The Curtain Is Only Beginning to Rise on the Play…

The OCA drama continues… but, it is not yet time to comment in depth upon it, for the so-called SIC report raised as many questions as it answered.

Not much can be said until the OCA Sobor meets in November. Truly… for the OCA is still secretive in its methods and one hears the same old modernist mantra on the Stokoe site. Indeed, what HAS happened? Not much. Herman Swaiko tendered his “resignation” and some bishops were blackballed by the report. One has to ask, “Why?”

I realise very deeply that the OCA situation is in a great deal of flux at present, which is why I have been loath to comment upon it. However, it is interesting to note which three bishops were “bad-dogged” by the report. The inclusion of Nikon Liolin on the list is no surprise. He was very much “Herman’s man”, and if Herman were to go down, Nikon would go with him. Nevertheless, this is less because of any misdeeds on his part as it is a “gesture” against Herman Swaiko. If one attacks the flunky, one attacks the master. One of the other names on the list is “interesting” in the extreme. Nathaniel Popp is on the list as “punishment” for his talks with Patriarch Daniel of Romania. Shall this accelerate the departure of the Romanians from the OCA? It could, and one must admit there are those in the OCA who would be glad to see them go. Apparently, the Romanians were not Schmemann true-believers, and this would strengthen the hand of the SVS lot in any remnant OCA. I use the term “remnant” advisedly, for the OCA would lose about 25 percent of its membership when the Romanians leave. In fact, they may not be the only group getting ready to bail out.

A parish church in Alaska. This diocese still lacks a bishop. Why was Jonah Paffhausen not named as bishop here? Surely a vacant see takes precedence over a post as a vicar bishop where the diocesan is still alive!

If one looks at it, the SIC report leaves only a few bishops left in the OCA. Herman has resigned. Nikolai has been removed, albeit somewhat irregularly. Dmitri is in his 80s, and in frail health. Nikon, Nathaniel, and Seraphim have been placed under suspicion. This leaves only three possible candidates for metropolitan. Job does not wish it, he has made this clear. Tikhon is much too young.

The last candidate, Benjamin Peterson is dangerous in the extreme. He served in Las Vegas under the removed Bishop Nikolai Soraich when some of the most questionable actions in this drama took place. Also note that this report leaves him the only remaining actual candidate for metropolitan. Considering that the report came out under his signature, it is a naked and open power grab by the SVS and Syosset mafia. Indeed, if one removes the “indicted” bishops form the picture, there are only three active members of the Holy Synod left (with the ailing Dmitri, it makes four).

Despite all the noise about “democracy” in the OCA, the only vote that counts in the selection of a metropolitan is that of the Holy Synod. The votes by the laity and clergy are nothing but bootless “beauty contests”, and according to Orthodox tradition, they truly cannot be anything other. This means that there are four members of the Holy Synod eligible to vote, if the bishops named in the SIC report are barred from voting (a likely outcome, which is why it was done). In such a truncated synod, Benjamin Peterson would win three to one, and it would herald the final triumph of the OCA true-believers.

Benjamin Peterson smiles too widely and too often. Life has taught me to be wary of “smilers” and Mr Peterson is no exception. Do not forget that he was a protégé of Nikolai Soraich. Benjamin makes a loud noise of how he lives in a homeless shelter. That is posturing of the worst sort, almost on the level of such world-class phoneys as Mahatma Gandhi or Lev Tolstoy. I mistrust all who are fond of “gestures”; it is usually a sign that skulduggery is afoot. This is a fellow who is openly and nakedly manoeuvring to take the office of metropolitan. Note well that the SIC report (which Mr Peterson penned) left him the only possible candidate for metropolitan.

St Nicholas Cathedral in New York City, we would do well to remember who founded this church and who endowed it. Tsar Martyr St Nicholas made this church possible, we should remember that. That gives us a hint as to what we should do! It’s time to go home!

The Stokoe website does not develop this situation to the fullest. Firstly, it is because Benjamin Peterson is congenial to their modernist aims, so, they are giving him a pass. Another is quite simple. This lot shall allow no questioning of Alexander Schmemann and his received Gospel. If it means, in essence, throwing out the Romanians and Canadians, so be it. The OCA shall become a rump organisation, but, it shall be “pure”. The spirit of Mansonville fills the air. When the Vitalyites left the Church, they broke into squabbling factions; the same is true of those who left the Church after the reconciliation of 17 May. The same dynamics would operate on the OCA, and it shall not explode with a bang, rather, it shall slowly expire, becoming, in the end, nothing more than another vagante Old Catholic sect.

Not very encouraging, is it? However, some people (amongst them priests) asked that I pen something on this situation. This is the best that can be done based on the current information available. Whether the OCA survives or not is an open question, although I think that the organisation is on life-support, and it is high time we pulled the plug.

It is time to go home. Holy Mother Church is waiting.

May God keep us all.

Saturday 13 September 2008

Vara Drezhlo

Albany NY USA

Muslim Artist from St Petersburg Painted an Iconographic-style Portrait of President Medvedev

Robert Gabitov (1955- ) with his iconographic-style portrait of President Dmitri Medvedev

Robert Gabitov, an artist from St Petersburg, painted an iconographic-style portrait of President Dmitri Medvedev. Mr Gabitov is a practising Muslim. “I worked with oils for several months in a special magical atmosphere”, Mr Gabitov was quoted as saying by the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda (Komsomol Truth) on Friday. Mr Medvedev is depicted against a background of St Basil’s Cathedral. The president has a falcon on his shoulder and a tree of life is growing behind him. The author thinks these symbols stress the “holiness of the Russian President”. The Muslim artist didn’t show his work to Orthodox clergy, although he confessed he lit candles for the health of President Medvedev in an Orthodox church and read prayers. Mr Gabitov hopes to present the “icon” in a gilded frame to Medvedev on his 43rd birthday on 14 September. Earlier, he greeted English Queen Elizabeth II on her 80th birthday with an abstraction entitled Pushkin, He is Our Krishna and even received a letter of thanks from her.

12 September 2008

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=26458

Editor’s Note:

This is in stark contrast to a Ukrainian artist who painted an “icon” of Yushchenko. The Yushchenko portrayal included religious elements, whereas this piece lacks them, except for the church in the background. This is nothing but a piece of art created using iconographic techniques. The other was an attempt by Uniate nationalists to sanctify their champion; indeed, a Uniate priest said that one could pray before it!

It is illustration of how Muslims in Russia are influenced by living in an Orthodox culture. In any case, we do not fear our Muslim compatriots; we have lived with them for centuries in peace. I bow before them in respect, knowing full well that the gesture would be reciprocated in all sincerity. The neocon hatred of Islam per se makes no sense; in any case, it is against all the teachings of Orthodox Christianity. Bush and McCain could learn much from this.

BMD

Video: “Tskhinvali is Our Land!” Ossetian Patriotic Song

The translation is over-literal, but, it gives one the idea. The Ossetian people stood up to the Georgian invaders and gave Russian forces the time to come to Ossetia’s rescue.

Tskhinvali is our land! Tskhinvali, we shall protect you! Tskhinvali, know that we shall not give up one metre of Ossetian land!

Spare a prayer for the brave people of Ossetia. They have suffered much at the hands of the Georgians, not only in the present invasion, but, at many other times in the past. God bless Russia for coming to their aid!

Why I am Not Voting for President this Year

I have decided to sit out the presidential election. Oh, I intend to vote. There are other contests, and I shall exercise my choice in them. However, there is not a real choice amongst the presidential nominees insofar as foreign policy is concerned, as both Barack Obama and John McCain support a policy of confrontation and possible war with Russia for no good reason. Normally, I would vote for Mr McCain in preference to Mr Obama’s expressed socialism, but, the extreme neocon positions that both Mr McCain and Ms Palin have taken on Russia, Georgia, and US policy in the post-Soviet space run counter to everything I believe as a Russian Orthodox Christian.

Let me quote Sarah Palin. When I read the following, I was disgusted. The ignorance of it was palpable and it was based on ideology, not fact. In short, In short, it was worthy of Furov and the KRA. Any resemblance between what follows and the truth is purely coincidental.

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“We have got to show the support, in this case, for Georgia. The support that we can show is economic sanctions perhaps against Russia, if this is what it leads to”, she said. “It doesn’t have to lead to war and it doesn’t have to lead, as I said, to a Cold War”, Palin said, “but, economic sanctions, diplomatic pressure, again, counting on our allies to help us do that in this mission of keeping our eye on Russia and [Russian Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin and some of his desire to control and to control much more than smaller democratic countries”. When Gibson pointed out that NATO membership would require the US to come to Georgia’s aid in case of war, Palin said, “Perhaps so”. She said, “I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you’re going to be expected to be called upon and help”. Palin said Putin’s goal is “to control energy supplies” coming from or through Russia. “That’s a dangerous position for our world to be in, if we were to allow that to happen”, she said.

From “Obama Campaign Mum on Palin Interview”

12 September 2008

CNN.com

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/12/palin.abc/index.html

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Ossetian civilian wounded in the Georgian invasion, Sarah Palin approves of this. For shame!

“We have got to show the support, in this case, for Georgia”. This means that Ms Palin approves of Grad rocket attacks on sleeping civilians. This means that Ms Palin approves of the rampages of the Georgian forces against helpless Ossetian civilians. This means that Ms Palin approves of the Gestapo tactics of Saakashvili’s US-trained secret police, as exemplified by its arrest of the son of Zviad Gamsahurdiya, its beatings of dissidents, its destruction of anti-Saakashvili media outlets, and its attempts to extradite Georgian exiles from Paris to face kangaroo courts in Georgia. This means that Ms Palin approves of solemn promises to stand down, and then attacking that very evening. This means that Ms Palin approves of the destruction of Tskhinvali by the Georgian forces. This means that Ms Palin supports the questionable elections in Georgia that led to Saakashvili’s rise to power. The Georgians fired first; therefore, this means that Ms Palin approves of American first-strikes against those she believes are America’s enemies.

Perhaps, it is because Mr Saakashvili, like Ms Palin, lacked any real experience in governance before his accession to power, and, if birds of a feather flock together, I would not wish to see such a hothead in charge of the US nuclear arsenal. If Saakashvili had possessed nuclear weapons, he would have used them to wipe out the Ossetians. As Sarah Palin defends him, she must find him congenial. Therefore, one has to conclude that she would fire nuclear weapons at Russia for no good reason. This is scary… why is she so rabidly anti-Russian?

One reason is that she is a Radical Protestant from the most extreme fringe, she is a Pentecostalist (to be precise, the so-called “Assemblies of God”). These people hate Russia because it resisted their attempts at proselytism in the 90s. Much popular ire in Russia was stirred by these folks due to their high-pressure evangelisation methods and their generally anti-intellectual attitude. Of course, saying such things as, “The Russian people don’t know Jesus”, is absolutely farcical. I do believe that Russia accepted Christianity in 988, and the Assemblies of God were not founded until 1914 in Springfield MO. If such is so, then, we Russians may have a slight, very slight, to be sure, idea of who Jesus Christ is. Perhaps, we may have a better grasp on our Lord Christ and His Teachings than someone from a group that was founded as late as 1914!

Randall Scheunemann (1960- ), foreign policy aide to John McCain, paid shill for Saakashvili. Take a good look at him, he is yet another illustration of Hannah Arendt’s point concerning “the banality of evil”. A believer in “might makes right”, a thoroughly evil man.

Secondly, she is bereft of any personal knowledge of foreign affairs. She is dependent on John McCain and his foreign policy wonk, Randall Scheunemann. Both have received much money from the Georgian junta, so, one must conclude that they have taken Saakashvili’s shilling and are his loyal stooges, in particular, Mr Scheunemann has taken more money than Mr McCain has, so, he is nothing but a paid hack flack for Tbilisi. In this aspect of policy, Mr McCain and Mr Scheunemann are paid agents of a foreign power. There was a time when this would have destroyed a presidential candidate, and one wonders why Mr Obama is silent concerning this. That is to say, Ms Palin is getting information from tainted sources, and, in her extreme ignorance, compounded by her adherence to a generally-cultish Radical Protestant sect, she is open to manipulation.

Or, take her statement; we are “counting on our allies to help us do that in this mission of keeping our eye on Russia and [Russian Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin and some of his desire to control and to control much more than smaller democratic countries”. What is the proof of this? President Putin stepped down at the end of his term and relinquished the office of President to Dmitri Anatolyevich Medvedev. “Smaller democratic countries?” Does she mean Latvia and Estonia where Russian-speaking residents are denied citizenship and the right to vote, even those who were born there? Does she mean the Ukraine, where Viktor Yushchenko came to power in a questionable election, where he is threatening the entire government (up to and including PM Timoshenko) with investigation by his secret police, and where he wishes to join NATO against the stated wishes of the people? Does she mean Georgia, where the secret police routinely break up opposition rallies? In any case, what allies? The only European countries to stand with the Bushies and McCain gang are Britain and New Europe. The rest of Europe does not share their hatred of Russia.

Note this quote from the CNN article, “Palin said Putin’s goal is ‘to control energy supplies’ coming from or through Russia. ‘That’s a dangerous position for our world to be in, if we were to allow that to happen’, she said”. This is the real reason for all the high dudgeon. Russia has massive reserves of oil and gas and does not allow American multinationals to control them. Russia has the baroque notion that it controls its own natural resources. Why, who IS to control them? Sarah Palin? Don’t be ridiculous. She did a poor job as a governor of a state that is so flush with oil revenues that it issues royalty checks to its citizens, not to mention the fact that a good chunk of funding from the federal government covers many other expenses that many other states must cover with taxation. Reflect on the fact that there are fewer people in the state of Alaska than there are in the metropolitan area where I live. She has two years of experience in large-scale politics, and that is not enough to compete for a committee chairmanship in the US House of Representatives, let alone the Vice-Presidency of the US.

In short, in summation, Sarah Palin’s position on the Republican ticket means that I cannot, in good conscience, vote for the Republican ticket this year. I’m a White Guard Russian; you can’t get more conservative than that! She hates Russia, its leadership, its government, its people, its culture, its faith, and its ethos. She hates it due to her ignorance and the influence of her sect (which affects more than just her views on Russia, I am sure). In many ways, she is as ruthless and unscrupulous as Hilary Clinton. Ms Clinton is a land-shark, but, it is tempered by education and some experience in Washington. Ms Palin has neither, and it shows.

I cannot tell you what to do, but, I know what I shall do. I refuse to pull the lever for any ticket that has Sarah Palin upon it.

God have mercy upon us.

Saturday 13 September 2008

Vara Drezhlo

Albany NY USA