Comments Posted By Nikos

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Sons of Job: The Canons Prohibit the Bishops from Voting at Parma

Nothing about the “case and spiritual court” against Fr. Kondratick makes any sense, not then and not now. We see case after case of abuse of power b y OCA bishops and what is the result, they keep their positions. Benjamin, Nathaniel, Matthias, Tikhon, Golitzen. The whole house is corrupt and electing another Metropolitan will not change things.

It is time for the OCA to lift the discipline on Fr. Kondratick. Nazis guilty of crimes against humanity in WWII served less time than Kondratick. Enough is enough.

» Posted By Nikos On November 4, 2012 @ 12:45 pm

I have a few quibbles with the Sons of Job but they are more right than wrong. I’d like to add something about the Arcdeacon Burke case. Arb Nikon has told the Deans and priests in the DOS that because he’s only the locum tenens, he can’t deal with the situation in Miami regarding Archdeacon Burke. That this would have to be left to the next bishop when he’s elected. That’s hogwash. He suspended Fr David Moretti in Houston because of a canonical issue very quickly when it came to his attention. He was right to do so given the facts in the case. The reason he won’t do anything in Miami is because Arb Nathanael is very close to Bp Mark Forsberg and Archdeacon Burke.

» Posted By Nikos On November 1, 2012 @ 6:11 pm

Scandals Must Come

Fr Paul Harilchak has been on outlier of traditional Orthodox worship and tradition for decades. He does his own thing in Reston and the community has never really grown. He keeps to himself, rarely participates in anything outside his parish and most assuredly considers the unqualified acceptance of alternative lifestyles as a “revealed truth of the Holy Spirit.” Sounds rather Protestant to me!

» Posted By Nikos On October 24, 2012 @ 10:32 am

Has the Synod Gone Rogue?

DC Indexman,

Isn’t it interesting that +Mark never showed up once in DC when +Jonah was his bishop, but now he is frequenting St. Nicholas Cathedral on a regular basis? I think you all can get a glimpse into the man by this. Or am I missing something?

» Posted By Nikos On November 16, 2012 @ 4:10 pm

Helga,

Give Michael a break. He has had a bad week. He had to move off the crazy card to the “he’s too fat” card and now, he looks weird and disheveled thus something must be wrong. The fact that +Jonah doesn’t go around like a crazy man screaming at people and bullying them must mean something is amiss in his behavior. I mean if that isn’t the case, why would +Benjamin be held in such high regard by M.S.?

My bet is that M.S. will be compelled to defend his honor with at least a 5 long paragraph response. Any bets out there?

» Posted By Nikos On October 29, 2012 @ 8:30 am

well most monastics would be classified as off-beat at best and gravely troubled at worse. I guess +Jonah and all monastics should have adopted the little goatee, neatly cut hair, a sweater when out and about with their roman collar either in our placed neatly in your breast pocket, and yes, your cross tucked in your breast pocket to give that snappy look.No need to wear a cassock out in public, that is so old world.

Maybe if Jonah got some GQ tips before going to SLI he might have passed the Sadock and Sadock first impression test at SLI. Sorry Michael, such quotes don’t make me feel any better about mental health professionals. I rather talk to one of those disheveled, not so impeccably clad monks if I need emotional/spiritual help. I am funny that way. Shhhh, don’t tell SLI, ok?

» Posted By Nikos On October 28, 2012 @ 7:19 am

TMI. WTMI.

» Posted By Nikos On October 27, 2012 @ 9:43 pm

Well that explains the rapid weight loss. Hope he can keep it off better than +Benjamin.

» Posted By Nikos On October 27, 2012 @ 9:39 pm

Dear Marcus Welby Stankovich,

Jonah, overweight, obvious.
Jonah a diabetic? No.
Jonah, a heart condition? No.

Could is overall health be better, sure, probably mine and yours too. But before you go making another long distance diagnosis, sorry observation, why not do the same, from afar for all the members of the synod. I have noticed that +Benjamin after getting gastric bypass a couple of years ago has gained back a significant amount of weight. That is very dangerous. It could lead him to a medical disaster. Maybe it explains some of his erratic behavior over the past couple of years, coupled with his drinking issues. But, no doctor am I, just making an objective observation.

And what shall we say about the bishop of Pittsburgh and his heart issues, Nikon battling cancer while he still sneaks a smoke, or the dramatic weight loss of +Mark? If we are going to bring up physical health issues to suggest that this was one of the motivations of his brothers on the synod, or, in fact to bring it up at all, then the medical kettle is black for many of them too. But, no doctor am I, just making an objective observation.

Again you speak of the recommendations of SLI. What are they? You know them? The confidential recommendations? Did they suggest he go to a fat farm? That would have been a far better recommendation from +Benjamin then demanding that +Jonah go to a drug and alcohol rehab center.

And if you as you say, The pure stupidity of this entire discussion is that it continually returns to me then do yourself a favor, stop writing here. Might be good for your health. Or maybe we should just let +Jonah call you and tell you to stop.

Have a good day.

PS I do believe you would do whatever you could for Jonah if he asked. So would most here would too.

» Posted By Nikos On October 27, 2012 @ 6:42 pm

Then why is the same synod demanding he spend 6 months at SLI if they have not diagnosed him already? Are you aware of that, friend Michael? They are making that a demand as part of their charitable gesture for +Jonah to even have the possibility of ever getting another diocese. “Gravely troubled” wasn’t that what Hopko said and if you don’t know it he made sure that every bishop on the synod knew about it.

Let’s be clear, they laid down the “crazy” card and they now can’t run away from it and you do no service to anyone at this late hour to try and change the rationale for their actions.

When he became Metropolitan he did not stop being a bishop and a bishop is called to evangelize and reach every field that is ripe for the harvest. Good thing Archbishop Iakavos wasn’t an envelope pusher when he marched with Martin Luther King. Good thing Met. Philip wasn’t an envelope pusher when he took a chance on the EOC and the Western Rite. Too bad those original ROCOR bishops didn’t push the envelope when they set up outside of Russian. Shall I go on, or do you get the point!

This is one of the weakest but most transparent things you have ever written here. It is clear that you side with those who just want a Metropolitan to be like a dress up doll. Push him out, say nothing, make nice, and be a sock puppet for the synod.

Yes, +Jonah was not a unifier, but if unity is nothing more than never speaking up and going along to get along, you can have it. It appears that such qualities are exactly what the OCA synod is expecting in the next Metropolitan. In other words, a “nice guy, no cojones.”

Keep trying to put lipstick on this pig. Only the few, which appear to be you, are buying it.

PS. Don’t put too much credence in that “last for years a disaster” words of +Jonah. Those were not his words but delivered to him with the ultimatum by the synod, “you either put these words in your speech or you will be out.” He said them, in humility, and what did it get him, the same boot they wanted to deliver in Seattle.

» Posted By Nikos On October 24, 2012 @ 8:39 pm

Michael,

More bishops, smaller dioceses, in theory is the better path, maybe with a united Orthodox Church in North America steps towards this can be made. As for the OCA, more bishops from a diminishing poor of viable candidates is a scary proposition. Let’s get one good one for the South before we start talking about dividing up the South.

BTW, +Dmitri for more than 1/2 of his tenure in the South spent 6 months in Florida and 6 months in Dallas at 6 week intervals. I think he did an amazing job of spreading himself as best he could over a vast diocese.

But, I agree with you, smaller is better when it comes to dioceses.

» Posted By Nikos On October 24, 2012 @ 5:50 pm

AG,

He has been defamed. He has been humiliated. He has been slandered and he has taken it lying down. And yet, he is a human being who gave his life to the call of the Lord and His Church to be its Metropolitan. He was nominated and elected by the Church to be its Primate. And yet, he was undercut and called mentally disturbed.

What we have is a contrast a conflict between the few who felt he was unfit to serve and the many who saw a man who was willing to tread out and the speak the truth in love, even if it upset the status quo, those who felt the OCA was more important than speaking the truth in love. He was willing to advance the Gospel in new fields which upset the status quo (the Manhattan Declaration being just one example.) Yet, that Declaration was signed by other Orthodox bishops, yet it was +Jonah who was castigated by his brothers for signing it. Their response was, “he should have signed it with their permission.” He signed it as one man without assuming anything else.

Is there anything in his sermons, his writings which expose heresy? Is there anything in his sermons or writings which reveal him to be against the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Is there anything in his sermons or writing which betray the teachings of the Holy Fathers and the Church?

Yes, he sometimes pushed the envelope of the status quo, but so did Christ, so did St. John Chrysostom, so did Fr. Alexander Schmemann. Yet, +Jonah became a focus of scorn by his brother bishops. Certainly not the first time and I doubt the last.

What are we to make of a man like Fr. Thomas Hopko who declared +Jonah mentally disturbed and stated with his usual style that the “Holy Spirit was absent in Pittsburgh.” Who is he speaking for, the delegates and bishops at that Council which under the guidance of the Holy Spirit elected him? This same man declared his unqualified support of Mark Stokoe. Shall we assume therefore that the Holy Spirit blesses the lifestyle of Mark Stokoe?

It seems to me and many others that a campaign to dethrone him started almost immediately after his election and culminated in his resignation as Primate but not as a ruling bishop, and yet, the letter by the synod revealed their deep dislike of +Jonah, using trumped up charges that he protected a rapist – and using as their cover fear, fear of lawsuits based on the RC Philadelphia misdeeds and their rational.

AG, there are still too many loose ends, too many half-truths at best, to justify the abandonment of the OCA synod. They simply gave up and gave in when they should have been reasonable.

Is it reasonable to demand that +Jonah spend six month in a facility to test his mental ability when bishops on the same synod have demonstrated far worse lapses in judgment? Who are they to try and convict a man when their sins are far greater?

And now, this same group of men expect +Jonah to spend the rest of his life in some sort of limbo, neither fish nor fowl, a life of internal exile with no visible means of support. They are the ones who display no sense of responsibility to one of their brothers. Why should not clergy and laity, Patriarchs as well as those outside the Orthodox Church have questions?

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill delivered a message to the OCA that they should treat +Jonah with respect. If what the OCA synod thinks what they are doing is respect, then why should not many of us simply reject their definition of respect?

Yes, those who go along and say that “we are an autocephalous church and we can do whatever we decide” forget that the OCA if it is autocephalous church is also a sister Church, a Church that is called to be part of a larger family of Churches and when one displays callous disregard to its Primate, the rest question, wonder, and react.

Why would these same bishops now wish to block his release from the OCA? Why are they so afraid of him that they would block such a respectful request? It seems to me and many that if the OCA will continue to show such subChristian behavior, there is little for us to do but lose respect for these same bishops.

Respect is earned, and at least Patriarch Kirill and the Russian Orthodox Church has stated that +Jonah has earned their respect. Why is it so hard for the OCA synod to do the same?

» Posted By Nikos On October 24, 2012 @ 1:31 pm

Michael,

Too cynical. Are you really that unhappy a person? From what I know about the South, Archbishop Dmitri of blessed memory, may have been a 1000 miles away but his presence was felt as if he was standing in front of the altar. Distance from a bishop is only good when the bishop is no good. When your bishop is the presence of Christ, you want him as close to you as you can and as often as possible.

» Posted By Nikos On October 22, 2012 @ 7:18 am

Michael S.

Did the SLI evaluation of +Jonah, the basis for the synod’s final take down of +Jonah conclude that he was unfit to serve? Yes or No.

» Posted By Nikos On October 21, 2012 @ 6:26 pm

Mr. Stankovich,

You ask for respect but then call me stupid. You defend your good name ad nasueum on this website but your words judge you.

It is clear to all who read your words that you don’t know Metropolitan Jonah and have only reached your conclusions based on what others have been feeding you. So let’s not insult the intelligence of everyone who reads this blog. You attack the character of Metropolitan Jonah at every opportunity in your quest to legitmate your point of view. That certainly is in keeping with how the leaders of the OCA have acted in their very public attempt to discredit +Jonah.

You also try and substanitate your claims by dropping little tidits like:

Therefore, I understand exactly the seriousness of the recommendation made by St. Luke’s, and I will leave it at that.

So, on the one hand you say you don’t speak to people in the know at Syosset, yet on the other hand you have been privy to confidential information about +Jonah. So which is it going to be? You seem to try and have it both ways. You try and leave the impression that the St. Luke’s evaluation concluded he was not fit to serve. Since you are privy to their recommendations you know that they never came to that conclusion.

You have every right to call friends who you wish. All I can say at this point is that those same people have led the OCA to its present embarrassing condition. Call me stupid or whatever you wish, it does not mean a thing to me. But by calling me stupid you only diminish your case and shed more light on how sub-Christian the leaders of the OCA treated the Metropolitan. You have made your personal judgements about +Jonah, but in all of this public humiliation +Jonah has never stopped praying for his brothers nor wished them any ill will. You speak about his character as somehow not measuring up to your expectations? Again, the actions of those you defend speak for themselves. Get rid of +Jonah, brand him a wacko, offer him nothing and at all costs consign him to a life of exile.

I may be stupid but I believe that trying to speak truth to power in the end will vindicate whatever stupid words you ascribe to me.

Sorry about the Stanky nickname. I wasn’t the first to say it but I will try not to call you that again.

» Posted By Nikos On October 20, 2012 @ 12:09 pm

Stanky,

Goodness gracious, let me ask you again, as others have, what OCA parish do you belong to?

Tell you what, Stank, if a person got three professional evaluations and none of them said he was unfit to serve, would that be good enough for you? You see, Stank, when a board of directors is looking to remove the chairman, they will do what is necessary to get the job done.

You Dr. Stank are so sure that +Jonah needs help? Of course you do when you circle of information are the same people who worked so hard to destroy +Jonah’s primacy.

You say they offered the best possible help to +Jonah. Places offered by +Benjamin where he went to dry out after his DUI? Jonah isn’t a drunk like +Benjamin. St. Luke’s? Yes he went there and they never said he was unfit to serve. But after 4 years his loving brothers on the Synod forced him into resignation after shunning him first, totally isolating him, then finally conspiring to remove him. Those are the facts.

What an outrage yo say! Hmmmm $1.8 million dollars that sounds about right considering the years of service to Christ’s Church as Metropolitan he would have expected to receive. $100K for 18 years. Yep. Of course, Stank, if you were fired unjustly, I am sure you would just quietly take it without saying a word. Give me a break!

Try as you will in defending your old pals Stokoe, Wheeler, Jillions, Hopko, Benjamin, et. al., the fact remains they have buggered up things so badly the OCA is not a healthy operation. You know, it is one thing to tear down but quite another to build back up. They got the tear down part real good, but that build back up part, not close. Not close at all.

But you keep on ranting about monk this and monastic that, Stanky, but Metropolitan Jonah is a human being who is being offered NOTHING by the OCA. No means of support, no ability to serve in any capacity whatsoever. What compassion, what love, what a mess of a church the OCA now is.

» Posted By Nikos On October 20, 2012 @ 7:31 am

Gregg,

Since he is no longer a diocesan bishop, he is not part of the OCA synod. However he still is a member of the OCA Episcopate and thus there is no good reason to exclude him. In the past, if a member of the OCA Episcopate wished to attend a Council, he was always allowed.

But, this is the new OCA and things are now better! Right?

» Posted By Nikos On October 19, 2012 @ 1:52 pm

TODAY’S TIDBIT FROM FR. JILLIONS

Greg Sulich, Administrative Assistant at the Chancery, is responsible for processing delegate and observer registrations for the approaching All-American Council. Yesterday he informed us that we passed the 500 mark. So, despite some early worries it looks like the church will be full for the election a new metropolitan.

Personally, I am overjoyed that more people are determined to gather in Parma. Why? Because it will be much more difficult for those who wish to control this gathering to do so. I also know that many who are now attending are doing so not to be quiet, not to be passive bystanders, but are ready to stand up and ask questions.

I only hope that those who have serious questions will be able to ask them and not be treated like bratty children and sent to a timeout corner by members of the synod. The faithful have every right to ask questions and they deserve real answers and not a retread of the STINKBOMB.

Fr Jillions also says:

We need perseverance to keep going, not just surviving and going through the motions, “white-knuckling it,” but even flourishing as we “strain forward.”

Fr. Jillions, you got that one right. We will persevere in our attempts to rid the Church of any leaders who compromise the Faith and wish to whitewash the cruel means employed to throw +Jonah aside.

» Posted By Nikos On October 19, 2012 @ 11:56 am

The Narrative Continues to Fail

Hurting, et. al.,

Let us not lose sight of the underlying fact that comments back and forth on this website and at coffee hours all across the OCA have their foundation in the horrible, selfish and self-serving attitude of the leadership of the OCA. We are left out of the cold to be dictated to by those who wish to cover their own sins at the expense of the good and faithful people, clergy and laity of the OCA.

His Grace, Bishop Tikhon, retired of the Diocese of the West, has seen it all as a former member of the OCA synod. He has seen good men and women, faithful men and women, who have given their lives for the sake of Christ and His Church, disposed of as little more than yesterday’s refuse. He has seen men who have been raised to the dignity of Bishop, only to stab those in the back who loved them, protected them and gave them second chance. Understand this Bishop Benjamin.

I find it utterly amazing that +Nathaniel can send a letter to be read to the parishes of the OCA Midwest Diocese asking of them to give a second chance to their Bishop while all the while he holds his hand firmly on the shaft of the knife of Protopresbyter Rodion Kondratick. +Nathaniel speaks of second chances yet he has been part of a synod that has blocked every attempt to restore Bishop Nikolai. +Nathaniel speaks of second chances yet he was front and center in the blocking at every attempt and every move to do what is respectful and proper to Metropolitan Jonah.

The double standard of this synod to be revolting. +Nathaniel protects the so-called archdeacon Gregory and his long-time partner +Mark (Forsberg) and allowed Gregory Becker to continue as a priest in his diocese while at the same time punishing those who stood up for the truth.

And what shall we say about his own Auxiliary bishop bringing to the attention of then Met. Herman the immoral decisions and actions that +Nathaniel perpetrated on the Bride of Christ. To be frank, the OCA is so far from anything legitimate that it would serve Orthodoxy in the land for those Churches already here to say enough to this band of self-serving robbers and begin the painful yet necessary process to dismantle what is known as the OCA.

Second chances? Really? It is time for these leaders to come clean and beg our forgiveness for what they have done to the OCA. Until then, whatever they do will not be blessed by God. Until then whatever actions they take should be ignored by world Orthodoxy. Until then, it is time for us to move to safe harbors where we can live our lives free of the impious actions of an empty synod.

Indeed, we will go to Parma as we should, but not to be passive players in the illegitimate actions of the OCA leadership but to tell them, face to face, that we do not accept their leadership until they do what is necessary to beg us and the world of their insular and arrogant leadership. Only then when we can come together and try, by God’s Grace to rebuilt what has been fractured and now lies as broken before the Throne of God. Anything less is an affront to God and us.

» Posted By Nikos On November 4, 2012 @ 4:29 pm

Helga,

The problem is that the OCA Synod Of Bishops believes in “legitimate rape!”

» Posted By Nikos On October 19, 2012 @ 6:20 am

There will be no guest hierarchs from other jurisdictions. None are being invited. As for who the next Metropolitan is going to be, you can go to the bank on this one. No matter who the delegates vote for, the next Primate of the OCA will be Archbishop Tikhon of Eastern PA.

Bishop Michael does not have the votes on the Synod. It will be +Tikhon. He is perfect for the OCA. He will do nothing, say nothing. He will be dressed up sent out and keep up all the appearances that the Synod, Syosset and the MC are looking for in a Metropolitan. In other words, do what we say, smile and kiss babies. We will think for you, write for you and tell you what to say. No fuss. No muss, and also no inspiration from the Primate of the OCA.

Once Archbishop TIkhon and Fr. Garretson meet with +Jonah tomorrow morning in DC and tell him to sit down and shut up that sound you will hear is the breath of the Holy Spirit leaving the OCA once and for all.

For all of you who are still considering going to Parma, don’t waste your time and money, the Synod has made up its mind already. The rest is just ecclesial window-dressing.

» Posted By Nikos On October 18, 2012 @ 5:09 pm

Guest Editorial: “Sons of Job” Call for New Leadership in the OCA

I was speaking of ruling bishops but I will agree with you that Bishop Ireniu and Bishop Irenee are honorable men and worthy of the call.

» Posted By Nikos On November 10, 2012 @ 5:05 pm

All of this discussion about bishops from other Orthodox jurisdiction and Churches is a sad by product that the current OCA leadership is so bereft. Look at what we are saying, we don’t believe in our current leaders. None of them have the spiritual heft to be First Hierarch. I have said it before and again repeat it, a NO CONFIDENCE vote on the first ballot and on the second ballot sends the clear message that we are fed up with this impostors on the synod.

Parma may be an event but it certainly will not be a Council. A gathering but a futile attempt to legitimate an illegitimate jurisdiction that has acted not like a Church but like a band of self-serving mean and angry adolescent boys.

The OCA is no longer legitimate. Moscow knows it. Constantinople knows it. Antioch knows it. Why else would +Hilarion (Alfeev) of Volokolamsk meet with all of them publicly last week and only had a very clandestine meeting with two members of the OCA synod? Why would the SVS Board of Trustees be entertaining an escape plan to distance themselves from the OCA?

The handwriting is on the wall folks. Moscow will not come to the OCA’s defense and neither will anyone else. What we feared is coming true, the OCA as a sect in North America. No amount of chest-thumping or lofty words in Parma can change the reality on the ground. No amount of elitist inside the bubble musings from Jillions in his daily propaganda fluff can change things. A new Metropolitan will not change its downward trajectory.

The clergy and faithful need to find those safe spiritual harbors to work out our salvation away from the chaos and lies on display in the OCA. These leaders have left us.

» Posted By Nikos On November 6, 2012 @ 8:59 am

Well, if is one of the Friends of the SOB, you give him a nice parish, like Parma. If you are not one of the Friends of the SOB you get dirt to eat like St. John Chrysostom on his way into exile.

» Posted By Nikos On October 19, 2012 @ 12:30 pm

AG,

The facts remain very clear, the OCA is in terrible decline and the leadership,which you seem to endorse lacks the moral leadership to be considered viable. I appreciate your attempt to take me on could it be that folks like me on this website have hit a nerve?

If you wish to continue to invest your spiritual capital in the OCA and “model” parishes like Dayton, there will be a place for you in the OCA but people are voting with their feet. The OCA has lost the moral authority that it may have once possessed. The attempt to rekindle that in Parma will be a sad display. Let’s face it, less than 250 people have registered. The deadline is tomorrow (which of course will be extended) so they can get maybe another 200?

So less than 500 delegates mostly from parishes within driving distance to Cleveland, only about 1.6% of the OCA census will be involved in this effort. We also know that at least one delegate has been removed because he dared to have an opinion, and who knows how many more?

Why should we believe in this jurisdiction called the OCA? Why should we continue to trust leaders who haved acted so badly?

Those who laud the OCA say it can elect its own bishops without foreign interference. That may be the case, but the caliber and bench of potential OCA bishops exposes a jurisdiction that is weak. Those who laud the OCA say it can make its own decisions. That may be true but those decisions have caused the current crisis we are in.

Yes, the OCA is in control of its destiny and also has no one to blame but itself for its demise.

» Posted By Nikos On October 14, 2012 @ 9:07 pm

Golly AG, you wish for someone to go,to the public records of divorce decrees in Ohio? It is quite easy. You know that Fr Ted and his former wife V. are divorced so what is your point? But is is good to see more defenders of Stokoe and Bobosh and the OCA status quo popping up on Monomahkos. Tells me that this web site is being watched very carefully by those in charge and they feel the heat to respond?

Thanks for the update on Mrs. Brown’s status. Let’s keep it that way.

» Posted By Nikos On October 14, 2012 @ 5:02 pm

AG,

Proof that an openly gay couple are regular communicants in Dayton. Are they or are they not?

That the priest in that parish is divorced and his wife sued for divorce? Is he or is he not divorced and did his wife sue for divorce or did she not?

Come on AG you want to just fence with me or do you simply want to admit that what I am saying is the truth.

If you think that the situation in Dayton is fine, then just say so. I don’t think it is fine.

» Posted By Nikos On October 13, 2012 @ 9:15 pm

AG

Proof? Just visit the parish. Quite simple to verify.

» Posted By Nikos On October 13, 2012 @ 2:43 pm

Ms Vais is a shill for the Syosset gang. She is tight with Wheeler, Jillions, and of course her hero, Mark Stokoe. This is a self-serving attempt on Stokoe’s part to legitimate the crap he unleashed on the OCA. He has been discredited but the article serves a couple of purposes:

1 – It is a preview of the type of stuff that Hopko will try to unleash in Parma. The dream of the OCA. It is a myth that it is a local Church. But it is a myth that Stokoe and his minions must hold on to because no other Orthodox Church would allow them to get away with what they have wrought on Orthodoxy in this land.

2- He is proud of his parish in Dayton. Of course he is because he and his long-time partner are allowed to live openly. He is allowed to be a leader in that parish. A parish that is also led by a divorced priest who’s wife sued him for divorce because of abuse. If the parish in Dayton is an icon of OCA parish life, no wonder the census of the OCA continues to plummet.

This is the Church that Stokoe wants. A Church that has selective transparency and accountability. A Church that permits gay bishops, clergy and laity to continue in positions of leadership. A Church that sees itself as the righteous remnant of real Orthodox and Orthodoxy in this land.

The Church that Stokoe wants is one in which his social views and lifestyle will be embraced and fostered. There is little doubt any longer that those in OCA leadership prefer to perpetuate the myth of the OCA and as Fr.Hopko proclaimed on Clean Monday, he puts his full faith and trust in Mark Stokoe.

Nice try Ms Vais, but Dayton and Mark Stokoe are not examples to follow. They are not leaders to honor. They are what is wrong with the OCA and Stokoe’s view of the Church is also being rejected. However, if this is the type of Church you want, go for it and continue to dream on that others must follow the OCA’s example. I for one reject it.

» Posted By Nikos On October 13, 2012 @ 12:55 pm

Text Messages Reveal Extent of Bp. Matthias’ Misbehavior

+Tikhon, +Melchizedek. and I think +Irenee. But +Melchizedek started a revolt against his Elder, left his monastery without a blessing then came back to the USA under the false pretense that he was a member of another monastic community which he never stepped foot in nor was ever a member. The fact that + Melchizedek was told by +Jonah to go back to Greece and straighten out his abnormal status with the Greek Church indicates his status was (and is) cloudy, but in fact +Melchizedek did go back to Greece but never took the appropriate steps to rectify his status. And it should be noted that once +Jonah insisted that +Melchizedek take care of this, the synod shifted into high gear to get rid of +Jonah.

Just another tidbit of how the OCA synod works in brotherly concern.

» Posted By Nikos On October 11, 2012 @ 8:27 am