July 12, 2007 -- NEW SPIRIT AT NOVO DIVEEVO?
Fr. Elias Greer, Chancellor
ROCOR to the MP, but already the spirit of their new masters is
showing itself.
At about 7:00 PM on Thursday, July 12th n.s., the feast of Sts. Peter
and Paul, Bishop Andrew, the Administrator of the Russian Orthodox
Autonomous Church in the US, visited the cemetery at Novo Diveevo
Convent, as he usually does on this day, to serve a panikhida at the
grave of his spiritual Father and mentor Archbishop Andrei (Rymarenko)
of Rockland, who died on this feast.
>From 1976 to 1978, Bishop Andrew had lived at Novo Diveevo and served
Archbishop Andrei as his cell attendant. In return for his services,
Archbishop Andrei gave him private lessons in preparation for his
ordination to the priesthood. On Dormition 1982, Bishop Andrew (then
known as Fr. Michael Maklakov) was ordained to the priesthood by St.
Metropolitan Philaret in the cathedral church at Novo Diveevo.
After serving the panikhida on Thursday, Bishop Andrew was approached
by a priest hitherto unknown to him. This priest introduced himself as
Fr. George Zelenin from Paterson, NJ. Fr. George asked Bishop Andrew,
"And who are you, Father?" Bishop Andrew replied, "My name is Bishop
Andrew." Fr. George continued, "Well then, Father, you ought to know,
especially if you are a bishop, as you say you are, that you have no
right to serve a panikhida in the cemetery without first receiving
permission from the rector." Bishop Andrew responded, "Thank you for
the information, Father." Then he continued, "Perhaps you don't know,
but I had been Archbishop Andrei's cell attendant." Fr. George
responded, "Oh yes, I know. We know everything about you.
Nevertheless, this does not change the fact that you must still get
permission before entering the cemetery, especially if you want to do
any kind of service." Bishop Andrew responded, "This cemetery is a
public place. There are graves here of Ukrainians, Romanians, Greeks,
Georgians, Bulgarians, Roman Catholics and Protestants. In thirty
years, I have never heard of anyone asking for permission to visit the
cemetery in order to pray for the souls of the dead." Fr. George's
answer to Bishop Andrew's statement that the cemetery was a public
place was, "Not exactly, not exactly." By this time, Fr. George was
shaking and his voice was quivering uncontrollably. Bishop Andrew then
said, "Well, if you are so sure about your statement, you can call the
police if you wish, but I'm not leaving until I am ready to leave."
It was Bishop Andrew's impression that someone had put Fr. George up
to this altercation, since he had never met him before this moment,
and did not know who he was. It is also a well-known fact that many
clergymen visit the cemetery at all hours of the day and evening
without seeking special permission. Indeed, there is nowhere to ask
for permission anyway, especially at that time of the evening. The
idea itself is absurd. There is indeed a custom of asking for
permission from the rector before serving inside someone else's church
building. But to extend this to a cemetery is really a stretch. Do
they think now that the remains of six thousand of the staunchest
opponents of the Soviet Union and the MP have joined them in their
apostasy? Do they intend to hold them "hostage" now in an effort to
force the rest of us to join them?
This is not the Soviet Union or the Russian Federation, its bastard
child, that we are talking about. This is the United States of
America, the land of the free, where this took place. Bishop Andrew is
not Russian, nor is he of Russian descent. He does speak Russian, as
well as four other languages. Twenty-six years ago, when he was about
to become a Russian Orthodox priest, he russified his last name in
order to fit in better with the people that he would be serving. His
great-great-great-great grandfather was one of the Minutemen who
fought at Concord and Lexington, and later served as quartermaster in
the army of General George Washington. And now he is being told by a
"New Russian" that he has no right to enter a public cemetery to pray
for the repose of the soul of his spiritual father, a man whose
sufferings for not accepting the declaration of Sergius Stragorodsky
are well known!?! What can we expect from these people next? "And a
man's foes shall be they of his own household." (Matt. 10:36) "They
shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that
whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." (John:
16:2)
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SOME EARLY RESPONSES TO THIS ARTICLE:
>From Louisiana: Wow! What a story! "Blessed are you when men shall
revile and persecute you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be
exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven." Archbishop
Andrei (Rymarenko) must be spinning in his grave, so to speak.
>From Argentina: This is a very sad news, but there we can see who are
the "new masters" of Lavrites, and they are just the "new commissars"
of the MP. So, just as those were servants of Stalin, now the lavrites
are servants of MP and his master neo-stalinist Putin.
>From California: This is outrageous!...I am so sorry that you were
treated like this, especially being the descendant of those made this
country independent from outside domination. But it looks like this is
merely the start of the long Soviet reach to rule here!
Unbelievable! ...Well, this incident displays how very evil these
people are in their persecution of those who have seen the light way
back when - and acted upon it instead of whispering complaints like
the Rocor clerics who won't ever endanger their "positions" and
"reputations" to move to a correct jurisdiction.Thank you for
conveying a shocking bit of truth of these vipers!
>From France: Lord, have mercy!
spiridon
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