Via Byzantine Texas
First the OCA has issued a ruling on the allegations against bishop Matthias of the Diocese of the Midwest. Read that here.
Secondly, ROCOR's magnificent monastery and seminary in Jordanville New York is in serious financial trouble. Please read the report here and help if you can spare some money.
Third the government of Israel has seized the bank account of the Orthodox Patriarchate in a dispute over water bills! It goes without saying that this is creating major financial problems. Read the story here.
A Correct Way to Correct
11 hours ago
6 comments:
So let me get this straight, we fire the Metropolitan because he protected clergy guilty of sexual misconduct, but we rehabilitate a bishop actually guilty of sexual misconduct... The OCA's governance is entirely ad hoc.
I believe in +Matthias' case the correct term might be "sextual" misconduct.
As one occasionally hears in the shadows, there is a reason ACROD didn't want him.
Was +Matthais actually found guilty or is this just hearsay. He is my bishop, and from what I heard, the woman lied. Is there an actual result of this investigation or are we pontificating our own opinions? I am genuinely interested.
Oops, nix my last comment. I though, for some reason, the first link was about +Jonah, not +Matthias. Forgive me.
The fact is that the 'contact' was ambiguous at best, and would be very hard to push through a Spiritual Court considering there are more egregious offenders out there (Bp. Tikhon F. comes to mind). His willingness to go through the same process offered Met. Jonah (several times) shows some consistency. By the way, Nicholas did not want Matthias around because he never liked competition, real or perceived. ACROD was always a one-man show and so he forced out all potential replacements.
Matthias wasn't received into the OCA until just 6 months prior to Nicholas' death, and by that time Nicholas was already quite ill. Matthias' wife had died 11 years prior, and he'd been tonsured a monk 8 years prior, so apparently Nicholas was able to live with that "competition" for some time anyway. By the time Nicholas joined the OCA it was already quite apparent a successor would be needed for ACROD, so competition wasn't the issue. And Nicholas wasn't the only one in ACROD who wanted to make sure Matthias wasn't the next Met.
In any event, it seems that the support vs. lack thereof for Matthias is falling along predictable OCA political lines. It's true that it is a bit ridiculous to discipline him while others on the Synod (and the retired duds) are not disciplined, but at the same time, if the texts presented to the public are authentic, which seems to be the case, we are dealing with a level of incompetence here (if one is going to be a bad bishop, one should at least be more discreet and not leave such irrefutable proof) which should be a serious warning sign of future liabilities with the man. If it weren't for the fact that I have many friends in the OCA Midwest, some of them already put off by the man, I'd be all for him coming back ASAP, as I think that he has all the makings for a hierarchical career that ends spectacularly, which makes for quality entertainment.
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