Mother Tavifa answers questions raised by Snezana, parishioner of Holy Trinity Church

Dear Snezhana,
Let me try and respond to your letter to the best of my understanding.

You are asking, “What happened to Metropolitan Agafangel”? I knew His Eminence Agafangel already in Jordanville, and later I met him in France, in Cannes: he impressed me as a joyful, friendly, and charming person. So it was totally unexpected to witness how he metes out severe punishments for any, even minor disagreement with him.

At one point, after His Eminence had opened the forum, I was reading, and suddenly I saw with surprise that His Eminence wrote in response to one person’s objection, “For this answer, you will be deprived of Holy Communion”.

But the most terrible thing was the harsh treatment of three priests from Izhevsk, when they were simply thrown out of the Church together with their 2,000 parishioners. I no longer remember what their fault was: where they had gone, or where they had not come, but somehow they had caused His Eminence’s displeasure, and he banned all three of them, leaving 2,000 people without Holy Communion.

Dear Snezhana, you certainly know that the world is upheld by Christ’s Chalice. As long as the Bloodless Offering is done, the world is standing, and the Antichrist, who is already close by, at the door, is not allowed to enter it. And in our time, the preAntichrist time, our First Hierarch throws 2,000 people, ordinary Russian believers, out of the Church and bans three priests, who have not committed any significant transgression!

They never attempted any split or disunity, they just happened to displease His Eminence by something. They failed to display servile submission in one or another matter.

I joined the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia in 1979. I do not recall a single case of a priest being banned by the Metropolitan, be it Met. Philaret, Vitaly, or Laurus. Our Metropolitans were safeguarding and protecting our Church, not tearing pieces off it and throwing them away, thereby getting rid of the displeasing and the disobedient.

What happened next, were some horrible, fantastic reprisals. He deprived a nun of her monastic status and forbade her to wear monastic attire; he even prohibited her to be buried in a cassock (to a nun, such a ban equals murder). He forbade some people to receive Holy Communion even on their deathbed. (By the way, our Archbishop Andronik received such a “reward” for his many years of service.) Some people were anathematized by him – until the Day of Judgment and thereafter.

All of this would be funny if it weren’t very sad.

Now His Eminence the Metropolitan is ruining the Holy Trinity parish: why is he interfering with the life of this parish? He understands perfectly well that his actions destabilize the parish’s life, that he is deliberately splitting the parish, and that some parishioners will leave. Why did the Metropolitan start the split in Astoria? He himself responded to this question at the Synod meeting in Odessa, where he proclaimed, “I don’t need the people! I need their belongings in a suitcase!”

The Metropolitan has no right to split the Church by deliberately interfering with parochial life and arbitrarily moving around bishops and priests. This is what is customary in the realm of the Moscow Patriarchate, but the Church Outside Russia has never experienced anything like this.

By banning and expelling bishops, priests, and the faithful who displease him, Met. Agafangel turns our Church into a small, aggressive replica of the Moscow Patriarchate, which is more distasteful than the Patriarchate itself.

You are asking, “Is it permissible for the laity to choose another bishop?”

However, it was Met. Agafangel who arbitrarily appointed another bishop instead of Archbishop Andronik, whom all of us know and love, – that is how they do it in the Soviet-style Moscow Patriarchate. And the parish rose to defend its Archbishop, just as it sometimes happened in Soviet Russia. Met. Agafangel is turning our Church into a structure similar to the Moscow Patriarchate.

You are asking, “Is it permissible for the laity to make all these decisions pertaining to the Church? It happened in Soviet Russia, and it was useless for the Church”.

Dear Snezhana, let me argue that in Soviet Russia, lay believers often defended the Church, its bishops and priests at the cost of their freedom and even life. During Khrushchev’s reprisals against the Church, when the authorities were shutting down church after church, it was the laity who protected their churches by staying and praying there around the clock. One zealous parishioner, nicknamed “Priest Natalia”, organized non-stop church-service reading in her church, and the parish was saved.

In Soviet Russia, the state was the Church’s enemy. And the horror of today’s situation is that Met. Agafangel, we don’t know why, is creating a set of circumstances that resemble Soviet Russia. It is no coincidence that you recalled the USSR. We can only pray to God and ask Him to change our present-day situation.

Sincerely,
Mother Tavifa

LETTER TO THE CHURCH COUNCIL OF HOLY TRINITY, ASTORIA
To the: Respected Members of the Board of the Church of Holy Trinity,
COULD YOU HELP ME UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING ON?
I came to this parish in 2001. A wise friend told me that by leaving the Synod[the 2007, unionist ROCOR/MP – R.D.] we were creating a schism. But I firmly believed in staying in the original ROCA and away from the Moscow Patriarchate.
Now there is talk of creating a new church. I don’t understand what the reasons for this are. Nobody has ever explained to us, members of the parish, why this is necessary. What is wrong with the old church, father Wsewolod’s church? What is wrong with Metropolitan Agathangel? Even after going to parish meetings, people don’t know the answers to these questions.
We have learned from the internet that the Metropolitan has said insulting things about two members of the Board. I am very sorry about that. Nobody should be insulted, but do we have to go into schism because of it? Do we, members of this parish, have to risk our souls because of a personal conflict?
Does the Board, who are lay people chosen to do service for the Church, have the right to rule the Church and cause changes in the Church hierarchy? Choose another bishop? Bar the appointed priest from entering the altar and serving liturgy? Take the Metropolitan to court? Forbid him to enter the church?
And ultimately, are lay people allowed to make all these decisions about the Church? It happened in Soviet Russia, but it did not work out well for the Church. If the canons and the Church hierarchy are not respected, then we are only a company, a corporation, more like a grocery store than a spiritual entity.
Would you kindly respond in English, for there are a few people who do not speak Russian; I am one of them.
Respectfully,
Snezana