Confirmation of
the latest scare tactics and pre-Sobor weapons used by
Antony,
Archbishop of Hieropolis
Parishes and Parish
Councils toe the line or we take your priest away!
In reply to our request
for confirmation of rumors surrounding St. Andrew’s Parish, Bloomingdale, IL we
received the following information from a parish member in the Western Eparchy:
“We
would like to thank you for your dedicated work in such a worthy cause. We are
very isolated here in the Western Eparchy and most of our information about
Bound Brook comes from your website. We have wanted to take up the fight over our Ukrainian
Church, but any time this is discussed in our Parish and word gets back
to Archbishop Antony of Hieropolis, we get a call threatening to remove our
priest.
Anyway
this email is in response and confirmation on what is happening at St. Andrews
in Bloomingdale, IL. I have a close friend there and here are his replies to my
questions.
“This is the story as to
what transpired when Archbishop Antony visited St. Andrews. We have written to
Archbishop Anthony with many question but so far received no answer. The parish
dues for 2000-2001 were due June 30, 2001. We are not planning to pay until we
get answers to our specific questions. Archbishop Antony was in town to beg for
money for the new museum. At the start of the presentation he said that the
only issues that he will discuss will be related to the museum. On all other
topics all he did was change the subject and say let me check into that and I
will get back to you with an answer. His politicking was minimal with the
parishioners.
During his visit he said
that our delegate Mr. John Derkach will be banned from participating in the
Sobor in October. The reason for him being banned was his friendship and
contact with the Kyiv Patriarch. Isn't this a bunch of hogwash. In one breath
they are spreading rumors of a merging of Bound Brook and the Kyiv Patriarchate
and in the next breath the real truth is that the Patriarch is taboo. A member
of our parish responded to Archbishop Antony “that all delegates chosen by our
parish will participate and any such action will be an illegal action by Bound
Brook”.
We feel that after the Sobor in October a major change in
Bound Brook’s constitution will create a US Orthodox Vatican where all church
property will belong to them. I hope this sheds some light as to what is
happening at St. Andrews.”
Editorial
Comment: In view of the position taken
against Mr. Derkach by Archbishop Antony of Hieropolis shouldn’t the same apply
to Mr. Michael Heretz, President of St. Andrew Society? After all his
organization collected some $80,000 for Patriarch Filaret and the church bells
at the Golden Domed St. Michael Monastery in Kiev? What about Dr. Lysyj and his
well publicized contacts, meetings and visits with Patriarch Filaret in
Ukraine? Shouldn’t “What’s good for the
goose is good for the gander” apply ? Or is this a selective process of
eliminating the opposition as was amply demonstrated in Rochester, NY on June
24, 2001?