First Hierarch of the OCA Retires “for Health Reasons”

There is No Escape From the People’s Revenge! (I. Rabishchev, 1941). I was looking for an illustration to show how many Russian Orthodox people in America feel today. This poster seems to fit. Syosset’s days are numbered. Sic transit gloria mundi…

The Holy Synod of the OCA accepted the application of 76-year-old Metropolitan Herman Swaiko of all America and Canada to retire. In a letter to the Holy Synod, Metropolitan Herman asked the Synod to grant him the right to retire “in the best interests of the OCA”, due, in part, to the state of his health, the press-service of the OCA reports. In the course of a scheduled session, the bishops [of the Holy Synod] thanked Vladyki Herman for his service as First Hierarch and his archpastoral labours. The locum tenems standing in for the office of metropolitan of the OCA shall be Archbishop Dmitri Royster of Dallas and the South.

The Orthodox Church in America, founded by Russian missionaries at the end of the 18^th century, is one of the most dynamic religious organisations in the US and Canada today (sic). Data released by the National Council of Churches of the USA in April 2006 attest to this. This shows that the OCA is one of the 25 largest American religious organisations. At present, the OCA has more than one million members.

Metropolitan Herman of all America and Canada (in the world, Joseph Swaiko) was born in Breyford PA on 1 February 1932. After completing primary and secondary school in Pennsylvania, he attended college in Pittsburgh, where he earned a degree in business administration and secretarial science. Subsequently, he served in the supply administration in the US Army in Labrador. After his discharge in 1959, he entered St Tikhon Seminary in Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1963. On 4 December 1970, he was tonsured into monasticism with the name Herman, in honour of the recently-canonised St Herman of Alaska. On 17 October 1971, he was elevated to the dignity of superior of St Tikhon Monastery. He was elevated to the episcopal dignity on 19 October 1972. The enthronement of Metropolitan Herman [as First Hierarch of the OCA] took place in 2002 at St Nicholas Cathedral in Washington DC.

5 September 2008

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=26365

Editor’s Note:

This is utter rubbish from stem to stern. Herman was forced out due to well-founded charges of corruption and incompetence. Interfax is not to blame. They are printing verbatim what Syosset gave them. That is to say, Syosset continues to lie when it believes that it can get away with it, and this is a sign for all of us here. Syosset delenda est. There is no good there, it is a nest of vipers, especially as illustrated by such sorts as Kishkovsky, Fester, and Garvey. Of course, not all those part of “Syosset” are physically on Long Island (Fester is in Texas, and he protects the deposed swindler Kondratick in Florida, for instance).

It is high time for a united Russian Orthodox Church in the USA, another one in Canada, and an autonomous Church in Alaska free of the lower-48. The OCA is not only rotten to the bone, as this press release proves; its upper-reaches are strangers to the truth and they believe in expedience, not the Gospel. We must unite the faithful portion of the OCA with the ROCOR and the MP/US. Yes, it is time for the ROCOR to “disappear” as well. It is what Metropolitan Antony Khrapovitsky and his generation wanted. We should fulfil this desire, now that it is feasible.

Let us be one in Christ, one in our Orthodoxy, and one in our Russian soul. You’re not Russian… that’s no problem! However, know that you are joining a church with very deep Russian roots and we do not intend pulling them up to indulge some Anglo-Saxon convert’s phyletistic fancy. You shall find us open, friendly, and without guile. Yet… do bear in mind that our heritage is not for sale. It is a pearl of great price given us by God, and it shall be guarded.

May God see us through these times.

BMD

The Diocese of Sukhumi and Abkhazia Seeks To Join the MP

Novoafonsky (New Athos) Monastery in Abkhazia

The Orthodox Church in Abkhazia wants to be an autonomous Church under the Moscow Patriarchate, Fr Vissarion Aplia, the administrator of the Diocese of Sukhumi and Abkhazia told journalists. Orthodox believers in Abkhazia asked the Moscow Patriarchate for such a status “more than once before, but, the non–recognition of the republic was the main obstacle for the resolution of the question”, he noted. “We were in a very difficult situation after Georgian-Abkhazian war of 1992-93 and the MP was the first to extend help to the Abkhazian Church, although we asked the whole Orthodox world for help”, Fr Vissarion said. “Today, now that Russia recognises Abkhazia’s independence, we intend to ask again that this question be resolved”, he further said.

Meanwhile, at the end of August, the Moscow Patriarchate stated that although Russia politically recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia, this did not necessarily mandate changes in the canonical territories of the Moscow and Georgian Patriarchates. “A political decision was taken and we must respect it because it is based on a unanimous vote of all the MPs from both chambers of the Russian parliament”, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, deputy head of the MP Department for External Church Relations told Interfax-Religion. However, he went on to say, “Political decisions don’t define church jurisdictions and spheres of pastoral responsibility. These questions should be settled canonically in the course of dialogue between the two Local (Russian and Georgian: Interfax) Churches”.

5 September 2008

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=26360

Cheney Fails To Unite South Caucasus States against Alleged Russian “Threat”

Azeri President Ilkham Aliyev (1961- ), greeting a war widow from the tragic Karabakh War. May God grant peace to that troubled region.

US Vice President Dick Cheney finished his tour of the South Caucasus undertaken to strengthen Washington’s positions in the fight for Caspian energy. Talks in Baku failed, when President Ilkham Aliyev did not give Cheney a warm welcome. Moreover, he hinted that Azerbaijan would not support the idea of rerouting energy resources to bypass Russia. His decision was prompted by the developments in Georgia. Sources in Mr Aliyev’s administration said the talks, which focused on the war in Georgia and the Nabucco gas pipeline project, were difficult. Mr Aliyev hinted that he appreciated good relations with Washington, but, he would not quarrel with Moscow.

In fact, Baku decided to wait and see what happens next. The sources say Mr Cheney was seriously disappointed with the talks and even refused to attend a party in his honour. Mr Aliyev’s unwillingness to support Washington or to quarrel with Moscow is logical. Azerbaijan views Georgia’s loss of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and the fact that Russian tanks advanced as far as Tbilisi, as a signal to all regional countries contemplating NATO membership. Besides, Azerbaijan is sustaining heavy losses from the suspension of its energy exports to the West due to the 12 August explosion at the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, blamed on the Kurdistan Workers Party, and halted operation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline and the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline.

Baku has no complaints with Moscow. On the contrary, it thanked Russia for sparing the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan facilities during the bombing of Georgia. Azerbaijan may review its policy regarding pipelines across Georgia, as it has now become safer to transport gas to Europe across Russia. Sources in the Russian energy sector said Azerbaijan had increased supplies through the Baku-Novorossiysk oil pipeline. In June this year, the Russian energy giant Gazprom proposed that it could buy all of Azerbaijan’s gas exports at European prices. During his visit to Baku in July, President Dmitri Medvedev agreed with Mr Aliyev to discuss the possibility. The talks may now be held sooner than planned, and Russia-Azerbaijan rapprochement will gather momentum.

5 September 2008

Komersant (The Businessman)

Quoted in RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080905/116583221.html