Here are some answers and responses to the writings of ethnic or SCOBA clergy about this Church and clergy. Take their claims with a grain of salt since they want to profit by the re-written history. They write as if our former clergy violated the canons to such a degree that it was a criminal act, which marriage is not, and they claim bishops Sophronius acted contrary to the canons - unprovable acts! They continue these attacks on our clergy to blind the reader to the violations by their clergy.
Below you will find some information about the so called SCOBA or ethnic churches who are so orthodox, in their own minds, that no one else can be. That because Abp. Ofiesh married - in their view - they all had the right to turn their backs on this Church and 40 years after his death they still tell their stories about him and re-write history. They claim Bishop Sophronius, whose body the Antiochians moved from the NY cemetery to Antiochian Villiage to rest near St Raphael, now is supposed to have suspended his Archbishop on his own authority without a synod then later is supposed to have excommunicated Bp. Ignatius. All in violation of the canons. All Lies!
Are they this desperate that so called Christian clergy can do nothing but defame a long dead archbishop and bishops? YES!
The evil men do!
What we have are groups of "clergy" from various ethnic jurisdictions who prefer not to act as clergy, but to act in an unholy and unchristian manner! They defame long dead bishops of the Church as well as the Church, in an effort to see the church end so they can claim to be the American Church. Just browse the internet. Many brances of the ethnic jurisdictions have websites and they or their parishes use "American" in their name.
They also try to act like no one else ever violated the canons! Consider this and its also written elsewhere on this site.
A. Metropolitan Philip allowed an Antiochian priest to remarry and remain a priest! This also violates the canons. How many other violations do we not know of? How many clergy from this jurisdiction have been accused of criminal acts like sexual abuse that is hushed up? A couple names come to mind who may be from the Antiochian Church - Andrew Rayburn who has been referred to as an Antiochian clergyman and who an OCA bishop stated was a layman and Bishop Demetri Khoury. How about the orthodox seminary student some years ago who tried to board a plane in Florida with carry on luggage containing handguns? Or the Orthodox priest in Romania or the Novice monk in America who murdered nuns? You will not see one ethnic jurisdiction turn its back on another because of criminal acts or canon violations by clergy from another jurisdiction, just the unchristian treatment of the first synod of this Church in an effort to be able to claim our territory - all violations of the canons and Holy Scripture. [This informaton is or has been published on the internet or in newspapers]
B. As for Abp. Ofiesh no one denies he married and that was a violation of the canons. Why we do not know. What we do know is that he wanted a tribunal called to confront these ethnic orthodox who were attempting to destroy this Church. This was one way to do it. The Ecumenical Patriarch of that era did not call a tribunal and all such jurisdictions in the US at that time are responsible for their part in trying to destroy this Church. No where in the canons are they directed to destroy a church for the act of one clergyman. Their deceit and greed for the wealth of the New World pushed them on and not their christian charity or love of orthodoxy or the canons.
C. Without a tribunal having been called and witnesses available in 1933 or 1934 it is long past time to even consider his actions as a violation of the canons. Abp. Ofiesh stated in the newspaper that God told him to marry! and this claim was never dispute by the canonical authority of that time. The ethnic clergy will laugh and call it trivial and say it has no bearing - but this shows their lack of faith. They will speak lies for their church and attack long dead men of the Church for their own unchristian reasons. Since the claim was never formally disputed we view his marriage as Scriptural and going back to the early Church canons when bishops were allowed to marry. Since this canon was not adopted by all orthodox churches and a Greek author (details on another page) even acknowledges the
D. One ethnic jurisdiction took Abp. Ofiesh to court, contrary to the orthodox canons, and took our cathedral - more greed - they wanted property.
E. We feel the reason for the unchristian and unholy attacks in the writings against Abp. Ofiesh and the other clergy and this Church are simply that these ethnic jurisdictions want our territory. They have their own plans for an ethnic American orthodox Church. We feel its in the works and they intend to again usurp our canonical jurisdiction.
You can see in their writings how desperate these people are. They claim Abp. Ofiesh is responsible for the groups today claiming lines back to this Church. We have for years stated these claims are bogus. The majority of those in the independent movement who claim these lines, claim our Charter and even claim they are us under different names have no valid claim. Acts done by +Ignatius were after he left the Church and without a mandate. He co-consecrated and in orthodoxy the lines of the main consecrator are considered. In the ethnic orthodox jurisdictions most bishops basically all have the same lines from their bishops. On a rare occasion they might be assisted by a visiting bishop from another jurisdiction. Also in Orthodoxy a minimum of 3 bishops is required and letters from other bishops of that synod. In these independent cases the canons were not met. Abp. Ofiesh was the consecrator of Bp. Ignatius but the synod never issued a mandate for +Ignatius to go out and lay hands on anyone. These so called orthodox clergy find it easier to blame a man dead for over 40 years than to tell the truth.
we feel there has been an unholy alliance between certain ethnic jurisdictions to force an end to this Church. By their contined writings against men like Arhbishop Aftimios Ofiesh and Bishops Sophronius and Ignatius of Blessed Memory, to make them appear as unorthodox men who violated the canons repeatedly and pointing readers away from the repeated violations of canons by their jurisdictions. So we are here to help change the direction of who violated what canons.
You will also note that the ethnic or scoba writers on orthodoxwiki list us, a canonically established Orthodox Church, with the many independent churches that claim lines back to this early Church. This is just another effort on their part to make readers think we are just another independent group with no canonical authority or jurisdiction when it fact it is the oposite! They impose into our canonically established jurisdiction thus violating the canons and then try to mislead people into again thinking that we are the bad guys! Why, because in 1933 the Archbishop got married and that means we deserve to not be allowed to eist in any way, shape or form and that give's these ethnic jurisdictions the right to take over our jurisdiction - in their eyes! Canonically heir actions have caused a
For more information we suggest you review the pages on the
It should also be noted that many who claim these lines are of such doubtful origin and criminal background that any claim would have no standing in any arena in orthodoxy or elsewhere. In the lines of many of these so called independent groups you can find someone who acted after he was deposed or excommunicated by the synod he was originally with. Many are after titles, are actually old catholic in theology if they have any, and must go back 50 years or more to show some old letter and claim it shows their lines are recognized by so and so. We have researched such lines and histories.
Today it is the SCOBA jurisdictions who are the danger and threat to Orthodoxy. Any so called good clergy keep quiet while these others continue to write about this Church and clergy as if we are not orthodox, can never be orthodox and they can do no wrong!
It should be again noted here that Abp. Ofiesh may have violated the canons but it would appear this early Synod decided not to adopt or accept the canon on married bishops from comments published on orthodoxwili and also mentioned on another page on our website. It should also be mentioned that numerous clergy from other jurisdictions have also violated the canons sometimes in an effort to attack this Church (as we call it). Bp Germanious came to this country without approval, raised money, tried to take parishes from this Church and even accepted a suspended priest - inviolation of the canons. The Greek Abp. (Alexander) told Abp.Ofiesh that he (Alexander) was over all orthodox in America - showing the Ecumenical Patriarch and Greek Orthodox had no intention of ever recognizing this Church thus causing a Schism in American Orthodoxy. The Russian Patriarch (Moscow) chartered a second American church in 1970, 43 years after they Chartered us, violating the canons. But these ethnic or scoba "orthodox" want you to disregard those violations because it was against Abp. Ofiesh and this Church so they feel their actions were alright. No orthodox jurisdiction is blameless but to coninue spreading this false information shows that they lack Christian Charity and that they feel its alright to bend the truth in their favor. An example is how one sided and biased orthodoxwiki is.