Excellent & Truthful Article! by V. Moss

A General Sharing: An Excellent & Truthful Article!: by V. Moss: "Is The Moscow Patriarchate Crumbling At Last?"

Dan Everiss Tue, Mar 1, 2016 at 11:17 AM  http://www.orthodoxchristianbooks.com/articles/article.php?article_id=735 Comment: It is not that often that I can fully agree with all that UK Professor Vladimir Moss puts out, in fact, I strongly disagree with many of his seemingly wise and sage [ but for one area of subject matter issues],  personally  biased, wrong assessments of  the various 'fragment jurisdictions'...those claiming to be, each one of them, the 'sole' canonical and legitimate continuations of the old free ROCOR, or of his defining of the  various Greek Old Calendar divisions, etc.  He is not always correct in those matters, often he is quite off. But, on this particular thorny subject, of great common to all true Orthodox, world-wide, he is right on! I think that what we see happening now, world-wide, is a surprising-even an unexpected, coming together of  numerous various traditionally Orthodox minded clergy and laity, [ from all local Orthodox churches]  to resist this new & major ecumenist/betrayal and apostasy  threat to our Holy Orthodox Faith,  being engineered by KGB agent MP head, Kyrill Gundaeyev, the Pope, and by V. Putin pulling the strings on his puppets, in the background. Of course, much more can be written, and is being written by many others now,  on this complicated  and upsetting subject, but what Moss says here is very sound, factual  and truthful, no matter who likes it or not. The modernist/ecumenist/progressives will not like what he says. But then, those deluded and misguided folks have already abandoned real genuine Orthodoxy anyway, [ if many of them ever knew  or cared, what it was, to begin with!],  in order to: 'receive the praise of men'. Rd. Daniel Everiss in Oregon  Written by Vladimir Moss IS THE MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE CRUMBLING AT LAST?      Generations of True Orthodox Christians, both in the Catacomb Church and in the Russian Church Abroad, have understood that the key to the resurrection of Holy Russia, and therefore to the salvation of millions around the world, lies in the fall of the heretical and apostate Moscow Patriarchate, and its replacement by a truly Orthodox hierarchy that clearly and unambiguously renounces sergianism and ecumenism and all communion with the ecumenist hierarchs of World Orthodoxy. The prophecies of the Valaam elders declare that such a resurrection and radical cleansing of the Russian Church will take place through a True Orthodox Tsar who will be elected by the True Orthodox people at a time of national humiliation. However, as many have rightly warned, such a longed-for event will not take place until the people as a whole – or at any rate, a significant percentage of it – show by their deeds that they have truly repented of sergianism and ecumenism and are ready to receive the true faith of the One True Church.      In this connection, the recent meeting of Pope Francis and Patriarch Cyril in Havana may prove to be a significant turning-point. The meeting – which, as Cyril admitted, was made known beforehand to only five people, - was accompanied by the publication of a communiqué in which the two churches clearly recognized each other as “sister churches” in the spirit of the notorious Balamand agreement of 1994. As if finally waking up to the reality of what has been happening between Rome and Moscow for several decades, many priests, communities and laymen, from Moscow to Belorussia to Moldova are calling Cyril a heretic and refusing to commemorate him in their Divine services. Only a few believe one archimandrite’s theory: that the Pope wants to become Orthodox![1] The truth is: it is the patriarch who is in spirit a Catholic already… *      Of course, something like this happened once before, after the famous “our prophets – your prophets” speech of Patriarch Alexis II (Agent “Drozdov”) to the New York rabbis in November, 1991. Then many priests stopped commemorating the patriarch for his blasphemous recognition of Judaism. In 1992, the president of the Union of Orthodox Brotherhoods, Sergius Poliakov, declared that the patriarch’s speech to the New York rabbis had been “clearly heretical”. And a representative of the Tver diocese declared that “almost 60% of the diocesan clergy” were refusing to commemorate the patriarch.[2] Unfortunately, only one of those priests actually joined the True Church…[3]      At that time the MP was able to face down its dissidents. Thus in December, 1994, the patriarchate's participation in the WCC was unequivocally endorsed as having been inspired “primarily by considerations of the good it would do for the Church”. Then a purge of the anti-ecumenist brotherhoods began.[4] The decision was made to permit common prayers with heretics with the blessing of the local bishop![5] And with the death in 1995 of the only anti-ecumenist in the hierarchy, Metropolitan John (Snychev) of St. Petersburg, the victory of the ecumenists appeared to be sealed.      However, in December, 1995 a group of about fifty Moscow clergy addressed an open letter to the patriarch denouncing the "crypto-catholic" teaching and actions of several modernist priests and laity in the capital. They pointed to numerous instances of the MP offering direct assistance to Latin propaganda, listing ecumenical or purely Catholic radio stations (“Sophia”, “Blagovest”) and periodicals (Simvol, Istina i Zhizn’, Novaia Evropa, Russkaia Mysl’). Active contributors and sometimes even managers of these organs of Latin propaganda included Archpriest Ioann Sviridov (Department of the Religious Education and Catechization of the MP), Igumen Innokenty (Pavlov) (Secretary of the Russian Bible Society), Priest Alexander Borisov (President of the same Society), Igumen Ignaty (Krekshin) (Secretary of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints of the ROC), Igumen Ioann (Ekonomtsev) (Rector of the Orthodox University of St. John the Theologian), V. Nikitin (chief editor of the official journal of the Department of Religious Education and Catechization Put’ Pravoslavia), the “priest journalists” G. Chistiakov and V. Lapshin, Priest G. Ziablitsev (employee in the Department of External Church Relations of the MP), who was appointed by his superior, Metropolitan Cyril (Gundyaev), to the commission of the Catholic Church (!) for the canonization of one of their saints. “Such a scandalous fact,” wrote the fifty clergy, “i.e. participation in a heterodox enterprise of a canonical character, has not been heard of since the Latins fell away from the Church of Christ in 1054… One is left with the impression that the Vatican is attempting to create within the Church a layer of clergy loyal to the Catholic doctrine who serve the cause of union.”[6]      The patriarch deflected this protest by complaining about Catholic proselytism and their use of humanitarian aid as a cover for their missionary work in Russia.[7] It is not recorded, however, that he rejected the offer of one Catholic organization, "Aid to the Suffering Church", to give every priest in the Russian Church an annual salary of $1000.[8] Nor was he particularly disturbed when the Pope was declared an honorary member of the new parish of the MP in Ulyanovsk in gratitude for his sending $14,000 for the construction of the city’s cathedral. Nor when, in 1996, “Aid to the Suffering Church” gave $750,000 to Radio “Sophia”…[9] The patriarch’s right hand (his criticism of the Catholics) clearly did not know what his left hand (his reception of largesse from them) was doing…      However, the anti-ecumenist unrest of the early 1990s was successfully suppressed by the MP (as similar disturbances were suppressed in other Orthodox countries by the hierarchs of World Orthodoxy). Two important events contributed to this unfortunate outcome. The first was the failure of the mission of the Russian Church Abroad inside Russia. ROCOR under St. Philaret of New York had anathematized ecumenism in 1983, and her anti-sergianism and anti-ecumenism had been very influential among MP clergy who were now for the first time able to read non-Soviet church literature, and learn the truth about the history of twentieth-century Orthodoxy. However, divisions inside ROCOR, and a successful MP campaign slandering ROCOR as an American church under the control of the CIA, arrested the growth of ROCOR parishes in Russia as the country as a whole moved sharply against the West and all things western.      The second event was the rise to power in the year 2000 of KGB Colonel V.V. Putin, who gradually began moving the nation back towards “Orthodox” Sovietism with a Fascist face. The MP’s KGB hierarchs willingly joined in this pseudo-resurrection of Holy Rus’, especially as it stood to gain financially from it. Thus the new Patriarch Cyril (Agent “Mikhailov”) was reported to have made a personal fortune of $4 billion, gained through the duty-free import of alcohol and tobacco, and to be involved in still more morally dubious ventures.[10] In 2009 he proclaimed the astonishingly blasphemous idea that the anti-theist Red Army’s barbarous victory over Nazi Germany in 1945 had somehow expiated the sins of the 1930s, and that Stalin had thereby “trampled on death by death”.[11] The tepid reaction of Church society to these ever more extreme manifestations of the MP’s apostasy was discouraging, to say the least. *      However, it looks now as if the MP may have finally overstepped the mark. Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine, with its disastrous consequences for relations with the West and for the Russian economy, is eliciting increasing criticism. And Cyril’s slavish following of Putin in all things – the price, of course, of his church’s large share in Putin’s ill-gotten gains – is far from universally admired. Again, many parishes in the “Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate” are deserting to other jurisdictions such as the Kievan Patriarchate, which is recognized by Constantinople but not by Moscow.  Cyril calls them “schismatics”, and blames uniate propaganda by nationalist “Banderites” – but is thereby placing his sceptical Ukrainian flock in an increasingly difficult position, having to choose between loyalties to the Russian church or  to the Ukrainian state.      Undoubtedly concern over the worsening situation in the Ukraine was the main motivation for Cyril’s meeting with the Pope in Havana. For his master Putin’s sake, he wants the Pope to exert his influence to weaken the West’s sanctions regime against Russia. And for his own sake, he wants the Pope to recognize the canonicity of the MP in the Ukraine rather than that of Kievan Patriarchate, which is backed by his chief global competitor, the Patriarch of Constantinople. But for many in the Russian Church these essentially political issues were less important than the issue of the faith: that their patriarch had publicly recognized the world’s number one heretic. And the patriarch must have known that this would be a problem. For why else would he conceal the meeting from all except five people? He must have sensed that public announcement of the meeting a long time in advance risked eliciting a powerful negative response that might have endangered the meeting taking place – and he was right.      This leads us to think that it will be more difficult, perhaps impossible, for the MP to shrug off the anti-ecumenist reaction in the way it did twenty years ago. Although pro-Catholic ecumenism has been a fact of life in the MP since the time of the notorious Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) - who as well as being the mentor of the present patriarch was simultaneously KGB Agent “Sviatoslav”, metropolitan of Leningrad, and a secret Catholic bishop, and died at the feet of Pope John-Paul I, having received communion from him – there is a big difference between metropolitans signing ecumenist agreements with Catholic cardinals and this meeting at the highest level between the Pope and the Patriarch – something that has never taken place before in history. The symbolism of the papal-patriarchal meeting is more direct  and more powerful – and much more dangerous for the internal stability of the MP.      Another difference between 2016 and the early 1990s is that the clergy are more educated now; they have outgrown the ecumenist Paris theologians that were so popular in the early 1990s and are now familiar with stronger, strictly patristic food in the form of the writings of St. Ignaty Brianchaninov, St. Theophan the Recluse and Archbishop Averky of Jordanville. And while the anti-ecumenist ROCOR has been crushed – and, since 2007, absorbed into the MP – the seeds it sowed in the earlier period have sunk into the earth of the MP’s consciousness. Ecumenism is now widely recognized as a heresy; the metropolitan of Vladivostok has even called publicly for the MP’s withdrawal from all ecumenist organizations, including the World Council of Churches, which the present patriarch once famously called “our common home”…      Paradoxically, Putin’s anti-western policies may have indirectly contributed to the impending unia. For just as Putin may thunder against the West’s moral vices, but has no intention of depriving himself of western pleasures himself, so Cyril may thunder against Banderites and schismatics, but has no intention of foregoing his friendship with the world’s number one heretic. And just as Putin and Russia’s secular elite still send their children to western schools, live in fabulously grand houses in the evil West, deposit their money in London banks, cruise the world in western yachts, buy western football clubs and build villas on the Mediterranean coast of France and Spain, so Cyril and Russia’s ecclesiastical elite drive around in limousines, buy rolex watches, have usually homosexual lovers and engage in extremely profitable and immoral business deals in imitation of their secular rulers. So, far from building up a true spiritual and moral alternative to western civilization, Church and State in Russia are simply showing themselves to be a deeply corrupt extension of that same civilization. Only the Russians are worse than the westerners they ape because their sins are compounded by the vast legacy of the unrepented mega-crimes of the Soviet period, and the terrible guilt and hypocrisy that comes from knowing what Orthodoxy is, and trumpeting their “Orthodoxy” to the skies, while denying it in practice. *      Finally, one may ask: now that the MP is returning to that ecumenism from which it was supposed to have liberated itself as a condition of its union with ROCOR in 2007, will not ROCOR-MP rise up in protest and denounce the treachery of their patriarch? The tragic but predictable answer is: ROCOR-MP are the last people who will rebel against the heretic. For having betrayed Christ and His Holy Church in 2007, they are too proud to admit their treachery, but are rather trying to justify themselves by an exaggerated justification of their MP masters.      As an example of this lamentable spiritual condition, let us take a recent article by Fr. Andrew Phillips, a ROCOR-MP priest.[12] Phillips is a very intelligent man who has written excellent things on Orthodox England, and good things on the corruption of the West. But, having consciously taken part in ROCOR’s Judas act of 2007, his views on Russia are wildly misguided.      Phillips believes that resistance to the Anti-Christian empire of the West is coming from “what is organically reviving in the place of the old Soviet Empire – the Sacral Christian Empire of Rus”. Phillips seems to forget the words of the Lord: “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” (Matthew 7.16-20).      The fruits of Putin’s reign have been unequivocally evil. On every index of social misfunction – suicide, alcoholism, child mortality, drug-taking – Russia comes in the first or second place in the United Nations rankings. This would be impossible if Russia were a truly Orthodox country, a good fruit from a good tree. But in fact Putin has done everything to demonstrate his and his regime’s roots in the ultra-evil tree of Soviet power. The same applies to the Soviet church of the Moscow Patriarchate. It has repented of none of its heresies; the moral evil of its hierarchy – especially its homosexuality – is tolerated and its practitioners promoted; True Orthodoxy is persecuted.      Phillips continues with the familiar KGB lies that Russia was invaded from Georgia in 2008, and that in 2014 the “legitimate” authority of the Ukraine was overthrown in a western coup. We will not dwell on these myths, since they are not central to our ecclesiastical theme. More relevant are these words of his: “Slandering and even destruction can come in two other ways... The first is by infiltrating the renascent Christian Empire with modernism, which is what individuals have been trying to do in recent years and especially now with the divisive draft documents for the Crete meeting of selected Orthodox bishops next June. The second way is protesting against those unacceptable documents in a divisive and even schismatic way, exactly as Metr Onufry of Kiev and others predicted.” It is astonishing that Phillips thinks that modernism in World Orthodoxy comes only from certain “selected Orthodox bishops” who do not include his own patriarch. As if the meeting of the pope and the patriarch were not modernism, and their joint communiqué not “unacceptable” no less than any of the draft documents he mentions. Evidently, leaving True Orthodoxy and joining the modernist MP and World Orthodoxy has made Phillips a dyed-in-the-wool ecumenist!      But even Phillips cannot ignore the protests against his patriarch that have begun in his own false church, “with several perhaps hot-headed priests in Moldova no longer commemorating their bishops. Other individuals are following. We suggest that this is an error. Two wrongs do not make a right. However understandable, the far better method of protest is, as we have suggested, for monasteries and parishes simply to petition their diocesan bishops stating that we do not accept the draft documents and that if they are accepted in Crete, we will tear them up, refusing to receive them.”      Phillips suggests that these non-commemorating priests are “hot-headed” and “in error”, and then goes on to assert that “the temptation of non-commemoration is a simplistic error of schismatic proportions”. Logically speaking, he should say the same about all the hierarchs of ROCOR throughout its history, declaring St. Philaret, who left the MP and anathematized the whole of World Orthodoxy to be a hot-headed schismatic, and St. John Maximovich, who bitterly repented of having once commemorated Patriarch Alexis I, to have succumbed to “the temptation of non-commemoration” But these were great men who were capable of repentance and taught it to their right-believing flock. Phillips is a turncoat who is now engaged in whitewashing the Pharisaic KGB agents and ecumenist heretics whom he serves and who are destroying what little is left of Holy Russia. Russia will indeed be resurrected, as the true prophets proclaimed – but only when the people  steadfastly block their ears to the false prophets like Phillips who call evil good and good evil, who hypocritically denounce the supposed perverters of Orthodoxy while themselves promoting the neo-Soviet Anti-Christian Empire and its Soviet puppet-church! February 17 /March 1, 2016. St. Hermogen, Patriarch of Moscow, who was martyred by the Latins in 1612. [1] “RPTs: Papa Rimskij khoschet byt’ pravoslavnym”, Styler, February 26, 2016, https://www.rbc.ua/styler/zhizn/rpts-papa-rimskiy-hochet-pravoslavnym-1456494541.html. [2] Priamoj Put' (The Straight Path), February, 1992, p. 5; E. Polyakov, "Khronika Tserkovnoj Zhizni v Yanvare-Fevrale 1992 g." (A Chronicle of Church Life in January-February, 1992) (MS), p. 2. [3] Russkii Pastyr’, (Russian Pastor), № 30, I-1998, p. 86. Cf. Fr. Timothy Alferov, "Nekotorie uroki dvizhenia 'nepominaiushchikh' (Some Lessons of the Movement of the Non-Commemorators), Russkii Pastyr' (Russian Pastor), № 19, II-1994, pp. 102-104. [4]A. Soldatov, "Obnovlenie ili obnovlenchestvo?" (Renovation or Renovationism?), Pravoslavnaia Rus' (Orthodox Russia), № 20 (1521), October 15/28, 1994, pp. 6-9; Service Orthodoxe de Presse (Orthodox Press Service), № 194, January, 1995, pp. 7-10 (F); V.N. Osipov, "Pravoslavnoe serdtse na vetru", Pravoslavnaia Rus' (Orthodox Russia), № 2 (1527), January 15/28, 1995, pp. 14-15. [5]Perepiolkina, Ekumenizm: Put’ k pogibeli, p. 205; from the Documents and Reports of the Council published by the MP in 1995, p. 191. [6]Perepiolkina, op. cit., pp. 215-216. [7]Service Orthodoxe de Presse(Orthodox Press Service), № 204, January, 1996, p. 13 [8]"Wages for Popes", 30 Days, № 6б, 1994; reprinted in "Vatican Diary", Orthodox Christian Witness, January 2/15, 1995, pp. 7-8. [9]Perepiolkina, op. cit., pp. 205, 217-219. [10] V. Moss, “Patriarch Cyril, Abortion, Gays and the Goddess Aphrodite”, in The Battle for the Russian Orthodox Church, https://www.academia.edu/22378447/THE_BATTLE_FOR_THE_RUSSIAN_ORTHODOX_CHURCH. [11] V. Moss, “God 1945 I ‘Bogoslovie Pobedy’ v Moskovskoj Patriarkhii”, https://www.academia.edu/10213748/1945_%D0%93%D0%9E%D0%94_%D0%98_%D0%91%D0%9E%D0%93%D0%9E%D0%A1%D0%9B%D0%9E%D0%92%D0%98%D0%95_%D0%9F%D0%9E%D0%91%D0%95%D0%94%D0%AB_%D0%92_%D0%9C%D0%9E%D0%A1%D0%9A%D0%9E%D0%92%D0%A1%D0%9A%D0%9E%D0%99_%D0%9F%D0%90%D0%A2%D0%A0%D0%98%D0%90%D0%A0%D0%A5%D0%98%D0%98. [12] Phillips, “The Anti-Christian Empire and the Resistance Movement”, Orthodox England, February 21, 2016, http://www.events.orthodoxengland.org.uk/the-anti-christian-empire-and-the-resistance-movement

Updates from rocana

Sharing: Updates: North American ROCA: From<http://www.rocana.org>:

Dan Everiss Tue, Mar 1, 2016 at 11:34 AM   With the blessing of Archbishop Andronik the following events will be sponsored by St Nicholas Convent. More details forthcoming after Mother Agapia's return from a Holy Land pilgrimage March 6. WOMEN'S LENTEN RETREAT MARCH 25-27 A Women's Lenten Retreat will be held at St Nicholas Convent in Constantia, NY starting Friday afternoon March 25 (service that evening, Liturgy next morning) and then two presentations with discussion from 11 AM to 4 PM on Saturday March 26.  For those interested transportation can be arranged to Rochester, NY for services Saturday evening and Sunday morning March 27 at Holy Ascension church. Following the Sunday liturgy Seraphim Englehardt will present a slideshow on his visit to the churches of Alaska and the reliquary of  St Herman presentation in Rochester Sunday March 27.  Presbytera Sarah Kambites from Ottawa (originally from Uganda, her brother is Fr Christopher Walasumbi) will speak informally about her start in Orthodoxy in Uganda, and then lead a discussion on her experience in the challenge of balancing family and career while nurturing a spiritual life. We also hope to have a representative from the Zoe for Life organization based in Cleveland OH speak on their work .  SUMMER YOUTH RETREAT & WORK WEEK AUGUST 7-13 Be sure to mark your calendars now for the youth retreat to be held once again at St Andrew's Retreat Center for ages 7-12 from Sunday August 7-Saturday August 13. A teen work week will be held at St Nicholas Convent concurrently. More details to come in the near future. February 27, 2016 The parish of the Protection of the Mother God, in the Argentinian Province of Tres Capones Misiones, sends a greeting to the youth conference at Mountainview. See video below.  February 22, 2016 Youth Conference at Mountainview The Russian Orthodox Youth Conference took place at Mountainview February 12-15, 2016.  Not only were there special guest speakers from South America and Russia, but the Myrrh-Streaming Icon of St. Nicholas blessed the conference.  During a round table question and answer session with diocesan and guest clergy, a question was posed: "why do we pray to icons..." - the answer to the question was most resoundingly answered not by words, but by the miracle of St. Nicholas showing all that could see that the lectern-vestment, upon which the icon lay, was saturated in Myrrh.  Along with spiritual discussions, the youth were able to participate in other activities such as skiing.  On Monday, Feburary 15, the feast of the Meeting of our Lord was celebrated with the service of the Divine Liturgy led by Archbishop Andronik along with our dear guests from the Greek Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Demetrius and clergy.  See photos here.

Names-Day Old Calendar Romanian Metropolitan Blasius

General Sharing: Romanian Sister Church to Our ROCA: Photos of Names-Day Celebration of Old Calendar Romanian Metropolitan Blasius

Dan Everiss Mon, Feb 29, 2016 at 4:14 PM Article found on:<http://internetsobor.org> MANY YEARS!    MNOGAYA LETA! to  Vladyka Metropolitan Blasius!   Тезоименитство Митрополита Власия. Namesday of Metropolitan Blasius. Праздничное богослужение в Слотиоара (Старостильная Румыния). Vigil in Slotioara (Old Calendar Church of Romania).  ФОТО   PHOTOS Автор: Монахиня Вера вкл. Author: Nun On Faith. 29 Февраль 2016 February 29, 2016 . . Опубликовано в Румынская Страростильная Церковь (Просмотров: 3) Posted in Romanian Strarostilnaya Church (Views: 3) Таги: старостильная румынская церковь , тезоименитство , митрополит власий , богослужение , слотиоара , фото Tags: Old Calendar Romanian Church , name day , Metropolitan Blasius , worship , slotioara , photos В среду, 11/24 февраля 2016 г. , когда Православная Церковь отмечает память священномученика Власия, епископа Севастийского, в Свято-Преображенском монастыре в Слатиоара состоялось праздничное богослужение в честь Тезоименитства Первоиерарха Румынской Православной Старостильной Церкви - Митрополиита Власия.       On Wednesday, 11/24 February 2016, when the Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of the Holy Martyr Blaise, bishop of Sebaste, in the Holy Transfiguration  Monastery in Slatioara,  Romania, there was held the vigil in honor of the Names-Day  of the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church of the Old Calendar - Mitropoliita Blasius. Службу возглавил Высокопреосвященнейший Власий, ему сослужили архиереи, священники и диаконы из Румынской Старостильной Церкви и ИПЦ Греции. The service was  led by Vladyka Metropolitan  Blasius, and  he was joined by bishops, priests and deacons of the Romanian Old Calendar Church and from   the GOC of Greece.. В храме на Божественной Литургии присутствовали также монахи, монахини и многие верующие, которые пришли, чтобы выразить свои добрые пожелания своему Архипастырю.  In the temple at the Divine Liturgy, it  was also attended by the monks, nuns and the  many faithful who came to express their best wishes to their Archpastor... Во время Божественной Литургии состоялось рукоположение в диакона благочестивого женатого клирика Николая Аиоани.    During the Divine Liturgy, there  took place an ordination to the diaconate, of the married pious cleric, Nicholas Aioani. По окончании богослужения и официального поздравления Митрополита Власия с Тезоименитством, все приложились к раке с мощами святого Гликерия исповедника.  After the service, and the official congratulations given to Metropolitan Blasius for  his Names-Day,  all present venerated the shrine with the relics of St. Glyceria the  Confessor. Предстоятель Румынской Церкви поблагодарил Митрополита Хризостома Аттикийского за участие в празднестве.   The Primate of the Romanian Church, Metropolitan Chrysostomos, thanked those coming from Atikka (Greece),  for their participation in the festival.  В свою очередь, владыка Хризостом передал свои наилучшие пожелания Высокопреосвященнейшему Власию от имени Блаженнейшего архиепископа Каллиника и членов Священного Синода ИПЦ Греции.    In turn, Bishop Chrysostomos conveyed his best wishes to His Eminence Blasius,  on behalf of His Beatitude Archbishop Kallinikos and the members of the Holy Synod of the Greek GOC. Митрополит Хризостом также, по приглашению епископа Софрония Сучавского, посетил храм св.    Metropolitan Chrysostomos also, at the invitation of the Bishop  Sophronia of Suchavskogo, visited the Church of St.Glyceria    Гликерия, где несмотря на сильный снегопад, его весьма тепло приветствовали.   - where in spite of the heavy snowfall, they received a  very warm welcome.. Источник A source Tags: Tags: старостильная румынская церковь Old Calendar Romanian Church тезоименитство name day митрополит власий Metropolitan Blasius богослужение worship слотиоара slotioara фото a photo

VIDEO about Tolstoy Farm

Sharing: ROCA North America: 'Slusheniyeh', "Russians in America", VIDEO about Tolstoy Farm and St. Sergius Church, Valley Cottage, New York, narrated, in Russian, by Archpriest Gregory Kotlaroff

Dan Everiss Mon, Feb 29, 2016 at 1:12 PM ***When this link to internetsobor.org opens, then at the top of the front page is this video, which you must click on, to view it.  http://internetsobor.org/

Bp. Foti's Name-Day

Sharing: Bp. Foti's Name-Day

Dan Everiss Mon, Feb 29, 2016 at 11:49 AM Good link to more photos:  https://plus.google.com/photos/105130791543304815385/album/6253122802813360065  Festive prayer for the Name-Day of Bishop Photios Triaditskogo. ФОТО A PHOTO Автор: Монахиня Вера вкл. Author: Nun On Faith. 29 Февраль 2016 February 29, 2016 . . Опубликовано в Болгарская Старостильная Церковь (Просмотров: 1) Posted in Old Calendar Bulgarian Orthodox Church (Views: 1) Таги: бпсц , фото , тезоименитство Tags: bpsts , photo , name day 6/19 февраля 2016 г., в день памяти свт.    6/19 February 2016, the feast day of St. Фотия Константинопольского, в Свято-Успенском кафедральном соборе г. Софии (Болгарская Православная Старостильная Церковь) состоялся праздничный молебен по случаю Тезоименитства епископа Фотия Триадицкого, который и возглавил этот молебен. Photius of Constantinople, in the Holy Dormition Cathedral in Sofia (Bulgarian Orthodox Church Old Calendar), a festive prayer service on the occasion of his Name-Day of  Bishop Photios Triaditskogo, who led the prayer service. Много фотографий здесь >>> Many photos here >>> Tags: Tags: бпсц bpsts фото a photo тезоименитство name day

Putin's Foreign Embassies

General Sharing: Putin's Foreign Embassies, and their octopus outreach into Russian diaspora communities, around the world, here mentioned in Spain

Dan Everiss Sun, Feb 28, 2016 at 3:21 PM ***This human-English translation is first, and then below it, is the Russian original: A human-English translation kindly done by Orthodox brother Vladimir Djambov in Sofia. THANK YOU VLADIMIR! Some of the sentences, and a few phrases, I have slightly smoothed out, or amplified, in respect to current  spoken English common usage. But brother Vladimir has done the bulk of this translation work.  -Rd. Daniel  in Oregon We all remember the year 2007 – which was a black year for ROCA. There then was created   a union with the MP,  that sprang up, not on its own, but after the  long and hard work of the Kremlin's agents. That was followed by the seizures of churches, and parishes, an influx of lukewarm parishioners out of the economic migrants -who did not or who still do not care what temple they go to, as long as it is close by. And many other troubles were caused — due to a loss of alertness and a zeal for piety in the parishioners and among the ROCA priesthood, and in certain cases – because of their avarice [love of money]. The Kremlin's work has not stopped to date, as ROCOR/MP  is still alive, isn't it? I came across an article, which deals rather more with political issues, but which has an important bearing on our Russian parishes abroad [outside of Russia]. We are talking here about the impact on the Russian Diaspora by the Russian-Federation's  foreign embassies. This topic has for a long time remained undeservedly in the shadows, while we should have  long ago sounded the alarm bells about it.  Using the attractive talking point theme of 'the great Motherland – Mother Russia',  one can easily bring harm and cause to start to speak  in  Russian hearts, for those who  long for, their native land, and who – for one reason or another – have happened to reside in a foreign land. Using this theme one can easily blow into their ears anything, which embassy officials have been doing with success. Thus, implanted & infused at the same time are both sovco [soviet era] –patriotism, and Putinism, and also for the "mother church" the MP – coupled with enticing financial incentives. The article seems truthful. At least in Argentina, similar things do happen. Tatiana Kungurova https://www.facebook.com/groups/ruschurchabroad/1141417059226421/?comment_id=1141420615892732&notif_t=like Russian Embassies Are Trying to Subjugate the Russian Diaspora Abroad Author: a. Valery Leonichev incl. 28 February 2016. Posted in Politics (Views: 40) In the Russian Diaspora in Spain people are outraged by the attempts of the Russian Embassy in Madrid to control the activities of organizations that represent the Russian-speaking population in that country. A relevant protest to this, has been published  in a letter distributed since mid-February among the Russian immigrant community in Spain, by the Independent Supervisory Council (ISC / ННС). This body, established in Madrid in 2013 by representatives of the Russian Diaspora, accuses the diplomats of their   unprecedented pressure on the Coordination Council of Russian Compatriots (CCRC / KSORS), which unites more than 70 organizations of Russians, operating in different regions of Spain. On February 14. 2016, the ISC letter was also published online by the NewsRu.nl magazine, released in the Netherlands, and it has caused a great public resonance among Russians, not only in Spain but in other countries, as well. The Russian Diaspora in Spain, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of that country, numbers about 65 thousand. More than 80 percent are women who have married Spaniards or who have come to the country to work -to make their living. The latter are occupied in the service sector or as domestic servants. A certain part of the Diaspora is represented by entrepreneurs, engineers-and-technical staff who are engaged in industry, as well as by musicians working in orchestras or teaching at conservatories. In Spain there are also descendants of Russian immigrants of the "first wave", including representatives of prominent families, [from Old Russia], of the House of Romanov included.  The "Female character" of the Diaspora has to some extent also determined the basic directions of activities of the public organizations of compatriots. These have to do with  mostly the teaching of the Russian language for children of mixed marriages, work of amateur art and knitting groups [кружки], and the organizing of all sorts of events associated with Russian holidays and anniversaries. Some organizations carry out sporting competitions and advise compatriots on legal issues. Most of these associations do not profess any political pro-activeness. Judging by the ISC letter, it is exactly the attempt to politicize the work of these public organizations that has become one of the causes of the disaffection  between the Diaspora representatives and the embassy staff [aides]. Thus, the aides of the Russian diplomatic mission [embassy] who attended as guests, the annual meeting of CCRC (KSORS) in September 2014, requested the passing [by that group] of a declaration of support,  vis-à-vis the conflict in Ukraine, which contained unconditional support for the Kremlin's position. The Council Members did not support that declaration or  in such an edition, which caused the irritation of the diplomats. As one former member of KSORS explained on the condition of anonymity: disagreements with the Embassy vis-à-vis developments in Ukraine, have occurred more than once. For example, in a competition of musical groups of the Diaspora in Zaragoza, Spain,  that same year, an aide from the Russian diplomatic mission, demanded the showing of the "revelatory" Kremlin's documentary on the Ukrainian events, which he had brought. The contest organizers refused, taking into consideration the fact that there were present many Ukrainians in the hall, who traditionally participate in the activities of the Russian Diaspora, and also the very nature of the event was clearly not consistent with a similar show.[i.e. that event as not consistent with its being used to proclaim the Kremlin's anti-Ukrainian propaganda].  Everything under control!  Meanwhile, the ISC letter [message] claims that if earlier the RF Embassy was limiting itself to individual private "recommendations", it has recently been trying to gain control of the entire public activities of the compatriots. And so, from now on, [i.e. as by the edict of the Russian Federation embassy staff]: the embassy's "curators" decide for themselves, which organizations and by whom it may be represented at local and international conferences; which topics need to be discussed, and who can and who cannot be, a member of KSORS. Speaking as the moderators of Diaspora meetings from now on, will be  only either the aides of the Embassy themselves, or representatives of the Diaspora...but just those enjoying their special trust.  The letter of the Supervisory Counil states that the activities of the embassy have of late been aimed exclusively at exterpating 'different thinking' [  getting rid of any opposition to the official Kremlin party line],  in the social movement of the Russian Diaspora. During the "cleansing" of persons displeasing to the Embassy, at the meeting held at KSORS, there were utilized  – according to the letter – "such means as middle of the night phone calls to activists, outright threats and other methods of psychological pressurizing." As a result, more than half of its members were expelled or quit from the coordinating body. The organization of compatriots is now headed by "incompetent and non-authoritative, but obedient-to-the-embassy people". "He who pays the piper, calls the tune"?  The already mentioned activist above, has confirmed the facts contained in the ISC letter. He also said that in the last 8 years the Embassy has been allocating certain funds to the organizations of compatriots. The money went for all sorts of events, including folklore festivals and conferences of compatriots. The money coming from Russia was used to fund the filming in  concert halls, for paying travel expenses and for the accommodation costs in hotels for participants in various meetings. The embassy helped with textbooks in the Russian language, allocated money for periodicals, travelling to international forums of compatriots, all which were held under the auspices of Moscow.  "This financial assistance has always been limited, and in the last couple of years it has altogether became minimal", a representative of the Diaspora said. By the way, "organizations of compatriots exists mainly, due to the enthusiasm of their members and not to help from outside." So that, in his opinion, "the Russian diplomats have no particular reason to impose their will on the Diaspora on the principle "he who pays the piper calls the tune." The activist also expressed the opinion that establishing control over the social life of compatriots on the part of the Embassy – is not because of anybody's personal initiative, but it is "a manifestation of a general trend, the dominant-rule trend  in recent years in Russia." His reluctance to be named, as well as the anonymous nature of the ISC activities, he explained with fear of repressions – as "the polonium syndrome". As for the fact of why they published their declaration in the Netherlands, in his words, "in Spain there are no independent Russian mass-media, which could/would publish such material." Response by the Embassy  Asked to comment on the situation, the RF Embassy in Spain responded: that the publication in the Netherlands had for them "caused confusion" inasmuch as it contains "untrustworthy info that one could call nothing else but slander. Apparently, for this reason, its anonymous author chose to place this "creation" [work] on the site in another country and to hide his personal identity behind the guise of an "Independent Supervisory Council." This organization, so-called, has never participated either in the life of the Russian Diaspora in Spain, or in KSORS, nor has it come in touch with the Embassy of Russia", as the response of the Embassy explains. At the same time,  those comments state that: "cooperation with the Russian Diaspora is one of the priorities of Russia's foreign policy, an important sector of activities of the Embassy. Our principal task is for the reliable protection of compatriots from any forms of [local-foreign] discrimination (...)." "We carry out this work in close contact with the members of KSORS", the comments of the press service of the RF Embassy stated, noting that "the diplomats of the Russian Embassy are pro-active participants in many events held with compatriots in different cities of Spain."  The Embassy also notes that it is receiving from compatriots "numerous thanks" and it adds that the disparaging tone of the authors of the material published in the Netherlands has "left in them an unpleasant aftertaste" "in relation to our compatriots who are interested in the consolidation of the Russian community in Spain." How to love one's homeland  Interviewed representatives of the Diaspora, familiar with the situation around KSORS, they did not hide their indignation. Thus, Nicholas, 50, living in Madrid, a native of Rostov, claimed that this was "not what he immigrated for, for him to still be commanded by the same Russian officials." Julia, 40, a native of St. Petersburg, said that she "does not need to be taught how to love her homeland." On his part, Yuri, 35, a former Muscovite, believes that "those who love freedom, should stay further away from Russia and its embassies." Immigrants from Russia / the Soviet Union, can in practice be found in almost any country. Figures from the Wikipedia: in the US – 3.4 million, in Germany – 2.2 million, in Canada – 0.5 million, and so on. Huge numbers, which could not be simply ignored by the KGB. Yes indeed, that same KGB, no matter what it's being called nowadays. They have always tried and will be trying to trample down and to control those who have not fled from them already! One should be very cautious about various Russian-speaking Diaspora organizations abroad, as Russians emerging out of Russia do not tend to gather into heaps. They have been already fed up to their throats. But if somewhere there has arisen an organization of compatriots, then the KGB will not leave it unattended, and it could, by itself,  perhaps even create such an organization. Here too, from Spain, is more additional  documented proof of just how that betrayal of a large part of the old ROCOR  to the captive MP, was accomplished in 2007, and how it, and many other foreign based Russian-diaspora organizations,  is being used by the Kremlin.. to further its sinister and dark political and indeed, military goals.  The KGB criminals in the Kremlin, look upon EVERY  Russian emigree, [ or indeed every person living abroad who considers themselves as their self-identity or as their personal ethnic roots, as 'Russian'], who has left Russia, either in the long past or in more recent years,  and who now lives in many foreign countries, as  potential fifth-columnist agents,  and propagandists for their  twisted criminal version of, 'Mother Russia'. They must control and use them!.. and shut up...by any means.... any of them  who speak or work against them. This is most certainly true about  ROCOR/MP under Hilarion Kapral....a total abject political tool of the enslaved MP, [an organization founded in 1943 by Uncle Joe Stalin, to be an imitation Russian Church, ] and the new ruthless KGB/FSB dictator of Russia, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. When do we read or hear even one word of  truthful or righteous  criticism of Putin or of his captive MP, from ROCOR/MP clergy???..even ONE WORD?...WHEN?   WHERE? Rd. Daniel in Oregon  http://internetsobor.org/gosudarstvo/tserkov-i-mir/gosudarstvo/rossijskie-posolstva-pytayutsya-podmyat-pod-sebya-russkoyazychnuyu-diasporu-za-rubezhom Российские посольства пытаются подмять под себя русскоязычную диаспору за рубежом Автор: о. Валерий Леоничев вкл. 28 Февраль 2016. Опубликовано в Политика (Просмотров: 40) Все мы помним чёрный для РПЦЗ 2007 год. Возникла уния с МП не сама по себе, а после долгой и усердной работы агентов Кремля. За сим последовали изъятия храмов, приходов, приток теплохладных прихожан из числа экономических эмигрантов, которым всё равно в какой храм ходить, лишь бы ближе был. И многие другие неприятности - из-за потери бдительности и ревности по благочестию у прихожан и священства РПЦЗ, а в иных случаях из-за их сребролюбия. Работа Кремля не прекращается до сих пор, ведь РПЦЗ жива. Мне попался один материал, который касается скорее политической тематики, но имеющий важное значение для наших приходов зарубежом. Речь идет о влиянии на русские диаспоры посольств РФ. Эта тема незаслуженно оставалась в тени долгое время, а ведь давно нужно было бить в набат. Разговорами о великой Родине Матушке-России легко разбередить тоскующие по родным краям русские сердца, так или иначе оказавшиеся на чужбине. Под эту тему легко вдуть в уши любые вещи, что и делают с успехом посольские деятели. Так вселяется заодно и совкопатриотизм, и путинизм и "мать-церковь" МП - вместе с финансовыми подношениями. Статья кажется правдивой. По крайней мере, в Аргентине происходят похожие вещи.  Татьяна Кунгурова  https://www.facebook.com/groups/ruschurchabroad/1141417059226421/?comment_id=1141420615892732&notif_t=like В российской диаспоре Испании возмущены попытками посольства РФ в Мадриде контролировать деятельность организаций, представляющих русскоязычных жителей страны. Соответствующий протест изложен в письме, распространяемом с середины февраля среди иммигрантской общественности Испании Независимым наблюдательным советом (ННС). Этот орган, созданный в Мадриде в 2013 году представителями диаспоры, обвиняет дипломатических работников в беспрецедентном давлении на Координационный совет российских соотечественников (КСОРС), объединяющий более 70 организаций россиян, которые действуют в разных регионах Испании. 14 февраля письмо ННС было также опубликовано интернет-изданием NewsRu.nl, выходящим в Нидерландах, и вызвало большой общественный резонанс среди россиян не только в Испании, но и в других странах. Российская диаспора в Испании, по данным МВД этой страны, насчитывает порядка 65 тысяч человек. Более 80 процентов - женщины, вступившие в брак с испанцами или приехавшие в страну на заработки. Последние заняты в сфере обслуживания или в качестве домашней прислуги. Определенная часть диаспоры представлена предпринимателями, инженерно-техническим персоналом, занятым в промышленности, а также музыкантами, работающими в оркестрах или преподающими в консерваториях. Есть в Испании и потомки российских иммигрантов "первой волны", включая представителей известных родов, в том числе Дома Романовых.  "Женский характер" диаспоры в какой-то степени определил и основные направления деятельности общественных организаций соотечественников. Это, в основном, преподавание русского языка для детей от смешенных браков, работа кружков художественной самодеятельности и рукоделия, организация разного рода связанных с Россией праздничных и юбилейных мероприятий. Некоторые организации проводят спортивные состязания и консультируют соотечественников по юридическим вопросам. Какой-либо политической активности большинство этих объединений не проявляют. Судя по письму ННС, именно попытка политизировать деятельность общественных организаций явилась одной из причин разлада между представителями диаспоры и сотрудниками посольства. Так, присутствующие в качестве гостей на ежегодном заседании КСОРС в сентябре 2014 года сотрудники российской дипмиссии предложили принять обращение по поводу конфликта на Украине, в котором содержалась безоговорочная поддержка позиции Кремля. Члены Совета обращение в подобной редакции не поддержали, что вызвало раздражение дипломатов. Как пояснил на условиях анонимности один из бывших членов КСОРС, разногласия с посольством по поводу событий на Украине возникали не один раз. К примеру, на конкурсе музыкальных коллективов диаспоры в Сарагосе в том же году сотрудник российского диппредставительства потребовал показать привезенный им "разоблачительный" документальный фильм об украинских событиях. Организаторы конкурса отказались, учитывая, что в зале было много украинцев, которые традиционно участвуют в деятельности русскоязычной диаспоры, да и сам характер мероприятия явно не соответствовал подобному показу. Все под контроль!  Между тем, в послании ННС утверждается, что если раньше посольство РФ ограничивалось отдельными "рекомендациями", то в последнее время оно пытается поставить под свой контроль всю общественную деятельность соотечественников. Так, отныне посольские "кураторы" сами решают, какие организации и кем могут быть представлены на местных и международных конференциях, какие темы должны обсуждаться, кто может, а кто не может быть членом КСОРС. В качестве модераторов собраний диаспоры отныне выступают или сами сотрудники посольства, или представители диаспоры, пользующиеся их особым доверием.  В письме Наблюдательного совета говорится, что деятельность посольства была в последнее время направлена исключительно на искоренение инакомыслия в общественном движении диаспоры. В ходе "зачистки" от неугодных посольству лиц, проведенной в КСОРС, применялись, согласно письму, "такие средства как ночные телефонные звонки активистам, откровенные угрозы и другие методы психологического давления". В результате из координационного органа были изгнаны более половины его членов. Организацию соотечественников ныне возглавляют "некомпетентные и неавторитетные, но послушные посольству люди". Кто платит, тот и заказывает музыку?  Уже упомянутый общественный активист подтвердил факты, изложенные в письме ННС. Он также рассказал, что в последние 8 лет посольство выделяло определенные средства организациям соотечественников. Эти деньги шли на разного рода мероприятия, в том числе фольклорные праздники и конференции соотечественников. На средства, поступавшие из России, снимались концертные залы, оплачивался проезд и проживание в гостиницах участников различных встреч. Посольство помогало с учебниками русского языка, выделяло деньги на периодику, поездки на международные форумы соотечественников, проводимые под эгидой Москвы.  "Финансовая помощь была всегда ограниченной, а в последние два года она и вовсе стала минимальной", - отметил представитель диаспоры. Впрочем, "организации соотечественников держатся в основном на энтузиазме своих членов, а не на помощи извне". Так что, по его мнению, у "российских дипломатов нет особых оснований для навязывания своей воли диаспоре по принципу "кто платит, тот и заказывает музыку". Активист также выразил мнение, что установление контроля над общественной жизнью соотечественников со стороны посольства - не чья-то личная инициатива, а "проявление общей тенденции, доминирующей в последнее время в России". Нежелание называть свое имя, а также анонимный характер деятельности ННС он объяснил опасениями репрессий - "синдромом полония". Что же касается факта публикации в Нидерландах, то, по его словам, "в Испании нет независимых русскоязычных СМИ, которые могли бы опубликовать подобный материал". Реакция посольства  На просьбу прокомментировать ситуацию посольство РФ в Испании ответило, что у него публикация в Нидерландах "вызвала недоумение", поскольку содержит "недостоверные сведения, которые иначе как клеветой и не назовешь. Видимо, по этой причине ее анонимный автор предпочел разместить это "творение" на сайте в другой стране и скрыть свою личность за вывеской некоего "Независимого наблюдательного совета". Эта структура никогда не участвовала ни в жизни диаспоры в Испании, ни в работе КСОРС, не выходила на контакт с Посольством России", - поясняется в ответе посольства. При этом в комментарии говорится, что "взаимодействие с российской диаспорой - один из приоритетов внешней политики России, важное направление деятельности Посольства. Наша принципиальная задача - надежная защита соотечественников от любых форм дискриминации(...)". "Ведем эту работу в тесном контакте с членами КСОРС",- пишет в комментарии пресс-служба посольства РФ, отмечая, что "дипломаты посольства России - активные участники многих мероприятий, проводимых соотечественниками в разных городах Испании".  Посольство также отмечает, что получает от соотечественников "многочисленные благодарности" и добавляет, что у него "оставил неприятный осадок пренебрежительный тон авторов" опубликованного в Нидерландах материала "по отношению к нашим соотечественникам, заинтересованным в консолидации российской диаспоры в Испании". Как любить родину  Опрошенные представители диаспоры, знакомые с ситуацией вокруг КСОРС, не скрывали своего возмущения. Так, живущий в Мадриде 50-летний Николай, выходец из Ростова, утверждал, что он "не для того иммигрировал, чтобы им командовали все те же российские чиновники". А уроженка Петербурга Юлия, 40 лет, считает, что она "не нуждается, чтобы ее учили, как родину любить". Со своей стороны, бывший москвич Юрий, 35 лет, полагает, что "тем, кто любит свободу, следует держаться подальше от России и ее посольства". Выходцев из России/СССР можно найти практически в любой стране. Цифры из Википедии: в США – 3.4 млн., в Германии – 2.2 млн, в Канаде – 0.5 млн. и т.д. Огромные цифры, мимо которых просто не мог пройти КГБ. Да-да, тот самый КГБ как бы он сейчас ни назывался. Они всегда пытались и будут пытаться подмять под себя и контролировать тех, кто от них же уехал! Следует очень осторожно относиться к различным организациям русскоязычной диаспоры за рубежом, так как русским вырвавшимся из России не свойственно сбиваться в кучи. Они уже сыты подобным по самое горло. Но если где-то возникла организация соотечественников, КГБ ее без внимания не оставит, а может и создать такую организацию. http://ehorussia.com/new/node/12123