19 October 2011. Love BT Posts Incoherent Rant on Carpatho-Russians on “Monomakhos”

THAT’S Love BT to a tee… don’t confuse him with the facts! After all, Bishop Boris Geeza moved to So Cal and became the centre of the opposition to BT’s tyranny. Don’t forget, Nikolai Soraich and Michel Reagan were willing accomplices of BT and did his bidding uncritically (they were BT’s Stepin Fetchits… like Stokoe to Lyonyo).

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Editor’s Foreword:

I left all of Love BT’s original incoherent structure, rambling ideas, and oddball usage intact. To say the least, it’s illiterate and it speaks volumes about the OCA/SVS apparat that made him a bishop… by the way, the condescending reference to “Geeza” below is a swiping blow at Bishop Boris Geeza, BT’s nemesis, and BT’s superior in every way. BT’s a snivelling coward and a blustering bully in comparison to the late Vladyki Boris (who had about as much tolerance as Vladyki Kyprian did for obfustacation and general bullshit). This is one of those things that you hold your nose and read… perhaps, BT posted this on Monomakhos because Indiana or the Forum turned it down… now, THAT would be a GOOD sign…

BMD

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No idea either. What is it that “Carpatho-Rusyns” are DOING as such that needs supportiveness? And I never know what to do with these various ethnic tags upon which so many seem to pride themselves. “Rusyn” must be a linguistic variation on “Russki”, a denizen of “Rus”, no? And when Carpathian comes into the picture, this must pertain to the mountain range of that name, but there are subdivisions there, too: “Sub-Carpathian”, “Beyond Carpathian”, and “Just Carpathian”. “Ruthenian” is a favourite of the Unionists and it is an Englishing of the Latin word for Russia: Rutheniensis. Now another proud group denies that any of the above listed ethnic labels are anything but deliberate attempts to avoid confession of their REAL identity: Ukrainian. I’m sorry I couldn’t go into Halychsky and Hutzul and Lemkovshina and so on, but these are obviously to be considered nothing less than nationalities, like Russian, Chinese, Persian, etc., and must not be confused with Russian or Ukrainian, which would be belittling. They were once known, in the darkest of dark ages, all of them, as Little Russians. “Great Russians” were like the Greeks of Sicily and South Italy who lived in Great Greece “Magna Graecia” compared to the Hellenes in (Little) Greece, or Hellas. I forgot to mention “Ugro-Carpatho-Rusyn!” Those would be, for example, those named Geeza or Gyza, etc. after the great figure of Hungarian history and myth “Giza”.) And I forgot another Nation: the Bukovinian Nation. There’s also a Moldavian one. One needs to know if one was born in Lemberg or L’wiw or L’vov: in Chishinau or Kishinev, in Sibiu or Hermanstadt and so on. I note that Fr John Jillions is associated with the “Sheptitsky Institute in Canada”. That too commemorates the greatest Ukrainian Roman Catholic (Uniate) prelate of all time, Andrew Sheptitsky, Archbishop of L’wiw, an indication that the formidable “Ecumenical” Outreach of the OCA just goes from mountain top to mountain top. There was a time when all the OCA Departments either had an “Episcopal Moderator” or were headed by a bishop. External and Ecumenical Affairs was always headed by Archbishop Peter. Fr Leonid never reported anything that was not approved by His Eminence, although His Eminence allowed Fr Leonid to attend Holy Synod meetings to read the official department report. Now, there is no such “overseer”, or even “middleman”. I always thought it a calumny when people accused SVS of being snobby Great Russians who resented the “upstart” and (yes, believe it or not!) “fraudulent” STS, which was “all Carps and Galicians who hate real Russians”. It’s as bad as what Greeks say when someone says they aren’t Greek, but Macedonian. Fightin’ Words, as we ethnic Americans might say. (I’m ducking.)

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Barmy, isn’t he? When BT championed the papal calendar at the Los Angeles cathedral and successfully cajoled the “Great Russians” to acquiesce, much to his chagrin, the American-born po-nashemu faction in the parish mounted the most vehement opposition. You see, Fathausen, BT, BP, et al held (and always shall hold) the po-nashemu people in haughty disdain… yet, they all cash their paycheques and avail themselves of benefits, pensions, housing, etc, funded largely by hard-earned po-nashemu dollars. BT seems to hate po-nashemu people… it seems that he blames them for all his troubles…

In other matters, a friend wrote me:

The Portal-Credo piece is utter BS from stem to stern… the CIA doesn’t care one iota whether Fathausen stays or goes. Really, the OCA is so insignificant and marginalised in World Orthodoxy that it doesn’t really factor into the equation at Langley or Foggy Bottom. They have much bigger fish to fry and use other avenues and means to interfere in Orthodox Church affairs in the former Soviet space…

Absolutely so… but it does show you how desperate Lyonyo, Jillions, and Berzansky fils are (the Portal-Credo piece had their fingerprints all over it). They’re desperate because their man JP is going down for the count. Whispers have reached me that there are some who want to resolve matters BEFORE the Sobor even begins. Good luck to ‘em, I say… Fathausen has an uncanny ability to crawl out from any accusation. In the end, they’re going to have to resort to having Wally the Mexican and his Grinning Banditos shoot him (figuratively) at dawn, drive a silver dagger into his heart, and bury him at the crossroads… you see, El Gordo’s tactic is deny, deny, deny. JP tells each audience what they want to hear. When you confront him with his conflicting statements, his usual first response is, “I never said it”. When you present him with evidence that he did in fact say it, he counters with, “They misunderstood what I said”. Such a sort will NEVER resign voluntarily.

We have a situation like that at the time of Tsar Pavel Petrovich. It’s “1801″… who’ll be Benigsen… who’ll put the curtain (figuratively) around Fathausen’s throat? Prepare to be surprised… palace coups are never neat and never go according to Hoyle.

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

19 October 2011

Albany NY

Someone is Influencing the Head of the Russian Exarchate in Western Europe: An Interview with Nikita Krivoshein

Recently, the Council of the Exarchate of Russian Parishes in Western Europe (Ecumenical Patriarchate) issued a communiqué that stated that the Parish Association filed an appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal of Aix-en-Provence, recognising the Russian Federation’s right of ownership over the land on which St Nicholas Cathedral in Nice stands. In this regard, the association believes that the Court of Appeal’s “verdict doesn’t preclude its legitimate right to use the cathedral, as well as its right to continue to worship”. So far, the EP authorities have been laggardly in actually transferring the property to the MP. On 19 May, a French court confirmed Russia’s ownership of St Nicholas Cathedral in Nice. For its part, the Russian state decided to transfer the parish property to the MP in perpetuity free of charge. On 15 October, in response to the actions of the Exarchate, the website of the Movement for Local Orthodoxy of the Russian Tradition in Western Europe (OLTR) published a statement, How do we solve the problem of Nice? To speak about that, the reasons behind the latest actions of the Exarchate, and on how we should resolve this situation, Yelena Maler-Matyazova, in an interview exclusively for Interfax-Religion, spoke to a founding member of the OLTR, a well-known public figure in the Russian émigré community, Nikita Krivoshein.

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Yelena Maler-Matyazova

Nikita Igorevich, what prompted the OLTR to formulate and publish its statement?

Nikita Krivoshein

I should start by saying that the formulation of this statement took place in a collegial manner, we based it on a survey of the founding members of the organisation; our Chairman, Seraphim Rehbinder, proposed the motion to proceed with the project. Our discussions led to an agreement on those proposals, and amendments came form all of us, forming the final text. The basis for our statement was the impasse in the implementation of the verdict handed down by the French court, which transferred the ownership of St Nicholas Cathedral in Nice and the property upon which it stands to the Russian Federation. Despite the fact that the court handed down its verdict in May 2011, the Western European Archdiocese twisted the meaning of the Canons and refused to hand over the cathedral to its rightful owner, the Russian Federation, which, in turn, had passed the cathedral to the MP Diocese of Korsun. It’s illustrative to look at two similar precedents. In March 2011, there was the transfer of Sergei House in Jerusalem from Israel to Russia, as well as the transfer of the Church of St Nicholas in Bari from Italy to Russia in 2008. In both cases, there were no problems with the transfer of the property. Difficulties arose here in Nice because of the hostile attitude of the Western European Archdiocese towards Moscow, which became manifest after the death in 2003 of its previous hierarch, Archbishop Sergei Konovalov, and the accession of Archbishop Gabriel de Vylder of Comana. With his accession, the policy of the Exarchate fell under the influence of a small group of émigrés who chose to deny the reality in Russia and the liberation of the Russian Church from the communist dictatorship.

Yelena Maler-Matyazova

Can we consider the OLTR statement a response to the communiqué of the Western European Archdiocese?

Nikita Krivoshein

Yes, that’s quite right… it’s a response to the communiqué of the Archdiocese, as well as a response to a lengthy series of hostile statements on the website of the ACOR (Ritual Association of the Nice Parish) and to other sources close to the Archdiocese. After all, the raison d’etre of the document released on 28 September by the Council of the Archdiocese was to accuse the MP Diocese of Korsun with crass interference in the internal life of the Nice Council, as was shown by the appointment of a new Rector, Fr Nikolai Ozolin, who had been a cleric of the Diocese of Petrozavodsk. It’s incomprehensible why this qualifies as “crass interference”. There’s no way that it was interference or intrusion. The last session of the Holy Synod sent Fr Nikolai to Nice to be at the disposal of the Diocese of Korsun, and Bishop Nestor Sirotenko sent him to Nice. The MP appraised both the Exarchate and the cathedral clergy in Nice of his appointment in advance. In the past, Fr Nikolai had concelebrated with the rector of the cathedral of Nice, and many felt that there was hope for a fraternal solution of the situation. However, a week later, Bishop Gabriel of Comana arrived, sharply criticised Fr Nikolai, and forbade him to enter the altar. He now stands in the church along with the parishioners, whilst he waits to assume his proper office.

Yelena Maler-Matyazova

Could you tell us the most significant highlights of the OLTR statement?

Nikita Krivoshein

Firstly, it makes clear that the Archdiocese is deliberately mixing up Church law… that is, the Canons… with civil law. One of the most repeated charges was that the Russian Church is still today as it was under the Soviets; it remains subservient to a dictatorial state. The Council of the Archdiocese repeatedly issued accusations of an overly-cosy relationship between the Church and state; they pointed to the transfer of St Nicholas Cathedral to the MP. However, as we wrote in our statement, such assistance isn’t a concordat; it’s just the restoration of simple justice… it’s the return of stolen goods, a revival of what was once destroyed. Today, the state helps the Russian Orthodox Church, precisely because it once persecuted it, and because it now admits its mistakes and crimes. For example, Aleksandr Orlov, the Russian ambassador to France, recently announced that Russian restorers are ready to begin refurbishing this very same Nice cathedral. Nevertheless, perhaps, the most important charge in the communiqué is that the transfer of the cathedral to the MP is allegedly uncanonical. Yet, in the late Sergianist period, and in the decades that followed, the MP never recognised the creation of the ROCOR or the “Evlogian” Archdiocese as being canonically justified. Therefore, in the eyes of the Russian Orthodox Church, its jurisdiction over the cathedral in Nice vis-à-vis all the other Local Churches was in place before the Revolution, it remained unchanged. This makes the main argument of the Council of the Archdiocese untenable.

Yelena Maler-Matyazova

Your statement quoted Patriarch Bartholomew Archontonis of Constantinople, who called for the establishment of fraternal relations with the Russian Church during the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Aleksandr Nevsky Cathedral in Paris. How does this declaration of the Patriarch square with the incredibly destructive policies on the part of Bishop Gabriel of Comana?

Nikita Krivoshein

I’d like to note that Vladyki Gabriel acts not so much with the blessing of EP, which, if I may say so, has a lot of “hot spots” around the world, as he does in concert with whispering and conniving lay people on the Council of the Archdiocese. Therefore, I think you shouldn’t talk so much about the hostility of Constantinople to the Russian Church, but of the hostility to MP by the Council of the Archdiocese of the Western European Exarchate. All the same, as they say in international affairs, it’s almost reached a “point of no return”. You can and should remember that, two years ago, when Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev of Volokolamsk, the head of the MP Department for External Church Relations, was on an official visit to Paris, he was invited to serve at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Rue Daru, but 48 hours before the agreed time, this invitation was most impolitely withdrawn. In 2007, when the late Patriarch Aleksei Rediger arrived in Paris, he was the first Orthodox Patriarch ever to visit France; yet, they didn’t invite him to serve at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. These were disrespectful actions and brought a strained relationship almost to the point of no return. Finally, Вестник РХД (Vestnik RKhD: Bulletin of the RKhD) (Paris-Moscow) just published a letter from Metropolitan Hilarion, which, in fact, was sent in August 2010. In this letter, Vladyki Hilarion wrote about why he turned down an offer to serve on the editorial board of the journal, and justified his decision by numerous references to hostile remarks directed at the Russian Orthodox Church published in its pages. In response to this letter, in the same issue (nr 198) Nikita Alekseyevich Struve, the editor of the magazine, wrote a reply full of inconsistencies, slanderous judgements, and accusations against the Russian church. However, of course, one shouldn’t speak of irreversibility in church relations… there’s always a possibility for rapprochement and fraternal understanding.

Yelena Maler-Matyazova

What developments in the situation involving Nice do you see as constructive threads?

Nikita Krivoshein

OLTR is making all possible efforts to convince the Nice parochial clergy and the Archdiocese Council members to stop improperly invoking the Canons, to recognise and accept the transfer of the church in Nice to the Russian Church. I think that it’s possible to use constructive means to convince them… but I think that very soon we’ll see whether that’s really possible.

18 October 2011

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=interview&div=335

Editor’s Note:

I’d say to the people in the Rodina… do note who’s egging on Gabriel. Most of them are from the OCA, mostly from the loud konvertsy faction. One of their main roosting places is the comboxes on Stokoe’s website. Click here and here to go to a representative selection of them… if you’re a Russian from the Motherland, read them, and reflect that Paffhausen LOVES this bunch. You’ll see that Paffhausen’s your ENEMY… he’s playing a double game, and all that I’m doing is telling you the truth of the matter. Paffhausen hates our Russian culture, our Russian motherland, and our Russian faith… don’t be misled by his self-serving dribble.

Gabriel and his gang are irritants… Paffhausen, Lyonyo, and Potapov, and those about them (including all of the SVS/Syosset apparat and a sizable faction at Jordanville) are cancers. We’re drowning here in America because of them. Russian Orthodoxy in the USA/Canada/Alaska is only some 40 percent of what it was in 1965 thanks to the cockamamie policies of both the OCA and the ROCOR.

Shall you help us?

BMD

EP Group Defiantly Refuses to Transfer St Nicholas Cathedral in Nice to its Rightful Owners

At the same time, they agreed to abolish entrance fees to the church…

The Council of the Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe (Ecumenical Patriarchate) continues to consider itself the legitimate tenant of St Nicholas Cathedral in Nice. “The Parish Association filed an appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal of Aix-en-Provence, recognising the Russian Federation’s right of ownership over the land on which the cathedral stands”, according to a statement of the Exarchate published on its official website after a recent meeting. It stated that the parish association, “which is the legal embodiment of the parish, believes that the Court of Appeal’s verdict doesn’t preclude its legitimate right to use the cathedral, as well as its right to continue to worship in accordance with Russian Orthodox traditions (sic), as it’s done over the past 80 years. Thus, the Association doesn’t intend to leave the cathedral, but it agreed to abolish entrance fees to the church for visitors, which in turn led it to dismiss all staff involved in tourism-related activities, because of an ensuing lack of funds to pay them. Furthermore, they closed the church to visitors except for times of worship”.

The Exarchate also accused the new rector of the cathedral assigned by the MP Diocese of Korsun of allegedly “bringing embarrassment to the parish’s life through his insolent behavior during worship services and keeps up a state of tension through thinly-veiled threats against Fr Johann Heidt, as well as fraudulent or greatly exaggerated public statements. The intrusion of the MP bishop into the life of the Nice parish, by constantly sending clergy to grab the Cathedral following orders that don’t come from Church sources, from political figures, is a violation of the norms of the canonical Orthodox Church. This is unacceptable”.

As reported on 19 May, a French court confirmed Russia’s ownership of St Nicholas Cathedral in Nice. For its part, the Russian state decided to transfer the parish property to the MP in perpetuity free of charge. However, the EP authorities have been laggardly in actually transferring the property to the MP. At a recent meeting with Bishop Nestor Sirotenko of Korsun, Archbishop Gabriel de Vylder, the head of the EP Exarchate of Russian Parishes in Western Europe, made it clear that the MP had to deal directly with the ACOR in regards to the transfer of the keys and ending entrance fees. The meeting adjourned without result, so, preparations for a meeting with an expanded number of participants between the Exarchate and the Diocese of Korsun is underway.

17 October 2011

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=42660

Editor’s Note:

The Paris gang doesn’t have a pot to piss in. Where’s it getting the money to pursue expensive legal claims? It’s getting the money from anti-Russian anti-Church factions in the USA, probably through the good offices of Vanya Behr, Lyonyo, and Potapov. Behr of course, came directly out of the Paris Gang, his father was one of the most notorious Renovationists who ever lived (and came to a bad end, too, I hear). Lyonyo is a CFR member and Potapov’s an old VOA/RL hand… that means that both are in bed with Langley, if not actual Langley assets. I believe that all three of these greasy caballeros have family connections in the Paris lot. In short, bad juju all the way around. Above all, Paffhausen supports the Paris cabal.

There are people in Russia who believe that Paffhausen’s a friend of Russia and the Russian Church. Wake up, chowderheads! This guy’s spitting on you and supporting your enemies. He’s a brazen liar who says one thing to the American Establishment and another thing in Moscow (and yet another thing to his demented konvertsy claque). He SUPPORTS the Paris Gang… he SUPPORTS the American special services in their destabilisation efforts in the Orthodox civilisational sphere. If you defend him, you drive a dagger into your own throat. I’d say that Paffhausen’s the biggest supporter of the Parisians for two reasons. Firstly, it’s because he’s a rabid Renovationist at heart (he makes Kochetkov and Men look like pikers). Secondly, it’s because he’s nothing but a noxious rightwinger who believes in American Exceptionalism.

This has gone on far too long. If you support the Parisian swine, you dishonour the memory of Lydia Plas. Note well that the OCA sorts see nothing wrong in that… after all, it’s what they did too (which was a major factor in the decline of the OCA… people who’re denied the Mysteries on specious grounds tend to leave… which is why it’s done). It’s time to put down BOTH the OCA and the ROCOR… it’s time to go home.

One last thing… Mark Stokoe didn’t post news of this when he posted today. One wonders why… is it because he’s always supported the Paris swine loudly and unreservedly? Perspirin’ minds wanna know…

BMD

19 October 2011. A Reflection of an Ordinary Russian Orthodox Christian in the American Diaspora

To my fellow Russian Orthodox people in the American diaspora, it’s high time that we openly opposed the rightwing takeover of our Church. The Church of Our Lord Christ is NOT in favour of greed… yet, “Greed is good” according to the ideology of the Free Market. The Church of Our Lord Christ is NOT for aggressive warfare… yet, “humanitarian intervention” using bombs as ambassadors is the ideology of the Neocons. The Church of Our Lord Christ says, “Ye are your brother’s keeper”… the Neoliberal Corporatist says, “The race goes to the swiftest”. Furthermore, the Church of Our Lord Christ isn’t in favour of religious anarchy… yet, that’s what the US rightwing calls “religious freedom”… as for me, no Harold Camping or Terry Jones or Fred Phelps, please, I’m a Christian.

That’s why we must oppose Jonas Paffhausen, Leonid Kishkovsky, John Jillions, Matthew Tate, Stephen Freeman, Alexander Webster, Rod Dreher, Viktor Potapov, John Whiteford, Anthony Nelson, Frederica Matthewes-Green, Terrence Mattingly, and Patrick Reardon (the last named is nothing but a Low Church Anglican pretending to be one of us… he teaches at a Episkie seminary (he should be told to choose… them or us)). Their advocacy of the theomachistic and evil ideology of Free Market Neoliberalism is beyond the pale and we must fight it. They give aid and comfort to the enemies of Christ’s Church and to the enemies of our ancestral Great Russian Motherland. They support rightwing slime that advocates the dismemberment of the Russian state and Western interference in Russian internal affairs, including the sponsoring of heterodox religious proselytising in the lands of Holy Rus. They attack His Holiness through their support of the Republican Party, which has become not only anti-Russian, but anti-God as well (the GOP is now the cat’s paw of Sectarian Radicals).

Yes… I know that the ROCOR was in thrall to rightwing interests for years. Lebedeff admitted that Jordanville received a CIA subsidy… “We did get it, and we were grateful for it”. Jordanville lied; it said that it was in contact with a non-existent “catacomb church”. Langley fell for it and gave them a cheque… how much, no one knows, Lebedeff wasn’t forthcoming on that. Everybody knows how the ROCOR attacked the OCA for being “pro-Red”… everybody knows how the ROCOR knifed the Church in the Rodina in the back with its establishment of parishes in the Motherland after ’91 (I’m told that Langley subsidised that to destabilise the Russian internal situation… the money flowed through Potapov, I heard). Indeed, many of the schismatical parishes on the territory of the RF are the bitter fruit of that lunacy.

The OCA’s no better. Jonas Paffhausen lies about his long and intimate relationship with Gleb Podmoshensky, a deposed ROCOR cleric with an oddball “monastery” in Northern California (the place went crackers after the death of Seraphim Rose in ’82). All the konvertsy clustered about Podmoshensky when the ROCOR Holy Synod defrocked him, supposedly for serving under suspension, actually, for unnatural doings with kids. Paffhausen was one of his drooling disciples, as were Freddie M-G and Rod Dreher. In fact, Lazar Puhalo’s connected with this paedophile as well… he took Podmoshensky communion after the ROCOR booted him. Note well that Paffhausen constantly caterwauls about homosexuality… then, pray tell, why did he have such a long guru-disciple relationship with a known paedophile and a group (the HOOMies) that were known to be sexually abusive?

It’s time for that to end… although, oddly enough, the ROCOR and the OCA have done a 180; they’ve flip-flopped. ROCOR now supports Moscow and the OCA opposes it (don’t believe Fathausen’s words… look at Lyonyo’s and Jillions’ actions). Today, the OCA apparat supports the Paris cabal in its attempt to squat in the Russian Orthodox cathedral in Nice. Today, the OCA supports the rightwing opponents of our Motherland, culture, and faith. Odd, ain’t it? Live long enough and you’ll see the worm turn. What’s interesting is how all of these paladins (on both sides) claim that they didn’t say what they said, and that they didn’t do what they did. Anyone in the Rodina who trusts either the OCA or the ROCOR apparat is brain-damaged and in need of a LONG rest.

His Holiness SUPPORTS the calls of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators for Social Justice… the people I named above support the rightwing repression of such dissent. THAT’S your choice as a Russian Orthodox Christian. I stand with His Holiness… where do YOU stand? Here’s a hint… the Komsomol boys stood up for the Church in the Nasty ’90s… the CIA attacked it (and is attacking it still). God bless the Communist Party… they stood for what’s right.

A quick note to my compatriots in the Rodina… don’t believe the story that Jonas Paffhausen’s a friend of Russia and loyal to the best interests of Our Holy Church. He’s a soulless and nasty proponent of the American Neoliberal rightwing of the worst sort. He’s a straight-faced liar who tells people what they want to hear. He’s a supporter of those who wish to interfere in the internal affairs of the Rodina… and his pals Potapov and Kishkovsky are actual American special services assets by all accounts (so much so that RF embassy personnel in the District prefer not to attend Potapov’s parish). If you talk to Paffhausen… it’s a direct line to Langley. DO NOT TRUST HIM… DO NOT SUPPORT HIM. HE’S A FRIEND OF RUSSIA’S WORST ENEMIES AND HE WISHES THEIR VICTORY OVER THE MOTHERLAND. If you support him… you support the enemies of Christ’s Church and of our beloved Motherland.

That’s the way it is.

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Wednesday 19 October 2011

Albany NY