23 October 2012. Trouble in Manton. The Official Take on the Matter. Paraphrased from Official Documents

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Fr Meletios Webber resigned as Abbot of the Monastery of St John. The stress and internet publicity over the recent turmoil involving monks leaving the monastery led Fr Meletios to conclude that he can no longer serve in the capacity of Abbot at this monastery. Fr Meletios will return to Europe. The monks who left without a blessing won’t be allowed to return without a face-to-face meeting with the bishop.

The recent developments at St John of San Francisco Monastery, Manton CA, include Fr Meletios Webber resigning as abbot of the monastery; he’ll receive a release from the OCA and will return to Europe in the near future. After the departure of six monks from the monastery, six monks now remain. There’s an outstanding balance of approximately 70,000 USD (2.2 million Roubles. 54,000 Euros. 44,000 UK Pounds) in outstanding credit card debt. Additionally, the monastery pays a monthly mortgage in the amount of 5,000 USD (1.57 million Roubles. 38,500 Euros. 31,400 UK Pounds). Due to the departure of the younger monks and the unavailability of the mailing list of benefactors, due to its unauthorised removal from the monastery, the monastic brotherhood is facing significant difficulties in meeting its financial responsibilities. There was a consensus that the OCA Diocese of the West should provide the monastery with financial assistance at this time, in the form of a loan. This loan would pay off the credit card debt and provide for payment of six months of the monastery’s mortgage.

http://dowoca.orthodoxws.com/files/reports/Council%20Meeting%20Minutes/Diocesan-Council-Meeting-Oct-2–2012.pdf 

http://dowoca.orthodoxws.com/files/reports/Council%20Meeting%20Minutes/DC10-4-12.pdf

 

10 July 2012. Is There Trouble in “Paradise?”

Some of the usual suspects on the Internet forums are spouting their usual stuff. It’s almost as bad as the interminable Toll House argument… oh, yes, I do think that such sorts belong in the playpen whilst we adults have a pleasant drink and chat.

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There’s much Sturm und Drang over supposed events at Manton and over Meletios Webber. Let’s keep this simple. If Meletios Webber is, indeed, going against Church order in the case of this or that private individual, then, the proper way to handle it is to make a formal complaint against him to the bishop. If there are irregularities at Manton, that’s the logical first step. No… it isn’t the only step… but it’s the first logical one. Yes, Benjamin Peterson could decide to stonewall it or sweep it under the rug, but that would put him in the spotlight, so to speak. All those having problems with Webber should make a formal complaint, the sooner the better. Then, if Peterson defends him… go to the Holy Synod. If they fail in their duty, then, make an appeal to the Centre… to ask them to pull the Tomos from the OCA. It CAN be done… but only in the proper order, and one thing at a time.

At present, there’s confusion over what actually happened. Well, I’d say that since JP was a follower of the Imyaslavie heresy, by all accounts that I heard, the fact that there’s screwy things afoot shouldn’t surprise anyone. However… if you think so strongly about Webber and personal pastoral matters, do make a formal complaint. I wonder if they’d do such a thing… I think not. In fact, the “news” that’s coming out made me think of an old saying of Fr Alexander Lebedeff’s, “They don’t know an ecclesiastical court from a tennis court”. Lebedeff may be a First Family apparatchik, but he’s also a competent historian and canonist… which none of the loudmouths on the internet forums are. It’s one thing to talk of public figures… when one starts flinging about private pastoral matters… you really should take such things up with the bishop (I always PhotoShop out non-public figures if I can… there’s something known as privacy). I’m going to hold all priests and hierarchs up to scrutiny… they’re public figures. However, if you have something against a private individual or the pastoral consideration shown them, not a public figure (priest, bishop, elected lay official), don’t drag it into the internet fora… do something of it in such a way that the person involved has some privacy. If I can observe limits… so can these people (you don’t know the stuff that I reject because it either involves private people or its the private doings of public people (an image of Jillions at a private party isn’t mine to publish)).

Put up or shut up.

BMD

The “Institute Of Theology of Ss Cyril and Athanasius of Alexandria” Opened in San Francisco CA with the Blessing of the ROCOR Holy Synod

The image for the original post, in all of its low-res glory…

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WARNING! What follows is utter horseshit and it’s an internet will o’ the wisp. It’s cultish HOOMie loopishness, best NOT supported by Orthodox Christians… CAVEAT LECTOR!

BMD

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The Institute of Theology of Ss Cyril and Athanasius of Alexandria opened in San Francisco with the blessing of the ROCOR Holy Synod and the Archbishop Kirill Dmitrieff of San Francisco and Western America. The institute aims to become a leading centre for the study of Orthodox theology, history, thought, and practise on the west coast of the US, according to the official website of the ROCOR Diocese of San Francisco and Western America. The new theological school will offer a Certificate and Diploma in Orthodox Studies through full-time and correspondence courses. It will carry out distance learning remotely through its website. On 17-18 February 2012, the Institute in will host its first regional symposium in San Francisco, The Living Symbol: The Study of the Inner Meaning of the Divine Liturgy. The main speakers will be Archimandrite Meletius Webber, Archimandrite Irenaeus Steenburgen, Archpriest Josiah Trenham. Registration and more information about the Institute are available online by clicking here.

19 January 2012

Patriarchia.ru

http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/1965692.html

Editor’s Afterword:

This is a bunch of internet phoney jabronies! Firstly, the presence of Meletios Webber tips off all grounded people that this is completely crackbrained and bonkers. Secondly, Fathausen’s on its board. Thirdly, note well that it doesn’t offer a REAL degree… this phoney-baloney “Institute” is NOT accredited, it has NO buildings of its own, it has NO faculty in the accepted sense of the word, and there are NO grounded ethnic Orthodox speakers at their first “conference”. Betcha that most of its “faculty” are uncredentialised HOOMie and konvertsy poseurs.

Why is this announcement on Patriarchia.ru? It wasn‘t on oca.org or the official ROCOR website (was it refused by them? Perspirin’ minds wanna know…)… yes, the ROCOR Diocese of San Francisco and Western America DID have a blurb, but there was NOTHING on the main site. No one from STS, SVS, or HTS is part of this konvertsy chicanery. My guess is that one of the Blunder’s gang at Bolshaya Ordynka inserted this (was Dickie Wood involved? By the way, where IS Dickie hiding out at present?) in an attempt to boost their pal Paffhausen at the Centre. I’ll tell the Centre, my friends in SF tell me that this is one of those internet will o’ the wisps. It has no more existence than the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, or Truthful Politicians.

Is this going to be the “seminary” for Fathausen’s Rump OCA that’s going to arise after the fall of the present structures? There’s been NO news of this on either the official OCA or ROCOR main websites, which leads one to the conclusion that this is something that Fathausen ran up on his own with the assistance of his HOOMie buddies (with some help from like-minded sorts in the ROCOR)… talk about an abortion run up by the apprentice whilst the blacksmith was out (it has the appearance of a Bates Eight-Barrel Bottle-Thrower (an actual “weapon” referenced in one of Ian Hogg’s books)). It has more than a whiff of Rube Goldberg or Heath Robinson about it… with the caveat that Messrs Goldberg and Robinson did have concepts that worked, albeit in a comical and over-complicated way, whilst this is simply an attempt to fool the believers into believing that all’s well with the current situation.

GIVE THIS PHONEY “INSTITUTE” NO MONEY OR SUPPORT. Anything with HOOMie participation is crank and un-Christian, and that’s all that there’s to say on it. Never forget, Sectarian Evangelicalism is NOT Christian in the least, and this reeks of that. Keep your money in your pocket or your purse. Buy a bottle of Bushmills, instead, and salute our sinful-ginful world. You’d be doing something based in reality, in that case…

BMD