Thank you, everyone, for your attention and support.
Dear Cossack 316,
Thank you for your side of the story.
Wow it is amazing how the facts can be misconstrued.
Yes, Mr. Filaret Denysenko became famous internationally for doing so.
First off, Father Bogdan was not fired as a priest of St Andrew’s but rather he resigned. With the parish board and a majority of the parish wanting to mention the name of Patriarch Filaret in our service and have the Patriarch bless our mosaic in the front of the church, of course Bishop Daniel balked at that request.
Fr. Bogdan could not go outside of the Canonical Orthodox Church.
It is not St Andrews that left, it was the hierarchs of UOC-USA that left the church by waiting until after Patriarch Mystaslav passed away and secretly signing away to Constantinople.
Really? No, they did not wait when Patriarch Mstyslav of blessed memory will die. Very unethical to say so. Instead, the leadership of UOC-USA searched and found the way in order to assure the recognition of our Church in communion with all Canonical Orthodoxy worldwide.
The hierachs did it for money. They saw at the time declining membership and dues to the consistory and the hierarchs themselves had grow accustomed to living a life of luxury. The bishops did not in fact bring the issue of whether or not to join the ecumenical-patriarchate with a sobor but rather did it in secret without proper authorization.
Offensive and incorrect. I have an honor to know all our Hierarchs in UOC-USA and UOCC, by the way. I know their modest life styles and extremely busy schedules. With these Hierarchs and other leaders in clergy and laity, we have converts, reverts and new immigrants coming to our parishes. We have a number of new parishes and missions.
All Sobors / Congresses of UOC-USA since 1995 sent greetings to His All Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew.
Remember we are a sobornopravna church not synodonal.
Exactly! UOC of USA is a sobornopravna Church, and it has been successfully exercised in our Sobors / Congresses under the omophoron of His All Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Great Church of Christ.
Instead, UOC-KP is not a sobornopravna Church. Parishes that went into this schism, UOC-KP have to listen and obey all directions of Mr. Filaret Denysenko and his non-canonical Synod.
It is for that reason that now there are Ukrainian Orthodox Parishes with non-ukrainian priests. Why would an American of non-ukrainian descent become a member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and not the OCA? Because BoundBrook needs money and are trying to attract non-Ukrainian as due paying members.
Wow! Truly shocking! This is agressively attacking racism and chauvinism.
Such attitude should not have absolutely any place anywhere in Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make desciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age". Amen". (Matthew, 28:18-20).
We all must welcome converts and other non-Ukrainians and make sure they feel at home. One of many examples how things should be done, can be observed here:
http://www.goarch.org/news/ocmcbuilding-2009-05-25Now Father Bogdan, whom I always viewed as a decent priest for many years, resigned rather than disobey his bishop. A priest’s loyalty should be to his parish but instead father Bogdan stated, “I am a soldier and the bishop is my general. I can not disobey my general. This statement out of his own mouth says it all, his loyalty was not to his parish but to his bishop.
A priest's loyalty should be to the Orthodox Church. A Hierarch, any Hierarch, is the representative of Christ, a father to his flock and an appropriate authority of the Orthodox Church.
In order to emphasize strength of these requirements it can be mentioned that the only imagenable exception in accordance with Canon 15 of Dual Counsel can be applied when a Hierach promotes a known and already disapproved heresy. In other words, such a Hierarch stops to represent the Orthodox Church. Thanks God, it never been applicable in USA in any jurisdiction. In all other cases, a priest has to remain loyal to the Church and to his Hierarch.
Furthermore, on the contrary, the Diocese of Chicago of UOC-USA is truly blessed to have an absolutely wonderful Ruling Hierarch, a man of a extraordinary spirituality, dedication and missionary outreach in person of His Grace Bishop Daniel (Zelinsky). He tirelessly works for the development of the Church.
Holy Canons served the Orthodox Church for thousands of years. This is not our place to re-invent the wheel.
St. Andrews parish had let it be known for years that they did not approve of the bishops leaving the Ukrainian church and wanting to join Kieven-Patriarchate.
So you state the right of a parish to approve or to disapprove the actions of the Hierarchy? It goes against the Canons.
This is not an isolated incident. 12 parishes have already left Bound Brook over this issue and more are looking to leave.
Exaggeration. Incorrect. Instead, St. Mary Proctress Parish in Rochester, NY, came back several years ago. The majority of parishioners of Holy Ascension Parish in Clifton, NY, remained canonical. But they have to serve in the rented premises, because UOC-KP still keeps their beloved church building.
Bound Brook is so desperate for money they are looking to sell parishes.
False. Furthermore, if a parish closes down and sells the assets, money comes to a special Missionary fund. If such a parish re-istablishes itself in (5) years, then this money automatically comes to them for their re-birth and growth. Otherwise, new missions become recepients of aid from the aforementioned fund. Sobors / Congresses of UOC-USA approved this order.
It’s amazing to me because Bound Brook does not “own” the parishes, the people own the parishes. We are NOT Catholic and Bound Brook is NOT the Vatican.
We are Orthodox, we are not Congregationalists either. We need to act in accordance with the Canons of the Orthodox Church.
I personally was sad to see him leave but he left, the parish board did not kick him out. As a matter of fact Father Kalynyuk made more money from the parish of St Andrews than he could have elsewhere. It was the parish board who helped get him a new luxurious home after complaints from Father Bogdan that the house the parish provided him was not up to his standards.
As it has been written in the original post, all pastors where pushed out in the history of St. Andrew's Parish in Bloomingdale. No one left enjoying an atmoshepre of Christian spirit, surrounding him.
Fr. Bogdan Kalynyuk learned a number of various skills in his life. How do you know the maximal amount that he could earn? Also, Fr. Bogdan constantly placed a perfect amount of human effort in many labors for the sake of St. Andrew. Some huge parishes in other jurisdictions have capability to provide significantly greater packages of compensation to their clergy and they gladly do so. In any case, a salary should stay as a subject of private metters of a person.
As for the “schism” most of the people who currently now support Father Bogdan are not parishioners and never have been.
If so, then they belong to the category of people, who aspire to join a canonical parish. And they got drawn to St. Andrew during his pastorate.
In addition the majority of them are illegals and the few parisioners that are siding with Father Bogdan are being told by him that he was kicked out when he infact resigned. In terms of dirty tacticts, Father Bogdan had his supporters call the parents of the children that were going to first confession to not attend the service nor let their children take part in first confession. Now that is what I call trying to create a schism.
It has been repeatedly stated in this thread that to enter into a schism means to leave Canonical Orthodoxy. Such a terrible action took place at St. Andrew. I have not heard about these telephone calls. However, if I was a priest or a parishioner there, I would do the exactly same thing. The first Confession of a child and a following Communion should not occur in schismatic group / sect. This reason appears absolutely identical to the requirement for Orthodox Christian to obstain from receiving a euacharistic Communion in non-Orthodox Churches.
It is not surprising that Father Bogdan is telling everyone he was kicked out. The man was foolish to resign and cut his own financial throat. Now because there is no parish near him where he can transfer, he is becoming desperate. I feel sorry for him and begged him not to resign.
"But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness". (1 Corinthians, 1:23)
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven". (Matthew 5:12)
Actions of martyrs for faith from Roman empire to Soviet Ukraine also looked foolish in the eyes of their persecutors and often of the surrounding population. But during the meeting with God, things suddenly started to look differently.
Blessed will be the confessor of faith, Mitred Protopriest Bogdan, who suffers from persecutions for righteousness's sake. For his is the kingdom of heaven.
Remember this, a priest loyalty as well as a bishop should be to their parishioners and faithful, not their own petty interests.
Please see above.
On a side note, 80% of the parish of St. Andrews back joining Kieven Patriacharte. Much of Father Bogdan’s supporters are non parishioners. Both Father Bogdan and Bishop Daniel realize they have no chance. That is why Father Bogdan is threatening to start his own parish in Elk Grove Village. Go ahead father, who is going to pay for your parish? Not Bound Brook, they are broke. Not your followers, most are illegal’s with limited income.
Several issues. So, you perceieve a creation of a new Orthodox parish as a threat? Next thing, you admit that Fr. Bogdan has enough "followers" in order to start a new parish. Remarks about the immigration status and limited income do not seem charitable. So do the calls to police and threats to call the Immigration Service.
Conclusion:No God in these actions. And no Christian goals.
