Brno, Czech Republic, March 9, 2021
In November 2019, Bp. Isaiah (right) concelebrated with Epiphany Dumenko (left) and other Ukrainian schismatics.
Unfortunately, another scandal has broken out in the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, again centered on Bishop Isaiah (Slaninka) of Šumperk, who is known to promote the policies of the Patriarchate of Constantinople over and against those of the Czech-Slovak Church itself.
The entire parish community of the Church of St. Wenceslaus in Brno is in an uproar after Bp. Isaiah suddenly removed their long-time beloved rector.
Bp. Isaiah has been troublesome for the Church for several years. He was consecrated in 2015 by decision of Constantinople hierarchs Emmanuel of Gaul and Arsenios of Austria without the blessing or recognition of His Beatitude Metropolitan Rastislav or the Czech-Slovak Holy Synod, in order to create an “alternative Synod” in the Church.
Constantinople also interfered in the elections that saw Met. Rastislav ascend the primatial throne in 2014 and refused to acknowledge him as the canonical primate until the Patriarchate was forced to reconcile with the Czech-Slovak Church to assure that it would attend 2016’s Crete Council. It was then that Bp. Isaiah was accepted as a hierarch of the Church as part of the reconciliation.
Bp. Isaiah caused multiple controversies in late 2019. In November, he celebrated with the Ukrainian schismatics in Kiev, in defiance of the stance of the Holy Synod and the warning of his primate, Met. Rastislav. That same month, it was reported that Bp. Isaiah was cooperating with Constantinople to establish a monastery and legal association in the Czech Republic without the blessing or even knowledge of the Czech-Slovak Holy Synod, which later strongly condemned this invasion by Constantinople.
The suddenly-ejected Fr. Jozef Fejsak. Photo: pravoslavbrno.cz Then, late last year, Bp. Isaiah, a vicar to Archbishop Simeon of Brno and Olomouc, suddenly removed Archpriest Jozef Fejsak from his position as rector and parish administrator of the Church of St. Wenceslaus in Brno, Czech Republic. The bishop reduced him to the rank of “auxiliary clergyman” and appointed himself as head of the parish, arousing the anger of the parish community, which greatly loves Fr. Jozef, who has pastored them for years.
The move was made without the knowledge or consent of the parish council, which has vowed to use all legal means to defend Fr. Jozef, as reported on the parish website.
The parish council meets regularly to work on having their rector and spiritual shepherd reinstated. Abp. Simeon confirms that Fr. Jozef is still the legal administrator and has called on Bp. Isaiah to rectify the situation. Instead, the vicar bishop also dismissed the priest from another parish where he has been working as a missionary for two years.
On February 8, the local dean Archpriest Konstantin Ryška visited and inspected the church and its books, concluding that it’s a properly-led, living church community. The parish expected Bp. Isaiah to come with him, and many people took the day off work to pour out their hearts to him about the strife caused by his attitude of power. However, the bishop “couldn’t find the courage to come.”
The controversy surrounding Bp. Isaiah and his latest decision has spread throughout the entire Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia and beyond. The parish has appealed to the primate, Met. Rastislav, noting that Abp. Simeon agrees with the parish council, against the decision of Bp. Isaiah. The Archbishop has asked the Synod to study the situation and help bring peace to the diocese.
A petition has also been launched in defense of Fr. Jozef, which has more than 1,500 signatures between the electronic and print versions.
The Serbian faithful living in Brno have written a statement to Abp. Simeon in defense of Fr. Jozef, as have the local Greeks.
Faithful from throughout the Czech Republic have also addressed their hierarchs: “It is very disturbing to observe the events that are taking place in connection with the Brno parish, since there are no known reasons or evidence of any offense or malicious intent for the dismissal of the Brno spiritual administrator.”
Fr. Jozef is an exemplary priest, leading all to the Christian virtues, they write, while Bp. Isaiah threatens Church life and casts a shadow over the entire Czech-Slovak Church.
The parish has also gathered and published many more statements of support emphasizing that Fr. Jozef is a wonderful pastor, while Bp. Isaiah’s authoritarian ways reveal sad behind-the-scenes intrigues that even the Orthodox Church cannot avoid.
The matter has even become a cause of concern in the neighboring Polish Orthodox Church. His Eminence Archbishop Abel of Lublin and Chełm addressed both Met. Rastislav and Abp. Simeon, not as a hierarch interfering in the affairs of another Local Church, but as a man who has known Fr. Jozef for several decades.
The Archbishop has also visited the Brno parish several times and knows Fr. Jozef to be a zealous priest. His removal is a cunning and deceptive policy from Bp. Isaiah, the Polish Archbishop writes, whom he didn’t expect to be so deceptive and to sell out the Church in such a way.
Read more about the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia’s troubled relationship with the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the article, “The Ecumenical Patriarchate’s Rule in the Crisis Period of the Orthodox Church in the Czech Lands and Slovakia.”
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