Posted by Leo on 5/14/2008, 9:41 pm, in reply to "A relatively balanced account of Alaska - I"
The sudden outspokenness can be attributed to two events: Fr. Isadore’s alleged drunken sexual assault of missionary Paul Sidebottom and the tonsuring of Terenty Dushkin, a convicted sex offender who served more than a year in prison on several charges of sexual abuse of a minor.
In February, Bishop Nikolai said the investigation of Fr. Isadore was over.
“(Fr. Isadore) was cleared of everything – everything,” he said. “I have a copy of the report. (The allegations were) unsubstantiated. They interviewed seven different people.”
While visiting Kodiak, Fr. Alexander said that wasn’t true.
“There were some allegations in the case that have not been corroborated,” Fr. Alexander said. “This has made it possible for some people to assert that the case is closed, but it is not.”
Fr. Alexander said he was one of two bishops who investigated the allegations.
However, the hands of the church were tied.
Even though OCA leaders were concerned with rumors coming from the Alaska diocese, because each OCA diocese is autonomous, there was no official reason for them to begin an investigation, not until the tonsuring of Dushkin, which is a direct violation of church rules, a violation which Bishop Nikolai made no apologies for.
“I believe the message I wanted to send was the fact that there are lots of issues out there, lots of them,” Bishop Nikolai said. “You can be sorry for what you’ve done, you can pay the price, you can reconcile with God and man, and the church receives you. The church is about forgiveness. We teach Christ’s life here. That’s what this is all about.”
The bishop’s critics denounced the tonsuring, saying the tonsuring was the first step to the priesthood.
“The first rung of the ladder doesn’t get you to the top of the building, or the second or the third step or the fourth,” Bishop Nikolai said.
Because of the tonsuring and the press surrounding it, Alaskan clergy began writing letters to OCA headquarters.
The church hesitated to investigate.
The beginning of the end
After several press reports on the tonsuring, OCA leaders began receiving letters from Alaskan clergy — not only protesting the tonsuring, but condemning Bishop Nikolai.
Once the dam burst, there was no stopping the flood of letters to church leaders listing the bishop’s abuses. The bishop tried to stem the flow by calling for a clerical meeting in Anchorage, but letters continued to pour forth.
“We are unhappy about all that has been brought to light, the controversies of last year and the unrest of the church in Alaska,” said one e-mail signed by seven Yup’ik clergy. “To serve in fear, rather than to serve in faith and love is not Orthodox.”
The Rev. Victor Nick of Mountain Village said village Elders are afraid of the bishop.
“The clergy and their wives and children are trembling in fear,” he said.
Bishop Nikolai said that on March 3, he sent a letter to church leaders in Syosset, N.Y., asking for guidance and help regarding the letters.
He said a letter he received a day later asked him to take a voluntary leave of absence while church officials investigated the allegation of abuse.
“We inform you that we have received many letters of serious complaint from deaneries, clergy and faithful of the diocese of Alaska,” Metropolitan Herman said in his response. “Not relying on hear-say, yet acknowledging the seriousness of these letters, at your suggestion, all your brother bishops were contacted and they unanimously agreed that the best course of action for you is that you be placed on temporary leave of absence.”
The bishop didn’t take the letter and he refused to step down voluntarily, calling the request unlawful according to church law.
Over several weeks, church leaders continued to urge the bishop to step down and the bishop refused, saying that procedures had to be followed.
“You have to follow the rules how they’re written,” Bishop Nikolai said. “If I was to comply with something that was not right, then I’m accepting the fact that we’re breaking the rules and that every other rule can be broken, too.”
He eventually won the battle, but lost the war.
Near the end of March, in another special meeting of the Holy Synod of Bishops, the bishops rescinded their order and allowed him to return as the leader of the Alaska diocese.
Close on his heels, however, were two bishops that were sent to Alaska to conduct a second investigation since the result of Fr. Alexander’s investigation was not heard.
In mid-April, in yet another special meeting, Bishop Nikolai heard the results of that investigation and agreed to a temporary leave of absence, which has not unexpectedly, turned into a permanent one.
“When I came here the diocese was divided and that was because of the bishop prior to me,” he said in the interview with KTUU television. “And to divide or to continue to allow that division to be here, I just don’t think it’s the right thing to do, and sometimes you need to go where you can be appreciated for your talents and your efforts.”
The divide continues
Metropolitan Herman officially took control of the Alaska diocese after Bishop Nikolai went on leave.
He appointed the Right Rev. Bishop Benjamin of San Francisco and the West to help run the diocese.
In his first official act, on April 22, Bishop Benjamin called for healing in a letter to Alaska clergy.
“There is pain, hurt and perhaps, even fear among you,” he said. “I can assure you all, the situation will not stay the same, it will either get better or grow worse, depending on the path we choose to take together. All of us that that taken part in the recent drama need to forgive each other. There are not, nor can there ever be ‘sides’ in the church.”
He said that everyone struggles in life and part of that struggle is to learning to forgive and to set aside hurt and move on.
“The Evil One does his work by scattering Christ’s flock,” he said.
That scattering continues.
In last week’s Tundra Drums interview, Fr. Isadore blasted the clergy who helped overthrow Bishop Nikolai calling, them paranoid and alcoholics.
The root of the problem is the bishops “my way or no way” approach, Fr. Askoar said.
“The chancellor {ie, Fr. Isidore}, who sparked much of this outcry with his own drunken episode nearly a year ago, speaks with a ‘forked tongue,’” he said.
As Bishop Nikolai steps aside, the question among clerics and parishioners is: Will the next leader of the Alaska diocese be able to heal the rift that is now a part of the diocese as a result of ineffective back-to-back leaders?
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