Let's be honest about ROCOR

[Barbara]

We did know about Met Anthony and the Anglicans, to some degree. But that picture is really SOMEthing !

The photo of St Philaret Ascension [! - that's what his last name means in Russian for any new visitors] is stunning !
Isn't this the 1st time that this pic and interesting story has ever seen the light of day ?

What a find, thank you, H. !

[Barbara]

What HAS happened to the Rocor-MP Church in Marseille ? I don't recall offhand

I wonder WHERE that Icon is right now ??

That is the most remarkable find ! Thank you again, Haralampop.

[Thomas_Deretich]

Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic, Archimandrite Justin Popovic, Saint Philaret’s ROCOR, and Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Florina sometimes exercised too much oikonomia. Matthewites and some catacomb groups were too quick to anathematize so many people so quickly. We need to be careful in judging too harshly these predecessors who made difficult decisions in uncertain times. Errors were made on both sides. What is Orthodox and what is contrary to Orthodoxy is in some ways clearer today. We don’t have to dredge up every error of the past. A clear confession of Orthodox faith today is what is important. As things got progressively worse, saints like Saint Philaret “tightened the bolt.” Metropolitan Ephraim of HOCNA followed this approach: Exactness on dogma with proper pastoral oikonomia on pastoral issues. That is the patristic way. The “moderation” of Father Seraphim Rose and Metropolitan Cyprian of Phyle very often attacked exactness and over-expanded oikonomia. They were off. Saint Philaret and Metropolitan Ephraim of Boston were patristic, without extremism in either direction.

[Barbara]

But still, this information is useful !

I had NO idea Met Vitaly was originally consecrated with an ANGLICAN "bishop" in the altar, one can see the mitre in the photo.

What on EARTH was the latter doing THERE ??
Anybody know ?

[Barbara]

Oh ! That makes sort of sense then
But why was he vested ?!
Maybe they couldn't AVOID that -

I was going to say maybe Met Vitaly was not so anti-ecumenical as we think, but was more anti-MP, anti-Soviet.

Do you think that would be a fair assessment, or not ?

[Thomas_Deretich]

Around that time, there were Anglicans who said they believed in the Orthodox Ecumenical Councils and wanted to unite with Orthodoxy. In response, some Orthodox at that time were overly trusting, overly optimistic, and used too much oikonomia. Some Matthewites go to an extreme in attacking these Orthodox men. But many of these men were strong in defending the teachings that there is one church and one canonical calendar. Many perhaps most traditional Orthodox Christians venerate several of these churchmen despite the errors. Some Matthewites may be correct on several narrow points, but it is much better to allow God to judge some of these errors and gray areas. Some of the Matthewite polemics against other traditionalists were extreme and regrettable. And some of Metropolitan Chrysotomos of Florina’s polemics against the Matthewites were regrettable. However, some of the things that some Mathewites and some new-calendarists attribute to Metropolitan Chrysostomos are undocumented, unsourced and show many signs of doctored texts or outright forgery. After Stalin defeated Hitler, Metropolitan Chysostomos had the unrealistic hope that a council in Stalin’s Russia might restore Orthodox unity under the old calendar. The hope was unrealistic, but that hope does not make Metropolitan Chrysostomos evil or a Stalinist or a Sergianist. Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović and Saint Philaret were completely justified in their strong opposition to totalitarian socialism-communism. The mainstream of traditional Orthodoxy was correct about the dangers to the church from calendar renovationism, relativistic ecumenism, and genocidal Nazism-fascism and genocidal communism. We have inherited fully justified positions on these issues

[Thomas_Deretich]

Metropolitan Vitaly, sadly, turned out to be a vacillator. He was not staunch like Saint Philaret. Metropolitan Vitaly’s legacy is mixed. Saint Philaret is an Orthodox standard.