The Pseudo-Saint Luke of the Crimea

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Barbara
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Re: The Pseudo-Saint Luke of the Crimea

Post by Barbara »

What a romantic location for this sorry anecdote, however. I have always seen that town spelled as Bakhchiserai, the seat of the Crimean Tatar Khan's government. The name is from the Persian and means Garden [Bagh] and Serai [Palace].

For fans of Pushkin, this was the setting for his poem "The Fountain of Bakhchiserai" and the basis for a later ballet.

There was an Uspensky Caves Monastery in or near Bakhchiserai. I wonder whether our Hieromonk Hippolyt was a member of that, for the name sounds like it could have been a Catacomb Monastery.

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Barbara
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Re: The Pseudo-Saint Luke of the Crimea

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Bad news. A headline from Russia claims 50,000 people in Moscow turned out to 'venerate the relics' of' Abp Luke of Simferopol in early April.

It's too bad all those souls who patiently lined up at the famous Donskoy Monastery are being deceived !

The pseudo-relics were on their way to Patras, Greece, where they were scheduled to visit many churches. Shockingly, 40 churches in Greece have already been named in honor of this false holy man.

One would wonder why the importance of a Moscow Patriarchate Archbishop of Crimea for Greece ? What is the connection ? I am not sure, but some pseudo-miracles in Greece itself have been conveniently generated to spur interest in him.

Then, a year ago, a film was produced called "Curing Fear". I didn't see any clip or trailer on youtube, but it may be in Cyrillic script only. Has anyone seen this ? Or heard about it ?

I am floored at the massive "push" being given to Abp Luke, who reposed in 1961, only 5 years before St John Maximovitch but cannot be remotely compared with the TRUE Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco.

Is this the MP's answer to St John Maximovitch, trying to hog some glory for themselves ? Maybe envious of Rocor's genuine Saint and Miracle -Worker and trying to compete ? It's notable that Luke of Simferopol is being played up to the hilt as a miracle-worker. Very suspicious from my point of view.

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Barbara
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Re: The Pseudo-Saint Luke of the Crimea

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Time for a new attack on the veneration of False-saint Luke of Simferopol. I relish these the same way Cyprian must enjoy exposing the plots of the NWO ! Perhaps the 2 are not completely unrelated.

I was curious why Rocor-Mp's parish was named after the Pseudo-saint out of ALL choices on the planet.

Why not St Ambrose of Optina ? There is a Rocor parish in the South named for St Joseph of Optina, after all. Why not any other valid Optina Elder ?? Why not All Saints of Russia ? There are 2 Churches named thus in the Western diocese, but I don't think any in the Eastern American Diocese [ though I admit I haven't checked ! ]

All Saints of Russia would be so comprehensive that it would include ALL legitimate Russian Saints. Those supporters of Abp Luke's could imagine that he was included in this number.
All Saints of Russia would attract much more help and protection from Heaven thereby for the clergy, parishioners and their families.
To name one parish, albeit a small startup one, after a sidelined so-called saint ? Why did they have to single out Abp Luke of Simferopol this way ??

Here is the priest's explanation :

"The decision to name our church in honor of St. Luke took place on the very day that I served my first Liturgy in the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign in New York City," explains Fr. Demetrio Romeo. "The Liturgy was taking place in the presence of the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God, and that day, several of the servers all simultaneously had the idea to name our church in honor of St. Luke of Simferopol. With the blessing of Metropolitan Hilarion, that was what we named our church. When I arrived and served the first Liturgy here, it was on March 18, 2013. As it turns out, it was that same day in 1996 when the holy relics of Archbishop Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky) were uncovered."

http://eadiocese.org/News/2016/june/cocreek.en.htm

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To me, these reasons are so flimsy as to be ridiculous. Because a few altar servers SUPPOSEDLY 'had the same idea' on the same day, then that means God wants it that way ? Who are the altar servers and let's check with them to see if this is really true.
Note that Fr Demetrio Romeo did not say "a few of our most senior and conservative Bishops arrived and told me each had had the same idea ". Even if Fr Demetrio's words describe 100 % accurately what transpired at the Synod that day, for him and his superiors to rely on the spiritual condition of worldly altar servers for such a major decision of the patronage of the parish would seem highly unwise. Even immature.

The fact that the parish priest's first Liturgy occurred on the 17th anniversary of the uncovering the so - called 'relics' of Abp Luke is not compelling either.

Indeed, the command must have rung out from Chisty Pereulok for Rocor-Mp to name at least one parish after the darling of their propaganda machine. Rocor-MP's choice fell on this parish which had previously been named for St Luke the Evangelist, so the change was not much noticed and seemed more logical. Plus, the priest was just recently ordained, hence easily maneuvered.

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Barbara
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Re: The Pseudo-Saint Luke of the Crimea

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Missing link now discovered as to why the Greeks would be so uncritically receptive to pressure from the Moscow Patriarchate in coordination with the secular RF authorities. This pressure would very likely include ' friendly requests ' to spread throughout Greece a [ false ] veneration for Abp Luke. Evidence of the latter's sanctity was advanced on the basis of a tiny handful of flimsy 'healing miracles'.

While I don't agree with every last sentence in this esssay by the well-known Church writer Vladimir Moss, he does shed a fascinating light on the political dynamics between today's Russian Federation and Greece :

"...the Greeks...are chronically naïve when it comes to Slavic leaders coming to Greece with offers of friendship and gifts. .... To this end, control [ for Putin ] of Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean would be a very important strategic means. Hence the need to send Trojan horses full of diplomatic and financial gifts to turn the Greek elites away from their traditionally pro-western orientation…

"As for Mount Athos, it, too, has been deceived by visiting Slavic dignitaries. Thus in the 1970s the secret KGB general and Catholic bishop Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad came to the Holy Mountain. At that time, there were still pious monks on Athos who understood what communism was, and God helped them to understand further by turning the water black while the KGB bishop was on the Holy Mountain.... And now the neo-Soviet leaders Putin and Medvedev have taken to visiting Athos – with purely spiritual motives, of course! [ Author is being sarcastic here. ]

"Unfortunately, the Greeks have always had a tendency to ignore the reality of Soviet and neo-Soviet Russia and side emotionally with the Russians against the West, while taking from the West both military protection (NATO) and a great deal of money (the European Union)....

" Meanwhile, the Greek Orthodox population have remained largely oblivious of the terrible sufferings of their co-religionists in the rest of Eastern Europe. The incongruity of this can be understood if we imagine that a Christian nation in the fourth century had remained oblivious to the Diocletian persecution raging around it. To this day, Tsar-Martyr Nicholas and the Russian new martyrs are neither venerated nor, to a large extent, even known about in Greece."

[ while ]
".... neo-Soviet Russians bearing the most deceptive of gifts are warmly received…"

http://www.orthodoxchristianbooks.com/a ... a-america/

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My note : I felt that it is fitting to post this key to the puzzle on the Vigil of the Royal Martyrs. It seems a shame that they and the New Martyrs in general are virtually unknown in Greece. While a so-called "blessed surgeon" has been substituted to rivet the attention of the Greek Orthodox populace, with 40 churches nationwide dedicated to that medical figure instead.

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Re: The Pseudo-Saint Luke of the Crimea

Post by Maria »

Thanks for bringing another great article written by Vladimir Moss to our attention.

Did the KGB agent-bishop try to bless the waters when they turned black?

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner.

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Barbara
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Re: The Pseudo-Saint Luke of the Crimea

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Yes, Vladimir Moss is truly a big help to many in sorting out the truth behind all the facades presented by World Orthodoxy which can fool even the more sophisticated churchgoers.

I was wondering about that dramatic sentence too> I searched for more details on that event but could find nothing so far. Maybe we need to ask him what happened precisely. You are right, it does sound like a blessing of the waters. I hadn't even figured out that. I pictured the Aegean Sea off of Mt Athos as turning black when Met Nikodim arrived at the port of Daphni. [ IF that's how he traveled. More likely by helicopter ].

As an aside, the term 'dark waters' also reminds us of Natalie Wood's lifelong fear of drowning in such. This was instilled in her when young and as everyone knows, it did happen.

So the reference to dark waters or black waters here has a similar ominous ring to it. Not to mention the notorious American contractor named that...

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Barbara
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Re: The Pseudo-Saint Luke of the Crimea

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Meanwhile, not a chance is missed to foist Abp Luke on every visiting foreign bishop. Metropolitan Lazar of Simferopol and the Crimea [ Moscow Patriarchate ] can not let a Rocor-MP vicar bishop leave without a flowery wish for the intercession of Abp Luke in his work.
Why was that necessary ? The feast day being concelebrated was that of Saints Kosma and Damian, the Holy Unmercenary physicians [ July 14 ]. Why didn't Met Lazar wish Bp Feodosy THEIR ' perpetual aid ' - ???

Very very suspicious to me. It's almost like MP figures are delegated to push this so-called saint Luke on all unsuspecting clergymen. Orders must be to not worry about being subtle : just twist the foreigners' arms as much as needed to promote their pet phony holy man.

" Metropolitan Lazar then gave His Grace a painted icon of St Luke of Simferopol and Crimea, a great saint and professor of medicine, doctor and miracle worker, and wished Vladyka Theodosius the perpetual aid of this holy hierarch in all his labors and efforts towards good."

http://www.synod.com/synod/eng2016/2016 ... rimea.html

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