OCA scandal

[Kollyvas]

I'm sorry, but I thought I asked you to not address me any longer?! Moreover, heckling and ad hominem attacks don't seem to advance your purposes. Really, empty argumentativeness doesn't grant acumen to those attacking others. Am I supposed to feel bad, belittled, slighted or just be provoked?! Grow up. It's clear you dislike me, but devote your own threads to that, and be rest assured I'll allow you the bliss of saying anything about me without even bothering to look at what's being said. There is a topic here, and I'm not it.
R

[尼古拉前执事]

4.28.06
Lesser Synod Confirms
http://ocanews.org/news/LesserSynodWidens.html
Widening Of Investigation:
Releases Two Documents

The OCA has confirmed for the first time that the ongoing investigation into financial misconduct at Syosset has widened.

At its one-day meeting in Syosset on Thursday, April 27th, the Lesser Synod of the OCA expressed “full agreement” to the Metropolitan’s decision to have the accounting firm of Lambrides, Lamos & Moulthrop “assist the Church’s lawyers by conducting reviews of specific financial materials relevant to the investigation. This is in addition to their prior engagements which began in January 2006, in which they were authorized to audit the OCA’s financial records for the years 2004 and 2005, as well as to audit all special appeal income, distributions, expenses, and balances from 2001 to 2005, as requested by the Holy Synod of Bishops on March 1, 2006.” The “specific financial materials” now being investigated were not disclosed.

In addition, the Lesser Synod “reviewed the minutes of the extraordinary meeting of the Metropolitan Council Administrative Committee at the Chancery on March 16, 2006”, expressed “their support for Metropolitan Herman’s recent decisions regarding personnel changes”, as well as their support for “new accounting and financial procedures and controls”.

The Lesser Synod released two documents.

The first document is the text of Metropolitan Herman’s March 16th statement to the Administrative Committee. (Read document here) A summary of the statement (with the notable exception of the final paragraph) had already been released by the OCA that day. The substance of the missing paragraph was reported by OCANews on March 18th. The full text confirms the OCANews report. The final paragraph reads: “My decision was prompted by an accusatory and intimidating letter which I received from Father Kondratick’s attorney, Harry H. Kutner, Jr. I do interpret his attack on me as Primate as an attack on the whole Church. It is with sadness that I report this to you.”

The second document, entitled “Primary Policies and Procedures of the Orthodox Church in America” outlines the new accounting and financial procedures, as well as the controls that were introduced in October 2005. (Read document here) This document had, in large part, already been published by OCANews on February 2, 2006.

What is most interesting about the second document is the insight that its official publication now gives into the reasons for the widening of the investigation. For every procedure listed, one might assume that prior to October 2005 such control may have been absent. Thus, what is implied, is shocking:

• that credit card expenditures were not controlled or pre-approved;
• that reimbursements and expenditures were paid without documentation;
• that checks were issued for cash without receipts;
• that checks were issued without payees being named (i.e. blank checks)
• that cash was given without receipts;
• that gifts were given without documentation;

• that cash gifts were given overseas without reference to US Customs regulations;
• that travel and related expenses were incurred without controls.

The list goes on. But such an environment of lax financial procedures may help explain Metropolitan Herman’s statement contained in the first document released yesterday: “Their [the auditors’] work has been slowed due to the lack of documentation available for some transactions that are integral to the year 2004 audit.” In other words, there is nothing to audit if the documentation does not exist. Such a lack of documentation confirms the statements of Protodeacon Eric Wheeler and Paul Hunchak.

The 2006 Lesser Synod is composed of Metropolitan Herman, Archbishop Kyrill of Pittsburgh and the Bulgarian Diocese, Archbishop Job of Chicago, Bishop Seraphim of Ottawa, and Bishop Tikhon of Philadelphia. Bishop Nikon of Boston and the Albanian Diocese attended the meeting as well.

[Kollyvas]

Christ is Risen!
A close source to +Metropolitan Herman at the chancery in Syosset has made it known that the reasons for the dismissal of Fr. Robert (Rodion) Kondratick were his refusal to cooperate with the investigation, even acting to impede it with such means as the destruction/theft of financial documents. Furthermore, there is evidence that he has colluded with both Bishops +Tikhon & +Nikolai: in the event of his reinstatement to his former post and the "removal" of +Metropolitan Herman, he has agreed to facillitate the consecration of a candidate DEEMED UNSUITABLE by the Holy Synod Of Bishops of the OCA to the episcopacy, a hieromonk who recently completed seminary who had a close relationship to +Tikhon & +Nikolai (prior to kheiritonia) in the OCA Diocese of the West. +Nikolai had petitioned the Synod of Bishops to consecrate said hieromonk as his vicar but was flatly refused citing the candidates lack of experience, youth, credential and close relationship to both +Tikhon & +Nikolai. +Metropolitan Herman was instrumental in nipping such blatent CRONYISM in the bud, raising the ire of the two hierarchs. Fr. Kondratick, former head of the theodosian administration has promised them a return to a "more agreeable" relationship with Syosset...
Indeed He is Risen!
Rostislav Mikhailovich Malleev-Pokrovsky
STAND WITH +METROPOLITAN HERMAN, EVEN BY YOUR PRAYERS, IN THE FACE OF THIS VILE theodosian corruption!

[尼古拉前执事]

5.02.06
http://ocanews.org/news/HermantoTIkhonRetire5206.html
+Herman to +Tikhon: Retire Now
+Tikhon to +Herman: Ditto

In a pointed exchange of letters over the past three weeks Metropolitan Herman and Bishop Tikhon have both called on the other to consider immediate retirement.

On April 7, Metropolitan Herman responded to +Tikhon’s letter of March 24th in which the Bishop of the West severely criticized the Metropolitan’s actions in dismissing the Chancellor and launching the Proskauer Rose investigation. The Metropolitan writes: “With profound sadness I received and read your letter dated March 26, 2006, at the conclusion of which you call upon me to resign and/or seek professional help and state that if I do not do either, then I risk being judged by an illegally composed synod of bishops. This letter troubles me deeply, not only personally because of your libelous comments about leading clergy in the Orthodox Church in America, which I will deal with at another opportunity, but more importantly, the nature, the tone, and the essence of your letter.”

Retire Now

The Metropolitan’s letter concludes: “....On many occasions as we have gathered as a Holy Synod of Bishops, you have been asked to refrain from dialoguing on clergy lists and the like. Unfortunately, you have chosen to ignore the sentiments of most of the bishops in this regard.

As the chief shepherd of the Church in America that stretches from New York to California, from Mexico to Canada, and from Texas to Alaska, your father in monasticism, I insist that you retract your letter and offer a request for forgiveness for writing it and uncanonically disseminating it. Your comments about the Church and about me as the primate have been widely circulated. Whether you realize it or not, though your comments have brought much unnecessary pain and public embarrassment to the bishops, clergy and faithful of the Church, your comments have brought an unusual amount of attention to your own acts of disobedience. During the past few weeks, many have suggested to me that for the good of the Church, you be granted retirement. Since you have indicated to me on a number of occasions that you wanted to retire from your responsibilities as a Ruling Bishop, I urge you to consider doing so now.”

+Tikhon Replies

In a reply dated Holy Tuesday, April 18th, Bishop Tikhon denied all of +Herman’s charges. +Tikhon writes: “I deny the truth in Your Beatitude’s reproach that I called upon Your Beatitude to resign, and/or seek professional help and threatened Your Beatitude with ‘being judged by an illegally composed (sic) synod of bishops.’ Your Beatitude! We all, including Your Beatitude, human beings and Orthodox Christians, are daily faced with innumerable choices. Of the innumerable choices which are available to Your Beatitude, one may plainly read that I selected three of them to offer Your Beatitude.”

+Tikhon then reaffirms his earlier suggestion, while refusing to retract his earlier letter: “I recommend, again, that Your Beatitude retire, but I do not feel, nor do I want to express, joy in or anticipation for such retirement---on the contrary. But I feel it would be a betrayal of Your Beatitude and all who love Your Beatitude to withdraw my letter, especially my recommendations!”

+Tikhon’s April 18th reply was disseminated by the Bishop of the West himself in a wide mailing and email posting on Bright Tuesday, April 25th, with copies going to the Holy Synod, past and present; the members of the Diocesan Council of the West; as well as the Deans of the three OCA seminaries. In his cover letter Tikhon explained his “public” reply to the Metropolitan’s “private” letter in following manner:

“(Your) letter had the words ‘personal and confidential’ engraved on its first page. I’ve assumed that the word ‘personal’ indicates that it was a discussion of me personally, and I have no desire to keep anything secret about myself, while the word ‘confidential’, having no formal or even confidential implications in a Church at all, only means to indicate the desirability of discretion on the part of anyone reading it.“

The Bishop justified his broad response by stating: “If, of course, His Beatitude’s letter were personal, in the sense of not being ‘official’, it would have probably been sent to me on personal stationery, maybe even handwritten, and sent to no one else at all, let alone a problematically defined Synod, and I would not have written my reply this way, but also on personal stationery, perhaps in handwriting. This explains, for those who do not have that much actual experience with business and, say, military correspondence and might therefore overestimate the weight of such weighted or fraught words, ‘personal and confidential’, as imposing some kind of negative prohibition on its distribution. Anything labelled ‘personal’ AS such a prohibition or limit could not have, with propriety, been communicated to ANY but two correspondents: the sender and the receiver.”

At the conclusion of the April 25th cover letter, Tikhon writes: “I’ve also included an addendum which in small part duplicates, but in large part supplements the letter (to Metropolitan Herman) in a point-by-point way. I pray that both pieces of the correspondence will be of good use and of benefit to you all, fellow travellers on Christ’s Way and members of one another and of Christ.” (Read the addendum here)

+Tikhon Denies Depression

In a related development, on Holy Saturday, April 22, Tikhon clarified an earlier email posting on Holy Friday April 21st, which was widely misinterpreted. The Bishop wrote: “I am not suffering from clinical depression, because it’s controlled by medicine. I wouldn’t mind anyone at all pointing out to Monsieur Green that he is making it up when he says I’ve ever had suicidal tendencies. I’ve never had such, nor have I claimed to have such. I merely praised Bishop Nikolai for caring enough to check up on me to assure himself that I did not have such tendencies, even though another person may have jumped to that conclusion and, apparently, as it were, left me to die, in order to gossip about me.”

• Mark Stokoe

[尼古拉前执事]

5.05.06
Administrative Committee:
Tens of Thousands in Cash Missing
http://ocanews.org/news/AdminTensofThou ... g5506.html

The official minutes of the extraordinary Administrative Committee meeting, confirm that "tens of thousands

of dollars" from the general fund, as well as from other designated accounts, are missing. The minutes were released to members of the Metropolitan Council this past week.

At the four hour "emergency" meeting held March 16, 2006 in Syosset, the Metropolitan announced that the Chancellor, Fr. Robert Kondratick had been summarily dismissed that morning, his voluntary resignation having been sought and refused "a number of times" during 2005. The Metropolitan also announced that given allegations of financial misconduct the ongoing audits would be widened and that an investigation into the financial administration of the OCA was being conducted by the law firm of Proskauer Rose LLP

"to prepare for anticipated possible regulatory investigations or litigations arising out of the allegations."

Members of the Administrative Committee present included Metropolitan Herman, chairman, OCA Acting Treasurer Fr. Paul Kucynda, secretary, Fr. Gregory Safchuk, Fr. John Onufrey, Ms. Alice Woog and Mr. Richard Kornafel. Also present at the meeting were Mr. Stephen Lamos of the accounting firm Lambrides, Lamos and Moulthrop LLP, and two attorneys from the legal firm of Proskauer Rose LLP, Ms. Sara Gold and Ms. Celia Passaro.

The Auditor's Findings

What the minutes reveal of the financial administration at Syosset are shocking:

"Mr. Lamos spoke of the Year 2004 Independent Audit and issues related to it. In order to establish the opening balances on all 2004 accounts and on restricted accounts in particular he had to research as far back as 1998 and 1999. Using the balances available from the audits and the compilations reports, Mr. Lamos was able to establish the opening balances for 2004. Thus far, he found that during that period, tens of thousands of dollars were withdrawn in cash from the general fund and also from designated accounts for distribution in other countries and domestically. He especially questioned the domestic distribution of funds in cash. There is no documentation for these distributions."

In a related development, OCA News has learned from other sources that these "undocumented" cash withdrawals were usually in sums just below $10,000. This pattern is revealing because under federal law, banks must fill out reports of all cash transactions involving $10,000 or more. The Internal Revenue Service and other law enforcement agencies regularly review such reports of suspicious transactions. Furthermore, it is illegal to structure financial transactions to evade the $10,000 reporting requirement.

The Metropolitan has publicly announced that the full 2004 & 2005 audits will be made public after review

by the Synod and Metropolitan Council.

New Details of the Chancellor's Dismissal

No less startling is the disclosure of a five-year battle of wills between the Metropolitan and his former Chancellor, resulting in the latter's abrupt termination:

"(The Metropolitan) reported that when he was elected Primate of the Orthodox Church in America in 2001, he appointed Father Kondratick as his Chancellor.

He anticipated that Father Kondratick's activity as Chancellor would comply with his directives and not function with the degree of autonomy that was permitted by his predecessor. Unfortunately, the Chancellor on numerous occasions did not comply with the Metropolitan's requests. In some instances, his actions directly contradicted the directives of the Metropolitan. During 2005, the Metropolitan asked for Father Kondratick's resignation a number of times. This was refused.

A letter dated March 15, 2006 from Father Kondratick's attorney, Harry H. Kutner, Jr., was hand delivered to the Metropolitan's office. It was marked 'PERSONAL & CONFIDENTIAL - NOT TO BE RELEASED'. Its content was filled with false accusations and other statements intended to intimidate the Metropolitan.

The Metropolitan's response to Mr. Kutner's letter was offered in the morning of March 16, 2006, when he presented a letter of termination to Father Kondratick in the presence of Archpriest Paul Kucynda and Mr. Robert Kornafel.

Metropolitan Herman asked Mr. Kornafel to be present when he presented Father Kondratick with his letter of termination because of Mr. Kornafel's business experience particularly in relationship to personnel issues."

Proskauer Rose Explains Role

While the financial and administrative turmoil in Syosset to some may seem to be of no immediate consequence to parish life in the OCA, the statements of Proskauer Rose at the Administrative Committee meeting make clear that that the investigation affects each and every member of the OCA:

"Ms. Gold explained that the investigation was being conducted to prepare for anticipated possible regulatory investigations or litigations arising out of the allegations. Since the Church is a not-for-profit legal organization with a 501.C.3 tax exempt status, the Church must act responsibly within the United States of America and conform to the required legal expectations that come with this status.

When allegations are made, the Church must be in a position to show that the allegations have been responsibly investigated. The Church would be vulnerable to a number of government agencies if it does not conduct this investigation in a timely manner. For these reasons, there is no other option than to do an internal investigation with the guidance of appropriate legal counsel.

Allegations have been made by members of the Church concerning the management of Church finances. As such, the Church is obligated to respond to the allegations so as not to risk losing its present status as a not-for-profit legal organization. Since most of the dioceses, institutions and parishes of The Orthodox Church in America enjoy their federal tax exempt status via the umbrella tax exemption of The Orthodox Church in America, the loss of this status could have far reaching implications."

Decisions Taken

In addition to the Metropolitan's decisions to terminate the Chancellor, widen the audit and engage Proskauer Rose, the Administrative Committee made two other major decisions:

1). In view of the growing debt of the OCA, now estimated at close to $2 million, the committee agreed: "To authorize the (Acting) Treasurer to continue his attempts to secure a loan to cover the outstanding debts and to restore the restricted funds to their appropriate levels."

2) As was proposed earlier by the Acting Treasurer, the Administrative Committee agreed: "To circulate this information to all members of the Metropolitan Council and then follow up with a conference call to give them the opportunity support or reject the proposal."

The Committee agreed to give "serious consideration to the suggestion of Mr. Lamos that the Martin Drive property be sold at the appropriate time with the proceeds used to repay a part of the loan". The Martin Drive property is the church-owned residence of Fr. Kondratick. Fr. Kondratick has been informed that he must vacate the premises by June1st.

The Committee meeting concluded with promises by the Metropolitan that "affirmed his desire to learn from the past, correct our mistakes and make serious plans to move forward." Significantly, the Primate rejected the secretive, highly centralized administrative pattern of the OCA's recent past by affirming that: "Every effort will be made to be inclusive of all members of the Church as we move forward."

• Mark Stokoe

[尼古拉前执事]

5.18.06
The Secret War in the OCA:
The Battle Over Alaskan Land
http://ocanews.org/news/NikolaiAlaskLan ... 51706.html

Much of the tension in the OCA's Holy Synod, manifested in the recent exchange of letters between the Primate and Bishop Nikolai of Alaska, is a result not only of the Alaskan Bishop's disapproval of the Primate's recent administrative decisions in Syosset,

but has its origins in an ongoing controversy between the two hierarchs concerning ownership, administration and profits from the OCA's Alaskan patrimony. An exchange of letters between +Herman and +Nikolai from 2003, obtained by OCANews, reveals the nature of the controversy and raises more troubling questions about the administration and finances of the OCA, in a battle that has lasted decades.

The Current Controversy Begins

In October 2003, only eighteen months after his installation as ruling Bishop in Alaska (March 2002) Bishop Nikolai refused a request by Metropolitan Herman for a report on the OCA's Alaskan holdings. Furthermore, +Nikolai, in the third person, informed the Metropolitan that "the existence of the Lands Commission is no longer recognized by the Hierarch and the distribution of funds will be made according to Diocesan Tithing Standards". A fight over money had flared anew; money which most people in the OCA had no idea even existed, from leases that were never disclosed, from land sales that were never made public.

In his response to this challenge, Metropolitan Herman wrote:

"Your Grace, dear brother in Christ:

I have received your letter of October 30, 2003, which was in response to the request for a report concerning the Alaska Lands Commission.

As ruling hierarch, you have been entrusted with overseeing the life and well being of the Diocese of Alaska. That you have exercised good stewardship of the Diocese is not in question. Indeed, you restored good order to the Diocese in the midst of very difficult circumstances. However, your statement that 'the existence of the Lands Commission is no longer recognized by the Hierarch and the distribution of funds will be made according to Diocesan Tithing Standards' does not reflect the status of the Church's properties in Alaska, properties that are owned by the Orthodox Church in America. During the years that archbishop GREGORY and Protopresbyter Joseph Kreta administered the lands, prior to the establishment of the Alaska Lands Commission, there was never any question that the lands were held by the Orthodox Church in America.

As I previously informed Your Grace in a letter dated August 27, 2003, the Commission is an official Church body that has been established by the Metropolitan Council. As an official Church body, it cannot be dissolved without the consent of the Metropolitan Council and the confirmation of its decision by the Primate. Until such time as this transpires, the Alaska Lands Commission will continue to oversee the administration of the OCA-owned properties within Alaska.

I respectfully request Your Grace to reconsider your present stance in this matter. Please do not view the Lands Commission as an outside force that is somehow intruding upon your rights as ruling diocesan hierarch, for this is clearly not the case. Rather, the purpose of the Lands Commission - of which you are a member - is to administer the Orthodox Church in America's lands within Alaska in a manner that is supportive of your archpastoral ministry and also beneficial to the Diocese of Alaska.

Confident that Your Grace will reconsider this matter,

I remain.

With brotherly love in Christ,

HERMAN"

Questions Abound

If the name is unfamiliar, that is because although the OCA's Alaska Land Commission is "an official Church Body" established "by the Metropolitan Council" there has been been little or no public mention of it since its creation in the 1990s. It offers no triennial report to All American Councils, no annual report to the Metropolitan Council (although it regularly sold, and continues to sell church land, a statutory prerogative of the Metropolitan Council.) Its members are not listed in the annual Church directory; nor is the existence of the Commission itself even acknowledged in that official publication.

With the purchase of Russian Alaska in 1867, all assets of the Russian-American Company which managed the province for the Russian Empire devolved by treaty to the Orthodox Church. Comprising thousands of acres across the territory, these lands were only begun to be officially recorded by deed in 1914, and then in a welter of names: some in the name of the local parish, some in the name of the ruling Bishop, some in the name of the Diocese, some in the name of the North American Metropolia. Through the decades much of the land was lost by adverse possession - i.e. squatters. Beginning in the mid 1950s some land began to be sold off locally to pay for reconstruction of damaged churches. This process was accelerated in the early 1970s by the Diocese of Alaska itself for the restoration of St. Michael's Cathedral in Sitka and support of the Diocese. This included the sale of an entire island. Since 1972 the OCA has been selling land first for the the creation and later the maintenance of St. Herman's Seminary in Kodiak.

While much of the OCA's Alaskan patrimony was of marginal value, portions were indeed valuable; including lands that had gas and oil leases, as well as shore land that could be leased for fish processing factories and seaside canneries. By the 1980s a system had been established under Archbishop Gregory and Protopresybter Joseph Kreta whereby the profits from the sales and lease of Alaskan Church lands were divided three ways: one third to the Seminary, one third to the Diocese and one third to the OCA. However, it was not until the mid 1990s that a process was put into place to inventory the properties in a systematic manner, that regular financial reports accounting for the lands revenue were given at Diocesan Council meetings of the Alaskan Diocese and the meetings of the Metropolitan Council by then-Chancellor Fr. Nicholas Harris.

In 1995 an attempt was made to expand the newly named "Alaska Lands Commission" from its original membership (consisting of only the Bishop of Alaska and his own appointee, his Chancellor) to include a representative from each deanery in Alaska and a representative from Syosset as well, in this case, OCA Treasurer, Protodeacon Eric Wheeler. After the first meeting failed to reach any type of consensus the attempt was abandoned. An ad hoc commission took over, which included the Bishop, the Chancellor, Wheeler and two lay persons. For three years this group did report to each Alaskan Diocesan Assembly, and through an ocassional Diocesan report, to the Metropolitan Council. After the dismissal of OCA Treasurer Eric Wheeler, Fr. Eugene Vansuch (currently Director of FOS) represented the OCA on the Land Commission.

At its height from the 1980s to the early 2000s, the monies from the sale and lease of Alaskan Church lands resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars of income. One parcel of Church land in Kodiak alone sold for over $300,000 in 2001. Little of this income was disclosed by Syosset. Some was reported to the Metropolitan Council under the misleading heading of "Assessment Income" on financial reports, credited to the Diocese of Alaska, as if Alaska was paying assessments like every other US diocese. (In fact, the Alaska diocese has never paid monthly assessments to the OCA.)

+Nikolai refuses to back down

Selling and leasing Alaskan Church land was and remains big business in the OCA. Who was to control

it became a question that achieved unexpected prominence following the installation of Bishop Nikolai in Spring 2002. In reply to +Herman, +Nikolai wrote in early December 2003:

"Your Beatitude, Dear Vladyka HERMAN, Brother and Concelebrant,

I am in receipt of your letter dated November 4, 2003 asking me to consider my position on lands in Alaska.

Dear Vladyka, I was elected by the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America to be the ruling Bishop of the Diocese of Sitka and Alaska. At no time and never was I told that lands on this territory belonged to someone else, namely you as the Metropolitan of the OCA.

There is a clear understanding of my faithful and clergy that these lands belong to this Diocesan the same that I claim today. Indeed, shorty after my arrival, the Gula/INNOCENT litigation was filed, and although there is much irrelevancy to the litigation, it did, and does, represent an underlying suspicion by the Alaskan faithful as to the stewardship of Diocesan lands. Having the lands directly under the control of ruling Hierarch leaves no doubt as to where the 'buck stops,' as is appropriate and lawful, legally and canonically.

I am bothered too, that excerpts from my correspondence was read to members of the Metropolitan Council on November 5, 2003. I vividly recall your letter of chastisement to the Holy Synod on Thursday, October 16, 2003 making a point that certain discussions in confidential and closed sessions were leaked outside the Holy Synod. I understand that there was also mention that some members of the Holy Synod wanted to do away with the All American Council and Metropolitan Council. Even if this was stated in our closed session it should not have been brought to the attention of the Metropolitan Council. Moreover, if I am to be quoted, or have portions of my letter read, then I ask that in fairness, the entire letter be read. Comments and innuendo, with only partial information, only leads to more confusion. I have not written anything that does not reflect my personal belief as to what is correct and just. If you do chose to share our correspondence, I ask that you share it completely, and unabridged.

Diocesan boundaries are defined by the Holy Synod and the Holy Synod declared me as the Bishop of this territory. To my knowledge, there has been no limitation as to the diocesan boundaries, nor my administration of its assets. In my view, you should be supporting me and the good order of the Church here in Alaska, as well as throughout North America. I ask that you reconsider your position and support the good order as is canonically appropriate.

The canonical order is as I stated, there is no Alaska Lands Commission with any members other than whom I may decide (or not) to appoint to counsel me on what Almighty God will surely hold me accountable.

Assuring you of my constancy in prayer and asking your holy prayer, I remain,

NIKOLAI"

By asserting his control over all Church lands in Alaska, +Nikolai was dismissing both Syosset's claims, as well as those of his own parishes to control and profit from the OCA's Alaskan patrimony. Unfortunately, the native parishes are culturally loathe to enter controversy; especially with a Bishop from the lower 48. So, too, was Syosset, given +Herman's conciliatory reply:

Your Grace, dear Brother and Concelebrant of the Holy Mysteries:

I have received your December 10, 2003 letter written in response to my letter concerning the lands owned by the Orthodox Church in America within the territory of the Diocese of Alaska.

At the time of your election by the Holy Synod to the See of Sitka, Your Grace was given full canonical and administrative authority over all lands owned by the Diocese of Alaska. No one questions this in any way whatsoever. However, within the Diocese of Alaska there exist properties that are owned by the Orthodox Church in America. The legal title to these properties remains in the name of the Orthodox Church in America or its various predecessors, having been deeded to the Church by the American government. Although the Church's name was officially changed in conjunction with the granting of autocephaly, it remains the successor to the entities whose titles are utilized in the various deeds and other pertinent legal documents.

You refer to an underlying suspicion of the Alaskan faithful concerning the administration of church assets within the Diocese of Alaska. Under Your Grace's archpastoral leadership, there should be no suspicion on the part of anyone within the Diocese concerning these properties. I am confident that Your Grace, aided by the Alaska Lands Commission established by the Metropolitan Council with the blessing of the Primate, is assuring that all administration of these lands is for the benefit of the entire Orthodox Church in America as well as that of the Diocese of Alaska. I assure Your Grace that the Diocese of Alaska has always been and will remain the primary beneficiary of any income generated from these lands.

I am somewhat surprised that your question that the Metropolitan Council was informed of your position in this matter. As the Alaska Lands Commission is an administrative body of the Metropolitan Council which exercises its role within the Church under my presidency, I felt it necessary to share with its members the portions of your correspondence concerning the Alaska Lands Commission. Only the portions of your letter that were relevant to this topic were shared-and were prefaced by my own remarks so that they would not be taken out of context. Not to inform the Metropolitan Council of your thoughts concerning the Lands Commission would have been for me to disregard good administrative order as well as the stewardship for which I am accountable as the Church's Primate.

In your letter, you mention that you were informed that confidential discussions of the Holy Synod were reported to the members of the Metropolitan Council.

I do not recall any such discussion whatsoever. Whatever else may have been said within the context

of the Metropolitan Council meeting or whatever may have been erroneously reported by those present can only be speculation on their part.

I wish to reiterate what I previously wrote in my November 4, 2003 letter to Your Grace: 'Please do not view the Lands Commission as an outside force that is somehow intruding upon your rights as ruling diocesan hierarch, for this is clearly not the case. Rather, the purpose of the Lands Commission - of which you are a member - is to administer the Orthodox Church in America's lands within Alaska in a manner that is supportive of your archpastoral ministry and also beneficial to the Diocese of Alaska.'

Assuring your Grace of my prayers fraternal esteem as we approach the celebration of Our Lord's Nativity, I remain.

With Brotherly love in Christ,

HERMAN"

Sales Continue

There the issue has stood since 2003. Bishop Nikolai has continued to sell Church lands in Alaska, although no information or profits are passed on to the OCA. No longer receiving its share, which had help cover its deficit spending for more than a decade, Syosset turned to cannabalizing temporarily restricted funds (such as the Charity Appeal Funds, Special Appeal funds such as the 9/11 Fund, etc) to make up part of the difference. Syosset even began withholding designated charitable funds collected for Alaska itself, amounts reported to total some $13,000, in order to cover operating expenses. In short, the ongoing Alaska land controversy is an integral part of the story of the financial scandal that has engulfed the OCA.

Lambrides Lamos and Malthoup LLP have been charged with auditing the financial records of the OCA for the past two years. Proskauer Rose LLP has been charged with investigating financial misconduct in Syosset for the past ten years. Who is going to investigate what has been going on in Alaska?

-Mark Stokoe

[尼古拉前执事]

5.20.06
http://ocanews.org/news/MetCouncilLoan518.html
OCA Assumes $1.7 Million Debt
Via Two hour Metropolitan Council Conference Call

In what Syosset is calling an "extraordinary meeting", but in reality was a conference call, the Metropolitan Council of the OCA voted 13 to 8 (with absentions) to assume a commercial bank loan for $1.7 million. The two hour call and vote took place on the evening of Thursday, May 18th.

On Friday morning, May 19th, the following press release was published on the OCA website:

Metropolitan Council holds extraordinary meeting

SYOSSET, NY [OCA Communications] The Metropolitan Council of the Orthodox Church in America, under the chairmanship of the Primate, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Herman, met in extraordinary session on May 18, 2006, and voted to accept a loan proposal contained in a commitment letter from The Honesdale National Bank, Honesdale, PA.

When finalized, the loan in the amount of $1,700,000 will be used to consolidate existing external and internal debts of the Church.

After a motion to postpone action was defeated, a motion to accept the terms contained in the commitment letter was approved.

It is anticipated that the closing on the loan will take place on or before July 3, 2006.

At the conclusion of the nearly two hour teleconference, Metropolitan Herman thanked those who participated and those unable to participate who submitted their proxy vote concerning the loan, for their love of Christ and their devotion to the mission of His Church. The Metropolitan emphasized that these are difficult and painful days in the history of our young, autocephalous Church in America . He challenged the members of the Metropolitan Council to join him in refocusing our energy and resources on the Church's primary task of witnessing to and generously sharing our Orthodox Christian Faith with all people in North America .

"We can anticipate that we will continue to face more dark and stormy clouds," stated Metropolitan Herman, "but because of God's mercy and love for us, we will emerge to see the light that He will provide to illumine our way."

Additional Details

Those voting against the loan were delegates from the Albanian Archdiocese, the Diocese of New England, the Diocese of the West and the Diocese of Alaska. The terms of the commercial loan are reported to be at 8% per annum for twenty years.

The monies will be used, in part to repay the following sums taken from temporarily restricted accounts (Charity, Mission and Special Appeals) since 2001. These include, but are not limited to:

$36,640 taken from the Beslan Childrens Fund
$10,000 taken from the Alaska Medical Fund
$3,000 taken from the Alaska Parishes Fund
$87,560 taken from the Mission Appeal
$41,750 taken from the Charity Appeal
$16,600 taken from the Annual Christmas Stocking Appeal
$90,590 taken from the 9/11 Fund
$3,300 taken from the IOCC Fund
$13,920 taken from Florida Hurricane Relief Fund
$25,000 from the Russian Orphan's Fund

An additional $42,000 was taken from the FOS Endowment Fund with $151,940 taken from other restricted funds.

In addition, the loan will be used to repay outstanding operating bills of $287,800 still owed to vendors;
to repay $500,000 from an already used line of credit, and it was announced that $111,500 would be used to repay Fr. Kondratick for the remodeling done on the church-owned property on Martin Drive in Syosset.

Questions Remain

It was not disclosed how the Church intends to repay this new, larger loan; or what collateral, if any, was used to secure the loan. It was not explained why the new loan had to be agreed to before the results of the 2004-2005 audits were released; or in advance of the results of the Proskauer Rose investigation into the allegations of decades-long financial mismanagement at Syosset, are released to the Holy Synod next week. Neither the audit findings nor the investigative report were released to the Metropolitan Council before they voted. One can only speculate that it is these results that are the "dark and stormy clouds" to which the Metropolitan refers, and which the OCA as a whole must "continue to anticipate".

-Mark Stokoe