Consecration of Bishop Peter of Cleveland

[bogoliubtsy]

Reply of Bishop Tikhon(OCA) to Mr. Szmyt's statement:

That post is based on utter ignorance, common ignorance, but ignorance,
nevertheless.
There is NO POINT in the service of consecrating a Bishop such as this
ignorant person described:

At the moment prior to consecration when the candidate's
worthiness of the order is requested.

I repeat, there is no such moment. The time for the expressions "Worthy"
"Axios" is AFTER the Prayer and the ensuing Litanies, at the moment when
episcopal vestments are place on the new Hierarch. This expression, "Axios"
is based, therefore, on the recognition of what the Holy Spirit has done to
an UNWORTHY person: ALL candidates are unworthy, are anaxios, of being
Bishops, but "The Divine Grace which healeth the infirm and completes what
is lacking.." that Divine Grace it is, that makes an unworthy man a Bishop.

Mister Schmidt (or Smythe) is not acquainted with the proper order of
making a Bishop. As for the ignoramus(es) (I feel that is a more charitable
chacterization of those disturbers of decency and order, than "the
malevolent") that tried to make a disruption (interesting to know how they
expressed their opposition to this consecration beforehand, if at all), I
feel his anathematization would not be inappropriate.

"Broken neck?" The hospital missed that when he was first brought in? I
don't think so.l I believe a "broken neck" (this is not a formal diagnosis,
surely) results in death.

Mister Schmidt's (or Smythe's) theorizing and expostulations are just that:
they have not basis in Church teaching. What a bizarre explanation for
holding the consecration of Bishop in a church!!!!! Is is not required that
ordinations of Deacons, Priests, or Bishops be held in public, but that
they be held during the Divine Liturgy, which may most assuredly be
conducted behind closed doors; in fact that was the standard in the early
days of the Church.

He wrote:
Is this any kind of conduct for YOUR Holy Catholic Apostolic Orthodox Church?

Since he wrote "YOUR" and not "OUR", I believe we may assume that Mister
Schmidt (or Smythe) is not even Orthodox?

Love,
+B.T.

[Justin Kissel]

Some more interesting points, though two comments...

• I think you can "break your neck" without dying.

• While I don't agree with the way in which Szmyt described the way that bishops are consecrated, certainly there was a multitude of practices in the early Church and His Grace, Bp. Tikhon, would be doing better to not make such absolute sounding statements as "in fact that was the standard in the early days of the Church." The "standards" changed from Church to Church, some going by what he described, others (in Cappadocia, for instance, I'm pretty sure) being radically different, and doing something we'd identify as "Protestant" or "Democratic" if we saw them today (in which case the laity did in fact have a direct yes or no say in who would be bishop -- perhaps this Szmyt read something about such a practice and wrongly thought ROCOR did the same.)

I hope I will be forgiven for so boldly commenting on the words of a bishop.

[rebecca]

Now, wait a second. Why would Mr. S. wait until the consecration to voice his concern? The Synod announced their decision to elevate Fr. Peter to the rank of Bishop months ago. Did Mr. S. ever write a letter to the Synod, concisely stating his issue with Archimandrite Peter? :ohvey:

A priest told me that the declaration of "Axios" isn't an invitation for people to express dissention; it's a statement of the consecration which has already taken place.

I'm sure all kinds of rumors of scandal abound. What I heard was that it was two laymen who removed Mr. S. from the church. And I don't believe that a protestant minister saved him from being beaten to death by two of our clergymen.

[Justin Kissel]

Anyone aware of any new developments in the heckler story? I'm no longer on the Indiana List, which is where I'd assume the latest news would get posted.

[Alpha Omega]

Fascinating...

Fr Vladimir Boikov wasn't even present at the ordination... Yet in the "interests of balanced debate" he feels motived to comment against the decision of the Synod of Bishops based on the witness of a rabble-rouser.

Who would you believe, an eyewitness, or the lackey of a third-party with vested interests?

It seems that when things were going his (and Fr Victor Potapov's) way (ie towards Moscow), he was only too happy to support the Synod... now they are trying to buck against the very thing they both fought so hard to achieve.

Talk about a credibility gap.

As for this reader Valentine and his ejection from the ordination that he allegedly interrupted - who can doubt that during a service as holy as an ordination of a Bishop that the Angels would not force the men present to act against demonic intruders? How else could it be possible for Orthodox Christians to remove a man crying "anaxios" during a ordination? How is it possible for them to succeed except for the fact that they were acting properly, and that the dissenter was acting by the evil intent of hatred and anger? God would not allow it!

How unfortunate that people like Fr Vladimir Boikov and Fr Victor Potapov also are so entangled in the snares of self-righteousness that they consider themselves worthy of deciding who and who should not be ordained to the Episcopal office, even against the decisions of the Holy Synod.

In Christ,

AlphaOmega

---

Begin forwarded message:

Dear Fathers,

In the interests of keeping a balanced debate on the recent events in Chicago, for which we have received glowing reviews from Frs. Victor Boldewskul and John Shaw (don't they remind you of a wrestling tag-team?) I decided to contact the "heckler" - a subdeacon of our Church and parish council member of our Minneapolis parish. His name is Valentine Sheglowski (I was wondering why the fathers were not mentioning his name - maybe so you all wouldn't contact him privately???). I have known him since I became the priest in the Chicago Cathedral in 1991.

It might interest the fathers to know that he was branded a "heckler" because he dared to proclaim "Anaxios" during the ordination, then he was literally, man-handled out of the church, subsequently saved from a beating in the bushes by a protestant minister (!!!!!) who began to recite the Lord's Prayer (this would have been a wonderful insight into Orthodoxy for the minister!) and taken to a hospital Emergency Room, where the doctors called the police so that he could press charges if he wanted to (I don't believe he has yet...)

In all, quite a different picture than we have been presented...

On the assertion of Fr Victor Boldewskul that the "Heckler" (just say his name if you are going to defame him) has now repented and seen the error of his ways I received the following response (editor:placed above this letter.) from Valya when I contacted him to find out how he was doing, AFTER receiving Fr Victor's post.

This ordination has certainly caused a division in our Church (even though it may not yet be apparent), let's not exacerbate the division with unfair and unbalanced reporting.

In Christ Fr Vladimir Boikov

[Liudmilla]

Has anyone seen the English version of Fr Victor"s letter?

[Alpha Omega]

Has anyone seen the English version of Fr Victor"s letter?

I have seen one such long letter lots of quoted attachments, however, I deleted it because it looked like more scandalous political muck-raking to me.

Sadly, it has become quite rare to see a post from Fr Victor that contains anything but political muck-raking.. what a talent for expression he has - but what a petty waste to use it on enacting his personal vendettas.