SOURCE – ORTHOCHRISTIAN.ORG
The Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople has elected Alexander Belya of the Slavic Orthodox Vicariate as an auxiliary bishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, reports the GOARCH press service.
Belya is, in fact, a defrocked former archimandrite, and the Slavic Vicariate is largely composed of defrocked, suspended, and schismatic clergy.
As a cleric of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Belya was known to dodge diocesan dues and bring clergy to America without the proper paperwork. His brother has also been implicated in serious crimes, including the trafficking of women.
In the summer of 2019, Belya forged a letter supposedly from His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion (Kapral), then the First Hierarch of ROCOR, to the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate, requesting that Belya be confirmed to become a bishop. However, the ROCOR Synod hadn’t actually nominated Belya, and he was subsequently suspended from priestly duties.
Refusing to abide by his suspension, he instead fled to GOARCH without a canonical release from ROCOR. He was defrocked by ROCOR in February 2020, and thus is canonically only a lay monk.
Belya even sued Met. Hilarion and a number of other ROCOR hierarchs and clerics in the secular court system. The case is ongoing.
And on July 30, Belya is scheduled to be consecrated as a hierarch of Constantinople’s Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
Disgusting!
And how disrespectful to the recent memory of the very beloved Russian Hierarch,
Metropolitan Hilarion Kapral ~ who’s name worldwide is long considered a saint.
This defrocked and unworthy so called Ex Archimandrite Belya had evil hubris to sue a genuine holy man like Vladyka Hilarion – and while he suffered physically …
for this alone,
he’ll answer before the courts in heaven!
The 24 Elders by the throne of God
know ALL and are not fooled like the
lightweights of GOARCH!
Just you wait: Belya will crash and burn just like Elpi.
Well what an unsurprising shock, Bartholomew and Elpidophoros seem incapable of associating with anyone that isn’t a defrocked or laisized schismatic.
You are the company you keep…
Though I don’t know the man and anything about this situation it appears to be extremely concerning. It definitely calls the AB’s judgement into question. One most also question the AB judgement when he appoints Fr Vasilios Drossos as a senior advisor.
Canons don’t mean anything to the Pope of the East and his entourage. Remember the dozens of Ukranian “bishops” that were “recognized” overnight in order for the “tomos” to be granted…this is just another “rotten apple” added to the festering “spiritual” leadership…
The weak argument that in times of schism and heresy “Canonical releases” don’t apply would be a hypocritical excuse, given that Constantinople has maintained a position that Moscow’s decision was unilateral, and not bilateral…having said that, ignoring a clear Canon that stipulates honoring LEGITIMATE jurisdictional decisions about defrocking across boundaries underscores the opening statement of this response.
However, these decisions, aren’t made in a vacuum… there are usually some “follow the money” reasons behind them… Statistically speaking, there will likely be a future article on Helleniscope whenever the real details emerge from behind closed doors….
As always, the solution is for the laity to wake up, and reject anyone who is blatantly corrupt by leaving them with empty buildings and empty coffers, “dusting their sandals” on the way out, and opting instead to attend at a healthier and more beneficial Orthodox jurisdiction. There are still some good bishops out there, but they are getting harder to find each day…