The Shepherd, June 2007

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NEWS SECTION, 4

ON MID-PENTECOST, 19.04/02.05.2007, Abbess Macrina and the sisters of the Lesna Icon Convent in Normandy, France, announced their departure from ROCOR.  “Our monastery will be under the jurisdiction of the True Orthodox Church of Russia.  Beginning on Tuesday evening with the Vespers of the feast, we will [commemorate] His Grace, the Most Reverend Archbishop Tikhon, Archbishop of Omsk and Siberia, as our ruling hierarch.  Many of you know our unwillingness to accept the pending union of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Church Abroad and of our reluctance to follow that path.  Our decision was not made lightly.  We gave it much thought, sought the advice of many, prayed hard and wept throughout this troubled time.  Sincerely and from the bottom of our hearts we thank our many, many friends and well-wishers, from many different jurisdictions, holding the most varied opinions and headed in various directions, for the assistance that they have offered and for the support that they have voiced as we struggled to come to the right decision in choosing a new path for our monastery.  We understand that not everyone will agree with us, but we ask you to believe that we have acted according to our conscience, and that we felt we could not decide otherwise without betraying our past, our heavenly protectors, our instructors and the sisters who have gone before us.  We do not press anyone to follow us, we do not condemn anyone, nor consider them to be ‘without grace’ or ‘outside the Church.’  Our times are very complicated and treacherous and it is truly difficult to come to a decision and to discern the best way without being swayed by one’s passions.  We do not feel that we have the right to condemn anyone that has come to different conclusions in these matters.  The great majority of our sisters support our decision.  We will not force anyone to comply with it.  And we will assist those sisters that decide otherwise to find homes with other monastic communities.  Some of you have expressed doubts about various jurisdictions, pointing out the weaknesses, mistakes or faults of certain hierarchs.  We wish to clarify that we did not choose hierarchs that we liked personally, but the Church body and path that we felt best preserved and perpetuated the teachings and traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.…  Ever since its foundation in a largely non-Orthodox area on the borders of the Russian Empire, our monastery has been open to all that seek God and the Truth, and such, God willing, it shall always remain. All pilgrims to our miracle-working Icon of the Mother of God of Lesna or wishing to venerate our many other spiritual treasures will always be welcome, and we will accomodate them as best we can according to our means and our monastic rules.  In questions regarding participation in our liturgical life and in the Sacraments we will be guided by the instructions of our hierarchs.…  We humbly ask your prayers for us as we embark on this new path.  Metropolitan Philaret, who considered Lesna his summer home, left us the words “…that which ye have already hold fast…” (Rev. 2:25) as his last testament, and such is our intention.  The recently reposed Metropolitan Vitaly, who twice convened Church Councils at our monastery, ended his days in exile and poverty, and we do not fear a similar fate.  Our sense of the unceasing protection of the Most Holy Mother of God, St. John of Kronstadt’s letter preserved here, promising not to abandon our monastery, the appearance of St. John of Shanghai to the guardian of his chapel in San Francisco, reminding him that Lesna needed help, and the recent news that the remains of our foundress, Abbess Catherine, were discovered incorrupt, fill us with hope and strengthen our faith in the prayers and intercession on our behalf in heaven.  And we ask your prayers for us sinners.”

Our own Brotherhood here in Brookwood only wishes that we had been able to express our thoughts so eloquently and beautifully when, at Christmas time, for similar reasons we took the decision to leave an ailing ROCOR for the Synod in Resistance of the Greek Orthodox Church.

DEACON Father Nicholas Chernjavsky, several Subdeacons and Reader, and a small group of faithful, after petitioning to be accepted, have been received from ROCOR into the Holy Synod in Resistance (SiR), Archbishop Chrysostomos of Etna has announced.  “This group of individuals, feeling that they were unable to follow the ROCA into union with the Moscow Patriarchate, will form a parish community in Rochester, New York, dedicated to the Ascension of Christ and to the New Martyrs of Russia.… With the blessing of Metropolitan Cyprian, Fr Nicholas will shortly be ordained a Presbyter to serve as pastor of the new community, which will meet in temporary facilities until, eventually, a proper Church can be built.…  Fr Nicholas has been told that he will be granted a release from the ROCA, which is certainly a kindness and a sign of cordiality that he and we, also, immensely appreciate.  It is refreshing to see that, despite differences and sad separations, Church leaders and faithful, alike, can act in a charitable and Christian way, recognizing the primacy of conscience that will one day, no doubt, lead again to unity within the traditions of the Church.…  I would ask that all of you pray for this small community and welcome them into the small but resolutely unified circles of the American Exarchate of our Church.  I will provide news as the Ascension community’s plans are reified and as it grows, as I am sure, by God’s Grace, it will.”

RUSSIA’S PARLIAMENT has voted to restore the communist-era hammer and sickle to the official flag of the Russian Army.  According to a BBC rnews report on 5th May: “It is expected President Vladimir Putin will ratify the move in time for next week’s commemorations marking the end of World War II in Europe.  If so, Russians will again have the Soviet version of the victory banner for next week’s Victory in Europe parade in Moscow.  For many Russians, especially the elderly, its symbolism is immense.  The red banner, together with the hammer, sickle and a white star, was the one raised on the Reichstag roof on May 1, 1945.”

ONE of the longest-lasting converts to Holy Orthodoxy in this country, Sue Rawlinson, died on the Church celebration of the Great Martyr George in Bath, Somerset, where for the last few years she had made her home.  Except that it was on Saint Panteleimon’s day, when exactly Sue became Orthodox is lost in the mists of time, although it was about 50 years ago.  She was received at the Moscow Patriarchal Cathedral at Ennismore Gardens, but shortly afterwards transferred her allegiance to the Church in Exile at Emperor’s Gate.  She then lived in Bromley, and she became a regular attender at the old Russian Church, and was, as the present writer can vouch, a great help to many of the converts who came through.  When she retired to Bath, she attended the Parish of St John of Kronstadt in Lyncombe Hill (ŒP), where she received great kindness and support.  Her funeral, on Monday 14th May, was held in St Mary’s Church, Bathwick, and led by Fr Seraphim Johnson, who made a very moving tribute.  The choir sang beautifully, and after the service we were offered refreshments at the home of Sue’s neice, Emma, on Combe Down.  On the next day, Mother Sarah from Bath and a group of Sue’s relatives came to Brookwood, where her body was laid to rest in the Orthodox Cemetery.  May her rest be with the Saints and her Memory Eternal!   Please remember the newly-departed handmaid of God, Susanna, in your prayers.

GOYGB, the Greek Orthodox Youth of Great Britain, are holding their Summer Camp  for people aged 9 to 17, between 25th July and 3rd August this year, near Shrewsbury in Shropshire.  Further details are avalaible from Olga Papadopoulos, 20 Woodriffe Road, London E11 1AH;  tel: 020 8556 3180;  e-mail: info@goygbcamp.org.uk.  Or we are sure Liggy will help anyone in the parish here.

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