Evlogeite.
mr. smith at one time made mention of mr.puhalo on his site, but as with other things, he's begun sanitizing his comments and heavily editing his site. poem & rickross, who provide david smith's template, clearly have direct links to puhalo. What gives smith totally away is his misquoting of the Elder's "teachings on marriage," in a way which mirrors puhalo and his cohorts. It is irrational to interject the possibility of coincidence here, for the simpler solution is that he is being coached by puhalo or under his influence. I know of other "ephraimites" who were approached by mr. puhalo to "get the dirt." Using smith's accusations against the monasteries, what I am providing here is REAL evidence and indictment of a true quack and cultist masquerading as an Orthodox "hierarch," mr. haler-puhalo. His inspiration was NOT Fr. Kiprian and Jordanville, so much as it was the poison he put into his veins at the library there, qv bulgakov's Paris school. hocna was not always an asylum of resentment--their mentor upon being unceremoniously pushed out of the GOA was Fr. Alexander Schmemann and Fr. Panteleimon was linked to the Synodeia of Blessed Elder Joseph the Hesychast. I am finding that in that era, there was a quest for "original" approaches for them to define themselves and "seem" intellectual, ie gain "justification," a "legitimate identity." Fr. Michael Azkoul's opus can be challenging, even interesting at times, but his unillumined "ad fontes" foundation alludes to some sort of self-education gone wrong. Even in his denunciations, he misses the point, eg in the case of Blessed Augustine he misses the cacodoxy of "created grace" and how the nominalism that implies is christological heresy; he makes little use of the documents of the disputes between St. Gregory Palamas and barlaam. In the case of the toll houses, he seems ignorant of the Patristic witness from the Desert and the Cappadocian Fathers, for instance, which shows that by the era of the Imperial Church, the Toll Houses were regarded as Orthodox eschatology. If one were to cross apply his template in criticizing the Toll Houses, say, to the Mariology (specifically, that of St. Cyril) affirmed by Ephesus, he would end up as part of the nestorian/semi-nestorian party. He lacks all concept of Patristic Consensus or phronema; instead, he plays intellectual games to produce ORIGINAL statements. In sum, yes, hocna was amoral in its politics and used people, but what makes it sadder is that its identity devolved and its Orthodox witness developed without scholarly or spiritual oversight and came to be something quite contrived, even hateful. So too mr. puhalo or mr. smith. I think it appropos certain parties regard bl. +Metropolitan Antony (Khrapovitsky) as a Saint, for his dalliances into "original theologies," qv "dogma of redemption," show the pitfalls and utterly alien systems which arise when one follows ones own path. Luckily he did have a Patristic foundation and he was conservative enough to uphold Orthodoxy firstly and realize his "original" work was speculation and nothing more. His venerators, in this instance, aren't as fortunate. No, they are sad representatives of temperament and heterodoxy typefied by one of +Antony's friends who also emphasized "original theology," soloviev. A mess.
R
If by "troll" it is meant that I rely on research and ground myself instead of "namecalling," I'll take that as a complement.
"Real theologian" mr. haler-puhalo certainly is not. He lacks all credential and capability. The people he surrounds himself with are also lacking, some to lesser others to greater degrees. As far as his fight with "fundamentalism" is concerned, does that mean a war with the Fathers or with his hierarchs (of FOUR jurisdictions) or with the USA or with the enemies of the Federation?! LOL! Anyone wishing to take up mr. haler-puhalo's quackery and cultism and neo-protestant fundamentalism is cordially invited to engage HERE. And, oh, a "REAL ORTHODOX THEOLOGIAN" is someone who has attained "theologeia," ie contemplation of/vision of God in theosis, a Patristic, "fundamentalist" definition.
