Dear Juvenaly,
The thing you originally posted makes no sense, either logically or gramatically. ("Deflocked"??)
A ROCOR member would not consider Fr. Gregory Abu Asali a bishop because the former Vladyka Valentine was defrocked, although alas NOT "deflocked," by the Synod of Bishops for serving under suspension, in accordance with ROCOR's bylaws.
The only HTM-ROAC connection that I know is that Fr. Gregory, now styling himself Bishop Gregory, received his theological and monastic training at Holy Transfiguration Monastery and no place else. He left HTM because of improprieties there, as is proper, but he didn't go to any other monastic institution or seminary for formation, as far as I know.
Much is made of the morals charges against Fr. Panteleimon (Metropoulis), the founder of HTM, which were being investigated when HTM left ROCOR in 1986. Less is known of the investigation into violations of proper liturgical life. For example, ROCOR policy was to receive baptised Orthodox Christians from other jurisdictions through confession and communion, but Holy Transfiguration Monastery and the clergy under their direction in Toronto and other places insisted on receiving Greek Archdiocese members through chrismation. This is disobedience. It's also bad theology. The late Met. Philaret said, in my father's livingroom and in Fr. Panteleimon's presence, that he would NEVER say that another Orthodox Church lacks grace. But such is the underlying assumption of such an act. Plus, in so doing, priests take on the moral authority of the bishop. This is a usurpation of Grace and power. The moral charges attracted the most attention, both from indignant monastery supporters and from saddened former monastery supporters.
Holy Transfiguraion Monastery also has a tradition of long "open letters" excuriating some of our bishops, praising others, and raising questions about episcopal and priestly conduct in the forum of public opinion, where the consequences are the winning of minds, rather than in the proper forum for accusations. The proper forum for accusations is ecclesiastical court, where the innocent are exhonerated and the guilty face stiff penalties -- those found to do wrong are corrected, while if the accused is found innocent, false accusers can be defrocked or excommunicated. Open letters, the predecessor of modern internet diatribes, offer the accuser the freedom to state what he likes without fear of consequences. It is not the Orthodox Way.
Holy Transfiguration Monastery has another "tradition," that of shucking off bishops as they become inconvenient. I lost track a few jurisdictions ago, but they left the Greek Archdiocese, and Fr. Panteleimon was ordained by someone in Jerusalem, sought refuge in ROCOR from 1968-1986, then joined Met. Akakios and Gabriel, whom they had excorriated in an article in "The Orthodox Word," then left them for another set of Greek bishops (Met. Auxentios of ??), who ordained enough HTM clergy bishops that now they don't need any Greeks. Not sure who they're with now.
Likewise, Fr. Gregory left the Antiochians for ROCOR, ROCOR for Archbishop Chrysostomos of Athens, Abp. Chrysostomos for Met. Kallinikos of the Lone Islands, and left Met. Kallinikos for the defrocked bishop Valentine of Suzdal.
It's true the the Moscow Patriarchate had defrocked bishop Valentine, but I don't know if that's before he left them or after. At the time he was received, I understood, rightly or otherwise, that the defrocking had been considered retalitory for leaving. But he didn't leave ROCOR over Met. Cyprian and his ecclesiology --I beleive we were already in communion with met. Cyprian when Bp. Valentine sought to join ROCOR. Whatever his reasons were (and the Synod summoned him to explain just what they might be when he "walled himself off,"), we may never know. But they can't be because we were in communion with someone whom we were already in communion with when he joined us. The Synod of Bishops whose protection he sought asked him to come explain why he would no longer acknowledge them. He refused. They suspended him pending investigation. He served under suspension. That's enough to get oneself defrocked.
The other parallel between HTM and ROAC is that HTM sought out bishops who didn't speak English and lived on another continent. I don't know if Fr. Gregory ever learned Russian -- I know he can paint Slavic characters -- but the current situation leaves him with little supervision, little guidance, little accountability. How many thousand miles is he away? I question Fr. Gregory's judgement for seeking ordination from someone whom at least one court convicted of doing things similar to the abbot whom he (rightly and with a bishop's blessing) fled, and I question the former bishop Valentine's judgement in "ordaining" a man who has a history of jurisdiction jumping and whose entire monastic formation took place at a scandal-ridden monastery. It would be better for both men's salvation and for the sake of their flocks if they WERE "deflocked" and the faithful under them sought or returned to real bishops and real parishes. But I'm not holding my breath. The illusion of true orthodoxy is so much more attractive than the daily grind of the regular Orthodox life.
I have no clue where the stuff you first posted came from. It's....wacky. To attribute it to a ROCOR priest when instead it's something that someone assured you a ROCOR priest said is disingenous and misleading. But I've outlined for you the only connection that I can see.
Hope this helps!
:shock: ) may have had everything straight in his mind, but when he communicated to his inquirer about all the scandalous stuff in ROCie (the only place where Boston/HTM and Jerusalem connections both seem to exist) it maybe got transferred to ROAC in the confusion. Otherwise why wouldn't the scandalous stuff in ROAC have been mentioned (unless filtered out and confused by the next step in the communication)? Then this mixed up information got passed on as a quotation (even though originally private) to the larger world by someone who, in spite of now being much closer to his spiritual home in Colorado, didn't first ask them about it (but now refers all 'questions' about his posting to them - hmmm - as Michael Woerl might have said if he were still around, can this get any stranger?).