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Mar 25th, 2025
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According to the UPI [ upi.com] and the Anchorage Daily News [ adn.com] , there has been a questionable ordination in the Russian Orthodox Church in Alaska. According to these articles, the Russian Orthodox Church in Alaska tonsured a man who was convicted of (and spent a year in prison for) having sex with under-age girls, which he videotaped and which he engaged in while he was enrolled as an adult student in the seminary. If these articles are accurate, am I missing something here? Especially after the clergy-sex-abuse scandals of just a few years ago?  "Youthful indiscretions" (as the bishop put it) is one thing, but this? Wouldn't this kind of situation require a prolonged period of penance and pyshcological monitoring prior to ordination, if ordination was still an option? Also, what steps has the Church taken to prove that this man is not a threat to under-age girls . . . and to other people . . . and to sensitive data?  My apologies if this topic was already posted in another thread, but this is the first that I have read about this. -- John
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Chancellor Archimandrite Isidore rightly said "The church believes everyone is redeemable," . . . but given the nature of the crimes, I think they're just asking for trouble. The biggest concern I have is this: In an interview, Isidore claimed Dushkin's crimes weren't predatory in nature. "From my understanding, it was a situation that could be termed statutory rape -- which albeit is wrong, but very much different than molesting a child, for example." That argument might hold true for an 18 year old and his 16 year old girlfriend . . . but a 22 year old seminary student with 13 and 14 year old girls is hardly the same thing. I pray that this won't lead to more abuse, and also that it won't hurt the Russian Orthodox Church in Alaska. Dave
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John, all I can say, is thank God your diocese is under Archbishop Job.
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I could understand Chancellor Archimandrite Isidore's position if the seminary student had attractions and did not act on his lust. Perhaps if he slipped up and was seriously repentant. What seems concerning is the video tape. If he remained controlled by his lusts, he should have taken his time when considering his vocation. But that's not what happened.
Terry
Last edited by Terry Bohannon; 01/11/08 02:16 PM.
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Here is the information on Tereny Duskin: Reader Terenty John Dushkin
Aliases:
Mepp Dushkin
DOB: 7/31/1981
Convicted
Race: Indian (American or Alaskan Native); Sex: Male; Height: 5'5"; Weight: 170 lbs.; Hair: Brown; Eyes: Hazel
Terenty Duskin attended St. Herman of Alaska Seminary in Kodiak, Alaska, in the fall of 2003. St. Herman is one of three seminaries belonging to the Orthodox Church in America (OCA).
According to Bishop Nikolai (Soraich), the OCA bishop in Alaska at the time, Duskin was expelled from the seminary in December of that year, "because he did not follow certain rules required of all students." The bishop did not specify which rules were broken.
Duskin applied for readmission to the seminary. However, before a decision could be made on his application, he was arrested and charged with 11 sex crimes.
Dushkin was 22 years old at the time of his arrest in July of 2004. In nine of the felony charges against him Dushkin was accused of having sexual contact with girls between the ages of 13 and 15. Two additional felonies alleged that Duskin had videotaped sex scenes with a 17-year-old girl. Some of the charges dated back to 2002, while the most recent was alleged to have occurred in June of 2004.
Duskin was convicted on three of the counts on May 5, 2005, as set forth below, and served his time in a corrections facility. Additional information may be obtained from the Alaskan sex offender registry.
According to official website of the Diocese of Alaska, Dushkin was tonsured a reader at St. Innocent Cathedral in Anchorage by Bishop Nikolai on December 9, 2007.
Although a reader is the first rank or order of the priesthood, in the lower 48, the position has a relatively minor role to play in the liturgical life of the Church. However, in Alaska, many parishes do not have a priest. The reader then assumes an important role in the local religious community. He will baptize new members of the community, and conduct the majority of the services. A reader in Alaska has not only the aura of authority, but in the remote villages he will have the respect and status normally reserved for a priest.
Criminal Cases:
Court Docket Number: 3UN-S04-213
Court: SUPERIOR COURT UNALASKA
Conviction Date: 5/5/2005
Offense Date: 6/24/2004
Statute: AS11.41.436(A)(1)
Description: Sexual Abuse of Minor 2
Court Docket Number: 3UN-S04-215
Court: SUPERIOR COURT UNALASKA
Conviction Date: 5/5/2005
Offense Date: 12/26/2003
Statute: AS11.41.455(A)(3)
Description: Exploit Minor-make porn, adlt touch chld
Court Docket Number: 3UN-S04-220
Court: SUPERIOR COURT UNALASKA
Conviction Date: 5/5/2005
Offense Date: 9/22/2003
Statute: AS11.41.438(A)(1)
Description: Sex Abuse Minor 3-contact 13-15,3 yr dif Terenty Dushkin is under the supervision of the Alaska Department of Corrections; he is required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Condition #9 of his Special Conditions of Probation/Sex Offender Conditions is: "No accepting employment or engaging in any volunteer community activity which involves contact with female minors under the age of sixteen. In Alaska there is a shortage of clergy and in many rural villages, it is the reader who is the respected leader of the religious community leading the Obidnitsa liturgy, singing of psalms, acathists etc. Also it was the tradtion in very remote areas for a reader to baptise and baby and then the family would wait until a priest came to chrismate the baby. If a priest only visits once a year you can see how important a reader is. This is not a position for a convicted sex offender. Terenty Duskin also comes from a prominent family. His stepfather was Carl Moses, long time respected member of the Alaska House of Representatives, who also served on the board of directors of The Aleut Corporation. His ordination has upset many in the Orthodox Church. You can read the discussion here: http://www.ocanews.org/serendipity/index.php?/archives/196-ADN-Story-on-Alaska.html
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To all posters,
Concerns by some posters have been raised as to the appropriateness of the information supplied in the previous post. I have reviewed their concerns and the content that has been posted. I also have spent some time researching the content.
All information posted in the previous post comes from the State of Alaska Sexual Offender Registry website, public court proceedings, and actual news articles of those proceedings. Since all the above information posted is public domain material given as to alert the citizenry to potential risks associated with the perpetrator as proscribed by state and federal regulations, I am going to allow the content to stand unedited. Also since the perpetrator in this instance is still under State supervision, any actions that may occur regarding him are part of the public record, and since he is a convicted felon he has lost any right to privacy by law.
In IC XC,
Father Anthony+
Administrator
Everyone baptized into Christ should pass progressively through all the stages of Christ's own life, for in baptism he receives the power so to progress, and through the commandments he can discover and learn how to accomplish such progression. - Saint Gregory of Sinai
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No way anyone with such a record should be advanced even to the rank of Reader.I'm sick of OCA folks(the Alaskan Diocese is actually part of the OCA,NOT the Russian Church as the report states)on another forum saying things like,who are we to judge,he's paid his dues to society,etc.Sorry folks,the man was convicted as an adult.Yes,I too am a sinner,I admit I don't deserve to stand in front of God's Altar,BUT I was married for over 30 years and despite many sins,I never cheated on my wife once.I'm not bragging about not doing something which NO Christian ought to do,clergy or not.Now I'm a widower and in the event that I should marry again,I'd have to step down from the priesthood first,I'd be "Mr." instead of "Father" the rest of my days.In fact on the day of my wife's funeral,my oldest son ,who is a tonsured Reader,recieved Holy Communion,but my younger son,who is living with his girlfriend,did not.He didn't attempt to,knowing that I wouldn't have allowed it.
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I wish that more would be like you! Memory eternal for your wife. Prayers that your son will be restored.
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My best friend is OCA and she is mad about it. I think alot of folks from listening to her are disconected from the situation.It hasn't been in my parish.....
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My prayers that God may enlighten all.
This is a sad day.
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The state of affairs is truly heartbreaking in the OCA. I have read many of the allegations regarding this and several other serious scandals going on in that church. It is also heartbreaking that it seems that the problem is wholly of the Bishops creation.
Why is there only one Bishop who speaks up against this deplorable situation.
Why do they consecrate such poor candidates to the episcopate? Is there no one else?
Where is the holy synod?
Where is the vision?
It appears to be that many of the bishops have become isolated and divorced from the reality that John and Jane Q. Public sees. The RC's bishops paid a dear price for that type of isolation and perhaps that chicken has come to roost here.
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Why has it come to this? I don't know.
What can be done? There's the real issue.
One OCA bishop is trying to bring about reform, but his authority is limited. Most of the other OCA bishops oppose him. Like I posted on another thread severla months ago, it is a standoff.
But, it cannot go on indefinitely. While the hierarchs of the OCA enage in all of this, a lot of the people are going to drift away to other jurisdicitons or other churches if reform is not meaningfully implemented.
Lord have mercy.
-- John
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The current Metropolitan must go, and the Bishop of Alaska with him. The OCA then needs to figure out exactly what it's going to be.
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Are there any rumors regarding help from Moscow? (Or Jordanville)
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Are there any rumors regarding help from Moscow? (Or Jordanville) No, nor would it be welcome.
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