Archbishop GREGORY of Denver and Colorado

[Грешник]

Thank you Matushka!

It seems that there are those who not knowing any of the facts wish to tell us that we are "jumping the gun" or that we are "only handing out suppositions", when in fact they not being present for the scandals and the accusations on both sides are at an unfair disadvantage to judge.

I thank you for your commnuique on the sitauition and I thank you for standing firm and sharing this information with us. As you so rightly stated, We do not follow a man, we follow the Church, the Synod, the ruling body of bishops.

For my wife and I, our first says in the ROAC, our baptism, our crowning, our first liturgies were at he Skete. Some would think that we were indebted to the Skete, but to the contrary, I would like to address something that was said to me by Bishop Gregory six months and one week ago today on the dae of my baptism into the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church...

"If I should for any reason abandon our Synod and teach anything contrary to the Orthodox faith you have the reponsibility to wash your hands of me."

Oddly enough look where we are 6 months later...

I owe Bishop Gregory nothing... except for maybe some a "thank you" very good advice.

Juvenaly Martinka[/b]

[Alexis in Alaska]

Slava Isusu Christu!

Lord, Bless!

That is perhaps the most evil thing I have read in my life. Your diatribe is worse than the most vile pornography and blasphemy--to speak such things about your Father in God, GREGORY! What spirit of Anti-Christ could inspire a man to speak such things about a Spiritual Father who Baptised, Chrismated, Communicated and Crowned you a joint-heir with Christ Jesus. We live in evil days!

Lord, Bless!

In Christ God,

Alexei

[bogoliubtsy]

Dear Alaskan Orthodox,

Whether I've agreed with Juvenaly in the past or not, he's always remained cordial and fairly well collected in his writings. Because he is so close to the situation at hand, and because for one of the first times I'm seeing him get "worked up", it really makes me think he have some insight into the situation.

[尼古拉前执事]

That is perhaps the most evil thing I have read in my life. Your diatribe is worse than the most vile pornography and blasphemy--to speak such things about your Father in God, GREGORY! What spirit of Anti-Christ could inspire a man to speak such things about a Spiritual Father who Baptised, Chrismated, Communicated and Crowned you a joint-heir with Christ Jesus. We live in evil days!

Alexei (Alaskan Orthodox) I am sick of your hateful posts where you talk with zeal about a man with no direct knowledge of him as you have never met him nor our Metropolitan. You know nothing of the situation except the story from one party and you accept it all while attacking others with a ferocity not seen by anyone who is defending their synod. You, not even a member of ROAC, being a member of the OCA which Archbishop Gregory will tell you is a graceless, pseudo-synagogue, dare to attack people and tell people who have seen all of this with their own eyes how things are. You, sir, are zealous for one man but not for hearing the truth and since you cannot defend with charity you are publicly being given a temporary ban to cool off. Maybe in the meantime you can calm down and take the time to rationally look at both sides and stop holding up any one man to be infallible.

Let this be a warning to anyone else entering these discussions, you you continue to attack and be uncharitable, you too will find yourself banned without warning. These attacks and complete lack of charity are destroying the feel of this forum and I will not stand for it. I will allow both sides space to discuss this but only with charity, respect and Christian love. Something I see lacking in many posts by people who have never met any of the involved parties.

Perhaps this is the time for me to make my official statement of the matter. I stand with my synod. In the last month or so I have seen very shocking things from people I respected. I joined ROAC not for one man, not for a cult of personality of either Archbishop Gregory of Metropolitan Valentine, but for the Faith of the Catacomb Church which was once in communion with ROCOR. This is where my faith stands and this is where I stand. As for Archbishop Gregory, the SOBOR will meet and he will be judged by his peers, the bishops of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church. For this, all I can say is, MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON HIS SOUL! I love Archbishop Gregory and I have faith that our bishops will do what is right and I pray that he continues in his vows to be obedient to the Synod of Bishops that he became a part of.

[user_349]

Slava Isusu Christu!

Lord, Bless!

Deacon Nikolai:

I still think very highly of Archbishop Gregory and you. I congratulated you on your ordination. I have always liked you. What a shame you would seek to vent on me, a sinner.

That is fine...finish the job...delete my membership.

Note Bene:

I know what Archbishop Gregory thinks of the OCA. However, in my correspondence with His Eminence he was always kind and graceful.

Wishing you and your family Many Years.

Lord, Bless!

I remain in Christ,

Alaskan Orthodox
(Signing off for good)

[Justin Kissel]

Dn. Nicholas doesn't want you to leave, he wants us to discuss things like Christians, not enemies or members of factions

[OrthodoxyOrDeath]

The point is this is the time to contribute to building a picture of reality regarding this situation specifically. People with first hand knowledge are primarily in a position to do it.

Saying this man "was so nice to me" does not contribute much. But then to use that to say Gregory or Met. Valentine is right and the other person wrong is completley useless.

I have always known (now) Fr. Nicholai to be very patient and has always had a hands off approach. I was surprised to see he banned someone; which just supports my earlier point: This situation touches many peoples lives in the most profound way. If one wishes to talk about this, contribute something meaningful, or which will otherwise shed some light. Saying someone has "the spirit of Anti-Christ" because they say something negative about Bishop Gregory is a personal attack and totally unacceptable.