Legal Wrangle Over St Nicholas Cathedral in Nice Finally Over

______________________________

On Wednesday, Xenia and Nikita Krivoshein, acting as spokesmen for the Russian émigré community in France, told Interfax-Religion that the Russian government finally ended its legal battle concerning the property of St Nicholas Cathedral in Nice, stating, “On 10 April 2013, the Court of Cassation, the highest legal organ of the French Republic, announced that it completely rejected the complaint of the Russian Orthodox Religious Association (ACOR) of Nice (which claimed the cathedral: Interfax)”. Thus, the court ruled that the Russian state is now unequivocally the legal owner of St Nicholas Cathedral in Nice, “the law and simple good-sense prevailed over sectarianism and denial of reality”.

In 1923, ACOR leased the church for 99 years, and, in 1931, it passed into the jurisdiction of the Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe (Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople). On 19 May 2011, a French court confirmed that the Russian state had legal ownership of the church property in Nice. Then, the Russian government decided to hand over the property to MP Diocese of Korsun for its free and unlimited use. However, the Council of the Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe continued to consider itself the lawful possessor of the cathedral. In December 2011, Sergei Bolkhovitin, a mid-level official of the Russian Presidential Administration, handed over the keys of the cathedral in Nice to its new rector, Archpriest Nikolai Ozolin.

Today’s decision by the Court of Cassation in France marks the end of the long litigation over the legal ownership of the Russian cathedral in Nice. Now, members of the Russian émigré community hope that the Russian government will move on its claim to other major church buildings erected in Europe by the Russian Empire. Nikita Krivoshein noted, “Most of them are in poor condition and falling apart due to the poor maintenance done by their present temporary users. One can only hope that the decision concerning Nice will serve as a precedent for the resolution of similar situations in Paris, Biarritz, and other cities”. He emphasised that this year’s Holy Week services “at the Russian cathedral in Nice won’t be overshadowed by any external factors”.

St Nicholas Cathedral is one of the most visited historical attractions on the Côte d’Azur. Built in the early 20th century, the French state added it to its list of protected architectural monuments in 1987. Beginning of restoration work on the building will begin this year, financed by the Russian state and private sponsors. At present, it’s anticipated that the work will take two years to complete.

10 April 2013

Interfax-Religion

http://interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=50771

Editor’s Note:

When the Parisian modernists lost the court battle over St Nick’s, it was their death sentence. The funds raised from entrance fees to the church were the backbone of the Parisian budget. Frankly, the Phanar may give the Exarchate parishes a choice… go under Moscow, go under the Greek bishop for their area, or go vagante. Remember, the Phanar rejected all the proposed successors to Gabriel de Vylder. In short, even the EP sees that the Parisian Russians are a bad bet, a rum lot, and “dead men walking”.

SVS kissed the arse of the Parisians since the time of the Schmemann-Meyendorff duopoly. Now, there are noises that SVS wants to go EP if the OCA goes under. If they do, they won’t have the independence that they’ve enjoyed up to now (let’s be frank… ADS & Co took advantage of the spineless-jellyfish poofter weakling Feodosy). The Phanar would make them toe the EP party-line unreservedly and without complaint, and that’s that. Just sayin’… do pass the popcorn, the show isn’t completely over, yet… Rue Daru IS next, after all…

BMD

5 November 2012. A Whisper about Ted Heckman… and the Grapevine Speaks on the Paris Drobots

______________________________

I got this in:

Word now is that Fr Ted Heckiman, who’s now rector of St Mark Church in Wrightstown PA, will be forced to retire in order not to be an obstacle to Lyonyo’s attempt to force the election of Tikhon Mollard’s as Metropolitan. Bloggers, including the Monomuckos brats, are complaining about his failure to discipline him for past alleged sexual misconduct.

In other words, Tikhon’s the Syosset candidate… a good reason to vote against him. This plot has Vinnie Peterson’s fingerprints all over it, and we all know how compromised he is. I think that the SOBs are going to vote Tikhon in regardless of how the popular vote goes. Nonetheless, it’s important to deny Syosset that figleaf. A vote for Mel is a vote for honesty. A vote for Tikhon is a vote for secrecy and skulduggery.

I heard the following from an informed voice on the grapevine who knows the Drobot clan (one of the litigants in the Rue Daru lawsuit is a Drobot):

The Paris Drobots were/are officially Rue Daru, but they plough their own furrow, never prayed for the Ecumenical Patriarch. They live like Old Ritualists (9 children, only spoke Russian). The one involved in the Paris lawsuit is a nephew.

I know from personal observation that Wsewolod Drobot said nothing at all for two weeks after the August events in the Soviet Union. Then, he switched to a vehement, “The communists are still in charge” (and an uncompromising support of Vitaly‘s illicit parishes in the former USSR), and kept that tune going until 2000. He pretended to be the pastor of the Albany parish, yet lived in Jordanville near the monastery. That’s the sort of First Family shit that’s got to end. You don’t pastor a parish from a remove of over 100 kilometres. God Himself couldn’t do it… it looks like the Paris portion of the clan is as crank as the American portion.

We’ve got a hell of a mess to clean up, but we can’t start to really do anything about it until we admit that we’re in the deep kimchi… but shall we? The first thing that we have to do is to shitcan compromised bishops such as Vinnie Peterson, Matthias Moriak, and Fathausen… they all disgraced the episcopate… the only thing to do is to demote ‘em down to regular priests. If we did that, it’d signal to God, to the rest of the Church, and to the believers here in the USA and Canada, that we’re serious about putting things right. If we don’t do it… need I continue?

BMD

Update per Grapevine 6.11.12:

Ted Heckman IS retired and Tikhon told the parish personally on 24 October (per several different grapes). What does Heckman know that they don’t want out? Hey, I don’t know everything, and I appreciate shouts from the truly informed… on the other hand, First Family and hyperclericalist voices can suck wind.

BMD

4 November 2012. Group from Paris Cathedral Taking Gabriel of the Rue Daru Bunch to Court

_______________________________

A group from the St Alexandre Nevsky Cathedral fell out of agreement with Archbishop Gabriel de Vylder, so, five individuals (Deacon Jean Drobot, Karin Wothe, Basil Tiesenhausen Viktor Loupan, Vadim Tichonicki) filed a lawsuit against him. There’s not much available at present, so, there’s not much to say, I’ll have to research it more. The two protagonists (not surprisingly) on either side of the dispute are Seraphim Rehbinder and Serge Runge. Apparently, the whole brouhaha’s over the fact that Gabriel’s sick with cancer and hasn’t appointed a warden for the Rue Daru cathedral. In short, not only is the OCA falling to pieces, so are their Parisian pals. This bears watching, as OLTR seems involved in some way.

Interesting that one of the litigants is from the Drobot family, whose American branch is one of the ROCOR First Families. Wsewolod Drobot is the least intelligent and dullest priest that I’d ever met in my life, but he finessed his family connection to the Paris bunch (his brother Yuri was a Paris bunch priest) and his knowledge of the po-nashemu dialect (remember Lavr Škurla spoke that language) into a Ruritanian position at Jordanville (when it still the de facto Church centre of the ROCOR). One wonders if the French side of the family is as Grand Fenwickian as their American cousins…

BMD

28 October 2012. A Report From a Participant at the London Conference

______________________________

I got this from a participant at the London Conference:

The London Conference was a great success. The Paris bunch and the OCA lost it because of their resistance to Moscow; they’ve been sidelined. Moscow is just ignoring that they exist. The New ROCOR is the basis of future unity in the diaspora. It’s official.

Yes, I know that it was over a week ago, but I wanted to hear the news from a participant, and it took some of these guys some time to get home (and recover from it all), especially, those from Australia. I think that the Centre is waiting to see what happens when the Parma Sobor convenes (if it even takes place, something up in the air at present). I know this… Mel Pleska has the Centre’s imprimatur… not Peterson… not Dahulich… not Fathausen.

None of us knows what’s up in the immediate near term, that’s how murky it is. If anyone says that they do, they’re liars. Keep an eye peeled… none of the verities are holding, anything, and I do mean “anything”, can happen in the next three weeks. I can see why the Chinese consider “interesting times” a curse.

BMD