Here is the court transcripts on ROCOR-L vs. Metropolitan Vitaly:
Esphigmenou Declaration on ROCOR
Moderator: Mark Templet
Νικολάος Διάκ wrote:Here is the court transcripts on ROCOR-L vs. Metropolitan Vitaly:
Though it's worth reading, to summarize, this document is the judgement of the chief justice of the New York supreme court on the question of whether or not Metropolitan Vitaly is competent to manage his person and property or is being manipulated by a group of people intent on disrupting church life. The NYSC sent a court reporter to Mansonville to observe the circumstances surrounding the Metropolitan and interview the Metropolitan himself:
The Report confirms that Metropolitan Oustinow suffers from some memory loss and becomes somewhat confused when pressed for details regarding his property and assets, but has no apparent difficulty in describing his personal history or in expressing his thoughts and feelings concerning the Church and his ideological viewpoint regarding the separation from Moscow and other matters. While reluctant to do so, he expressed his opinion that it was inappropriate for the petitioner herein to interpose himself and ask to be appointed Guardian (Report, p. 5) and volunteered that "there was a personal misunderstanding between him and Bishop Gabriel regarding the inner policy of the Church and that is why he left New York" (Report, p. 4).
Furthermore, commenting on the ROCOR (L)'s lack of regard for the well-being of the Metropolitan beyond its relation to his ability to manage his property, the Justice noted that:
No reports have been made that show any interest in the ongoing state of respondent's health and welfare, and nothing since has been urged upon this or the Canadian courts that would demonstrate an emergency concerning respondent's safety and well being existed in the first place. Petitioner did not contest or seek reconsideration of my decision to mark this case off and did not attempt to pursue the petition in this court until respondent moved to restore his motion.
There's more, but you need to read it yourself. Pagination follows the original document and may thus be cited.
Met Vitaly
I must comment on someone's earlier statement about the ROCIE bishops supposedly being after wealth and power...I visited the Church in Nyack Ny once which is under Valdyka Vitaly...the bishop lived in a small house with others...I believe his quarters may have been actually in the basement-although I could be wrong on this...in any case he was not living in anything but hard conditions...he seemed like a very loving and meek man...
Concerning Vladyka Vitaly...there are so many rumors and conflicting stories that for me the truth is hard to come by...I am sure God will reveal it in his own time...I have met people who have been to see him many times...they totally support him and love him...
Regarding the lady who helps him...they have told me that on one occasion she did give him a good deal of drugs...and that she did this because she feared for his life because of everything that was happening in NY...their opinion was this perhaps saved his life...
I've also been told that Vladyka Vitaly did not so much willingly resign as he was forced to resign...by some people waving the papers in his face for about 2 days straight...and when he left one of the meetings he was very sad and stated to the lady "they hate me, they all hate me"-reffering to some of the bishops...
I've also been told that he wrote something and asked every bishop to read it and then come and talk to him privately concerning it when they were done...and no one did so...
According to the info I recieved...Vladyka asked the woman to withdrawal a large sum of money because he suspected something bad was going to happen and that he was about to be removed (forced to resign)...after this they put Met. Vitaly in a room and cut his phone cord...he was not allowed to leave synod by whoever did this...the lady realized that the money she withdrew was taken from her purse and as it was a large sum of money she called the police...the police then went to synod and they let them in...this is how Vladyka Vitaly got free from being locked in some room...so he walked out and left...
I am not saying all this is true...this is what I heard from people who I trust with all my heart...perhaps they recieved some wrong info...or maybe it is true?...I am just passing on what I heard for consideration...
God will reveal things in His time...