NEW
KOCHETKOV CASE IS
SIGN THAT EVEN HIGH PERSONAL LOYALTY TO CURRENT HEAD OF RPTsMP
IS NO GUARANTEE
OF PROTECTION
Telegram
Channel
"Orthodoxy and Zombies," 23 August 2020
The
patriarchy has
again taken up Kochetkov. The Telegram channel "Tserkvach"
published
a resolution of Patriarch Kirill in which the heads of two
synodal agencies and
one diocesan one are instructed to draw a conclusion about the
"correspondence to dogmatic Orthodox teaching, the patristic
heritage, and
the traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church" of the
theological
explorations of priest Georgy Kochetkov, which he has been
writing since 2001.
The
priest Georgy
Kochetkov is the founder and spiritual trustee of the
Transfiguration
Brotherhood, which also is known as the Fellowship
[Sodruzhestvo] of Small
Orthodox Brotherhoods, one of the largest organizations of
laity, which is
administratively independent of the hierarchy of the RPTs. The
network of small
brotherhoods extends to several dozen dioceses. He also is the
founder and
(until 2019) rector of the Saint Filaret Orthodox Christian
Institute, the
largest ecclesiastical school that is not a part of the system
of the Academic
Committee of the RPTs. Ideologically, Kochetkov is among the
"Orthodox
liberals," and in any case the humanistic intelligentsia are
frequent
guests of both the institute and the brotherhood.
This is
not the first
time the "case of the theological explorations" of Kochetkov is
being
taken up. In 2000-2001 it was taken up by a special diocesan
commission of the
Moscow city diocese and then the synod's Theological Commission.
At the time,
the Theologial Commission came to the conclusion that the
"catechesis of
priest Georgy Kochetkov . . . contains non-Orthodox, ambiguous,
and
impermissible forms of expression, and they should not be used
for the
preparation of people for receiving the sacrament of Holy
Baptism nor for
subsequent acquaintance of newly baptized persons with the
church's theological
tradition. . . [Kochetkov] must declare in written form his
renunciation of the
use of these texts in catechesis and stop their distribution."
However,
the strictness of the laws in the RPTs is annulled by the
non-necessity of
their implementation, and Kochetkov has continued to use his
books in
catechesis.
An
interesting fact:
in the fresh resolution by Patriarch Kirill the order is worded
in exactly the
same way as in the resolution of Patriarch Alexis II of 2000
that formed the
start of the first case. What is this—continuity or laziness of
patriarchal
administration?
In the
2000s,
Kochetkov was in fierce opposition to Patriarch Alexis II, but
he was protected
by such heavyweights as Metropolitan Yuvenaly and the current
patriarch. During
Kirill's patriarchate, Kochetkov, on one hand, has displayed
marvelous loyalty
to the new head of the RPTs, and on the other hand he was not in
a hurry to
integrate his brainchild into the ecclesiastical vertical. This
produced some
fruit: it was possible to forget about the conclusion of the
commission of
2001, about which his own press service published a false report
to the effect
that Kochetkov's catechesis "was studied by the theological
commission and
permitted."
In 2019,
Kochetkov's
Transfiguration Brotherhood became close to Metropolitan of Tver
Savva, who
became early in the year chancellor of the Moscow patriarchate,
but by the end
of the year he had been removed from this post and fell into
disgrace. In Tver,
Savva relied on active members of the brotherhood and tried to
serve the
liturgy in Russian (one of the main ideological projects of the
Transfiguration
brothers) and purged the disgruntled ones who under the previous
metropolitan
berated the brothers. Most likely the "numerous appeals of
parishioners" that became the reason for the start of the case
came out of
this circle of persons offended by Metropolitan Savva and the
brothers.
The new
Kochetkov
case is a sign. It shows that even high personal loyalty to the
current head of
the RPTs is no guarantee of protection. And the question arises:
is it
necessary to risk one's reputation and demonstrate this loyalty?
Now
Kochetkov's fate is in the hands of the rector of the Sretensky
Seminary,
Archbishop Ambrose, who was appointed chairman of the working
group of the
theological commission for this case, and it depends on him
which style
(accusatory or indulgent) the commission chooses with respect to
Father Georgy.
(tr. by PDS, posted 23 August 2020)
Russian
original
posted on Credo.Press
portal, 23 August 2020
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