Fallen Angel
Fr Vladislav Provotorov
undated (1990s?)
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Read this. Jillions officially accepts the post… this means that Eric Wheeler et al are back. It’s sad to say, but true, that Robert Taft SJ is a “Catholic John Jillions” and John Jillions is an “Orthodox Robert Taft SJ”… Taft/Jillions… Jillions/Taft… what’s the difference? God preserve us. Ginny Nieuwsma did her usual incompetent job… of course, in part, one has to admit that she’s stuck with a nasty dogsbody’s lot. She has to print whatever copy Lyonyo and El Gordo thrust at her (it does speak to her character… not good, is it?). Firstly, note this:
He was a founding director of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge and served as its first Principal from 1999 until 2002.
Sounds impressive, huh? Several sources familiar with the English scene told me that this “institute” was nothing but a set of tatty hired rooms in a ramshackle commercial building. On top of that, Jillions ended up accomplishing nothing because of interference from his harridan wife, Denise. In addition, it’s not clear where Jillions is going to live. Is he going to move to Syosset, or, is he going to stay in Ottawa? After all, his “ruling” “hierarch”, Her Grace Bishop +DENISE, may not “bless” the move… and he’s been an obvious Caspar Milquetoast for years.
Another thing left out of Lil’ Mizz Ginny’s gushing encomium was that Jillions was a priest at the very parish in Ottawa that Bishop Lazar Puhalo claims Storheim was visiting and hearing confessions at. That is… Jillions allowed a suspended clergyman to hear confessions, which is NOT according to Hoyle. If you look at oca.org, you’ll find no listing for Storheim under the heading “Bishops”, nor will you find him under “Archdiocese of Canada”… and serving under suspension’s a grave no-no, one that’s punishable by deposition. Don’t forget… Puhalo was a vagante until Storheim regularised him (and his pal Varlaam Novakshonov). That is, the fact that Storheim was his benefactor taints Puhalo’s statement. What’s especially puzzling is that Seraphim accepted Puhalo and his confrère as “retired bishops”, when they had NEVER served as OCA hierarchs in the first place. It’s not usual; in the normal course of events, the Church receives vagante bishops as archpriests or archimandrites. The more that one looks into this, the murkier it becomes.
Lil’ Mizz Ginny also “forgets” to tell you that Jillions is an employee of the Uniates. Of Uniates! Instead of going on and on… Let me give you some statements that I translated from Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov… a solid and trusty man:
Fr Alexander Schmemann’s negative attitude toward symphonia is simply his personal idiosyncrasy. Many great fathers of the Church made a completely different appraisal of the symphonia between Church and state. In symphonia, of course, there are both negative and positive aspects. Between the Orthodox government and the Orthodox Church there was co-operation and concerted creative work. Sometimes, it was at a cost, of course. Does it happen otherwise? Symphonia can be ridiculed, but we can also see its unquestionable merits.
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The Return of the Prodigal Son
Ilya Glazunov
1977
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We CAN turn away from the drivel taught by Schmemann and carried out by Lyonyo, Stokoe, Jillions, Love BT, and Wheeler… but shall we?
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Demetrios Rhompotis
Russian and other Eastern European churches have suffered, and are suffering, from the activities of Uniates, a very treacherous process sanctioned by the Vatican, in which appearances are kept intact, whilst the Faith is essentially compromised. This is one of the major obstacles in the dialogue, really, what kind of a dialogue can you sustain with someone who claims to be infallible, between the schismatic Romans and the Ecumenical Patriarchate. What’s your take on that?
Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov
I’ll return once again to the film. Many critics reproach the film as being “anti-Western”, but that isn’t true. Two things are very clearly stated about the Roman Catholic West, Of course, it’s senseless to say that the West was to blame for Byzantium’s misfortunes and fall. The West was only pursuing its own interests, which is quite natural. Byzantium’s historical blows occurred when the Byzantines themselves betrayed their own principles upon which their empire was established …The Byzantines were supposed to understand that the West wanted only complete and unconditional religious and political submission. Not only was the Pope to be recognised as infallible, but the West itself as well. These two postulates, the exclusiveness of their own interests and their infallibility, it seems to me, remain unchanged in the Vatican’s policies even now. It would be naïve, at the least, not to take these two basic constants of Roman Catholicism into consideration.
As for the Uniates, those who now talk today, for example, about autocephaly for the Ukrainian Church, forget that this is, in fact, part of an old Roman Catholic project worked out during the tragic Union of Brest in the Ukraine back in the 16th century. Later, the leader of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholics, Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky, wrote in a letter to Emperor Franz Joseph in 1914 that, in order to make the Ukraine Roman Catholic, it’s necessary to separate it from the Russian Church, create a “Kiev-Galician Orthodox Patriarchate”, and, then, soon afterwards, transfer it to the “bosom of the Catholic Church” through the Uniate process. Of course, you could say to me in the words of Heraclitus, “No man ever steps in the same river twice”. That’s true, of course… but you can easily jump into one and the same puddle.
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The Kiss of Judas
Ilya Glazunov
1985
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I don’t need to tell you what this represents… there are those who believe in power before they believe in Christ… things haven’t changed, have they?
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Here’s what Fr Vsevolod Chaplin had to say:
These people didn’t know that we believe that not all of those who confess the Name of Christ can hold joint prayer together. We found out who our friends were. Some were our brothers and sisters in Christ, who understood the situation when we explained to them in a charitable manner why we don’t pray with heterodox Christians. Others turned up their noses and refused to speak to us.
https://02varvara.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/27-may-2008-a-thought-from-fr-vsevolod/
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The Orthodox faithful can visit Catholic or Protestant churches, they can attend heterodox services, without joining the common prayer, of course, and they can say Orthodox prayers in shrines common to all Christians, all of these are permissible, it goes without saying. However, we should decline participation in common public or private prayer with the heterodox.
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Archimandrite Tikhon is the Superior of the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow and the confessor of the Putin family. Fr Vsevolod is the head of the MP Department of Church and Society, and he’s the closest confidant to His Holiness. Neither of these men are Renovationist lightweights like John Jillions. You DO have a choice. Firstly, you must decide… shall I follow Lyonyo (Jillions’ obvious puppeteer) or shall I follow Fr Vsevolod and Archimandrite Tikhon? If you follow the former, you spit on Our Lord Christ by approving of the Unia. If you choose the latter course, you must understand that the SVS mob will hate you… the konvertsy will shout imprecations at you… but you’ll stand for Christ. It’s hard… and I’ll not say that it’s an easy decision. Let’s wrap this up with something that I wrote earlier on my art site concerning a painting by Glazunov… when you see it, you’ll understand why I chose it.
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Christ and Antichrist
Ilya Glazunov
1999
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This illustrates an essential point in Orthodox theology. The Anti-Christ shall be so much like the real Christ that he’ll fool many. It’s also an indication of an important point raised by Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn. The dividing line between good and evil doesn’t run between people, it runs in the midst of each human heart. If we don’t cleanse our hearts of as much evil as we can manage, we shall mistake Anti-Christ (evil) for Christ (the good). If you need an illustration, one need only look at the present OCA situation, where a small number of pseudo-intellectuals and apparatchiki have hijacked the church.
It reminds me of an actual situation between two twin brothers, identical physically, but antipodes apart in attitude. One brother was faithful to the Church and its traditions, he fought for the right, he loved his heritage, and he ended well. The other was faithless (although he was a priest), he taught his deviations as truth, and he didn’t end well. Orthodox in America know one of the brothers very well. He was Aleksandr Dmitrievich Schmemann, the former rector of St Vladimir’s Seminary, unfortunately, a ravening Modernist. He was the faithless brother. His identical-twin-brother is unknown to most American Orthodox, as SVS does not wish the OCA faithful to know of his dedicated life and good works. Nevertheless, God shall reward Andrei Dmitrievich Schmemann for his loyalty and defence of tradition.
See, it’s like the painting. One has to have clear inner vision to discern the truth. I don’t claim to have the clearest vision, but I see well enough to avoid the pit-falls. So should you. Spare a prayer for the repose of the soul of the Loyal Servant of God Andrei; we’ll sorely miss him.
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One last thing… Archimandrite Tikhon singled out Andrei Sheptytsky as a particular enemy of Christ’s Church… John Jillions worked at a Uniate establishment named for this hesiarch. THAT speaks volumes, and tells you what to do, doesn’t it? We have a Church to rebuild… and we can’t pour “new wine” into “old wineskins”. God willing, Jillions’ “reign” will be short and ignominious. I’d advise him NOT to quit his Uniate job… he’ll need it.
Barbara-Marie Drezhlo
Sunday 23 October 2011
Albany NY
Voices from Russia 
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