“A Priest Forever, After the Order of Melchisadek…”

A Deacon (Andrei Ryabushkin, 1888) 

One of our priests sent me a comment recently. I would like to share it with you. I am not putting it in the “comments” section to preserve his anonymity, for the nastiness and incivility of the Syosset/SVS/AOCANA Mafia is well-known.

As for the cancer that infects the OCA, we all know too well that it goes back 30 years to when the SVS elite micro-managed the election of Metropolitan Theodosius, which was supposed to propel us forward, and for a time it did. But, the SVS-St Sergius elite were going to transform Orthodoxy by forcing the hand of God. We can all see how well the tenure of Metropolitan Theodosius has tarnished the OCA and has contributed to its demise. RSK is not the only devil here, but, that’s the only thing that OCAnews dwells on. There are so many more that played a part in this pyramid scheme. It has finally come crashing down to earth.

Schmemann and his clan hated monasticism and they loathed St Tikhon’s because it was the only thing blocking their total transformation and creation of an American Orthodox Church.

The Scarsdale-Paris conglomeration was an ill-fated disease forced on the rest of the Church. The OCA, the GOA, and the Antiochian Archdiocese are all stricken with the same neo-Gnostic fatal illness. Is it any wonder why God has worked a miracle by bringing the ROCOR and MP together? The world and World Orthodoxy have need of this for the sake of renewal and the salvation of Orthodoxy. Look at the evil machinations of the EP. Bartholomew has already bowed down before the Pope, and the hierarchy in the USA just flock to the Pope’s invitation, on Palm Sunday no less. It’s just a matter of time before Bart and his princes are awarded red cardinal hats. God help us. Is it still a mystery why things have recently happened as they are?

The OCA should try to save face and just admit failure. The experiment is over. The explosion has occurred, the pieces are charred, black, and smell of death. But, alas, pride and prelest are still beating in the heart of the OCA. God alone knows what will happen in the future, but I pray it happens soon before the faithful loose hope and fall away.

There one has it. Beware the purveyors of “happy talk” and be suspicious of all who speak of “moving on”, “mediation”, and other such psychobabble rot. Our clergy do not speak because they rightly fear that they would be punished. Reflect on the fact that our priests see who is rewarded in the present state of the OCA. They are not stupid men; they see that only the sycophants, true-believers, and apparatchiki benefit from the current régime, whereas anyone who speaks out is attacked, and, what is worse, one’s family and friends are savaged as well. I weep for them, for their position is almost untenable.

I would say to His Holiness Patriarch Aleksei, “Intervene, sir, and abrogate the Tomos immediately. The faithful are suffering and Christ’s priests are oppressed by theomachistic elements who garb themselves in the holy robes of the clergy. Act quickly, sir”.

Yes, act quickly, Your Holiness. May God go with the courageous priest who wrote the above comments. Bog blagoslovit.

Vara Drezhlo

Tuesday 27 May 2008