Bishop Stephan of Trenton leaves RTOC

[Jean-Serge]

Bishop Stephan of Trenton left RTOC on November 24th 2015.

rocor-trenton.com

Unfortunately, no English translation available yet.

He leaves but remains in communion with RTOC.

[Maria]

Bishop Stephan of Trenton left RTOC on November 24th 2015.

rocor-trenton.com

Unfortunately, no English translation available yet.

He leaves but remains in communion with RTOC.

That is strange. Why would he leave but remain in communion with the RTOC?
I gather from the google translate translation, he feels isolated, but people during the Soviet era were also isolated in underground catacomb churches. We are in the End Times.

[Matthew]

Yes, it is the end times....

[Jean-Serge]

I do not see all the signs of the end of time. People were already seeing the end of times in the 2nd century... So, some moderation is welcome on the topic of end of time. By the way, is Bishop Stephan alone in America or will he establish a local synod?

[Barbara]

That's why I didn't see any updates or news when I checked the Rocor-trenton site on the weekend. I missed this news entirely, therefore. It was in Russian : no wonder.

Bishop Stefan deserves praise for his restraint. He must have suffered many many miseries of which he gives us the tip of the iceberg. I wonder what else has been bothering him ??

His position was always unusual anyway, semi-autonomous. Some of the RTOC clergy in American took care to specify that they were under him rather than under Archbishop Tikhon directly.

I wonder how the former RTOC clergy in North America and South America [ Fr Siluan ] are reacting ?

[Barbara]

igor, have you any information about WHY and how the Rocor-V split into 3 factions ?
Maybe we should have another thread for that.
This is wearying, all the squabbling.
Met Philaret II : the very name exposes that person as a fake. Someone clamoring for glory rather than a serious churchman.
Whereas Bishop Stefan was dignified in his withdrawal from RTOC, probably these Rocor-V clerics were having a power struggle....

[igor]

Barbara, I think it was primarily power struggle
in the very dysfunctional group of people .
They hardly have any flock left but continue to fragment.
I often wonder- had Met Vitaly gone ahead with formation of Mansonville synod in 2001 if he'd known that 10 years past his repose there would be 9 groups claiming apostolic succession from him, with probably half of the groups also claiming to be One Holy Apostolic church .
Can it get more scandalous than that?