ROCOR and MOSCOW PATRIARCH

[spiridon]

Christ is in our Midst;
To whom it may concern,
A recent and most crucial attack on the Russian Orthdox Church Abroad has led to several accusations of its first Heirarch,and its Holy Synod...The talk of the town is unification with Moscow Patri-archate..that is the question on alot of peoples minds these days and let me start off by saying I in no legal matter represent The Russian church abroad,But as Christ has told us in the Gospels to publically stand up and declare Christianity and to become a soldier i must do just that. first of I wont go into Sergianism,The communist Yoke,Martyred brothers and sister and Clergy as well as monastics and priests,unification with rome,allowing the Dali Lama into the church and gracefully welcomeing him ,as if he was a special vessel,and even the past KGB membership(if in fact its true), because were all up to our necks in these sad and horrific tales. Alexi II has Been accused of Taking The MP thru all this and more ,and now Met.Laurus seeks to unify with this Heresy....is it a heresy,maybe because of a past-but does that in turn condemn for ever,no Jesus Christ said so,Have we forgotten Christs message?Repent and be forgiven..we all know that the true church from russia was basically driven out by communism and has been in Exile here in america for many,many years and many Heirarchs have led it thru tough times.....maybe just maybe the russian church abroad sees a chance to gain ENTRANCE back to its homeland to RIGHTFULLY take with is theres and then will all who are ecumenically enclined be Booted off on there own....The church is gonna go thru a major change and we the ones on this list will see a great miracle happen before our very eyes and it wont be the Anti Christ(he will be telling you it is the anti-Christ),but in Fact it will be Gods power coming back into Holy russia as it was in the begining...its too bad so many russians are quick to judge and the reason not even an explanation can be given at this point for unification with MP......stay close and watch a miracle happen,for all of holy Russia shall again be HOLY.....and it will no longer be ABROAD,but at HOME and with all its hard work and battles here in america GOD saw fit for this TAKE OVER of what was Rightfully HIS...RUSSIA and all his Saints.................................................in Christ NIPHoN

[SouthernOrthodox]

Niphon, I applaud your conviction, I think. Being a descended of one who fled the homeland, I am all for this process to proceed, God willing. If we stop and think for a minute, will our belief structure change meaning does the MP have strange even "UN-orthodox" practices in there form of worship. Of course not. I am sure many will have points of view of why we shouldn't support this unification, but the bottom-line to this is it won't change my beliefs. Will we drop everything and move back to Russia, no. Unity in the Motherland should do nothing but move forward the work of spreading the Gospel. Miracle, yes

[Subdeacon Joseph]

[NIPHON] but does that in turn condemn for ever,no Jesus Christ said so,Have we forgotten Christ`s message?Repent and be forgiven [/NIPHON]

I think that one line says it all.

[Nikodemus]

Well. One of the main errors is that the present patriarchate was formed by Stalin and not by the Church (who perished in concentration camp). We still dont have a patriarch, just an usurpator who was a former KGB agent.

[Edward]

Again, I would encourage you to read the Basic Social Concepts, published in 2000. Patriarch Alexis on a number of occasions has said that Met. Sergius' declaration is not the policy or doctrine of the Moscow Patriarchate. Metropolitan Kyrill's address to the 2004 Hierarchal Council also deals with Sergianism and Ecumenism.

If the Russian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate is so wicked and evil why then:
are they rebuilding parishes, restoring monasteries, re-establishing seminaries, institutes, schools, etc.?
why do they encourage parishes to carry out a daily cycle of Church services?
why do Priest's of the MP bother to hear confessions of old ladies if they cannot be a "threat" to the state?
why does the Patriarchate bless the publication of prayer books, services, the writings of the Church Fathers and many other traditional materials?

You are either highly mistaken in your accusations or just plainly a liar with some personal grudge against the Moscow Patriarchate. If the MP is really a graceless, apostate, Stalinist institute, then why are they dong the above things. Go and visit Optina, or Valaam, or Solovki, or Diveyevo, or Sergiev Lavra, or the monasteries in Moscow! I think you will only see traditional Orthodoxy being taught and practices there. In the MP disapproved, they could have simply not requested that these monasteries be returned to the church and repopulated with monastics. I mean, they could have made more money just liquidating the assets or turning these restored monasteries into resorts. The same could be said for many of the restored parishes. Why not sell the properties? More money could be make that way. When the Tikhvin Icon was returned to Russia, they had a procession from Christ the Saviour Cathedral to Red Square. The ceremonies lasted for hours. Why should the bishops, the Holy Synod, or the Patriarch being concerned with this. Would it not be more comfortable to stay home and watch movies or sit an some theological conference?
What about the commission of the canonization of saints. By glorifying saints, the Moscow Patriarchate is giving people more hagiography to read. Many of these souls lived in the 20th century. Now, what does that say? It says that the Christian life can still be lived and perfection, deification in Christ still occurs in our modern sinful times. People in Russia cannot simply view the lives of the saints as ancient fables but as modern accounts of authentic sanctity. It certainly does not encourage religious syncretism.
The word repent means to change in Greek. Has the MP repented of their Soviet era errors? I believe they have, because situations, policies, and their actions have changed. True Orthodoxy is alive in Russia. That is not to say that Russia is without problems. Russia has many problems, but so does Sweden, the EU, the USA, etc. The force behind this revival of Holy Rus' is the Moscow Patriarchate. Some groups split because they are too conservative or progressive for the MP.

So you can be like "Metropolitan" Valentine of ROAC or "Patriarch" Filaret of Kiev. Both they and their followers attack the MP, but both were defrocked for canonical reasons. In the end it's a red herring for their own ambitions.

I propose you come to Russia and see, without judging. That means not just going to a ROAC parish in Suzdal!

Edward
geh8988@gmail.com

[尼古拉前执事]

Actions speak louder that words, whether being behind burning out churches down, persecuting our clergy or even canonizing those that persecuted the Church, these actions that are often in contrary to seemingly-empty words is what counts.

Forgive sin, yes. But still be vigilant in seeing who the enemies of the Church are, wherever they may be.

[Priest Siluan]

Again, I would encourage you to read the Basic Social Concepts, published in 2000. Patriarch Alexis on a number of occasions has said that Met. Sergius' declaration is not the policy or doctrine of the Moscow Patriarchate. Metropolitan Kyrill's address to the 2004 Hierarchal Council also deals with Sergianism and Ecumenism.

If the Russian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate is so wicked and evil why then:
are they rebuilding parishes, restoring monasteries, re-establishing seminaries, institutes, schools, etc.?
why do they encourage parishes to carry out a daily cycle of Church services?
why do Priest's of the MP bother to hear confessions of old ladies if they cannot be a "threat" to the state?
why does the Patriarchate bless the publication of prayer books, services, the writings of the Church Fathers and many other traditional materials?

You are either highly mistaken in your accusations or just plainly a liar with some personal grudge against the Moscow Patriarchate. If the MP is really a graceless, apostate, Stalinist institute, then why are they dong the above things. Go and visit Optina, or Valaam, or Solovki, or Diveyevo, or Sergiev Lavra, or the monasteries in Moscow! I think you will only see traditional Orthodoxy being taught and practices there. In the MP disapproved, they could have simply not requested that these monasteries be returned to the church and repopulated with monastics. I mean, they could have made more money just liquidating the assets or turning these restored monasteries into resorts. The same could be said for many of the restored parishes. Why not sell the properties? More money could be make that way. When the Tikhvin Icon was returned to Russia, they had a procession from Christ the Saviour Cathedral to Red Square. The ceremonies lasted for hours. Why should the bishops, the Holy Synod, or the Patriarch being concerned with this. Would it not be more comfortable to stay home and watch movies or sit an some theological conference?
What about the commission of the canonization of saints. By glorifying saints, the Moscow Patriarchate is giving people more hagiography to read. Many of these souls lived in the 20th century. Now, what does that say? It says that the Christian life can still be lived and perfection, deification in Christ still occurs in our modern sinful times. People in Russia cannot simply view the lives of the saints as ancient fables but as modern accounts of authentic sanctity. It certainly does not encourage religious syncretism.
The word repent means to change in Greek. Has the MP repented of their Soviet era errors? I believe they have, because situations, policies, and their actions have changed. True Orthodoxy is alive in Russia. That is not to say that Russia is without problems. Russia has many problems, but so does Sweden, the EU, the USA, etc. The force behind this revival of Holy Rus' is the Moscow Patriarchate. Some groups split because they are too conservative or progressive for the MP.

So you can be like "Metropolitan" Valentine of ROAC or "Patriarch" Filaret of Kiev. Both they and their followers attack the MP, but both were defrocked for canonical reasons. In the end it's a red herring for their own ambitions.

I propose you come to Russia and see, without judging. That means not just going to a ROAC parish in Suzdal!

Edward
geh8988@gmail.com

Are you speaking seriously? Or it is joke?