Mt. Carmel,
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Two questions, which I ask straightforwardly, not rhetorically.
1) I am fully aware that St. Tikhon served as the primate of the Orthodox Churches in America prior to his later ascension to the Patriarchate of Moscow. However, even as primate here in America-- where he did many good works on behalf of the Holy Church--was he not subordinate to the proper canonical administration of the Russian Orthodox Church, the main defender and patron of world Orthodoxy after the fall of Constantinople in 1453? Put differently, the Orthodox Church in America prior to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 was not some sort of autcephalous "American" Church or "Metropolia," was it? It was always part of the Russian Orthodox Church.
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What then became of the proper Russian Orthodox Church administration after 1917, and, by extension, of the American Orthodox Church which was subordinate to it? This is why the issue of Sergianism is not some archane, academic issue which has ceased to have relevance in our day. Do you really believe that the church administration of Metropolitan Sergius (and his NKVD controllers) in the Soviet Union WAS the true Russian Orthodox Church administration? Or was the true Russian Orthodox Church administration after 1917--and its American jurisdiction-- something OTHER than the Soviet Sergianist hierarchy? Certainly, St. John and the canonical hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church (in exile) did NOT view the Sergianist hierarchy as the proper administration of the Russian Orthodox Church-- and its American jurisdiction. The rebellious hierarchs of the "Metropolia" in America disagreed with St. John and the ROCOR on this critical issue. In my view, the Metropolia thus entered under a false Russian Orthodox administration-- the Soviet pseudo-church-- long before they later sought autocephaly from the Sergianist hierarchs in 1970. They not only betrayed their own flocks-- they turned their backs on the true Orthodox saints and confessors of the 20th century; St. John of San Francisco and St. Philaret. I have known people from the OCA in the past who have scarcely even HEARD of St. John (Maximovitch.)
2) You mentioned that Sergianism is dead. When, in your opinion, did the Sergianist church administration of the Soviet Union ever cease to exist? When did it cease being a false church administration, a mere political tool of the Soviet and neo-Soviet states? The hierarchs of the current Moscow Patriarchate are almost all appointees and/or agents of the Soviet KGB and its agents within the Soviet state, including the new Patriarch Kyril (Gundayev.) These men have never really repented of their Sergianist betrayal of the true Church, or properly resigned their episcopal offices, which they acquired in violation of Church canons. Did they? Do we not have specific KGB code names for many of these men? When precisely do you imagine that the Moscow Patriarchate ceased being the Sergianist church administration established by the NKVD and KGB following the murder of St. Tikhon? Please clarify your perspective on this important issue. You obviously have more knowledge of American Orthodox Church history than I do, but seem to have a very different view of modern Russian Orthodox history.
