Total madness, of course, but I can’t help but share it. This “fresco” is in a church of the “Kiev Patriarchate” in Kremenets (Ternopol Oblast) in the “Ukraine”. This pseudo-Orthodox sect entered into communion with the “Ecumenical” Patriarchate, whose symbol is still the Roman (Byzantine) double-headed eagle.
17 October 2018
Mikhail Tyurenkov
Is Mallard a Mazeppa or simply the Court Fool? Time alone will tell us…
There’s still nothing up on the OCA official website about the EP apostasy in re the Ukraine. Nothing. Nada. Nichevo. It’s as though nothing is happening and it’s business as usual. This is treachery of the highest order. Moscow gave the OCA its autocephaly and defended it against EP aggrandisement. The OCA has repaid it by refusing to stand by its Mother Church in its hour of need. I’ve noticed that too many converts are either wishy-washy or support the apostasy of the EP. Shall they stay loyal to the Mother Church and Truth, or shall they sell out to the EP and Expediency? Only time will tell us, and I fear that the outcome would be that the OCA will either fly apart or go into schism with the EP. In the end, the main victim of this affair won’t be the UPTs/MP… I fear that this may mark the end of the OCA in its present form. God do help us… the schism is only in its initial stage, but what I see gives me no confidence.
BMD
Today, Bart lifted the anathemas on two schismatic Ukrainian clergy figures. He did this unilaterally, without consulting any of his brother First Hierarchs. As all will recall, one First Hierarch after another got up and said:
This is far too important for one hierarch to act unilaterally. Let’s sit down and talk about this like brothers.
None of the First Hierarchs issued any threats. None of the First Hierarchs insulted Bart personally. None of the First Hierarchs threatened him. The consensus that arose out of this was:
Before we do anything that may harm Church Unity, let’s sit down, and let’s talk about this man-to-man as equals.
In short, the consensus wasn’t unfavourable to Bart at all. Everyone wanted him to explain his reasons for his actions and to be upfront with his intentions. In the face of this, Bart went ahead and lifted the anathemas on two schismatics, presenting his brother First Hierarchs with a fait accompli. This mystifies me. Bart is usually more circumspect and cautious. He doesn’t do things rashly. He isn’t a nutter or a fly-by-night. Yet, when he saw a united front against his plans, he either panicked or his American minders panicked. I vote for the latter.
The Americans wanted to drive a wedge into the Orthosphere, leaving their minion Bart with a larger voice in world Orthodoxy. That didn’t happen. The American plan flew to pieces because they don’t understand the dynamics of Orthodoxy as opposed to Papism or Protestantism. In the former, the Pope of Rome can shut down all discussion with an ex-cathedra statement. In the latter, a leading personality can either quell debate or cause another schism in the Protestant ranks. Orthodoxy isn’t like either one of those. Orthodoxy is a feuding family. We often don’t get on with one another, but we recognise one another as a family, and we keep the channels open to the others. There’s no “Orthodox Pope”… no one man sits at the controls. The Ecumenical Patriarch is the First Amongst Equals. No Local Church can interfere in the affairs of another unilaterally.
The American project in the Ukraine is a bad replay of its actions in Vietnam. If you remember, the Republic of Vietnam was a sorry enterprise from the git-go. On the other hand, the leaders of the DRV were the leaders of the resistance to the Japanese and to the French. The RVN leaders were collaborators and the sons of collaborators. Hard-core patriotic Vietnamese were followers of Uncle Ho, and that was that. The USA tried to prop up its golem-state from 1954 to 1975, failing in the end. In fact, the American defeat in Vietnam was a catastrophic blow to the Anglo ruling class… it hasn’t truly recovered to this day, for the spectre of the Vietnam defeat haunts their every move (it’s why the USA won’t reintroduce conscription… the rulers remember how their conscripts almost mutinied).
The Americans are trying to prop up another fictive and illusory pseudo-state. They’re doing everything to try and obtain victory for their protégés. The coup was an attempt to seize the naval base at Sevastopol. That failed. Then, the USA sicced its Uniate attack dogs on the new Peoples Republics in the Donbass. That failed, too. Then, the Anglos tried to insert its own forces into the fray… they used US special ops forces disguised as mercs (a common Langley ruse… it isn’t secret… Philip Agee let that out aeons ago) at the Donetsk Airport. The plan was to seize the airport and fly in junta troops stiffened with Polish units. Well, when the locals found out that Poles were with the Americans, it ignited a patriotic firestorm. It was 1612 all over again. The homeboys and the Cossacks got motivated. To make it short, the locals and the Cossacks kicked the shit out of the Americans and their Polish and Uniate stooges. In 2015, the Anglos tried again. They “trained” their Uniate thugs and threw them at Debaltsevo. That failed too… everything that the Anglos gave their Uniate minions fell into the hands of the patriot Donbass forces.
This means that the Americans are desperately looking for a way to hurt Russia. This goofy plan in the Ukraine appears to a desperate gambit to weaken Russia by splitting the Orthodox world. However, because they don’t understand the dynamics of Orthodox life, they badly miscalculated. Some sources say that the Americans have dirt on Bart… other sources say that there was chicanery with the money raised to rebuild St Nicholas Church at the WTC site. In normal Orthodox practise, Bart would’ve had a sitdown with his fellow First Hierarchs. Everyone would have a say. Even if Bart stormed off afterwards, he would’ve shown adherence to the rules. After all, that’s how he handled the Estonian affair and got away with it. By mooning his fellow hierarchs by acting unilaterally without any consideration of the accepted rules of Orthodox communication, Bart declared war.
I truly don’t know what’s going to happen. This is the evening of the first day. However, I’ll say this. Things are now in motion that were best left untouched. God alone knows what the end result will be. As I stated earlier, I fear that no good will come of it and that the main victim won’t be the Church in the Ukraine (it’ll stand tall and weather the crisis), it’ll be the Orthodox Church in America. Shall it last the storm to come? You’d need a Houdini Hat to know…
BMD
Voices from Russia 
Lavrov Slams New Ukrainian Church as “Travesty of History” Aimed at Dividing Both Nations
Tags: Christian, Christianity, Eastern Orthodox Church, Ecumenical Patriarch, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Ecumenical Patriarchate, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Epifany Dumenko, Moscow Patriarchate, Orthodox, Orthodox Church in the Ukraine (schismatic), Orthodoxy, political commentary, politics, Pyotr Poroshenko, Religion, Religion and Spirituality, Russia, Russian, Russian Orthodox Church, Sergei Lavrov, Ukraine, UOC/MP, UPTs/MP
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On Tuesday, Minister of Foreign Affairs S V Lavrov said at the Russian-Tajik Slavonic University that the establishment of the so-called Orthodox Church of the Ukraine violated the precepts of state non-interference in ecclesiastical life as well as the canons of Orthodox Christianity:
Ecclesiastical standoff in the Ukraine
The current leadership in the Ukraine sought to create a local Orthodox church independent of the Moscow Patriarchate ever since it came to power after a violent coup in 2014. Last April, Ukrainian President P A Poroshenko sent a letter to Patriarch Bartholomew Achontonis of Constantinople requesting autocephaly for the Ukrainian church. The Poroshenko régime cobbled together a “unification council” held in Kiev on 15 December 2018, which announced the creation of a new church, the so-called Orthodox Church of the Ukraine. The EP handed over a Tomos of Autocephaly (a clerical decree on establishing an independent church) to its head, “Metropolitan” Epifany Dumenko, on 6 January 2019. Both the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church/MP and the central apparat of the Moscow Patriarchate consider the newly-established ecclesiastical institution schismatic. Other Local Churches either condemned Constantinople’s actions or chose ostentatious silence. None of them congratulated Epifany on receiving a Tomos of Autocephaly.
5 February 2019
TASS
http://tass.com/society/1043295