Metropolitan Philip plays hardball

It is hard for me to be neutral about this, because I know at least one of the seminarians involved here. But here's the news: the Antiochian Orthodox patriarch, Philip, has pulled incoming Antiochian seminarians from the OCA-run seminaries to protest the failure of the OCA to "discipline" online journalist Mark Stokoe, whose website has covered the Antiochian meltdown with the same exhaustive rigor with which he covered a similar crisis in the OCA (of which Stokoe is a communicant). From Stokoe's report:

Towards the end of the 2008-2009 academic year, senior Antiochian faculty at both St. Tikhon's and St. Vladimir's were reported to have met with school administrators with a message from Metropolitan Philip: unless OCANEWS.org, ceased reporting on the Archdiocese there would be "consequences" for the two OCA schools. This same message was relayed to the Administration of the OCA in April 2009. In each instance it was pointed out to Metropolitan Philip that OCANEWS.org is not affiliated in any way with the Orthodox Church in America, nor is Mark Stokoe a "spokesperson" for the OCA, or either seminary. (The site has actually carried a disclaimer to that effect on its homepage since it began publication in 2006.) Neither the OCA Administration, nor the seminaries, have ever had influence on the site's policies or content, although Stokoe is a member of the OCA, and more recently, a member of its 25-member Metropolitan Council.

The connection between Stokoe and the OCA seminaries is even more tenuous: Stokoe graduated from St. Vladimir's more than 25 years ago but has no official ties to the school. He has only visited St. Tikhon's Seminary once in his life. Angry at Stokoe's reporting of troubles in the Antiochian Archdiocese in the wake of the +Philip's attempted demotion of his diocesan bishops to auxiliary status, +Philip was not to be assuaged by the realities of the situation. The OCA was warned that the schools - and the OCA itself - would face repercussions if Stokoe was not silenced.

This is crazy. The OCA can't "silence" a journalist -- nor, in my view, should it. I don't read Stokoe's site closely, and when I have read it, I haven't by any means agreed with everything on it. But I know that it played a critical role in keeping the heat on the corrupt former leadership of the OCA. It is imperative that our church and all churches have independent reporting. That Met. Philip thinks the way to deal with legitimate reporting and critical commentary on his governance is by demanding that other patriarchs attempt to quash the bearer of bad news shows how out of touch he is with this country and the times. In fact, as a journalist and as an Orthodox Christian, I think it's outrageous. Stokoe, writing in the third person, reports that when Orthodox clergy asked for his cooperation:

...Stokoe, on principle, declined to cease publication, likening +Philip's threatened action against the helpless schools to little more than "blackmail". "As recent OCA history has pointed out," he told his callers, "once you give in to the fear of blackmail, the blackmailer controls you. Such threats are unbecoming a Christian Bishop."

Completely agree. I'm very, very sorry that the OCA seminaries are having to suffer, and my heart is broken that these seminarians, including my friend, are having to suffer so grievously. But this tells us a very great deal about Met. Philip, none of it good. It is deeply wrong that he would punish these seminarians and their families, his own church, and the OCA for something that is not their fault, and for which they have no control over. It's tyrannical and unjust, and a sign of weakness, not strength. Sad and disgraceful. Lord, have mercy.