A group of 13 Jordanville monastics have forwarded the following letter
to Metr. Lavr:
“We witness, with great sorrow and frustration, that as the
rapprochement with the MP progresses, our ROCOR is disintegrating more and more,
both externally and internally. We observe with a sad feeling, that
many staunch believers of our Church make a decision to no longer be with
us. We regret to see the bitter fruits of the unification process:
strife, contention at court, dissent, general perplexity; tragic destinies
of some believers; loss of trust in our archpastors; disillusionment
often bordering on despair; self-willed behavior of certain bishops not
aligned with truth and canons; obvious deviation from the traditional
patristic path of ROCOR; heading for unification in spite of the fact
that many questions of sergianism and ecumenism have yet to be dealt with
in the light of the pure patristic teaching of the Church.
Globalization gains momentum, a tendency for unification of all nations and
religions is all too apparent. Holy Fathers warned us of this time, and
interpreted it as an unleashed preparation for the coming of the anti-Christ.
Participating in this are all those who are members of the God-fighting
WCC, who supports the unificatory movement of world’s religions,
termed ecumenism. In light of this understanding, we experience deep
anxiety when we are told about the forthcoming union of our Church with such
as are obviously not prepared to follow her patristic course, are not
conscious of the dangers of the apostate ecumenist movement, nor do they
readily resist it. If we unite with MP, we will be one with it in all
things, including the heresy of heresies - ecumenism, and the
ecclesiology-distorting sergianism, hence we will be betraying our Church. Such
resistance is the corner-stone of the faith of the Holy Fathers, the
faith that prompted a mother, in times of old, to bless her children to
accept a martyric death. We are wary of the fact, that unless those
crucial problems find their rightful solution, in the spirit of churchly
humility and repentance, it may so happen that in the future we will not
be able to “endure to the end” (Mt. 10.22). When we are faced with
the final decision, who are we with? we may find ourselves lacking the
resoluteness and steadfastness, while the deadly spirit of apostasy
would prevail. This is exactly why we are so worried and are asking
ourselves, can such be the fruits of the Holy Spirit? We have always believed
the admonition of our archpastors that there can be no unity except in
the Truth, and we wish to be loyal to these words unto the end. These
days, however, many believers have been scandalized by the open
disloyalty of many bishops.”
Signed by eight (8) monastics, including one archimandrite and three
priestmonks, of the Holy Trinity Monastery, as well as by all the 5
sisters of the St. Elizabeth nunnery in Jordanville.
Metr. Lavr has not responded to this address and forbade its
publication.
Thank God, M. Lavr is not my pontific and cannot forbid my translating
and publicizing this somewhat naive but truly heartfelt appeal.
FrTikhon
