They Shall Not Pass!

Ils ne passeront pas! They shall not pass!

There was an interesting piece of news to come out of the last OCA Synod of Bishops meeting. Firstly, let’s take a look at the source material:

The OCA hired a new Treasurer. Ms Melanie Ringa’s  nomination received the endorsement of Fr Michael Tassos, the former Treasurer, and the search committee, as well as support from all familiar with her work as the current Assistant Chancellor for Finances at St Vladimir’s Seminary. The OCA and SVS will now both have a part-time Treasurer; a change Ms Ringa agrees is possible given the available software and the respective budgets of the institutions. The hiring of Ms Ringa and other changes in the OCA Finance Office will finally enable the OCA to use the Blackbaud’s Financial Edge and Raisers Edge accounting and development accounting software it purchased some years ago…

A brief report was made by OCA Secretary Fr Eric Tosi regarding the SIC’s recommendation for an audit of the books of the former Diocese of New York and New Jersey between 2001-2005.  Fr Tosi reported that an audit was not possible, as there are no diocesan financial records for those years. They simply do not exist. The Council, accepting Fr Tosi’s report, moved on to other business.

Orthodox Christians for Accountability

29 September 2009

http://www.ocanews.org/news/MCReport9.29.09.html

Well, well, well… There is one thing for certain! This news means that the faithful are still sitting on their hands as far as giving to the national church is concerned (I remember what the plaintive Syosset apparatchik said when he appeared at my parish… “Everything has changed! You can send your money now!”). The OCA is so strapped for cash that it has been forced to hire one person to fill the slot of Treasurer at both SVS and Syosset. Up to this point, the OCA and SVS have followed what I would call “Vara’s Theorem” or, the “Law of Ruritanian Organisations”. This is defined quite simply as, “One never appoints a single person for a given function when two are available”. A codicil adds, “The functions of the two individuals shall be so vaguely constructed so that there is no clear boundary as to where one person’s bailiwick begins and the other’s ends”.

This destroys any claim by SVS that it is a “pan-Orthodox” institution… it is now revealed as nothing but the cat’s-paw of Syosset. Truly, it always was such, only, now, with this combination of offices, it is manifest and clear. It appears that the folks who told me that SVS was having hard times with donations weren’t lying! Furthermore, this news infers that the central administration is strapped for cash after paying off its shyster lawyers and paying for two flashy junkets (one to Moscow and another one pending to Georgia) for JP and his entourage. Hmm… SVS is having a “green” Orthodox Education Day… I know what kind of “green” they need! This bill is legal tender for all debts public and private… it appears that they are lacking that kind, in spades! Virginia… there is a God, and He wasn’t joking when He said that His wheels of justice ground slowly, but, they do grind finely… yes, sir, VERY fine, indeed!

The first paragraph is pure blather… accounting software is ancient technology in the cyberworld. It’s been around for about 20 years! There was no “search” for a new treasurer; the choice of the present SVS CFO to fill both slots is evidence of that. The question now is why Bobby K (the “power behind the throne”) lost confidence in Tassos. When Tassos was appointed, there was no talk of consolidating the SVS and Syosset Treasurer slots. He was JP’s Great White Hope. Apparently, everyone had the same impression of Tassos as I did. He showed himself to be an utter phoney when he claimed that any investigation of past fiduciary transgressions would “destroy the Church”.

Yes, Virginia, there was an Orthodox seminary called St Platon’s in Tenafly NJ in 1916… Here is their baseball team… it was lost due to dodgy real-estate deals after the Russian Revolution… we are heading for a replay of that if the present crew is not replaced and soon!

Nonetheless, one must have pity for the poor fellow… he is the latest victim to be thrown from the train by the cabal. Who’s next? What is going to be the next reorganisation? As the money dries up, another of the SVS/Syosset drones shall bite the dust. This IS a replay of the history surrounding Bishop Alexander Nemolovsky at the time of the Revolution. We have to find out which properties are mortgaged and what “lines of credit” are being tapped by the present set of artful dodgers in Syosset. Don’t forget that we lost St Platon Seminary in Tenafly NJ during Nemolovsky’s administration because of dodgy loans. It looks as though there could be a replay of the past, here… only, then, it was a crisis caused by the Russian Revolution. Now, it is a crisis brought about as an end-result of the crack-brained notions of ADS and the whole autocephalist crew.

The second paragraph is sinister. Let me repeat the most telling part:

Fr Tosi reported that an audit was not possible, as there are no diocesan financial records for those years. They simply do not exist. The Council, accepting Fr Tosi’s report, moved on to other business.

The diocesan financial records do not exist! That is, the OCA is claiming that if the IRS were to ask for records, Mr Tosi would say, “I’m sorry. The records don’t exist”. I know who would be wearing prison orange for contempt of court if that were said! Mr Tosi would either miraculously “find” the “misplaced” records, or, he would rat out Igor Burdikoff for handing the records to Bobby K. Iggy (being the piece-of-work that he is), in turn, would finger Bobby K as the actual destroyer of the records (if the records were not destroyed, they would be available, so, logic tells us that RSK destroyed the records… you can’t have it both ways!). Perhaps, all of these paladins of respectability could be sent to the Federal minimum-security prison camp in South Canaan PA… it’s just down the road from St Tikhon’s Monastery! It would be an easy matter to give them the pastoral care that they deserve…

This is WICKED. This is a SHAM. This is RIDICULOUS.

Let me repeat the two most-incriminating sentences:

Fr Tosi reported that an audit was not possible, as there are no diocesan financial records for those years. They simply do not exist.

The financial records “simply do not exist”. Could you imagine what would have happened to Seán O’Malley, the RC bishop of Boston, if he had used that in court as a defence? He would have been thrown to the hungriest lions available. He’d still be in the slam, with a long stretch ahead of him yet to go. He was a good, honest, and decent man, so, he faced the music, tough as it was for him and his diocese (What does this say of the OCA leadership and Metropolitan Council? Hmm…). It shall make for greater healing in the end, I would say. Kudos to Bishop O’Malley for doing the right (but painful) thing (does that make him not only a true son of Hibernia, but, a true son of Dagger John as well?)! Brickbats to the OCA for refusing not only to do the right thing, but, for being blatantly and openly contemptuous and dishonest, as well. PREPOSTEROUS! The OCA is a registered non-profit religious corporation… it is required to keep up-to-date, complete, and accessible financial records. However, according to Mr Tosi, the financial records “simply do not exist”. Why?

This cartoon is self-explanatory… Kondratick and Burdikoff should be praised for destroying the records of your Church… you have no right to complain according to them!

Igor Burdikoff, who handed over the records to Robert Kondratick, in flagrant violation of his fiduciary duties and responsibilities, is still the Dean of Upstate New York. Robert Kondratick, who, according to Mr Tosi, destroyed those records, is a paid employee of a parish that is part of the Diocese of the South of the OCA (which probably makes Joseph Fester an accessory in this, for continuing Mr Kondratick’s employment after the fact). This is something straight out of Through the Looking Glass… one expects to find the Jabberwocky around the next corner! Those who perpetrated a manifest felony are kept on as honoured employees! They are not even censured. Note well that Mr Stokoe, who purports to be such a paladin for the truth, is silent. For shame, sir, for shame!

The most damnable part of this is that the so-called Metropolitan Council sat on its hands. Officials of the church failed utterly in their duties and they are to be kept at their posts. What is wrong with this picture? JP is deranged if he allows this to pass. Records are destroyed… oh, well… on to the next point of order… ho, hum. This is STUNNING in its audacity. Herman Swaiko scourged the Church with whips, whilst JP and Co are plaguing it with scorpions.

Felony is ignored… it shall go away! No one shall trouble us. Let them eat cake! The Syosset/SVS cabal has spoken. “We declare these proceedings closed”. They truly think that they can pull this off.

This is what Syosset has been doing for years… shall it catch up to them?

“Chukcha says people not stupid. Big shot says everything OK… however… people not giving. Money run out… sooner or later… however… it will run out”.

“They don’t care, Chuk”.

“Chukcha says they will care… however… they will only care when sheriff comes to throw them out of their big house”.

“There’s more than one person who’d love to see that one, Chuk”.

The people are still hanging tough and not giving… that is encouraging. Keep it up! Remember Kristi Koumentakos and Eric Iliff! If you give the importunate boobs in Syosset one red cent, you spit on Eric’s grave and throw a rock at Kristi.

Remember the words to chorus of the old Sir Harry Lauder song Keep Right On to the End of the Road (he wrote it after his one-and-only son was killed in battle in 1916):

Keep right on to the end of the road, keep right on to the end.

If the way be long, let your heart be strong, keep right on ’round the bend.

If you’re tired and weary, still journey on, ‘till you come to your happy abode,

Where all you love, and you’re dreaming of, will be there, at the end of the road.

In fact, here is a link to a video of the song! Whistle it! Hum it! Sing it! Play it on the piano! Don’t forget… Let your heart be strong! If we all stand together, we can do it!

They shall not pass! God shall not be mocked.

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Thursday 1 October 2009

Albany NY

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