May 19, 2015
Dear Brothers & Sisters,
Christ is Risen!
I respectfully submit the following.
On May 8th, 2015, on the occasion of the eve of the 70th Anniversary
of the Allied Victory over Nazi Germany, we at John’s served a solemn
panikhida to commemorate ALL those who were killed “for faith and
country” (at least 27 million in the former Soviet Union alone). Before
the service, members of a local Russian women’s association called me
to request permission to bring a wreath of flowers as a remembrance, for
which I gave my blessing. Minutes before the beginning of the service,
the flowers were brought into the church, along with a poster
identifying the organization.
I
did not have a chance to review the poster in the darkened church.
After the panikhida, my astonished Matushka noticed the depiction of a
Soviet victory flag the right bottom corner of the poster and it was
immediately removed. I certainly understand the reaction of seeing a
poster in the corner of which was a depiction of the hammer and sickle. I
too was shocked to see it. Some are actually suggesting that I asked
for the poster to be brought into our temple and that by serving this
panikhida I was somehow glorifying “Stalin’s victory” in WWII. This is
absolutely off the mark and is the antithesis of my family’s
experiences, which led to my own lifelong journey to serve the Church
and dedicate many years of my life to the defense of Orthodox Christians
in the USSR & Eastern Europe. This is part of the public record.
My
grandfather on my father’s side perished in a Stalin prison (Lubianka)
and my grandfather on my mother’s side survived the Solovki
concentration camp. My father, who was a POW in a German concentration
camp, defected from the Red Army to the Vlasov forces during World War
II, escaped Soviet repatriation (twice), and eventually settled in the
U.S. with the help of one my own parishioners, Constantine Boldyrev, who
was very much involved in émigré anti-Soviet politics (NTS). (Mr.
Boldyrev was the head of the displaced persons camp in Germany, where I
was born.) Fr. Serge Tchertkoff (Matushka’s father) survived a
Soviet-run concentration camp in Romania, which led him to dedicate the
remainder of the rest of the 50 years of his earthly life to the
priesthood. I still remember the detailed stories of brutal torture that
other family members endured (some didn’t survive) at the hands of the
Soviet regime (my mother and aunt actually witnessed cannibalism during
the period of the famine in the Ukraine that was initiated by Stalin)
and I cannot jettison the gruesome visuals that have been burned to
memory.
I
bring this up in the spirit of full disclosure of my personal bias
against Soviet authority and symbolism. I also bring it up to share in
the lasting and complex narrative that lives on within Russian
communities abroad. Healing will only come through prayer, such as
through the panikhida on May 8th and the panikhida which we will serve
on June 1st, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the
forced allied repatriation in Lienz, Austria of tens of thousands of
Russians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians and other nationalities into the
hands of the NKVD (later KGB).
In a homily prior to the May 8th memorial
service, I made a point to underscore the fact that it is mindboggling
that notwithstanding the terrible sufferings the Russian people had
already been suffering before the war (the persecutions, the
GULAG, the extermination of the officer corps, etc.), they were able to
miraculously rally and defeat a powerful enemy. Victory on May 9th belongs to the people and no one else.
I went on to say that there was a spiritual component in all of this,
since the Nazis invaded Russia on Sunday, June 22, 1941, the feast of
Synaxis of All the Russian Saints.
Unfortunately
for the people in the Russian homeland, they had to continue to suffer
under the communist regime for many more decades, while we in the free
West were able to enjoy the fruits of their and the Allied victory.
To
reiterate: I sincerely regret the incident with the poster and should
have been more attentive to its content, but I most certainly do not
regret organizing a prayer memorial for all those who selflessly gave up
their lives in the struggle against a most hateful ideology bent on
world domination.
In
closing, if there are any issues or questions that remain unaddressed
after reading this note, I invite anyone to contact me directly with any
concerns. This would seem a more honest approach to reaching factual
conclusions as opposed to the distribution of slanderous and
misconstrued information via social media and other Internet outlets.
In Christ,
Fr. Victor Potapov
Rector of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist
Washington, DC
ReplyDeleteIn the 3rd photo, the close-up of the symbols, notice the YIN YANG symbol there to the left.
This is the pagan (new age) heresy that good and evil are both necessary for life.
The Christian teaching is that evil is unnecessary. Good does just fine without it. Good does not need evil to exist. But evil needs good to exist. Evil is a parasite on good. The only way evil can exist is if it takes something good and distorts it.
ReplyDeleteHere are two websites connected with the Soviet and pagan symbols
http://www.russiandc.com
http://www.safetyandhealthfoundation.org/nycexpo/harmony.htm
ReplyDeleteIf the poster had been the first or second time anyone saw Fr. Victor commit some atrocity, then it never would have been in the news.
People see the poster and automatically assume that Fr. Victor is at it again, because Fr. Victor has EARNED that reputation. No, he is not to be trusted. On the surface we have to accept his excuse for the poster, but we don't have to believe it is really the truth and not just an excuse.
English version of the web page for the RocorMP report on the memorial:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.synod.com/synod/eng2015/20150512_enwashingtondc.html
WASHINGTON DC: May 12, 2015
Remembering the Victims of World War II at St John the Baptist Cathedral
Dozens of faithful gathered on Friday May 8, 2015, at St John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Washington, DC. All of them, Russians, Americans, Ukrainians, Kazakhs and representatives of other nationalities honored the memory of those who died during World War II, reports RIA-Novosti.
“We gathered today to remember those who lay down their lives for the faith, the fatherland and their neighbors and died innocently. It is beyond comprehension how despite such losses we people of the Soviet Union could be victorious in this war,” said Fr Victor Potapov, Rector of the church. The eminent Russian priest, who lives in America, outlined three reasons why the Soviet people won the war.
“On June 22, 1941, the very Sunday when the Nazis attacked our nation, the church was celebrating the feast day of All Russian Saints. I am certain that all these saints prayed to the Lord to protect their earthly Fatherland. The entire nation in one burst of effort rose up to defend their country, and the enemy was not prepared for this,” he said.
Father Victor noted that "we remember those in our prayers who fulfilled God's commandment: 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' We must pray that never again may such a war take place."
The memorial service was very touching. Almost all those who filled the church held candles, and the words of the prayers garnered special importance, as the Paschal singing resounded: “Christ is resurrected from the dead, trampling down death by death.”
After the service, a reception commemorating Victory Day was held at the parish hall next door. It was both festive and remarkably familial. “All the money gathered for the event will be sent to help veterans of the Great War of the Fatherland. We decided to send this money to the veterans living in the wonderful city of Kineshma on the Volga River,” said father Victor, adding that this city is very important to his parish, since the altar-table contains the relics of Saint Basil of Kineshma.
Russian ambassador Sergey Kilslyak, addressing those in attendance, called victory day “one of the most greatest of holidays. Listening to the song ‘Do Russians Want War?,’ I posed this question to myself. I understood that the meaning of the word ‘Russians’ is much broader and includes Ukrainians and Belarusian. I refuse to believe that those who now celebrate the memory of Bandera reflect the thoughts and hopes of Ukrainians,” said the ambassador. He noted that our country passed through many tribulations and always emerged the victor."