1 October 2011. You Can’t Make Shit Like This Up… They’re Treating the Sobor Like a Political Convention

 

There’s NO place like home…

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Hold on to your cookies and read this… reflect on this… this crackbrained child is SERIOUS…

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Heracleides says:

September 30, 2011 at 10:49 am

I had hoped to attend the AAC in person, but due to an illness in the family will not be able to do so. I have therefore decided to upload a project in support of Met. Jonah that I’ve been working on for some time. The project consists of two “campaign button” style images featuring our Metropolitan and are intended to be worn while at the AAC in a show of support. Rather than going for something satirical, I decided this morning in favour of understatement and to simply let the images speak for themselves.

There are two different button images to select from, and the images can be downloaded from here:

http://s1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff436/Heracleides/AAC%20Buttons/

Click on the images without the lines and save them by right-clicking and selecting “save as” from the options listed. Once you’ve saved the images to a directory (be sure to remember where you’ve put them) you can then go to Zazzle and have buttons made up for your use quite inexpensively using the following url: http://www.zazzle.com/make_a_button-145067964138452953

Once at the url above, simply select a button size and them hit the orange “Customize It” button and follow the instructions. (The sample buttons on my Photobucket Album from where you downloaded the images depict the 3 inch buttons, but the images themselves are suitable for all sizes available. In the samples, the area inside the red lines is what will be visible, that outside the lines will of course curl underneath the button.)

I hope folks attending the AAC will find the buttons useful and go to the effort of making a few for yourself and friends too wear with pride while at the council. Better yet, make a few extra buttons and hand them out to others at the AAC – the more open support our Metropolitan receives in Seattle – the better.

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Note well that this cowardly POS refused to sign their name. I ALWAYS sign mine or give my initials. Fr Vsevolod called such people scum, and I can see why. A Sobor isn’t a political convention. This is too much of a muchness. These demented toddlers lecture all the rest of us… yet, look at this. Gad, sir, it AIN’T Orthodox! This is why we need to tear up the Tomos, go home, and end all the konvertsy posturing. They’re the usual bullies… they can dish it out, but they can’t take it. None of ‘em could deal with a tenth of what I’ve put up with.

Remove Fathausen… rip up the Tomos… go back to where we belong, in the Mother Church. There’s nothing to be said in reply to such rubbish, is there?

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Saturday 1 October 2011

Albany NY

Metropolitan Hilarion Gave an Icon to Benedict XVI

Façade of Papal Palace. Castel Gandolfo (Province of Roma. Lazio Region) ITALY

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On Tuesday, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev of Volokolamsk, the Head of the MP Department for External Church Relations, with Benedict XVI Ratzinger, the Pope of Rome, at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo. The official website of the MP DECR reported, “During their meeting, they discussed a wide range of questions relating to the bilateral relations between Roman Catholics and the MP”. As a memento of the meeting, Metropolitan Hilarion presented the pope with an icon of St Benedict of Nursia and an album containing illustrations of frescoes by St Andrei Rublyov. At present, Alfeyev is visiting Italy; his trip will culminate with his participation in a concert of Russian sacred music that’s part of the Year of Russian Culture and Russian Language in Italy. On Friday, there’ll be a joint concert of the Moscow Synodal Choir and l’Orchestra Sinfonica Accademia delle Opere under the direction of Diego Montrone at the Basilica di Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milano. Incidentally, the famous fresco of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci is in the refectory of the convent attached to this church. The concert will present spiritual music from Sergei Rakhmaninov, Giuseppe Verdi, and Metropolitan Hilarion (sic). Vladyki Hilarion will be at the concert, along with Svetlana Medvedeva, the wife of President Dmitri Medvedev.

30 September 2011

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=42437

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The Montrone vids were uniformly bad, in one way or another, so, here’s two vids of Verdi and Rakhmaninov… the good stuff:

Herbert von Karajan and Leontyne Price perform the Libera Me from Verdi’s Requiem from a classic 1967 recording… goosebumps are guaranteed… yet, the anticlimactic ending is JUST right.

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This is the classic recording of Rakhmaninov’s Vigil from the Sov times (it came out in ’65), with Aleksandr Sveshnikov at the podium. This particular performance is the GOLD STANDARD for all subsequent recordings of the second movement (Bless the Lord, O my Soul (Psalm 103 (104 in the Proddie numbering) from the Vespers). Klara Korkan’s reading of her part is MAGISTERIAL. If a mezzo lacks a solid and resonant lower range, she’d had best not attempt this piece. Ms Korkan’s performance never ceases to move me to tears…

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Editor’s Note:

Normally, I wouldn’t cover such an item, as its fluff and pure propaganda from the Blunder’s apparat, but this should show all concerned that the video circulated by PortalCredo.ru is nothing that you should lose any sleep over. It’s nothing but the usual bullshit from the usual cast of suspects. Indeed, I’ll bet that Vyzhanov is going to trim his sails regarding the Blunder. Vyzhanov’s a better and slicker version of Lyonyo, Potapov, Erickson, and Lebedeff. That means that he’d slice the Blunder’s throat in a heartbeat if he thought that it’d benefit him.

I checked You Tube, and Alfeyev’s “compositions” are not very popular in the least. Over three years, the most popular has only garnered some 32,000 hits (the rest, far less). Hell, I have You Tube vids with more hits than that over a similar period. After all, Alfeyev is only the “composer of record”. The smart word at the Centre has it that all the scutwork’s done by a ringer at the Gnessin (don’t forget, the Blunder studied there in Soviet times). Diego Montrone is a second-rank conductor… he’s not world-class (he has no Italian Wikipedia entry). He and his ensemble have travelled to Russia, he appears to be a regular at such ecumaniacal events… he’s probably a nice enough guy, a musician with no idea of the real theological idiocy involved. His most popular You Tube vid has only 3,600 hits. ALL of the You Tube vids were equally wretched… trust me, I suffered through more than one of them.

In short… HO HUM. The brouhaha on the Orthodox Forum has no basis in fact. Then again, Nina Dimas started it. Her connection with this isn’t an encouraging sign of accuracy, is it?

BMD 

1 October 2011. Jillions Named OCA Chancellor… Fathausen and Website Secretive… Puhalo Defends Storheim Passionately in Stokoe’s Comboxes

I’ve heard that Fr John Jillions of Ottawa is the nominee to be the OCA Chancellor. That probably means that Syosset is afraid that the Canadian parishes are thinking of leaving and are attempting to “keep them in the fold”. It’s not wise to have a Canadian as Chancellor. Simply put, American and Canadian laws are NOT identical, and the OCA is incorporated under the laws of New York State, it’s an American corporate structure. Is Jillions coming to the USA? What’s his immigration status? In any case, Paffhausen and Lyonyo spit on you, yet again! It’s secretive business as usual… pay, pray, and obey, you bastards! We have to pay New York Metro living costs, after all. Note well that Mark Stokoe and Ginny Nieuwsma “enable” this secrecy. They APPROVE of it by their silence… both of them knew Thursday night what I’m telling you now… reflect on that.

In related news, some of you have seen Lazar Puhalo’s gushing defence of Seraphim Storheim in Stokoe’s comboxes. I’m told the exact opposite… there’s a deep division in the Canadian parishes. The ethnics (the majority) are ready to bolt for the Mother Church… the konvertsy zealots are worse than their American counterparts. The konvertsy are defending Storheim fanatically; the ethnics are more than ready to give him the heave-ho. Don’t forget Lazar Puhalo’s chequered past… he was part of the schismatic Patriarchate of Kiev, and he’s NEVER been an actual diocesan bishop (the OCA took him in as a “retired” bishop, along with his pal Varlaam… barmy, wasn’t it?). Some of us remember his pointless feud over toll houses with Seraphim Rose in the late 70s (Puhalo hated Laurus Škurla as a result of it)… a pointless dispute over a squiffy (to say the least) theologumena. Rose wasn’t the most stable character (after all, Rose never saw Podmoshensky’s faults)… Puhalo didn’t have the maturity then to let it slide. ROCOR had to shut them up, and Puhalo left in a huff. That being said, some people are unfair regarding Puhalo… he’s no danger… he’s only a fellow who’s never attracted more than a small and loyal following. At least, I’ve never heard of any perversion on his part… a tad outspoken, somewhat stubborn, yes… perverse, no. In present terms… a harmless and charming eccentric.

One last thing… oca.org didn’t deign to tell you of Faith Skordinski’s resignation in its reportage on the Metropolitan Council. That was an important piece of news. She wasn’t as important as she (and her supporters) thought… but it was an important detail that Ginny Nieuwsma “forgot” to tell you. I think that this is due to the fact that Bobby hates Skordinski for being on the panel that recommended his deposition from the priesthood (he hates John Reeves for the same reason). Skordinski didn’t defend Bobby’s abusive and thieving pals, so, there’s bad blood between them. I’m not one of her claque of fans… so, if I tell you that she’s been unfairly targeted by Bobby and El Gordo, you can bank on it. I always found her overblown and blowsy (anyone who uses “Doctor” in a social setting is a posturing parvenu)… but she did hate and harry abusers, which was more than most of the MC did (remember how Nescott and the MC paid off Bobby with 250 Gs? I haven’t).

Business as usual in Syosset… what shall the Sobor bring us? We’ll have to see…

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Saturday 1 October 2011

Albany NY 

Editor’s Postscript:

A correspondent reminded me that Jillions is an unrepentant, fanatical, and shameless Renovationist. The First Families ARE circling the wagons… they must feel that their entrenched fiefdom is threatened. If I remember rightly, Jillions was in Western Europe for a spell (I’d like to say England, but I stand under correction).

BMD

This Just In Department:

I got this from a source:

John Jillions was one of the founders and the first Principal of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge from 1999 to 2002, and, before that, I think he’d been in Thessaloniki. The Institute didn’t do particularly well during his tenure, having at least one very “interesting” character on staff who prevented serious people from taking it seriously. After Fr John left, the “interesting character” was deposed, and they shipped in someone with a proven record of running university departments, so, it’s improved, but it’s not exactly the most comfortable place to be a traditionalist. Although, strangely enough, the chaplain, another Canadian, manages it.

I’ve gotten a LOT from many on Jillions. He’s well hated… a real fanatic… a STUBBORN fanatic. Now, that PROVES that the OCA’s in the deep kimchi. It’s offering the Chancellorship to a certified kook. Garklavs may have been First Family, but he wasn’t incompetent and he wasn’t crackbrained… Jillions is both.

BMD

Still More Coming In:

Another source told me:

That “Institute” is one small rented room full of puffed-up converts. It’s packed with SVS fantasy stuff… ADS strikes again. The Canadian chaplain is a Renovationist under Antioch.

Trust me, people tell me things because I won’t rat ‘em out. I’m not an Erickson or a Bobby. Oh… for the information of the bad guys out there (I KNOW that you’re reading me, guys)… a lot of my good stuff comes from the Centre, don’t go chasing after innocent parties in the diaspora. The rot is so bad that they can see it from Peredelkino*. This is the REALITY of the Internet will o’ the wisp built by the konvertsy… a “small rented room full of puffed-up converts”. Good Lord, why does all the GOOD STUFF come from other people?

*NB:

Just as the “Vatican” and “Castel Gandolfo” are metonyms for the Pope of Rome/Catholic Church, “Peredelkino”, “the Danilovsky Monastir” or “Chisty Pereulok” are metonyms for the Patriarch/Moscow Patriarchate and “Syosset” is a metonym for the OCA and its apparat. By the way, it’s particularly beautiful in autumn in Peredelkino, I hope that KMG can get out to the dacha to enjoy it…

BMD