www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Continuing Turmoil in OCA

X. B!
C. I. X!

Reverend Father,

Your respectful assumption that many non-Russian Slavs today do not appreciate the self-perception of former Greco Catholics a century ago for embracing Russian as their identity is a smokescreen. So not to sound as a diatribe let me state their second class inferiority complex is still being played out today in their homelands and across newspapers and in text books. Subsequently this colonial myth of the Pan-Slavic empire is still a favorite hypothesis of American academia.

There are holy men who see the Church (whichever one you wish to enjoy the title of �true�) as the Kingdom of God, in which Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. There are others who revel in the double headed crowned eagle fantasy of the state as the servant of the church, but in reality it is reversed. Russia is not the same yesterday, today nor tomorrow. Neither is Belarus�, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine or any other number of contemporary country with ancient names. Rewriting history to perpetuate dreams of Camelot for some is perpetuating the nightmares of others. What does the name Russia mean in the tongue of the Muscovites? There never was a Carpatho "Russia" nor was the name �Russia� a suitable replacement for �Rus��. Today there is a Belarus�, Lithuanian Rus�, Slovakian Rus�, Rus� Ukraine and an indigenous Polish Rus� despite Akcija Wisla cleansing. The icon of God Christ does not change, countries do so let us get into the 21st century.

Dear Father David,

I was privileged to know the thrice-blessed Metropolitan Laurus for several decades. His ethnic identity is a bit more complicated. He always like meeting other Carpatho-Russians, speaking Carpatho-Russian, and so on. When he was in New York, he used to enjoy visiting Mr. and Mrs. Michael Hilko on Pascha (in the evening, after he had recuperated from the midnight service) to share the traditional Carpatho-Russian Paschal meal, and so on.

He certainly saw the Carpatho-Russians as part of the Russian people, but a distinct part. I'm not quite sure what an ethnographer would make of that.

in Christ,

Fr. Serge

http://orthodoxengland.org.uk/oca.pdf

...The fact is that all the fragments of the Russian Church Outside Russia (not just those actually inside ROCOR) must yet come together. Historically, and it is now history, this meant first of all the Sourozh Diocese in Great Britain, which reconciled itself with its own Patriachate in 2006 � though, sadly, only by the departure of the small modernistic group that had taken control of it in the early 80 and persecuted everyone else, forcing them to leave. Then, in 2007, the ROCOR reconciled itself to the Moscow Patriarchate and the Moscow Patriarchate reconciled itself to ROCOR. However, it is true that there
have been departures of political and sectarian elements that
infiltrated ROCOR from the late 60s on, who often made the lives of ordinary ROCOR clergy and people a misery, leaving for sects of their choice.

There now comes the reconciliation of the OCA with the new reality, perhaps at its Council in 2008, perhaps in 2009. Certain individuals who belong to it will also have to leave Cold War compromises behind it, together with old-fashioned 60s modernism and prejuduces, which makes the extreme parts of the OCA into a laughing-stock. Later, when a generation there has died out, the Paris Jurisdiction will also have to reconcile itself with the Russian Church, instead of behaving as a rude
and rebellious teenager, as at present. On the distant horizon, there may yet come Belarussian, Carpatho-Russian and Ukrainian Jurisdiction reconciliations with the multinational and multilingual Russian Church, though that will depend in events in Eastern Europe, which are still to
come. After that, who knows?
Let us be honest. The effect of the Russian Revolution was the
splintering and fragmentation of the whole Russian Diaspora � indeed of the whole Orthodox Diaspora - into a plethora of jurisdictions. These will eventually either unite - or else they will die."

I really don't see much of a reason for the OCA to even exist anymore. It seems like it's now an anomaly, and since ROCOR and Moscow have reunited, why not just merge with either one.

The chaos needs to end! Hospodi Pomiluj!

I really don't see much of a reason for the OCA to even exist anymore. It seems like it's now an anomaly, and since ROCOR and Moscow have reunited, why not just merge with either one.

This whole issue mystifies me. With declining numbers in the Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches, consolidation of jurisdictions probably would make sense. The numbers are nowhere near that of 50 plus years ago. Wouldn't it make sense to unify?

Combine the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia Greek Catholic Archeparchies, The OCA with ROCOR, etc. Parma Ohio has two Greek Catholic cathedrals!