Inconsistency Amongst Our Clergy/Hierarchs

[buzuxi02]

Leonova has been allowed to serve on the diocesan council of the OCA's Diocese of New England, and has had her articles published on the OCA youth blog. She may not have gotten on Nightline, yet, but she has been taken to represent the Orthodox faith in public settings.

How the heck does she get her stuff published in an Orthodox youth blog??? On these blogs, can someone be appojnted to counter her opinion?

 

[GregConstantine]

"How the heck does she get her stuff published in an Orthodox youth blog???"

What a fantastic question!

 

[GregConstantine]

"Yeah I have to give him props, usually at his age the last thing on ones mine is a Christian campus ministry."

lol! at my age? how old do you think I am?
that's funny!

 

[ArmyMatt]

Once you start doing that, you make it a public issue, so Matt, sorry, but if Leonova wanted this to stay between her and her father confessor, she should have kept it between her and him, but she didn't, she has taken it publicly, just as Matt Hembeich has, and like Matt H, has attempted/is attempting to influence our youth to adapt their heresy.

I have no problem with you pointing out her errors. I myself have taken her on in debates and everything under the sun when it comes to this stuff. I know she is off. I just don't see the wisdom in ranting and raving on an internet thread that she is not even a part of. I see what you are saying to be legit, I just don't think this is the best forum to do so. like someone said, write her bishop.

 

[katherine2001]

Indeed. Sometimes the Lord calls us to silence. No different with his hierarchs. Sometimes perhaps the Lord wants them to stay silent on something and focus on other issues. We just don't know God's will. What I DO know is that I sure wouldn't want to have to be a bishop or patriarch!

There's a reason we pray "again and again" for our patriarchs and bishops at the Divine Liturgy! They're under constant diabolical attack. They're "high value targets" in Satan's eyes. We need to pray for them and wish them the best, and be patient when they do screw up.

! We also need to pay for our priests. Satan knows that if he can attack the bishops and the priests, he can damage the flocks. Satan will do anything he can to attack our bishops and priests.

 

[buzuxi02]

"Yeah I have to give him props, usually at his age the last thing on ones mine is a Christian campus ministry."

lol! at my age? how old do you think I am?
that's funny!

Well alot of times im off. There's many here I consider real young then they mention their grown children. But I remember you went to some boring orthodox singles event where all you are asked is whether you were russian or greek. So how old can you possibly be.

 

[Damaris]

I have no problem with you pointing out her errors. I myself have taken her on in debates and everything under the sun when it comes to this stuff. I know she is off. I just don't see the wisdom in ranting and raving on an internet thread that she is not even a part of. I see what you are saying to be legit, I just don't think this is the best forum to do so. like someone said, write her bishop.

Leonova attends her bishop's cathedral. The dean there wrote an article a few years ago that boiled down to saying active homosexuals interested in Orthodoxy should not be held to the 'rubric of repentance'. I am not sure what you expect to come of contacting the bishop.

 

[Damaris]

! We also need to pay for our priests. Satan knows that if he can attack the bishops and the priests, he can damage the flocks. Satan will do anything he can to attack our bishops and priests.

I know you meant "pray", but paying the priest is certainly also necessary, so thanks for pointing that out.

 

[GregConstantine]

"I am not sure what you expect to come of contacting the bishop."

you hit the nail on the head.

So Matt, that is why her Bishop will not be contacted, or, at least not contacted by me. Hopefully, when we contact our hierarchs in the Antiochian Archdiocese to discuss the Matt Hembeich issue, as stated before, the Leonova issue will be discussed as well, that they will contact her bishop. For both are somewhat related in that there is a lack of decisive action or inconsistent action taken to both issues by our hierarchs, and both are threatening to our youth.

I'm sorry, but I'm not going to bury my head in the sand and hide behind some kind of false piety. Both Leonova and Hembaich went public with their heresies and therefore, opened themselves to public scrutiny and criticism. They also have as their target our youth. No one, lay or clergy, should stand by while our youth are in danger of being led astray, and in the case of Matt H, a real potential for actual physical danger.

As for my age, I'm in my 30's, so I'm not too old, lol

 

[katherine2001]

Leonova attends her bishop's cathedral. The dean there wrote an article a few years ago that boiled down to saying active homosexuals interested in Orthodoxy should not be held to the 'rubric of repentance'. I am not sure what you expect to come of contacting the bishop.

Wow!

 

[Cappadocious]

Why is it that when someone with white supremacy/nationalistic beliefs get excommunicated (not that I necessarily disagree with that decision)

...do you?

 

[gzt]

Let me know when Inga stands on a streetcorner shouting at people and gets into physical altercations about it. Or when people mistake her for actually teaching Orthodoxy vs trying to get it to change - two other distinctions.

 

[rusmeister]

Let me know when Inga stands on a streetcorner shouting at people and gets into physical altercations about it. Or when people mistake her for actually teaching Orthodoxy vs trying to get it to change - two other distinctions.

It is obvious to me that such people do in fact teach Orthodoxy - what they think it should be. Like GKC said, to be orthodox is to be right. As far as I can tell, she is not leaving to go somewhere else; she is trying to change the teachings of the Church from within, as a professing Orthodox Christian, which is the core definition of heresy. The heretic (who begins by having become Orthodox) thinks the established teaching of the Church to be wrong and himself (herself) to be right.

 

[~Anastasia~]

It is obvious to me that such people do in fact teach Orthodoxy - what they think it should be. Like GKC said, to be orthodox is to be right. As far as I can tell, she is not leaving to go somewhere else; she is trying to change the teachings of the Church from within, as a professing Orthodox Christian, which is the core definition of heresy.

Dare I ask how the Church would normally handle such things?

 

[ArmyMatt]

Leonova attends her bishop's cathedral. The dean there wrote an article a few years ago that boiled down to saying active homosexuals interested in Orthodoxy should not be held to the 'rubric of repentance'. I am not sure what you expect to come of contacting the bishop.

not the one in Boston, where her bishop is. she goes to the cathedral in Connecticut. so something actually might come from contacting the bishop, especially since he is the locum tenens of the South and the bishop of the Albanian Archdiocese in addition to New England.

 

[ArmyMatt]

So Matt, that is why her Bishop will not be contacted, or, at least not contacted by me. Hopefully, when we contact our hierarchs in the Antiochian Archdiocese to discuss the Matt Hembeich issue, as stated before, the Leonova issue will be discussed as well, that they will contact her bishop. For both are somewhat related in that there is a lack of decisive action or inconsistent action taken to both issues by our hierarchs, and both are threatening to our youth.

I'm sorry, but I'm not going to bury my head in the sand and hide behind some kind of false piety. Both Leonova and Hembaich went public with their heresies and therefore, opened themselves to public scrutiny and criticism. They also have as their target our youth. No one, lay or clergy, should stand by while our youth are in danger of being led astray, and in the case of Matt H, a real potential for actual physical danger

.

Greg, I just said before that you should go to town in terms of fixing this, and not hold back. I even said that I also have taken up this issue with her. what I said was I do not see the point in a thread on a forum she does not even go on to rant and rave about this. I see the spirit and I think it's great, I just see no practical results on here.

I hope that for her own sake she is refused communion for this, and I hope that if you contact your heirarchs something can get going. I certainly don't want anyone to put their head in the sand about any of this. I would think you would know me well enough that I don't do that Greg.

 

[rusmeister]

Dare I ask how the Church would normally handle such things?

Normally clergy are quickly removed from active service and laity denied communion, certainly in Russia. In my neck of the woods we have a priest who decided that the Russian Church's formal statement of its relation to the state and to other faiths was too ecumenical - heretically so in his opinion, and after going over everybody's head, appealing to the Patriarch, etc etc, he was excommunicated and is in some "True Orthodox Church" that has some affiliation in Greece. His picture hangs outside our church with a short explanation and a request not to ask for blessings or priestly offices from him.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Normally clergy are quickly removed from active service and laity denied communion, certainly in Russia. In my neck of the woods we have a priest who decided that the Russian Church's formal statement of its relation to the state and to other faiths was too ecumenical - heretically so in his opinion, and after going over everybody's head, appealing to the Patriarch, etc etc, he was excommunicated and is in some "True Orthodox Church" that has some affiliation in Greece. His picture hangs outside our church with a short explanation and a request not to ask for blessings or priestly offices from him.

Well, the first sentence makes sense, and is what I would have expected. There has not been much talk of discipline while I have been looking into all of this. I think most people do what they are supposed to do, and if they don't, it's a matter between them and the priest.

I guess once it gets to higher levels, I had no idea.

I'm going to have to think about the last part. The picture hangs outside? I'm guessing there is some significance to that, rather than just making it more public, but also being outside the church, or something similar? And I had to look up "priestly offices" but I can't find anything other than basically office of priest, and I'm guessing that's not something one approaches a priest to ask for anyway - so since you said blessings, I'm guessing maybe not to ask for anything sacramental, etc? That makes sense.

Thanks for the reply. I was just curious on that part, but your reply was interesting. I wouldn't have thought of those things regarding the priest.

 

[Damaris]

.

Greg, I just said before that you should go to town in terms of fixing this, and not hold back. I even said that I also have taken up this issue with her. what I said was I do not see the point in a thread on a forum she does not even go on to rant and rave about this. I see the spirit and I think it's great, I just see no practical results on here.

I hope that for her own sake she is refused communion for this, and I hope that if you contact your heirarchs something can get going. I certainly don't want anyone to put their head in the sand about any of this. I would think you would know me well enough that I don't do that Greg.

The topic of the thread is not Leonova, but rather the lack of response to the situation.

If anyone is interested in contacting Leonova's bishop about her behavior, his public contact information is as follows:

The Most Reverend Nikon
Archbishop of Boston, New England, and the Albanian Archdiocese
Locum tenens of the Diocese of the South
PO Box 149
Southbridge, MA 01550
Office: 508-764-3222
Email: bpnikon@aol.com

He is addressed as "Your Eminence."

 

[ArmyMatt]

The topic of the thread is not Leonova, but rather the lack of response to the situation.

If anyone is interested in contacting Leonova's bishop about her behavior, his public contact information is as follows:

The Most Reverend Nikon
Archbishop of Boston, New England, and the Albanian Archdiocese
Locum tenens of the Diocese of the South
PO Box 149
Southbridge, MA 01550
Office: 508-764-3222
Email: bpnikon@aol.com

He is addressed as "Your Eminence."

I agree she is just kinda the poster child since she is the one that always espouses this stuff, but this is the way to go.

and I made a boo boo, I got her confused with someone else, she does go to the Cathedral is Boston. so that was my mistake to make.