Dear Father Theodore,<\/p>\n
Christ is in our midst!<\/p>\n
I received and read your letter with some sadness. (Father Herman is presendy on a month- long pilgrimage to Mt. Athos and won\u2019t be back for a week or so.) I had heard, rather briefly, from Fr. Chrysostomos and Fr. Auxentios about this incident, and then that they had left you to \u201csort things out for himself,\u201d and that they could expect no more \u201csupport\u201d from you. I was rather puzzled as to what this might mean, and only replied briefly to them that this trial would pass and they shouldn\u2019t let it upset them too much.<\/p>\n
We do not know Fr. Chrysostomos well. We began correspondence with him 10 or 11 years ago through a friend of ours who met him in southern California; I assumed at that time that he was a convert, though I haven\u2019t much of a memory for such things. He visited us once at our bookshop in San Francisco for a few hours, and we had a good visit (he had just returned from Greece, where he had visited Dr. Kalomiros and other Old Calendarists). Later he wrote a letter thanking us. Then, after our 1969 issue on \u201cWestern Orthodox monasticism\u201d we received a kind of \u201copen letter\u201d from him, which I believe he sent to Boston also, criticizing our use of the term \u201cWestern Orthodox\u201d; not a vicious letter, just critical and rather cold and \u201ccorrect\u201d in tone. Then we heard no more from him; we heard that he had gone to Jordanville to teach, but had been asked to leave in connection with some accusations he and some others had made of some seminarians. He seemed to suffer from the \u201ccorrectness and criticism\u201d disease of so many young zealous Orthodox people.<\/p>\n
After a few years we heard from him again when he was studying at Princeton (I think he was teaching there in the end), and we exchanged some short notes: he sent us a manuscript or two of his student friend (now Fr. Auxentios), promised to send a tape of one of Fr. Florovsky\u2019s lectures if he could, etc. He mentioned being close to Bishop Petros, then Metr. Akakios, and his grief at church politics. Then he was teaching at the University of California at Riverside (in southern California, near his home), and finally (probably no more than three years ago) revealed in confidence that he had formed a monastery with Fr. Auxentios. He sent photographs of the church, then of Metr. Akakios\u2019 visit to make him Archimandrite, and began\/to write much longer letters, together with his monthly church bulletin (there was a small parish attached to the monastery). He mentioned Fr. Panteleimon, at first hesitantly, and I told him freely that not everyone in our Church followed the \u201cBoston party line,\u201d and it was possibly for us to have communion with Greek Old Calendarists who were not \u201capproved in Boston.\u201d I read his letters with great sympathy, seeing him as someone broken and humbled by his own over-critical approach in earlier years, as well as by the factions and jealousies of the Greek Old Calendarist movement. Fr. Herman, however (who is sharper psychologically) noted that his letters were too humble and too complicated, and that he probably wasn\u2019t too different from the other Greek factions we already knew about.<\/p>\n
Well, all this is the basis of whatever knowledge we have of Fr. Chrysostomos, and it isn\u2019t enough to explain what happened between you. (I imagine that Fr. Herman will not find it too surprising, however.) Apparently, he has some deep personal insecurity about something, and the church situation sets it off. His getting so angry at obviously untrue accusations must be a psychological mechanism for defending himself [against] the deeper attack he feels against his \u201cweak point,\u201d whatever it is. I myself have a feeling that it is all somehow bound up with the great problem of our present-day Orthodoxy (where it tries to be serious and faithful to tradition): too much calculation and not enough heart. We\u2019ve seen this in Father Panteleimon, in Dr. Kalomiros (especially when he formed his own schism over the iconographic depiction of God the Father), in the priests who follow the \u201cBoston line,\u201d in numerous converts; well, why look further\u2014I see it in myself, it\u2019s part of the air we breathe in our \u201cenlightened,\u201d mind-oriented times. Russian priests seem to be freest of it, and I think there\u2019s hope for us converts too, if we suffer enough.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think you need to doubt the genuineness of the good you received from Fr. Chrysostomos; it\u2019s just that now you see his weak side also. God knows if your relationship with him will ever be anything like what it was. Perhaps, indeed, you were \u201cused,\u201d when his calculation overcame his good heart; but perhaps this calculation itself is only the slave of his deeper emotions.<\/p>\n
Well, we are all flawed. Perhaps that is the great spiritual fact of our times\u2014that all the teachers are flawed, there are no great elders left, but only \u201cpart-time\u201d spiritual teachers who spend part of their time undoing their good works. We should be thankful for the good teaching we can get, but sober and cautious.<\/p>\n
The lesson to you is probably: sobriety. Yes, you should trust your heart (I\u2019m sure Fr. Herman will agree with me)\u2014what thing better do we have? Certainly not our calculating mind. I don\u2019t think you will be harmed by the trust you gave Fr. Chrysostomos; the good he did will stay with you, if you stay humble and sober. (If you did give him excessive trust, in the guru-sense, then you are suffering the punishment for it now; but that should pass.) But your own conscience and heart have to speak; totally blind obedience simply isn\u2019t possible, especially in our times. In your future relationship with him (if he will allow it), you will just have to keep trusting your heart, I think. Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov\u2019s constant advice to the Christians of the last times is: there are no elders left, check all teaching against the Gospel (of course, not in the sense of \u201ccalculating\u201d to see where the teacher is wrong\u2014but naturally, with the heart and conscience).<\/p>\n
Fr. Chrysostomos wanted to stop his correspondence with us over this incident, being afraid our friendship with him would \u201ctaint\u201d us. We wrote to him that if we were going to be on anyone\u2019s \u201cblack list\u201d we were probably already on it, and that our friendship with him had nothing to do with politics. I gather from Fr. Auxentios that at least part of their reason for cutting you off was to protect Fr. Chrysostomos from any taint of controversy, which upsets him terribly. (He had some kind of heart attack over this whole incident.) Of course, one of the reasons why it upsets him is, apparently, because he likes to get into the thick of it himself. His cutting you off is probably as \u201cescape\u201d for him, but the drasticness of it shows that it is not very rational. Fr. Hilarion of Jordanville once wondered aloud to me whether Fr. Chrysostomos might have a \u201cpersecution complex,\u201d and perhaps that is the case (whatever precisely it might mean).<\/p>\n
Years ago, when Fr. Herman and I were young and naive, we dreamed of a vigorous, single- minded movement of zealous Orthodoxy among young converts, Russians, Greeks, etc. Alas, we have become older and wiser and no longer expect much. All our confessors of Orthodoxy have their all- too-human side also. We had great confidence in Fr. Panteleimon for a while, until we saw the cold and callous way he and his followers \u201cdropped\u201d those who deviated from the \u201cparty line\u201d; then we saw the blindness with which he followers repeated even his minor opinions (and kept to them even when he abandoned them!), and we began to hear from his critics in Greece also (it\u2019s astonishing how he has alienated his one-time friends there). Fr. Neketas Palassis virtually cut us off cold when he saw we weren\u2019t accepting the \u201cparty directives,\u201d even on such debatable questions as grace among the New Calendarists, the Shroud of Turin, and evolution. We had a good correspondence with Dr. Kalomiros for a while, and then he also dropped us, apparently because we dared to disagree with him over \u201cevolution\u201d (I thought it was just a friendly debate, but apparently it was more important to him than that). We still have a good correspondence with Bishop Cyprian, whom you met, who seems the most moderate of the Old Calendarists we know; but we don\u2019t know him too well. In so many Orthodox zealots, it seems to me, there is an intellectual narrowness, combined with some kind of political orientation, that produces factions right and left and loses sight of the \u201ccommon task\u201d which we thought (and still think) is so clear, especially when you contrast it with the crude renovationism that is going on now in the Metropolia, Greek Archdiocese, etc.<\/p>\n
We ourselves try to keep peace with everyone, but don\u2019t conceal our opinions when we see someone trying to force narrow personal opinions on the Church (as in the \u201crebaptism\u201d controversy a few years ago in England, which produced such unnecessary schisms both on the right and left). For a while we were upset with Fr. Panteleimon\u2019s seeming attempt to \u201ctake over\u201d Church opinion and tell everyone what to think in order to be \u201ccorrect\u201d; but we see now that there is a \u201csilent minority\u201d (or perhaps even majority) of our priests who don\u2019t follow the party line, and we are calmer about it. After all, parties come and go, but it is God Who governs His Church. In the meantime, we rejoice whenever we see anyone trying to be fervent in Orthodoxy and minding his own business; that\u2019s why Fr. Chrysostomos\u2019 \u201cpolitical fit\u201d is so sad. Maybe (God grant it!) this is just something that will pass, and when he sees the \u201cthreat\u201d is not so great he will return to normal.<\/p>\n
Of late we\u2019ve had another grief. Fr. Lev Puhalo is out to \u201cget\u201d us. We\u2019ve seen his letters to Jordanville and elsewhere (a couple of which he sent to us himself), and he means to \u201cexpose\u201d our teaching on life after death as (apparently) being utterly under \u201cWestern influence\u201d and to be totally discarded. We\u2019re in good company, as he places us in the same camp with Jordanville publications on the subject as he well as the \u201cghastly teaching of Archbishop John Maximovitch.\u201d (He will also have to attack Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninovs teaching, but I don\u2019t know if he realizes it yet.) His idea seems to be to show how \u201csophisticated\u201d and \u201ctheological\u201d he is, and how \u201csimple and naive\u201d the rest of us are for believing the \u201cmoral fables\u201d in the Lives of Saints (which are also there in the writings of the Fathers, however)\u2014without realizing it, he\u2019s a real \u201cmodernist\u201d! We\u2019re not too upset about it\u2014I think he\u2019ll just burn himself out with these irrational attacks\u2014but it\u2019s sad to think of the unnecessary confusion he is spreading. Even Fr. Neketas Palassis sponsors his strange teaching that the soul is \u201cunconscious\u201d after death\u2014which I\u2019m sure Fr. Lev only invented because he can\u2019t stand the \u201ctoll-houses\u201d! For all our sympathy for \u201cunderdogs,\u201d we can\u2019t see Fr. Lev as anything but an unbalanced opportunist who will just cause trouble in the Church until he finally collapses. If this is the result of the \u201cPatristic revival\u201d (whose coat-tails he\u2019s trying to ride), then we don\u2019t need it! One can find and manipulate Patristic quotes to \u201cprove\u201d just about anything; what is really needed is a deeper reading and drawing from the writings of the Fathers (which is not being done too much nowadays, as far as I can see).<\/p>\n
But we also have joys. Fr. Alexey Young was ordained here a few weeks ago in order to take care of our little mission in Medford, Oregon. Fr. Herman and I were serving this mission once a month, but then the group decided we were too \u201cstrict\u201d and called in the OCA. The priest came was so modernist that part of the group was shocked and decided they wanted the \u201cold Orthodoxy\u201d after all and called us back; and of course they\u2019re more satisfied with Fr. Alexey because we\u2019re \u201cmonks\u201d and a little too much for them. The leader of the group is a Russian lady from Shanghai, and despite her worldliness it seems that the memory of her childhood Orthodoxy stood up for her and she felt the difference. Please pray for Fr. Alexey\u2014it will be difficult for him.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sorry I don\u2019t have any real advice for you in your grief, unless it\u2019s just one word: yes, trust your heart and conscience, and don\u2019t do anything to violate them. If Fr. Chrysostomos will let you back in his favor without demanding politics of you, well and good; you will already be wiser and more sober. Probably you will have to wait a while before trying to contact him again, if you then feel you should. If he doesn\u2019t change his mind, then apparendy you will have to leave him with his own problems, which evidently are great. May God have mercy on us all! Pray for him. A monastic community, because of its close-knit character, can sometimes be a tense place, and the devil attacks it more powerfully than other places.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, don\u2019t give up spiritual life just because you have no immediate guide! The Fathers still speak to us through their writings (have you read Unseen Warfare recently?), and life itself is a teacher if we try to live humbly and soberly, and once in a while you may get a good word of advice from somewhere. Treasure everything good (it\u2019s good to keep a diary of it), and don\u2019t grieve at what you don\u2019t have!<\/p>\n
Fr. Dimitry Dudko, by the way, is good to read\u2014I think on the whole he speaks more to the heart of Orthodox Christians than just about anyone else today. (Of course, he has his mistakes also.) We’ve received two brief notes from him\u2014all the rest of our correspondence with him is probably in the GPU files.<\/p>\n
Pray for us strugglers. We have very few laborers (our one novice, a simple boy, was just dragged away by his parents, and he was too weak to resist), and we are surrounded mainly by women and children. I guess this is supposed to humble us, and it certainly does make us think differently than if we were surrounded by \u201cdisciples.\u201d God is with us, and we have many joys. We remember you with much love. Hopefully, Fr. Herman will have a word for you when he returns. Pray for him. On his last postcard he says he might have a chance to go to Romania to venerate the relics of Blessed Paisius, and the thought is rather frightening\u2014too close to the Russian NKVD, and Fr. Herman\u2019s father was an \u201cenemy of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
With love in Christ,<\/p>\n
P.s. Fr. Auxentios has just written us a new letter, concerning new rumors about Fr. Chrysostomos (that he is a spiritualist and believes in reincarnation), which he is afraid will get to Fr. Chrysostomos. He writes that Fr. C. is \u201cseriously ill, and incapable both physically and mentally…. The doctor tells us that Father needs complete rest and no outside interference…. Suddenly I have seen a human being destroyed right in front of me.\u201d<\/p>\n
I have great pity for this man, a part of whose suffering is certainly due to the unhealthy church situation of our times (which sometimes gives me a sinking feeling also, especially all the un- Christian criticism, in the name of Christian truth, of people who at least are trying to struggle and keep the Faith). I don\u2019t know what we can do to help him\u2014but let us increase our prayer and love! Your suffering over him is given you, I am sure, in order to deepen your Christianity and make you better able to help other sufferers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Father Theodore, Christ is in our midst! I received and read your letter with some sadness. (Father Herman is presendy on a month- long pilgrimage to Mt. Athos and won\u2019t be back for a week or so.) I had heard, rather briefly, from Fr. Chrysostomos and Fr. Auxentios about this incident, and then that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1446\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}