the picture is far from ideal… "Christians are weak, inactive, hypocrites; Church society is unchurchly in its spirit, in its life and conscience, often the only thing remaining of it is the form, with a predisposition towards compromise, even with bolshevism or racism. Beginning even with the Middle Ages, Church society ailed with all the illnesses of pharisaism, ritualism, scholasticism, insensibility to evil, an unwillingness to bring the light of Christianity into the essence of life…" (p. 23). "The condition of the Orthodox Church itself is very sad…" (p. 11). Thence follow the deductions: "it is necessary," "it is indispensible," "it is lacking," "it must be," "second necessity," "third necessity" — in a word, the correction of all sides of Church life is indispensible. Such is reality — to the author.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Let us return to the first phrase: "Orthodoxy is Christianity in its purest form." The phrase itself demands a series of rebuttals. A Protestant, of course, moved by an Orthodox service or captivated by the writings of the Holy Fathers, could express himself so: "Orthodoxy is the purest form of Christianity." His point of view is the relativeness of all Christian faiths. In other words, he holds the point of view of present-day ecumenism, and for him such a form of expression is completely natural. But when <i>Orthodox theologians</i> include Orthodoxy <i>in a long list</i> of Christian faiths, even though it is in the first place, the result is worse. First of all, this echoes of a clear subjectivity: to a Christian of any faith or sect, his understanding of Christianity <i>must</i> present itself as being the best, if he is faithful to it. Secondly, by such a listing the name "Orthodoxy" itself is implicitly crossed out. This name must imply to us that Orthodox doctrine is the true Christian doctrine, "the right faith," placed in opposition to "other religions". It is the <i>true</i> Church of Christ. In this collection there is no such direct and clear statement about Orthodoxy. For now, only a slightly noticeable move is made off the solid foundation. The switchman has only lightly separated the rails on the switch; but the brilliant express will now take another direction.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
If Orthodoxy is the purest form in a line of other forms of Christianity, then where will the authors of this collection place the Church? Will not the <i>name</i> of the Church then be spread throughout all Christianity in the hundreds of its forms of confessions of faith? And if the Church is equated to Christianity in general, then in this diffused state, what does the Church add to Christianity? Is She in that case necessary? And where is She to be found in life, in a concrete incarnation?</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Those are exactly the questions posed in the article by Fr. Alexander Schmemann, "Of the Church." "Why is so little said about the Church of the Gospel?" Is She not an "unnecessary, human obstacle" between Christ and those who love Him? [1] In order to begin to answer this question, the author deems it necessary first of all "to allude to that perspective, in which 'the problem of the Church' is placed and resolved by the Gospel itself." In presenting this perspective, the author speaks of the Kingdom of God, of "birth from water and the Spirit," of following Christ, of personal freedom, of faith, of renewal in Christ; of the Holy Spirit, Who is a) "the Life of the Father and the Son" and b) the Life "uniting me with the Son and adopting me to the Father"; of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, of love towards brothers in Christ, "of the service of one fulfilling the service of Christ, becoming the tie for all" [one could think that the theme here is the papacy, although, apparently, pastorship is the question at hand]. And, finally, the last chapter gives an answer about the Church. This answer is very unclear. We shall cite important thoughts from it. "New life, unity in Christ, the gathering of believers in the Spirit is the Church of God…" "The Gospel calls us to life; but the life announced by it is revealed as the Church. Christ came to the people and for the people. If He then did not remain alone, if even <i>two or three</i> heard and received Him, He is already in them and they in Him — and this oneness of Him with people the Gospel calls the Church:<i>I will build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it</i> (Matt. 16:18)…" "But many will pose the last question:where then is She, the true Church? We see Her in divisions, in quarrels, in sin and temptations. How can one be sure what is of Christ in Her, and what is apostasy from Him? Here too we receive an answer from Christ Himself:'Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it will opened for you — every one who seeks will find, to everyone who knocks it is opened…' One thing is certain:faith in Christ brings us into the Church and life in Him is life in the Church." The author then leaves the reader in this enigma, leaving him alone, with the Gospel in his hands, to search for the answer to the question of the Church.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
On a parallel with the main theme, the Church, Fr. A. Schmemann in the same article conveys another thought, later more fully developed in the articles of S. Verhovskoy. This is the struggle with the seemingly false but ancient view of "the purest form of Christianity" — in Orthodoxy — that the substance of Christianity is "the salvation of the soul." Having reminded us that "the teaching about the Kingdom of God is opened to us in a somewhat double perspective," Fr. A. Schmemann writes, "We have already long ago reduced all Christianity to the teaching not of a new life, but of the salvation of the soul in a life beyond the grave" (p. 61). [We must note in passing, that such an expression, "the salvation of the soul in a life beyond the grave," is not generally encountered in an Orthodox church lexicon.] The author calls us to "examine our usual understanding of Christianity as the salvation of the soul" (p. 63). This thought of Fr. A. Schmemann puts us into a state of perplexity. All the writings of the Apostles, of the Holy Fathers, and finally all the Church services, beginning with the prayer "O Heavenly King" ["…save our souls, O Good One"], place the salvation of the soul in the center of our thoughts; whether this is right or wrong in the estimation of the authors of this work, such in truth is "Orthodoxy in Life," and without this, it is an illusory "Orthodoxy." Whoever reckons that the constant thought and prayer of the salvation of the soul is an unwanted element in Orthodoxy cancels out for himself Orthodoxy in general.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The author continues, "When we read the Gospel in the light of this question, we are convinced that the teaching of Christ is certainly not limited to the 'soul,' and that on the contrary, in His life He pays much attention to man's body. He 'heals all disease and sickness among the people,' returns sight to the blind, cures the lame, the paralytic, the hemorrhaging, and finally, raises the dead… He speaks of 'the luminous body.' He performs miracles and heals through the medium of His body: by touch, spittle, breath — and, finally, His very resurrection is the resurrection of His body. And even though age after age we search and await from Christ most of all especially healing, i.e., bodily help — still, <i>blinded by our own</i>, and not by the Gospel understanding of the salvation of the soul, we connect salvation to the soul alone, and limit it to the life of the soul beyond the grave" (pp. 63–64). Further the author writes, "And seeing that man lives in this union of the spiritual and bodily, and <i>outside of it discontinues being a man</i>, then…" (p. 64).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
In answer to the reasoning of Fr. A. Schmemann one could turn to the Gospel, where it is said: <i>and fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul</i> (Matt:10:28); but it is not necessary to enter upon discussion of this sort here, since, as it is said elsewhere in this work, "you can prove anything through the Gospel" (p. 59). It is enough to turn one's attention to the fact that the truth of the soul's immortality, the truth of a knowledgeable life beyond the grave, after separation with the bodily "temple," is preserved in full force from Apostolic days to our time, namely by Orthodoxy, and this forms not only its distinctive characteristic from other faiths, but also its grandeur, strength, glory, its life. Hence, in Orthodoxy it is the exceptionally high regard for the dead and the heavenly Church, the Eucharist and general remembrance of the departed, an uninterrupted mindfulness of the saints and a prayerful communion with them, which astounds the heterodox. If a soul without the body is already not a personality, then how can we pray,"Give rest, O Lord, to the souls of Thy departed servants, where from eternity the light of Thy countenance shineth, and gladdeneth all Thy saints"? Fr. Schmemann calls his readers to that melancholy world-view into which Protestantism has already sunk, having almost lost its faith in life beyond the grave. Nobody denies the importance of the body and the bodily needs of man in earthly life, but the author evidently has a special purpose when he speaks of the meaning of the body. With such a world-view, two results are natural: 1) oblivion of the heavenly Church (and we see this in this work, where, in spite of its comprehensive character, the heavenly Church receives only several passing and pallid lines (p. 302), and 2) the idea of arranging "a happy life" on earth under the protection of religion. Fr. A. Schmemann does not elaborate on these points, but his second conclusion provides the inspiration for the two long articles of Serge Verhovskoy:1) "Christianity," and 2) "Christ." These articles can be regarded as the heart of the whole Collection. We shall limit ourselves to a number of excerpts from them.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Serge Verhovskoy writes, "The substance of Christianity is the union of people with God, between themselves and with all beings," we read in the beginning of the first article (p. 277). What draws us to God? "In love, in understanding and creativity we can rise above life's problems. The understanding of nature and the contemplation of its beauty creates in us the ideal image of the world. Relationships with people…open to us the depth of man's spirit. In science and art we express all the riches of knowledge and beauty through which man is capable of living. If man could limit himself to spiritual riches which he finds in himself and in the world, he would not even begin to think of God. But in spiritual life man is never satisfied with his own accomplishments… Who of us will say, without falling into dull self-conceit: I love enough, I am holy enough; I know enough, everything beautiful is open to me, I am perfect!… In this consciousness of our limitedness, which appears to us on our endless road toward perfection, God is revealed to us; He is that All-Complete Being, to Whom we aspire; in Him is accomplished all that we seek…" (p. 278). [Here an observation must be made: is it really true that hunger for that which is greater than what is in our possession leads us to God? Is it not rather often the opposite; does it not lead us away from God?]</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The author sees man's good in the attainment, during life, of Truth, Good, and Beauty. "In God we attain our Desire: Truth, Good, and Beauty," (p. 281); the triad of "Truth, Good, and Beauty," is used by the author on every page, but especial attention is allotted to Beauty. "There is only one Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one good, one truth, one beauty in God" (p. 283). "The beauty of the outside world and the inner beauty of man leads us to the ideal beauty, in which we see primary shapes of beings, as they exist in God, for God placed within the universe not only wisdom, but also beauty" [page unknown, ed.]. "Whether we unite in the way of love or morality, knowledge of beauty, ideals, or creativeness, the summit of our way will be in God… Only a general living love for the one living God, only a general faith in absolute Good, Truth, and Beauty can completely unite people in the one and all-sided ideal of man's life" (p. 300). "Every individual Christian recognizes the truth from one angle, even though the Truth stands wholly before him in Christ. But Truth is fully open for the unity of all. The same can be repeated also concerning beauty. One should not forget that in multi-unity, i.e. in a complete unity of singleness and multitude, of originality and sameness, lies the foundation of good and truth and beauty, and of Being itself, and that is why God is the complete Tri-Unity" (p. 304). "Why are we so persistently speaking of good, of truth, and of beauty? Isn't there here a poor abstraction? No, the whole irreplaceable and necessary value of good, truth, and beauty consists in the fact that in them we are united with reality itself, i.e. with God, people, and the world… The perfection of life is revealed to us in beauty, more than in anything else. The perfect is always beautiful. It follows then that in beauty we also enter into communion with Reality itself — with God and everything existing… For this reason the Kingdom of God can be but a Kingdom of good, truth, and beauty" (pp. 306–307).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The author of the article cited does not see any difficulties in the fact that the idea of serving truth, good, and beauty is also used by irreligious humanism, pantheism, and atheistic philosophy. The article suggests to us that no matter what unites searchers of the fullness of life, whether in creativity, in love, or in beauty, the summit of their road will be in God, they will be united by faith in "the Absolute Good." "Everything positive already in fact belongs to Christianity, <i>even though it may not recognize this</i>. Sooner or later everything will be gathered into the Church, and at the end of world history the Universe will become the Kingdom of God" (p. 308). The arts of the world, even though non-Christian, are rated by the author as an integral part of the Kingdom of God, when he says: "The arts of the world of the past (not only Christian) were the treasure houses of the beautiful" (p. 321). So, if we follow the thought of the author, the ideals of godless humanism flow together with the Christian building of the Kingdom of God, and the Christian concept of the Church diffuses into total vagueness.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The fullness of life in Christ, as represented by the author, seems to be easily attainable. "Who loves Christ," we read here, "will want to belong to Him and live a common life with Him. Continually remembering Christ, we will turn to Him with our thoughts and feelings and search for personal communion with Him, at first possible in answerless prayer to him, and afterwards in prayerful conversation with Him and internal contemplation of His actual presence in us. When we do feel the presence of Christ, we will see Him in all the positive content of the spiritual life, as well as in all that is good in the world" (p. 294). "The first sign of grace is the presence in us of a force surpassing our strength; we perceive that our actions and experiences contain in themselves more than our own capability. Grace inspires and warms our soul: it is light; it is joy; it is love; it is the fire which burns us and gives life to us, and this fire we can transmit to others…" (p. 295). [Do these words not suggest an empty self-delusion? Is this not self-flattery? Is it fitting to use the word "we" in representing the heights of spiritual experience? And, is this in fact what the saints, who have reached these heights, experienced?]</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The essence of the Church, according to the author, is multi-unity. "No human differences of sex, conditions of life, profession, education, class, nation, or race can divide the Church. All Christians, parishes, dioceses, and churches must be one, notwithstanding any differences which are possible among people. We should not forget that the essence of every being from the Most-holy Trinity to the atom, and also the essence of good, truth, and beauty is multi-unity…" (pp. 312–313). [The author does not make mention of the dogmatic distinctions; it may be that they are to be understood in the expression: "notwithstanding any differences which are possible among people." He places a mark of equality between the "Church" and "all Christians"; on the other hand, he speaks of the (seven) Ecumenical Councils of the Orthodox Church, as the highest authority of the Church (p. 312). We cannot know whether by the words "all Christians" he means only the Orthodox Church or, on the contrary, whether "Church" is to be understood as Christians of all possible confessions, sects, and doctrines.]</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The author understands Christian activity as "creativity" — "according to that ideal which we find in Christ": "to transform your own or other souls, to cleanse and transfigure them, to elevate them to the fullness of the life of the Kingdom of God — cannot be the work of mechanical effort or book learning; only an extreme effort of the will, mind, artistic sensitivity, a continual inspiration and illumination from God, can give us success… Christ, the prophets and apostles, left everything for the sake of this creativity, and God and the World glorified them more than all other genus of mankind" (p. 314).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Such a lofty spiritual state, an uninterrupted existence in Christ, etc., according to the author, are fully compatible with ordinary forms of life and activity. He writes: "From what has been said, it does not follow of course (to come to the conclusion) that Christians should not give their efforts to those types of creativeness which are usually spoken of in the world, i.e., social activity, science, art, etc. They are justified in so far as they serve good, truth, and beauty" (p. 315).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
"The spiritual life" is understood by the author as "love for God, people, and the world, the recognition of truth and beauty" (p. 312). "The understanding of spiritual life is constantly being reduced among Christians to a plain concentration on a religious or prayerful-ascetic life. The apostolic understanding of spirituality was not such," he writes (p. 315).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Only from the point of view of the breadth of Christianity does the author tolerate the right of monasticism's existence. "The Church counts it permissible to renounce these forms of life (political, family, cultural, and household) for those who want to concentrate on an inner life, in solitary prayerful labors: such is the ideal of monasticism." "It is understood," the author finds it necessary to warn, "that love for one's neighbor and the duty to help him remains in force even for a monk" (p. 37).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The pinnacle of Christian attainment is the feeling of "happiness on earth." "If three unite in the name of Christ, they will be strong and happy. If thousands gather in the Kingdom of God, here on earth, the Christian world will begin to be transfigured… The happiness of man is in unity with God and people, in a nearness to all beings, in love, truth, and beauty, in beneficent creativity. On earth all of this is accomplished in the Church; in it resides the Kingdom of God…" (p. 329).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Church services are offered by the author as one of the kinds of Christian art (pp. 287–311). [2]</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
A dangerous philosophy is observed in his expression of the relationship of God to the world: "It is also evident, that <i>God is inseparable from the world</i>. He Himself united Himself with us, desiring to be our Creator, Guide, and Saviour. He, too, Who is the Perfect Spirit, is also the Creator of the Universe. <i>We must not divide God. Therefore, it is erroneous to separate</i>, in our religious life, our relationship to God from our relationship to created beings (p. 305).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
"God is actively present in the material world, in the body of Christ, in Church, in icons, in the Cross, in sacred articles, in priestly actions, in the relics of the saints" (p. 311).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
What does "actively present" mean? Does He dwell "in the body of Christ" and "in the material world" on an equal footing? Does the omnipresent God "dwell especially" in sacred articles and in the relics of saints? Can He dwell in priestly actions?</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
A special article, as the author writes, is "dedicated to our Lord Jesus Christ" (p. 293). Former themes are partly repeated here.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Beauty: "For Christ it was most important to create an internal spiritual world, in which the souls of mankind would be united one with another in one truth, verity, holiness, love, beauty" (p. 345).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
"Christ says nothing about arts, but in the image of God and man, which is revealed by Him, are shown the foundations of all beauty. It does not follow that Christ regarded with animosity all forms of our earthly life, repudiating them in the name of pure spirituality" (p. 345).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The body: "Christ's body had an enormous meaning in His theanthropic life…His miracles, transfiguration, resurrection, ascension, were connected with His body… and in general, Christ disclosed His Divinity through His body… Thanks to His body, Christ was in direct communication with the material world" (p. 350).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Asceticism: "Poverty and persecutions forced Christ to experience bodily sufferings and deprivations, but premeditated asceticism occupies a secondary place in the life of Christ; we know only of His forty-day fast after Baptism" (p. 352). [We ask: Where does asceticism not occupy a secondary place? Did the circumstances of life really "force," i.e., compel the Saviour against His will to suffer deprivations and poverty? Do not the words of the Saviour call one to an ascetic regard of life: <i>whoever wishes to follow Me, let him deny Himself and take up his Cross</i>? The author, it is evident, forgot the ascetical example of Saint John the Baptist.]</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The author thinks it is necessary to suggest to readers that Christ loved life in all its entirety. "Being Himself the Wisdom of God, Christ sees wisdom and beauty in nature, in the Scriptures, in the ordinary life of people… He is ready to accept accusation even from an evil slave; Christ does not scorn any man: neither the loyalty of the fishermen, chosen by Him, nor the children, nor the plain family of Lazarus, nor the entertainment of publicans and pharisees, nor the anointing and tears of a sinning woman" (p. 358). "Not justifying sin, He loved sinners with a special love and occupied Himself more with them than with the righteous" (p. 361). He "rejoiced with parents whose children were cured of sickness or sin, [rejoiced over] the birth of a baby, a wedding, a shepherd finding a sheep, and even the woman who found a coin" (p. 361). "Christ regarded pagans with condescension: they know truth poorly, but can follow the simplest morality" (p. 367).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Concerning the fact that the Saviour <i>came to bring to earth not peace, but a sword</i>, not a word. Christ loved sinners not with a "special love," but of publicans and sinning women He said: <i>Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots will go into the Kingdom of God before you; for John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not, but the publicans and the harlots believed him</i>. It is strange even to read such an expression: "did not scorn the loyalty of the fishermen, chosen by Him"; to read of the Saviour, praying for them before the sufferings on the cross: "I sanctify Myself for them."</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The author's understanding of Christian humility is certainly original. He writes, "Humility is usually understood very one-sidedly — not in substance, but in its ascetic expression — as self-abasement, the regarding of oneself as nothing, the emphasizing of one's sinfulness." The essence of humility, according to the author, is not in the above, [rather]: "My good is in all good, my life is in unity with all, my truth and good and beauty is the same truth, good and beauty for all, my worth is measured by a common measure — this is the essence of humility" (p. 357).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
It is evident that with such "humility" it will not be difficult to be "reconciled" even with evil. And this we do read further. "Every manifestation of Christ's humility is explained by His condescension to everything alive — to the worst sinner, to the slightest good" (p. 358).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
"Why do the humble avoid external strife with evildoers? Because, in them they are ready to see some good, and fear to destroy the good together with the evil… In every being there is at least a drop of good and for this reason God tolerates even those who knowingly become evil" (p. 359).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Not justifying, then, strife with evil, the author does justify egoism. "Love naturally arises from humility, because it is natural to love that which you recognize as good for yourself (!). Love is a yearning to live one life with the loved one, to give yourself to him, to possess him (!). Only he really loves God, people, truth, good, beauty, who not only takes from them and makes use of them, but who also gives himself to them. However, it is true that love is also possession, for if I do not have possession of something, then how can I be in unity with it? It is justifiable also to love one's self, for it is natural to want to possess and live for yourself" (p. 359). [In the final analysis, then, humility leads to the desire to "possess," to love for oneself, and to "live for yourself."]</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
There are many separate phrases in the article which catch the eye with their inappropriateness to Christian truth; others are so unclear that it is difficult to appraise them.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
"Riches and power seemed to Christ and the apostles to be dangerous for spiritual life" (p. 341). [Is it possible to apply to Christ the expression "seemed?"]</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
"Those who fulfill the word of God are more blessed than His Mother" (p. 343). [Where did the author get this? The Gospel does not say this.]</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
"Christ was the Righteous One, and His righteousness was first of all internal holiness" (p. 346). [What does "first of all" mean? What other kind of holiness can there be?]</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
"To follow Christ is the first step of Christianity; a higher step is to live by Him" (p. 347). [Does this mean that to live by Him is already not being a follower of Christ?]</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Thoughts which are plainly contradictory to dogmas of faith are expressed in the following deliberations.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
"In His love for the Father and the world, Christ gave them His life and His soul [?]. The death of Christ in itself was not related to His body alone, but also His soul" (p. 366). (This is something entirely new in theology, for we know that every person's soul, not only Christ's, is immortal. "In the grave bodily, but in hades with Thy soul as God…," we hear in the Paschal service.)</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Just as far from Orthodox theology are the following words: "Christians have but one God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit; one Lord — Christ is our Lord not only in that He is a divine, perfect Personality, but also because in Him is opened to us a new world of being and a perfect ideal of life; the true meaning of life is opened to us… In Christ we have reached the comprehension of what man is; we have learned to appreciate the wealth of the spirit and its indivisibility from the body" (p. 369). So says S. Verhovskoy. But we have been taught by the Church not to separate God the Son and Christ the Lord, for in Him mankind is united to God "inseparably" and "indivisibly." There is no God the Son separately from Christ the Lord. And concerning the assertion by the author about the indivisibility of the spirit from the body — <i>the dust will return to earth, as it was, and the spirit will return to God, Who gave it</i> (Eccles. 12:7), and according to the Apostle: <i>There is a natural body </i>(of the present age), <i>and there is a spiritual body</i> (of the future age); <i>Now this I say</i>, continues the Apostle, <i>that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption</i> (I Cor. 15:44, 50).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Both articles of Professor S. Verhovskoy, to whose pen belongs more than a quarter of the whole Collection, contain a number of subjective elements, which can be found only in modernistic "theological" literature or in publications of extreme Protestant doctrines. The internally contradictory understanding of the essence of Christianity, the artificial, touched-up picture of Christianity strikes the eyes. It may be that this picture, as well as the style of exposition, was intended to meet the taste of a definite circle of readers by its novelty and originality; it may be that some who are little acquainted with Christianity will indeed find such a picture satisfying. In any case, this is far from authentic Orthodoxy, and we can say with confidence, that Orthodoxy is not in need of such an embellished view.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
We will now proceed to a short survey of other articles in this collection following in order from general to particular themes.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
"Faith and Knowledge," by V. Rev. V. Zenkovsky — The author presents this question: How are miracles possible in our world of strict causal dependence of phenomena? He proposes to resolve this question by applying the teaching of Cournot about the confines of causality, explaining the appearance of "chance" in the world of causality. Chance is the result of the collision of two "independent causative series," as the collision of two moving machines at the point of intersection of two paths (i.e., to the collision of a train and an auto). But the will of the engineer can forestall the collision. Does not the will of God in the same way invade the course of causative series, creating a favorable junction of events, without violating the laws of causality, and this appears in our eyes to be a miracle? However, in the opinion of Fr. V. Zenkovsky, there is one exceptional miracle which does not conform to such an explanation: this is the miracle of the resurrection of Christ. "In the matter of the resurrection of the Saviour, on the contrary, the question of its very <i>possibility</i> is difficult, but the question of its authenticity and reality…is decided simply and categorically… The reality of the resurrection of the bodily dead Saviour is certified, not only by its complete possession of the mind and heart of His followers, but especially by its entrance into the souls of the Lord's disciples in its victorious radiance, that their preaching kindled endless masses of people with a fire unquenchable until the present day. This force lives in mankind till now…" (p. 50). The reader of the article draws the inference that the very reference to the <i>one fact of</i> the resurrection, as the deciding argument in the question of the miracle, namely the fact of Christ's Resurrection, pushes aside as superfluous all discussions of the relationship of miracles to the law of causality.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Continuing in the appointed order, we will speak briefly about the two articles of Anton Kartashev, "Church and State" and "Orthodoxy and Russia." Both articles, expressing thoughts already known from previous articles of A. Kartashev, are distinguished by the author's knowledge of the history of the Eastern Church and love of Russia's past. [3] He speaks about the symphony of the Church and state in Byzantium and in Russia with sympathy, notwithstanding all historical sins, and speaks sorrowfully of the present "divorce" of Church and state. In conclusion, he contrasts the laudable old symphony to the present "most absurd compromise" between a godless state and the Church, "on the terms of reciprocal service, to which, in the darkness of a Bolshevik hell, a terroristically-harassed and freedom-bereft part of the episcopate lowered itself. This nightmarish absurdity is accepted with unfeeling stupidity as something normal and tolerable by foreign general church opinion, ecumenical circles, some Eastern Orthodox hierarchs, and — what is most unforgivable — even by a small handful of Orthodox Russians, living here, in the blessed lands of human and Christian freedom" (p. 171).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The second article of A. Kartashev concerns the ideas of "Holy Russia" and "Third Rome." In it the belief is expressed that, in spite of all the terrifying reality, these two ideas even today have not lost their meaning. "Let us pre-assume that we have already been pushed into eschatological times… We are called with all the more anxiety to a stronger stand with the banner of Christ even in rear-guard battles" (p. 202).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Referring to the past of the Eastern and Russian Churches with understanding and love, the author acknowledges that you cannot return what is lost. At the end of the first article, he writes: "In the belief that the archaic Eastern system of the symphony is ideal, we do not weaken ourselves with inactive, romantic longing for the irrevocable past" (p. 177). At the end of the second article: "Raising the banner of Orthodox Russia and rendering her becoming honor for her attainments in the past, we count it neither obligatory nor wise to take upon ourselves the thankless and utopian role of restorers" (p. 204). In the light of these reservations, more strange but characteristic is the reaction by the editor of this work to the ideas of the author about the monarchic order of Orthodox kingdoms in the past. In the most intimate sections of the article the editor of this collection retorts with the following remarks in the footnotes: "The intervention of Christian monarchs in the administration of the church is a negative fact" (p. 204); "We do not think that at the present time all Orthodox people must be monarchists" (p. 207); "…that the constant and principle intervention of Christian monarchs into church affairs was evil" (p. 161). On the question of the USSR the editor remarks, "One can imagine that far from all the Russian hierarchy in fact serves the interest of the Soviet authority…" (p. 202).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The article, "The Small Church: The Parish as a Christian Community," by Rev. E. Melia, gives a series of theoretical, but in practice, useful ideas about the organization of the internal life of a parish. Built on the plan: unity, holiness, conciliarity, and apostolicity of the Church, by its very plan it traces the idea that every Christian community is a small Church, retaining all four signs of the Church.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
A series of thoughts in the article appears as a fresh and good stream in comparison to the prevailing spirit of this work. Such are: a) the idea about the "<i>unsuitability </i>of Christianity with the <i>natural</i> reality of the world, about the foreignness of Christianity in respect to the world" (p. 112); b) about monasteries: "the monastery is a likeness of a parish or even of a diocese, it has such an accumulation of spiritual power that it does not yield to the latter in its allotted importance in the Church" (p. 115); c) the priesthood: "like a prophet, the priest is subjected to reproach, mockery, and even to a hidden anger because — just like every Christian, but in the first rank, where he offers himself voluntarily — he appears as a <i>monk</i> on earth, i.e., with all his being, witness of life, and service, as also in his outer appearance. In the name of the Church he reminds all of the corruption of this world, and of the coming age" (p. 105).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
"What is Holy Scripture?," by Rev. A. Kniazev contains the chapters: Books of Holy Scripture. Their origin. The place of Holy Scripture as the source of the knowledge of God. The nature of Holy Scripture. The mutual relationships of the Bible and science. The composition of the Bible. Holy Scripture and the prayerful life of the Church. The article represents an introduction to the usual course on Holy Scripture.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
"Prayer and Services in the Life of the Orthodox Church," by B. Bobrinskoy: The first part of the article deals with prayer, its forms, the meaning of the rule of prayer. The second part speaks of public services:of the Christian icon, of reading and singing in church, of the daily, weekly, and yearly cycle of services. The central place is here occupied by an explanation of the Eucharist. The author explains the Eucharist symbolically. The Eucharist is a <i>symbol</i> of our redemption by the Saviour and is presented here as a reproduction of the Hebrew Paschal feast, celebrated as a remembrance of the kindness of God during the leading out of Egypt of the Hebrew people. The lamb on the table of the Old Testament Passover, the bitter herbs, the chalice, were to the Hebrews symbols of historic remembrances. Having expounded in detail and in succession the Old Testament rituals of the Passover foods, the author writes:"<i>Christ placed into the rituals…a new meaning</i>" (p. 261). "And so this bread and this wine, of which all partake according to rank, is none other than the Body and Blood of Christ. As this bread — His Body will be broken. As this wine — they will spill His Blood. This chalice is the symbol of the sufferings of Christ; the lamb is Christ Himself. The bitter herbs are the bitterness of His Passion and desertion. There are no more doubts. At the Supper the disciples are experiencing the very death of Christ" (p. 261). In such a fashion, the significance of the lamb on the Paschal table and of the bitter herbs is placed here on the same level with the bread and wine of theEucharist, and all of this together is interpreted as a symbolic image of the sufferings. <i>Of the change in essence in the Sacrament of the Eucharist the article says nothing</i>. Although on the earlier pages one finds the expression "the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ," a phrase following this, "in the Liturgy we break the bread and drink from the common chalice with Christ and His disciples" (p. 255), does not give the basis for understanding the explanation of the Eucharist in the Orthodox sense. This is extreme Protestantism. We Orthodox Christians do not drink from a common chalice with Christ when we accept Communion of His Body and Blood. [4]</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
"The Spiritual Traditions of the Russian Family," by N. Arseniev — This chapter is from the book: <i>Of Russian Spiritual and Creative Traditions.</i> Here is presented the life of the Russian family, properly of a family of the upper class, satiated with cultural tradition, a tradition where the contemporary was blended with the old religious ways and with the living world of the past, where the main person, even though often unnoticed, and the guardian of the firm principles was the mother. This literary illustration only obliquely approaches the general theme about Orthodoxy; it touches on general Russian life, an integral part of which was the Orthodox way, and is confined only to the social stratum of old Russia.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The last article in this collection is an outline by Nikita Struve entitled "Great Examples." The aim of this essay is "to prove from examples of the most diverse epochs," that Christianity is "a great vital and creative force." Contained in it are short biographies of the Apostle Paul, Ignatius the God-bearer, St. Justin the Philosopher, St. Athanasius the Great, St. Anthony the Great, Vladimir Monomachus, Metropolitan Philip, and St. Seraphim of Sarov (all of whom, except Vladimir Monomachus, are glorified by the Church as saints, though in the text the title of "Saint" is given only to some of them). The features of these great personalities are presented concisely, but expressively. But here something is characteristic. They are composed in the form of ordinary biographies of "historic personalities." This fully harmonizes with the general one-sided direction of this collection. Where else, if not here, could we have expected the idea of the heavenly Church, of the everlasting blessed life of these pillars of the Church, of their ties with those living on earth? But the biographies of the saints here end with a dull "laid down his soul" for the Truth; "died in bed"; "went the way of his fathers"; "fell in an unequal battle and by martyrdom won the victory." [5]</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Such is the collection as a whole. Its themes are varied, but one-sided in content, and almost completely avoid many essential elements of Orthodoxy. There is no mention of life beyond the grave, of temperance and asceticism, of penitence, of the writings of the Holy Fathers, etc. In fact very little is presented of "Orthodoxy in Life" and instead, too much is given concerning Orthodoxy "outside of life," in the form of a questionable subjective philosophy of Christianity. But what is most important is that many points here do not represent authentic Orthodoxy, both from the point of view of dogmatics and of history, as it came into being in life, with its constant striving for the heavenly. The "Orthodoxy" of the collection longs intensely for the earth.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
In vain does it sorrowfully proclaim that "we have long ago reduced Christianity to life beyond the grave" and to the Kingdom of the age to come. No, we have not "reduced" it. Christians know that when they believe in the Kingdom of Heaven and search for it, then the Kingdom of Heaven is already entering "inside them" and into the world through the Church. But if they intend to build a happy life of the Kingdom of God now on earth for themselves or even for future generations, not only will they fail to build it on earth, but they may lose it in Heaven as well.</div>
<div style="font: 27.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 16.0px 0.0px;">
<b>Endnotes</b></div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
1) "Is it possible, that in order to be a Christian, it is not enough to believe in Christ and to strive to fulfill His commandments, but it is still necessary to fulfill incomprehensible ancient rituals, to understand difficult theological forms, to be drawn into church disputes and divisions, to accept all of the human incrustation, which during two thousand years has sullied the purity of the Gospel?" (p. 57).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
2) The author writes: "It is a fact that Orthodox church services, in their text as well as their structure, are real artistic productions… In general, Orthodoxy summons one not only to inner beauty; it aspires that the whole life of the Church and believers have a beautiful form; of course, this outer beauty has an inner sense and impels us to the spiritually beautiful" (p. 311).</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
3) We would like to think that the application by the author to the relationship of the Church and State of the</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
"Chalcedon dogma — without confusion and without change," is only verbal decoration.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
4) The <i>New Testament</i> is established by the Eucharist of the Mystical Supper ("this is My blood of the New Testament"). If we acknowledge that before the institution of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the eating of the Old Testament lamb took place (this is denied by many contemporary exegetists: see Clarendon Bible, Oxford, the explanations of the text of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke), then it is necessary to acknowledge that giving the disciples of the Body and Blood of Christ in the form of bread and wine at the Mystical Supper was accomplished after the Old Testament rite of Passover and independently of it.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
If the Mystical Supper had been in fact the Hebrew "Passover," fulfilled once a year, then the words of the Saviour <i>this</i> (i.e. this same kind of Supper) <i>do in remembrance of Me</i> would have been received as meaning that the Eucharist be accomplished once a year, whereas the disciples of Christ gathered for the "breaking of bread" each week (on the first day of the week) from the very beginning of the institution of the Eucharist. The Passover rites were fulfilled strictly by a ritual established by custom, but here they were not applied: the blessing of the bread and wine took place at the end of the Supper, while the Hebrew Passover ritual demands the blessing at the beginning of the supper; the one presiding at the Hebrew Passover table blesses not one chalice (as we see at the Mystical Supper), but four cups. The name of the supper as "Passover" possibly has a conditional meaning for the synoptic evangelists, transferring us to an understanding of the "New Testament Passover." The "lamb" of the New Testament Passover, the Lord Jesus Christ, was slain on the next day after the completion of the Mystical Supper.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
5) The author speaks — as of one of the revealed truths — of "the identity of Christ with those believing in Him," on the basis of the words: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" (p. 375). How we are to understand this is unknown. If Christ is the believers, then where is Christ Himself?</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
This has been reprinted in <i>Selected Essays</i>, by Fr. Michael Pomazansky (Jordanville, NY: Holy Trinity Monastery, 1996), pp. 1-18. This is an invaluable collection of his best essays.</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
available through St. John Kronstadt Press</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<a href="http://www.sjkp.org/">http://www.sjkp.org</a>/</div>
<div style="font: 15.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<br /></div>
Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12000679422093371576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1020715264465191896.post-18861496996615273102011-03-28T10:32:00.000-07:002014-05-16T19:20:47.175-07:00A Rejoinder to Fr. Alexander Schmemann<br />
<div style="color: #232323; font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Fr. Michael's rejoinder appeared in <i>The Orthodox Word</i>, Vol. VI, No. 3 (May-June 1970), pp. 128-143</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 18.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<b>A Rejoinder to Fr. Alexander Schmemann</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 18.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<b>by Father Michael Azkoul</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<i></i><br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<i>Recent months have seen an intensification of efforts on the part especially of the American Metropolia and its ‘theologians’ to discredit the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, which has offered an outspoken and uncompromising opposition to Orthodox apostasy in general and to the Metropolia’s recent ‘autocephaly’ in particular. The unfairness of these attacks has been noticed by those outside the Russian Church situation, and—an indication of the signs of these times—the most thorough reply to the most serious of these attacks has come from a priest of the Syrian Archdiocese.</i></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<i></i><br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<i>Father Michael Azkoul holds a theological degree from St. Vladimir’s Seminary in New York and a PhD in Ancient and Mediaeval History from Michigan State University. He is a contributing editor of The Logos, a director of the Institute of Byzantine Studies, and a contributor of patristic studies to several scholarly journals. Ordained to the priesthood by the late Archbishop Anthony Bashir in 1958, he has since then held pastoral positions in several parishes in the Midwest. His articles in The Logos and other Orthodox periodicals have been notable for their solid patristic foundation and sober logic; among them have been several articles in defense of the Russian Church Outside of Russia.</i></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<i></i><br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<i>In May of this year Father Michael himself followed "Where the Truth Leads" (see his article in The Logos, January, 1970), obtaining a canonical release from the Syrian Archdiocese and joining the Russian Church Outside of Russia. This fall he will be teaching in the St. Louis area and will organize a parish there. The present article was, however, written while he was still within the Syrian Archdiocese and should be, therefore, all the more a voice to those outside The jurisdiction of the Russian Synod.</i></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<i></i><br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
As the influence of the Russian Synod is increasingly felt among Orthodox, criticism of her seems also to be rising. The latest falls from the pen of the eminent Orthodox theologian, Father Alexander Schmemann, Dean of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary. It has been more than six months since the appearance of his polemic in <i>The Orthodox Church </i>(Nov., 1969), the official publication of the Russian Metropolia, and no response has been made to it in English. One should be made, because Father Schmemann’s remarks are unjust and directed at a sister-Church.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
It is unfortunate that a theologian of his reputation should castigate the Russian Synod, the Supreme Administration of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, and that he should use the "Sorrowful Epistle" of Metropolitan Philaret, her leading prelate, as the occasion for his polemic. I wonder, however, if it is significant that his uncharitable reproof appeared on the eve of the disclosure that the Metropolia had been secretly negotiating with the Moscow Patriarchate for autocephaly. I wonder if it is significant that Father Alexander never answers Metropolitan Philaret’s critique of Uppsala. I wonder if it is significant that the charges against the Synod—which have been made and refuted so often before—are compulsively repeated. I wonder if these three matters are related.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
In more than three thousand words, Father Schmemann seeks to smack down the Russian Synod, a perturbing "gadfly" which has been haughtily buzzing around the great body of Orthodox ecumenism. Indeed, from the very beginning of his article, the author assumes that his position imposes upon him the responsibility of liquidating this nuisance. Thus, he never concedes that the challenge of the Synod to the present course of Orthodox ecumenism—and its folly—has any validity, and the story of the "other side" is never given. His object does not seem to be the truth, but the negation of all opposition to that religious ideal to which he, and those like him, have committed themselves.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
The reader is not told that, until recently, the canonicity of the Synod was questioned by no one (save Moscow); that not until the reigns of Basil III and Meletios Metaxakis did the Constantinopolean Patriarchs ever doubt it. Both Basil and Metaxakis supported the so-called "Living Church" movement in Russia and the latter, like Athenagoras I, was a Freemason. It is true, moreover, that His Eminence, Chrysostom Papadopoulos, Archbishop of Athens, was displeased with the opposition of the Russian Church Abroad to the New Calendar; however, he was in friendly correspondence with the Synod. Neither, indeed, does Father Schmemann even mention Patriarch Tikhon’s famous Ukase 362, nor Canon 39 of Quinisext or Apostolic Canon 34, which gave the Synod her right to exist; or the Sremsky-Carlovtzy Convention which gave her form.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Nevertheless, Father Schmemann denies the canonicity of the Synod. He refers to the flight of the Russian bishops before the Bolsheviks as "having abandoned their dioceses... and therefore formally deprived of their jurisdictional rights which a bishop can exercise only within his diocese, but certainly not at large. He would be right if under ordinary circumstances these bishops had "abandoned" their dioceses; but, as we have said, the canon law recognizes the possibility of bishops and churches in <i>exile </i>[1]—even as civil law recognizes governments in exile. He is further unfair to the Synod, because he knows that the bishops who left Russia did, in many instances, take their flocks with them. He knows, too, that the bishops were often driven out and involuntarily cut off from their dioceses. And he is wrong when he says that these bishops may necessarily be considered as no longer possessing "jurisdictional rights" over those flocks which they left. Was St. Athanasius no longer Bishop of Alexandria because he was banished five times by the Roman authorities? Was St. John Chrysostom no longer Patriarch of Constantinople when he was sent into exile by the Emperor? Was St. Martin I no longer Patriarch of Rome when he was brought to Constantinople by order of the Emperor Constans II, and then imprisoned at Cherson where he subsequently died (653)? In other words, historical and political circumstances, as the Fathers and the canons attest, do alter the usual understanding of that relationship which customarily exists between a bishop and his diocese.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
In connection with this same matter, Father Alexander states that the Russian Synod was "challenged and not recognized by other Russian jurisdictions which arose out of the same tragedy" (i.e., the Communist Revolution and its aftermath). The other "jurisdictions" to which he alludes are the Paris <i>emigres </i>under Metropolitan Evlogy, the Metropolia, and, of course, the restored Moscow Patriarchate. Leaving aside the latter for the moment, abroad it was after all only the Synod that emerged from the Revolution. Both Metropolitans Evlogy of Paris and Platon of North America were originally members of the Synod Abroad; and in fact the Metropolia was nothing more than the North American administration of the Synod from 1921 to 1926 and from 1935 to 1946. In 1927, the other "jurisdictions" attempted to submit themselves to Moscow, but finding the Soviet demands insupportable, Evlogy in 1930 went under the Patriarch of Constantinople le (after suspension by Metropolitan Sergius), while Platon decided upon autocephaly. In 1935, the Patriarch of Serbia, Varnava, undertook to reconcile the Russian churches, and a conference was held in Serbia. The result was that both Theophilus (the new Metropolitan of North America) and Evlogy vowed fidelity to the Russian Synod Abroad. Their agreement was put in writing and signed. The reunification of the Russian exiles was announced by Metropolitan Theophilus at the 1936 Pittsburgh Sobor [2] and in 1937 in New York. Evlogy, on returning to Paris, broke his promise, and eleven years later, at the Cleveland Sobor, the Metropolia followed suit.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
The Synod Abroad, therefore, considers both the Paris <i>emigres </i>and the Metropolia as "schismatic." Many United States civil courts agree with the contentions of the Synod. For example, the Opinion of the Superior Court of the State of California in and for the County of Los Angeles (Judge Joseph W. Vickers) stated in 1949 regarding the Metropolia, "In November 1946, at an All-American Sobor held in Cleveland, a resolution was adopted which purported to terminate the 1935 Provisional Agreement and to sever all relationship with the Church Abroad. The effect of the resolution was to declare the North American District (Metropolia) to be autonomous and subject only to such relationship as it could establish with Patriarch Alexy and his Holy Synod of Moscow." Elsewhere the Opinion continues, "If Metropolitan Theophilus and the Sobor had believed that Patriarch Alexy and his Synod was the Supreme Church Administration, they would have had no choice in the matter and would not have admitted that they had not theretofore been subservient thereto or attempted to place any conditions upon their recognition of its supremacy. In addition, the Holy Synod of the Church Abroad has repeatedly declared that a canonical Supreme Administration has not been restored in Russia. Since it appears from the pleadings, the evidence and the admissions and contentions of all parties that free church life has not been restored in Russia, the court must find that the Church Abroad is still the Supreme Administration of Russia." The Conclusion of the Opinion refers to the Metropolia as "a schismatic and unlawful faction or group." The Synod, consequently, was awarded the Holy Transfiguration church. Even if we chose not to accept this Opinion, it is, at least, significant that a disinterested third party found in favor of the Russian Synod. The picture which Father Schmemann paints may be a little distorted.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
If the Synod "is still the Supreme Administration of Russia," then the Eviogian Parisian <i>emigres </i>are also "a schismatic and unlawful faction or group." Of course, the Synod Abroad never recognized either Sergius or Alexy as the legitimate successors to Patriarch Tikhon. There is some reason to believe she is correct if these men are puppets of the Soviet government. Sergius did publish an agreement on July 16/29, 1927, in which he promised to be loyal to the Soviet regime both ‘in word’ and ‘good conscience.’ That Alexy has ever deviated from that promise cannot be demonstrated by the evidence. He has supported Communist policies in almost every instance, and there is some reason to think that many clergy in the Moscow Patriarchate are agents or, at least, selections of the Communist government. In the words of Metropolia Archbishop John (Shahovskoy) of San Francisco, "the Moscow Patriarchate is unable to express the voice of the Church of Christ freely" (see D. Grigorieff, "Historical Background of Orthodoxy in America," <i>Saint Vladimir’s Seminary Quarterly</i>, vol. V, 1-2 (1961), 44). Under these circumstances, then, Father Schmemann is wrong and it is the Synod alone which may judge "the Russian ecclesiastical problem," for she is the only free part of the Mother Church, while the other "jurisdictions" are dissidents. Moreover, the entire matter seems to have been taken out of their hands, because the Moscow Patriarchate officially intends to give Holy Communion to Roman Catholics.[3] Its status within Orthodoxy is open to review.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
I do not think Father Schmemann himself can draw any other conclusion from the facts. He instructed us at the seminary that "intercommunion" must presuppose a common faith and life. If he still believes what he taught us, he must further admit that "intercommunion" without this imperative implies an ecclesiology to which Orthodox cannot adhere. What, then, are the consequences for the Metropolia which seeks autocephaly from Moscow? But more important than this seven-year deception, is it to be denied that, underlying it, we find "the spirit of the times"? Is not ecumenism an offspring of the <i>zeitgeist? </i>Is it not the deleterious effect of ecumenism upon Orthodoxy which has drawn Moscow and the Metropolia together and away from the Russian Synod Abroad? Has it not so enervated the conscience of Orthodox that "forgiveness" has become a pretext to ignore Christian doctrines, canons and moral precepts?</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
I think Father Schmemann is cognizant of the role played by ecumenism in the new arrangement between the Metropolia and Moscow. He knows and resents the Synod’s stinging criticism of that "arrangement." For example, was not the "secret meeting" between the Metropolia and Moscow at Geneva under the auspices of the WCC? Were not representatives of the WCC present at the recent meeting in New York? It follows, then, that his defense of the ecumenical movement had to involve the dissolution of Synodal opposition to it. Moreover, he has had to anticipate those serious and embarrassing questions which the people of the Metropolia will ask upon hearing that Moscow will grant autocephaly—why after so many years has the Moscow Patriarchate suddenly become acceptable to us? How can we believe that it can now act independently of its Communist masters? Why did we not receive autocephaly in 1946? What did we give away to get it? Then, the people might begin to believe that the answers to these questions are somehow connected with the changing mood of both hierarchies. It might occur to them that the ecumenical movement—and the WCC is involved—might be overrated, that the Synod might be right about everything, that 1946 was a mistake. [4] Two Metropolia parishes have returned to the Synod already and others are threatening to do the same.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Therefore, Father Alexander must defend ecumenism and discredit the Synod. The first step must be to minimize her claim to virginal Orthodoxy, to the Fathers, the Bible and, particularly, to the canons. Strangely, citations from these sources are conspicuously absent from his article, except for one lonely quotation from the New Testament (I John 2: 18). He does not even bother to quote modern authorities in support of his arguments. It is also strange that he deliberately avoids mentioning that the Synod’s attitude toward ecumenism <i>per se</i> has never been closed, e.g., her representatives were present at the Faith and Order Meeting of 1937. She rejects only the heresy that ecumenism has become. Although he alludes to the fact that Metropolitan Philaret’s "Sorrowful Epistle" admits conditions under which participation in this movement is possible, his article nowhere discusses either these conditions or the arguments by the Synod against participation without those conditions. In fact, he hesitates to concede anything without qualification—"she may be right or wrong, but . . ." Whenever the issue becomes sticky and it appears that he might have to surrender a point to the Synod, he makes a hasty retreat to the handy ecclesiastical cliche, "this is for the entire Church to decide." Throughout his attack upon the Synod and Metropolitan Philaret’s Epistle one is struck by Father Schmemann’s patent bias.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Father Alexander is forced, nonetheless, to admit that one should distinguish ‘good’ from ‘bad ecumenism.’ But he fails to define either. He does not, because he cannot. He his already argued that "there is no consensus on ecumenism." The contradiction is glaring: if there is no consensus at all, then it is impossible for him to distinguish ‘good’ and ‘bad ecumenism.’ <i>No consensus means no criterion. </i>Again, if there is no consensus whatsoever, then there is no consensus <i>for </i>ecumenism. Why, then, have we joined the WCC? On what basis? Why scold Metropolitan Philaret as if his opposition to ecumenism were wrong?</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
In any case, a consensus does exist and the Metropolitan employs it. One may contend that there is no <i>formal </i>spatial consensus, but there is an available <i>temporal consensus</i>,<i> </i>the judgement of history. The words of Saint Vincent of Lérins should be instructive: </div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
"Now in the Catholic Church itself we take the greatest care to hold that which has been believed everywhere, always and by all... . We shall hold to the rule if we follow <i>universality</i>,<i> antiquity</i>,<i> consent. </i>We shall follow universality if we acknowledge that one Faith to be true which the whole Church throughout the world confesses; antiquity, if we in no wise depart from the interpretations which it is clear that our ancestors and fathers proclaimed; consent, if in antiquity itself we keep following the definitions of all, or certainly nearly all, bishops and doctors alike... . What will the Catholic Christian do, if a small part of the Church has cut itself off from the communion of the universal Faith? ... He will prefer the healthiness of the whole body to the morbid and corrupt limb. But what if some novel contagion try to infect the whole Church, and not merely a portion of it? Then, he will take care to cleave to antiquity which cannot now be led astray by any deceit of novelty. But what if in antiquity itself two or three men, of it may be a city, or even a whole province be detected in error? Then he will take the greatest care to prefer the decrees of the ancient General Councils... . But what if some error arises regarding which nothing of this sort can be found? Then he must do his best to compare the opinions of the Fathers... . And whatever he shall find to have been held, approved and taught, not by one or two only, but by all equally and with one consent, openly, frequently, and persistently, let him take this to be held by him without the slightest hesitation" (<i>Commonitorium</i>,<i> </i>II: 3 - III: 4).</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
There is, then, a consensus—one which is to be preferred to spatial consensus: the consensus of time. Upon its scales, ecumenism stands in historical judgement, a judgement which Metropolitan Philaret’s Epistle manifests. He appeals to the Orthodox episcopacy "knowing perfectly well" the consensus of historical Orthodoxy.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
But let us assume for a moment that an Orthodox Council is convened to determine the attitude of the Church towards ecumenism. What will be its <i>criterion </i>in its evaluation of this movement? Will it not be the witness of the Holy Scriptures, Holy Councils and Fathers and, to be sure, recent declarations of our spokesmen at Lambeth, Amsterdam, Evanston, etc.? If not, then by what standard of judgement? Will it be extra-ecclesial? By what principle will this extra-ecclesial standard or criterion be chosen? By another principle itself extra-Orthodox? If the new Council finds new standards, then, either it must accept theological and/or cultural relativism or confess a new Revelation from God. In either case, it will render its decisions <i>relative</i>,<i> </i>open to continual revision and, consequently, discredit itself and the timeless truths of Christ. It will, then, also introduce a horrendous host of new problems, such as demonstrating its reasons for relativizing our past and, at the same time, justifying the truth, necessity and applicability of the new theological criteria and categories.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
On the other hand, if the Council receives our Orthodox inheritance with honor, trust and obedience, its conclusions can be nothing other than that which has already been proclaimed by the Russian Synod. Thus, Protestants and Papists are <i>heretics</i>,<i> </i>because, to use the words of St. Basil the Great, their difference (<i>he</i> <i>diaphora</i>)<i> </i>with us relates directly to ‘the faith in God itself’ (<i>peri tes autes tes eis Theon pisteous. </i>Canon 1). Father Alexander is surely aware of the innumerable conciliar decisions and patriarchal epistles (e.g., the <i>Three Answers </i>of Jeremiah II,<i> Confessio Dosithei</i>,<i> </i>the Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs (1848),<i> </i>the Council of Constantinople (1872), etc.) which have encouraged the heterodox to enter the Orthodox Church, ‘the Ark of Salvation’ (Holy Russian Synod, 1904). Indeed, our relationship to all heretics in all times has been clearly delineated by the Scriptures (Eph. 4: 14, II Tim. 2: 15-18, Tit. 2: 9-10, Gal. 1: 8-9, and Heb. 13: 9); by the canons (Apostolic Canons 10, 11, 45, 65; St. Timothy of Alexandria, Canon 9, etc.); and the writings of the Fathers, such as St. Irenaeus, <i>Adversus Haeresus</i>;<i> </i>St. Cyprian of Carthage, <i>De Unitate Catholicae Ecclesiae</i>;<i> </i>St. Athanasius, <i>Orationes contra Arianos</i>,<i> </i>etc. In other words, <i>the consensus in time has determined and must determine the consensus in space </i>if Orthodoxy is to remain faithful to her spiritual and doctrinal heritage. There is a judgement upon current ecumenism, and the "appeal" of Metropolitan Philaret to his episcopal brethren is no more than a call <i>to confirm, formally and publicly, their obedience to that judgement.</i></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
The demand of that "judgement," the Metropolitan maintains, is that the ecumenical movement, as it is, must be condemned. To be sure, there is "good ecumenism," that is, to confront the heterodox with the Apostolic Tradition. to explain and defend it. Although we might assemble with the non-Orthodox for this purpose, neither common prayer or worship nor spiritual intimacy is possible. On the other hand. "bad ecumenism" is participation in this movement with little or no regard for the dictates of Orthodox life, law and doctrine. Therefore, we can participate in this movement only on the basis that our presence be understood as a <i>testimony</i>,<i> a</i> <i>mission, not as a dialogue between equals. </i>However, the WCC and the NCC, the entire "ecumenical movement" has become something incompatible with Orthodox ecclesiology. For example, the WCC is gradually being secularized. i.e., offering mankind the "social Gospel" instead of salvation in Jesus Christ. In its demeanor, utterances and its liturgies, the WCC gives clear indication that it has passed from the initial stage of definition or ‘form’ to the present stage of ‘function.’</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<i>A propos </i>this contention is the Ecumenical Service of the At-One-Ment, held at the First United Presbyterian Church, Tulsa, Oklahoma (Jan. 26, 1969). The liturgy begins with an Organ Prelude, then, The Call to Worship, the Processional Hymn, the Invocation, the Anthem, the Offertory and the Doxology. The entire Service is Protestant in structure and interdenominational in spirit. The clear impression is that all the ‘churches’ belonging to the WCC compose <i>the Church. </i>Thus, the ‘Leader,’ as he is called, reads a list of names—some of them are Orthodox Fathers, Confessors and Martyrs—then follow such ‘ecumenical saints’ as Dante, Michelangelo, Bach, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Aquinas, Cranmer, John Knox, Milton, Fox, Wesley, Walter Rauchenbach, Albert Schweitzer, Kagawa, John XXIII, Martin Luther King, Eugene Carson Blake, Julian Bond, Karl Barth, Harvey Cox, Gandhi, etc. Then, the words of the People’s response: "Reform your Church, Father, and give her the courage to be, to follow you and do your word; May she cease in her attempts to dominate men; May she make no more demands and claim no more privileges, but only try to contribute to men’s happiness; May she neither repel nor exclude anyone by the words she uses or the ideas she has, but be open to everyone who seeks to live a happy and creative life. . . ." After a few more similar verses, the Leader and People together proclaim, "I saw the city of God, the new holy Jerusalem... ." Then, the sermon by M. M. Thomas, an Anthem, Closing Hymn, Benediction, Recessional and the Organ Postlude, "Built on the Rock the Church Doth Stand."</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
As Father Schmemann is fond of saying, <i>lex orandi, lex credendi</i>—law of worship or prayer is the law of belief;" or, in another way, worship is the ‘epiphany’ of faith. If he is correct, then the ecumenical Service of the At-One-Ment—in which Orthodox participated—is the <i>lex orandi </i>of the ecumenical <i>lex credendi. </i>Hence, his statement that "the unity of ‘ecumenism’ is a myth which makes it impossible to use this term of a ‘heresy’ for it" —is nonsense. Its lack of ‘unity’ proves nothing. Neither the ‘unity’ nor ‘disunity’ of a sect has anything to do with its heterodoxy. Neither the ancient Gnostics nor modern Protestants are unified, nor were the ancient Nestorians or (until this decade) Papism without unity. Moreover, the lack of ‘unity’ in ecumenism may be the very nature of the heresy. (We must wait and see whether it becomes something other than a potpourri of denominations.) Ecumenism now is reminiscent of Freemasonry: a common-denominator deity, a common morality and worship, the peculiar theological beliefs of each member left to himself. The result, of course, is religious subjectivism.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Ecumenism, however, has a discernable <i>substantia</i>—it is a soteriological heresy which is at once the context and apex of all those heresies which preceded it. The triadological, christological, mariological, cosmological, ecclesiological and anthropological heresies each in its turn came forward to entice the Church and failed. Now, however, they are regrouped and united, led in their assault by ecumenism, the religious progeny of a long Western epistemological nightmare. Archbishop Vitaly of Montreal and Canada comes to a similar conclusion:</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
"Ecumenism is the heresy of heresies, because until now every separate heresy in the history of the Church has striven itself to stand in the place of the true Church, while the ecumenical movement, having united all heresies, invites them all together to honor themselves as the one true Church. Here ancient Arianism, Monophysitism, Monothelitism, Iconoclasm, Pelagianism, and simply every possible superstition of the contemporary sects under completely different names, have united and charge to attack the Church. This phenomenon is undoubtedly of an apocalyptic character ("Ecumenism," <i>The Orthodox Word</i>,<i> </i>July-August, 1969, p. 155.)</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Since ecumenism is an encompassing perversion of Christian doctrine, it strikes at the very heart of the Christian Economy: <i>salvation</i>;<i> </i>and because it is the anti-type of the Catholic Church, it ironically relates ‘salvation’ and the ‘Church.’ But it is a ‘salvation’ and a ‘Church’ without the Truth. It denies to Orthodoxy, of course, and to itself the possession of the divine and saving Truth. To say as it was said, "To seek the Truth, which we have not known. . . . (Invoc. Prayer, Uppsala, 1968) is to assert a belief utterly foreign to Orthodox experience. It is tantamount to denying the Church Her deifying powers. It offers an evolutionary, vitalist and utopian ecclesiology, abrogates the <i>scandalon </i>of the Church and prepares ‘the Church’ for her secular quest.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Yet, Father Schmemann refuses to call ecumenism a heresy or those ‘Orthodox’ who have become an <i>organic </i>part of the WCC, apostates. He is content to denounce Metropolitan Philaret and the Synod for calling Archbishop Iakovos and Patriarch Athenagoras pseudo-bishops. He contends that Metropolitan Philaret has ‘prejudged’ them and, therefore, characterizes his Epistle as ‘hypocritical.’ Why, Father inquires, call for a judgement upon those men when you have already condemned them? "The very purpose of the appeal is precisely to call the brother-bishops to judge and evaluate another bishop’s action," he declares. But the Metropolitan nowhere in his Epistle states that he seeks a <i>vote </i>from his ‘brother-bishops,’ only <i>concurrence </i>with the Orthodox Tradition. His ‘appeal,’ then, is no summation to the jury; it is an <i>exhortation </i>to obedience. Metropolitan Philaret wants <i>agreement </i>with the temporal consensus—not his own personal intuitions.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Anyone who teaches, as does the Ecumenical Patriarch, that the Church should be ‘refounded’ (Christmas Message, 1967) or espouses a crypto-branch theory of the Church, such as that propounded by Archbishop Iakovos (<i>The Orthodox Observer</i>,<i> </i>April, 1961) stands condemned. Metropolitan Philaret does not condemn them.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Nevertheless, Father Alexander will admit only that these men have "provoked serious controversy" in the Church. The value of their opinions (and Metropolitan Philaret’s) must await conciliar decision—which, he says, the Metropolitan urges while, at the same time, ‘prejudging’ the issue. Again, Father Schmemann errs, for he fails to reckon with the explicit teaching of the Church that a council is <i>unnecessary </i>when a bishop ‘publicly preaches heresy and with bared head teaches it in the Church.’ And, to be sure, those who withdraw from him or sever relations with him <i>‘before </i>synodical clarification’ are not ‘subject to canonical penalty’ and ‘have not fragmented the Church’s unity with schism, but from schisms and divisions have they sought earnestly to deliver Her’ (Council of Constantinople, 861, Canon XV). What is commended and sanctioned by this canon is the immediate concurrence with temporal consensus and separation from a ‘false bishop.’ Metropolitan Philaret clearly acted in the spirit of this canon.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
But who is it that Father Schmemann accuses of ‘schism’? —the Synod. How strange it is that a church whose "fidelity to the teachings of the Orthodox Church <i>. . . </i>Apostolic Succession <i>... </i>the piety of the clergy or laity" cannot be denied, as St. Vladimir’s Professor Bogolepov wrote in his <i>Towards an American Orthodox Church </i>(New York, 1963), should find herself ostracized by Orthodox for the sake of ecumenism and heretics. And is it not curious that those ‘Orthodox’ who openly and blatantly break the canons, advocate the ‘branch theory’ or some form of it, who offer Holy Communion to non-Orthodox, are honored as great Christians and good sons of the Church? Now Father Alexander, not unaware of the Synod’s faithfulness to Orthodoxy, cleverly seeks to sidestep the real problem. He states not that the Synod has been <i>declared </i>‘schismatic’—and, therefore, uncanonical—but has ‘of her own volition’ <i>withdrawn </i>from the Universal Church—I assume he means the Orthodox Church. Then, he compares the Synod to the Donatists of the 4th century, an analogy which is inapplicable. The Donatists were in fact heretics, because they departed from the traditional sacramentology of the Church and identified themselves as the Catholic Church. Blessed Augustine made this same observation and refuted them in eleven different treatises.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Another indication of the Synod’s ‘schismatic mentality,’ according to Father Schmemann, is the presumption with which she ‘rebaptizes’ heretics coming to Orthodoxy. He says that the "leaders of ‘the Russian Church Outside of Russia’ know perfectly well that the Russian Church, whose tradition they claim to maintain, for the last three hundred years <i>did not </i>rebaptize the heterodox whose baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity she could ascertain His statement is misleading for many reasons: (1) that the Synod may ‘rebaptize’ Christian converts is permissable, since, as Father ‘knows perfectly well,’ the heterodox have no ‘baptism.’ Thus, Saint Cyril of Jerusalem wrote, "None but heretics are rebaptized, because their former ‘baptism’ was no baptism" (<i>Procat.</i>, 7); and (2) that ‘the Russian Church’ has not ‘rebaptized’ the heterodox for three hundred years is unimportant. The Orthodox Church of Russia has ‘rebaptized’ heretics in the past—<i>a</i> <i>canonical and theological precedent exists</i>; (3)<i> </i>that ‘the Russian Church’ has received heretics without <i>immersion </i>is not the same as accepting them without <i>baptism</i>,<i> </i>for, as Father Alexander ‘knows perfectly well,’ the entire rite of initiation, the sacramental rite of incorporation into the Church—baptism—includes not only sanctified water, but also chrism and Holy Communion; (4) the Orthodox Church has applied the principles of canonical <i>akrebia </i>(strictness) and <i>economia </i>(accomodation) according to her needs. Those principles have not always been applied uniformly; thus, the Orthodox Church of Greece may use one while the Orthodox Church of Russia employs the other. In times of greatest danger, the Churches invariably turn to <i>akrebia</i>,<i> </i>as the Ecumenical Patriarchs, Cyril V and Paisius II, did in the face of the 18th-century Jesuit menace. The Synod looks upon ecumenism as a threat; therefore, some of her clergy are following a traditional practice of the Church by ‘rebaptizing’ Christian converts; and (5) Father Alexander speaks of ‘the Russian Church’ as if she were not a member of the Universal Church, as if the ‘tradition’ of ‘the Russian Church’ were distinct from the Apostolic Tradition which governs all Orthodox Churches. It is true that the Tradition has circumstantial application, but the ‘tradition’ of ‘the Russian Church’ remains the Tradition of the Universal Church. Consequently, even if the Russian Church during some 300 years had no local precedent on ‘rebaptism,’ the Synod could appeal to the Church at large.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Ignoring such facts, Father Schmemann, throughout his polemic against Metropolitan Philaret, continues to misrepresent the position of the Synod. These misrepresentations arise often from his own ambivalence and uncertainty. Thus, Father Alexander’s article tends to oscillate between whether the Synod is <i>ab initio </i>uncanonical or uncanonical by virtue of her ostensible withdrawal from communion with the universal Orthodox episcopate. He may not in fact know that originally the canonicity of the Synod was accepted by virtually every other Orthodox Church. Not even Archbishop Iakovos questioned it until Metropolitan Philaret’s Open Letter to him in 1968. From the very first, the Synod was invited to become a member of the Standing Conference of Canonical [<i>sic</i>*]Orthodox Bishops in America. It was only when a similar invitation was extended to the Moscow Exarch that she declined to join. "We never and nowhere will sit at one table with them," writes Archpriest George Grabbe, "but by this our spiritual communion with the Universal Church is not broken." [5]</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Evidentally, Father Grabbe is right, because, despite the eventual recognition of the post-1927 Moscow Patriarchate by the other Orthodox churches and the ban it placed upon the Synod, the latter remained within the Universal Church. For example, in the Near East, Synodal priests served in Greek churches and vice-versa. In 1955, His Beatitude, Christopher, the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria, requested that the late Metropolitan Anastassy take part in the consecration of a bishop for his jurisdiction. In 1968, Metropolitan Ignatius of Latakia (Antioch) participated in the consecration of Bishop Nicander as Suffragan Bishop of Sao Paolo, Brazil. Elsewhere, the Greek Bishop Dionysius of New Zealand collaborated in the order by which Metropolitan Philaret was designated Bishop of Brisbane (1964). In the United States, Archbishop Vitaly (Maximenko) of New York assisted at the elevation of the late Syrian Metropolitan, Antony Bashir (1936), on the request of the Patriarch of Antioch. On the death of Metropolitan Anastassy, Patriarch Athenagoras sent the people of the Synod a telegram of condolence, and Archbishop Iakovos chanted a Trisagion over the remains of the late Metropolitan.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Now with the spread of "ecumania" and the vocal opposition of Metropolitan Philaret to it, the Synod is viewed as ‘schismatic’ and ‘uncanonical.’ It is true that she has ‘voluntarily’ broken communion with some Orthodox churches, but it is likewise not inaccurate to say that the Synod has been <i>isolated. </i>Therefore, the idea that the Synod has ‘of her own volition’ gone into schism is false. Rather should it be said that she has followed the Biblical injunction—<i>We</i> <i>command you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from all brethren that walk disorderly, and not after the tradition that you have received from us </i>(II<i> </i>Thes. 3: 6). The Synod has ‘withdrawn’ from <i>apostasy</i>—or<i> </i>been separated from it.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
But Father Schmemann construes that ‘separation’ as a schism of the Russian Synod and therefore inquires: "One may ask, to which ‘brothers,’ to which ‘Primates’ is the ‘Sorrowful Epistle’ addressed? Since the Synod believes all other Orthodox bishops to be in schism and heresy—as a result of their ecumenism—and, therefore, no longer Orthodox, no longer members of the Church, no longer Bishops, the ‘appeal’ to the Orthodox episcopate as ‘brothers’ is, to say the least, illogical and meaningless. One cannot pretend to uphold the canons and at the same time deny canonical protection to those whom she has already condemned." He then lists four steps by which a ‘church’ falls into ‘schism’ and, eventually, ‘heresy’ through her denial of ‘the action of the Holy Spirit’ in the body from which she has seceded. The suggestion here is that the Synod has fallen or will fall into heresy if she refuses to desist from her present course.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Father Alexander’s theology here is poor. In the first place, that some Orthodox bishops have succumbed to the heresy of ecumenism, that many have violated the canons, does not constitute a Synodal schism. Again, that some Orthodox bishops have apostacized or gone into schism is not a verdict of the Synod, but of the Apostolic Tradition. Neither is it the Synod which denies those bishops ‘canonical protection,’ but the canons themselves. Furthermore, Father Alexander fails to distinguish between ‘heresy’—theological departure from the Faith—and ‘schism’—an administrative rupture. Although heretics are <i>not </i>members of the Church, schismatics retain their membership (I Const., Canon 6). Thus, violation of canon law which may, in some instances, lead to schism does not necessarily involve apostasy. <i>To break a canon law may be impious, but in itself it is not heretical. </i>As far as I know, the Synod has accused only a few ‘Orthodox’ ecumenists of heresy, others of schism; she remains in communion with a number of Orthodox Churches and is looked to as a beacon of Orthodoxy by the Catacomb Church of Russia, by the monks of Mount Athos, and by the Greek Old Calendarists. Therefore, it may be said that despite the ‘ecumenism’ of the Orthodox episcopacy in general, her individual members are within the Orthodox Church, that is to say, so long as those ecumenists do not consciously repudiate the teachings of the Church nor adopt ecumenical ecclesiology and soteriology. Since most of our bishops are <i>misguided </i>and <i>not heretical, </i>it would seem that Metropolitan Philaret’s ‘Sorrowful Epistle’ is logical, meaningful and urgent.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
We suggest, therefore, a serious re-appraisal of the Russian Synod and of our participation in the so-called ‘ecumenical movement.’ It should be clear to all that the only effect of our current involvement with the heterodox is a scandal to those who wish their Orthodoxy pristine, further confusion to weak Orthodox, greater comfort to the indifferent, and continued compromise by the ‘liberal mentality’ whose ecumenical posture the continuous stream of ugly polemic against the Synod seeks to justify. Despite whatever sins she may have, the Synod is correct. Father Schmemann cannot shake this fact by falsely accusing the Synod of "adding new divisions to our Church, for creating an atmosphere of suspicion and ultimately schism." Such imprecations might more profitably be leveled at Athenagoras of Constantinople, Iakovos, Athenagoras of London, Nikodim of Leningrad-Novgorod, the Metropolia’s John Shahovskoy, etc. There is no justification for Father Alexander’s diatribe against the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, save that her bold witness to Orthodoxy is a constant reproach to those who seek to revise "the faith once delivered to the saints."</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Likewise, it would be advisable not to charge the Synod with negating "canons and procedures, jurisdictional rights and due process." Whatever may be the ecumenists’ concern for such things, their own actions prove that they use them arbitrarily, selectively, and when it suits their own convenience. Again, Father Alexander argues that the Synod behaves as if there were a consensus <i>against </i>ecumenism when in fact, he says, there is none. But ecumenists act as if there were a consensus <i>for </i>ecumenism and behave as if the canons did not exist. He maintains that the Synod condemns such hierarchs as Iakovos and ‘the Ecumenical Patriarch’ without ‘due process,’ but he and the other anti-Synodalists have pronounced the Synod schismatic—virtually heretical—without ‘due process.’ He says that the Synod raids other jurisdictions, pilfering their priests, when Father Alexander ‘knows perfectly well’ that she has the <i>duty </i>to receive those in flight from apostasy; and he should know that the Synod otherwise <i>never </i>accepts other clergy without an official and canonical release. He mentions the irregular conduct and attitude of the Synod towards other Orthodox jurisdictions, but he utters not a word about the members of the Standing Conference of Orthodox Bishops who do not recognize each others’ ‘canonicity.’ He likes to think of the Synod as trouble-maker, but he overlooks the ‘trouble-makers’ who undermine the entire episcopal structure of the Orthodox Church by their contempt for canon law and the spiritual life.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
One may very well call it ironical that a Church which has produced such men as Archbishop Leonty of Geneva, Archbishop John Maximovitch, Archbishop Tikhon of San Francisco, Metropolitan Anastassy—all of whom reposed with divine odor—a Church which has innumerable monastic centers, which publishes journals such as <i>Orthodox Life</i>,<i> The Orthodox Word</i>,<i> La foi transmise</i>,<i> </i>etc., which has translated countless liturgical, ascetical and patristic works into various languages, which has organized missions in America and abroad and which has suffered persecution and slander for the sake of our Holy Faith, should be branded ‘uncanonical,’ ‘schismatic,’ ‘trouble-maker’ by her own brethren, There is no explanation but the devil working through this present age. The Scriptures have rightly said that in Godless times, in the last days, ‘righteousness’ will be called ‘unrighteousness,’ ‘light, darkness,’ ‘truth, falsehood,’ and ‘good, evil’....</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 24.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 29.0px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 24.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<b>Endnotes</b></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
1. The head of the "Holy Ukrainian Autocephalic Orthodox Church-in-Exile," Archbishop Palladios, is a member of the Standing Conference of Canonical Bishops in America. Apparently, the Standing Conference recognizes "churches-in-exile," the opinion of Fr. Schmemann notwithstanding.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
2. In 1936, a Sobor of Bishops was convoked in Pittsburgh at which was announced: "With great joy, beloved, we inform you that we unanimously accept the temporary status of the Russian Church Abroad... . All our archpastors with our Metropolitan (Theophilus) at the head, join themselves to the Sobor of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, which is the highest Church organ for all our Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, which at the same time remains an integral part of the All-Russian Church" (Quoted, "The Historical Path of the Russian Orthodox Church in America," <i>Novoye Russkoe Slovo</i>, Feb. 7, 1970).</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
3. The Holy Fathers forbid the giving of the Holy Communion to the heterodox. "With all our strength, therefore, let us beware lest we receive communion from or grant it to heretics; <i>Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, saith the Lord, neither cast your Pearls before swine, </i>lest we become partakers in their dishonor and condemnation For if union is in truth with Christ and with one another, we are assuredly voluntarily united also, with all those who partake with us... . " (St John Damascus, <i>De Fid. Orth.</i>, IV, 13)</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
4. It cannot be doubted that the Metropolia was part of the Russian Synod Abroad, but separated from her in 1946. The Cleveland Sobor, writes Dimitry Grigorieff, "promulgated the withdrawal of the American Metropolia from membership in the Russian Synod of Bishops Abroad. Since then the Synodical group has become a distinctively separated church organization in America once again" ("The Historical Background of Orthodoxy in America," <i>Saint Vladimir’s Seminary Quarterly</i>, <i>Ibid</i>., p. 41. Mr. Grigorieff gives no reason for the ‘withdrawal’.</div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323; font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
5. "An Answer to Archbishop John and Fr. Joseph Pishtey," <i>Orthodox Life</i>, I (1970), 29.</div>
<div style="color: #009594; font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #009594; font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
* Fr. Michael incorrectly inserts the word "Canonical" in the SCOBA acronym. This word was not in the original acronym, but has unfortunately crept into it through frequent usage. (ed.OCIC)</div>
Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12000679422093371576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1020715264465191896.post-851815736534585642011-03-28T10:28:00.000-07:002014-05-15T10:29:07.193-07:00 Liturgical Theology of Father A. Schmemann<br />
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 16.0px 0.0px;">
<b>The Liturgical Theology of Father A. Schmemann</b></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 14.0px 0.0px;">
<b>by Father Michael Pomazansky</b></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Throughout its history, Russian theological science is accused of falling too much under the influence of the non-Orthodox West. The influence of Latin scholasticism on Kievan theology lasted until the beginning of the 19th century. If later theological science freed itself from this influence, then reproaches were heard of another nature, i.e., that our theologians were not independent, that they were often limited by "copying the Germans," as Metropolitan Anthony expressed it. This characterization was unpleasant; but, since this dependency did not destroy the general Orthodox direction of theology, it did no real harm. What can one do if the historical and theological science of the West was extensively developed long ago while ours was still embryonic? Due to necessity we had to draw from these sources, and, having drawn from them, we obviously became dependent on them. More important is the fact that the study of sources concerning all facets of church history, even Eastern sources, predominantly belonged to and belongs to the West. In our tragic era when Russian theological science is nearly obliterated, the study of the Orthodox East has passed exclusively into the hands of Western theologians and historians. Their study is done carefully and, in the majority of cases, with love.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Nevertheless, one should never forget how unique genuine Orthodox consciousness is, how independent, and how full it is of its own inimitable spirit. <i>For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?</i> (I Cor. 2:11). The words of Apostle Paul can be applied to the Church. The Western man who is not a member of the Orthodox Church, even if scholarly, is in no position to penetrate the spirit of the Church, the spirit of Orthodoxy. This is to say nothing of those scholarly Western church historians who themselves have lost their Christian faith. Even the scholarly believers of the West inevitably bear the imprint of denominationalism. Protestant scholars are subject to preconceived notions and opinions, long ago deeply rooted in the Protestant psyche. Their false understanding of the era of Constantine the Great is ample proof of this. From this proceeds their biased interpretation of the written sources of the first period of Church history. It would be a grave mistake to acknowledge in Christianity at the present time the presence of a unified, objective, historical-theological science. This would mean, in many circumstances, to accept such a treatment of the history of Christianity which contradicts the historical tradition of the Church and the Orthodox world-view, and undermines the dogmas of the Orthodox Faith. Such "theological ecumenism" would be a great temptation.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Before us is a work of Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, <i>Introduction to Liturgical Theology</i> (Paris, YMCA Press, 1961; English translation: The Faith Press, London, 1966). The book is offered as an "introduction" to a special course in liturgical theology planned by the author. In it are indicated the basics of a proposed new system of theology, after which is given an historical outline of the development of the Rule or Typicon of Divine services. This second, historical part has the nature of a scientific investigation.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The author views his book as the foundation for a new area of theological science — "Liturgical Theology," placing before this science, and consequently before himself, the extraordinary task, "to guard the purity of divine services… to preserve it from distortion and misinterpretation" (p. 10). This new theology should be the guide for the "reexamination of limitless liturgical material contained in the Menaion and Octoechoi" (for some reason the last word is in the plural). Together with this task concerning the services is another concerning theology: the historical-liturgical structure of our theology should be the touchstone in determining the worthiness and failings of our usual so-called academic theology. The author writes: we must "historically seek and discover the key to liturgical theology. We must restore the darkened ecclesiological, catholic consciousness of the Church by means of this theological research." These plans are extraordinarily serious, the responsibility is enormous, requiring absolute Orthodoxy in the structure of the proposed science in order that it truly could "stand in defense" of both Divine services as well as theology.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The fundamental part of the <i>Introduction to Liturgical Theology </i>— the history of the Typicon — is based primarily on Western scientific investigations in French, English, and German, and partially on Russian sources. The author is convinced that he has succeeded, as he expresses it, in "escaping Western captivity" while using non-Orthodox sources. He avoids the extreme affirmations of Protestant historians. He writes: "We categorically reject the understanding of the Peace of Constantine (i.e., the era of Constantine the Great) as a 'pseudo-victory' of Christianity — victory bought at the price of compromise" (p. 86). However, such affirmations are not enough in themselves, when we are speaking of a subject having so much significance as has been historically demonstrated. Therefore, disregarding the scholarly baggage in the book, passing over the structure of the work, we consider it our obligation to focus attention on the book's contents in one respect: has the author indeed escaped Western captivity? As many of his statements testify, he has in fact not escaped it.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 14.0px 0.0px;">
<b>The Orthodox Liturgical Order:The Product of Historical Cause and Effect,or Divine Inspiration and Guidance?</b></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
In investigating the main stages of development of the Rule of Divine services, or Typicon, the author looks upon them as an ordinary historical manifestation, formed as a result of the influence of changing historical circumstances. He writes: "Orthodox writers are usually inclined to 'absolutize' the history of worship, to consider the whole of it as divinely established and Providential" (p. 72). The author rejects such a view. He does not see "the value of principles" in the definitive formulation of the Typicon; in every case he acknowledges them as dubious. He rejects and even censures a "blind absolutization of the Typicon" when in practice this is joined, in his opinion, to a factual violation of it at every step. He sees "the restoration of the Typicon as hopeless"; the theological meaning of the daily cycle of services he finds "obscured and eclipsed by secondary strata in the Typicon" which have accumulated in the Divine services since the 4th century (pp. 161–2). The ecclesiological key to the understanding of the Typicon, according to the author, has been lost, and we are left to seek and find the key to liturgical theology by means of historical research.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Such a view of the Typicon is new to us. The Typicon, in the form which it has come down to our time in its two basic versions, is the realized idea of Christian worship; the worship of the first century was a kernel which has grown and matured to its present state, having now taken its finished form. We have in mind, of course, not the <i>content</i> of the services, not the hymns and prayers themselves, which often bear the stamp of the literary style of an era and are replaced one by another, but the very <i>system</i> of Divine services, their order, concord, harmony, consistency of principles and fullness of God's glory and communion with the Heavenly Church on the one hand, and on the other the fullness of their expression of the human soul — from the Paschal hymns to the Great Lenten lamentation over moral falls. The present Rule of Divine services was already contained in the idea of the Divine services of the first Christians in the same way that in the seed of a plant are already contained the forms of the plant's future growth up to the moment when it begins to bear mature fruits, or in the way that in the embryonic organism of a living creature its future form is already concealed. To the foreign eye, to the non-Orthodox West, the fact that our Rule has taken a static form is viewed as petrification, fossilization. For us this static form represents the finality of growth, the attainment of all possible fullness. Such finality of developed form we also observe in Eastern Church iconography, in church architecture, in the interior appearance of the best churches, in the traditional melodies of church singing. Further attempts at development in these spheres often leads to decadence, leading not up but down. One can draw only one conclusion: we are nearer to the end of history than to the beginning… Of course, as in other spheres of Church history, so also in this sphere of liturgics we should see a path established by God, Providence, and not only the logic of causes and effects.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The author approaches the history of the Typicon from another point of view; we shall call it the pragmatic point of view. In his exposition the fundamental apostolic, early Christian liturgical order has been overlaid by a series of strata which lie one upon the other, partially obscuring each other. These strata are: "mysteriological" worship, which arose not without the indirect influence of the pagan mysteries in the 4th century; then the influence of the liturgical order of desert monasticism; and finally the form adapted for the world from the monastic order. The scientific schema of the author is: the "thesis" of an extreme involvement of Christianity and its worship in the "world" during the Constantinian Era which evoked the "antithesis" of monastic repulsion from the new form of "liturgical piety," and this process concludes with the "synthesis" of the Byzantine period. Alone and without argumentation this phrase stands as a description of the stormy Constantinian Era: "But everything has its germination in the preceding epoch" (p. 73). The author pays tribute to the method that reigns totally in contemporary science: leaving aside the idea of an overshadowing by Divine Grace, the concept of the sanctity of those who established the liturgical order, he limits himself to a naked chain of causes and effects. Thus positivism intrudes now into Christian sciences, into the sphere of the Church's history in all its branches. If, however, the positivist method is acknowledged as a scientific working principle in <i>science</i>, in natural sciences, one can by no means apply it to living religion, nor to every sphere of the life of Christianity and the Church, insofar as we remain believers. And when the author in one place notes concerning this era: "The Church experienced her new freedom as a providential act destined to bring to Christ people then dwelling in the darkness and shadow of death" (p. 87), one wishes to ask: Why does the author himself not express his solidarity with the Church in acknowledging this providentialness?</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
They tell us: no one keeps the Typicon, and besides, the theological key to understanding it has been lost. We answer: the difficulty in fully keeping the Typicon is connected with the idea of maximalism inherent in the Orthodox understanding of Christianity. This maximalism is found in relation to the moral standards of the Gospel, the strictness of church canons, the area of ascetic practice, of prayer and services based on the commandment, <i>pray without ceasing</i>. Only in monasteries do the church services approach the norm of perfection, and at that only relatively. Life in the world and parishes force an unavoidable lessening of the norm, and therefore the parish practice cannot be viewed as the Orthodox model and ideal in the sphere of church services. Nonetheless, we cannot refer to the practice in parishes as a "distortion," in the theological sense, of the principles of Divine services. Even in the cases of "intolerable" shortening, the services retain a great amount of content and exalted meaning, and do not lose their intrinsic value. Such shortenings are "intolerable" because they bear witness to our self-indulgence, our laziness, our carelessness in our duty of prayer. One cannot objectively judge the value of the liturgical Rule according to the practice here in the diaspora. One cannot draw conclusions from this practice concerning the total loss of understanding of the spirit of the Rubrics.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Let us proceed to more substantial questions.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 14.0px 0.0px;">
<b>The Constantinian Era</b></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
We all know what an immense change occurred in the position of the Church with Constantine the Great's proclamation of freedom for the Church at the beginning of the 4th century. This outward act was also reflected everywhere in the inward life of the Church. Was there here a <i>break</i> in the inner structure of the Church's life, or was there a <i>development</i>? The consciousness of the Orthodox Church replies in one way, and Protestantism in another to this question. The main part of Fr. A. Schmemann's book is given over to the elucidation of this question.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The period of Constantine the Great and later is characterized by the author as the era of a profound "regeneration of liturgical piety." Therefore, the author sees in the Church of this time, not new forms of expressions of piety, flowing from the <i>breadth and liberty</i> of the Christian spirit in accord with the words of the Apostle: <i>Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty</i>, but rather a <i>regeneration</i> of the interpretation of worship and a deviation from the early Christian liturgical spirit. He develops a point of view inspired long ago by the prejudices of the Lutheran Reformation. Thus, the history of the structure of our services is being interpreted in the light of this "regeneration of liturgical piety."</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
<i>A propos</i> of this, it is also difficult to reconcile oneself to the term "liturgical piety." In the ordinary usage of words, piety is Christian faith, hope, and love, independent of the forms of their expression. Such an understanding is instilled in us by the Sacred Scriptures, which distinguish only authentic piety (<i>piety is profitable unto all things</i> — I Tim. 4:8) from false or empty piety (James 1:26; II Tim. 3:5). Piety is expressed in prayer, in Divine services, and the forms of its expression vary depending on circumstances: whether in church, at home, in prison, or in the catacombs. But we Orthodox scarcely need a special term like "liturgical piety" or "church piety," as if one were pious in a different manner in church than at home, and as if there existed two kinds of religiousness: "religiousness of faith" and "religiousness of cult." Both the language of the Holy Fathers and of theology have always done without such a concept. Therefore it is a new idea, foreign to us, of a special liturgical piety that the author instills when he writes: "It is in the profound regeneration of liturgical piety and not in new forms of cult, however striking these may seem to be at first glance, that we must see the basic change brought about in the Church's liturgical life by the Peace of Constantine" (p. 78). And in another place: "The center of attention is shifted from the living Church to the church building itself, which was until then a simple place of assembly… Now the temple becomes a sanctuary, a place for the habitation and residence of the sacred… This is the beginning of church piety" (pp. 89–90). The freedom of the Church under Constantine establishes, writes the author, "a new understanding of the cult, a new liturgical piety" (p. 80), a "mysteriological piety." In his usage of such terms one senses in the author something more than the replacement of one terminology by another more contemporary one; one senses something foreign to Orthodox consciousness. This fundamental point is decisively reflected in the author's views on the Mysteries, the hierarchy, and the veneration of saints, which we shall now examine.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 14.0px 0.0px;">
<b>The Mysteries and the Sanctifying Element in Sacred Rites</b></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The author adheres to the concept that the idea of "sanctification," of "mysteries," and in general of the sanctifying power of sacred rites was foreign to the ancient Church and arose only in the era after Constantine. Although the author denies a direct borrowing of the idea of "mysteries-sacraments" from the pagan mysteries, he nonetheless recognizes the "mysteriality-sacralization" in worship as a new element of "stratification" in this era. "The very word 'mystery,' " he writes, citing the Jesuit scholar (now Cardinal) J. Danielou, "did not originally have the meaning in Christianity that was subsequently given it, a mysteriological meaning; in the New Testament Scriptures it is used only in the singular and in accordance with the general significance of the economy of our salvation. The word 'mystery' (<i>mysterion</i>) in Paul and in early Christianity always signified the whole work of Christ, the whole of salvation"; thus, in the author's opinion, the application of this word even to separate aspects of the work of Christ belongs to the following era.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
In vain, however, does the author cite a Western scholar concerning the word "mystery." If in Saint Paul we read the precise words: <i>Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries </i>(Greek: <i>mysterion</i>, genitive plural)<i> of God</i> (I Cor. 4:1). The Apostles were stewards of the Mysteries, and this apostolic stewardship was expressed concretely in the service of the Divine stewardship: a) in invocatory sermons, b) in joining to the Church through Baptism, c) in bringing down the Holy Spirit through the laying down of hands, d) in strengthening the union of the faithful with Christ in the Mystery of the Eucharist, e) in their further deepening in the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, concerning which the same Apostle says: <i>Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom</i> (I Cor. 2:6–7). Thus the activity of the Apostles was full of sacramental* (<i>mysterion</i>, <i>mystero</i>) elements.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Basing himself on the ready conclusions of Western researchers in his judgments on the ancient Church, the author pays no attention to the direct evidence of apostolic writings, even though they have the primary significance as landmarks in the life of the early Christian Church. The New Testament Scriptures speak directly of "sanctification," sanctification by the Word of God and prayer. <i>Nothing is to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer</i> (I Tim. 4:4–5). And it is said of Baptism: <i>Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified</i> (I Cor. 6:11). The very expression <i>cup of blessing</i> (I Cor. 10:16) is testimony of sanctification through blessing. The apostolic laying on of hands cannot be understood otherwise than as a sanctification.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
A special place in the book is occupied by a commentary on the Mystery of the Eucharist. The author maintains the idea that in the early Church the Eucharist had a totally different meaning from the one it subsequently received. The Eucharist, he believes, was an expression of the ecclesiological union in an assembly of the faithful, the joyful banquet of the Lord. Its whole meaning was directed to the future, to eschatology, and therefore it presented itself as a "worship outside of time," not bound to history or remembrances, as eschatological worship, by which it was sharply distinct from the simple forms of worship, which are called in the book the "worship in time." In the 4th century, however, we are told there occurred an acute regeneration of the original character of the Eucharist. It was given an "individual-sanctifying" understanding, which was the result of two stratifications: initially mysteriological, and then monastic-ascetic.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Notwithstanding the assertions of this historico-liturgical school, the individual-sanctifying significance of the Mystery of the Eucharist, i.e., the significance not only of a union of believers among themselves, but before anything else a union of each believer with Christ through partaking of His Body and Blood, is fully and definitely expressed by the Apostle in the tenth and eleventh chapters of the First Epistle to the Corinthians: <i>Whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's Body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many die</i> (I Cor. 11:27). These teachings of the Apostle are concerned with individual reception of the holy Mysteries and with individual responsibility. If unworthy reception of them is judged, it is clear that, according to the Apostle, a worthy reception of them is the cause for individual sanctification. It is absolutely clear that the Apostle understands the Eucharist as a mystery: <i>The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ?</i> (I Cor. 10:16) How can one say that the idea of "mystery" was not in the Church in apostolic times?</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Maintaining the idea of the total "extra-temporality" of the Eucharist in the early Church, Fr. A. Schmemann considers as a violation of tradition the uniting of it with historical remembrances of the Gospel. He writes: "In the early Eucharist there was no idea of a ritual symbolization of the life of Christ and His Sacrifice. This is a theme which will appear later…under the influence of one theology and as the point of departure for another. The remembrance of Christ which He instituted (<i>This do in remembrance of Me</i>) is the affirmation of His 'Parousia,' of His presence; it is the actualization of His Kingdom… One may say without exaggeration that the early Church consciously and openly set herself in opposition to mysteriological piety and cults of the mysteries" (pp. 85–86).</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Despite all the categoricalness of the author's commentary on the words: <i>This do in remembrance of Me</i>, it contradicts the directives of New Testament Scriptures. The Apostle says outright: <i>For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come</i> (I Cor. 11:26). That is, until the very Second Coming of the Lord the Eucharist will be joined to the remembrance of Christ's death on the Cross. And how could the Apostles and Christians of the ancient Church omit the thought, while celebrating the Eucharist, of the sufferings of Christ, if the Saviour in establishing it, at the Last Supper, Himself spoke of the sufferings of His Body, of the shedding of His Blood (<i>which is broken for you, which is shed for you and for many</i>), and in Gethsemane prayed of the cup: <i>Let this cup pass from Me</i>? How could they not preface the joyful thought of the Resurrection and glory of the Lord with the thought of His Cross and death? Both Christ and the Apostles call upon us never to forget the Cross.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Concerning the later historical practice of serving the Eucharist, Fr. A. Schmemann writes, "the characteristically gradual development of interpreting the rituals of the Liturgy as a mystical depiction of the life of Christ… was a replacement of the ecclesiological understanding of the Eucharist with a depictive-symbolical one, and even more clearly expresses the mysteriological regeneration of liturgical piety. Together with this regeneration is connected the development of an entirely new part of the Eucharist — the Proskomedia, which is entirely and exclusively symbolical (?), and in this respect 'duplicates' the Eucharist (the symbolic sacrifice in cutting the bread and pouring the wine into the chalice, etc.). And finally, nothing exposes this transition to a 'sanctifying' understanding of the Mystery and service more than the change in the manner of communicating — changing [the practice of communicating] from the idea of a liturgical-community act, 'which seals' (?) the Eucharistic change of bread, to the idea of an individual sanctifying act having a relation to personal piety, and not to the ecclesiological status of the communicant. In reference to the practice of Communion we can truly speak here of a 'revolution' " (p. ?).</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The thoughts cited above elicit a whole new series of objections. A) Proskomedia is "preparation." How can one proceed without preparation? Any meal, even the most simple meal, cannot take place without preparation. B) The Proskomedia is served by the priest within a closed altar and does not have the characteristic of a community service. C) What should the thoughts of the priest be directed towards during the Proskomedia if not to the recollection of our Saviour's crucifixion? The service book for the Divine Liturgy supports this thought by the words in chapter 53 of the Prophet Isaiah about the suffering Messiah. D) The Liturgy of the Faithful is not duplicated in the recollections of the Proskomedia. In order that the actions of the sacred celebrant not be soulless, in the secret prayers at the Proskomedia, the Church directs him to recall the crucifixion and death of the Saviour, and at the Liturgy of the Faithful, the taking down from the Cross, placing in the tomb, descent into Hades, and His resurrection and ascent into Heaven. These recollections are not "depictions" nor symbols. Concerning symbolism, it occupies a very modest part in the service (we are not speaking here of authors who interpret the services). In fact the service consists of various prayers, symbolism has nothing to do with them, and has a connection only with some of the celebrant's actions. These actions, in fact, have a <i>real </i>significance and are, consequently, only given an extra, supplementary significance. E) The change from the ancient form of communicating from the Chalice to the more contemporary practice of communicating laymen is a change of one practice of communing to another, which does not change the essence of the Mystery. To claim a "regeneration" or "revolution" in the celebration of the Mystery of Communion is a sin against the Orthodox Church.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 14.0px 0.0px;">
<b>The Hierarchy and the Mystery of the Priesthood</b></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The author expresses the idea that only in the post-Constantinian era did there occur a division into clergy and simple believers, which did not exist in the early Church and occurred as the result of a "breakthrough of mysteriological conceptions." The very idea of the "assembly of the Church," he says, was reformed: "In the Byzantine era the emphasis is gradually transferred…to the clergy as celebrants of the mystery" (p. 99). "The early Church lived with the consciousness of herself as the people of God, a royal priesthood, with the idea of the elect, but she did not apply the principle of consecration either to entry into the Church or much less to ordination to the various hierarchical orders" (p. 100). From the 4th century on, he continues, there can be traced the "idea of sanctification," i.e., consecration to the hierarchical ranks. Now the baptized, the "consecrated," turn out to be not yet consecrated for the mysteries; "the true mystery of consecration became now not Baptism, but the sacrament of ordination." "The cult was removed from the unconsecrated not only 'psychologically,' but also in its external organization. The altar or sanctuary became its place, and access to the sanctuary was closed to the uninitiated" (p. 101); the division was furthered by the gradual raising of the iconostasis. "The mystery presupposes <i>theurgii</i>, consecrated celebrants; the sacralization of the clergy led in its turn to the 'secularization' of the laity." There fell aside "the understanding of all Christians as a 'royal priesthood'," expressed in the symbol of royal anointing, after which there is no "step by step elevation through the degrees of a sacred mystery" (p. 100). The author quotes Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, who warned against revealing the holy mysteries "to profane impurity," and likewise similar warnings of Saints Cyril of Jerusalem and Basil the Great.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
In this description of the Constantinian era and thereafter, the Protestant treatment is evident. The golden age of Christian freedom and the age of the great hierarchs, the age of the flowering of Christian literature, is presented here as something negative, a supposed intrusion of pagan elements into the Church, rather than as something positive. But at any time in the Church have simple believers actually received the condemnatory appellation of "profane"? From the <i>Catechetical Lectures</i> of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem it is absolutely clear that he warns against communicating the mysteries of faith to pagans. Saint Basil the Great writes of the same thing: "What would be the propriety of writing to proclaim the teaching concerning that which the unbaptized are not permitted even to view?" (<i>On the Holy Spirit</i>, ch. 27) Do we really have to quote the numerous testimonies in the words of the Lord Himself and in the writings of the Apostles concerning the division into pastors and "flock," the warnings to pastors of their duty, their responsibility, their obligation to give an accounting for the souls entrusted to them, the strict admonitions of the angels to the Churches which are engraved in the Apocalypse? Do not the Acts of the Apostles and the pastoral Epistles of the Apostle Paul speak of a special consecration <i>through laying on of hands</i> into the hierarchical degrees?</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The author of this book acknowledges that a closed altar separated the clergy from the faithful. But he gives an incorrect conception of the altar. One should know that the altar and its altar table in the Orthodox Church serve only for the offering of the Bloodless Sacrifice at the Liturgy. The remaining Divine services, according to the idea of the Typicon, are celebrated in the middle part of the church. An indication of this is the pontifical service. Even while celebrating the Liturgy the bishop enters the altar only at the "Small Entry" in order to listen to the Gospel and celebrate the Mystery of the Eucharist; all remaining Divine services the bishop celebrates in the middle of the church. The litanies are intoned by the deacon at all services, including the Liturgy, outside the altar; and the Typicon directs priests who celebrate Vespers and Matins without a deacon to intone the litanies before the Royal Doors. All services of the <i>Book of Needs</i> (<i>Trebnik</i>) and all mysteries of the Church, except for the Eucharist and Ordination, are celebrated outside the altar. Only to augment the solemnity of the services at feast-day Vespers and Matins it is accepted to open the doors of the altar for a short time, and that only for the exit of the celebrants at solemn moments to go to the middle of the church. During daily and lenten services the altar, one may say, is excluded from the sphere of the faithful's attention; and if the celebrant goes off into the altar even then, this is rather in order not to attract needless attention to himself, and not at all to emphasize his clerical prestige.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The idea of the appearance from the 4th century on of a new "church" piety is an obvious exaggeration. Christians who had been raised from the first days of the Church on images not only of the New Testament, but also of the Old Testament, especially the Psalter, could not have been totally deprived of a feeling of special reverence for the places of worship (the House of the Lord). They had the example of the Lord Himself, Who called the Temple of Jerusalem "the House of My Father"; they had the instruction of the Apostle: <i>If any man defile the Temple of God, him shall God destroy</i> (ICor. 3:17), and although here in the Apostle the idea of temple is transferred to the soul of man, this does not destroy the acknowledgment by the Apostle of the sanctity of the material temple.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 14.0px 0.0px;">
<b>The Invocation and Glorification of Saints</b></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Speaking of the intercession and glorification of saints in the form in which it was defined in the 4th to 5th centuries, Fr. A. Schmemann underlines [what he refers to as] the excessiveness of this glorification in the present structure of our Divine services, and he sees in this an indication of the "eclipse of catholic ecclesiological consciousness" in the Church (p. 166). Is not one real problem centered in the fact that <i>he himself</i> does not enter into the catholic fullness of the Orthodox view of the Church?</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
What is it in the Divine services, something significant and visible to everyone, that distinguishes the Orthodox Church from all other confessions of the Christian Faith? It is communion with the Heavenly Church. This is our pre-eminence, or primogeniture, our glory. The constant remembrance of the Heavenly Church is our guiding star in difficult circumstances; we are strengthened by the awareness that we are surrounded by choirs of invisible comforters, co-sufferers, defenders, guides, examples of sanctity, from whose nearness we ourselves may receive a fragrance. How fully and how consistently we are reminded of this communion of the heavenly with the earthly by the content of our whole worship — precisely that material from which Fr. A. Schmemann intends to build his system of "liturgical theology"! How fully did Saint John of Kronstadt live by this sense of the nearness to us of the saints of Heaven!</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Is this awareness of the unity of the heavenly and the earthly proven by the revelation of the New Testament? It is proven totally. Its firm foundation is found in the words of the Saviour: <i>God is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for in Him all are living</i> (Luke 20:38). We are commanded by the Apostles to <i>remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their lives</i> (Heb. 13:7). Protestantism is completely without an answer for the teaching of the Apostle found in Hebrews 12:22–23, where it is said that Christians have entered into close communion with the Lord Jesus Christ and with the Heavenly Church of angels and righteous men who have attained perfection in Christ. What is more necessary and important for us: to strive for ecumenical communion and union with those who think differently and yet remain in their different opinion, or to preserve catholic communion of spirit with those teachers of the Faith, luminaries of one Faith, who by their life and by their death exhibited faithfulness to Christ and His Church and entered into yet fuller union with Her Head?</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Let us hear how this side of the Church's life is understood by Fr. A. Schmemann.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
He affirms that there occurred an abrupt change in the Constantinian era in that there appeared a new stratum in worship in the form of "the extraordinary and rapid growth of the veneration of saints" (p. 141). As the final result of this, "the monthly Menaion dominates in worship… Historians of the Liturgy have for some time directed their attention to this literal inundation of worship by the monthly calendar of saints' days" (p. 141).</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Concerning this supposed "inundation" of worship we shall note the following. Serving of daily Vespers and Matins requires no less than three hours, while a simple service to a saint takes up some four pages in the <i>Menaion</i>, occupying only a small part of the service. In the remaining services of the daily cycle (the Hours, Compline, Midnight Office) the remembrance of the saints is limited to a kontakion, sometimes a troparion also, or does not appear at all; and it occupies only a small place in the services of Great Lent. If the day of worship is lengthened by a polyeleos service to a saint, it is for this reason, it has acquired that "major key," the diminishing of which the author reproaches the contemporary Typicon.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Let us continue the description given in the book of the glorification of saints. The author writes: "In the broadest terms this change may be defined as follows. The 'emphasis' in the cult of saints shifted from the sacramentally eschatological to the sanctifying and intercessory meaning of veneration of the saints. The remains of the saint, and later even articles belonging to him or having once touched his body, came to be regarded as sacred objects having the effect of communicating their power to those who touched them… The early Church treated the relics of the martyrs with great honor — 'But there is no indication,' writes Fr. Delahaye, 'that any special power was ascribed to relics in this era, or that any special, supernatural result was expected by touching them! Toward the end of the fourth century, however, there is ample evidence to show that in the eyes of believers some special power flowed from the relics themselves' (quoted from Fr. Delahaye's book). This new faith helps to explain such facts of the new era as the invention of relics, their division into pieces, and their transfer or translation, as well as the whole development of the veneration of 'secondary holy objects' — objects which have touched relics and become in turn themselves sources of sanctifying power."</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Let us note that from the pen of an Orthodox writer the above description exhibits a particular primitiveness and irreverence.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
"At the same time," the author continues, "the intercessory character of the cult of saints was also developing. Again, this was rooted in the tradition of the early Church, in which prayers addressed to deceased members of the Church were very widespread, as evidenced by the inscriptions in the catacombs. But between this early practice and that which developed gradually from the 4th century on there is an essential difference. Originally the invocation of the departed was rooted in the faith in the 'communion of saints' — prayers were addressed to any departed person and not especially to martyrs… But a very substantial change took place when this invocation of the departed was narrowed down and began to be addressed only to a particular category of the departed."</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Thus we logically conclude, according to the author, that if we appeal with the words 'pray for us' to the departed members of the Church without reference to whether they were devout in their faith or life or were Christians only in name, then this fully corresponds to the spirit of the Church; but if we appeal to those who by their whole ascetic life or martyr's death testified to their faith, then this is already a lowering of the spirit of the Church!</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
"From the 4th century onward," continues the excerpt from the book, "there appeared in the Church first an everyday and practical, but later a theoretical and theological concept of the saints as special intercessors before God, as intermediaries between men and God."</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
This is a completely Protestant approach, not to be expected from an Orthodox theologian. It is sufficient to read in the Apostle Paul how he asks those to whom he writes to be intercessors for him and intermediaries before God so that he might be returned to them from imprisonment and might visit them; in the Apostle James (5:16):<i> The prayer of a righteous man availeth much</i>; in the book of Job (42:8): <i>My servant Job shall pray for you; for him will I accept</i>.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The author continues: "The original Christocentric significance of the veneration of saints was altered in this intercessory concept. In the early tradition the martyr or saint was first and foremost a witness to the new life and therefore an image of Christ." The reading of the Acts of the Martyrs in the early Church had as its purpose "to show the presence and action of Christ in the martyr, i.e., the presence in him of the 'new life.' It was not meant to 'glorify' the saint himself… But in the new intercessory view of the saint the center of gravity shifted. The saint is now an intercessor and a helper… The honoring of saints fell into the category of a Feast Day," with the purpose of "the communication to the faithful of the sacred power of a particular saint, his special grace… The saint is present and as it were manifested in his relics or icon, and the meaning of his holy day lies in acquiring sanctification (?) by means of praising him or coming into contact with him, which is, as we know, the main element in mysteriological piety."</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Likewise unfavorable is the literary appraisal by the author of the liturgical material referring to the veneration of saints. We read:"We know also how important in the development of Christian hagiography was the form of the panegyric… It was precisely this conventional, rhetorical form of solemn praise which almost wholly determined the liturgical texts dealing with the veneration of saints. One cannot fail to be struck by the rhetorical elements in our <i>Menaion</i>, and especially the 'impersonality' of the countless prayers to and readings about the saints. Indeed this impersonality is retained even when the saint's life is well known and a wealth of material could be offered as an inspired 'instruction.' While the lives of the saints are designed mainly to strike the reader's imagination with miracles, horrors, etc., the liturgical material consists almost exclusively of praises and petitions" (pp. 143–146).</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
We presume that there is no need to sort out in detail this whole long series of assertions made by the author, who so often exaggerates the forms of our veneration of saints. We are amazed that an Orthodox author takes his stand in the line of un-Orthodox reviewers of Orthodox piety who are incapable of entering into a psychology foreign to them. We shall make only a few short remarks.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The honoring of saints is included in the category of feasts because in them <i>Christ</i> is glorified, concerning which it is constantly and clearly stated in the hymns and other appeals to them; for in the saints is fulfilled the Apostle's testament: <i>That Christ may dwell in you</i> (Eph. 3:17).</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
We touch the icon of a saint or his relics guided not by the calculation of receiving a sanctification from them, or some kind of power, a special grace, but by the natural desire of expressing in action our veneration and love for the saint.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Besides, we receive the fragrance of sanctity, of fullness of Grace, in various forms. Everything material that reminds us of the sacred sphere, everything that diverts our consciousness, even if only for a moment, from the vanity of the world and directs it to the thought of the destination of our soul and acts beneficially on it, on our moral state — whether it be an icon, antidoron, sanctified water, a particle of relics, a part of a vestment that belonged to a saint, a blessing with the sign of the Cross — all this is sacred for us because, as we see in practice, it is capable of making one reverent and awakening the soul. For such a relationship to tangible objects we have a direct justification in Holy Scripture: in the accounts of the woman with a flow of blood who touched the garment of the Saviour, of the healing action of pieces of the garment of the Apostle Paul, and even of the shadow of the Apostle Peter.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The reasons for the seemingly stereotyped character of Church hymns, in particular hymns to saints, are to be found not in the intellectual poverty nor in the spiritual primitiveness of the hymnographers. We see that in all spheres of the Church's work there reigns a canon, a model: whether in sacred melodies, in the construction of hymns, or in iconography. Characteristic of hymns is a typification corresponding to the particular rank of saints to which the saint belongs: hierarchs, monk-saints, etc. But at the same time there is always the element of individualization, so that one cannot speak of the impersonality of the images of saints. Evidently the Church has sufficient psychological motives for such a representation.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
As for petitions to saints, they have almost exclusively as object their prayers for our salvation. Is this reprehensible? Is there here a lowering of Church spirit? Thus did the Apostle Paul pray for his spiritual children: <i>I pray to God that ye do no evil; and for this also we pray, even for your perfection</i> (I Cor. 13:7). If in prayers, especially in molebens, we pray for protection from general disasters and for general needs, this is only natural; but these molebens do not even enter into the framework of the Typicon.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 14.0px 0.0px;">
<b>Church Feasts</b></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
We shall conclude our review with a question of secondary importance, namely, concerning Church feasts as they are presented in the book. The author agrees with a Western liturgical historian that for ancient Christians there was no distinction between Church feasts and ordinary days, and he says in the words of the historian (J. Danielou, S.J.): "Baptism introduced each person into the only Feast — the eternal Passover, the Eighth Day. There were no holidays — since everything had in fact became a holy day" (p. 133). But with the beginning of the mysteriological era this sense was lost. Feast days were multiplied, and together with them ordinary days were also multiplied. (So asserts the author; but in reality it is precisely according to the Typicon that there are no "ordinary days," since for every day there is prescribed a whole cycle of church services.) According to Fr. A. Schmemann, the bond with the liturgical self-awareness of the early Church was lost, and the element of <i>chance</i> was introduced in the uniting of feasts among themselves and to the "Christian year." The author gives examples: "The dating of the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord on August 6 has no explanation other than this was the date of consecration of three churches on Mount Tabor"(p. 136), whereas in antiquity, according to the author's assertion, this commemoration was bound up with Pascha, which is indicated also by the words of the kontakion: <i>that when they should see Thee crucified</i>… The dates of the feasts of the Mother of God, in the words of the author, are accidental. "The Feast of the Dormition, on August 15, originates in the consecration of a church to the Mother of God located between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, and the dates of September 8 (the Nativity of the Mother of God and November 21, Her Entry into the Temple) have a similar origin. Outside the Mariological cycle there appeared, for similar reasons, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (connected with the consecration of the Holy Sepulcher), and the Feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist on August 29 (the consecration of the Church of Saint John the Baptist in Samaria at Sebaste)" (p. 137).</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
In these references of the author a characteristic sign is his trust of Western conclusions in contrast to, as we believe, the simple conclusion drawn from the order of the church-worship year. The Byzantine church year begins on September 1. The first feast in the year corresponds to the beginning of New Testament history: the Nativity of the Most-holy Mother of God; the last great feast of the church year is in its last month: the Dormition of the Mother of God. This is sequential and logical. The Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord occurs at the beginning of August doubtless because the cycle of Gospel reading at about this time approaches the account of the Evangelist Matthew of the Lord's Transfiguration, and the commemoration of this significant Gospel event is apportioned to a special feast. As for the words of the kontakion of the Transfiguration: <i>that when they should see Thee crucified</i>, they correspond to the words of the Lord spoken to His disciples six days before His Transfiguration on the Mount and repeated immediately after the Transfiguration: <i>From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples, how that He must go into Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day</i> (Matt. 16:21, 17:9, 22). Therefore the Church, in accordance with the Gospel, six days before the Transfiguration begins the singing of the katavasia "Moses, inscribing the Cross" (it may be that the bringing out of the Cross on August 1 is bound up with this), and just forty days after the Feast of the Transfiguration is celebrated the commemoration of the Lord's sufferings on the Cross and death on the day of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross. And the designation of the time of this feast also is scarcely accidental: this time corresponds, like the time of the Feast of the Transfiguration, to the approach of the Gospel reading at the Liturgy of the Lord's suffering on the Cross and death. Here is one of the examples that indicate that the structure of Divine services in the Typicon is distinguished by proper sequence, harmony, and a sound basis.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
If it is suggested that in the church calendar a strict sequentialness of the Gospel events is not observed, this is because the Gospel events take in many years and in the calendar they are arranged as it were in the form of a spiral embracing several years: it contains a series of nine-month periods (from the conception to the nativity of Saint John the Baptist, the Mother of God, the Saviour), two 40-day periods of the Gospel, etc.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
In the concluding part of his book the author, not in entire agreement with what he has said up to that point, is ready to come closer, it would seem, to the historical Orthodox point of view; but just here he makes such reservations that they virtually conceal the basic position. He says: "The Byzantine synthesis must be accepted as the elaboration and revelation of the Church's original 'rule of prayer,' no matter how well developed in it are the elements which are alien (?) to this <i>lex orandi</i> (rule of prayer) and which have obscured it. Thus in spite of the strong influence of the mysteriological psychology (?) on the one hand and the ascetical-individualistic psychology on the other — an influence that affected above all the regeneration (?) of liturgical piety, the Typicon as such has remained organically connected with the 'worship of time' which, as we have tried to show, contained the original organizing principle. This worship of time, we repeat, was obscured and eclipsed by 'secondary' layers (?) in the Typicon, but it remained always as the foundation of its inner logic and the principle of its inner unity" (p. 162).</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Such is the author's resume. It remains for one to be satisfied with little. It was too much to expect that our Typicon has preserved even the very principle of Christian worship!</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 14.0px 0.0px;">
<b>Conclusion</b></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
We have dealt with the book of Father A. Schmemann in full detail because in the future a liturgical dogmatics text may be given to Orthodox readers based on the views presented in this book. If the foundation is so dubious, can we be convinced that the building erected on them will be sound? We do not at all negate the Western historico-liturgical and theological science and its objective value. We cannot manage entirely without it. We acknowledge its merits. But we cannot blindly trust the conclusions of Western historians. If we speak of worship as members of the Orthodox Church, the principle of understanding the history of our worship and its current status by which the Church Herself lives should be present. This principle diverges fundamentally from Western Protestant attitudes. If we have not understood this principle, our efforts should be directed to discovering it, understanding it.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
The logic of history tells us that in public life departures from a straight path occur as the consequence of changes in principles and ideas. If we maintain the Orthodox Symbol of Faith, if we confess that we stand on the right dogmatic path, we should not doubt that both the direction of Church life and the structure of worship which was erected on the foundation of our Orthodox confession of faith, are faultless and true. We cannot acknowledge that our "liturgical piety," after a series of regenerations, has gone far, far away from the spirit of Apostolic times. If we observe a decline in piety, a failure to understand the Divine services, the reason for this lies <i>outside the Church</i>: it is in the decline of faith in the masses, in the decline of morality, in the loss of Church consciousness. But where Church consciousness and piety are preserved, there is no rebirth in the understanding of Christianity. We accept the Gospel and Apostolic Scriptures not in a refraction through some kind of special prism, but in their immediate, straightforward sense. We are convinced that our public prayer is based on the very same dogmatic and psychological foundations on which it was made in Apostolic and ancient Christian times, notwithstanding the difference in forms of worship.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
Is Father Alexander Schmemann prepared to acknowledge that in fact the character of <i>his</i> piety is different from the character of the piety of the ancient Church?</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
*The words "mystery" and "sacrament" are fully interchangeable, and either have been used in places where they make sense and provide clarity in this translation. Ed.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
From <i>Selected Essays</i>, by Fr. Michael Pomazansky (Jordanville, NY: Holy Trinity Monastery, 1996), pp. 82-102. This is an invaluable collection of his best essays.</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px;">
available for sale <a href="http://www.sjkp.org/">http://www.sjkp.org</a> St. John Kronstadt Press, Tennessee</div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;">
<br /></div>
Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12000679422093371576noreply@blogger.com