To Metropolitan Varsanofia of St. Petersburg and Ladoga of the ROC MP,
On April 16th of this year, on the day of Pascha, the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill of Moscow, made an important statement on the issue of the essence of God when visiting the Moscow City Council. In his scandalous speech, the First Hierarch of the ROC MP publicly, in the performance of his pastoral duties, recognized the unity of the Holy Trinity and the so-called ‘God’ of the Muslims, Allah, thereby subjecting the most important dogma of the Christian Faith, the Dogma of the Holy Trinity, to revision. Two months ago, I sent letters asking you to clarify the official theological position of the ROC MP on this issue to you, and to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, and to Bishop Mstislav of Tikhvin. Over the past two months, I have not received any answers and explanations. In connection with these circumstances, I do hereby notify you of the following:
1) Using the right given to me under Canon 15 of the First-Second Synod, I break canonical communion with the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill (Gundyaev), in connection with the grave canonical crimes committed by him: preaching the heresy of Magomethanism, condemned by Constantinople in 1180 [i.e. the heresy of identification of the Christian God with the Islamic deity]; as well as preaching the heresy of ecumenism, which was condemned by the Moscow Council of 1948; the preaching of the heresy of Latinism, which was condemned by a multitude of Synods and Fathers.
2) I also break canonical communion you [Metropolitan Varsanofia], as well as Bishop Mstislav, and the other bishops of the ROC MP, who support and share the above mentioned false teachings of the heretic and blasphemer V.M. Gundyaev, as partisans (free or unwilling) of his crimes against God and Holy Church.
3) The orders and reprimands of yours and the other above-mentioned bishops of the ROC MP are considered to be nothing from henceforth.
Remaining faithful to the vows I made before accepting Holy Baptism, and the oath given before the ordination to the [Holy Priesthood],
Protopresbyter Artemia Skripkin.
To read the entire article, please visit: http://nftu.net/mp-protopresbyter-artem ... ator/#comm
We must pray for this priest and his very large family that somehow they can find support and/or employment.