Recent ROAC Newsarticles

[Julianna]

ARSONS IN LATVIA

Around five in the morning of the 28th of August, the day of the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, unknown hooligans gathered in Daoobavrelse and burned the Cathedral Church of the Holy Equal to the Apostles Prince Vladimir, belonging to the Autonomous True Orthodox Church of Latvia - the Latvian Eparchy of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church. The fire in the church was at once discovered by Archbishop Victor. According to the report of the Latvian firemen, there were discovered two canisters of gasoline, one of which was full, the other empty, which proved the fire was maliciously set. The flames of the fire seriously damaged the roof of the church, the interior, and church property. The damage is estimated at $9000 U.S. dollars.

According to Archbishop Victor, about five in the morning he was woken by a neighbor lady, who informed him that the church was engulfed with flames. At that point the fire was burning the staircase on the second floor where the bishop slept. To flee the burning church, Archbishop Victor was helped by our Saviour. Vladyka was taken to the clinic with numerous burns. Later it became evident that the culprits threw bottles with a flammable mixture straight into the window of the Archbishop's residence.

Archbishop Victor had reported that he had been threatened continuously during the previous two months. Whoever threatened the hierarch referred to themselves as Christians.

The result of the fire was that the bishop's entire bedroom, the trapeza and the Eparchy's boardroom were burned.

[Julianna]

ARSONS IN SUZDAL

On Sunday morning, August 3rd, two fires were started on church buildings in Suzdal. The first fire was started on the big metal hangar that is situated next to Synodal House at Teremki Street and and the second one was at the garage in a yard of Rizopologenskij convent at Vasilievskaja Street.

At 4.30 in the morning, casual by-passers noticed a blaze rising over the hangar building that is used as a garage of Synod and also as a storehouse of construction materials and fuel. Five minutes earlier pilgrims, who were at the building next door to hangar, heard the sound of a car departing in a quick manner. In it, in all probability, were offenders, who set on fire.

The starting point, of the fire was in a firewood storehouse added to the hangar. Arsonists splashed liquid fuel through a crack in a wall of the storehouse. As a result, their stored saw-timber burst into flames. Soon a metal wall of the hangar glowed because of the fire, and it started to split. Then flames enveloped shelves with car spare parts, wheels and paints.

Protopriest Nicholas and protodeacon Vladimir did their best to prevent an explosion of cars, which were in the garage, and they succeeded: one car was rolled out into the street and the other, which was left inside, was continually cooled off by pails full of water. Miraculously the fire didn't spread to areas with fuel, among which was tank with twelve tones of solar oil. A consequence of such a possible explosion of such quantity of fuel could be placed on the same footing as a serious terrorist act.

In the building next door to hangar was bishop Ambrose, several clerics and pilgrims, among whom were two children aged from 7 to 9. They hastily left the building when a pungent smell of smoke began to penetrate in its corridors. Fire brigades arrived in five minutes after the conflagration was revealed. They coped with the fire in about half an hour. As a result of the conflagration several cubic meters of board, slate, other construction material and also motorcycle of subdeacon Ivan Kostin were burned. According to the most modest count, an injury caused by conflagration amounted to 50 thousand rubles. Protodeacon Vladimir, who was near the seat of the conflagration for a long time was poisoned by coal gas. Urgently needed medical help was given to him.

The second arson took place approximately at 9.30 in the morning. An incendiary splashed petrol from a jerrycan (which was later found) and threw a match inside a crack in the back wall of a garage. The fire was noticed at once and in several minutes nuns and workers of the monastery extinguished it. As a result, saw-timber and plywood stored in the garage were slightly burnt. Also walls of the garage became covered with soot.

It is far from first time that church buildings in Suzdal become objects of arson. In the last summer a conflagration took place in the Rizopologenskij monastery at Vasilievskaja Street, where a petrol bomb was thrown through window. The building was so damaged that its repair hasn't been completed yet. "Osetrovtzs" also set on fire to chapel on Znamenskoe cemetery in Suzdal and to a church house on Slobodskaja Street, where elderly nuns-invalids live. Several years earlier an unfinished building of women cloisters in the name of St. John (patronymic Maximovich) was burnt down. Perpetrators of all these arsons, who are well known to many inhabitants of Suzdal "aren't ascertained" by investigation even up to now and criminal cases by majority of such incidents are closed.

[Seraphim Reeves]

The MP don't seem to know how to act in any other way than like the commies of yesterday (who sadly, have basically renamed themselves and still hold offices in politics and law enforcement in the former Soviet Union, if everything I've read on the topic is correct.) This lends a lot of anecdotal weight to the long standing charge that the MP itself is filled with communist agents, or judases/mammonites who sold their souls to communist rulers.

Btw., this seems to be how they act everywhere (reminds me of their parish grabs from ROCOR which has gone on for quite some time, including some very recent acts of aggression.)

Seraphim

[Julianna]

Extract from "The Life of the Apostle Thomas," courtesy of Holy Apostles Convent, Buena Vista, CO (POB 3118, Buena Vista, CO 81211, or tel. 719-395-8898). Taken from Convent publications of The Lives of the Holy Apostles ($21), containing the Lives of the Twelve and the Evangelists, and The Great Synaxaristes: October Volume of the Lives of the saints ($39.99), available from Holy Apostles Convent. Copyrighted material. All rights reserved.
 
EPISTLE OF THE SYNOD OF BISHOPS OF THE (AUTONOMOUS) RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH TO THE GOD LOVING FLOCK, CLERGY AND LAY PEOPLE
REGARDING PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS

Beloved in God Fathers, Brothers, Sisters, and venerable Monastics, entrusted to us by our Lord Jesus Christ and the Savior of the world Himself!

May the Lord's peace and blessing be with you!

     All of us see and begin to understand that the world around us is ceasing to be Christian. Even more, it is now not even a post-Christian world, but already a post-religious one, in which even the concept of religion totally disappears, any sense of the need for religion. A long time ago Christianity subdued the world, and now the world, which has broken off from the power of Christ, expels true Orthodoxy from its midst. The Kingdom of Christ - the Church - is not of this world, as the Lord Himself has told us: "I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:19). The contemporary civilization of the postmodern epoch gave birth to informed society (the main subject of which is not so much money, but information) in which the traditional world outlook disappears, traditional forms of economy, while money gradually looses its material value and transforms into the virtual signals of computers. The growing virtualization" of the human activities little by little is including all forms of human society. In the information society the old technology of subduing people through money and power becomes the manipulation of consciousness. In various ways, sometimes even by unnoticed means, people are led into committing sins, their will power is broken, they are led into slavery of the passions and the ruler of this world, Satan. In this there is hidden a great danger.

     The Holy Apostle Paul directs us to stay in the freedom that Christ has granted us (Gal. 5:1). This freedom is spiritual freedom, freedom from the power of sin and death. We should not be slaves to the passions and sin; we should not participate in the general apostasy, but we are not able to stop being so. "Apostasy is tolerated by God, therefore do not try to stop it with your weak hand. Stay away from it yourself," St. Ignatius Brianchaninov teaches us. But since we live in this world and the Church continues to be in the world of this contemporary godless society, she remains an object of the influence upon her by this society. In connection with this the matter of personal identification numbers worries our flock.

     The Holy Fathers teach us that sin is rooted in our will, in our free choice. If we are convinced that PIN Numbers are "the seal of antichrist" and our conscience would accuse us of accepting it, then, by all means we should renounce it, because someone who desecrates his conscience sins, as Holy Scripture teaches us (I Cor. 8:7-12). We should renounce any conscious participation in any anti-Christian deeds of this world, which is rushing toward the antichrist and should act according to the words of the Apostle Paul and be like those "that buy, though they possess not". The criterion and judge of our acts remains our conscience. It judges our actions. Therefore, every Christian decides for himself the degree to which he can allow himself to participate in the life of the godless and theomachist civilization, guided by the internal voice of his own conscience and the Holy Gospel. The world rushes to separate us from God and His Holy Church, to entangle us by the chains of various "virtual conveniences," to blind us through the pride of technological prowess, to enslave our soul with worldly matters. If we consciously permit ourselves to be involved into this process, we sin.

     However, we should not imitate the exalted inhuman and hypocritical opponents of the PIN Number from the MP, who are ready to place upon people the "heavy burdens and grievous to be borne", but at the same time enjoy all the "goods of civilization".

     Let us not be excited by various missionaries who come to Russia from other Orthodox countries and who sternly warn against getting passports, but who themselves have them and easily cross the borders of all the countries in the world. Their leaven is the same - hypocrisy, as the Lord has told us (Mt. 23:3-4).

     Beloved! It is necessary to remember that we live in a post-Christian world. The old "Christian world" has passed away and will not return. The frenzied desire by some for the revival in any country of an "Orthodox monarchy", in which there would be the rule of the true faith, should be considered a senseless utopia. One should soberly and bravely look forward and not be confused by the spirit.

     The Holy Apostle Paul teaches us not to be "conformed to this world" (Rom. 12:2) but to stand for the Truth by renouncing any, even the slightest, communion with heretics. This, above all, concerns the prevailing heresy of ecumenism and her disciple, the Moscow Patriarchate - and the other false churches of "global" Orthodoxy. Because, according to the Apostle's teaching, someone who defiles himself by communing with heresy is an antichrist.

     Christ demands His little flock uphold and manifest to others the Orthodox Faith. In this desert of the contemporary world the oases are few and we have, according to the word of the Prophet, to prepare the way for the Lord, by imitating the ancient Desert-fathers. In addition we, as disciples of Christ must be ready to confront the fact that they will laugh in our faces, mock, slander, judge and persecute us because we do not live the way the children of this world live and do not follow their insane ways.

     If we are not ready for this, we are not worthy to be called Christens. The Church has had the vivid experience of living under the Soviet terror, when everything was taken away except the faith. At that time, as during the second century persecutions, the principles of the Christian way of life remained the same. "Neither world, nor language, nor customs separate Christians from other people", says one of the epistles of the Apostolic period. "They fulfilled their duties together with all the other citizens, however, they were exposed to persecutions equally with the others. Each foreign land is a homeland and each homeland is a foreign land" ("Epistle to Diognet")

     Let us remember, beloved, who has sealed himself with the seal of antichrist: he who lives outside of repentance in slavery to sin, the one who stains his conscience by accepting a PIN Number, who keeps relations with the heretic-ecumenists, by participating in their prayers and false mysteries, those who lie against the Truth and abuse the Church. One should be afraid of this, turn away and run from it. But let us remember that the door of repentance is open to any one. As we know from the life of St. Basil, even the sale of his soul to the devil cannot deprive a person of the Lord's mercy. Let us watch over ourselves, and not to fall into laxness or the sin of judgment.

May the merciful Lord preserve us for His Heavenly Kingdom!

President of the Synod of Bishops, + Valentin,
Metropolitan of Suzdal and Vladimir July 15, 2003    
Suzdal
Members of the Synod of Bishops:
Theodore, Archbishop of Borisovo and Sanino Seraphim, Archbishop of Suchumi and Abhasia Irinarch, Bishop of Tula and Briansk Bishop Ambrose
 
BISHOP SEBASTIAN CONSECRATED IN SUZDAL
     According to information received from Suzdal on July 19"', 2003, by a decision of the Synod of Bishops of the ROAC, the consecration of the 13'' Bishop of the ROAC, Archimandrite Sebastian (Zhitkov) was performed.

     In the evening, the day before the feast of St. Evfimy of Suzdal, in the St. Tsar Konstantine Cathedral there was the right of nomination of Archimandrite Sebastian to be Bishop of Cheliabinsk, the vicar of the Suzdal diocese. On the next day the consecration was performed, headed by Metropolitan Valentin with Archbishops Theodore, Seraphim and Bishops Ambrose and Irinarch concelebrating.

     His Grace Sebastian was born in 1941, graduated from the St. Petersburg Ecclesiastical Academy and then became a clergyman of the MP in Cheliabinsk. There he demonstrated great activity by opening new churches, gathering communities and straightening out the local church life. However, as is customary for the Moscow Patriarchate, which does not tolerate for long clergymen who are too active, he was slandered and persecuted by his diocesan authorities and even was incarcerated for a time. In 2000 he was received through repentance by the Primate of the ROAC Metropolitan Valentin and a year later was promoted to the rank of archimandrite.

At present, Bishop Sebastian has three parishes: In Cheliabinsk, Zlatoust and the village of Sargyzy. In his flock are many doctors, teachers and in general those with higher education. He is known and respected by many in Cheliabins, Perm and Moscow.

     The day of the feast of St. Evfimy of Suzdal, according to local tradition, was marked by a solemn hierarchical service of a moleben with an akathist to the Imperial New Martyrs, presided over by the Primate Metropolitan Valentin in the church of St. Lazarus. After the Liturgy, performed in St. Constantine Cathedral, there was a procession with the relics of St. Evfimy, which rest in the cathedral. The service was concluded with wishes for many years to the "persecuted hierarchy of the Russian Church, the suffering Russian land and the Orthodox people living in the homeland and the Diaspora" as well as to the Synod of Bishops and the newly ordained Bishop Sebastian.

     On the next day, commemorating the discovery of the relics of St. Sergius, Bishop Sebastian served a vigil service and Liturgy on the side altar of St. Sergius in the Suzdal Dormition church at which he ordained Hierodeacon Mitrophan (Koshevoy), who was tonsured and ordained in Suzdal, although he is a clergyman of Bishop Sebastian.

[Julianna]

  Four More Priests Added to the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church in Bulgaria

      His Grace, Gregory, Bishop of Denver and Colorado, on a recent pastoral visit to Bulgaria, ordained two candidates to the priesthood and received two priests from the Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece, Lamian Synod.

      On the 15th of December, Vladyka Gregory traveled to Bulgaria, where he visited the Church of All Saints in Sofia, headed by Father Lyudmil Petrov. Father Lyudmil was the dean of the Theological Academy of Sofia before he entered the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church. Vladyka Gregory visited the newly acquired buildings for the future home of the parish of All Saints on the outskirts of Sofia.

      On the feast of Saint Nicholas of Myra, Vladyka Gregory ordained to the holy priesthood Father John Latkovsky. On the following Sunday, Vladyka also ordained to the holy priesthood Father Radoslav (Haralambos) Ivanov. Father John is a teacher at the Theological Academy in Sofia and Father Radoslav is a student studying for his Master’s Degree in Theology at the Academy as well.

      On Monday, December 22nd, Vladyka Gregory traveled to the city of Razgrad, where he received into the ROAC the priest Roman Constantinov and his parish of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary in the ancient Byzantine city of Silistra. Vladyka Gregory also received at the same time the priest Stefan Vasillev of Razgrad, and his parish of the Protomartyr Stephen. Both these priests come from the GOC of Greece, Lamian Synod.

      We give thanks to God that the growth of the Church in Bulgaria has proceeded so well, to the extent that the ROAC now has five priests in this ancient Orthodox country. Those seeking true Orthodoxy are beginning to understand the seriousness of the heresies of the new calendar Church and the Cyprianites, and are finding refuge in the bosom of our holy Church.

---

Announcement

      The Ordination of Father Ivan Ivanov Latkovsky

      On the Feast of Saint Nicholas, 6/19 December, 2003, Vladyka Gregory ordained to the holy priesthood John Ivanov Latkovsky. Father John graduated the Theological Academy in Sofia in 1996 with a Master’s Degree in Theology. In 1998 Father John was asked to be assistant professor at the Theological School and is presently working towards his Doctorate in Orthodox Ecclesiology. Father John is married to the handmaid of God Georgia, and has a lovely one-year-old daughter, Sofia. Father John, who is thirty years old, will be the assistant priest of Father Lyudmil at the parish Church of All Saints in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Announcement

      On Sunday, 7/20 December, 2003, His Grace, Gregory, Bishop of Denver and Colorado, ordained to the Holy Priesthood Father Haralambos Radoslav Ivanov. Father Haralambos, who is 38 years old, is married to the handmaid of God Maria and is blessed to have a young teenage daughter, Christina. Father Haralambos completed studies at the Sofia Ecclesiastical Academy in 2001 and is now a student working towards his Master’s Degree in Theology.

      Father Haralambos comes to us from the Greek Old Calendar Synods of Met. Cyprian and Archbishop Chrysostom Kiousis. After his training and graduation, Father Haralambos will be living in the town of Krumovgrad, located in southern Bulgaria. He will be starting a church in honor of the holy Great Martyr Haralambos.

Announcement

      On Monday, December 22nd, His Grace, Gregory, Bishop of Denver and Colorado, visited the Bulgarian city of Razgrad. There he accepted into the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church Father Roman Lazarov Constantinov and his parish of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Silistra.

      Father Roman, who is 49 years old, was born in the ancient Byzantine city of Silistra, on the border of Bulgaria and Romania. He attended seminary in 1985 and married the handmaid of God Marianka in 1987. They have two daughters, Catherine, 13 years old, and Theodora, 8 years old. He was ordained in 1987 in the new calendar Bulgarian church.

      In 1992, after understanding the true path of Orthodoxy, he abandoned the new calendar Church and was received into the GOC of Greece, Lamian Synod, and started to follow the Old Calendar. He built a chapel next to his home in Silistra and has over twenty parishioners. After being placed under the ecumenical Bishop Gervasi, Father Roman sought to be united with the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church and was received.

Here is a picture of Fr. Stefan:

Announcement

      On Monday, December 22nd, His Grace, Gregory, Bishop of Denver and Colorado, visited the Bulgarian city of Razgrad, 350 kilometers from Sofia. There he accepted into the Church the archpriest Stefan Radev Vassilev, who is in the process of building a Church in honor of St. Stephen, in the city of Razgrad. He is married to the handmaid of God Vasilissa and has two children who are now adults.

      Father Stefan who is 45 years old, was ordained in the official Church of Bulgaria in 1988. He understood the falseness of the ecumenical church he was in, and in 1995 joined the Greek Old Calendar Church, Lamian Synod. When that Church accepted Bishop Gervasi without proper investigation, Father Stefan was placed under him. Bishop Gervasi had lied to the Synod in Greece and was simultaneously a member of the new calendar synod in Bulgaria. Because of this unacceptable condition, Father Stefan petitioned Vladyka Gregory two months ago to be accepted into the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church. Father Stefan is an accomplished carpenter and electrician and will do the construction of his new church himself with the help of parishioners.

[尼古拉前执事]

Another Burglary of the Tsar Constantine Cathedral in Suzdal
(from Vertograd, Suzdal)

The Cathedral of Tsar Constantine in Suzdal was robbed again by unknown criminals during the night of March 1-2. One of the nuns, while fulfilling her obedience, entered the church at 3:00 a.m., and found that the lock hinges on the doors of the Cathedral had been cut in two. Workers of the diocesan administration who had been summoned found the doors that lead from the narthex into the nave of the church open. The thieves also cut through an iron chain which had been placed on the gate which leads from the narthex into the cathedral, and broke the bolt. Three icons were stolen from the church: a wonderworking icon of the Kazan Mother of God, a large icon of St. George the Trophy-bearer, and an icon of the Mother of God which had a silver riza. The police who arrived on the scene filled out a report. This is not the first time that the main church of the ROAC has been robbed.