Comments Posted By Helga
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Thomas Mathes, I am not passing judgment on anyone else for how they want to refer to the individual in question. If I’m wrong, God help me and have mercy, but I do not believe Archbishop Tikhon bears the title of Metropolitan legitimately, and I will not give it to him.
But I have to wonder why I am getting criticized so sharply by a few people over this. Perhaps it means that the OCA’s credibility is so fragile, it takes even more damage from OCA members like me refusing to play along with the administration’s errors.
» Posted By Helga On April 4, 2013 @ 4:24 pm
Really? I have always been welcomed in churches of the Greek archdiocese.
Greek churches tend to be large enough that visitors don’t stand out on their own, so I make a point of introducing myself to people during coffee hour.
» Posted By Helga On April 1, 2013 @ 8:09 pm
Your Grace, please forgive my impatience towards you, and please forgive Herc for calling you an idiot. Your personality can present challenges, but you are not dumb and I do respect you. Your remarks about a priest following the Rite of Forgiveness with an acrimonious and defamatory letter brings to bear our need to be at peace with one another before we can offer worship, and in that spirit, I humbly beg Your Grace’s forgiveness for any way in which I have offended or troubled you.
I call Archbishop Tikhon that because I believe his purported election as Metropolitan was uncanonical, and that the uncanonical election proceeded from illegal and immoral activities. Until this situation is resolved, I will use the Archbishop’s title and style out of respect for his episcopacy, but my conscience allows no more for him than that.
Metropolitan Jonah being addressed by his first and misspelled last name is a different issue, since Michael Stankovich, for all his absurd claims of being inside the loop here, apparently is totally ignorant of the fact that Metropolitan Jonah remains a Metropolitan bishop in good standing with the Church, not even the OCA Synod disputes that, and that there has never been a time in his life when he would ever have been properly addressed as Jonah Paffhausen.
I have not asserted that Metropolitan Jonah withdrew his resignation. I merely said that he was indeed forced to resign, and that if you want to know how that happened, he is the one to ask.
You say Archbishop Benjamin said Metropolitan Jonah has “chosen not to accept offers made to him concerning any future service in the Orthodox Church in America”. What Archbishop Benjamin leaves out is that these offers have all been horribly short of anything Metropolitan Jonah could live with, hence his consistent refusals. The offers made to Metropolitan Jonah were “offers he can’t refuse”, and trash-talking about him to ROCOR was the horse’s head in his bed.
As for why the Synod elected Metropolitan Jonah to begin with, I think you yourself explained the process most succinctly and accurately when you said they elected someone whose goals were at odds with their own, and decided to punish the one they elected for their election of him. But your question was why. I am afraid I do not know why the bishops either failed to vet Metropolitan Jonah specifically for Primatial leadership (which would have included finding out what his goals were for the Church), or DID know what his goals were, and elected him knowing they would not support his leadership. Either way it betrays a gross level of incomptence and, especially for the second possibility, maliciousness.
» Posted By Helga On March 31, 2013 @ 5:21 pm
Herc, as challenging as His Grace’s personality quirks can sometimes be, he is not an idiot. Older people can sometimes have a harder time tempering their language. Furthermore, I don’t for a second believe that Bishop Tikhon Fitzgerald has ever reached the level of maliciousness we have seen from other OCA bishops.
» Posted By Helga On March 31, 2013 @ 5:06 pm
No, Fr. George. Not any more than I could refer to a certain blogger as ‘Barbara-Marie’.
» Posted By Helga On March 29, 2013 @ 4:37 pm
Michael Stankovich writes, “I am telling you that, rather than being a ‘heyday,’ the period of time you describe so nobly as ‘growing and vibrant’ is exactly why you have no business speaking about such matters.”
The joke is on you, Michael. Even the old days look “growing and vibrant” by comparison to today’s OCA.
» Posted By Helga On March 29, 2013 @ 10:35 am
Michael Stankovich writes, “And Jonah Paufhausen[sic] would have made a difference? With all due respect, Mr. Michalopulos, Alexander Schmemann would have made a difference, and frequently did so in Rome.”
That’s METROPOLITAN JONAH to you, Michael. Today’s OCA Synod has not yet managed to deny him his proper ecclesiastical title. By the way, if you are going to use Metropolitan Jonah’s surname, the least you could do is spell it correctly. It’s PAFFHAUSEN, with two Fs.
And as for who would have made a difference, sure, I bet Fr. Alexander Schmemann would have made a difference. He had better contacts in Rome than anyone in the OCA today. I don’t know if Metropolitan Jonah would have been afforded better treatment. There’s no real way to know; there was no changing of the Popes while he was in office.
But it is a fact that Metropolitan Jonah made a positive difference for the OCA with respect to its relationships with other Orthodox churches and others in the outside world. It is a fact that Metropolitan Jonah was deliberately and personally chosen by the USCCB, out of all Orthodox AND Catholic bishops in America, to give the invocation at the March for Life in 2012. It is also a fact that the un-Christian abuse heaped on Metropolitan Jonah by the other OCA bishops has greatly diminished the OCA’s reputation.
The real key to this matter is not what the Vatican did, but how the EP and MP reacted to it. While it may or may not have made a difference to have had Metropolitan Jonah there, it doesn’t look like the EP or MP are losing sleep over the OCA’s alleged primate getting put in the bleacher seats.
The real victims here are the ten or twenty OCA faithful whose assessment funds were wasted so that Archbishop Tikhon could parade around the Vatican and get his picture taken.
» Posted By Helga On March 29, 2013 @ 2:21 am
Dear Tim/Ed,
I have to tell you truthfully that there are a lot of good and wonderful parishes in the OCA, and none of our jurisdictions are perfect by a long shot, but the OCA is so egregiously off the mark, that my conscience demands recommending against joining any of its parishes.
I see you have a Greek church close to your house. Although the GOA churches have a reputation for being more ethnically-oriented and liturgically-attenuated, if you feel comfortable attending Vespers there – the fact that they HAVE Vespers is a good sign – then that would be a good place to go, in my opinion.
» Posted By Helga On March 28, 2013 @ 11:19 am
Abbot Tryphon writes, “Pope Francis, upon coming out on the papal balcony, asked the crowd to join him in praying ‘for our emeritus bishop, Benedict XVI.’”
Compare this to how +Tikhon has treated Metropolitan Jonah.
» Posted By Helga On March 15, 2013 @ 11:29 am
In a list that includes Orthodox churches and Christian organizations as discrete categories, it is not surprising that the OCA is listed as an “Other”.
» Posted By Helga On March 19, 2013 @ 11:55 am
Your Grace, I am not saying anything at all about what Metropolitan Jonah says or would say. But you are wrong for accusing him of “looking back from the plough”. See to your own sins, Vladyko.
» Posted By Helga On March 27, 2013 @ 7:56 pm
Your Grace, you accuse me of trying to distract from giving you what you really wanted by talking about details, but then you ask, “WHAT FALSE PRETENCE fooled Metropolitan Jonah into resigning, Helga? That’s the question.”
As I told you before, you need to ask Metropolitan Jonah for that.
You have repeatedly accused Metropolitan Jonah of “looking back from the plough”, and now that he was “fooled”, in resigning, when you admit you do not know all of the facts. I am not going to tell you what really happened just so you can give it your usual treatment of sensitive information. You want to know, you ask him, and if he wants you to know, he’ll tell you.
Otherwise, like I said, be content with finding out with the rest of the world.
» Posted By Helga On March 22, 2013 @ 10:54 am
Your Grace, you grasped FYI’s meaning clearly when you thought she intended to say the resignation was under false pretenses, and it was.
Whether you like it or not, or whether you like Metropolitan Jonah or not, he was indeed forced to resign, and it was done under false pretenses. If you want to know the details, you would have to ask him yourself. Otherwise, be content with finding out with the rest of the world.
As for Metropolitan Jonah’s wish to transfer out of the OCA, the real problem is not Metropolitan Jonah, it’s that the OCA has gotten into an unprecedented mess. Apparently, it is God’s will that Metropolitan Jonah spend a little longer in the fire. May it purify and not consume him.
» Posted By Helga On March 21, 2013 @ 11:18 am
CQ, even Metropolitan Jonah was said to have admitted that he should have been paying more attention to the situation and acted more quickly. I see no reason to argue with that if that’s how he feels.
If I have mischaracterized your attitude towards Metropolitan Jonah, I’m sorry, but it was very difficult for me to imagine you were a supporter of Metropolitan Jonah after you claimed we were calling him a liar for casting doubt on the circumstances of his resignation. The truth is that there’s a lot of doubt to be cast on those circumstances. If you care about him, please pray for him and his parents, and the repose of Laura’s soul.
I’m not as patient as I used to be. Please forgive me, for I am a sinner.
» Posted By Helga On March 17, 2013 @ 10:56 pm
For the record, I put a thumb’s up on Deacon Patrick’s comment before noticing the last few words as a swipe at Metropolitan Jonah. I will stand by the thumb’s up because most of the comment was worthy of it, but I do not agree that Metropolitan Jonah was “removed for cause”. I probably would have not voted had I noticed the insult prior to clicking.
From the deacon’s own testimony, you are obviously ignorant of the facts of the matter, only cherry-picking ideas you have picked up or fabricated that suit your intent to defame Metropolitan Jonah.
» Posted By Helga On March 16, 2013 @ 11:10 am
Now we know that other commanders were fighting on the enemy side all along.
» Posted By Helga On March 15, 2013 @ 11:38 am
Let me put it this way, Carl: if these are in fact violations of the letter and/or spirit of the Tomos, the MP and ROCOR’s lack of concern for what the OCA thinks should speak volumes to you.
» Posted By Helga On March 14, 2013 @ 2:00 pm
Carl, please stop slandering people who join ROCOR by calling them schismatics. That’s wrong and you know it.
» Posted By Helga On March 12, 2013 @ 10:22 pm
Michael Stankovich writes, “In my heart I believe that God will richly bless you for believing the best of a man and then be proven a fool, then to scorn & excoriate a man by conjecture & innuendo and be proven correct.”
You never gave this much credit to Metropolitan Jonah. Actually, you scorn and excoriate him with conjecture and innuendo on a fairly regular basis.
» Posted By Helga On March 12, 2013 @ 2:26 pm
Fr. Alexey, I am under the impression that transferring bishops is permitted when it serves some godly/necessary purpose, per canon 14 of the Apostles.
I have to admit you seem to be right about having to either restore Bishop Matthias to the Midwest, or put him on trial. The problem is, I don’t think anyone trusts the Synod to punish Bishop Matthias according to his deeds.
What the Sons of Job and the Clergy Wives can hope for is that Bishop Matthias will see how he has scandalized them, feel remorse, and decide to retire voluntarily.
» Posted By Helga On March 1, 2013 @ 12:29 am
Extra! Kishkovsky Being “Phased Out” or Fired?
This is just for the record, regarding Metropolitan Jonah’s purported income from the OCA of $1000 per month.
When His Holiness Patriarch Kirill said “make comfortable the further life of your predecessor”, I don’t think he meant “Pay him just enough to put him over the federal poverty level in your country.”
» Posted By Helga On March 2, 2013 @ 7:49 am
Jesse, worrying about the empty dioceses of the OCA is like worrying about empty deck chairs on the Titanic.
» Posted By Helga On February 26, 2013 @ 9:16 pm
I like the voting because it allows instant feedback without making a comment (which nowadays has to go through moderation limbo, something we didn’t have back when voting was introduced) and because it helps gauge readership of a comment.
That said, I wish we had a better way to prevent multiple voting, which is an obvious problem in certain areas.
» Posted By Helga On February 24, 2013 @ 8:26 pm
Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss
Reading that thing from Fr. Jillions about the “Metropolitan’s Bell” makes me think all is not as peaceful as Fr. Jillions says. +Tikhon is rather soft-spoken, so it’s easy to imagine he finds it hard to get a word in edgewise.
Yes, the OCA is in a “time of troubles”. One could say it has always been in something of a “time of troubles”, but it certainly worsened greatly with the betrayal and undermining of Metropolitan Jonah. Certainly, this “time of troubles” will not end until those responsible for it are held accountable for their actions.
» Posted By Helga On February 28, 2013 @ 11:08 pm
Carl, I’m glad for those Bible Study announcements. They help space cadets like me keep up with the schedule. A lot of people who post and read here are interested in Metropolitan Jonah’s work. If you don’t care, Carl, it’s your loss.
Thank God for Fr. Victor Potapov and the DC-area Orthodox community for giving Metropolitan Jonah a venue to share his gifts with the world.
» Posted By Helga On February 26, 2013 @ 2:56 pm
Damage Control, help me get this straight:
Bishop Mark has trouble with the idea that it’s wrong to take something that isn’t his, and he’s supposed to teach Bishop Matthias how not to overstep boundaries?
Bishop Mark was driven out of the Midwest, the only diocesan see he’s ever held, and he’s supposed to give Bishop Matthias pointers on rebuilding trust with the Midwest?
Stupidity, thy name is OCA!
» Posted By Helga On February 23, 2013 @ 9:02 pm
Well, I take your point. It’s certainly something I had to consider in my own mind.
However, I do see some differences between what George did and what Stokoe and his crew did. For one thing, there’s a difference between publishing the works with names attached, and publishing them anonymously.
There’s also a difference between publishing them in order to damage the writers, versus publishing them in order to further the very same cause the writers had when making the comments.
I don’t think for a second that George had any malicious intent towards these priests. He was trying to give their concerns and opinions a wider audience so that more people would be aware that this isn’t about George and some supposed vendetta against the OCA. It’s about the OCA being run into the ground by a bunch of idiots, and one doesn’t have to be on “Team Jonah” to see that.
That said, if it had been me, I would have secured the authors’ permission before publishing, or else paraphrased their content rather than furnishing direct quotations.
» Posted By Helga On February 20, 2013 @ 8:32 pm
Wasn’t it the accuser herself who leaked the texts? I would think she of all people would have a right to take her complaint public if she wished.
» Posted By Helga On February 20, 2013 @ 4:51 pm
Fr. Peter, it would be easier to focus on something positive if I weren’t so worried, for example, about how Metropolitan Jonah is going to live the rest of his life.
Or when we brag about a new OCA mission, how about we ask what kind of “gospel” is going to be preached there? Is it that Jesus died so you can bring same-sex partners to church, and anyone who expresses any concerns about it gets punished in your place?
» Posted By Helga On February 17, 2013 @ 10:21 pm
«« Back To Stats PageMichael Stankovich, so you find it disrespectful and shameful to publish private online discussions just because they are ACCESSIBLE?! I’m sure Jesse Cone finds this really interesting!
Were any of these people concerned when Metropolitan Jonah’s emails and text messages were stolen from his cell phone and published on OCANews?
» Posted By Helga On February 17, 2013 @ 10:02 pm
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