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Defrocked Romanians and Schismatic Romanian Communities
Lack of cited evidence: the Romanian parishes under the Antiochian Archdiocese - that the parishes were schismatic is uncited, that this is the reason for an exclusion from SCCOCA is uncited, that there was a purposeful exclusion from SCCOCA is uncited. ISTM that there is no benefit to keeping the allegation on there when it is uncited but the response is. I think a week should be enough time, on both counts, to cite sources. --{{User:Pistevo/sig}} 04:55, April 14, 2006 (CDT)
== Defrocked Romanians and Schismatic Romanian Communities ==
This is a widely held belief among those under the thumb of Archbishop Stylianos, including the two Romanian parishes who look to him for protection.
The belief was actively promoted collusively by the Imperial Ethnarch and by Dr Popescu.
The only meeting of SCCOCA attended by Metropolitan Archbishop Paul ended quite rapidly in a screaming session when Met Abp Paul declined to discuss the matter of the allegedly schismatic community and the allegedly defrocked priest. This so strongly displeased one of the key players that he vigorously insisted the Met Abp discuss the matter and kick out the allegedly defrocked priest. Met Abp Paul again said it was not a matter for discussion at SCCOCA, or indeed at any inter-jurisdictional forum. The other antagonistic key player said this was precisely the right forum to discuss it and arrive at a satisfactory conclusion.
Met Abp Paul again said it was an internal matter and he was not prepared to discuss it outside his own jurisdiction.
That was met by a screaming session from the first antagonistic key player.
The meeting ended abruptly.
No apology has been offered to Met Abp Paul.
Then the first antagonistic key player travelled to Romania in 2001 to ask for the relevant priest to be defrocked by the Romanian authorities. When he was there he found that the subject priest had been released to Antioch and documentation had been issued in the 1990s to that effect. The key player was very disappointed but still persisted in spreading his version of events.
The other key player has happily involved himself in the spread of these untruths, to such an extent that when Antiochian Orthodox laity go to Greek Orthodox confessors, they are often counselled to leave the Antiochian jurisdiction "because it accepts schismatic defrocked priests from other jurisdictions and so is not truely Orthodox". They are being counselled to join the Greek jurisdiction.
Apart from the lack of ethics in trying to poach Orthodox from another jurisdiction, there is also the guile and continual deception over this issue, especially when the Romanian authorities gave a clear and unequivocal answer to the first key player that he was inaccurate in his assertions, and wrong in his requests for canonical censure of the relevant priest.
Although the assertion on the OrthodoxWiki page about the allegedly defrocked priest is unsupported and uncited, it completely matches the disgusting untruths being continuously peddled by the two chief antagonists.
Although the source is uncited, it so completely matches what has been so widely said in Greek clerical circles in Australia for so many years, that it should remain on the website.
There have been no further meetings of SCCOCA since the last debacle.
It is another complete falsehood to suggest Met Abp Paul and Antioch have been kicked out of SCCOCA. Although the Imperial Ethnarch would like to see Antioch kicked out of Australia in much the same way he managed to get Jerusalem kicked out of Australia, this is quite unlikely.
Antioch believes the future for Orthodox Australia is a single jurisdiction. But under the current dictatorial leadership of one of the largest of the jurisdictions this is an obvious impossibility. Antioch will remain in Australia until a single loving co-operative jurisdiction is achieved.
We pray that God will, in God's time, allow us in Australia to come to our senses and learn and show Christ-like love. Until then, the prospect of hordes of converts flocking to Orthodoxy in Australia, is most remote.
chrisg 2006-04-26 0908 EAST
