Comments on: Robert Josias Morgan visits Russia, 1904

By: Matthew Namee

Matthew Namee — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:00:44 +0000

I’m a little confused, Orrologion. Fr. Raphael lived in Philadelphia, where there were both Russian and Greek parishes. My only point was that it was odd that he would have attended the Greek parish, rather than the Russian one, given the situation at the time. I didn’t mean to imply that Fr. Raphael was “taking sides.” It’s just that, given his experience in Russia and the nature of the Russian Archdiocese in America at the time, it would have been most logical for him to join the Russians. That he chose the Greeks may be due to something simple, such as having developed relationships with local Greek people. But I don’t know for sure.

By: orrologion

orrologion — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:51:46 +0000

Well, then it makes sense he went to Istanbul: that was the nearest bishop for that Church. Similarly, were my GOA priest to recommend I be made a Sub-Deacon, I’d be sent to the local GOA Metropolitan, even though any number of other Orthodox bishops are closer.

It would be easily explained by the fact today that many people – even clergy from abroad recently in the US – simply think of all the Orthodox as Orthodox, regardless of the lack of jurisdictional unity. Practically, people treat the situation abroad in the same way overlapping jurisdiction is treated within the OCA today (geographical and ethnic dioceses overlapping), the EP today (overlapping geographical dioceses and exarchates) and in the Roman Catholic church (all sorts of overlapping sui juris churches, dioceses and orders and apostolates, etc.). These are seen as administrative strcutures we have little control over, but we are all in communion; we tend to choose a home and stick with its structure. That would seem to be the most simple explanation until other proof comes to light implying Fr. Raphael’s taking sides in the intra-Orthodox turf war in North America.

By: Matthew Namee

Matthew Namee — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:53:19 +0000

He traveled to Istanbul/Constantinople (sorry; I use them interchangeably) specifically to be ordained. He had letters of recommendation from both the Philadelphia Greek priest (Petrides) and the Philadelphia Greek parish. He had already been affiliated with the parish for several years prior to this.

By: orrologion

orrologion — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:56:19 +0000

Did he travel to Istanbul to be ordained or did he travel to Constantinople where he was then ordained? Perhaps he took another tourist trip – what Orthodox of any background would not want to visit Istanbul? – and while there ordination was proposed to him. Such fait accompli announcements of ordination are common even today in Orthodoxy – “you will be ordained next Sunday”. A starry eyed convert in the Orient perhaps unaware of the jockeying that was perhaps just beginning to start in earnest between the EP and Moscow over North America could have simply accepted ordination as ordination by the Orthodox Church, not by this or that ‘jurisdiction’.