"And the last lie shall be worse than the first" Matt. 27, 64
Published on 11 May 2006, even before the sobor
had ended, the "Resolution of the IV All-diaspora
Sobor of the Russian Orthodox church Abroad" is a
worthy crown for the deceitful five-year path
traversed by the synod of the ROCa(L).
Regardless of the decisions of the ROCa(L)
Council of Bishops slated for 15 May 2006, the IV
All-diaspora sobor has put a stop to the process
which brought the Moscow Patriarchate ("MP") to
total victory - the receipt of a CONCILIAR
recognition of the MP as a Church, as the Body of
Christ, by the "White Guards". Something that it
ceased to be following the 1927 Declaration of
Metropolitan Sergii (Stragorodsky), which
officially subjected the Church to the soviet
regime. Later this subjection to a THEOMACHIC
regime was made worse by the appointment of that
selfsame Met. Sergii to the post of patriarch by
Comrade Stalin and by the establishment of the MP
in 1943. The Russian Orthodox Church - the
Church of Christ - remained to live in the
Catacombs, where it existed, and continues to
exist to this day. Strictly speaking, the
clandestine victory of the MP took place in May
2003, when the Synod of the ROCa(L) declared that
it recognizes the mysteries ["sacraments"] of the
MP, and that the MP [recognizes] the mysteries of
ROCA. But this was done in secret, in
robber-like style, in the Synod's letter to
Bishop Ambrose of the ROCa(L). This action was
not publicized by the ROCa(L) Synod, which merely
published the letter, quite silently, on its Internet site.
Having become emboldened by the absence of a
reaction to this step on the part of its flock,
in the autumn of that selfsame year 2003, "the
process got underway". In September 2003 the
leadership of the ROCa(L) met in New York with
President Putin. In November, a ROCa(L)
delegation went to New York to kow-tow before the
"patriarch". This time they agreed to a meeting
of the leader of the ROCa(L) with the "patriarch" in 2004.
All these dialogues of the ROCa(L) with the MP on
an equal basis, as with a CHURCH, already, in
essence, were equivalent to an MP victory - after
all, prior to this time, the First-Hierarchs of
the ROCA did not recognize the MP to be a
church. Metropolitan Philaret, for example, did
not refer to the MP as other than a "false
church". The New Martyrs, with one voice, spoke
of the fact that the MP is devoid of grace. And
what sort of grace can one speak of, when,
beginning with the 1927 Declaration of
Metropolitan Sergii (Stragorodsky) and lasting to
this day, the MP was a conventional department of
the KGB? Following the collapse of the Soviet
Union in 1991, there circulated, within the RF,
an adage to the effect that the MP is "the sole
surviving department of the KGB"!
No further back than 2 March 2000, the ROCa(L),
in its "Address of the Synod of Bishops of the
Russian Orthodox Church abroad to the Russian
Orthodox People",.still officially rebuked the MP
for its apostasy. But, already, in October of
that very same year 2000, it itself firmly
embarked upon the road of apostasy, which
logically led to today's "Resolution 2006".
In the history of the ROCA, this "Resolution
2006" will doubtless become as much a landmark of
betrayal as is Metropolitan Sergii's 1927
Declaration. There is no use in commenting upon
its chief point, inasmuch as it has no chief
point. The very same customary attempts at
obfuscation� Only, this time, "the wise-men of
[the] synod" are attempting to deceive not only
their own flock, but also their MP "comrades",
who are accustomed to such games. The tone of
this resolution reminds one of the whimpering of
a mangy puppy, which has fallen on its back and
is pawing at the air before a huge, well-fed
hound - one that is condescendingly deciding,
with self-satisfaction "well, what am I to do with you?"
Thus, it is in this CONCILIAR recognition of the
MP as a Church, that the chief SPIRITUAL victory
of the MP is embodied. The MP, of course, would
not be loath to put its paws to the parishes and
other appurtenances of the ROCA, in order that it
might stealthily, imperiously, advance toward
creating a KGB (which is the FSB) occupancy,
therein. But, what's the rush? This is a matter
of time. No great harm will come of it if the
ill-starred Karlovatzians should still sit around
in their latifundia for yet another year or
two. It would even be a good thing - there would
be time enough to send "our own" there, in order
that they might familiarize themselves with the[ir] new positions.
In conclusion, it makes sense to attempt, once again, to answer two questions:
Why is the huge MP interested in its
authority being recognized by a numerically insignificant ROCA?
Whom is the episcopate of the ROCa(L)
betraying by recognizing the MP as its
"Mother-Church"? The answer to the first
question is simple - having recognized the MP as
its "Mother-Church" (it is immaterial whether it
be it in the form of autocephaly or any other),
the ROCA will recognize the legitimacy of the MP
as the heir-successor of the 1000-year-old
Russian Orthodox Church. That is, will recognize
it to be that which it NEVER WAS, since 1927; and
later - from the moment of its rebirth under
comrade Stalin in 1943. Such recognition is
extremely necessary to the MP, inasmuch as it
will wash away all the apostasy and defection in
which the MP finds itself since 1927, and which
has become particularly manifest in the
post-perestroika years, when it could have
rejected its lying past. But, as the Revelation
of St. John states: "I gave her time to repent,
but she did not repent", (2, 21). And the fact
that the ROCA, quantitatively speaking, will not
comprise, probably, even one percent in
comparison with the MP, is meaningless
here. What is important is that the Church,
which has been a living rebuke to the sinfulness
of the MP throughout almost the entire XX
century, will now suddenly recognize it as being
Orthodox, as being its "Mother-Church".
The answer to the question of whom the ROCA is
betraying by its recognition of the MP as the
Mother-Church is also simple, although it is
somewhat more lengthy than the answer to the
first. Thus, this is whom the ROCA is betraying:
First of all, all the "Catacomb [Orthodox
Christians]", "the True Orthodox" in the RF and other nations of the CIS.
Secondly, the ROCA parishes and communities in the RF and in the CIS.
Thirdly, the sons and daughter of the ROCA
throughout the entire world, who are faithful to
the traditions of the ROCA - the Church of Christ.
Fourthly, the members of the ROCA throughout
the entire world who are of non-Russian origin,
the so-called "converts". In the USA and in
Canada, for example, it is specifically the
"converts" who firmly came out against the
apostasy of the ROCA episcopate, which manifested
itself at the Hierarchical Sobor in 2000. It is
extremely easy to understand them - they found
the true Orthodox faith in the ROCA and are not
governed by pseudo-patriotic feelings in regard
to "Russia" (we employ quotation marks because
the Russian Federation is not Russia, just as the
Soviet Union was not, and it is governed not only
by non-Russians, but by manifestly anti-Russian forces).
Fifthly, the so-called "healthy elements"
amongst the clergy and laity of the MP. This
point bears more detailed discussion.
The apologists of "rapprochement", "dialogues",
"conferences" or, finally, direct "union" with
the "Mother-Church" frequently stress the fact
that there are "healthy elements" in the MP and
it is for their sake that the ROCA must conduct
dialogues and "draw closer". But it is precisely
these healthy elements, first and foremost, that
will be betrayed by the act of recognizing the
legitimacy of the MP! Just as in 1927 the
Declaration of Met. Sergii (Stragorodsky) unbound
the hands of the chekists and sanctioned the
persecution of the Orthodox in the USSR, so also
will the recognition of the MP as the legitimate
heir-successor of the Russian Orthodox Church
doom the "healthy elements" within the ranks of
the MP to destruction. While the ROCA lives, the
"healthy elements" can always refer to it as an
example of true confession of the Orthodox faith,
as taking a stand in the Truth. But no sooner
will the ROCA recognize the [K]GB, anti-Russian
and anti-Orthodox upper echelons of the MP as the
legitimate leadership of the ROC, than this upper
echelon, with a COMPLETE RIGHT to do so, will
immediately declare: "See how right we are! Even
the 'emigres' recognize us as the lawful
eccleasiatical leadership of the ROC, which, by
means of sergianism, lies and collaboration with
the soviet regime 'saved' the Church!" "And the
last lie shall be worse than the first", Matt. 27, 64.
Today, in May 2006, it should be added that not
only the MP, but also the secular regime of the
RF, in the person of Vladimir Putin, who prides
himself on being called a chekist, is likewise
interested in receiving recognition from the
Church of the "White Guards", in order to elevate
ITS OWN prestige as the legitimate RUSSIAN
government. It is not for naught that the
representative of this anti-Russian regime
stubbornly call their realm "Russia", although
its official name is the "Russian Federation", the "RF".
But all these "victories" of the MP and of
comrade Putin will not secure their
many-years-long aim - the destruction of the
"Church of the White Guards" and the obtainment
of legitimacy - inasmuch as amongst the
episcopate, clergy and laity of the ROCA there
have been found some number of those who have
remained with Metropolitan Vitaly, in order to
continue serving the Truth, to continue to be the
sons and daughters of the body of Christ - of His
Church, which the ROCA had been throughout the
duration of its 80-year-long confession of the
Orthodox Faith. It is not important how many
faithful will carry this cross - "God is not in
might, but in the truth". Or, in the expression
of a certain monk: "If I am with God, then we are in the majority".
P. Budzilovich
May 2006
Nyack, USA
Translated from the Russian. The original Russian text is located at:
http://www.russia-talk.com/otkliki/ot-476.htm
