The Shepherd, April 2008
NEWS SECTION
REPOSE OF METROPOLITAN LAVR
ON THE SUNDAY OF ORTHODOXY, we heard from Fr Michael Taratuchin in the States and then from Archimandrite George from the Jordanville Monastery of the repose that very morning of Metropolitan Lavr, the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad - Moscow Patriarchate (ROCA-MP). The next morning we remembered the late Metropolitan, who in May 2005 blessed the site of our new monastic house here, in a memorial service, and we informed as many of our parishioners as possible of his demise asking their prayers for him, and we have continued to remember him in our litanies for the departed. To express our sentiments at this time, we cannot do better than quote from a beautiful pastoral letter issued by His Grace Bishop Andronik of Richmond and New York, who writes: “The death of anyone is always an occurrence that evokes particular feelings and thoughts in all of us. The death of the last ROCOR metropolitan, Metropolitan Lavr, a name which we commemorated in the holy altars not so long ago, causes us to feel doubly sad. A year has not even passed since the Church Abroad, under his pastoral omofor, split into two parts. God in His wisdom made the circumstances of the passing of His Eminence Met. Lavr especially noteworthy, in that it occurred on the day when Christians celebrate the Triumph of Orthodoxy. This compels us to seriously consider once again the division in the Church Abroad and evaluate it from an Orthodox standpoint. The spiritual life of every Christian and cleric of the Church of Christ should be ruled by the Holy Canons and by Truth. This is what governed the actions of those ROCA faithful who remained within their Church,* and we hope, also ruled the actions of those who decided to merge with Moscow. What should we say in regard to the passing of the newly-reposed Metropolitan Lavr? That he was a monk since childhood and unique in his capacity as a bishop? What words are really important now to the soul of the reposed? Certainly, they are the words of our prayers for the salvation of his soul. We send our sincerest condolences to everyone who shares our sorrow and we hope that the ROCOR (MP) episcopate, its clergy and laypeople find in themselves the spiritual strength to overcome the spiritual inertia that has been created in their part of the Church Abroad and return to be one with us, their brothers and sisters within the original ROCA.”
* Here, of course, Bishop Andronik means those who did not accept the rapprochement with the Moscow Patriarchate and stayed with Bishop Agafangel.
KIEV CAVES TO BE “NATIONALIZED”
UKRAINE’S President Victor Yushchenko issued a decree (#57/2008) on 25th February, stating, on the basis of Articles 54 and 102 of the Constitution, the necessity of “creating appropriate conditions for Kyiv (Kiev) to fulfill the functions of Ukraine’s capital.” He stresses the need to preserve cultural heritage objects, including objects which are owned by religious organizations or transferred to their use. The transferal of the Kyivan Monastery of the Caves to state ownership appears as the first item on the list of “urgent measures on preservation, renewal and protection of the historical and cultural environment of the capital.”
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