2 May 2013. SVS and Mammon Revisited…

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One of the Cabinet sent this on:

So, St Vladimir’s Seminary (SVS) has seen fit to take Mammon‘s shilling (in the employ of the infamous Koch Bros) and not just invite, but declare themselves in unity through joint sponsorship with this outfit, and publicly endorse the Ecclesiology of the Church as Religious Right Republican Party PAC. I suppose I should care, but (I’ll be in trouble for this) on one level it seems that if that is what the Church has decided it’ll be, then, that’s what it’ll be, and folks like me, with my pacifist, communitarian, and “anti-economist” values will, as I so frequently am, by my fellow Orthodox, despised and derided as a “liberal” or other fashionable insults (even, if in some ways I am as much Conservative in the Burkean/Kirkian sense as “Socialist” in a very American sense). It’s been a long time since I’ve been a member of an OCA parish, and I left over precisely this derision, and they regard, my bishop, the Ecumenical Patriarch with just the same contempt, so I’ll leave them to their foolish devices…

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Here’s a link to the seminar alluded to in the above excerpt. Firstly, one must realise that unconverted Anglican slimers have taken over SVS (Chad Hatfield accepted an honorary degree from his Anglican seminary… what’s wrong with that picture?). Although these people make up only about 10 percent of the OCA, they’re disproportionately present in the clergy and are a majority of the OCA’s internet presence. Ergo, a false picture of the real situation is “out there”.

One shouldn’t read too much into such events… the majority of real ethnic Orthodox are still what they ever were. For instance, President Obama won the Valley in PA because Orthodox voters “came home” to the Democratic Party. These Angliochian poseurs are loud, but they’re not numerous. They got thrown out of PECUSA for being arrogant and loud pains-in-the-arse, and it looks like they’re cruisin’ for a bruisin’ again. PECUSA wasn’t “good enough” for their perfect presence, and it looks like Orthodoxy isn’t “good enough” for them, either. They’re going to form a vagante sect; the sooner that they’re gone, the better.

Don’t try to “engage” such people… civility will get you nowhere. This lot has sold out to the American Rightwing lock-stock-and-barrel. Their politics is more important than the Church is… the exact opposite of the case with real Orthodox (I have Cabinet members who agree with me on Church issues, but bitterly disagree on politics). The REAL Church is free… the phony Angliochian sectarians march in lockstep conformity… that’s a form of madness, kids. Don’t get tangled up in it, and don’t ever think that you can deal logically with them.

They’ll leave us soon enough, I’ll warrant… the only question is whether Potapov’s squiffy ROCOR lot in the District will join them (after all, that bunch has ties to such questionable sorts as Freddie M-G and Mattingly). You see, the Rodina is turning leftward… and Potapov’s Langley paymasters may very well lead him out of the ROCOR (he’s much more a CIA asset than a priest… but that’s been well-known for YEARS, I’m reporting no news on that one). Once they’re gone, we can go back to being what we always were… a live-and-let-live bunch, without wildass politics of any stripe (but with a strong bias to the union movement and social justice).

It can’t happen soon enough for my taste…

BMD

 

18 April 2013. Far Rightwing Pigs to Offer Seminar at SVS… Boy, How the Worm Has Turned!

We demand the scrapping of all social welfare programmes now! We don’t care what His Holiness teaches on social justice. We stand with the Acton Institute, not with our Patriarch… we like them better!

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Read this. The Acton Institute is a pro-papist pro-crapitalist stink tank founded by the rather questionable rightwing crank Robert Sirico. SVS and the OCA piss on the Orthosphere, yet again. Until the papists bring their Uniate attack dogs to heel, we shouldn’t have anything to do with Catholic organisations, and especially not with questionable political forums such as the Acton Institute. Now, this is an interesting turnabout for SVS… in the ’80s, one could count on them being the most “left” bunch in Orthodoxy. Of course, now, they kiss the collective bums of the konvertsy… and they’re all rightwing kooks. I never thought that I’d see it… but live long enough, and you’ll see the most damnedest things. SVS has gone right-wing! One wonders why… however, they’re still nutty-squirrel modernists in theology, that hasn’t changed. What a combination… Pavel Ivanovich von Meyendorff’s rants on “liturgical fundamentalism” and Chad Hatfield’s rightwing bloviations… all on the same campus… oddly enough, they appear to be of one mind on theology… they haven’t abandoned ADS‘ heretical opinions in the least. I see that Deborah Belonick is still around… one would think that she’d be more consistent (and not support such rightwing lunacy)… but “Paris is worth a mass”, no?

If this doesn’t prove, yet again, that shitbirds of a feather flock together…

BMD

 

2 November 2012. Blunder Visits SVS and GOAA… People Wonder Why Fathausen Does What He Does… We shouldn’t make Martyrs out of the Monomuckos Twits

The original low-res image on patriarchia.ru… the Blunder didn’t rate a “photo album” again. Poor baby…

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Click here and here for the patriarchia.ru take on the Blunder’s peregrinations in the USA (again, these are from the Blunder’s Little Shop of Horrors, not the main MP media service). Demetrios Traketellis and the Blunder discussed the OCA… without any OCA clergy being present. There’s no report out on what they discussed, so speculation on it is bootless and futile. Nonetheless, it doesn’t bode well for the Syossset set. Later, the Blunder met with SVS Pooh-Bahs in a hotel in the City. Again, a whole lot of nothing was said, and nothing substantial came of it. When the Blunder emplaned for Moscow, no OCA clergy accompanied him to the airport, only Archbishop Yustinian Ovchinnikov and MP clergy. Again, it doesn’t bode well for the Syosset set (Lyonyo should have seen him off at the airport, but he’s too busy dealing with the fast-deteriorating situation with the Parma Sobor).

A Cabinet member asked:

Why does JP keep shooting himself in the foot?

A voice from the grapevine replied:

You don’t know? Well, neither do we. Their take seems to be, “[Rymer] wasn’t convicted of a crime, and that makes him a victim”.

I think that the grapevine has it right. No one knows why Fathausen keeps associating with dubious sorts. Let’s see… there was Podmoshensky… then, there was the HOOMies… the stories about Dimitri Royster won’t die (why did he build his cathedral in the gay side of town?)… then, we have this guy Rymer who had a sealed judgement against him. If this were the GOAA, there’d be no shilly-shallying. Rymer would get the boot, permanently, with no chance of getting back in. Hey, look at how the GOAA dealt with that perv in Ohio… there was no hesitation… he got the chop, and he got it right smartly, within the week. If Rymer has a judgement against him, he should go, and that’s that.

Another Cabinet member is of the opinion that the hierarchy shouldn’t suppress Monomuckos. “That would make them martyrs”. Indeed, counter these bastards with the truth… but don’t give them the satisfaction of a martyric end. They’re going to leave us… probably, sooner than later. Let them go. The only thing that we should say is, “Don’t let the door hit you in the arse as you go”.

Lots of interesting stuff in the agora, as per usual. Keep an open mind, open eyes, and open ears… and do bite any coin offered you…

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Friday 2 November 2012

Albany NY

 

16 August 2012. Plans for Parma Sobor Gell… Is It Going to be Relevant?

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One of the Cabinet sent this on:

The Holy Synod wants to hold the election in church; that’s why it’s going to be in Parma. Not sure if the building’s big enough or if the local fire department will allow it to be used for such. Peterson and Popp want it ASAP… talk is of November or December, for one day only.

If this buzz is accurate, it means that the OCA Sobor will occur AFTER the London Conference. That is, it could be “too little, too late”. If sufficient momentum arises from the London conclave, then, this sobor would be a dead letter (“Parma Place“, anyone?). Events aren’t happening in a vacuum… to be blunt, there’s no logical candidate for the white hat left in the OCA… none. If the Centre sends its rumoured white hat to New York, you can be sure that parishes will begin to leave the OCA, and, once that occurs, it’s sayonara time.

In the meantime, things are going to be MORE confused and murky. Don’t trust what you hear, especially from the Syosset or SVS crowd. Have a care…

BMD

19 July 2012. A Sobering Cri de Cœur from an “Insider”

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One of the Cabinet sent me this, which came from someone “in the belly of the beast”:

What can I say? There are some weird ideas out there. Who’s going to “win” this one? I have no idea. X was right… these guys are cannibals. I don’t support JP and I never did. It was shameful the way he criticised Theodosius and Herman publicly at the Pittsburgh Sobor. Somehow, everyone cheered him as a champion then, but he’s gotten the same public treatment now. It’s shameful that the OCA continues to knock its leaders publicly. There are many complicated questions here, and I’m sure that JP’s done a lot of bad things. However, the Synod of Bishops has done a great deal of bad things as well… both corporately and individually.

That’s how deep the rot has set in. It’s discouraging those who are “at the centre of things”. This is NOT something to gloat about, not in the least. I can see the disappointment in the above post, that’s why I deleted what could give a hint as to the poster’s identity. This person is hurt; this person feels trampled upon and betrayed. Here’s what fries my ice to a T… the self-centred bastards in the Synod, SVS, the MC, and the First Families don’t give a damn for the lowly sloggers who’ve supported them over the years (often, getting brickbats for doing so). These people got it coming and going… and they didn’t get any benes or attaboys from it, either. To be frank, the whole rotten edifice is uninhabitable and disease-ridden; we must raze it utterly, not just down to the foundations, and we must return to “our father’s house”… where there’s a warm room and meal waiting, and Mother Kirk is looking for us. There’s no place like home…

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Thursday 19 July 2012

Albany NY

11 July 2012. Lyonyo and Tosi Stonewalling All Requests for Information… Refuse to Give Any Details on “Resignation”

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Tosi and Lyonyo are stonewalling all requests for information, and their drooling lickspittle, Lil’ Mizz Ginny, just approves of it all. What’s interesting is that the First Family coup members haven’t only not released a coherent “narrative” to date, they’re apparently refusing to do so in future. Click here and here for the uninformative oca.org posts on the matter. Note Tosi’s arrogant and smarmy tone in his “announcement:

The facts of the Metropolitan’s decision are contained in his statement, which has been posted on the OCA website. At this time of transition, all of the Chancery’s efforts are directed at moving forward in faith and good order, ensuring that the Church’s mission of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ is strengthened. As events may require, further information will be posted on the OCA website, which should be seen as the official source of information about the Church. We ask everyone’s prayers for the hierarchs, clergy and faithful of the OCA.

In other words, “All of you unwashed peasant motherfuckers have to pay, pray, and obey. We’re not going to tell you anything, and you don’t deserve to know anything. It’s all for us, and you can leave if you don’t like it”. Nothing was reported of the Tuesday night Holy Synod meeting… this is in marked contrast to the Centre which issues disclosure of what was discussed at Synod meetings and all zhurnaly (decisions) are publicising immediately for the believers to scrutinise. Of course, the militant atheist repression taught the Centre a thing or two… like being honest DOES work and decentralisation is the way to go. In short, one can see that the problem in the Church wasn’t Herman… it wasn’t JP. They were symptoms, not causes. There’s a culture of institutional secrecy in the OCA… Schmemann brought it in after Vladyki Leonty‘s death. You see, ADS was going to remake the OCA according to his Renovationist fancies, and SVS was going to be his vehicle. His motto was, “The believers be damned”, as the Church War and l’Affaire Mayfield pointed up. This attitude is still alive, especially amongst SVS grads (all of whom were contaminated to some extent or another with ADS’ notions).

A priest said this:

Bishops owe the people an explanation of WHY they unanimously demanded the resignation now, and not whenever. Nothing less just adds to the sense of drift and confusion.

Not only are the believers refusing to accept the plotters silence, neither are the grounded clergy. The putschists are in the deep kimchi, but there are going to be rosy reports from Lil’ Mizz Ginny until the very end. It has been five days since the “resignation”… and there’s no news of the the “resignation” on either Interfax or patriarchia.ru. As a Moscow source told me:

They lied to us before, and they’re probably lying to us, again.

There it is. No one believes the putschists, not here, not at the Centre. Expect things to be murkier in the immediate near term, and believe NOTHING that comes out of Syosset. After all, it’s the same ol’ cabal there, isn’t it?

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Albany NY