13 May 2018. To Be Or Not To Be… That’s the Question! Shall Bart Grant Autocephaly to the Uncanonical Ukrainians?

Metropolitan Onufry Berezovsky of Kiev and all the Ukraine, First Hierarch of the UPTs/MP, the only canonical Orthodox Church in the Ukraine

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Three weeks ago, a news item flashed through the Orthosphere:

Poroshenko wants Bart to make Kiev an Autocephalous Church!

I decided to “wait and see”… this looked “interesting”, but would it have “legs?” A senior archpriest commented:

This move of granting autocephaly will completely disrupt the worldwide Orthodox Church into a mess that won’t be healed for a long time if ever.

Another senior voice said:

I can’t see it working out without lots of pain and suffering.

After getting communications like this, I decided to let the issue sit and develop. Interestingly, it seems to have gone doggo, if not dead. Buffeted from all sides, Bart checked himself into hospital, then, he left, apparently none the worse. It appears as though HH spoke and Bart listened. Patriarch Kirill is the effectual primus inter pares in Orthodoxy, and all know it. Apparently, Bart was getting pressure from both ends (his American minders and HH), so, he checked into hospital to cool things down. It appears to have simply fallen off the face of the earth. My guess is that American and Canadian Galician nutters working for the American and Canadian special services came up with this cockamamie idea, sold it to their superiors, getting Poroshenko on board, without really informing Bart of what was going on. After this hiatus, the whole thing does appear to be “something run up by the apprentice whilst the blacksmith was out”.

Is it dead? I think not. The Yanks are getting desperate, as none of their foreign policy initiatives are working out at all. China and Russia set up the historic peace meeting in Korea… China, Russia, and Iran stymied American efforts to topple the legitimate Syrian government… China and Russia, possibly joined by the Continental members of the EU, signalled their intent to ignore Trump’s ripping up of the Iranian nuclear accord… the Ukraine can’t get its act together; it can’t topple the patriot Peoples Republics. Therefore, the USA may continue to press Bart to do this. So far, he’s resisted them. It’s been a behind-the-scenes affair… but Bart knows that if events actually came up to a decision, if he didn’t give in to Washington, he’d suffer the same fate as Emmanuel Vaportzis in 1948… the CIA would depose him and replace him with a willing stooge. Would he stand firm or would he punk out? No one knows (I hope that we never have to come to that point).

If Bart were to do this, it’d set up a schism as serious as the one of 1054. Happily, he appears to realise this and isn’t eager to do the bidding of the Anglos. Shall it pass? Only time will tell us… what with the usual shortage of crystal balls and time machines, I don’t know what’ll happen… no one does. Pray for this chalice to pass…

BMD

14 November 2012. Some Feedback from the Grapevine on the OCA Situation

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I heard this interesting titbit out in the agora:

Back in the 1970s, after the MP granted autocephaly to the Metropolia, I predicted that the newly-named OCA would implode eventually. Even as a youngster, I could see that the hierarchy of the independent OCA appeared to be in some sort of competition with the GOAA to be numero uno in North America. The willy-nilly influx of converts, the calendar change, the introduction of pews into the church buildings, etc, all pointed to the gradual degradation of the OCA and its eventual metamorphosis into a Protestant-type institution far removed from the spirit of the Russian Orthodox Church. It seems to me that the OCA has fewer members now than it did back in the 1960s, prior to autocephaly, when it was still the Metropolia. Talk about going in reverse! It seems that adding all those converts drove away the core believers born into the Church!

Why is no one save for Syosset/SVS “true believers” cheering the advent of Tikhon Mollard? Whatever the reason, that’s what’s out there. Unfortunately, Mollard lacks the charisma, guts, brains, and bureaucratic surefootedness to put it all together, and everyone knows it. One of the Cabinet said:

The uncanonical Macedonians acknowledged Mollard’s election. Patriarchia.ru copied its post on the subject from the Blunder‘s site (therefore, questionable). Also note that patriarchia.ru hasn’t created a biographical page for Mollard like they did for Herman Swaiko. So much for the sentiments of World Orthodoxy concerning Lyonyo’s Coronation of the 23-year Episcopalian convert as OCA First Hierarch…

There’ll be much fireworks and razzle-dazzle, but not much in the way of substance. It isn’t pretty, is it? God do spare us…

BMD 

13 October 2012. Stokoe Did a Portal Credo.ru Interview According to a Source

One of these days, Mark’s going to say this… and we should open up the door for him…

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One of the Cabinet told me:

Did you see that Credo.ru interviewed Stokoe? Supposedly an English translation is coming.

I replied:

He’s gone over the edge. NO… I don’t watch Credo. It’s Langley‘s spin on Russian religion. They go nuts over Yakunin, for instance. Mark’s a fanatic autocephalist. Unfortunately, autocephaly’s turned out to be a crank do. Here’s his dilemma… he wants to support the konvertsy, but they hate him for being a homosexual (let’s call things what they are). Portal-credo has no cred… it’s not patriarchia.ru or pravoslavie.ru. Remember, the OCA/ROCOR duopoly has always had a Langley tie-in since the days of Rodzianko (Potapov married into the Rodzianko clan… but you knew that, you ol’ reprobate you). I’d support Mark if he asked for help from me… but he won’t. He won’t ask you either. Keep this in mind… Bishop Mel concelebrated with the MP crowd at St Nick’s… that’s a hint, son…

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Mark’s still a True Believer, in the Hoffer sense of the term. That’s sad… but it happens. If he were to “wash up on shore”, and say, “Help me!”, I wouldn’t be the only one to respond, for that’s the Christian thing to do. However, I think that he prefers to shiver outside to being warm in the One Homely Home… for that would mean abandoning his dream. God willing, he’ll change his mind…

BMD

15 September 2012. Two Points From My Recent Correspondence

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Every time that I deal with an OCA story, I feel like I’ve just dove into a very deep and malodorous shit pit. The monstrous untruth of it all is staggering. Yet, persevere I must… for no one else is standing up, everyone’s cowed.

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Things are UNRAVELLING. I can understand why Mark didn’t want to chronicle it. Now that we’re in the endgame, we have to think of throwing lifelines to those who mistakenly advocated autocephaly. To be blunt, if we don’t, we’re not Christians, and that’s that.

BMD