Metropolitan Raphael (TOC-R) Meets Again with Bizarre Name-Worshipping Sect
On December 14 (NS), Metropolitan Raphael (Motovilov) of Moscow (of the TOC-R) sponsored another meeting with “Bishop” Gregory Lurye, the most prominent representative of the Russian Imyabozhist sect, this time in a more formal setting, along with other name-worshippers.
The theme of the meeting was, somewhat ironically, “What is True Orthodoxy?”
After reading from a variety of papers, the meeting was “friendly”, according to the official website of the TOC-R. After a friendly exchange of gifts, Archimandrite Adam, in charge of external relations of the TOC-R, was simply gushing. “By the results of last conference, I can to tell without disguising my joy that at the least, the program’s objectives were reached one hundred percent, namely – we found a common ground,” he said.
Gregory Lurye (sometimes spelled as “Lourie” in English) is a former priest of ROAC who was deposed for heresy and glorifying suicide among Russian youth. After his deposition, he found two deposed ROAC Bishops, convincing them to make him “Bishop of St Petersburg”. Lurye’s reception of communion at Holy Transfiguration Monastery in 2011 precipitated a split in the HOCNA, where the majority of the parishes fled to the Synod of Archbishop Kallinikos of Athens.
Metropolitan Raphael’s Synod is currently in communion with the American Metropolia, which has become increasingly insistent in its condemnation of the heresy of name-worshipping, as well as the Synod of the Patristic Calendar in Greece, which– according to Metropolitan John of New York– has condemned the heresy anew in Synod, although no formal statement has appeared in print on their part that we could confirm.
Which group does TOC-R stem off from? Also, the Church of the Patristic Calendar.
The short version:
The TOC-R was formed by a union of various groups (some of the Seraphimo-Gennadites, some were from UAOC splinters– there were 4 or 5 groups) which eventually united in 2003, if I remember correctly, which then elected Metropolitan Raphael as their head.
The TOC-PC was formed when Metropolitan Anghelos of Avlonos (originally elevated by the SiR, before moving to the Makarios Synod, then a brief period in communion with Antonio de Rosso) asked Metropolitan Evloghios of Milan to assist in consecrating Bishops for him. After making four Bishops, Milan accepted the Greeks as equals in their communion and they declared their Synod the “TOC of the Patristic Calendar”.
Shortly thereafter, Milan gave the Americans a Tomos of Autonomy and for a brief period, Milan, the American Metropolia, and the TOC-PC were all in communion. However, soon after, the TOC-PC entered into communion with the TOC-R. This led to Milan, under the guidance of Bishop Abundius, to push for union with Moscow and decisively reject communion with the TOC-PC.
The Americans retained communion with the TOC-PC and TOC-R.
Those actions caused a small splinter element in both Milan and the American Metropolia to vocally support the ecumenist Moscow Patriarchate, after which a confession was issued by our Synod and passed around the Synod clergy for review. Meanwhile, the splinter clergy secretly negotiated with the MP in the person of Hilarion (Kapral) of ROCOR.
After the majority of our clergy approved the statement, the defectors defected and our Church grew, the long-lived spectre of “Milanese” inconsistency finally gone for good.
A larger explanation of most of this stuff was actually reported on NFTU if you click on the keywords.
Seems that most people and synods associated (past and present) with Milan and it’s offshoots such as your America Metropolia are bizzare. All the spin doctoring you do can’t change this fact. http://kftu.blogspot.com/
We don’t have to do spin doctoring. All it takes is people to go to your website and realize you’re basically a psychopath, and not a very smart one. You and Joanna, you’re not representative of your Synod. The ROCOR-A and the GOC-K are filled with very good people, most of whom think you’re trolls. You can try to paint us however you want. What you don’t realize is that we’re Orthodox Christians, and our relations with other Orthodox go back decades.
It’ll take more than a sick little slander website to undermine that.
You just remember that when you die, you’ll be liable for all your slanders before the Lord our God.
Don’t say no one warned you.
We don’t claim to be representative of our synods. You yourself will be responsible for the slanders on your now private Cranky Yankee website and other places online over the many years you’ve been telling your tall tales. Now your still playing the part of the victim because you’ve been called out and bested. Typical narcissistic behavior on your part. Doesn’t matter how many lies you keep repeating, you are what you are and .it is what it is. I guess vagantes just can’t help being that way, they need to keep staking lie upon lie to keep the show going. But thinking about it i believe you may have really convinced yourself you are the truthful one, so I’ll forgive you as being ill and not being able to help yourself
There are no slanders on my website. You do have a criminal record, you are a real stalker, finding ways to get private information, particularly about people’s wives for reasons yet unknown. (I have my suspicions.) And then you do your perversion in the name of truth. You’re bothersome, and the only reason I allowed you on this forum was in the name of freedom of speech, even if it hurt me. But guess what you just did, Minas!
You just threw slanderous accusations out against a cleric.
Namely, me. So…. you’re banned.
P.S. “We don’t claim to be representative of our synods”.
This must be why you and Joanna maintain your own “curated” (read: censored) information portal, your own separate parish directory, and your own catechesis site.