www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Patriarchs & the Pope

It is difficult to undo the western innovations that crept into the Eastern Churches over the centuries as many of these practices have acquired a real sense of tradition among our peoples. First Communion morphing into First Confession comes to mind for example.

Another problem is identifying what really was a westernization. Growing up during the cold war we all were cut off by the Iron Curtain from any real recollection or understanding of 'old world' practices. For example, for years the Ruthenians of both the BCCA and ACROD were derided by those of more Russian praxis for the use of hand chimes during the Epiklesis, yet in recent years I realized that to the Serbian and Romanian Orthodox this was a pious custom. Another is Iconography. We were told that our western style iconography, as seen in my own St. Michael's in Binghamton or St. John's in Perth Amboy, were non-Orthodox. But when the Russian Orthodox became exposed to the world and acquired media savvy in recent years, one can plainly see that these styles among the Ruthenians were clearly influenced by the Russian styles of the imperial post Peter era of the 17th through the 19th centuries. When the rebuilt Christ the Saviour in Moscow, they replicated Icons that could have been in any of our churches or baba's bedrooms!

David,

I think you meant to refer to Bishop Stephen (Dzubay), of blessed memory. He was the son of a priest and either knew or was a classmate of St Alexis Toth back in the Old Country. Sometime after the death of his wife, he came to the US where he pastored in Wilkes-Barre, as well as traveling throughout that region to serve the small communities without temples or resident priests. He was received into Orthodoxy sometime around 1915 and was named Bishop of Pittsburgh very shortly thereafter. Pittsburgh was essentially an ethnic diocese within the Russian Orthodox Metropolia, established to pastorally care for the former Ruthenians.

He was one of the consecrators of Bishop Adam (Philippovsky), of blessed memory. Bishop Adam was originally assigned as Bishop of Canada but left the Metropolia a few years afterward and went out on his own, heading up that loosely-knit Carpatho-Rusyn diocese of independent parishes that either never joined the Metropolia or broke with it subsequently. About the time that ACROD was formed, Bishop Adam went back to the Metropolia and became Bishop of Philadelphia and the Carpatho-Rusyns.

Bishop Stephen, meanwhile, had only remained with the Metropolia for about a decade and then returned to communion with the Ruthenians. (The distinct Carpatho-Rusyn diocese within the Metropolia was suppressed after he left and was later replaced by what I suppose would be termed a vicariate within the Philadelphia diocese - that which was later headed up by Bishop Adam.)

Bishop Stephen's reconciliation with the Catholic Church occurred around the same time as Bishop Basil, of blessed memory, was named to the Ruthenian Exarchate and I've read speculation that Bishop Stephen had hopes of being named to that position. (I don't mean to suggest that to have been his principal motivation in changing - the Metropolia was embroiled in the whole 'Living Church' brouhaha at that time and his position and authority were being challenged as the various factions jockeyed for control, ownerhip of properties, etc.) He subsequently retired to the Monastery of the Friars of the Atonement (Graymoor Friars) in Garrison, NY; he reposed about a decade later and, I believe, is buried at Graymoor.

Many years,

Neil

I thank you as I obviously merged my memories of the two Bishops, Stephen and Adam into one.... As I said, I was trusting my memory.....

Easily done, my friend. Discussing the Russian Metropolia's history in that era - and, by extension, that of any of those involved with them - is s lot like reconstructing an overturned jigsaw puzzle without one's glasses amd while nursing a migraine. As I was typing, I found myself transposing the names of bishops in every other sentence.

Many years,

Neil

Thank you for the glimpses of our Carpatho-Rusyn religious history here in America. Knowing the past (hopefully) helps us to avoid past mistakes. But on an even more positive note, it helps us to appreciate our common struggles in this new land that didn't understand us.

Joyfully with He who conquered death!
Fr Deacon Paul

I also appreciate the clarification on these histories.

Manuel

Well, to round out the historical discussion, ...

A rather good bio of Bishop Stephen [rocorstudies.org], with photo, appears on a ROCOR site. It points out that, ironically, Bishop Stephen was one of the episcopal consecrators of Archbishop Aftimios Ofiesh.

As to his burial place. I find that Rev. A.S.Dzubay (his given name was Alexander, he was tonsured Stephen when received into the Russian Metropolia as a monk) is buried in St Mary's Greek-Catholic Cemetery in Trenton.

Many years,

Neil

One other correction to the history.

Bishop Sotor (Ortynsky) did not return to Europe.

Unfortunately, he reposed in 1916 and is interred at the Cathedral on Franklin St. in Philadelphia.

Thank you, as I had always heard that his rejection by the Ruthenian parishes weighed heavily upon him as he was, by all accounts, a gracious man.

The biography of Bishop Stephen was informative and balanced.

Following the death of Bishop Sotor and the schism led by St. Alexis, the fate of the Ruthenian Greek Catholics literally was hanging in the balance by 1920.

Men like Bishop Stephen, and later Bishop Adam, were initially motivated not so much by a desire to be Orthodox, but by a desire to ensure the preservation of the faith as it had been maintained for generations by their ancestors.

As explained to me over the years by my father and others, like the late Father John Yurcisin of ACROD (former co-editor of the GCU Messenger with Michael Roman prior to the 1938 schism) Bishops Stephen and Adam were caught up in the crossfire within the Metropolia caused by the panslavists (i.e. pro Muskovites) and the influx of Russians following the collapse of Tsarist Russia. The absence of a Bishop for the American Ruthenian Greek Catholics following the repose of Bishop Sotor and the appointment of the Apostolic Administrator prior to the assignment of Bishop Basil Takach created an atmosphere of uncertainty. Both Bishops Stephen and Adam were later let down and disillusioned by the pro-Russian factions within the Metropolia.

When Bishop Basil was assigned to America, there was renewed hope at first within the Ruthenian community. That soon soured as it became clear that the mandate of the new bishop was to continue with the assimilation program of the so-called 'Americanizing' faction of the Latin Church in America. Cum Data Fuerit became the issue. The articles in the Greek Catholic Union Messenger and other Ruthenian publications of this period, from 1920 though 1937 or so written by priests like Father Orestes Koman and Stephen Varzaly and laymen like Michael Roman and John Yurcisin bear witness to the turmoil.

Hence, when the turmoil reached the point of rebellion, the lessons of the past (i.e. Fr. Toth and the two Bishops, Stephen and Adam) were fresh on the minds of the clergy and people. Bishop Stephen's desire to preserve the Eastern Rite led to the naming of the group - KOVO - the Committee for the Preservation of the Eastern Rite at its conference in Pittsburgh. When it became clear that Rome would not reconsider, the slogan - "Neither to Rome, nor to Moscow" was born.

Through the wisdom of the Greek Archbishop of New York, Athenagoras (later the Ecumenical Patriarch) and the efforts of men like (later Father) Stephen Mihaly, the KOVO came under the omophor of the EP and ACROD was established as an independent diocese of diaspora under the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Throne with Father Orestes Chornock as Bishop.

Men like my father, Father Yurcisin, Metropolitan Nicholas and others firmly came to believe that this schism which led to ACROD and their efforts actually accomplished what the Rusyn people had sought for the first fifty years of their presence in America - that is, the preservation of the beloved Eastern Rite and the traditions of our people - both as Orthodox Christians and as Byzantine Catholics for those who would not, or in many cases, could not leave the Greek Catholic Church.

We all survived the chaos.

The later efforts to reconcile our families and our communities led in the 1990's and later by the BCCA Bishops and Metropolitan Nicholas attest to this.

And one more thing in closing, listen to this little video clip from the OCA Cathedral of the Nativity of the Theotokas on 2nd Avenue in New York, founded by the same peoples and families that founded St. Nicholas Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Church on 10th Street and St. Mary's Byzantine Catholic Church on East 15th Street. Bishops Adam and Stephen surely both served Liturgies at this OCA, then Metropolia, church. http://www.youtube.com/user/trfcc#p/u/5/V3D0thHsEio

The archdeacon and Bishop of this church are both sons of the Carpatho-Rusyns, from within both the Byzantine Catholic and Orthodox universes.

Chvalu Bohu! Memory eternal to all of the pioneering peoples who brought little more than their clothes and their faith with them as they escaped the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires so long ago. Vicnaja Jim Pamjat!

( NOTE: For our readers who may be confused by the ethnic terminology that I am using, be advised that the terms 'Ruthenian', Carpatho-Russian, Rusin, Rusyn and even 'Rusnak' refer to the same peoples. For a more detailed explanation, see the Carpath-Rusyn society at http://c-rs.org/ )

Dear Brothers and Sister of Christ:

I begin with Jesus Prayer in the Gospel of John Chapter 17,

After saying this, Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said:

Father, the hour has come glorify your Son so that your Son may glorify you; so that just as you have given him power over all humanity, he may give eternal life to those you have trusted to him. And eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I have glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. Now Father, glorify me with that glory I had with you before ever the world existed. I have revealed your name to those whom you took from the world to give me. They were your and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now at last they have recognized that all you have given to me comes from you for I have given them the teaching you gave to me, and they have indeed accepted it and know for certain that I came from you, and have believed that it was you who sent me. It is for them that I pray, I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, because they belong to you, All I have is yours and all you have is mine, and in them I am glorified. I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you, Holy Father, keep those you have given me true to your name,so they may be one like us.

While I was with them, I kept those you have given me true to your name, I have watched over them and not one of them is lost except one who was destined to be lost, and this was to fulfil scriptures. But now I am coming to you and I say these things in the world to share my joy with them to the full. I have passed your word on to them, and the world hated them, because they belong to the world no more than I belong to the world, protect them from the EVIL ONE. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world, and for their sake I consecrate myself so that they too may be consecrated in truth. I pray not only for these but also for those who through their teaching will come to believe in me.

May they all be one, just as Father, you are in me and I am in you, so that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me.

I have given them the glory you gave to me, that they may be one as we are one, may they be so perfected in unity that the world will recognise that it was you who sent me and that you haved loved them as you have loved me.

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they may always see my glory which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. FATHER, UPRIGHT ONE, the world has not know you, but I have know you, and these known that you sent me. I have made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and so that I may be in them. (New Jerusalem Bible)

As a Catholic I come to you today with the love of Christ that we pray for Apostolic Unity. For if we really have the Heart of Christ and Love of the Holy Trinity this dis-unity can stop.

Brothers of the East you gather all the Patriarchs one location we will be there in an Ecumenical Counsel like Nicene. I challenge you to make this happen. Contact us and we can arrange a top secret location for this.

Paul,

I've made a few phone calls and the EP, the MP, all 5 Antiochian Patriarchs, and all (who can count 'em?) the Ukrainian Patriarchs are signed on, provided that the top secret location is sufficiently distant to assure them a decent number of frequent flyer miles.

The Slobbovian Patriarch is a hold-out though - wants to know who's paying for the hotel and to be assured that the meals will not include any rubber chicken, says he gets enough of that at parish banquets and synod meetings.

Many years,

Neil