10 November 2017. Whither Thou Goest, ROCOR?

_________________________

I wrote the following to a clergyman I consider a friend:

However, [the ROCOR Synod] dances to Potapov’s tune because he has money. Apparently, Langley wants to revive the old CIA-ROCOR alliance. This time, the people won’t have it. There’ll be those who’ll remain loyal to Ilarion and his Synod (I don’t see him losing Australia), but that won’t be due to Langley money, most will simply be Brother Junipers. However, most of our people are post-Sov emigres, not anti-Red DPs or ex-White elements (most of those are gone outside the Golden 400). Indeed, both the KPRF and CPUSA not only allow believers, they DEFEND them (one of the critics of Matilda was from the Moscow KPRF Gorkom… she said that no one has the right to offend believers).

We live in a new world where the verities of the 60s, 70s, and 80s are gone forever. We live on the “new shore”… where Reds and believers not only coexist but are one and the same… the old shibboleths are gone… for good. Remember… Nikodim Rotov was once a demonic figure to most of us, but most of us now know that he did his best to preserve the Church under harsh conditions. We have a seemingly-new Church that’s really the old Church. We find that all our Russian legacies… Old Russia, Moskovy, Imperial Russia, and the USSR… must live together or we have no legacy at all. If we try to cut anything off, we’d do what Stolypin warned us against (“If you cut off one of our Russian eagle’s heads, it’ll only make him bleed to death”). It may sound odd, but Marxism, tsarism, and Christianity are converging. I know that you may not agree with me totally, but I know that you are a fellow traveller of good heart, and that suffices for me. Have patience and keep good cheer. You do have a friend, here…

I removed all tell-tales that might hint at the identity of my interlocutor. The ROCOR is in serious straits indeed. The episcopate is isolated from the people and doesn’t seem to realise that times have changed and that the old ways and old expressions no longer work. The people are post-Soviet, so they ignore all diatribes against I V Stalin. The ROCOR is now mostly former-Sov émigrés, so the former anti-communist shibboleths no longer have traction. If the ROCOR Holy Synod continues on its present course, it’ll lose many parishes to the direct jurisdiction of Moscow. In fact, in Geneva, elements in the ROCOR Synod threatened to boot out clergy unless they signed a questionable document expelling a pious couple. Some feel that Metropolitan Ilarion Kapral is too lenient and not up to it. If things continue as they are, much of the present ROCOR may go under Moscow because of sheer incompetence. By the way, Paffhausen now weighs about 400 pounds (@180 kilos)… he’s ballooned since the OCA got rid of him. It’s ultra-obesity… a real tragedy.

No one knows how this play will end. However, it’ll be “interesting”, and we all know what that Chinese idiom really means…

BMD

Advertisement

2 October 2017. Igumen Sergei Rybko Doesn’t Think that Communists are “Murderers”… The ROCOR Has Gone Batshit Crazy

******

******

________________________

The images are of a recent birthday celebration for Comrade Zyuganov. Note well that he’s well-disposed to the Church… he’s a believer. More believers are commies than are Western ass-kissers like Shevkunov and Alfeyev. Igumen Sergei, and those like him, such as Metropolitan Yuvenaly Poyarkov, are true-blue patriots who oppose America’s designs on Russia. Shevkunov and Alfeyev are dirty traitors who suck up to America and Americans (they pander to American konvertsy). Neither Shevkunov nor Alfeyev are ruling bishops… HH doesn’t trust them. BTW… the only office that Shevkunov holds is a liaison for cultural affairs, not an important office at all. The recent ROCOR statement would label Igumen Sergei a “murderer”… Igumen Sergei is one of the best-known and best-loved priests in Moscow! Oh, I forgot… he plays drums at rock festivals (he’s a former drummer in a band)… he’s not against modern society, as some in the ROOCR are. He also doesn’t believe in six-day creationism (neither does HH, BTW).

Have a care with a batshit crazy website called Russian Faith… it’s written by goofball ignorant konvertsy. For instance, they posted about the famous weapons designer M T Kalashnikov… they didn’t tell you that Mikhail Timofeyevich was both a believer and a lifelong communist! They don’t tell you about the really important people in the MP such as Yuvenaly Poyarkov, Varsonufy Sudakov, or Mark Golovkov. They talk to a neoliberal-loving set and want to give you the impression that all the MP agrees with them. Nothing is further from the truth.

I can back up my claims with images. The Church doesn’t kiss the ass of “conservatism”. Thank God for that. The Church doesn’t label communists (or the Left in general) as “murderers”. Those who do so are potential schismatics… it’s that serious. Be wary… nasty forces are afoot. They may try to force a schism between the MP and the ROCOR. After all, their first loyalty is to Langley and the US Republican Party… not Christ’s Church and the Rodina. The times aren’t good… we have to face them as well as we can. May God help us.

BMD

1 October 2017. These are the People that the ROCOR Labelled “Murderers”… I Find that Offensive and Mendacious

******

________________________

Recently, the ROCOR issued an official statement (posted on their official website, with the signature of Metropolitan Ilarion Kapral) calling communists “murderers”. This caused much uproar in Russia amongst believers, as well as it should. In the Donbass, in the Peoples Republics today, one sees a vibrant and inspiring coming-together of socialism and Orthodoxy. The Orthodox patriots embrace socialism and find it GOOD. Note well that the ROCOR statement would label these people “murderers”, for they honour the Soviet legacy. People such as Victor Potapov were paid employees of the CIA; they worked to enable its hateful agenda against the Rodina. The ROCOR hasn’t lived down its filthy collaboration with the CIA (they’ve never asked forgiveness for having aided the godless American postwar global project)… they received its blood-money… Fr Alexander Lebedeff admitted that in public. Yes… the ROCOR had more than one “Chekist in a riassa” (clergy who worked for the Western special services) and more than one Sergianist (clergy who sold out Christ’s Church to pander to one political faction or another). It has no warrant whatsoever to label communists (and by implication all leftists) as “murderers”. It helped the CIA (as did elements of the OCA, too… A D Schmemann worked for Langley, too)… which has a long history of murder, mayhem, and viciousness. If the communists are “murderers”, so is the ROCOR… for it took the money of killers and helped to enable the killers’ agenda. The blood of innocents is on their hands, too…

Have a care… we live in perilous times. Some want to ally the Church with godless American neo-imperialism. Shall they succeed? God willing, no…

BMD

30 September 2017. Socialism and Orthodoxy Live Together in the Donbass… Why Isn’t the ROCOR GLAD About That?

________________________

Implicit in calling communists (and by inference, all leftists) “murderers” is an assumption that communism (or the Left in general) is opposed always and everywhere to Orthodoxy. Nothing is further from the truth. During the VOV, St Serafim Vyritsky prayed on a rock for several years for the victory of the Red Army over the fascists. G K Zhukov was an Orthodox believer. During the Nasty Nineties, who stood up for and defended the canonical churches in the Ukraine? THE KOMSOMOLTSY DID. They ran off the American-paid Uniate and schismo mobs; they protected the canonical bishops and clergy. Remember… at that time, Victor Potapov was a paid propagandist for the CIA-run “Radio Liberty”; he helped bring questionable elements into the ROCOR (like the CIA mole Pashkovsky in Odessa). The REAL Church and the KPU became very close, indeed… Comrade Simonenko received many honours from the Church.

Then, why did the ROCOR label all communists “murderers?” I’d say that we should watch some elements of the ROCOR… they might even try to split the Church if they can’t make the ROCOR a subsidiary of the CIA’s effort to undermine the Rodina. Do recall how nasty Potapov was to Patriarch Aleksei when the then-Patriarch was in Georgetown for an award. I’d say that he hasn’t changed his spots. This man and those like him bear watching. After all, HH is friends with Comrade Zyuganov and was friends with Commandante Fidel… not Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, or Steve Jobs.

One of these men is not like the other…

BMD