Christ is in our midst!
He is and ever shall be!
The time has come to end the mourning. The time has come to move forward and go our separate ways. Indeed, an era is over... Many of those still with ROCOR and some who have left have to ask themselves a very salient question:
If Fr. Komarovsky were to be sidelined immediately and ROCOR were to attempt to return to its historic course as a "conscience of Orthodoxy," could it ever recover and assume that role anew?
Realistically, we all know the answer is "no." Gone are the relevent and intellectual giants who followed in +Metropolitan Antony's footsteps. Departed is a generation whose memory of old Russia was the life they lived and not second-hand nostalgia. Gone is the seriousness and competence which allowed a small group of Bishops to stand and be heard and put the breaks on the heretical currents which threaten to poison post-imperial Orthodoxy. All that is left is a diasporan Russian heritage society peopled with would be "leaders of the immigration" and "conquerors" of ecclesiatical territories. Sorry, Vladyko Nektary, if these are the heirs of Russian messianism, then the movement is stillborn.
Let us pause for a moment to eulogize ROCOR. Indeed, the work of blessed +Metropolitan Antony was to influence local churches to reject the calendar schism and fortify themselves against renovationism. His ROCOR was the first to set up the firewalls against ecumenism insisting that any dialogue with the heterodox which began with the Orthodox assuming a role of equivalence would end in the apostasy of the Orthodox, not in the conversion of the sectarian. His ROCOR began to patently reject the presuppositions of ecumenism as Patristically and ecclesiologically untenable which in the end made this dialogue vain, unfruitful, and inevitably dangerous. He challenged the ep and +Metropolitan Sergius in their pretensions of "canonicity" and openly spoke of himself being tried in an ecclesiastical court to "determine who was faithful to the Canons." He triumphantly saw such an assembly as a possibility for pronouncing anathemas and eagerly awaited it. Sadly, it was not to come in his lifetime, but the forces of cacodoxy were held at bay. Blessed +Metropolitan Anastassy presided over ROCOR in turbulent years, where most of ROCOR was lost. The temptation to submit to the MP or to come to terms with the ep was never greater. Blessed +Metropolitan Anastassy continued ROCOR's opposition to sergianism and shed light on the persecution of Orthodoxy in the soviet union. His outspoken eloquence was sharp and unflinching when accusations of "schism" came filtering from various quarters. He too was ready to be judged at an ecclesiastical court, which never came... The temptation of ecumenism was carefully approached by Blessed +Anastassy, with him adopting a wait and see approach in view of the ascendency of such luminaries as Fr. Georges Florovsky in ecumenical dialogue. Wise it was, for Fr. Florovsky was soon pushed aside and all attempts were made to marginalize and silence him and his approach under the cloak of "his not being able to get along." To his last breath Blessed +Anastassy sought to reunite the various Russian jurisdictions in Orthodoxy, constantly holding out an olive branch to such holy men as +Metropolitan Leonty in the hopes of renewal of Russian Orthodoxy and the rebirth of Orthodox Russia. His goals outlived him...In our time the pathos of ROCOR was expressed by Blessed +Metropolitan Philaret. Handselected by St. John of San Francisco and known for his intense piety and Russian heart, Vladyka Philaret attempted to continue the work of rapproachment within the diasporan Russian church. A storm arose quickly and the times grew very dark. ecumenism had assumed the long predicted guise of apostasy. A new faith of syncretism began to be preached in the place of Orthodoxy. Anathemas, bearing ecumenical authority, were supposedly lifted by one man without council nor consideration of the Patristic reasons for condemnation. sergianism entered this cabal eagerly seeking a papal concordat to more freely liquidate the Church in Russia and influence the west by infiltrating the papacy. Seeing the black times of his era, Blessed +Philaret led his flock out of this apostasy through love and steadfastness in Truth. Moreover, he made sure his voice was heard in the Oikumene as he raised it in humility and love. His model was a network of resistance. He consecrated hierarchs for those oppressed by the betrayers of Orthodoxy. He reconfigured ROCOR as a multi-ethnic Orthodox MISSIONARY body. He reinforced his vision by doing, by setting an example of piety and by calling all to follow him in the PODVIG OF PRAYER. The Holy Mountain followed his lead and ceased commemoration. St. Justin of Chelje spoke out as a brother and ally. The seeds were planted for the demise of ecumenism throughout the Oikumene. "TRADITIONALISM" became defined as something more than cassocks, beards, and a foreign language. It must be remembered that Blessed Philaret NEVER scorned the Orthodox Russian people, nor Russia's right-believing clergy in the MP. It was the practice of ROCOR until recently to intone "THE ORTHODOX EPISCOPATE OF THE PERSECUTED RUSSIAN CHURCH" in its ektenias. Blessed +Metropolitan Philaret supported MP clergy such as Fr. Dmitri Dudko and Elder Tavrion, and it seems the saintly +John of St. Petersburg may have been in accord with Vladyka. His reign was ruled by wisdom, and although ROCOR did cease intercommunion with most local churches, it was observed with Jerusalem and Belgrade throughout his rule. Great moral achievements crown his brow: glorification of the Holy New Martyrs, anathemas against sergianism & ecumenism, literature and clergy for the Russian Catacombs, hierarchs for the Catacombs resisting ecumenism and neo-papal unionism, a mission made relevent by publishing masterpieces of Orthodox Patristics and spirituality in the language of emerging generations and their INCLUSION in the formation of a multi-ethnic ROCOR. His era was ROCOR par excellance...Trends from the left and the right assumed power after his presentation to God's Throne. The Podvig of Prayer was forgotten. Russianess became institutionalized. And those resisting were left to fend for themselves if they couldn't do it in Russian...The clique, which had always been there, triumphed and transformed ROCOR's higher echelons into marionettes cast in its own image. When the "g"s were distanced/died off, it was thought that renewal would arise, but, sadly, boomer liberals simply displaced them and defined their own realpolitik as "ROCOR." Sic transit gloria mundi.
One must remember that ROCOR embodied the best trends of Russian Orthodoxy, the trends which began Patristic renewal. They stemmed from the holy work of St, Paisios of Neametz, the Briansk Elders, the Sarov Hermitage and our heart, our beloved Batushka Seraphim, Optina, St. John of Kronstadt, luminaries such as SS.Makary & Philaret of Moscow and St. Ignatios of Stavropol. This was ROCOR's foundation and patrimony in Russian Orthodoxy. It existed in its own time in defiance of the cliques. It was an insurgency, not the majority of Russian Orthodoxy, of renewal which ROCOR continued. Now, new and different voices continue the work as Russia is reborn and Russian Orthodoxy is renewed.
The various resister parts of the Russian church, ie ROCiE, ROAC, Catacomb bodies et al as well as more "world Orthodox" jurisdictions such as the pj or the OCA are all sons of the same mother. The circumstances of the revolution and persecution have caused the fissures which resulted in their separation. Until this is fully accounted for and the Russian church overcomes the past, there will be divisions. Charity must come first in addressing these people and talk of "schisms" or "gracelessness" must cease ON BOTH SIDES. The work of the Pan-Russian Council is to reunite the Russian church and continue the legacy of Holy Patriarch Tikhon, not ignore it as some suggest by their plans and/or silence and/or ignorance of it...
With this, my proposal is twofold:
1). Reorganizing ROCOR as a conglomerate of Russian Orthodox churches in diaspora. In N America, the lead should be taken for full integration into the OCA with both parties finally reconciled and the Russian mission benefiting. On St. Herman's day, I find it ever apt to foresee a new alloy of the best and most pious elements of both jurisdictions working toward renewal and the eventual emergence of an American local church...This reorganization should also begin incorporating the diasporan administrations of other sister churches with the intention of eventually forming local churches and synods specific for the various territories in question.
2). The return to the MP of Russian Orthodox monuments which represent the legacy of the Russian Orthodox church as a whole such as the properties in the Holy Land, memorial churches in places like Darmstadt, etc.
My final point is to stress that the MP herself should lead dialogue with resisters, Old Believers, etc. and come to champion their cause where appropriate, for inevitably, it will mean the spiritual care of the children of other local churches. We must come to renewal together.
With that, my fond adieu is offered to ROCOR. One cannot practice Orthodoxy in +Archbishop Averky's Jordanville or Fr. Seraphim's Platina in 2006: these eras are over, but their legacies live on elsewhere. Even though I have now been separated from ROCOR for sometime, I think it best to be able to praise as well as criticize. I think it incumbent upon me to deal with the situation at hand and look for what can be best with the current climate. I think it Orthodox to forego pettiness or even triumphalism and offer only positive and constructive commentary from henceforth...
In The LOVE Of Christ,
Rostislav Mikhailovich Malleev-Pokrovsky
