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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 May 2018. To Be Or Not To Be… That’s the Question! Shall Bart Grant Autocephaly to the Uncanonical Ukrainians?
Tags: autocephalous churches, Autocephaly, Christian, Christianity, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, Ecumenical Patriarchate, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Kirill Gundyaev, Kirill I of Moscow, Moscow Patriarchate, Orthodox, Orthodoxy, Patriarch Bartholomew, Patriarch Kirill, Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev, Patriarch Kirill I, political commentary, politics, Pyotr Poroshenko, Religion, Religion and Spirituality, Russia, Russian, Russian Orthodox Church, Ukraine, United States, USA
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:
I decided to “wait and see”… this looked “interesting”, but would it have “legs?” A senior archpriest commented:
Another senior voice said:
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