Same old same old

What exactly are the accusations--that the priest is an alcoholic and that the bishop has not mandated treatment for him? I think he should--but I kind of think this is something to handle internally. Why should a priest's alcoholism be placed on a website?

Let me know if I'm missing something.

What bothers me about this revelation is that a lot of the material in this letter need not have been revealed on a website that, regardless of the good intentions of its owner, frequently descends into gossip, innuendo, and very unChristian and unOrthodox attacks. It is irrelevent if Fr Isidore, for instance, [deleted]. The extent of his alleged alcoholism is irrelevant. The letter ends up, for me, as more of an expose meant to embarrass the OCA hierarchy into doing something, than providing true Christian witness against the abuse and un-priestly like actions alledged by Sidebottom. The sordid details just distract from the true problem and aid the anti-clericalism rampant on Stokoe's website and the Orthodox Forum.

In the spirit of Oss, this is off topic but on-Crunchy: Jason Steorts at NRO --

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZTFlMmIzMWM2MWY4ZGE5ZGMwY2YzZjIxMzllZDUwODI=

Every time I visit China, I find myself thinking that, in its modern guise, it is a marriage of the worst in Western and Eastern cultures. From the East, it retains structures of political and moral thought in which the individual plays no part, his welfare being entirely subordinated to that of society. The concept of a right has no place in Chinese history, and little place in China today. Moreover, the agnosticism of Chinese philosophy (including Confucianism, which is called a religion only by abusing that word) has left a great many modern Chinese with no belief in, or even longing for, transcendent meaning.

At the same time, China has partaken of the West’s most bitter fruits. Marxism is Exhibit A, but today the West manifests itself mainly in capitalistic flavor. Though I am a devoted free-marketeer, it seems obvious to me that the highest ends in life are not material. I do not even mean this claim religiously: I say only that such things as love, beauty, intellectual inquiry, and breadth of experience matter more to me (and to most people I know) than does wealth. I suspect most young, urban Chinese would say they agree; and yet such ends seem to exert little influence on their actions. I have probably never encountered a more materialistic group of people than Chinese middle-class youths; and I have never seen a place where the pursuit of wealth was less mitigated by nonmaterial values than in urban China.

You have, in short, the moneychangers but no temple.

I agree with your basic point, Anon, but there was that one thing about Fr. Isidore that, on reflection, I regretted helping to disseminate, because it was humiliating and had no real bearing on the whole scandalous situation.

I agree Chuck, though that is not the point of the story.

Was it true sexual harrassment, or just the stumbling actions of someone inebriated? To make the jump to children being endangered is a bit of a stretch for me. Always a rush to judgment for the commentators at ocanews.org.

As for who is being protected, sometimes it is just to protect the accused until the truth is sorted out. Perhaps Sidebottom has an axe to grind against Fr Isidore? Perhaps the roles were reversed? Who knows?

A dog is better than I am, for he has love and does not judge.

Abba Xanthias, from The Sayings of the Desert Fathers

I agree that there are things that should not be countenanced (money-chngers in the Temple!), but in some of the stuff I've seen on this subject and the financial scandal, people come on understandably riled up.

If a priest is drunk during liturgy and a bishop beats a priest whom he has promoted somewhat meteorically, action should be taken. Hard to do without a spirit of discord, I'll admit.

After all, we are not dogs, but "rational sheep."

The Desert Fathers predated the formal split between Rome and the Orthodox. They are revered in both traditions.

I met Fr. Isidore a couple of years ago. I was born in Anchorage, and it was my first time back up there since becoming Orthodox. I found him to be nice, if maybe a bit young for the meteoric rise that he was clearly enjoying, and I enjoyed talking to him. The one thing that stuck out a bit for me was this: I had also met the priest at the Greek parish in Anchorage, and Fr. Isidore made a bit of a snarky comment about running into the priest at Greek restaurants asking for money. (Between that and a couple of other comments from various folks, it was clear there was no love lost between the Russians and the Greeks in Alaska, one way or the other. and that neither of them were happy that the Antiochians had a big cathedral in Eagle River.)

Anyway, I'm deeply grieved that this is happening, but the OCA has major problems in Alaska--there are 90 or so parishes/missions throughout the state and perhaps 30-35 priests. Few are paid, and few of those who are paid receive a fulltime income. St. Herman's Seminary seems to have a lot of trouble thriving. A vague impression I have is that the Diocese of Alaska tries to evangelize by making Orthodoxy a tourist trap--between the Museum in downtown Anchorage and Ekutna... well, I just don't get it. Bp. Nikolai is not somebody I've ever met, but it comes across as a situation where he was brought in because it was believed that his toughness would address certain problems, and the problems seem to have just been made worse. I'd hate to believe that he has been beating Fr. Isidore, but in context of everything else, it seems likely that there is some kind of inappropriate relationship there (and I don't use that terminology to imply more than I know; I just don't know any other terminology to use).

Of course, the Antiochians have their own problems up there, too--the cathedral's mission-planting desires have backfired on them at least once, and badly. I met a former member of one of these missions who said, very bluntly, "We were Ben Lomond, just without all the money and property."

It's too bad. Pray for Fr. Isidore, pray for Bp. Nikolai, pray for Alaska, pray for the OCA.

Richard