“…Our Lady of Kazan again bestows legitimacy on the Russian state, including its foreign policy, which has been supported by the Patriarchate of Moscow. The state in turn has supported the policy of the Patriarchate to re-assert its authority over previously independent Russian Orthodox churches abroad. The long shadow of the Black Virgin has extended to America…
“…The campaign (by the MP to return all originally Russian churches abroad to its own jurisdiction) reputedly has the support of the Russian state, which sees these churches as potential sources of its own influence abroad. I understand that
there are voices within the OCA in favor of surrendering its autocephaly and returning to the welcoming embrace of the mother church. Fundamentalists within the OCA may also find this prospect appealing. While there are different voices in the Russian church, the messages coming out of the Patriarchate sound more fundamentalist all the time.”
Extract from:
Our Lady of Kazan and American PluralismAny thoughts on...
A. Is this a fair assessment of history's impact on the present situation?
B. Who the "voices" might be?
