Editor’s Foreword:
All material in plain type is from me; everything in italics is from an interlocutor (with all personal information removed and “anonymous”. As always, I only post topics of general interest.
BMD
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My contention is that you can’t “hide your light under a bushel”… a person’s character is “loud n’ proud” to all concerned… except to the person concerned! I’m wise enough to know that others will decide my “legacy”… NOT ME.
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I wonder… what does Mel Pleska think of the dysfunctional institutional culture afoot amongst OCA clergy? I’m not the only person to suffer from such high-handedness. I won’t give up on the Church… but I’ll say that I’ve seen the WORST that it can offer… and I’m still here. The truth will set you free, but it isn’t “free”… most people (the loudmouths especially) refuse to pay the price.
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We need to do something… and the most important is to vote AGAINST the Tea Party. Firstly, we must end globalisation, as that’s nothing but an attempt to circumvent American (and EU) labour laws and safety guidelines. Secondly… we have to pay for the toot of the rich… that’s why they should pay more (in proportion) than we should… they got all the benefits of the past decade, didn’t they? We’ll have to do what the Russians did in the 90s… slash defence spending to the absolute minimum and close all foreign bases. We can’t afford it. The USA spends 43 percent of the world’s outlay on defence… that’s way out of line. The Church is like the state… either we cut back to what we can afford, or events WILL take their course.
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One must be aware that when His Holiness uses the word “liberal”, he uses it in its correct European meaning, not its distorted and perverted usage in the American dialect. Using this definition, “liberal” is “conservative” in American terms. Yes, it’s rather Jabberwockian, isn’t it? Here’s the REAL definition of “liberal” (not the Rush Limboob version):
Classical liberalism is a philosophy committed to the ideal of limited government and the liberty of individuals, including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets.
That’s to say, all the members of the rightwing commentariat show their ignorance by calling themselves “conservatives”. True Conservatives like Prince Otto von Bismarck and Graf Pyotr Stolypin were in favour of state-provided social services, so, when you hear the GOP and its overpaid media shills denouncing single-payer health care as “socialistic”, you can mark them down as the dumbest clods on the face of the planet (Gravel Gertie’s a PhD in comparison).
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“Property and possessions have purpose in as much as they help us to live as the people God called us to be and no more”. Try selling that to the Corporatist Neoliberals!
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Why doesn’t Weiner just resign? He’s a poster boy, along with Newt, of how the two parties have failed us. True… Newt’s far WORSE, serving divorce papers on a spouse sick with cancer is REPREHENSIBLE… Weiner’s merely crass and perverse. Nevertheless, both these men illustrate why NO ONE trusts either major party today. If a new party like the NDP were to rise in the USA, it’d sweep the boards clean. Why must we live in INTERESTING TIMES? I understand why the Chinese consider them a curse. God do have mercy on us all (if the society’s crank, it does go a long way in explaining the crookness in the Church, doesn’t it?).
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WHY LIE? It’s counterproductive! It’s getting “curiouser and curiouser”… one expects Fathausen to start hollering, “Off with their heads!” as the lads with the butterfly nets descend upon him.
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I didn’t get the objections of the priest doing the canonisation investigations (into the case of St Yevgeni Rodionov: editor). If, as the lady said she heard, all the soldiers refused to convert, then yes, that makes them all martyrs. Just because St Yevgeni is the one people have felt drawn to (and who has visited them, and whose intercessions have healed them) doesn’t mean that the others aren’t saints, as well. Yes, there’s a very emotional aspect to it, but wasn’t there to all martyrdoms? Just because we happen to have his mother here who can be reduced to tears by a song about her son doesn’t mean that’s a bad thing, or make it some reason that he can’t be a real saint. What a burden the lady bears!
The priest is a prick in Mitrofanov’s office. Mitrofanov is an ecumaniac in the Blunder’s faction… they’re like “SVS on the Volga”… thank God, they’re a tiny minority.
I could tell there was something odd with that priest by his oily eunuch manner of speech. That’s so typical of that kind.
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JP’s “canonical release” of these nuns is a joke. He never obtained a canonical release from their Greek bishop, so how can he release something he never had?
Did you notice how both parties are trying to cover over this steaming cow pie? I don’t think that the Centre had anything to do with this… Archbishop Mark Golovkov (KMG’s REAL advisor on external affairs) would’ve nixed it, to avoid trouble with the Church of Greece. Now, the EP might get involved, especially if the Greeks want to bring in outside muscle. In short, this has all the marks of “something run up by the blacksmith’s apprentice whilst the smith was out”. If it were a cheap indie horror flick, its title would be, It Came from Bolshaya Ordynka (that is, the Blunder)… but the Blunder’s going to leave ’em high n’ dry… “It ain’t personal; it’s just business”. Absolutely barmy and beyond the bend…
It’s said that the OCA Synod recognised all the pitfalls related to these nuns, but JP just ignored them. However, it’s not just the Greeks; apparently, the EP isn’t any happier. Well, now, ROCOR may get the fallout rather than the OCA. Stay tuned.
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Oh, the “lavender mafia” thing… I’m SO tired of sorts who’re fixated with who’s boffing whom… it’s none of your or my concern… let ’em be, let God sort it out, He’s the Ultimate Judge, I’ve heard (I suspect that you’ve heard the same rumours that I have). I really can’t understand why the OCA and the ROCOR simply don’t merge… it has to be something STUPID (in reality, logical reasons NEVER fly)… something like Fr X will have to give up a title that carries no real power (let alone any real money)… never underestimate the power of pettishness, small-mindedness, and pride.
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I’m NOT against ROCOR clergy serving with OCA clergy, and vice versa… I supported that in the ’90s, and I’ve the scars to prove it (Jordanville was rabidly AGAINST it, then, remember?). I AM against Hilarion Kapral serving with Jonas Paffhausen… that’s not prudent… it gives the impression that the ROCOR winks at the present decadence in the OCA upper reaches. As Chukcha the Wise would say, “However”… if birds of a feather flock together… it tells us much about the upper reaches of the ROCOR. The First Families aren’t different in the least. Thus, Vassa Larina and Vanya Behr, Lyonyo Kishkovsky and Seraphim Gan, Alexander Lebedeff and Bobby K, Victor Potapov and Jonas Paffhausen… no difference, is there? Moreover, the believers, both OCA and ROCOR know it. Not only that, but the rank n’ file clergy, both OCA and ROCOR, know it. We’re unwilling passengers on a hijacked train headed for the washed-out bridge. It’s why I write… I know that clergy like you can’t speak out (there are people who DO have “tied hands”), laity such as I must do so. It ain’t easy bein’ green! Nevertheless, if the Church is Christ, and Christ is the Truth, we must stand against skulduggery… it’s never “for the good of the Church”. It’s Caiphas’ option…
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We DO live in interesting times… the Church scene is as bad as the political one, but if the society’s crook, it shouldn’t surprise us that the Church’s sick, too (that was true in late Tsarist Russia; it’s just as true today). No one knows what’s coming, in terms of either society or the Church, its August 1788 redux (and the Ancien Régime parties on, oblivious to all the signs). I do know this… when the present Church structure collapses of its own weight and rottenness, that’s when the real work will begin. After 25 years of rebuilding, Russia is only now beginning to have a good foundation for the future. It’ll take us the same length of time, I’ll warrant, perhaps, longer, to put things right and on a proper footing. All the grandiose notional dreaming has to stop… we have a foundation to reinforce and old rubble to cart away. I somehow think that your thoughts, although not identical, are of the same vein as mine. Enjoy this summer, love your family, and be a good sort to those about you… that’s why God put us here (not be puffed-up pompous FRAUDS… you and I both know more than one of those, don’t we?).
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It just occurred to me that it isn’t a coincidence that Rand Paul has the first name that he does… he’d abolish the income tax entirely.
You’re tumbling on to the reality of the Extreme Right… they all worship Ayn Rand. Reflect on this… Fathausen, Potapov, Lebedeff, and all the konvertsy (including Mattingly, Freddie M-G, Dreher, et al) are Extreme Rightists who wish to drag the Church through the shit in order to ally Her with His Satanic Majesty’s greediest minions. We have a Church to fight for… do you see why Mark Stokoe’s such a danger? He’s Kishkovsky’s pal from way back in the ’80s.
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The problem is that everything’s stalled… Paffhausen’s now a liability… but how does one get rid of him? I say look at the images that came out when JP was in Russia… there’s Mel Pleska on the left, KMG on the right, and JP in the middle. Unless my guess is VERY wrong, it looks like His Nibs favours Pleska… he doesn’t have any baggage such as ties to Podmoshensky, he doesn’t lie about his past… he’s innocent of any murmurs about homosexuality. JP should resign and go to a monastery… but shall he? If he doesn’t resign, shall we have to do a Nikon (as in Yekaterinburg in ‘99)? It won’t be boring, that’s for certain.
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I’m optimistic in the long term, pessimistic in the near term, especially in the diaspora. Before there can be resurrection, there must be a death… never forget that.
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You can be passionate… but never bitter… you can be feisty… but never cruel. Remember that, and you’ll do well. You tell it like it is… ’cause if you don’t deal with reality, reality WILL deal with you! ‘Nuff said… it’s time for an adult beverage… where’s the church key?
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A friend passed on these words of Bishop Lazar Puhalo (OCA):
The cold, scholastic rationalism and legalism of so many Protestants does lead them to imagine God as a bitter old curmudgeon, sitting on the outer edge of the universe, stewed over violated fetishes that he holds. They make God so ugly and fearsome that people become atheist, not because they don’t believe, but because the Western God is quite despicable, cruel, and brutal. Fortunately, that isn’t the God of the Orthodox, but it IS the God of far too many of the semi-converts. Moreover, semi-convert is the correct term. We must understand that the mystery of redemption is the mystery of co-suffering love, not a sacrificial offering to appease a Moloch or Baal type of deity.
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A friend told me that they just saw your Webster posting and they were ecstatic… they think this guy (who I don’t know) needs to be shown up for what he is, and, apparently, he isn’t very nice. They also confirmed your camouflage vestment revelation.
He’s a PRICK FIRST CLASS… Full stop. Nicky and I took a lovely motor today up to the Grafton Peace Pagoda… they’re genuine folks there. I can’t say that I agree with them… but they’re genuine sorts. You have to love such people… they’re no danger to anyone… they’re not Webster or JP.
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GOOD SHOW! If you stand up, the cowards, at the least, will leave you alone! They’ll NOT do right… but they’ll leave you be. However, to know that Fathausen supports the extreme rightwingers, that’s just the cherry on the sundae, isn’t it? The ex-Episkies aren’t moralists; they’re extremists that the TEC HAD to run out. There’s more to that story than is obvious… one of my friends (who has always stood by me) was a warden at a TEC parish, and he told me that Reardon et al were nasty fuckers way back when, and he was surprised that we took ’em in… he said that he, amongst others, warned the SVS people, in particular. “They took them in because they hated ethnics like you, Barb… you’ve got to accept that. They hate what real Orthodox stand for”. It WON’T be easy… and, at the end, the brats will leave us, form a new “pure” OCA, which will crawl with gay blades twice as much as the current OCA does, but it’ll be a pure rightwing organisation. THAT’S what important to them. Cheers to you… pass the jug and SMILE… that really riles ’em.
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When the OCA implodes, I hope that my parish goes with the Mother Church; otherwise, we’ll have to leave. You DON’T leave because you dislike a priest (or, if there’s a bad priest), or any such nonsense as that… but you MUST if your parish leaves Orthodoxy (and that’s the ONLY reason for leaving, in my opinion).
Yes, that’s the only reason for leaving; the only other one is if the bishop leaves Orthodoxy…
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JP’s heading for the edge… Lyonyo and Behr will push him over it… and Bobby won’t help him (he’s got an acute survival instinct, he does). JP should’ve left Stokoe alone… everyone knows that Mark’s Lyonyo’s boy, and you DON’T mess with Lyonyo, for he’s easily the most powerful individual in the OCA today… he’s a bastard, but that’s the reality.
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DON’T SECOND-GUESS YOURSELF! The three most dangerous words are “woulda”, “coulda”, and “shoulda”. You did what you did to spare others… and that’s ALWAYS right! NEVER look back… you’ll be turned into a dead pillar of salt. ‘Nuff said…
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People like me would become non-people under a Born-Again junta… we must be punished for “transgressing God’s Law”, dontcha know! That’s why I oppose Fathausen and the konvertsy so bitterly… they want to make Orthodoxy into “Born Again in a Riassa” (or, “Eastern Rite Evangelicalism”)… that’s Anti-Christ striding in the front door. God expects us to stand up for HIM… not for “Jayzuss”… think on that…
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I NEVER hand out e-mail addresses to third parties… your e-mail address is your personal property… I RAPE you if I give it out. It’s as LOW as googling private people is… I NEVER give out e-mail addresses to third parties… I NEVER google anyone. That’s how you show respect to another’s privacy. This goes for everyone… there’s much too much “sharing” of personal information. I’d NEVER ask a third party for your e-mail address… EVER. If I respected you, I’d NEVER ask anyone for your personal info… there’s much too much “slackness” regarding this. THIS is why we all live in fish-bowls, now. Ponder this… if your “friend” shared my info easily, they’re just as free and easy about you, too. I wouldn’t trust such people… do think on that. I’m not angry… just disgusted. Your friend had no right to hand out my info… you had no right to ask it. It’s not “right”… if you meditate on it; you’ll know that I’m right. We’ve truly fallen low… I do apologise if I sound nasty…
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Stokoe’s been looking for trouble, though… he was trying to be a journalist and an official at the same time… you can’t do it. I’m never going to accept anything “official”, even if they offered it to me (truly)… it’d DESTROY my objective distance from the hierarchy. I’m a JOURNALIST… I’m NOT an official. My “job” is to hold the feet of the powers-that-be to the fire… just as the Russian and Greek journalists do. The Greek journalists who exposed the crook Athos land deal and the Russian journalists who exposed the sex scandal in Vladimir did right! Bishops in the diaspora have to learn that critical journalists are their FRIENDS. This skulking around and lying doesn’t fit Christ’s Church at all. If we’re the “pillar and ground of Truth”… well, we’d best act it, then!
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I read Buchanan’s piece on Breivik… I WEPT. This fucker has a heart of stone. You saw my piece debunking Glenn Beck calling the victims “Hitler Youth”… reflect on this… Paffhausen and Potapov BELIEVE THIS SHIT. That’s why progressive Orthodox can’t be silent… we can’t let the bastards piss on Christ’s Church.
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Editor’s Afterword:
I want to thank my regular correspondents… you know who you are. Your thoughts and input have made this site all the better. Now, where did I put that church key…
BMD
Voices from Russia 
11 March 2017. My Thoughts on Politics
Tags: Aleksandr III, Conservatism, Conservative, Donald Trump, Graf Pyotr Stolypin, John Diefenbaker, Marine Le Pen, Mitch McConnell, Otto von Bismarck, Patrick Buchanan, Paul Ryan, political commentary, politics, Prince Otto von Bismarck, Pyotr Stolypin, Republican, right-wing, United States, USA, Viktor Orbán
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Yes… politics is a serious business… it’s why we have to keep Liberal extremists like “conservatives” and “liberals” (taken together, they make up “neoliberalism”) from power. Actually, One Nation Conservatism (Red Toryism) and Socialism have much in common. The USA never had conservatism, as it was a Radical Republic (in Continental European terms) from the outset. The USA never had a Conservative leader such as Otto von Bismarck, P A Stolypin, Aleksandr III Aleksandrovich, or Dief the Chief. It’s only had oligarch-loving and money-grubbing Liberals (“conservatives”). No… by its very nature, foundation, and history, the USA is INCAPABLE of Conservatism. Yes, Marine le Pen and Viktor Mihály Orbán are Conservatives… Trump, Ryan, McConnell, Hannity, Buchanan, and Dreher emphatically are NOT such. You can’t be Conservative and believe in the power of money and rule by the One Percent. Do note that all American “conservatives” do so. Oh, yes… Conservatives believe in universal single-payer healthcare, a strong state-funded social safety-net, and a vigorous defence of the environment. “Conservatives” don’t… they’re in favour of greed and rapine by the rich… the country, society, and nature be damned. No similarities between Conservatives and “American Conservatives”, is there?
Keep it focused… don’t call Radical Liberals “conservatives”… what does that tell you about those who do so? Not very bright, are they?
BMD