Read this:
7 March 2011
Dear fathers, brothers and sisters in Christ,
Asking your forgiveness on this first day of Great Lent, I beg you to trust, honour, and support the Synod of Bishops of our Orthodox Church in America, together with the Metropolitan Council and Chancery staff, in their unanimous efforts to fulfil their duties responsibly, which now most sadly include insisting upon and providing for proper counsel and care for our gravely troubled Metropolitan Jonah.
I also ask you to trust, honour, and support Mark Stokoe’s continued efforts through OCANews to report, question, criticise, and comment on the words and deeds of our Orthodox Church leaders for the sake of securing their best possible conduct of their God-given duties.
And, while respecting his right to speak and act as he sees fit, I also ask you not to trust, honour, or support Fr Joseph Fester’s opinions and views since his record hardly demonstrates worthiness of serious consideration.
May the Lord forgive our sins and failures. And may He guide and protect us in every way.
Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko
Dean Emeritus
St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary
******
This means that Thomas Hopko has thrown his support behind the Stokoe/Wheeler/Kishkovsky faction… opposing Fester means that he’s opposing JP, but there’s an open question now… on which side is Bobby going to fall? You see, it’s not a simple “us vs them” equation amongst the autocephalists. There are three competing factions… one headed by Lyonyo Kishkovsky, another by Bobby K, and the third by JP and his HOOMie minions. The factions headed by Kishkovsky and Bobby are down n’ dirty mortal enemies; the feud goes back at least thirty years. JP’s faction is newer, being mainly comprised of recent konvertsy (the hard core of his support being the HOOMie cultists). It’s no surprise that Hopko backed Stokoe… his son was in tight with Paul Hunchak and Eric Wheeler, who’re long-time partners in crime with Stokoe. This is Much Ado About Nothing. Nothing has changed in an essential sense, save for the fact that Hopko has declared publicly his opposition to JP’s faction… but that was deducible from his son’s relationships with Stokoe’s pals.
After the Silver letter, Stokoe is grasping for every shred of legitimisation that he can snatch. You’ll note that Stokoe is acting as though the Silver letter didn’t exist. When John Whiteford made some nasty comments concerning me, I addressed him directly, via a post on my site, and I warned him to back off. Someone warned me about a possible backstab from Iggy… I addressed that directly, too. Stokoe is a punk coward… he won’t face up to his attackers. This means that he’ a slinking skulker; that sort is the kind that backstabs and double-crosses, and they do it with a pious look on their face, too, no less.
Is this das Ende for JP? Frankly, Hopko should’ve kept his southern-fried yap shut… the only upshot of this is that Bobby and JP may make a tactical alliance, for self-preservation’s sake. El Gordo is dumber than dirt, but BP and Matthew Tate aren’t. It won’t keep Fathausen afloat… it’ll just prolong the death throes. However, the task of putting down JP will be much harder if Bobby allies himself with him. Furthermore, not only will Bobby probably make a pact with the Mad Monk, there’s Dickie Wood to consider. He’s been a chameleon. That is to say, he’s a “zebra”… is he a white horse with black stripes or a black horse with white stripes? As Wood lacks any academic qualifications for the priesthood (much like Gregory Jensen), one could expect him to back JP, but he could bolt at any time. Would he back Bobby? Would he back Kishkovsky? He wouldn’t really back JP… he’s not that barmy.
In short… ho hum. It’s just another manoeuvre on the part of the duelling autocephalist cabals. The only certain thing is that there won’t be any action from the Centre (save for an emergency) until after Easter. The Great Lent is a busy time for His Holiness, and his schedule is chock-a-block, and it was set months ago. That’s about all that there is to say…
Barbara-Marie Drezhlo
Monday 7 March 2011
Albany NY
Voices from Russia 
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