17 June 2014. Zacchaeus Wood “Trial” Today… Fatso Wants to Found “Monastery” Near the District

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Today was the “spiritual trial” for Zacchaeus Wood. I think that the poor sod’s been punished enough. He lost his position at the Centre and they publicly humiliated him. For what he did, that’s sufficient… he didn’t commit heresy or schism, he just did stupid acts. He did nothing to harm the Church as “Church”; he’s alleged to have had his hand in the till and enabling a crank starosta. That’s not the same as the Unia of Brest or the Raskol or Arius’ heresy! He got bounced from his job and he got bad-dogged; now, everyone knows what he’s accused of, his cred is in the shitter. If you were to ask me, I’d stick him in a small parish in the Midwest so that he could attend to his elderly mother. He’d be no further trouble to the Church at large (much as how the Church dealt with Puhalo… he’s watched, so he isn’t going to do anything overly gnarly… ditto for Wood).

A Cabinet member sent me this:

Fatso is trying to establish a monastery @50 miles (@90 kilometres) from DC. It’d be under ROCOR; Metropolitan Hilarion has blessed the endeavour. So far, he does have 2-3 monks willing to go with him. Now, he’s looking for the money to do this. He needs 400 Gs (13.94 million Roubles. 435,000 CAD. 429,000 AUD. 296,000 Euros. 236,000 UK Pounds) to buy an old Methodist Church that’s for sale, for conversion into a residence.

Hilarion Kapral isn’t a “free agent”… he has to get Peredelkino’s permission to bring Fatso in and to install him as “abbot”. That hasn’t come… until it does, all the talk is just that… talk. Someone at the Centre doesn’t like Paffso… otherwise, it would’ve been a done deal. Also, the Centre’s putting none of its money into this boondoggle. However, it does show that Hilarion Kapral isn’t rebellious. We’ll have to wait and see what the Centre has to say on this.

I believe that Fatso’s project is a crock from stem to stern… if he wants to found a monastery, let him start it in an area that’s more affordable. Hey, such an area would be more “isolated”… but that’s GOOD if you’re a monk or nun… you ARE trying to flee the “World”, after all. He’s really trying to found a “retreat centre” for Potapov, Freddie M-G, Mattingly, et al… we should NOT be encouraging that. Let him go off to the Maine North Woods, the Adirondacks or the Northeast Kingdom… he wouldn’t need 400Gs for that! After all, did Frs Joseph and Panteleimon need 400Gs to found Jordanville? NO SIREE… they did it on a hell of lot less. Fatty wants to swan about and pose as “Metropolitan”. As for his “monks”, is one of them Nathanael Kapner? Perspirin’ minds wanna know…

BMD

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8 June 2014. Paffso and Nathanael Spotted at Jordanville Today… Both Nutters Lionised by Monastery

In case you forgot, this is Paffso with the kiddie porn king Isidore/Stanley Brittain (on the far left) and with Benjamin Peterson (holding certificate), nicked in Nevada for drunk driving. Paffso also consorted with and/or protected the abuser Gleb Podmoshensky, the convicted perv Seraphim Storheim, and the litigation-happy Ray Velencia (Paffso allowed Ray to sue Fr Mike Regan without having a church hearing first, a major no-no)… if shitbirds of a feather flock together…

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A few months back, Fr Ambrose of New Zealand and Fr Alexander Lebedeff had a rather public internet tiff over whether the ROCOR had taken in Paffhausen as a bishop. Ambrose said “yea” and Lebedeff said “nay”. I can state that Paffso’s celebrated at Jordanville twice in the last month. I saw him there today, vested, serving… without a doubt it was the Fat One. If that wasn’t all, the infamous Nathanael Kapner was there, too, big as life, circulating amongst the crowd, like he was legit (he’s not). Paffso’s arrogant and dangerous… Nathanael’s a wack at best, a demagogic hater at worst. That bothered me… portions of the monastery have fallen into disrepair since the death of Laurus Škurla, and this just seemed more of the same, but on a spiritual plane. I did some quick enquiries… Paffso isn’t released to the ROCOR… the OCA Holy Synod hasn’t released him. They can’t do so until the Centre gives the green light for the ROCOR to accept him, and Peredelkino hasn’t. Nathanael Kapner isn’t official in the ROCOR… a ROCOR priest kindly sent me this:

A 19 July 2013 statement from the ROCOR Chancery of the Synod of Bishops declared that Kapner has no relation to the ROCOR diocese in which he lives and that his “actions don’t have the blessing of the Synod of Bishops”. The statement further urged him to stop his activity on the internet and to repent. Archbishop Kyrill, the ruling hierarch of the diocese in which Kapner lives, signed the statement.

Why is Jordanville favouring two rather dubious characters? I don’t know yet, neither do any of my clerical, lay, and monastic informants. If Vladyki Kyrill means what he says, then, what happened today in Jordanville should move him to action. I didn’t see Victor Potapov, but that doesn’t mean that he wasn’t there, I’m simply reporting that I didn’t see him there. The Church doesn’t need to get entangled with these two rightwing nutters. We’ll have to see, won’t we?

BMD

BREAKING NEWS. 13 May 2014. Is Rue Daru Going to Canonise Sophrony Sakharov?

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I’ve received word that Rue Daru may be “canonising” Sophrony Sakharov very soon. It looks like a political act of self-justification, a defiant reiteration of the EP’s crank claims to jurisdiction in Europe, a slap in the face to the Russians. If so, the MP won’t take long in replying… by the way, it means that the OCA gets a reprieve. However, it’ll come with a price. The SVS nutters will have to take a care. The Centre will be watching them all the more and will expect them to toe the Moscow line in return for “recognition” of their “autocephaly”.

Stay tuned… this pot is still boiling away merrily. Watch SVS… they’re the ones most under the gun here.

BMD

Update 19.25 EDT 13 May 2014:

Got this from one of the Cabinet:

SVS will slobber over this. Fr Zacharias is always over there from Tolleshunt Knights {that’s in Essex: editor} lecturing the SVS crowd. They even call that idiot “Elder Zacharias!”

If so, SVS will have to watch out in a milieu of tension between Peredelkino and the Phanar. So far, it’s managed to spout Phanariot modernism whilst being within a group that’s an effectual dependency of the Centre. HH WILL demand UNITY… and SVS will have to comply or else. Interesting times are ahead…

BMD

20 July 2012. Gleanings from My Mailbag

 

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Editor’s Foreword:

I’m in plain type; my interlocutors are in italics. God, I owe so much to my correspondents…

BMD

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I fear that there hasn’t been much on Vladyki Constantine in the general press. If it’d been there, I would’ve posted it. Is this a consequence of the inward-looking nature of the “Ukrainians?” There was MUCH more on Nicholas Smisko (let alone Metropolitan Laurus and Patriarchs Pavle and Aleksei). Here’s the sad part… Metropolitan Constantine was a decent man… and he got the least press of all of ’em. That’s not fair…

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The old journalism adage goes, “It it bleeds it leads”. I’m afraid that also means that bloody fools, bleedin’ idiots, and bluebloods also get more than their fifteen minutes of fame.

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I know my limitations; I’m not a theologian, that’s why I stay away from it (that includes the canons and the Fathers)… I know enough to know that I “know nothing”. My training’s in history… that I DO know. It’s not good to think that one’s a “know-all”… I run up against my limitations daily. If there’s anyone who knows my limits, I do. It’s why I stay out of Greek things usually… I don’t know them! I learn something new from each article I read, and I can say that the last four years of writing this site have taught more than all my classes in college did. Be good… I hope that you had a wonderful holiday… hoist a jigger of Bushmills and SMILE. God did make a GOOD world for us… it’s not His fault that we shit on it. However, we CAN recover the joy… but you gotta “wanna”… you KNOW what I mean!

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As for us, we have to think ahead to when the guns fall silent. Building up the ruins is a different enterprise than storming the redan. It’s LONGER… and much more “tedious”. Nevertheless, you or I will NOT see the end of it before our earthly time’s up. Our task is to lay a good foundation for our children to build upon… and that’s a noble cause.

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When you say, “put pressure on the authorities to investigate this and get to the bottom of it. If they won’t…  go to the civil authorities… it’s what they’re there for”, you’re saying something that’s anathema for some of the politically-conservative, who consider government to be the enemy, rather than any protector of the populace. My experience with some members of a convert parish was instructive in that regard.

They consider government to be the enemy because many of them are involved in shady business doings. It’s quite that simple. Besides… X is another one of Gleb Podmoshensky‘s disciples. One of my CA friends saw X driving from Platina some years back. They’re all together….

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That’s because you play the tragic part of the prophet. You bring about tectonic shifts with your boldness, yet both sides whip you in the end. Yet, you’ll have your just reward, but it won’t be at the hands of the goodthinkers…

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Both the Holy Synod meeting and the London Conference are due in October. I’ve been told that a new face is coming to NY. A source tells me that the buzz at Peredelkino is that the ROCOR and the MP Abroad are going to merge… but you knew that, didn’t you? C’mon. If my other source is correct, and the South is on the verge of revolt… well, let them go. “Good riddance to bad rubbish”, I say. They never were of us in the first place. What’ll happen to Freddie M-G and Dreher?

I’ve anticipated the merger of ROCOR and the MP; it was inevitable. If only the Southern clowns would go away, go out the door as schismatics. I hope some fool in the ROCOR doesn’t decide to give them a home. Didn’t ROCOR receive the Washington DC deacon who refused the Eucharist to a lesbian? I think others on Monomucky claimed they’d gone to the ROCOR.

That’s due to Potapov. He’s a rightwinger, both theologically and politically. Interestingly enough, Lebedeff’s not so bad. He’s an apparatchik… so, he’s going to do and say what keeps his bread buttered. Do note his silence. I should add that some of the more obscurantist rightwingers are at Jordanville. Do note that the Centre refuses to give permission for a bishop there. Yes, there are unrepentant shits in the ROCOR. They’re the ROCOR equivalents of the OCA‘s troublemakers. However, as one of my Centre contacts scornfully wrote, “Jordanville? It’s nothing but a minor Ukrainian skete and seminary”. In short, there’s a whole lot of mud out there, and it all has to come out before we can start cleaning things up.

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It’s what I’ve been writing for five years… is it God’s good time, though? That’s not ours to determine… 1917 wasn’t our decision, either, come to think of it. Even some Renovationists are despairing of the situation. Shall we drain the chalice to the dregs? It’s not bloody pleasant, I can assure you. As for me, I’ll be glad when it’s all said and done. I’ll be able to concentrate on Russian Church, cultural, and art matters. I’m looking forward to the future (for the present situation’s in its terminal stages… anyone can see that). It’s “April 1945“… and we stand on the banks of the Odra.

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Odd, ain’t it, you can find simple humanity in the “irreligious” Northeast and Pacific Coast (and Industrial Midwest), but heartless brutality in the so-called “religious” Bible Belt.

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We all have to work together after the edifice falls (and it shall)… gloating is STOOPID. To rebuild shattered trust and confidence isn’t a matter of waving a wand… it’ll require a generation of steady and unsung labour… and we won’t see the end of it this side of the veil. However, it’s our duty to our kids and grandkids (that’s how I see it, any road).

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They’re getting ready to leave us… we’re not “good enough” for them, you see. Don’t worry about them… it does take all kinds…

I agree. I have my hands full just trying to live my life.

I’d say to them, “Don’t let the door hit you in the arse as you leave… and don’t come back, now, see”… and I’d check to make sure that they hadn’t stolen the silver or poisoned the cat.

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Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Friday 20 July 2012

Albany NY