PASTORAL CONFERENCE OF THE ROCOR, Cleveland, Ohio, October 1992
From Monday, 22 September / 5 October to Thursday, 25 September / 8 October, a
Pastoral Conference was held in Cleveland, Ohio for clergy of the Russian
Orthodox Church Outside Russia. The sessions of the Pastoral Conference, as well
as simultaneous meetings of the Synod of Bishops, were held at the Saint Sergius
Cathedral, thought by many to be one of the most beautiful Churches of the
Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. The entire interior of the Church was frescoed
by Archbishop Alypy in traditional Russian style.
The Conference was held in conjunction with services for the 600th anniversary
of the repose of our Holy Father Sergius, Abbot and Wonderworker of Radonezh.
Approximately thirty-five priests and several deacons attended the Conference.
Many of the clergy present felt that this was a rather disappointing turnout,
but, despite this feelings, the joy of all who did attend was heightened by the
presence of ten of the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. The
hierarchs attending the Conference were: Metropolitan Vitaly, First Hierarch of
the Russian Church Abroad; Archbishop Antony of Los Angeles and Southern
California; Archbishop Antony of San Francisco and Western America; Archbishop
Laurus of Syracuse and Holy Trinity; Archbishop Alypy of Chicago and Detroit
(whose Diocese hosted the Conference); Bishop Varnava. Who serves the Free
Russian Church; Bishop Hilarion of Manhattan; Bishop Veniamin, also of the Free
Russian Church; Bishop Kyrill of Seattle; and Bishop Gregory, retired (but by no
means inactive!). Among the clergy attending were the Igumen Nicolae,
Administrator of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, and the Igumen
Aleksy from Saint Petersburg, Russia. Father Aleksy is involved with one of the
first Orthodox High Schools to open in Russian since the Revolution of 1917.
Participants arrived Monday afternoon for registration, and the Conference began
"officially" with the arrival of the Holy Wonderworking Kursk Icon of the Mother
of God late Monday evening. The Holy Icon was met by the hierarchs and clergy,
and carried in procession into the cathedral with the singing of the troparion
for the Icon by all. From that moment on, the Holy Kursk Icon was present with
the participants of the Conference in the Church for services, in the church
hall for sessions of the Conference and meals, and with the hierarchs in the
Synodal meetings. As from the beginning, the Most Holy Mother of God, through
her Holy Kursk Icon, guides and directs the hierarchs, and indeed, the entire
Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.
Tuesday began with the Midnight Service in the Cathedral, and the sessions of
the Conference began after a Moleben before the Holy Kursk Icon. Metropolitan
Vitaly began the sessions of the Conference with an opening speech after the
Moleben.
[None of the remarks of the hierarchs are in quotation marks, as all addressed
the Conference in Russian and were heard in simultaneous English translation -
the remarks attributed to the hierarchs are actually the English translation of
their remarks in Russian. The translators for the Conference were Father George
Kallaur, Father Alexander Lebedev, Father Stefan Pavlenko, and Father Victor
Potapov.]
Vladika Vitaly told the assembled clergy that, with the end of the Cold War, the
world has entered a period of quiet, but it is an "awaiting quiet", that is, we
are awaiting events that will be much worse than what the world experienced
during the Cold War. He told about the world before the confusion of tongues at
the Tower of Babel - that, at that time, mankind possessed a "oneness" of
language and culture, and, that this "oneness" did not serve for good, but only
for the rapid and easy spread of all evil and depravity among mankind. Vladika
Metropolitan went on to say that today, The Ecumenists want to return man to the
state of "oneness", believing that they are thus offering the only possible
salvation for mankind, when in reality they offer nothing new at all, only a
world more easily ruled by the Evil One. Vladika told the participants of the
Conference that none of this is unclear to us, and that we have but one defence
in the face of this renewal of the powers of evil - prayer. Vladika exhorted the
pastors to increase their efforts in prayer, and to urge their flocks to do the
same. He then told the pastors that Prayer of the Heart is the highest form of
prayer, and that all clergy, and all Christians, should strive to attain Prayer
of the Heart.
One priest present at the Conference had been only recently received into the
Russian Orthodox Church Abroad from the Metropolia ("O.C.A."). He expressed
amazement at the way Metropolitan Vitaly spoke extemporaneously, without notes -
in sharp contrast to his previous experience. An extensive discussion followed
the Metropolitan's remarks. Several priests remarked that they hoped the Synod
of Bishops would issue a call for the convening of an All-Diaspora Council of
the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russian, as the last one as held in 1974.
The question of the Church becoming politically involved in Russia was also
brought up. Metropolitan Vitaly noted that the situation in Russia was not at
all the same as in the United States. He said that here, he could not tell
anyone whom they should vote for, but that in Russia, he would not hesitate to
instruct Orthodox Christians to vote for the person whom they see in Church,
receiving Communion. It was generally agreed, however, that the Church should
not, and would not, become involved with political organisations and parties in
Russia.
Tuesday afternoon, the hierarchs and clergy took the Holy Kursk Icon to visit
the other two parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in Cleveland, Holy
Resurrection and Joy of All Who Sorrow. Even thought this was a weekday
afternoon, there were faithful of both parishes present to greet the Holy Icon,
and their Archpastors.
That evening, Small Compline was served in the Cathedral. It was very beautiful,
especially at the end of the Service, when all present received the blessing of
each Hierarch, and all the priests greeted each other. After Compline, a video
telling of the life of the Free Russian Church was shown. This video also shoed
the arrival of humanitarian aid to parishes of the Free Russian Church from the
U.S. parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.
Wednesday began with the Midnight Service; as usual, the sessions of the
Conference began with prayer ("O Heavenly King."). The priests newly received
from the "O.C.A." was especially impressed with this, as well as by the fact
that all the services, meals and sessions of the Conference were held in the
presence of the Holy Kursk Icon. He was also extremely impressed that all of the
hierarchs attended all of the services during the Conference. The sessions
Wednesday were divided between a talk about the Pastoral Theology of
Metropolitan Antony (Khrapovitsky) of Blessed Memory, and a video and talk on
Ecumenism presented by Igumen Aleksy.
The video was produced in Finland, and its subject was the assembly of the World
Council of Churches which was held in Australia a year or two ago. Scenes of
pagan worship and rituals which took place at this ostensibly "Christian"
convention were interspersed with the comments of Metropolitan Kyrill of the
Moscow Patriarchate, and Archbishop John, First Hierarch of the Orthodox Church
of Finland. The comments of these two champions of modernist "World Orthodoxy"
were, needless to say, completely in favour of the World Council of Churches,
and Ecumenism. The producers of this video, too, are favourable to the
Ecumenists movement. This is extremely ironic, as the film could NOT have shown
Ecumenism in a more repugnant light to any serious Orthodox viewer! This video
was watched closely by all present. Judging from the reactions and remarks, it
appeared that many had not realised just how far Ecumenism had gone. Reading
about these events just does not have the same impact was watching them! After
the video, Igumen Aleksy spoke briefly about Ecumenism in the Moscow
Patriarchate, and how priests and even some hierarchs of the Patriarchate is
"bad", but, after all, they have nothing to do with all this Ecumenism, and are
"good" people. Other priests commented that they too had encountered this
phenomenon of talk about the "good priests" and "good people" in the Moscow
Patriarchate, and that this gave many an excuse to stay in the Patriarchate. It
was then noted that this was "good" only in the worldly sense, not in the
spiritual sense. Archbishop Antony of Los Angeles then rose to speak, and said
that there are "good" people in all religions, but that is no reason to join
those religions; that the God-hating Bolshevik regime had been a servant of the
Evil One, and, now that there is irrefutable proof that the Patriarchate had
been a servant of the K.G.B., that is, a servant of the regime, that the
hierarchs of the Moscow Patriachate are worse than heretics, and indeed they are
the "church" of the KGB.
After this session, the Service of Preparation for Holy Communion was held in
the Cathedral. During this service, Vladika Kyrill read the Akathist to the
Mother of God in front of the Holy Kursk Icon. The all-night Vigil for our Holy
Father Sergius, Abbot and Wonderworker of Radonezh began at &:00 PM. The choir
for the Vigil was comprised of several members of the attending clergy, and the
beautiful chanting made this vigil especially compunctionate and prayerful.
Next morning, the Divine Liturgy was served by the nine of the hierarchs, thirty
priests, four protodeacons, and three deacons. The choir of the Cathedral sang
the Liturgy beautifully. Both the Epistle and Gospel, as well as some of the
Litanies, were read in Slavonic and English. All the hierarchs and clergy
serving the Divine Liturgy gave it an almost indescribable beauty. Vladika
Metropolitan gave Holy Communion to the Faithful present, and Archbishop Antony
of Los Angeles delivered a homily after the Liturgy. After the homily, the Holy
Kursk Icon was carried in procession around the church, accompanied by the
ringing of bells, the singing of the choir, and the profound spiritual joy of
all present.
After lunch in the parish hall, Vladika Metropolitan made some closing remarks,
and it was resolved that another Pastoral Conference be held in Washington, DC.,
to be hosted by Father Victor Potapov at the Cathedral of Saint John the
Baptist. The Pastoral Conference then came to a close with a Moleben of
Thanksgiving served before the Holy Kursk Icon.
This Conference was a source of great spiritual joy to all involved, and what
each participant took away from this Conference can perhaps best be described by
Kontakion XII of the Akathists to the Holy Kursk Icon of the Mother of God:
"We have received grace upon grace from thine icon, O most pure Theotokos. For
none that doth approach it with faith departeth empty away, but each receiveth
his gift from God according to his need, and is crowned with joy, crying to God,
Alleluia!"
Special mention must be made of the labours of Father Peter Burlakov, the
Sisterhood, and parishioners of the Saint Sergius Cathedral. It seems certain
that the Conference could not have proceeded more smoothly, and it was evident
that great labours were expended to achieve this. Father Peter was always busy,
and rarely noticed sitting down - it was noted that whenever asked when he was
going to eat, Father Peter always answered, "Later!" The Sisterhood did a
remarkable job of preparing all the meals for the participants of the Conference
a great deal of work! Thank you, Father Peter, and parishioners of Saint
Sergius, for your inexhaustible dedication!Michael Woerl, on special assignment for Living Orthodoxy
Living Orthodoxy, #80 (Vol. XIV, No.2); pp. 15-17. March-April 1992 (actual release November 1992)
