Posted on 10/07/2009 4:59:44 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
The Abkhazian wing of the Georgian Orthodox Church is seeking full independence from its neighbor. After the conflict between the two in the ‘90s, it’s been hoping for church freedom and counts on Russia’s support.
Nothing seems to have changed in a small church in the town of Novy Afon since the Abkhazian wing split from the Georgian Orthodox church. Father Vissarion Allia is an active supporter of the Church’s self-rule. Together with local worshippers he would like to see the parishes under the temporary control of Moscow since the republic has been recognised by Russia, eventually leading to a fully independent Abkhazian church.
“We are hoping that the Moscow patriarchy will make such a decision. There are historical facts that should not be forgotten. And I think Russia, and Patriarch Kirill in particular, will make bold steps in that direction,” says Father Vissarion Allia.
The Abkhazian Orthodox church was formed in the 4th Century. For a long time it remained under Georgian influence but a hundred and sixty years ago it began following directives from Moscow. But with the Soviet Union, and the amalgamation into Georgia, priests were appointed from Tbilisi – services held in the Georgian language – and woe betide anyone who didn't like it.
The Russian, Abkhazian and Georgian orthodox churches have a lot in common, including their problems. During the Stalin era they were forced into unwanted reforms, and that’s something that they have to deal with now, with Russia, Abkhazia and Georgia having become independent states.
The rebellion by Abkhazian priests has been criticised by the Georgian patriarch.
“These petitions made by some spiritual leaders cannot be taken seriously, and we do not take them seriously. No one has a right to separate from the mother church,” says Georgian Patriarch Iliya.
Although the official position of the Russian Orthodox Church is that the status of the Abkhazian dioceses should remain unchanged, some priests are more pragmatic.
“You know, you can make people pay taxes to the government that they don’t like. But you cannot force people to confess to a priest that they don’t like. Unfortunately there are some interethnic problems in the Orthodox Church. It’s also a fact that the next few generations of Abkhazians will never confess their problems to Georgian priests. So we have a question – how to preserve Christianity in Abkhazia if they are not willing to accept the Georgian priests,” says Deacon Andrey.
Since 1993, when Georgian refugees, among them many priests left Abkhazia, the local clergy has tended to have closer ties with neighboring Russian parishes.
And while talks on the status of the Abkhazian church have not even begun in Moscow or in Tbilisi, the hope is that the controversy will not affect the worshippers.
Moscow stupidly acts against Russia's own interests by advancing the cause of ethnic separatism in the Caucasus, destabilizng the entire region. Now Russia's support for heretical schismatics inside the Georgian church's jurisdiction will seriously damage the cause of Orthodox unity in Ukraine and all over the world.
Stunning... just stunning..
Why bother to be be just plain freaking CHRISTIANS following Christ when we can be Greek Orthodox, Georgian Orthodox, Lutheran, Catholic, Anglican, Syrian Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Presbytarian, Baptist....blah blah blah...
God is God.. Get that in your heads.. you dummies!
How about another civil war to kill all those Christians who are not your type of Christians...sigh.. the idiocy of it all..
All the while the anti-Christ is on the rise and he laughs at our follies....
You forgot Roman Orthodox ;-)
But the Church of Moscow has no Holy men - it has been a govt puppet for some time.
“Now Russia’s support for heretical schismatics inside the Georgian church’s jurisdiction will seriously damage the cause of Orthodox unity in Ukraine and all over the world.”
No it won’t. This isn’t a government matter, though the Russian government might wish it were. This is a matter of canonical jurisdiction. The Russian Church will no more support schismatics in Abkhazia than the Georgian Church will in, say, Ukraine. If either did, its more likely than not that the offending party would find itself out of communion with canonical Orthodoxy. Now that, to Americans who haven’t a clue about Orthodox ecclesiology, might not seem a big deal, but I assure you that it is, especially to the Patriarch of Moscow.
Spot on Kolo. The "Abkhazian" Church is in violation of the canon. This is quite similar to the situation with the secessionist "Macedonian" Orthodox Church and the "Montenegrin" Orthodox Church, neither of which is recognized by any of the Orthodox Churches in communion with Cionstantinople, reven though both are supported by their governments.
Autonomy and eventually independence (autocephaly) must be requested and received canonically. The proof that that such one-sided secessions don't work is the "Macedonian" Church, which split from the Serbian Orthodox Church almost half a century ago (in in 1963) with the help of the Communist government in Yugoslavia, and still remains canonically unrecognized by any other Orthodox Church.
So I guess that means you also support keeping the Ukraine Orthodox under Moscow's jurisdiction as well.
The war in Georgia was not fought over religion.
In most cases these are jurisdictions that predate the ethnic people that live there now and when there were no national borders - all within the Roman and then Eastern Roman empires.
True, but this caused problems earlier — like many of the Southern Slavs and the Bulgarians felt that their language and culture was being squashed under the weight and majesty of Greek culture and language, and felt that that extended to the church too
You both are correct that it was not fought over religion but we are dragging religion into it.
Using religion to start wars is unforgivable
“Ok, but in my limited readings on this, Churchs like the Bulgarian Orthodox Church were formed without this requests. Why not allow ethnic groups autocephaly as long as they maintain the canonicity and the faith? I don’t understand that.”
Your question can be answered on several levels. The ethnic one is the easiest. The establishment of “ethnic” churches is emblematic of the heresy of ethnophyletism. It became a particular problem in the 19th century with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. It has shown up in the 20th century in the establishment of “churches” like those mentioned in Kosta’s post but the same problem seems to be coming up in Ukraine right now.
The other problem is that the canons simply don’t allow for the Patriarchates to divide up the canonical territory of another Patriarchate. When Greece and Bulgaria took their autocephally, they spent years in non-canonical status. The Albanian Church did not because it was given its tomos of autocephally by its mother church Constantinople. The autonomous status of the Antiochian Church here in America is not problematic because it was created by its mother church.
“like many of the Southern Slavs and the Bulgarians felt that their language and culture was being squashed under the weight and majesty of Greek culture and language, and felt that that extended to the church too”
That is classic ethnophyletism. Frankly, the calls for an American Orthodox Church are equally heretical.
These Georgian borders are artificial borders created during the Soviet/Stalin era and when the USSR fell apart these people found themselves suddenly minorities in regimes that were embracing nationalism. Nationalism tends to scare minorities who are not of the same nationality.
We are not dragging religion into this but rather Tailgunner Joe is as part of - and this is an assumption - guess - not mind reading just guesstimating on my part to the best I can figure - that Joe has an anti-Russian bias - and he is thinking to make some hay over this.
Abkhazia is really leaning the wrong direction.
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