The Shepherd, March 2010
NEWS SECTION
SERBIAN BISHOP ARTEMIJE REMOVED
THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH (SPC) has, temporarily removed His Grace, Bishop Artemije from administering the Rasko-Prizren Diocese. According to RADE: “It was stated that a process will begin against Artemije for confirming canonical responsibilities, after the Synod confirmed that he was incapable of responsibly running his eparchy and implementing the decisions of the Synod and Church leadership. The SPC Synod met earlier in the week to discuss Artemije after he refused to cooperate with a commission of bishops sent to investigate financial affairs at the Gračanica monastery, which is the seat of the Kosovo eparchy. Eparchy of Bačka Bishop Irinej said that Artemije’s suspension will last until the investigation is completed, adding that none of his eparchial rights will be taken from him, but he will not have any control over the work of the eparchy” (?). A further report notes that Bishop Artemije refused to bless the U.S. Vice President, Joseph Biden’s visit to the Visoki Dečani monastery in Kosovo, stating “The American vice-president is coming to visit Kosovo as an independent country, to confirm the violent secession of a part of the territory of the state of Serbia and its transfer into the hands of terrorists, who, unpunished, committed countless crimes against Serbian people, property and religious and cultural heritage.” However, the Synod considered Bishop Artemije’s statement ran counter to the traditional Christian principles of hospitality, “deeply rooted in the Serbian people, and especially in their monasteries.” Several hundred religious followers of the Bishop, monks, and priests, gathered in front of the Patriarchate building in Belgrade during the Synod meeting, to protest on behalf of their Archpastor. His Grace is one of the most outspoken opponents of Ecumenism within the Serbian Church, and, whether or not there are legitimate reasons for suspending his administration of his diocese because of some malpractice, many of his supporters at home and abroad have expressed the view that the real reason for his suspension is his vehement opposition to that heresy. As one wrote to us, perhaps overstating the case but, nonetheless, expressing their anguish at this move: “The last thing that Bishop Artemije’s spiritual children thought would happen in their everyday suffering in the land of Kosovo would be that they would be persecuted by their own bishops and clergy.”
METROPOLITAN HILARION (MP)
THE 43 YEAR-OLD chairman of the Department of the External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate was, on 1st February raised to the rank of Metropolitan at a Liturgy to celebrate the first anniversary of the enthronement of His Holiness Patriarch Kyrill of Moscow and All Russia. Metropolitan Hilarion had been raised to Archbishop only last Pascha. He is known to Orthodox Christians in this country, because from 1993 to 1995 he studied at Oxford, and, for a short period in 2001, he served as a Vicar Bishop in the Diocese of Sourozh. He was then appointed as the MP’s Head of the Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church to the European Institutions in Brussels, and for some time has been a permanent member of the Synod of the Patriarchate. His Eminence is also a member of the Executive and Central Committees of the World Council of Churches, and of the Presidium of ‘Faith and Order’ Commission, and has taken a key rôle in the dialogues between the Roman Catholic Church and the Moscow Patriarchate.
NEW RUSSIAN CATHEDRAL FOR PARIS
THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations reported on 9th February: “On 8 February 2010, French authorities announced that the Russian Federation had won the contest for purchasing a plot of land in the seventh district of Paris on the bank of the River Seine not far from the Eiffel Tower. At present, the plot is occupied by the building of Meteo France. According to the Russian Presidential Administration, a religious and cultural centre with an Orthodox church would be built there after Meteo France moves to another building, TV Channel 1 reports. During his visit to France in 2007, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia expressed his wish to build a Russian Orthodox church in Paris in his talk with President Nicolas Sarkozy of the French Republic.” The site itself is reported to have cost 60 million euros, and the proposed development will run to several billion more, according to Islamic News (the Saudis had an interest in the site).
Some years ago, Moscow put forward the idea of an autonomous Metropolia for all Orthodox of the Russian tradition in Western Europe. This proposal was strongly opposed by the Paris Exarchate of the Œcumenical Patriarchate, centred on the nineteenth century Cathedral of St Alexander Nevsky on rue Daru. Anticipating and following the rapprochement of the Church Abroad with Moscow, the former’s presence in much of the region fragmented, causing more, rather than less, jurisdictional disunity. So it seemed that the idea was stillborn. But perhaps not. Now with a Metropolitan eminently equipped to lead such an autonomous church (see above) and a Cathedral and centre in Paris, the Moscow Patriarchate might well be following the policy rebuked in Esaias 5:8, as has been suggested in various postings by people in the Russian emigration, alarmed by these developments. In fact, although this reaction is entirely understandable, there is no need for alarm; we, as Orthodox Christians, are called to remain faithful, even as the little flock, not to seize worldly influence, position and power.
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