Kaffa, near Korsun (but in Paris)

Igumen Nestor Syrotenko (1974- ), named Bishop of Kaffa as vicar bishop for the Diocese of Korsun in western Europe… shall he bring the healthy elements of the Paris group back to Russian Orthodox unity? God willing, he shall!

Recently, in St Petersburg, a session of the Holy Synod decided to name Igumen Nestor Syrotenko, rector of Three Holy Hierarchs Cathedral in Paris, as a vicar bishop for the Diocese of Korsun with the title “of Kaffa”. Kaffa was an ancient Greek settlement in Chersonesos Taurica (modern-day Crimea), near the equally ancient town of Korsun. The minutes of the meeting of the Synod noted that the appointment was made at the suggestion of Archbishop Innokenty Vasiliev of Korsun. This, then, is a manifestation of great closeness in the space and time, and of spiritual continuity. Providence has shown us its generosity… we will cry out “Axios” at the upcoming consecration with love, and we remember the English expression, “the right man for the right chair!” Russian Orthodoxy in France, again, and yet again, is tormented by jurisdictional disputes and fights between those who are faithful to tradition and the supporters of Renovationism. All of this is largely generated by an influx of new converts, linguistic confusion, and a desire to invent a new church structure, divorced from the Mother Church. If you log on the internet and read for only five minutes, the intensity of the mutual and inflamed rejection of the parties in France is horrifying.

Vladyki Nestor does not have any memory of the repercussions of the Soviet terror; he was from a generation that barely remembers their short stay in the already moribund Pioneer organisation. He is from a family of Moscow intellectuals; he grew up at a time when people were not afraid to be openly Orthodox. He’s one of those young people whose call and admission to the theological academy was not a desire to find refuge in the Church from an absurd society, as many used to do. It was his conscious will and choice to serve God. Knowledge of the language led him to Paris to study at St Sergius Institute and to his appointment at Three Hierarchs Cathedral. Fr Nestor knew Vladyki Sergei Konovalov when he was alive, as Fr Nestor was rector of the parish of the Assumption in Asnières for a few years, where he earned the love of the faithful from the EP Exarchate parish. After he became the rector of Three Saints Cathedral, he had to often travel all over France, to serve at parishes that didn’t have a parish priest. As a result, he travelled all throughout the Korsun diocese in France during the ten years that Archbishop Innocent has been in office. This is on top of his pastoral trips to Italy, Spain, and Portugal.

I would have no hesitation in saying that he is the best preacher I have ever heard in my life. Fr Nestor could relate the most complex theological theorems or the most intimate moments of his spiritual life in the form of stories, almost offhand, as unobtrusive instruction. Many people would like to see him publish his sermons in a book. His long experience as rector of Three Hierarchs parish has made him into a reincarnation of St John Chrysostom! His spiritual children are blessed, God willing, he will be able to continue to hear their confessions. “The right man for the right chair”… may the labour of Bishop Nestor hasten the reconciliation amongst Russian Orthodox people in France.

7 June 2010

Nikita Krivoshein

Русская Мысль (Париж) (Russian Thought (Paris))

As quoted in Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=print&div=11471

Editor’s Note:

I was looking to see if there was a news article explaining Fr Lambert’s fearful utterances. Indeed, there was, and here it is. Reflect on this, “Krivoshein” is a name long-associated with both the Exarchate and the OCA/Metropolia. If such people are applauding the coming reunion, this is happy news. It is only a matter of time before the Renovationists fall here too… if I were Bobby or JP, I’d not be overconfident. After Paris is settled, it shall be the turn of America…

BMD

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Priest of the Paris Exarchate Claims there is too much “Russianness” in His Church

The Confessor of Christ Lydia Plas (1933-2010)… barred from the Mysteries unilaterally and without a hearing by Gabriel. Reflect on this… SVS supported (and supports to this day) this iniquitous action. Why? It’s what Schmemann taught them… that’s why! Pray for the repose of her soul… she stood for what was right and paid the cost. She is a heroine of the Faith.

Fr Lambert van Dinter from Nantes, a clergyman of the Exarchate of Russian Parishes of Western Europe (EP), expressed concern over what he sees as excessive “Russianness” (русскостью) amongst the clergy of the Exarchate. “We lack the determination to overcome Russianness, we should be doing more about this question”, he said at a scheduled diocesan convention of the Archdiocese. In his opinion, the priests of the Archdiocese “don’t often enough reiterate that the Church is neither Russian nor Greek nor Romanian, they should give life to such words. At a time when some in our diocese deny the spirit of Orthodox supra-national unity, or even try to destroy this spirit when they find it, which sows dissension, we must return to what is needful…  following Christ in a specific place, the place where we live”, Fr Lambert said.

Lydia Plas, a parishioner of St Nicholas Cathedral in Nice, wrote an article, “A Russian Church of Magnificent Beauty”, which appeared in the newspaper Русская мысль (Russian Thought), it brought to light the parish life of St Nicholas Cathedral. She noted that the rector, Archpriest Johann Heidt, along with the other clergy of the cathedral, took an openly Russophobic position, so, she pointed up, “They neglected Russian traditions and discouraged them”, and, as a result, “Everything Russian in parish life is curtailed and abandoned”. Shortly after its publication, Archbishop Gabriel de Vylder of Comana, the head of the Exarchate, excommunicated her from the Eucharist for an indefinite period. The numerous letters written by Mme Plas requesting her readmission to the Eucharist were ignored. In March 2010, at the age of 76, she passed away after a serious illness.

In 1921, Patriarch Tikhon Bellavin founded the Russian Orthodox Diocese in Western Europe for the spiritual care of Russian émigrés. In 1931, its first head, Metropolitan Evlogy Geogrievsky, refused the request of Metropolitan Sergei Stragorodsky to swear an oath of loyalty to the Soviets, and, with most of the clergy and laity, came under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople, who decreed that the diocese receive the status of a temporary Exarchate of Russian Orthodox Parishes.

7 June 2010

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=35914

Is the Shmemannshchyna almost over? May God grant such… and soon!

Editor’s Note:

The days of the Paris Gang are numbered and its Russophobic zealots are feeling the heat. If you were to ask my opinion, Bart sold ‘em out in Peredelkino for a mess of pottage (or was it a pot of kasha n’ ‘shrooms? It was in Russia, after all). I could be wrong, of course… but do remember that a 0.300 hitter is considered good (and a 0.400 record is thought of as amazin’). Look at these words, “At a time when some in our diocese deny the spirit of Orthodox supra-national unity, or even try to destroy this spirit when they find it, which sows dissension, we must return to what is needful… following Christ in a specific place, the place where we live”. These are not the words of a confident man. They are the words of a fearful coward who dreads what the future is bringing. Do note this passage of the Interfax article, “the status of a temporary Exarchate of Russian Orthodox Parishes”. Perhaps, that “temporary” status is ending, God willing. All those who persecuted Lydia Plas will find themselves out in the cold… and from the words above, it seems that this Fr Lambert was one of them. There shall be justice for Lydia Plas in the end (and may we hope for justice for the memory of Eric Iliff, as well?)…

Do reflect that such Renovationists as John Behr, John Breck, Seraphim Sigrist, and the whole scurvy crew at SVS support Gabriel’s unilateral action unreservedly. Why? It’s what they do and what they teach, after all. Can you believe that they preach that people can “automatically excommunicate themselves?” I kid you NOT! It’s well known that the OCA casually “excommunicates” people left and right… often leaving people without the Mysteries for years. No one speaks up because they are afraid of sharing that fate (that’s why the Renovationists teach “automatic reception at every liturgy”… it makes it obvious who the “sinners” are). Schmemann taught them that… where did he come from? I think it was the Paris Gang, wasn’t it? If the days of the Paris Gang are numbered, perhaps, the same is true of their conniving confrères in the OCA. God willing, that’s true…

BMD

Editor’s Postscript:

Here’s a little something that I just received from a waggish friend in the MP:

Just heard it: Fr So-phoney. Sums up the whole bunch of them and their fawning Paris/Oxford/OCA/Agliochian admirers… over-educated fools. When it finally hits the fan, I will certainly have been miles away for decades.

I confess before Almighty God… yes… it was me… I did pass on the usages “Angliochian” and “Schmemandorf” to everyone of my acquaintance. What’s that? Oh, yes… I did mention “the Franky and Joey Show” more than once. Oh… you’re NOT complaining… I’ll just keep on keeping on until the end, then… and we’ll see a good result, won’t we? For it won’t be just me (thank God)…

Afghan Parliamentarian Wants All Muslims Who Convert to Christianity to Face the Death Penalty

Abdul Rahman (1965- ), a convert to Christianity from Islam, he faced trial in Afghanistan for his conversion and was threatened with the death penalty. He was given sanctuary in Italy. Afghanistan does not recognise Christianity as a legal religion and threatens all converts with the death penalty… and the neocons support them. Birds of a feather, I’ll say!

Abdul Sattar Havasi, a deputy in the House of the People (the lower house of the Afghani parliament), urged the public execution of all those who convert to Christianity. Scenes of a baptism and a prayer service shown on the local television station Noorin TV upset the parliamentarians. Mr Havasi proposed that those who appeared in the video should be “publicly executed” and called on his colleagues to send a request demanding such to the General Procurator. The video also outraged students at Kabul University. Hundreds of students staged a protest during which they chanted death threats against converts to Christianity, demanding the expulsion of foreign missionaries from Afghanistan, the British newspaper Christian Today wrote, quoting the human rights organisation International Assistance to Christians. As a result, Afghanistan has suspended [the activities of] two Christian humanitarian organisations, Norwegian Church Aid and Church World Service (from the USA). According to human rights advocates, today, many Afghan Christians are in hiding out of fear of repression by the authorities.

7 June 2010

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=35913

This is what we got in return for supporting Bin Laden… what shall we get for supporting Karzai?

Editor’s Note:

Looks like the neocons have another order of Crow Supreme waiting for them! If this isn’t Taliban Lite, I don’t know what it is! The US is pouring billions of dollars into propping up the Karzai junta… and THIS is its reward. The USA deserves a Golden Evil George Weigel Award for supporting such smut (and it owes an apology to the families of the brave soldiers who fell in this wicked war to shore up an Islamicist state). There was much wrong with the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan… it was a client state of the USSR, after all (and they shot their share of “undesirables”)… but I’ll say this, women could work without harassment, girls could go to school, bride price was abolished, forced marriage was banned, and there was an effort to modernise the country. The people in the cities mainly supported the PDPA, a fact forgotten by neocon apologists of the war in Afghanistan (just as they conveniently “forget” to tell you that the USA was the prime mover in the genesis of Bin Laden (and of neocon support for him at the time)). However, only a quarter of the population was urbanised, and the mujahideen found support in the rural areas. Let’s not forget that the West bankrolled the rise of Bin Laden… and its payback was 9/11. What shall be our reward for supporting Karzai et al? Perspiring minds want to know…

BMD