10
May

Archimandrite Arseny’s Civil Suit against the Ruthenian Publishing and Exchange Company

   Posted by: Fr. Oliver Herbel   in Columns, Frontier Orthodoxy, Saints

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As noted already when discussing the criminal libel suit that then-Archimandrite Arseny (Chahovtsov) instigated against Kirczow and Curkowskyz, he had filed a civil suit as well.  The civil suit made the newspapers in April and May of 1909 but nothing was mentioned about it in the New York Times again after that.  An investigation into the Supreme Court archives of New York (http://www.nycourts.gov/supctmanh/county_clerk_records.htm) did reveal a file on the civil case.

On April 16th, 1912, the attorneys for both sides agreed that “the above entitled action be discontinued without costs to either party as against the other; and that an order to this effect may be entered by either party without notice.”

On April 18th, 1912, the Honorable Henry Bischoff ordered precisely that.

This certainly does not add support to those who would claim that Archbishop Arseny was innocent of having raped (or even just slept with) Mary Krinitsky. It is true, of course, that Svoboda could be innocent of libel at the same time that then-Archimandrite Arseny was innocent of accusations of rape (or even simply fathering Mary’s child).  The reason the discontinuance does not help those wanting to canonize +Arseny, however, is that it shows he was unable to demonstrate that the Svoboda article was, without a doubt, a case of libel.  Note, too, that this was during a time in which it was easier to prove libel than it is now.

There is always an inherent risk with a libel case–the person pressing it ends up exposing him/herself to scrutiny while the party charged with libel often walks away relatively unscathed.  When this happens, it can make things look worse for the party filing the libel complaint.  I think that happened here.  Archimandrite Arseny was unable to prove that Svoboda committed libel, leaving those supporting his canonization without a slam dunk case exonerating him.

Make no mistake, the burden of proof lies with those who wish to canonize him.  By failing to prove that the accusation was irrefutably false, Arseny left the question unanswered and we now are in the position of reviewing the evidence at hand to the best of our ability.   We are also in a position, I believe, that demands we acknowledge canonization would be inopportune and imprudent.

There are a few other avenues that may be yet available for investigation but at this point, we have the criminal trial’s transcript (at least most of it) and the discontinuance of the civil case.  It is quite possible we might not have anything else to find with respect to this case, but one never knows.  Should I uncover additional relevant source material, I will post on that as well.

Fr. Oliver Herbel, Executive Director

[This was published on Frontier Orthodoxy: http://frontierorthodoxy.wordpress.com]

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 10th, 2010 at 9:00 am and is filed under Columns, Frontier Orthodoxy, Saints. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

5 comments so far

Helen
 1 

There still might be more information forthcoming from the archives of “Svoboda”.
Now that the topic has come up again, the original articles may be translated and then scholars can search the archives of the papers for correspondence and other materials.
But the OCA in Canada was out of line in not considering Archbishop’s background when proposing him for canonization. It does not send a proper message to women in the Orthodox Church.

May 10th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Fr. Oliver Herbel
 2 

Helen,

It is possible that Svoboda has something in its archives. I emailed them but have not yet had a quiet moment during the day in which to call. I should do that sometime. I have glanced over the 1909 and 1912 issues and also asked a friend who’s more than linguistically competent to do so as well in case I missed something. We have not seen any articles relating to it. It could be that the criminal trial had a settlement out of court that dictated silence. On the other hand, it is possible Svoboda simply did not want to draw attention to the situation.

I think it’s probable that many did not know of Archbishop Arseny’s earlier difficulties in PA or the actual reason he first was sent to Canada. On the other hand, I fear that for some (and some did know) they did not care or believed Archbishop Arseny’s later life was such that the earlier possible wrong-doing did not really matter. I agree with you concerning the message it sends women, but not all agree with us. Of course, if there is ever a smoking gun that is found that exonerates Archbishop Arseny, I would quickly change my position. Until then, let this be a lesson to those of us in the OCA–transparency has yet to take hold.

May 10th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Reg
 3 

Has there been an update to this story yet?

September 16th, 2010 at 11:50 am
Fr. Oliver Herbel
 4 

I’ll throw something up on my blog quickly.

September 16th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Fr. Oliver Herbel
 5 

http://frontierorthodoxy.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/quick-updating-on-the-archbishop-arseny-case/

There you have it. Not quite worth a post here on OrthodoxHistory.org, but worth throwing up over on Frontier Orthodoxy, as I had nothing else scheduled for today anyhow.

September 16th, 2010 at 1:26 pm

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