Author: Ronald Andrei Muresan
February 16, 2010
A Response to Bucharest’s Appeal to Unity.
Whether you do or don’t agree that our OCA Vatra Episcopate should conclude a merger with our sister here, the Romanian Archdiocese, you need to read the Appeal to Unity issued Feb.11, 2010 by the Romanian Patriarchate & signed by every member of the Holy Synod (BOR).
It is found here. Read it and ponder, whether this issue really needed to be forced now, just at the start of Great & Holy Lent. And WHY it is being forced just now?
At the same time, read the letter also posted on the same website, here from 1984 by our late Archbishop +Valerian Trifa to the then-Patriarch of Romania +Iustin, both of blessed memory. Few people remember that from the very moment that our late Archbishop retired in 1984 and moved to exile in Portugal, the Church of Romania immediately re-asserted its absolute right and power over our “break-away” Episcopate.
From 1950 to 1984, to 2010, the policy has been undeviating. The latest version:
- The Patriarchate deems that we in the Vatra Episcopate “are, without [their] blessing, in other sister Orthodox Churches” [the O.C.A.].
- Using Chambesy as the latest justification, they say: “each autocephalous Church [them] has the right to shepherd its own diaspora [us].
- The O.C.A. violated Canon Law which stipulates ”the principle that no diocese[the O.C.A.] is allowed to receive under its jurisdiction Orthodox clerics and faithful [us] without the blessing of the Church (diocese) [Romanian Patriarchate] to which they [we] belong. Under the Romanian Constitution and Statutes, we BELONG to them.
- We Vatra Romanians are painted as “rejecting the call to unity and Romanian Orthodox communion,” and that “there are no more real reasons” [actual rationales] on which we can base our rejection.
We BELONG to them. The message is crystal clear. Theirs is The Right, and they have “the duty” to enforce it.
Archbishop +Valerian put it best in his 1984 letter:
- The Patriarchate, by pushing and demanding, can only force us farther away.
- Our adherence to the canonical protection of the O.C.A. is fundamental to the life of our Episcopate and is therefore “irreversible.”
Indeed, one of the negotiators for our sister Romanian Episcopate has said “off the record” that THEY are seeking this Unification as their best hope for THEM to finally break free of the Patriarchate’s influence. Maybe THEY ought to join US, INSIDE the O.C.A.
What a way to start the 2010 Great and Holy Lent . . . O Lord and Master of my life . . . *None of the opinions expressed above are in any way related or attributable to my parish or any organization/auxiliary of which I am an officer or member. They are, however, mine and I stand behind them, and commend them to my fellow Orthodox and the larger community. RM.