Fr Spyridon Schnieder Finds a Home... Again.

[Suaidan]

[http://guest-2.livejournal.com/435032.html]
(Ipswich) Early reports on the Internet say that Fr Spyridon Schneider, the pastor of parish of St John the Russian in Ipswich, Massachusetts, has joined the ROCOR under Metropolitan Hilarion (Kapral) and have accepted union with the Moscow Patriarchate.

Fr Spyridon was one of the first priests to leave the ROCOR in 1987 under the HOCNA, when 30 ROCOR parishes followed the monastery to the Greek Old Calendarists. He returned to the ROCOR shortly thereafter. He was also involved in the departure of a number of priests and Metropolitan Vitaly (who formed the Russian Church in Exile) before he was removed for canonical infractions and went to the Synod of Archbishop Makarios of Athens, who then began canonical trial against them, finally considering the Matthewite Synod (Archbishop Nicholas) before going to the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church.

He joined the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church in 2003, and was involved in an attempted (and thwarted) schism within the Catacomb bodies there, for which he was eventually suspended along with three other American priests. He along with Fr Christopher Johnson parted ways with the other two priests, who are still under one of the jurisdictions of the Catacomb Russian Church.

Finally, in 2008, Fr Spyridon, Fr Christopher, and the St John parish joined the ROCOR-PSCA Church of Bp Agafangel of Odessa. It appears he has switched jurisdictions again, and has finally left the True Orthodox movement altogether. For priests who had continually promoted themselves over the memory of the Fathers they claimed loyalty to, this move comes as little surprise to those intimate with this situation.

NFTU

[Kybihetz21]

You forgot to mention that after the repose of Metropolitan Vitalii he went back to ROCIE for a short period of time, until once again he caused trouble and decided to leave and spread his venom somewhere else. Those priests and their parish are a joke!

[Pravoslavnik]

I am truly surprised to read about this, and certainly puzzled. Did Father Christopher Johnson and the entire parish of St. John the Russian in Ipswich, Massachusetts also enter the ROCOR-MP with Father Spyridon Schneider this week? I thought that they had only recently rejoiced to enter into communion with the ROCOR-Agafangelites, and had long criticized the ecumenism of the MP. Perhaps they should sell their parish building, buy a large mobile home, and move down to Tijuana, Mexico. They can consecrate the holy rolling trailer to MP logothete Leon Trotsky, who reposed in Mexico with the blessing of MP Chief Hierarch Joseph Djugashvili.

[Constantine]

I am so tired of the same stuff on this website. You would rather talk about Obama being the antichrist than preparing yourselves for the trials ahead. You sit in judgment over others when you should be asking for mercy for yourselves. You are no better than the scribes and Pharisees of Old and God will deal with you accordingly.

And what are you doing? Are you not judging? There is great hypocricy in your post, as you charge others of judging yet do so yourself, you criticize the "Orthodoxy" of others for what they post but yet you return to the "cesspool" as you call it to read what these same people have written. If you were practicing what you preach, then perhaps you should not "bang the drum", making elaborat posts condeming others and making charges, but simply, if you dont like the content, dont read it! Unfortunatly it is you who are scandelizing yourself. Are people posting unOrthodox things...let them, we cannot fix ourselves, are we going to start fixing others?

Sincerly,

Constantine

[joasia]

To the moderators,

Please don't move this to the book section. My mention of this book is for the subject of the previous posts. Thank you.

I think it would be a great benefit for many to read the History of the Church by Bp. Eusebius. It is a detailed description of the trials and tribulations of the 1st 300 years. In it, he describes the situations of those times and also offers excerpts of many letters from clergy and other eye witnesses. There were priests and bishops that acted in ways that were against the Apostolic Tradition. Many of them were deposed. Many created sects. And there were many letters describing the situations. It's too full of details to get into here, but it certainly sounds like the same type of situation now, that they had then(although I know it happened in all the years since then, but we are living now and my comment is for our lives now). The difference being that back then, they were still in contact will men and women who may have known some of the Apostles and certainly been witnesses to the holy martyrs that we glorify now. Also, many names of simple people that died for the Faith, that we are not aware of.

It was a spiritually powerful time then and they were more pious in their lives than we are now. Oh, if you would get the book, you would read about the plethora of examples of martyrs. So, many, that I had to put the book down because it was too intense and I needed a breather.

And there were arguements between bishops, priests and laymen. Reading it makes me see that it wasn't a time of romantic martyrdom, like I tended to view the first centuries...as blissful in Orthodoxy. There were good people that were in error due to bad influences and weakness of minds..even bishops. There were also reconcilliations. And there were definite agreements amongst the Church authorities of what was right by Apostolic Tradition and what was personal errors of opinion.

Now we live in a time where piety is rare to see and those that are truely pious are probably slandered by the evil one to look impious. Our times are worse because back then, the fruits of the faith were the sacrafices of the martyrs. Where are the martyrs now? Are there any martyrs now, today, this year? Or are we blinded by the evil one's slanders? I think that we are in such a state of confusion and arguement because we lack the true fruits that are pleasing to God...humility and love; that's what makes us martyrs in the faith, if not by physical death at the hands of the unbelievers.

Everyone here confesses their faith in Orthodoxy as true. Who would be willing to accept torture and eventual death? If you believe that you could not defy Christ to this world ruled by satan and would want to accept any torture, for Christ's sake, then that means we are arguing with each other for nothing. We are allowing satan to tear down what we are trying to build...our faith, hope and worship for the Truth. With one sentence we try to support our faith and with another, we allow satan to tear it down. No wonder we look like hypocrites.

We criticize and ridicule and show ourselves to know better than the next person. How does that help us in gaining salvation? How does that help to make witness of Orthodoxy to outsiders?

These are just my thoughts. I'm not looking for a debate. Any spiritual comments would be greatly appreciated.

In Christ,
Joanna

[Suaidan]

I am truly surprised to read about this, and certainly puzzled. Did Father Christopher Johnson and the entire parish of St. John the Russian in Ipswich, Massachusetts also enter the ROCOR-MP with Father Spyridon Schneider this week? I thought that they had only recently rejoiced to enter into communion with the ROCOR-Agafangelites, and had long criticized the ecumenism of the MP. Perhaps they should sell their parish building, buy a large mobile home, and move down to Tijuana, Mexico. They can consecrate the holy rolling trailer to MP logothete Leon Trotsky, who reposed in Mexico with the blessing of MP Chief Hierarch Joseph Djugashvili.

I don't think they'd do well in Mexico. That parish has shrunk steadily over the years, regardless of Fr Spyridon's pronouncements. However, it would not surprise me if Fr Christopher Johnson simply followed him. He had been under "obedience" to him since 2004.

[nicholas candela]

Joe:

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I know nothing of Fr Spyridon, but I'm puzzled why you would cite his peregrinations as if the ideal were to remain in the church one is born into. Were YOU not a Papist, then with World Orthodoxy, then with Gregory and ROAC (and Gregory had been with the Antiochians, The Twelve Islands, the Kiousites, the Kallinikites, the ROAC), then with World Orthodoxy again, then with some Sarum-rite, now with the Milan Synod (though these last two might be one)?  And did not the Milan Synod ---in which you say you are  happy---plant Kyprianism in America when it consecrated to the episcopacy Chrysostomos of Etna, M Kyprian present? Can I take this to mean you too believe heretics are sick members of the Church with valid mysteries until a council the Kyprianites accept judges otherwise?  

Anyone who'd been in  ROCOR and believed her teachings would see no problem in joining the Kapralites , since ROCOR's true ecclesiology was always Kyprianite, to further the cause of union with the MP (M Lavr admitted in an intervew shortly before he died that the union was their agenda since 1980)---"for, after all,  (so errs the Kyprianite mentality)if the MP is heretical (and it IS, being both Sergianist and ecumenist: Alexei II calls Benedict XVI "a minister of the Church" [while Benedict calls

Orthodoxy "defective" because "it is not in communion with the see of Peter": though many PseudOrthodox in fact ARE])---the MP is nevertheless STILL THE CHURCH, perhaps unhealthy, but THE CHURCH. We are healthy, and therefore we will help heal the MP." Monk Kyprian severed his union with ROCOR because they were more honest than he: he insists he has walled himself off from the state church of Greece (even though, according to his ecclesiology, they are the Church): ROCOR, however, did not even seek to wall themselves off from the MP, but openly sought union. If it weren't the height of unPatristic doubletalk, it'd be funny.

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I guess you just don't like this poor storm-tossed Spyridon, who's now washed up on the shore of Kapral-MP,  guided there by the winds of Kyprian.

Nicholas Candela