Sister Vassa.... duuuuuude

[ZaidaBoBaida]

ROCOR Synod returns Sr. Vassa to simple lay status

The Synod stripped her of her monastic habit after her scandalous dealings with Ukrainian schismatics.

orthochristian.com

 

[ArmyMatt]

I saw this making the rounds on Facebook.

 

[prodromos]

She never sat right with me.

 

[ZaidaBoBaida]

She posted on her Facebook that she's now part of the Ukranian Orthodox Church - which I'm not sure what to make sure of that whole situation. Churches that are slavic say they're schizmatics and heretics, but they're recognized by other jurisdictions.

IMHO Vassa is just too liberal, a defacto Protestant, and a shining example of why women shouldn't be ordained.

 

[E.C.]

I remember when her podcast started in the early Ancient Faith Radio days and something about it never quite sat right with me. Something about a nun who isn't at a monastery for decades just seems odd. But, yet another failure on the part of ROCOR to keep proper tabs on their clergy and monastics.

I'm not surprised she's joining the schismatic Ukrainians; what better way to rebel against and "stick it" to the Moscow Patriarchate than to join them?

 

[Lukaris]

When I see the courage of Metropolitan Onufriy, who keeps the canon, one wonders why “sister” Vassa ignores him?

Onufriy Berezovsky - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[E.C.]

When I see the courage of Metropolitan Onufriy, who keeps the canon, one wonders why “sister” Vassa ignores him?

Onufriy Berezovsky - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

The same reason for so many of our own problems here in America: ignorance of the historical record/reality and ethnic chauvinism.

 

[seashale76]

Sr. Vassa speaks in support of Ukraine and ROCOR laicizes her. Priest Matthew Williams gets arrested for raping a girl under the age of thirteen- and has had allegations going back for years- and ROCOR has yet to laicize him. Make that make sense.

 

[rusmeister]

Unfortunately, I am surrounded by a lot of Russian Orthodox Christians who lean her way. Friends and family even, partly or wholly inclined towards ecumenism, tolerance (or worse) of the modern sexual insanity. These people are among those who fled Russia. It’s odd how most people and the positions they hold are a mix of good and bad things. They are right, for example, about love and compassion, and rightly condemn truth without love (a tinkling cymbal), but do not see that they promote love without truth. Some of those close to me think I harshly condemn people without love, when actually I just condemn the sexual anarchy, understanding that all of us are broken and have fallen, and there seems to be no way I can communicate that last to them. It just deepens my isolation. ”Sister Vassa” is merely a more prominent example of such in the English-speaking world. Partisan, ecumenist, wholly on the side of Ukraine against Russia, on the side of the globalists and so, anti-(normal) nationalism, anti-border, they love the Catholic Church, loved Pope Francis, (one close friend of my wife’s denounced Met Onuphry as a former Soviet stooge and traitor), are excited at the new pope‘s seemingly leftist sides, they despise head-coverings for women and like feminism, etc etc. That is most of the Orthodox people immediately around me. I am nearly an outcast to them, and it is part of the reason I am always so close to despair and am always depressed.

So I think it’s good that she has been thrown out, but there are plenty like her who have brought their own views, ideas of this world, into the Church, thinking them to be compatible with the ancient Church and the teachings of Scripture and the fathers, and rejecting actual teachings of the same that contradict their views. They know better and are more compassionate than Christ and the Apostles and Church fathers.

 

[rusmeister]

Sr. Vassa speaks in support of Ukraine and ROCOR laicizes her. Priest Matthew Williams gets arrested for raping a girl under the age of thirteen- and has had allegations going back for years- and ROCOR has yet to laicize him. Make that make sense.

I don’t know about that situation; that may be a legitimate complaint. I have certainly found Church corruption everywhere, and have been holding onto faith in spite of it. I was only saying that this particular move (Sr Vassa) was a good one. But does ROCOR have other evils in its hierarchy? I don’t doubt it.

 

[Lukaris]

From what I understand though is Ukraine Orthodox still under the MP are genuinely being harassed. Metropolitan Onufriy is clearly not a patsy for Putin and he is a Ukrainian patriot. Sr Vassa is obviously not culpable of anything that has been done to Ukrainian Orthodox under the MP but did she consider the situation of Ukrainian Orthodox validly under the MP?

 

[RileyG]

(Posting in fellowship)

So, she’s no longer a nun?

 

[RileyG]

I saw this making the rounds on Facebook.

What are your thoughts, Father? Surprised?

 

[E.C.]

(staff edit)
I agree that ROCOR has an accountability problem and I'm quite vocal about it in other fora.

However, in the case of "Sr" Vassa, there are a few facts that are ignored here. For starters, riasaphore monks and nuns have not taken their final monastic vows. Most riasaphores are in that status for a couple years; she was one for several decades. ROCOR leadership had told her at the beginning of Lent this year that she needs to basically crap or get off the pot and affiliate with a women's monastery by Pascha, you know, like every other normal monastic in the world. She thumbed her nose at them saying that she can't because she has financial committments with her bookstore, blog-writing, apartments, etc. I'm sure that her openly critiquing the boss in Moscow isn't exactly a promotional bell-ringer, but I refuse to ignore the facts: she was given a deadline, she gave no reply by that deadline, therefore, she faced the consequences and has been laicized. That element of it ultimately falls under disobedience, and disobedience gets a lot of clergy and monastics removed from their positions.

From what I understand though is Ukraine Orthodox still under the MP are genuinely being harassed. Metropolitan Onufriy is clearly not a patsy for Putin and he is a Ukrainian patriot. Sr Vassa is obviously not culpable of anything that has been done to Ukrainian Orthodox under the MP but did she consider the situation of Ukrainian Orthodox validly under the MP?

She went to Constantinople's Ukrainian "Church". I say this because 1) they have their roots with the schismatic Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church which was formed by priests and laity sometime after Russia dropped out of WWI. Importantly, they had zero bishops with them, so they created their own and therefore have no Apostolic Succession and therefore no Grace. 2) The violent behavior of their hierarchs, clergy, and, people nullifies any complaint they may have against Metropolitan Onufriy's people. Metropolitan Onufriy has extended the negotiation olive branch to the schismatics many times on condition that they stop their violence against his own flock (this violence includes murder, harassment, forced takeover of churches, the vandalism of those same churches, desecration of relics and churches; the list goes on), yet "Metropolitan" Dumenko refuses to end the violence. That alone tells us what their priorities are.

 

[E.C.]

(Posting in fellowship)

So, she’s no longer a nun?

No. Playing the mom and dad game by affiliating with another bishop in dubious cannonical status does not change that either.

 

[RileyG]

No. Playing the mom and dad game by affiliating with another bishop in dubious cannonical status does not change that either.

Ah, I see.

 

[ArmyMatt]

What are your thoughts, Father? Surprised?

no real thoughts, aside from saying a prayer for her.

 

[RileyG]

no real thoughts, aside from saying a prayer for her.

thank you, Father

Blessings

 

[ArmyMatt]

thank you, Father

Blessings

no problem

 

[seashale76]

(Posting in fellowship)

So, she’s no longer a nun?

Yes, she is. Whether one thinks she's right or wrong, Sr. Vassa is now with a church that is considered canonical by the EP and some other Orthodox churches. Of course, the MP and EP went into schism due to this, so the EP and the OCU are considered to be akin to Rome to the MP now. The MP, the last I looked, has forbidden their laity from communing in EP churches over this.

edit: Tons of little mini schisms going on with the EP, Alexandria, Church of Greece, and Church of Cyprus being on the outs with the MP. It's a mess, honestly.