The strange, sad case of the defrocked deacon, Lev Puhalo

[joasia]

Lucas is a mouth-piece for those who oppose Christ. I much prefer Mel Gibson's valiant attempts of bringing forth the truth of our existence in connection to our Saviour. I wonder if those who saw the movie, who are not spiritually focused, had a more positive understanding of who Christ is and what He did for us. I hope I can meet him one day and have a conversation about the Christian faith in our society. Does anybody know of a site where he posts his views?

Sorry for getting off topic. To bring it back..I think Puhalo deserved being defrocked. He certainly doesn't reflect an Orthodox faith.

[moschonisi]

Aerial Toll-Houses after Bodily Death and the Deposed Deacon Lev Puhalo
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As most on this forum know, the Church’s position on the subject matter is to a great extent based upon what one would probably call "private revelations" of Saints, and direct or indirect inferences from liturgical texts, writings of our Holy Fathers and the Scriptures. It does not however have a dogmatic status per se, but is accepted by ALL traditional Orthodox believers, whatever their background.

This is one of the primary topics with which Mr. Puhalo has a huge issue... As a matter of fact, in no uncertain ways he, as well as a handful of other Orthodox theologians, who refer to themselves as authoritative ( a self-declared term) and indicate that “Aerial Toll-Houses “ is a “heretical teaching supportive of Gnosticism.”

First of all, this type of theologians are most certainly not authoritative, and as a matter of fact I would dare declare ALL of them as being far from being reputable in the sense that they are usually not members of canonical Churches but rather schisms of the type that Mr. Puhalo has associated with most of his life.

Every single time you see in Puhalo's writings an effort to make a point on this issue, he simply ignores the Church’s actual position and instead substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position rather than the true Orthodox teaching. This is what Puhalo did for years in his exchanges with Fr. Seraphim Rose on this matter. He is a master of the “straw hat” principle and he has taken with him many innocent people through such heretical views on this important teaching of our Church.

One other such group that strongly advocated a position against Aerial Toll-Houses was the "HOCNA" group based out of Boston, who broke away from the Russian Synod because their unofficial "leader" was found to be a homosexual who preyed on young men -- rather than submit to ecclesiastical authorities and accept discipline. In this case, he started a schism and took a lot of really gullible people with him.

The truth is that the detractors on this topic, are far louder than their numbers warrant. Unfortunately, the key one of them is Mr. Puhalo who as we all now know has been accepted as a "retired Bishop" by the Orthodox Church in America, for whatever reason, after years of being of let's say, in a "questionable" (at best) ecclesiastical status. If you find any online discussion about this topic, it is very likely that you will find Lazar Puhalo's name attached to it.

It is also well known that his position on this issue was one of the several motivators on why ROCOR rid themselves of him when he was a deacon; it was as a deacon and through his personal association with HOCNA that he started advocating this heresy of his, completely disregarding great saints like St. John Maximovitch:

http://orthodoxheritage.org/MOM%2010%202003.htm

If someone wishes to see the tie of the teachings on Aerial Toll-Houses back to the early Church Fathers, then the following book by Father Seraphim Rose is most definitely recommended: "The Soul After Death — Contemporary 'After-Death' Experiences in the Light of the Orthodox Teaching on the Afterlife" from Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... holicmess/

Bottom line, there are only few extremely outspoken detractors of this patristic teaching, ALL OF THEM HAVING A CONNECTION WITH EACH OTHER, and these are HOCNA, the Deposed Deacon Lev Puhalo and Reader David-Constantine Wright of the Milan Synod. If you go to the latter's website, he even calls Puhalo "an inspirer of this [Rdr David-Constantine's] website." What a coincidence...

[moschonisi]

EXTRACT FROM THE MINUTES OF THE SESSION OF THE SYNOD OF BISHOPS OF THE
RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OUTSIDE RUSSIA
On 19 November/2 December, 1980, the Synod of the Bishops of the
Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia heard: the extensive
correspondence connected with the controversy raised by Deacon Lev.
Puhalo (Ed. now known as Archbishop Lazarus ~ Synaxis Press) with regardto...

THANK YOU for posting this! This proves how far ago Puhalo started his heretical teachings and the record is now straight on this, at least in this forum! We also know what appears to be the primary basis for his leaving ROCOR (being defrocked by them). Do you have a ROCOR record of when he was defrocked or is it sealed?

I have read that he was extremely connected with HOCNA and I saw a few posts on this connection elsewhere; you know that Puhalo and HOCNA share IDENTICAL views on toll houses. Do you know anything about this connection?

[尼古拉前执事]

It should be noted that he, along with HOCNA not only disparage the Toll-Houses and Blessed Augustine, but teach evolution. I am surprised he did not join HOCNA when he got defrocked by the ROCA but instead joined the Free Serbs, the Milan Synod, UAOC & KP before ending up retired in the OCA.

[Kollyvas]

Christ is in our midst!
He is and ever shall be!

Evlogeite.
Much was once available on the net which is escaping search engines and I'm hoping to regain access to certain archives regarding mr. puhalo's deposition. The documents on his deposition were indeed once available. There are other things concerning him which spark concern. I'll bring them up when I get them. I beg your patience. Perhaps Fr. John Shaw of ROCOR, a person with direct & immediate archives could be more expeditious, but I will continue my part. mr. puhalo maintains he was ordained a priest by the Free Serbs in 1980, and I am unaware of any type of "Catacomb circumstances" which would have supported this...

Concerning mr. puhalo's "friendships" with hocna, it must be remembered that while HTM was part of ROCOR, beginning in the mid 1970s, it took it upon itself to "correct the Russians" so as to "purify their Orthodoxy." mr. puhalo had been a Jordanville product who had taken a different tack and was trying to "establish himself" in ROCOR. Precisely, he and novakshonoff had taken Russian names there and were trying to make a place for themselves. Believe it or not, I believe in their formative years, I seem to have come across the fact that they were formed by Archimandrite Kiprian the Iconographer (Memory Eternal!), a beloved Priest who provided spiritual direction for myself (In confession, he recited to me my sins without me even speaking). Anyway, here he became enamored of the Paris school, Berdiaev especially, but also bulgakov, and that is where his separate path begins. HIs war against the toll houses finds its early life in his adaptation of bulgakov's same exact war (which bulgakov lost--he also defended name-worship in the same period) in the pre-revolutionary Russian church. Platina would not bow to Fr. Panteleimon, so they needed a "Russian" to divide the Russians and Jordanville and discredit or at least distract Platina. That is where mr. puhalo came in. He had Jordanville credentials and he melded into the hocna program of "eliminating (misconceived) western influences." (hocna believes St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite was not a Saint but a Westernizing "Jewish provocateur," for instance.) He became part of their orientation. And they lent some of their people to his cause. Concerning toll houses, this becomes utterly incomprehensible because Fr. Panteleimon maintains to this day his monastic formation from the Synodeia of Blessed Elder Joseph the Hesychast (where he did spend a short time, and Elder Ephraim does greet him lovingly) WHICH TEACHES AND ALWAYS TAUGHT toll houses!!! Blessed Elder Joseph (Papou) asked his children to pray for him on his death bed "so he could hopefully make it through the toll houses." With hocna, toll houses, then, became a "manufactured issue." +Bishop Gregory (grabbe) was a good friend of hocna and mr. puhalo--he was seen as at the head of their Russian spear. When he could not legitimate puhalo and puhalo was placed under a warning, HTM was warned to "keep their distance." mr. puhalo never stopped teaching against the toll houses and kept promoting his heretical eschatology; indeed, he was visiting ROCOR congregations and encouraging them with their pastors to resist the "heretical teaching" of the "Russian Bishops." Soon he was defrocked and HTM denied all knowledge of him--he was no longer useful as a tool "against the Russians." He found sanctuary with a Synodeia which had a grudge against ROCOR and the rest is history. hocna eventually was disgraced, +Vitaly secured his position and +Gregory was somewhat sidelined and had to disavow them, and hocna went off into the sunset accusing ROCOR of "heresy, ecumenism" but, strangely enough, when hocna was part of the Metropolia and under the protection of Fr. Schmemann, such concerns under more obvious circumstances weren't at the forefront. Indeed, many hocna positions were ORIGINAL and/or manufactured as can be seen by the voices which originated them. Some remained with hocna, others filtered in and out, still others came to prefer "other resistance," a few remained with ROCOR. mr. puhalo, then, was an expendible and came to realize that.
O Kyrios!
Rostislav
I was unaware that the rdr. constantine wright had jumped from the JP to the Milan Synod--I feel sorry for Milan if it's true.

[尼古拉前执事]

I was unaware that the rdr. constantine wright had jumped from the JP to the Milan Synod--I feel sorry for Milan if it's true.

Reader Constantine is currently in the GOA after leaving the Milan Synod for them. I actually thought he would return to the OCA again since one of his biggest role models seems to be the man this thread is all about.

[Kollyvas]

Some Old Catholics might make him a "bishop" one day if he so vigorously keeps jumping the "jurisdictional hurdles." He could make it into an Olympic event. Indeed, with his love of such things as star trek and anime, he may one day be "first heirarch of the federation." LOL! All joking aside, there definitely seems something seriously wrong there. How many jurisdictions does that make? 8 or 9?! Kyrie Eleison.
R