Why Abp. Andronik rescinded his signature from the agreement with Metropolitan Agafangel

Why Abp. Andronik rescinded his signature from the agreement with Metropolitan Agafangel

There are those who accuse us of not wanting peace in the Church, that we revoked even those agreements, which were approved in the presence of the Greek Metropolitan Demetrius.

This is not true. At the meeting held in the monastery of Metropolitan Demetrius, Abp. Andronik and Fr. Nikita Grgoriev were there from our side, while Met. Agafangel, Abp. Georgiy and Sub-deacon John Herbst represented the Synod. Met. Agafangel insisted on the condition that Abp. Sophroniy not participate in the meeting. Only on the second day after lunch, and at the insistence of Met. Demetrius, was Abp. Sophroniy invited to attend.

This way, the very conditions of the meeting were deliberately set to discuss matters related only to Abp. Andronik, namely his status as retired, and not all the matters that have brought worry to the entire Church. Abp. Andronik was offered to revoke his previous order, and in return, he would be reinstated as the ruling bishop and would participate in sessions of the Council, where presumably all the other matters would be resolved.

As a result, Abp. Andronik would be admitting with his signature the lawfulness of all the decisions, which he had opposed earlier. By this devious tactic, Met. Agafangel sought to have Abp. Andronik accept all the decisions of the Synod, which would then remove any need to consider them at the Council, since Abp. Andronik would have accepted all the decisions of the Synod as lawful. Especially, since Abp. Andronik had admitted their validity in the presence of the Greeks.

Doing this, Met. Agafangel did not exhibit any charity or good will to Abp. Andronik during these negotiations, but just the opposite, this was a continuation of his usual tactics of manipulation and intrigue. A while later, Abp. Andronik understood the harm in his decision, and called Met. Agafangel to tell him he was removing his signature.

Here is an excerpt from the audio tape of this conversation:

Abp. Andronik: Your Reverence, bless. I thought about our meeting with You and those documents that I signed and have come to the conclusion my decision was too hasty and did not take into consideration the opinion of my clergy and flock. More importantly, based on these documents, those issues and problems that bring worry to our Church remain unresolved. I want peace in the Church as do You, but these signed documents, Your Reverence, do not bring peace. Instead, they cause discord and suppress the unrest which troubles our entire Church.

It makes it seem like my only worry is my status. The problems do not go away by reinstating me in my full office. I certainly ask for Your forgiveness, but I rescind my signature from this document. We will have a diocesan conference this Friday, at which I will announce my decision to the clergy. Understood?
Met. Agafangel: I see, well then you are once again in retired status and can only serve in Mountain View.

It is clear from this example that the Metropolitan controls all the decisions of the Synod as he pleases; first, he reinstates, then he retires you again. It is important to note that the call for judgment of Abp. Andronik and Abp. Sophroniy was made by the Metropolitan himself and then it was conducted under his chairmanship. The claimant and the chief judge, all in one person. And naturally, the decision would be in his favor. Is it not clear that it is not peace that the Metropolitan seeks? By approving such judgments, he must understand that the body of the Church does not recognize such unlawfulness as canonical decisions.

+Archbishop Andronik
+ Archbishop Sophroniy