MP does not acknowledge ordination of alternative clergy

[尼古拉前执事]

Moscow Patriarchate does not acknowledge ordination of alternative Orthodox clergy
RRN - CLERGY WILL FIGHT FOR PROPERTY OF PREREVOLUTIONARY CHURCH

by Pavel Korobov, Kommersant daily, 15 July 2003 -- In the St. John clinic in Moscow a bishops' council was held that resulted in the unification of a number of small local Orthodox churches into the united True-Orthodox church (IPTs) in Russia. The newly formed church retains the former name, True-Orthodox church, and intends to declare itself the legal successor of the prerevolutionary Russian Orthodox church and will fight for its property.

The True-Orthodox church was founded in 1920. During the time of soviet rule it was in an illegal status. In 1995 IPTs was registered at the Ministry of Justice of RF.

The newly formed religious association intends to announce that it is the legal successor of the Russian Orthodox church, after which it will attempt to obtain the transfer to it of the prerevolutionary church's immovable property. "We intend to address the governmental structures with the declaration that the True-Orthodox church, just the same as the Moscow patriarchate, has the right to inherit buildings, premises, and churchware of the prerevolutionary RPTs," Metropolitan Kiriak told a KD correspondent. In his opinion, "a blatant church privatization has already occurred (in the country) in which only RPTs has participated." IPTs intends to demand from the government fifty churches, including the church of the Savior-on-the-Blood in St. Petersburg, while it intends to compete for receiving church immovable property not only with the Moscow patriarchate. According to an agreement with the Old Ritualist church, IPTs has already received five Moscow churches for its use.

KD requested a comment on the attempt to create an alternative to RPTs and the readiness of IPTs to declare itself the legal successor of the prerevolutionary RPTs from a vice chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate, Archimandrite Mark Golovkov. "IPTs is a noncanonical formation. These are people whom we cannot call priests, to say nothing of not calling them the legal successors of the prerevolutionary church."

[mwoerl]

some years back-would have been late 80's, i guess-i visited the MP Dormition Parish in Benld, Illinois. The priest there, Fr Paul Waters (i think that was his name) told me that he had orders NOT TO SERVE with any priests in the OCA ordained by then Bishop Kyrill (now Archbishop-Yonchev-Western PA and Bulgarian Diocese).
this is because Bishop Kyrill was conscrated to the epsicopate by ROCOR-in nineteen sixty-four, by Met. Philaret, and Archbishops Nikon, Averky, Seraphim, and Antony at Jordanville, as Bishop of Toledo and Toronto for the Bulgarian Parishes. Bishop Kyrill, interestingly enough, was one of the co-consecrators of Metropolitan Lavr to the epsicopate in nineteen sixty seven, which is the same year Bishop Kyrill left the Church Abroad to join the OCA because he and his parishes wished to adopt the new calendar. in the photo taken at the consecration, Bishop Kyrill sort of really stands out because he is the only one wearing a roman collar...
i guess the MP and the OCA have cleared all that up by now, though...
michael woerl