To Recognize a “Church” Having Hierarchs Without Apostolic Succession is a Serious Challenge

Necessary clarifications:

1. This article was written with fear and trepidation before the danger of recognition by the Local Churches of episcopal “consecrations” without Apostolic succession, which threatens to irreversibly tarnish the episcopal body of global Orthodoxy.

I will be sincerely glad if it’s confirmed that I am mistaken in any of the information I have brought forth or if I have come to wrong conclusions.

2. In order to avoid a scandal, I am completely silent about the moral qualities of the “bishops” of the schismatic groups in Ukraine, for here the expression of the apostle Paul is appropriate: It is a shame even to speak… It is amazing, however, how recklessly and hastily they were granted “autocephaly” and are now demanding recognition from the other Orthodox Churches, challenging the inter-Orthodox Church consciousness.

3. I hope that circumstances will not force us to publish such kinds of information to the disgrace of those who recognize people with such qualities as pastors of the people of God.

***

Protopresbyter Anastasios Gotsopoulos Protopresbyter Anastasios Gotsopoulos According to the announcement of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on October 11, 2018, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical throne decided to accept “the petitions of appeal of Philaret Denisenko and Makary Maletich, and their followers… Thus, the above mentioned have been canonically reinstated to their hierarchical or priestly rank, and their faithful have been restored to communion with the Church.”

As for Philaret’s appeal, we mentioned in our earlier publication1 that the Ecumenical throne already examined Philaret’s appeal in 1992 and rejected it then. We will also note that since then, for twenty-six years in a row, Philaret not only did not show any respect for the decision of the competent Church court, but also violated it, ignoring the pan-Orthodox recognition of his conviction, having committed the most serious Church crimes (having performed dozens of ordinations while defrocked, having formed a schismatic Synod, having declared himself a patriarch, having entered into communion with the schismatics of other Churches, and having infested Ukraine and other areas with their altars, etc.), of provoking a schism and the confusion of the people.

Consequently, the Moscow Patriarchate’s conviction, brought in his case in 1992, was not subject to appeals in accordance with the 4th Canon of the Council of Antioch, the 22nd Apostolic Canon, the 37th Canon of the Council of Carthage (according to The Rudder) due to the decades-long anti-canonical and defiant behavior of Philaret.

As for Makary Maletich, the leader of the schismatic “Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC),2 his case is fundamentally different and is extremely serious for all of Orthodoxy.

Note that Maletich’s group is represented in the new “autocephalous” church by fifteen “bishops,” while there are fifty bishops in all (that is, Maletich’s bishops make up thirty percent of the total number of hierarchs of the new church).

It is also worth noting that those defending the Phanar’s choice in the Ukrainian question talk about Philaret and his notorious “rehabilitation,” while they are completely silent about the much more serious situation with Makary.

He is never mentioned. This is cause for particular concern for us because while the Russian Orthodox Church has competently advanced serious accusations (some of which were published), the competent bodies both of the Phanar and of the new “autocephalous” church in Kiev remain silent. They provide no explanations to refute the allegations, thus creating the basis for widening concern.

In the announcement of the act of the restoration of Makary, the Ecumenical Patriarch speaks about Makary Maletich’s appeal, which (as is known) was submitted for the purpose of canceling the verdict against the bishop.

However, Makary Maletich had no right to submit an appeal as he hadn’t been condemned by an ecclesiastical court as a bishop.

He was a protopresbyter of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), then left its jurisdiction and joined the schismatic UAOC. The [canonical] Church of Ukraine removed him from ministry.

On November 3, 1996, being a member of the schismatic UAOC, he was “consecrated” as a “bishop” by hierarchs having no canonical consecration, namely Dmitry Yarema, Igor Isichenko, and Methody Kudryakov.

All three who “consecrated” Makary have no Apostolic succession, as they received their consecrations from a known charlatan—the self-consecrated Vincent Chekalin.3

However, due to the fact that Makary was in a schismatic group, in which he was “consecrated,” the Russian Orthodox Church didn’t deal with his case and, of course, never judged him in the status of “bishop.”

Consequently, two very important questions arise.

1. If no judgment against “bishop” Makary Maletich exists, then what guilty verdict did he appeal to the Ecumenical Patriarch? And, following from that, what guilty verdict was overturned by the Patriarchal and Synodal decision of October 11, 2018?

2. When and by what canonical consecration did Makary receive the “hierarchical rank?” When was he deprived of the “hierarchical rank,” which he acquired, in order to restore him now to this rank by decision of the Patriarchate? How did the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate “reinstate [Makary] to the hierarchical rank?” Could it be possible that the Synodal Patriarchal decision on the appeal compensated for the lack of Apostolic succession in his episcopal consecration? And since when do the “canonical prerogatives of the Patriarch of Constantinople to accept appeals from hierarchs and other clergy from every autocephalous Church” also include the correction of the absence of Apostolic succession in an episcopal ordination?

The bishops of the UAOC (making up thirty percent of the new “autocephalous” church of Ukraine) were consecrated by two people: one deposed, and one self-consecrated! The deposed former bishop John Bodnarchuk and the self-consecrated charlatan Viktor (Vincent) Chekalin, who in the 1990s “consecrated” the first “bishops,” establishing a group of schismatics and non-canonical and Apostolic succession-less hierarchy for the UAOC.

Let’s be more specific.

John Bodnarchuk was the bishop of Zhytomyr of the Moscow Patriarchate, in the bosom of which he was canonically consecrated as a bishop on October 23, 1977 by Metropolitan Philaret (Denisenko) of Kiev and other bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which was in canonical communion with the Moscow Patriarchate and all Orthodox Churches.

However, he separated from his Church and therefore on November 14, 1989 was deposed by decision of the Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate. He never submitted an appeal. He was a member of the schismatic UAOC and, being deposed, together with Vincent Chekalin consecrated the first “bishops” in the UAOC schism.

In 1992, he appealed to the Moscow Patriarchate to return to the Russian Orthodox Church, but in 1993 he joined the schismatic “Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate” (UOC KP) under the leadership of Philaret (Denisenko).

Viktor (Vincent) Chekalin was a deacon of the Russian Orthodox Church. He was never ordained as a priest or as a bishop, not even in a schismatic group. In 1987, he was a teacher in an agricultural school in the Kaluga Province, where (on the basis of complaints from the parents of students) he was sentenced to three years in prison for molesting minors.

After his early release in 1988, he declared himself the “Bishop of Yasnaya Polyana” of the “True Orthodox Church.” He published texts where he critiqued the Church leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church, accusing it of ecumenism and connections with other confessions.

In 1990, he moved to Jordanville in the U.S. in search of the support of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia but was driven out and deported from the United States for stealing antimensions and liturgical books.

He subsequently arrived in Ukraine and entered the UAOC in the imaginary status of a bishop of the “catacomb church,” where together with the deposed bishop John Bodnarchuk, he founded the hierarchy of the UAOC, having “consecrated” Vasily Bodnarchuk and Andrei Abramchuk (3/24/1990 and 4/7/1990).

Later, at the end of 1990, he joined the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church (Uniate), and the Uniate Vladimir Sternyuk, the bishop of Lvov, appointed him the “first hierarch of the Russian Catholic church” (Uniate) on behalf of the pope of Rome, with the right to consecrate and receive bishops and to found dioceses, and all other rights in terms of management, having also issued a corresponding letter. Chekalin proceeded to create Greek Catholic (Uniate) communities in Latvia and Russia.

In 1991, the Vatican officially recognized that Vincent Chekalin has no canonical hierarchical consecration, is not a bishop, and is not subject to the Uniate Metropolia of Lvov, while Bishop Vladimir Sternyuk was removed from his position for his cooperation with Chekalin.

In the early 1990s, Chekalin deceived a married couple from among his spiritual children and kidnapped their ten-year-old son and fled to Australia with him. There he presented the child as his son and received a new ID with the name Vincent Berg, and Australian citizenship.

The child’s mother later accused Chekalin several times of kidnapping and molesting a minor, but attempts to return the child to the family were unsuccessful. In Australia, Chekalin long presented himself as the victim of political repression in the USSR, as a bishop of the Anglican church, and a “psychiatrist of a secret KGB school.”

In September 2018, Chekalin was sentenced in Australia to four years and three months imprisonment for numerous acts of fraud and falsification, as he presented himself as a psychiatrist, presenting fake diplomas. He was also charged with sexual crimes against minors. Evidence of the charges has been published in the Australian media and online.

Unfortunately, the majority of the “hierarchs” of the UAOC received their consecration from such “hierarchs,” without any Apostolic succession.

The “hierarchy” of the UAOC appeared on March 24, 1990, with the “consecration” of Vasily Bodnarchuk as “bishop” by the deposed former Moscow Patriarchate bishop John Bodnarchuk and the self-consecrated, that is, having no consecration to the episcopate, charlatan Vincent Chekalin. Subsequently, on April 7, 1990, the self-consecrated Vincent Chekalin and Vasily Bodnarchuk “consecrated” Andrei Abramchuk as a “bishop.”

After that, they created the “hierarchy” of the schismatic group under the leadership of Makary Maletich—the “Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.”

Today the Synod of the new “autocephalous” church of Ukraine under the leadership of the new “metropolitan” Epiphany, which received a tomos of autocephaly from Constantinople, consists of fifteen “bishops” of the UAOC of Makary Maletich, having received “consecration” from John Bodnarchuk and the self-consecrated Vincent Chekalin. That is, thirty percent of the “hierarchs” of the new “autocephalous” church of Ukraine have no Apostolic succession…

However, the greatest tragedy will occur if they find—God forbid!—Local Orthodox Churches that, wishing to serve worldly purposes, recognize such consecrations as canonical and Spirit-bearing…

So far, thank God, it hasn’t happened, but every Orthodox Church faces with fear and trembling the danger of recognizing the self-consecrated, Apostolic succession-less, as canonical bishops of the Church of Christ, which would irreparably tarnish the episcopal body of the global Orthodox Church.

Protopresbyter Anastasios Gotsopoulos
Translated by Jesse Dominick

Pravoslavie.ru

5/7/2019

1 π. Ἀν. Γκοτσοπούλου. «Μικρὴ συμβολὴ στὸ διάλογο γιὰ τὸ Οὐκρανικὸ “Αὐτοκέφαλο”». Σελ. 22-24 // https://anastasiosk. blogspot.com/2019/02/blog-post_82.html#more, and https:// aktines.blogspot.com/2019/02/blog-post_77.html.

2 UAOC: «Οὐκρανικὴ Αὐτοκέφαλη Ὀρθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία» (σχισματικὴ ὁμάδα ὑπὸ τὸν Μακάριο (Maletic). Ἐπανίδρυση τῆς «Ἐκκλησίας τῶν αὐτοχειροτονηθέντων-σαμοσφιάτοι» τοῦ Βασιλείου Λιπκόφσκι (1922) βλ. π. Ἀν. Γκοτσοπούλου, «Νὰ χαιρόμαστε τὸν νέον “προκαθήμενον”…», στὸ https://aktines.blogspot.com/2019/02/blog-post_3.html.

3 Βλ. https://www.romfea.gr/diafora/25366-idrutis-sxismatikon-tis-oukranias-katadikasthike-gia-apati-kai-plastografia.

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Comments
Nicholas Pantelopoulos6/20/2022 7:04 pm
I wonder what Saint Basil, in his letter to Amphilochius, Canon I has to say about Fr. Anastasios' commentary? Let me quote him: ..... For although the ones who were the first to depart had been ordained by the Fathers and with the imposition of their hands they had obtained the gracious gift of the Spirit, yet after breaking away they became laymen, and had no authority either to baptize or to ordain anyone, nor could they impart the grace of the Spirit to others, after they themselves had forfeited it. Wherefore they bade that those baptized by them should be regarded as baptized by laymen, and that when they came to join the Church they should have to be repurified by the true baptism as prescribed by the Church. Inasmuch, however, as it has seemed best to some of those in the regions of Asia, for the sake of extraordinary concession (or “economy”) to the many, to accept their baptism, let it be accepted. And even to the Encratites, whose baptism St. Basil completely rejected, as per, "I deem, therefore, that since there is nothing definitely prescribed as regards them, it was fitting that we should set their baptism aside, and if any of them appears to have left them, he shall be baptized upon joining the Church.", he continues to say, "If, however, this is to become an obstacle in the general economy (of the Church), we must again adopt the custom and follow the Fathers who economically regulated the affairs of our Church. For I am inclined to suspect that we may by the severity of the proposition actually prevent men from being saved because of their being too indolent in regard to baptism. But if they keep our baptism, let this not deter us. For we are not obliged to return thanks to them, but to serve the Canons with exactitude..." You can read the entire text for yourselves. The Church does not "recognize" any sacraments from either heretic or schismatic. Ordinations by schismatics are null and void both legally (canonically) and charismatically (sacramentally). Those who receive heretics or schismatics do not received canonically or sacramentally baptized or ordained. But yet!!! Saint Basil says, "as it has seemed best to some of those in the regions of Asia, for the sake of extraordinary concession (or “economy”) to the many"! Fr. Anastasios' persistence is both misguided and misplaced because he decided when and when not to use economy in this particular case. I might want to remind him that he is not a bishop or a Holy Synod but a simple priest archimandrite and it is not his place to speak on behalf of the entire Church Ecumenical. In his mind, I would surmise, the Bulgarian Exarchate that led to a century long schism could be remedied without re-ordination because their first bishops who broke into schism had apostolic succession (i.e. How can a justly anathematized phyletist -to which even the most austere interpreter like Vladimir Moss!! would ask - have apostolic succession is beyond my comprehension?) Now that the Archdiocese of Ochrid has been recognized, will he persist that the hierarchs ordained since the schism almost a half century ago should all be ordained anew? Never mind the above. What about the schismatic uniates who were in communion with Rome, and the Roman innovations, in the Middle East, two centuries ago were received by merely a simple letter? How about the Russian practice of "re-vesting" schismatics without baptism without ordination? I am sorry, but history, canon law, canonical precedent, and the authority of the Ecumenical Councils that gave the bishop of New Rome EQUAL honor and privileges, will disqualify his protestant eccelesiology.
Caj Ilotuuli4/26/2020 8:09 pm
Thank you for your articles Protopresbyter Anastasios Gotsopoulos ! We must pray for the Church of Greece and for the Mosvow Patriarchate, for Patriarch Kirill and Metropolitan Onuphry all Orthodox Churches .
+.Metropolitan Stephan U,.A.O.,C. Sobornopravnah4/3/2020 7:47 pm
WE WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK TO REPORTER WE HAVE MORE INFORMATION METROPOLITAN STEPHAN WANTS TO TELL HIS STORY AS A METROPOLITAN OF THE UAOC IN THE DIASPORA MARKERY HAS TRYED TO LIE I AM A METROPOLITAN AND IT TIME TO TELL THE REAL STORY.BLESS YOU WAS CONSECRATED BY MET.BORDNARCHUK IT IS TIME I TELL THE TRUTH OF MY PART OF THE UAOC.
Randy Dandy5/7/2019 9:45 pm
Gary Cox, thank you so much for your comment. I so often find myself forgetting to pray for our hierarchs, and especially those who have fallen outside of the church when thinking about the Ukraine issue. God bless you!
Gary Cox5/7/2019 1:57 pm
A very informative and detailed article. We laity await a response from the Patriarchs of the Church. We all need to keep the prayers going for our Patriarchs and Bishops and ourselves to be on the side of GOD When this settles out. Pray for Bartholomew to come to his senses. Pray for the people of Ukraine. And pray for the whole Church and for ourselves. And GOD will guide us in the right direction if we will listen. Gary Cox
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