If you think you can, could you post the following on your ROCA list: For your information Irina Bagration has asked that the following be distributed :
"Three days before the start of the Nyack Pastoral Conference I was informed that I together with several other lay members of our Church were invited to attend as observers the Pastoral Conference in Nyack. We would not be able to join in the debates nor would we be able to participate in any voting but on the fourth day (Thursday) we would be each given five minutes to express our views. However, when we arrived on Monday morning for the start of the conference we were at once informed that the opportunity to express our views had been withdrawn. In other words, we could not speak at all. Speaking for myself, I had never asked to be invited, and once invited I had never asked for an opportunity to express my views. On the contrary I was totally surprised by the invitation and the opportunity. I assume this was also the case for the other four laymen. I found this abrupt cancellation astonishing and objectionable. I therefore did not return on the next day to the conference nor on any of the following days.
On the second day of the conference two lay members of our Church were asked to leave the conference and not return. They had distributed articles and texts arguing against a union with the Moscow Patriarchate.
One is entitled to ask: if a conference is considered necessary is it not in order to give equal time to all opinions?"