Comments Posted By Helga
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Sons of Job: The Canons Prohibit the Bishops from Voting at Parma
Just Guessing makes an excellent and necessary point about what the “light” truly is, and what Stokoe mistakes it to be.
However, I see the difference between Stokoe and the Sons of Job being that Stokoe hypocritically exposed the sins of some (and exaggerated a few), while hiding the sins of others. The Sons of Job appear to be trying to bring hypocrisy to light, not simply exploiting others’ sins for the sake of creating scandal or advancing an anti-Christian worldview.
Still, when you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you.
» Posted By Helga On October 30, 2012 @ 8:47 pm
How have our DC, NY, and Northeast friends fared through Sandy? Is everyone okay?
» Posted By Helga On October 30, 2012 @ 2:37 pm
Basil, good point. How is it that $70,000 in expenses got racked up in the monastery’s name, then the Abbot is allowed to ditch the monastery and leave the country? Hmmm.
» Posted By Helga On October 30, 2012 @ 9:04 pm
Oh, good, it’s nice to see that the OCA Synod is against slavery. So when do they plan on emancipating Metropolitan Jonah with a canonical release?
They shouldn’t forget to fork over the back pay he’s owed, too.
» Posted By Helga On October 26, 2012 @ 10:51 pm
Metropolitan Jonah has had the same spiritual father for 20 years or so, Bishop Pankratiy of Troitsk.
» Posted By Helga On October 26, 2012 @ 10:30 pm
Absolutely, praying for Met. Jonah is especially important right now. Providentially, October 26th is the feast of St. Demetrius the Myrrh-streamer of Thessalonica, who I understand has been known to intercede for our Met. Jonah. Not only is St. Demetrius a great martyr and wonderworker, he is a great intercessor in battle.
Apolytikion in the Third Tone
The world has found in you a great champion in time of peril, as you emerged the victor in routing the barbarians. For as you brought to naught the boasts of Lyaios, imparting courage to Nestor in the stadium, in like manner, holy one, great Martyr Dimitrios, invoke Christ God for us, that He may grant us His great mercy.Kontakion in the Second Tone
God, who gave you invincible power and with care kept your city invulnerable, royally clothed the Church in purple with the streams of your blood, for you are her strength, O Dimitrios.Holy Great-Martyr Demetrius, intercede for our Metropolitan Jonah and his family!
» Posted By Helga On October 26, 2012 @ 12:25 am
Sons of Job: More Details of the Impending Lawsuit at St. Tikhon’s Seminary
Indeed, happy birthday to our Metropolitan Jonah! Eis polla eti Despota!
» Posted By Helga On October 20, 2012 @ 8:27 pm
I agree, Fr. John. Fr. Atty is an outstanding priest, and his health status was well known prior to his becoming dean. I remember praying for him fervently when he was diagnosed, there was a prayer group about it on Facebook and everything.
It is reprehensible that anyone would dare to use Fr. Atty’s illness as a means to undermine his leadership. They sure didn’t mind Fr. Alexander Schmemann remaining dean of SVS while he was even sicker than Fr. Atty is. Fr. Schmemann was dean of his seminary until the day he reposed in the Lord.
If STS goes under because of this, I hope something good will come out of it, like its conservative influence flowing south to Crestwood.
» Posted By Helga On October 20, 2012 @ 7:46 pm
Your Grace, if that’s the case, why didn’t he sign it “Jonah, Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All-America and Canada”? Seems like if he were doing what you said, he would have signed it with his whole title.
» Posted By Helga On October 30, 2012 @ 8:07 pm
Your Grace, what does it mean to you that the Synod accepted Met. Jonah’s resignation as written, with “Archbishop of Washington” under the signature?
» Posted By Helga On October 29, 2012 @ 9:23 pm
Nikos, like so many of the other accusations and insinuations about His Beatitude, it is quite obviously not true. Yes, I am sure it chafes them terribly that despite their best efforts to abuse and demoralize him, he has never slid into chemical dependence, sexual sin, or insanity, and remains coherent, clean, and well-mannered.
I have never seen him show the least amount of distress from vesting or serving, either. It must be all the Eis Pollas.
I’ve met OCA clergy who really do have bad manners and/or poor hygiene, who have real heart conditions and diabetes. If those things concern Stankovich and company so much, why can’t they do something about them?
» Posted By Helga On October 29, 2012 @ 9:10 pm
Stankovich, let me get this straight. So Metropolitan Jonah must be crazy because, like all other Orthodox monastics for the past several hundred years, he wears his hair long and tries to maintain inner stillness.
But if he were to claim he was a woman trapped in a man’s body, while going around wearing dresses and calling himself by a woman’s name, and saying that he wanted to have his body surgically altered to resemble a female’s, you wouldn’t find anything crazy about that!
Let me put it this way: I will be honored when you, the bishops, Fr. Hopko, and SLI all think I’m as “gravely troubled” as Metropolitan Jonah.
» Posted By Helga On October 28, 2012 @ 11:27 pm
Yes, it’s definitely Bishop Mark. I wasn’t aware that he wasn’t telling people about it, since he made a public posting about it online several months ago. He probably is dieting like he said, since it is necessary to adopt healthy eating habits after a stomach stapling. Sorry for outing him, but in his posting he seemed rather pleased and grateful for the results.
I don’t fault Bishop Mark at all for getting the surgery, I am happy he was able to do something about his weight problem and that it apparently works. But people need to stop giving Met. Jonah such a hard time about his weight. What works for one person’s weight loss doesn’t always work for someone else, and suffering from morbid obesity does not automatically mean that person has a lot of choice in the matter.
It’s so strange to me that people like Stankovich would express such supposed concern about Met. Jonah’s cardiac health, but have no qualms at all about wounding and breaking his heart.
» Posted By Helga On October 28, 2012 @ 2:12 pm
Nikos, for the record, Mark’s dramatic weight loss was from getting a sleeve gastrectomy (stomach stapling) done in February.
All the crocodile tears and hand-wringing about Met. Jonah’s health do not move me in the least. The bishops do NOT care about him and never have. As for Stankovich… I’m not sure what to make of him except to say “Physician, heal thyself”.
» Posted By Helga On October 27, 2012 @ 9:15 pm
Stankovich, are you for real, or is this another one of your head games? I don’t know what picture you are referring to, but he looks fine to me.
Since when is Met. Jonah supposed to have a depressed affect and “lacking a normal range of emotions”? Where on earth did you get this idea?
If Metropolitan Jonah appeared to have a blunted affect and/or appeared depressed to SLI, competent evaluators might have taken into account the fact that he is a monastic, and “Do not react, do not resent: Keep inner stillness” has been his motto for the past thirty years.
If he appeared depressed, one might have looked at that betrayal and humiliation by his brother bishops, on top of a very stressful job with long hours.
And he’s fat! My God, why didn’t someone point it out sooner?! I’m sure he never noticed. /sarcasm Did it never occur to you that his obesity may well be caused by something other than his personal choices or mental state?
The SLI evaluation was a set-up and a fraud from the beginning, with Metropolitan Jonah’s health and reputation on the chopping block. You see a man whose weight exceeds your personal tastes, and you decide that there must be something wrong with him. A team of competent psychological evaluators would have a field day with that one!
» Posted By Helga On October 27, 2012 @ 7:33 pm
You once said you were glad he was gone. Not here, though. By the way, he’s still Metropolitan Jonah, not Archbishop Jonah.
» Posted By Helga On October 27, 2012 @ 3:58 pm
What are you trying to pull, Stephen? Like it isn’t obvious that you hated Metropolitan Jonah and are glad he was ousted.
» Posted By Helga On October 27, 2012 @ 7:41 am
Stankovich, I must register yet another objection to your insinuations about Metropolitan Jonah. I have seen him several times in the past year and a half, and many times before that, and he has always been neat and tidy in appearance.
I have never seen him red-faced or out of breath from vesting. The only time I’ve seen him out of breath was when he had just climbed a bunch of stairs, stairs that had left me, a person with a BMI of 19, a little winded, too.
Your accusations and insinuations, when you have obviously not even met the man in recent times, much less examined him clinically, are complete baloney. Please honor your professional ethics by withdrawing your insinuations and apologizing for overstepping your boundaries.
» Posted By Helga On October 26, 2012 @ 12:20 pm
Fr. John, I agree with you, although I would say the OCA’s ethnic ethos is not so much purely Russian as it is a sort of pan-Slavic stew.
» Posted By Helga On October 23, 2012 @ 12:04 am
Stankovich writes,
It would appear that even the righteous have their “price,” and your Big Fish is asking the OCA for a $1.8 million to “make it right.” Your monastic former Metropolitan who signed it all away with his own right hand.
A right hand which was only moved by having been grievously misled and abused. That’s kind of the point of suing.
Why should the OCA pay Metropolitan Jonah a settlement? Gee, I don’t know. Maybe the self-serving functionaries of Syosset aren’t the most objective source of information about this. If the OCA needs to learn yet another expensive lesson through litigation, so be it.
What would a monk do with all that money?
We can assume that this monk would use it to take care of his family. He’s not the kind of man who would spend it on bourbon and blackjack, not that it’s any of your business. The point is that the OCA did him a terrible wrong, and he deserves compensation.
But why “negotiate” in the first place? Go to court, for heaven’s sake; it’s all the rage. But, that would make the discharge record with evaluation and treatment recommendations from St. Luke’s discoverable and available. And their conclusions had absolutely nothing to do with the Synod of Bishops; no conspiracy, no STINKBOMB. Just licensed professionals who reached credible conclusions based on credible methods.
I really doubt things would have gotten this far if Metropolitan Jonah had anything to fear from such a discovery. That’s what a clean life will get you. It’s a lesson for us all.
I am “the faithful” and I would like to know why the former Metropolitan chose to ignore recommendations made to him, and why he ignored his promise to do whatever was necessary to heal and to change what, in his own words, was “broken,” and for which he took full responsibility. He said he would do so because of his love for the Church, the faithful, and his brother bishops. Did he change his mind? Is he too afraid to face himself?
Metropolitan Jonah “ignored his promise”? More like, Charlie Brown finally gave up on kicking Lucy’s football.
I have paid back more than a quarter million dollars in student loans, and I will never earn in my lifetime what he is expecting as compensation for four years of what he himself described before the assembled Church at the 16th AAC as a “disaster?”
Your student loans and other personal choices are not Metropolitan Jonah’s fault. He worked his own way through school, by the way. Please pick another target for your angst.
Am I a bratty child, Nikos, for inquiring by what right this failure of a leader believes he should be compensated as if he will be remembered for anything more than conflict, disappointment, and resignation?
I’ll remember Metropolitan Jonah’s tenure fondly, if only because for once, the OCA had someone in charge who wasn’t a drunk, a crook, or a pervert. But he has many other good qualities, too. I think he made a good Primate, and I would love to have him return to that position.
“Cruel means employed to throw +Jonah aside?” This man was offered the best help available three separate times – and read this carefully, Nikos: Because he needs it – and he refused their offer three separate times. And his final refusal was the harshest choice of all; he voluntarily resigned as Metropolitan rather than accept help. Seriously, Nikos, look at him. Is this a healthy man? He refused the help they offered him and he chose to stand aside and alone. And there are no canons that speak to foolish choices.
It is interesting that you think you know so well what Metropolitan Jonah needs, even though he is not your patient. When was the last time you even saw the man in person?
As for foolish choices, I can only think that perhaps he ought to have never trusted his so-called brother bishops. I applaud him for continuing to love and pray for them, but I so wish he had not assumed the best of them for so long.
Metropolitan Jonah deserves a decent settlement, whatever he requires to take care of himself and his family, and a chance to rebuild his reputation and continue his episcopal ministry. May God prosper him!
» Posted By Helga On October 20, 2012 @ 6:46 pm
If Met. Jonah were to come to Parma and stand on the sidewalk on Broadview Road in front of the church, he would have company there.
Fun company, too!
» Posted By Helga On October 19, 2012 @ 9:53 am
The Narrative Continues to Fail
Fr. John, I realize unusualness may be in the eye of the beholder, but I cannot recall ever seeing Bishop Melchisedek without half his hair hanging out of a tiny ponytail. It’s not really about him, but how it is strange that certain people don’t find anything unusual about how Bp. Melchisedek looks, but feel free to pick on Met. Jonah.
» Posted By Helga On November 5, 2012 @ 9:43 am
Your Grace, before you whip out a ruler to try to prove to me which of the two is more modest and monastic, please remember that Archbishop Tikhon, as much as he has qualities you admire, was still a member of the Lesser Synod bearing primary responsibility for the current crisis. Archbishop Tikhon put his signature on the Stinkbomb and foisted it on his diocese. In your words, Archbishop Tikhon “blamed [Met. Jonah] and made him suffer for a choice [Abp. Tikhon is] unwilling to take responsibility for!”
So, Your Grace, if you please, I am not really interested in any of the Archbishop’s other monastic-appearing habits until he issues a full apology and repents for all of those things.
What I was saying is that Abp. Tikhon bears some superficial similarity to Met. Jonah. Obviously, there is no real comparing the two, although we disagree on exactly how. But if he’s who they have in mind, they will probably try to pass him as someone with Met. Jonah’s good points. The reality is not so simple, of course.
As for my comments about Bp. Melchisedek, I frankly don’t care how Bp. Melchisedek manages his appearance. But it’s a fact that Met. Jonah has neither the most severe weight problem, nor even the most unusual appearance, even among the small group of men who make up the current OCA synod. So why does Met. Jonah get all the grief?
Do I think Metropolitan Jonah is a perfect bishop? No. I certainly won’t say that there is no one in or eligible for the Orthodox episcopacy who could improve on his work. However, I will say that no current OCA diocesan bishop could possibly be an improvement on him, not by a long shot.
» Posted By Helga On November 4, 2012 @ 4:32 pm
You can see how he’d be passable as a poor-man’s +Jonah, though. Archbishop Tikhon is an Episcopalian convert, mighty long beard, relatively young. So he has the externals. He has no heart like +Jonah’s heart, but he’ll go along to get along. Metropolitan Tikhon = MT = EMPTY. Fine with me if EMPTY wants to be captain of the OCA Titanic as it slides towards its watery grave.
And Stan thinks it’ll be Bishop Melchisedek? Well, Bishop Melchisedek is already 70 years old. And if SLI was freaked out by Met. Jonah’s appearance, let them get a load of +Melchisedek. Please, I would buy tickets to see that.
» Posted By Helga On November 2, 2012 @ 8:32 pm
Mmmm… Tikhilicious.
» Posted By Helga On October 19, 2012 @ 9:56 am
Are we sure Archbishop Tikhon is so clean? Wasn’t he the rector of STS? What did he know about the sexual misconduct going on there?
» Posted By Helga On October 19, 2012 @ 9:03 am
Oh, Nikos, we can still go to Parma. You don’t want all that hired security to be for nothing, do you?
Just because this is all a setup, doesn’t mean we have to roll over and play dead. As far as I know, this will be the first AAC to actually attract protesters, and they will know why. They have raped the Church. They should never be allowed to forget that.
If it is “Metropolitan Tikhon”, just remember “MT” = “empty”
» Posted By Helga On October 19, 2012 @ 12:37 am
Your Grace, that’s very funny about Bishop Mark’s surname!
I must admit I thought it was very cold that you have not been elevated to Archbishop, even as an honorary title in retirement, since you served far longer than these active Archbishops. Well, it would just be one more thing to give to Jesus, anyway.
I wouldn’t know about Archbishop Benjamin’s vestments. His set looked kind of plain to me, honestly. I thought the little ROCOR bishop on the other end in the deep blue was in a beautiful set of vestments, though.
» Posted By Helga On October 19, 2012 @ 8:30 am
Your Grace, I’m very happy to hear your report that Fr. Gerasim is doing well. My thought was not that he ought to be running and screaming, nor that he is in any way less than worthy of the episcopacy. I’m just saying that if I were him, in the present circumstances, I would want to leave the OCA altogether, rather than be considered for the episcopacy in it. For me personally, that desire would manifest itself in me running and screaming back to Platina!
This is why I am not too upset that he did not get to go to the Synod meeting. I think the only reason they let Met. Jonah bring Fr. Gerasim for consideration in the DOS was to let him appear to be a viable alternative candidate to Bishop Mark (Maymon), so that the latter’s selection and election for the DOS by the Synod could proceed with a veneer of fairness and respectability. Now that the tables have turned, who knows what will happen?
» Posted By Helga On October 18, 2012 @ 3:24 pm
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» Posted By Helga On October 18, 2012 @ 11:06 am
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