From the Paradosis list: A rebuttal (in blue)to Mr Moss (in red)........
--- In orthodox-tradition@yahoogroups.com, VladMoss@... wrote:
THE SOBOR RESOLUTION: A MASTERPIECE OF AMBIGUITY
The resolution of the ROCOC Sobor is a masterpiece of ambiguity, and a tissue of deception and lies.
As was to be expected, Mr. Moss has immediately written his typical vitriol concerning the Orthodox Church from which he has long since departed. Everybody who reads these unfortunate lists knows his opinions concerning the Patriarchal Church of Russia, as well as his opinions about the God pleasing reconciliation of the Russian Church after the fall of communism which is occurring right now. He has spoken out again and again concerning the perceived "sins of others", it goes on and on and on. In order to answer his, and all the other malefactors (V.Kozyreff, "Peter" Andreev, "Nikofor", "Ierei" Kirill Bart etc.) one must assume an ecclesiology which any pious, sober or conscientious Orthodox Christian, or thinking human being for that matter, would find utterly repugnant.
One would have to subscribe to their twisted belief systems that can be basically summed up as this lie: "all the local churches of Orthodoxy are satanic, period."
All their words and thoughts and attitudes and actions reflect this.What more can they say, or what more can they offer as the fruits of their spiritual labors? A foolproof recipe for prelest! Read their writings and responses to priests and laity who question their assumptions in any way. Note the language used and illogic they use when responding to "threats" to their subjective understandings. History – it gets twisted to suit their needs. Theology – let's make that up as we go along. Repentance – that's for the other guy and we don't accept the repentance of others anyway. Schism and heresy – let's not count numbers, we are the true church and all the others have fallen into the abyss. All ranting and raving and very little rational intercourse with others. All emotionally and psychologically based in the wants of themselves at the expense of the needs of others. Hardly Christian by ANY standards, let alone Orthodox.
If fellow readers, you do not subscribe to this fantasy and demonic interpretation of reality, then their rants and passionate diatribes will be meaningless.
Woe to any who believe that the Church of Christ as found in the communion of local Orthodox churches are anything less than that – the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.
Living your lives as "traditionalists" outside of that communion can quickly bring the passions of judgment, slander, and even the betrayal of the Christ and his Church itself. See with what wrath those who vent against the church speak and froth. Let me attempt to respond calmly to the latest diatribe:
But how can one say in advance that the forthcoming Council of Bishops will express the Divine will? One cannot.
Well if the ROCOR bishops are Orthodox, and are not changing anything concerning the faith, but are going into communion with their Orthodox brothers – then that is reflective of divine will. Read the Gospel of St. John and see what the Lord has to say about brotherly love and unity. The bishops express the divine will of the Lord in guiding and leading the Church, this is basic.
Therefore this sentiment is both
rash and impious. Moreover, it is a lie: because we already know that several participants in the Sobor have already declared unequivocally that they will not obey the decisions of the forthcoming Council of Bishops if it declares in favor of union with Moscow.
According to your logic – they are either liars, or they will be schismatic from ROCOR. Might I suggest that perhaps they will confess their intemperate words before the Sobor and realize that they should not accept your false dilemma and temptation to leave the Church.
Code: Select all
[color=red]This is another lie, because many participants in the Council, including the majority of the bishops, have already shown themselves not in the Slightest degree interested in healing the wounds of division with, for example, ROCiE under Metropolitan Vitaly, ROAC under Metropolitan Valentine, RTOC under Metropolitan Tikhon, not to speak of Catacomb Synods such as that of the eraphimo-Gennadiites. As far as I know, not a word about union with any of hese Synods have been uttered officially at the Council.[/color]
All these groups left the ROCOR in schism and have continually denounced the ROCOR and MP following the twisted belief system noted above: "all the local churches of Orthodoxy are satanic, period." Whatever would the Orthodox be able to say to these people that has not already been said?
The real question is: Why can't these groups get together and unite into one voice if they are so correct? The answer is self-evident: Because schism breeds schism and they can only blame others and not themselves for their own sins and passions.
Has the point of view disagreeing with union with the MP been allowed expression at the Council? No, it has not. Rather, not only has the agenda and preparation for the Council been carefully rigged: the expression of dissenting opinions has been ruthlessly suppressed. So: another lie.
Council delegates freely expressed their opinions, asked questions and heard answers to their "dissents". You claim above that "some participants in the Sobor have already declared unequivocally that they will not obey the decisions of the forthcoming Council of Bishops". You cannot have it both ways. Furthermore – the so called "dissenting opinions" have been all over the internet and are well known to all by now. There has been YEARS of discussions. Those who couldn't even calmly handle that ran off to ROCIE long ago.
So what new is being said here? Only that "the Local Russian Church" is to be identified with the Moscow Patriarchate. But the resolution cannot say that aloud because the Regulations of ROCOR do not say that it is part of the MP. So again: ambiguity and deceit.
Again, one needs to subscribe hook, line and sinker to your non-reality in order to take this seriously. True reality would say that the local Russian Church is recognized by all the other local Orthodox churches and is in communion with all those churches. Like it or not, Patriarch Alexei is first hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. There can only be one Orthodox Church of Russia, and it's not any of the self-loathing groups with which you somehow identify a schizophrenic Russian Church.
What does "expediently" mean? Before or after union with the MP? That is the question. Is the resolution saying that it will not enter into union with the MP until the MP leaves the WCC? No - at this late stagein the union process the bishops would not be so bold as to lay down conditions to "his All-Holiness". So what does this "heartfelt" plea amount to? Nothing more than a plea. Which the MP is at complete liberty to ignore completely.
I understand it to mean that as long as ROCOR remains outside of communion with the Church in Russia, that its influence is one thing, and that after communion is established, its influence will be another. One has hope in the future that the healing will continue, that the relationship between the Church Abroad and the Patriarchate will grow and enable continual assessment and full withdrawal from the WCC over time.
What? So the problems have not been sorted out yet?! And they cannot be sorted out before "the forthcoming Local Council of One Russian Church" - that is, when ROCOR is already part of the MP?! This is an alarming confession of failure. All these commissions, and years of talks, still leave major problems unresolved.
What failure? What major problems still unresolved? The major issues have been addressed and resolved. Read the ROCOR website again. There are other problems that remain un-resolved of course. Jurisdictional questions and others. The question of the WCC was left as the sole major question and will be resolved in time.
The honourable course, therefore, is to stop the process of union until the problems are resolved. But no: the resolution wants to join the MP first, then sort out the problems - when, of course, they will already be insoluble.
Why should reconciliation be stopped? Again given your base assumptions, NOTHING the ROCOR or the MP ever does would ever satisfy your requirements. Would that life revolved so conveniently around us and our wants! But you are not a bishop, a priest, nor even a layperson of the Church in question and your wants are not relevant, nor could they be.The real changes that need to be made in all of this, need to be made by YOU. That is what all real Orthodox should be doing – changing themselves through repentance.
So the resolution wants to bow down before the podvig, not only of the true martyrs glorified by ROCOR, but also of the alse "martyrs" glorified by the MP?! Not only St. Joseph of Petrograd, whom the MP refuses to glorify, but also of the man who seized his see unlawfully, whom the MP has glorified! Shame!
No, shame on you for slandering the new-martyrs of Russia who do not pass your litmus test for political purity! Shame on you for continuing to embitter the process by which mutual forgiveness can be met and the local Russian Church made whole. Shame on you for a worldview and ecclesiology that is so dysfunctional that it cannot believe in the power and all forgiving love of the resurrection of Christ which forgives all.
O shame! So you will embrace Putin, your brother, the KGB agent and Freemason, and his All-Holiness KGB Agent Drozdov, while refusing to embrace your former brothers and sisters in the catacombs who refuse to follow your lying path!
Are you singing the Paschal canon these days? We forgive and embrace all by the resurrection. If others would refuse to forgive, to be forgiven and to be embraced, how can they be embraced? May God forgive!
So is there no encouragement to be drawn from this resolution? No. The resolution is weak and ambiguous, but its very weakness and ambiguity show that those who wrote it are looking fearfully over their shoulders at their opponents, whose number is clearly increasing. The proof of that is the phrase: "it is necessary to confirm the canonical status of the Russian Church Abroad for the future as a self-governing part of the Local Russian Church". What they mean is: "we want ROCOR to join the MP". So why do they not say that unambiguously? Because they are afraid. Even now they cannot say openly what they want to do. And then comes the desperate plea about the WCC, and the admission that serious problems remain which can be resolved only when the union process is already completed. These are the words of desperate men...
The basic premise has been all along that the ROCOR maintain administrative and legal autonomy under the historical circumstances and based on the needs of the Church as it functions. This was voiced years ago, why would it now be considered to be a desperate plea?
If the union of most of the ROCOR bishops with the MP cannot now be averted, there is still good hope that a large part of the flock of ROCOR can be rescued from the maw of the heretical false-church.
As always, the ultimate goal of these diatribes is to snatch more souls into the clutches of the schismatic "groupings" Mr. Moss illuminates above. Disunited, small, bitter and questionable and confessing their ignorance and judgment upon any and all who do not belong to them, they would be somehow recognized as the real Russian Orthodox Church!
It is truly pathetic that Mr. Moss does not stop his campaign against the Church of Christ, does not stop slandering the bishops, clergy and laypeople of the Church of Russia. It is continually sad that a man who ostensibly and publicly dedicates himself to Orthodoxy and Orthodox truth, who has been blessed to write eloquently about the saints, should by turns politicize, demonize and foment and support schism, jumping from one non-canonical jurisdiction to another, with increasing ferocity towards those he has left behind.
But it is immoral beyond question for him and others to continue their vindictive and remorseless campaign as others find their way to repentance and forgiveness. One should ask where all this anger and bitterness come from? Is this following the Lord or following another?
As the ROCOR Sobor resolution so wonderfully ends, and which Mr. Moss leaves out: "Pascha! Let us embrace each other joyously!". That is the Orthodox faith and fact that Mr. Moss wants everybody to ignore. May God help and forgive us all.
XB!
Dcn. John