Father Arseny (+1973)

[Matthew]

Does anyone know if the story by Bouteneff called, "Father Arseny" published in 1999 or there about, is genuine, and concerns a True Orthodox Confessor or not?

It seems to be largely supported by OCA/St Vladimir folks so I am suspicious.

[jgress]

The New Calendarists sometimes try to "adopt" a True Orthodox confessor for themselves. E.g. Elder Ieronymos of Aegina, who died in the True Orthodox Church, has sometimes been cited as yet another new calendarist elder.

[Barbara]

I saw that book many times. But hesitated to read because of the publisher. I figured it was another figure promoted by the OCA
like their favorites, Luke of Simferopol and the nun Maria Skob. who was sent to Ravensbruck, the women's camp in Germany.

I always felt instinctively leery of that trio of supposedly Saintly figures.

If you have information to the contrary, anyone, please enlighten us.

Perhaps there is value in studying this Fr Arseny's life, but I would not want to read the book until reliable people here on this Forum give it their endorsements !

[Matthew]

Perhaps there is value in studying this Fr Arseny's life, but I would not want to read the book until reliable people here on this Forum give it their endorsements !

My feelings exactly, Barbara.

Maybe you are right Jonathan that he is one of ours that they are trying hijack.

Who knows?

[m. Evfrosinia]

The book "Fr. Arseny" has been discussed many times on many Orthodox forums, both Traditional and True Orthodox, and World Orthodox. The book is fiction, and the Fr. Arseny portrayed in it is an entirely fictional character,though many of the events described are based on actual events, occurrences and the real experiences of concentration camp inmates. Fr. Arseny is usually referred to as a "sobiratel'nyi obraz"; the experiences of several clergymen are attributed to one imaginary personality. The book is well written, and if you don't know too much about that period of Soviet-Russian history, or the history of the Church at that time and about the persecutions, it's worth reading, it does give a good sense of what it was like. It must be noted, though, that Fr. Arseny is a Sergianist priest of the Moscow Patriarchate and remains loyal to the MP throughout. He gives a speech at one point directed against the Church Abroad, calling those clergymen that fled to the West and left their flock behind traitors. The Catacomb Church isn't mentioned at all. Fr. Arseny is also very supportive of the Red Army and the Soviet government, especially for their exploits during World War II, an opinion that the vast majority of Catacomb clergy did not share.
The book is extremely popular and has been published many times and translated into several languages. I've looked at both the English and French translations. The MP has tried to capitalize on this popularity by claiming at various times that there was an actual Fr. Arseny and even claimed to have located his grave. This has been proven false. Among other things, the Fr. Arseny in the book was supposedly formerly a well known art historian and specialist on the iconography of the Novgorod school, and his name is given as Streltsov, if I remember correctly. Anyway, there was no such art historian, and the monographs and research referred to in the book don't exist. Again, as a work of fiction the book has its merits, but mostly for those that are only starting to learn about that period and persecution of the Church during Soviet times.

[Matthew]

Thank you very much Mati for this clear and concise summary of the book. It is very helpful to know these things.

Symeon

[Maria]

Yes, thank you.

Disinformation campaigns continue.
Whenever we read books written by members of World Orthodoxy, we must be very careful.