Posted on 06/01/2007 2:28:45 PM PDT by kawaii
Erie cleric 'used as pawn' in Russian church rift
An ailing elderly Erie bishop is being drawn into what could be a new schism in the Russian Orthodox Church.
A group that wants to establish a new church authority claims Bishop Daniel of Erie is on their side but is being held under "house arrest."
But Bishop Daniel, 76, who uses only a first name like other bishops in his church, said Thursday he wants nothing to do with efforts to split that church.
"I am against it," he said.
Bishop Daniel spoke to the Erie Times-News in his home the day after reports appeared in English on the LiveJournal Web site that he was being held in unsanitary conditions.
As the bishop sat in a chair in his neat but simply decorated Erie living room Thursday, he called those reports "a plain lie."
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Three out-of-town priests visited the bishop's home May 22, and it's an account of that visit at "Nathanael Speaks!" on LiveJournal that includes the claims of house arrest.
None of the men, identified online as Hegumen Andronik, Father Sergei Serzhanov and Protodeacon Iov Chemerov, could be reached by the Erie Times-News. A fourth man, Father Victor Dobroff, who reportedly was monitoring the event by cell phone, also could not be reached.
During their visit, Bishop Daniel signed a document stating he "formed a provisional supreme ecclesiastical authority." On Thursday, Bishop Daniel said, "I realized too late I should not have done that."
In the document, which Bishop Daniel said he didn't compose, he gives his assent to efforts by Bishop Agafangel of the Ukraine to establish the authority.
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(Excerpt) Read more at goerie.com ...
ping
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The Bishop in question, Daniel, is the vicar for Old Believers in union with ROCOR. He is very well known in ROCOR circles. Here’s some background to what is going on: http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/eng2007/5eneriesimon.htm
I’m on a few ROCOR mailing list, and a few people from our parish speak regularly with Vladika Laur. I’m reasonably up to date on goings on.
It makes me very very sad though when schismatics try to coerce old Bishops into supporting them... it’s happened countless times but it’s still sad.
What these schismatics are trying to do to Bishop Daniel is a total disgrace!
indeed.
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