Bishop Nektary of Seattle

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Barbara
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Re: Bishop Nektary of Seattle

Post by Barbara »

There are, however, other photos which have never been scanned and put on the internet. One of these shows Bishop Nektary fishing comfortably from a dock on the Willamette River in Oregon.

Perhaps this was the time that Bp Nektary visited 6 old believer parishes in the Willamette Valley. He afterwards addressed the following appeal to them [ after the usual praises of the old believers having kept up old Russian ways which seems de rigueur ]

"... I am greatly saddened that you are without the sanctifying Mysteries of the Church, of which the chief and greatest Mystery is the Body and Blood of the Saviour, which is consecrated during the Divine Liturgy. Indeed, the Lord says:

“Amen, amen I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you.”

(John 6, 53)

“He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has life everlasting, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

(John 6, 54)

“He who eats my flesh and drinks My Blood, abides in Me, and I in him.”

(John 6, 56)

I know that all things are possible with the Lord, and thus it occurred to me that it is possible to restore among you, from your very number, the holy priesthood, that you might have the Divine Liturgy, the Holy Eucharist and the other Holy Mysteries of the Church by the power of the Holy Spirit, and together with the preservation of the Old Rite. How salutary it will be for your flock to receive the Holy Mysteries of Christ, and to partake of the sanctifying gifts of the other Mysteries. I understand that this question is a very serious one – and cannot quickly be resolved, and, God forbid, do not think that I want to coerce you. With God’s help you will resolve this matter yourselves. I am writing to you about this lest my conscience prick me at some future time for not having shared my thoughts and good wishes with you, especially since the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile, in September 1974, did very favorably and sympathetically address itself to this question, and did issue a special statement on it, which I have attached to this letter.

In conclusion, I wish to say that in this difficult time of the Antichrist in which we live, it is so important and salutary to be one in Christ. Even as He hung on the Cross, the Lord в Своей Первосвяшенническое молитве prayed for those who believed in Him, that is, for His future Church:

“…that all may be one, even as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us…”

(John 17, 21)

All things are possible with the Lord.

May the Lord and His Most-Pure Mother protect you.

I call God’s blessing and His mercy upon you and upon all who are close to you.

Your admirer and well-wisher with love in Christ,

/S/
+Bishop Nektary
http://www.rocorstudies.org/2015/03/02/ ... te-valley/

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Barbara
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Re: Bishop Nektary of Seattle

Post by Barbara »

Today is the 35 th anniversary of Bishop Nektary's repose [ 1983 - 2018 ] !

In honor of the occasion, I wanted to mention a remarkable anecdote about his youth in Kharkov, the city where St John Maximovitch was born and raised.

So - every year on the anniversary of the Tsarevitch Alexei's nameday or birthday, it was the duty of the young Oleg - who was around the same age - to ring the bells of the Kharkov Cathedral [? Not sure which one ] while molebens were served.

However, this job turned to sadness when the news arrived in Kharkov in July 1918 of the tragic death of the Royal Family. Oleg jumped to toll the bells to inform the people, who were shocked.

So it's no wonder that we have seen Bishop Nektary's sermon above about the New Martyrs --- whose day would be selected as the nearest Sunday to Feb 7, the martyrdom of Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev --- which would turn out to be right close to the hierarch's repose day. The sermons have a special focus on the Royal Family, so everything came full circle in Bishop Nektary's life.

However, it's too bad that this disciple of the last Elders of Optina did not live longer to be elevated to Archbishop.

Image
Bishop Nektary's prayer rope, as identified by the blog The Morning Offering - from the Greater Seattle area, where Bishop Nektary's cathedra was.

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