The Saga of Fr. Paul
Jagnisz.
(or is it now Hieromonk
Philip at Pro-Cathedral of St. Michael, Hammond, Indiana?)
It
seems that the Consistory of UOC-USA is having difficulty time finding a “home”
for Fr. Paul Jagnisz (or as he is now known hieromonk Philip?).
On the parish page of St. Michael’s you will find one
example of numerous coorespondence that we received about the shenanigans of
Fr. Paul (Phillip?). But in Hammond, Indiana Fr. Paul found a mentor in
Archbishop Vsevolod.
Last May Archbishop Vsevolod of Scopelos, with his
“assistant” Fr. Paul, travels to Istanbul to visit with Patriarch Bartholomeo
and continues on to Kyiv, Ukraine for talks with Metropolitan Sabodan of
UOC-Moscow Patriarchate. From reports that we received, in Kyiv Archbishop
Vsevolod meets with representatives of UAOC where he tries to persuade them to
join with Metropolitan Sabodan and the Moscow Patriarchate. Apparently this
visit with Metropolitan Sabodan did not sit well with the Metropolitan
Constantine and Archbishop Anthony for by all accounts that we hear, upon
Archbishops Vsevolods return there ensued a heated debate at the hastily
convened Metropolitan Council meeting of UOC-USA.
There are all types of rumors flying around. Rumors that
Archbishop Vsevolod will be elevated to Metropolitan; rumors that Archbishop
Antony will leave UOC-USA if that happens, and rumors that Metropolitan
Constantine will be retiring. We will have to see what transpires at the
“rubber-stamp” Sobor scheduled to start on October 13th 2004.
(Dear readers please remember that per Points of
Agreement signed with the Church of Constantinople in Istanbul the UOC-USA
Sobor does not elevate anyone to ANY
position. The Sobor can only NOMINATE with the FINAL APPROVAL coming from the Synod of the Church of
Constantinople).
***********************************************
Posting without Comment
Pokrov writes to Ukrainian
Orthodox Church Hierarch
His Beatitude Metropolitan
Constantine
***************************************
Protection of the Theotokos
www.pokrov.org
1621 Haight Street #3
San Francisco, CA 94117
415-820-9645
September 29, 2004
His Beatitude Metropolitan Constantine
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA
1803 Sidney Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15203
Fax: (412) 431-0758
Your Beatitude:
We run a website for victims of abuse in the Orthodox Church
which offers support and provides education and resources. We also post a list
of convicted Orthodox perpetrators. One of these perpetrators, Fr. Damian
Messires, is from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). Fr. Damian recently
showed up at an OCA parish in Florida posing as a subdeacon of Greek descent
with a new name. We have included a copy of this update for you.
We are asking that you please inform the Orthodox community
at large as to the status of Fr. Damian Messires. Is he still a priest? What
disciplinary action has been taken with him and what is his standing in the
church? This man poses a serious threat to innocent Orthodox boys.
We
would also like to request a copy of the guidelines and procedures for dealing
with clergy misconduct in the UOC.
Additionally, we have
received reports of alleged abuse in the western diocese of the UOC involving a
parish in Hammond, IN. We would like to be able to provide guidelines to the
individuals who have contacted us so they can follow the correct procedures for
reporting the abuse. Of course we have advised them to contact the police – as
that is the first step to take when a law has been broken. The reports concern
a priest who was removed from two previous parishes by Bishop Antony and former
parishioners were told he would not be allowed to continue to pastor. Now, as
he is placed in yet another parish, we are puzzled as to why.
Thank you in advance for your time and help in this matter.
We look forward to hearing about the following
1.
The status
of Fr. Damian
2.
The current
misconduct guidelines and procedures of the UOC
3.
Comments on
why the priest in Indiana was placed in a new parish.
We are posting a copy of this letter to our website and will
be happy to post your response on the site as well.
Cappy Larson, Melanie Sakoda and Greta Larson
[signatures]]
www.pokrov.org
Cc: His Beatitude Metropolitan Meliton of
Philadelphia
His Eminence Archbishop Antony, Consistory President
His
Eminence Archbishop Vsevolod
Copyright ©
1999 - 2004 Protection of the Theotokos,
www.pokrov.org
Questions or comments
please email the Cappy Larson or Melanie Sakoda
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Pro-Cathedral of
St. Michael
Hammond, Indiana
The Saga of Fr. Paul
Jagnisz.
(or is it Hieromonk Philip
at Pro-Cathedral of St. Michael, Hammond, Indiana?)
It
seems that the Consistory of UOC-USA is having difficulty time finding a “home”
for Fr. Paul Jagnisz (or is he now known as hieromonk Philip?).
After a short disruptive tenure at St. Mary’s Parish in Rochester, NY where Fr. Paul insisted :
No Confession and Communion ……………NO VOTE at the Parish meeting
and……..
Sacraments such as matrimony,
baptism, funeral rites, etc. received
from the previous clergy of UOC-KP
would have to be repeated.
Fr. Paul was
removed from St. Mary’s and relocated to So. Bound Brook, NJ.
Fr. Paul’s
layover in So. Bound Brook was short lived and he was assigned to Holy Trinity
Parish, Trenton, NJ.
At the Holy
Trinity Parish Fr. Paul’s tenure was again short lived as the parishioners
“forced” the Consistory to re-assign Fr. Paul out of their parish.
Where does Fr.
Paul (or hieromonk Phillip) wind up??? At St. Michael’s Pro-Cathedral in
Hammond, Indiana. In his transfer from Trenton, NJ to Hammond, Indiana Fr. Paul
“miraculously” became an alumni of Harvard and Princeton Universities and an
agent of the FBI.
As reported by one of St.
Michael’s parishioners, upon arriving in Hammond, Indiana Fr. Paul’s demands were immediately outlined
to the parishioners of St. Michael’s:
“He came
to visit us on May 1st and gave a speech that he knows our parish is broke, and
that he has experience in turning parishes around financially, increasing
attendance, and "saving" parishes like ours. After this
speech, he took off to Constantinople with Vsevolod for 2 weeks.
When he returned on the 14th of May, he called us into a meeting after Liturgy
to tell us these things:
1.
That
the Rectory we provided for him is TERRIBLE and he cannot like there (and there
is not ONE thing wrong with it - another priest and his family just moved out
of there and they were happy for years in it
and took great care of it).
2
He said "I am a Monk and I live like GOLD" and these
conditions are deplorable.
3.
He
insisted on purchasing REAL Scandinavian Furniture for the whole house (its a
huge house) including a King-sized bed and bedroom set. We already
have a bedroom set there, but he says he "will not even consider using
used furniture." So....he ordered his own set WITHOUT TELLING
US and said we just have to pay the bill when it comes.
4.
He is demanding all new flooring, new windows, new
EVERYTHING. And it has to be Scandinavian furniture –
nothing used, donated or from a discount store.
5.
He
bought a new chandelier for the dining room and put in 2 new telephone lines at
a cost of $300 each....and again, "we just have to pay the bill", he
says.
6.
He
took out a $50,000 LOAN so now the church is in debt big time. And....he
is NOT calling a meeting to tell the parishioners that he did this....instead,
he will just print it in the bulletin and hope they read it.
Additionally, we asked HOW is this loan going to be paid off? And Fr.
Philip said the people will have to pay for it (meaning, double or triple their
offering amounts).
There is much more, but this gives you the
idea. He is demanding, self-centered, and acts like he's "God"
and we are to kiss his feet. He has stressed that he runs
everything and he gave a sermon about people who go against the Priest get
punished.
We are a small and not-so-financially
stable parish. Fr. Philip supposedly knew this in coming to us just
a few weeks ago.
PLEASE KEEP THIS CONFIDENTIAL....Do NOT use our names....but feel
free to write an article about how now Fr. Paul Jagnisz is now killing a
Midwest Parish just like he did out East. This should be known...he is scum.”
The above is
just one example of numerous e-mails that we received about the shenanigans of
Fr. Paul (Phillip?). But in Hammond, Indiana Fr. Paul found a mentor in
Archbishop Vsevolod.
Last May
Archbishop Vsevolod of Scopelos, with his “assistant” Fr. Paul, travels to
Istanbul to visit with Patriarch Bartholomeo and continues on to Kyiv, Ukraine
for talks with Metropolitan Sabodan of UOC-Moscow Patriarchate. From reports
that we received, in Kyiv Archbishop Vsevolod meets with representatives of
UOC-KP where he tires to persuade them to join with Metropolitan Sabodan and
the Moscow Patriarchate. Apparently this visit with Metropolitan Sabodan did
not sit well with the Metropolitan Constantine and Archbishop Anthony for by
all accounts that we hear, upon Archbishops Vsevolods return there ensued a
heated debate at the hastily convened Metropolitan Council meeting of UOC-USA.
There are all
types of rumors flying around. Rumors that Archbishop Vsevolod will be elevated
to Metropolitan; rumors that Archbishop Antony will leave UOC-USA if that
happens, and rumors that Metropolitan Constantine will be retiring. We will
have to see what transpires at the “rubber-stamp” Sobor scheduled to start on
October 13th 2004.
(Dear
readers please remember that per Points of Agreement signed with the Church of
Constantinople in Istanbul the UOC-USA Sobor does not elevate anyone to ANY position. The Sobor can only NOMINATE with the FINAL APPROVAL coming from the Synod of the Church of Constantinople).
But the saga of
Fr. Paul (or Phillip) continues as he finds his way down to South America for a
visit with Bishop Jeremias in Curitiba, Brazil.
What transpires
in Brazil is best explained in a loosely translated letter written by the
office of Bishop Jeremias to Olena Bulhak of Rochester, NY dated September 17,
2004:
Content of letter – ‘LOOSE
TRANSLATION from UKRAINIAN”
(Please
note that the original Ukrainian language letter in a PDF format is available
on request for anyone who is interested).
From: Bishop Jerimiah of Brazil
September 17, 2002
To: Olena Bulhak – Rochester, NY
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Thank you for
your e-mail of the 12th of September.. We understand
that you are concerned about the state of the health of Fr. Philip. Let
us tell you about the situation:
After a
misunderstanding between Fr. Philip and Laurie & Mary Andrianko on Friday,
the 9th of August, we went to the Chancellory (in Brazil) and after
a long talk, Mary & Laurie decided to go back home because amongst all of
us there was an atmosphere of very bad feelings and we understood.
Fr. Philip did
not want to change his ticket to return home and decided to go to Rio De
Janiero like it was originally planned.
Mary & Laurie flew home to NY on Saturday the 10th of
August.
On Monday the
12th of August, we took FR. Philip
to the airport. He was happy
& healthy and that’s how he flew to Rio de Janiero. That same day about 2pm, Fr. Philip called
us and talked to Fr. Kindra (rector of the seminary in Brazil) and Fr. Philip
told Fr. Kindra that on the airplane, something bad happened and they took him
to some hospital but he himself does not know where. Fr. Philip also said that he has to have major surgery that could
take as long as 4 hours, but when Fr. Kindra asked for the telephone # from
where he was calling from, Fr. Philip did not know the # and abruptly hung up
the phone.
After that,
Fr. Kindra called up the phone company to find out where Fr.. Philip telephoned
from. He did not get a response
because they could not track this information.
Then, Fr. Kindra called up the airline company that Fr. Philip flew to
Rio on, and talked to some girl about the passengers on that flight that Fr.
Philip took, and she said that nothing unusual happened on that flight. She said that the airline company (Varic –
Nordic Airline) did not give medical service to any passenger and she stated
that everything was OK and no one needed any assistance whatsoever on that
flight.
We thought
that maybe something happened to Fr. Philip AFTER the airport (not on flight),
so Fr. Kindra telephoned the health department in Rio to find out if anything
had been reported.
They gave Fr.
Kindra the telephone # of some hospital where they would bring people for
medical services if anything was wrong.
Fr. Kindra called that hospital and there was no patient there or record
of anyone treated named Paul Jagnisz.
We
contemplated of what can we do to further investigate. A seminarian named Fabricio from Brazil
thought maybe Fr. Philip possibly went to a tourist agency where he may have
made a reservation at a hotel in Rio. They
found him.
Also, Fabricio
went to the hotel where Fr. Philip was supposed to be. They called the hotel and the attendant
said that their guest named Paul Jagnisz left the hotel at 4pm and he was no
longer at that hotel.
Someone saw him
go to the city, he was tracked down and found to be OK.
Around 7:30pm,
Fr. Philip again called and told Fr. Kindra that he was done with the one
operation (surgery) but his situation is very bad so that they have to take him
to the national cancer institute where he has to undergo a 2nd
operation, and then again, he wanted to hang up right away, saying that someone
is calling on his cell phone, and it costs him a lot of $$, so he has to hang
up immediately and answer that call but later he will call & talk to Bishop
Jerimiah.
Fr. Kindra
called the cancer institution and the institution said there is no one named
Paul Jagnisz who was there for any operation or anything.
We are
wondering what is going on with Fr. Philip?
We are really worried . Bishop
Jerimiah with Subdeacon John Chopko left everything and on Wednesday, August 14th,
in the morning, flew to Rio de Janiero to help Fr. Philip. Bishop Jerimiah and the Subdeacon found Fr.
Philip at the hotel Pistano and were with him at the hotel for 24 hrs. Ironically, after 2 big operations, Fr.
Philip looked great, looked normal, ate normally and drank normally and showed
no signs of restricted diet with meat & alcoholic beverages, and there were
no medications in the hotel with him that he was taking. It looked like he was normal and that
nothing had happened.
Neither Bishop
Jerimiah or Subdeacon wanted to say anything to him because it was evident that
something was not normal with Fr. Philip –
not physically but rather mentally.
He paid Bishop Jerimiah $400.00 for his trip, and the Bishop and
Subdeacon flew back to Curitiba brazil on 15th of August at 5:30pm,
and that ended their mission.
Biship
Jeremiah didn’t think it was worth having an argument with Fr. Philip. Maybe
Fr. Philip has some kind of serious organic sickness but his problem here in
Brazil was all Psychological / MENTAL.
We dearly feel
for him and for him we are praying, that he leaves the situation (meaning, gets
better from mental illness). We also
believe and fear that he is in need of much moral and psychological help. We also feel that Fr. Philip has some type
of serious emotional-psychological conflict.
Fr. Philip
does have a good heart, as he brought from the parish in Rochester many things
for the church in Brazil (listing materials, vestments, etc) and bought food
for the seminary.
May our all
merciful God heal him and bless all those who have donated, given for the
church in Brazil.
Wishing you
all well,
Bishop
Jerimiah Fr. John Kindra
Subdeacon John Chopko
Cc: Archbishop Antony
Mrs. Maria Andrienko
The above is the latest information that we have. It will be interesting to see where Fr. Paul (or is it hieromonk Phillip) winds up next.
Time will tell what the Consistory of UOC-USA will do next with Fr. Paul (or is it Phillip?)
Ed. Note: The above information was reported to us by
reliable sources but it has not been verified nor is endorsed by the Save Our
UOC Committee