Here’s something that all goodhearted people will recognise immediately… a samogon still. You outlaw vodka in Russia… out come the stills! Just like they are trying to “outlaw” free speech in the OCA… I observe there are plenty of “stills” and “moonshiners” out there! You just won’t find them on oca.org or on Stokoe’s website, that’s all (and Rod won’t tell the folks at Templeton about them, either)…
It appears that I’m not alone in my concerns about the konvertsy. One of my cyber-friends sent me the following. As I know that the OCA/AOCANA Renovationists are nasty and ugly to those who disagree with them, I am keeping my friend “anonymous” (the last thing they need is the tender mercies of “Gavriil”, “John” of Ad Orientam, or “Hank Leaf”). One can tell readily from the style that I didn’t write it (although I do agree wholeheartedly and wish that I DID think of it… the Good Lord DOES have his ways of teaching humility, no?). Reflect on this… the OCA is about 40 percent of its size in membership as it was in 1970, but it has 50 percent more parishes. All things being equal, that tells us that the standards of the “average” priest in the OCA/AOCANA have fallen… there are people such as Matthew Tate (who was nothing but a self-appointed HOOMie cult guru) who were ordained without a proper seminary formation… and such a man is a close advisor to JP (it does not matter if they went to seminary AFTER ordination… that means that unformed and unqualified sorts are being ordained). Then, there are shake n’ bakes such as George Washburn or Peter Gillquist who were ordained without any Orthodox formation at all… makes one’s head spin! Well, here’s my friend’s thoughts, and I agree with them wholeheartedly and unreservedly…
BMD
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Once they infiltrate among us, they proceed to form their own “set” (jurisdiction, vicariate, deanery, parish… call it what you will). This is what they did as Protestants, setting up their own convenient little “church”, i.e, sect, so that shouldn’t surprise you. Today, this situation has led to two forms of Orthodox parish, there are normal ones, but there are others that are downright weird, the two, of course, are mutually exclusive. In normal parishes, founded by this or that Orthodox ethnic group, the babas and iaias keep things on the straight and narrow. Then, there are tiny “convert” parishes. They’re scary in the extreme, they may go on for years without any positive development, although, fortunately they’re always very small and exclusive ghettos, usually set up in front rooms or back gardens. They’re the same in all countries. Why? They all suffer from the same spiritual disease.
The ethos is beardy-weirdy, stuck-up, self-important, and absurdly pretentious, with lots of bookworm theories. Any normal person can see their inflated egos from miles away. They are generally bookish and self-satisfied, a priggish set with miserable and constipated faces (have they ever heard the word “happy?”), lists of fantasy rules, pettifoggery in ritual, and weird clothes, with a hatred and contempt for reality. Get a life, all of you. They are forever quoting this or that ancient canon, telling us that we should follow it, not our practise, which we inherited in our childhood from our parents and grandparents. Therefore, they never kneel on Sundays… unlike most Orthodox. They refuse to use any other language than English, which is because they can’t be bothered to learn a little to show sympathy with others. All this is under the camouflage of a false “universalism”. In fact, they’re racist. I know what I’d do to cure them… I’d give them all a very strong laxative every day for six months. That would clean it all out of them.
Voices from Russia 
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