hgr

тут много и длинно по-английски.
монахини одного монастыря вместе с игуменьей вышли из еретической Сербской патриархии и перешли под омофор Хризостомовского синода Истинно-православной церкви Греции. из монастыря их выгнали с избиениями и т.п. и вообще сейчас там на них всякие гонения. описание заканчивается 11-12 октября с.г. (по нов. стилю).
в событиях там вовсю участвует иеросхимонах Акакий -- глава уже несколько лет как существующего в Сербии прихода ИПХ Греции. это наш друг, он и в Питер к нам приезжал, и вообще замечательный человек. можно даже сказать -- современный подвижник, хотя он еще достаточно молод.

----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2003 2:08 AM

> "The sisterhood of the monastery of Saint John the Baptist - Stjenik.
> We are informing the bishops, the clergy and monastics in the jurisdiction
> of the Serbian Orthodox Church that our monastery Stjenik (all of the
> sisterhood) is putting an end to all communion of prayer with you.
> We have not come to this decision hastily or thoughtlessly. Bearing taken
in
> mind the present situation of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), as well
as
> other local churches, our Orthodox consciousness does not permit us
further
> contact with you. The reasons for this decision are as follows:
> 1. The anticanonical rule of "patriarch" German, on behalf of the
communist
> Tito government.
> 2. The Serbian Orthodox Church remaining as an organic member in the
> antichristian heretical organization, the World Council of Churches, and
> participating in the heresy of ecumenism (praying together with the
> heretics) for several years.
> 3. Full eucharistic communion with the apostates from Holy Orthodoxy: the
> sergianists (the Moscow patriarchate), the new calendarists, the new
> paschalists, and also with the heretical Monophysites anathematised by
four
> Ecumenical Councils.
> 4. The lifting of the anathema of 1054 against the papist heresy, even
> though the Roman pope remained without repentance for all his innovations.
> Also, the forming of a union between all the Orthodox churches and the
> Catholic church. Complete acknowledgement of the Catholic church as a
sister
> church, as well as acknowledgement of its sacraments.
> 5. Charging money for conducting Holy Sacraments (simony).
> 6. Mutilation of the holy sacraments with the Latin practice of pouring or
> sprinkling.
> After a long search for a way out of your jurisdiction, which has
completely
> fallen into the heresy of ecumenism, having lost all hope that it will get
> out of it, we have decided to join the only canonical and Orthodox
> jurisdiction in Serbia - the Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of
> Serbia under the omophorion of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece,
> whose first-hierarch is his Beatitude Archbishop Chrysostom II of Athens.
> Since the Serbian monasteries were obviously not built for ecumenists -
> those who withdraw from Saint Savva's way and Orthodoxy, but also having
in
> mind that monks and nuns are supposed to protect the sacraments, and never
> put them into the hands of the enemies of God, we shall continue to live
in
> our monastery and will leave it only if some one forces us out of it.
> We do not acknowledge the church court and we shall not answer to its
> summons, nor will any verdicts of this court be valid for us.
> With the help of God we are ready to die for our firm determination to
> continue the confession of the holy Orthodoxy.
> This notice is unanimously signed, without any duress or personal motives,
> but with solid faith in the Lord, the Mother of God, our patron Saint John
> the Baptist, Saint Sava, the holy martyred Deacon Habbakuk, and the rest
of
> the confessing martyrs of Stjenik.
> (Below are the signatures of all eight sisters and the monastery stamp)
> In the Holy Monastery of Stjenik, Year 2003.
> Upon the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross
>
>
> THE BEGINNING OF THE PERSECUTION
> The events in chronological order
>
> Monday, October 6th 2003. Conception of Saint John the Forerunner
> Brother Stefan, who had been baptized together with his family and had
> joined the True Orthodoxy, went to the eparchy to hand over the notice of
> the Stjenik nuns to bishop Chrysostom. On his way he passed a delegation
> from the eparchy, which had been urgently sent to Stjenik by Chrysostom
> himself. The delegation consisted of the following members: eparchy
> secretary priest Toma, archimandrite Venjamin, abbot of the Preobrazenje
> monastery, scorer priest Ljubisa from Mataruska Banja and abbess Jelena
from
> Zica. The delegation arrived at Stjenik almost at the same time as brother
> Stefan handed the notice from the sisters to the bishop. After a brief
talk,
> all four members of the delegation decided that we should immediately be
> evited, even with the help of the police if neccessary. They threatened,
> telling us that they would beat us with sticks if we didn't repent and
kiss
> the bishop's, as they said, »holy« right hand (although we would be given
a
> certain epitimia).
> All of the nuns and novices were present at this conversation with the
> delegation. We are unanimously decided that we will consistently follow
the
> Tradition of the Holy Fathers, and none of us have any dilemma wit regard
to
> whether we should repent before any bishop of the ecumenist Serbian
Orthodox
> Church. Having taken such a firm position, we were faced with insults,
> blackmail, together with the common ecumenist phrase: "You can not be
> reconciled since you are not obedient".
> During this conversation, if it can be called a conversation at all, a
> record was taken in which everything we believe in was stated: from the
part
> that we do not acknowledge the church authorities of the official Serbian
> church nor her blessing, up to the part that we have been properly
baptised
> (not again!)
> Each and every one of us signed that document gladly, and soon the
> delegation angrily left the monastery, threatening us that we wouldn`t see
> the morning. Being afraid that they would defile the altar, which had
> already been consecrated and which contained the Holy Body and Blood of
the
> Lord, we didn't unlock the church for them, which got them extremely
upset.
> Honestly, we have never seen such hatred and scorn, and especially not
from
> people who were until recently our shepherds.
> Meanwhile, in the heart of the diocese of Zicha in Kraljevo, brother
Stefan,
> as we have already said, was giving our notice to bishop Chrysostom. By
the
> command of Vladika the notice was read out to some preists who were there
at
> that moment by the abbot of Studenica. As he read on, his voice changed,
and
> he could hardly finish reading. Together with the notice was a photocopy
> from Vladika's latest book, with which he presented himself to the diocese
> of Zicha, and where he also recommends the papist calendar, whilst making
> fun of the Holy Father's calendar. We had sent our notice to other
eparchies
> as well, and at the end of the day there came many phone calls
> from »soul-caring« priests and other religious people from the eparchy,
> trying to convince us to change our minds and repent.
>
> Tuesday, October 7th 2003. First martyr Thecla - the last peaceful morning
> in our monastery.
> We started the day with Liturgy, which was celebrated by father Akakije,
and
> finished at dawn. The Liturgy was very soul-stirring for all. We had the
> presentiment that we would not stay in our beloved monastery for much
> longer. It was as if we were already parting with the relics of the
Stjenik
> martyrs, which were kept in the monastery church. It was as if we were
> parting from our spiritual teacher, mother Julijana, her grave and from
all
> the holy things of Stjenik. And no longer did anything earthly tie us to
the
> ground, we were all facing the heavens. The Epistle and Gospel of this day
> implied awesome events which took place a few hours later.
> While we were enjoying our last moments after the Liturgy, the peace of
> mountain Jelica was disturbed by the sounds of Cacak police cars,
carrying
> officers, but without their uniforms. They insisted the abbess come with
> them to the Chief of police. Mother Efrosinija and one more nun took our
car
> and returned from this interview after about three hours. The confused but
> friendly Chief tried to convince Mother Efrosinija to persuade the
> sisterhood to change their attitude about parting from the official
church.
> Since the Chief did not understand the problems and reasons for the
decision
> of the sisters, who are even ready to be evicted from the monastery, after
a
> long conversation they went together to see the mayor Mr. Velja Ilic. He
> also said that this was no time for changes or reactions to the policies
of
> the SOC. He begged mother Efrosinija to apologise to the bishop, and
> convinced her that he would try to brighten up the bishop. Of course
mother
> Efrosinija did not accept this offer even after several hours of
convincing.
> She turned back to the monstery. When she stopped at the gas station,
> unexpectedly she was surrounded by four cars, full of priests, yelling out
> loud and expressing their dissatisfaction.
> It seemed that the diocesan Deacon Rados, who was among them, had the
> leading role and he was the one everyone was listening to. This will come
to
> light later on during the brutal eviction of the sisters.
> Mother Efrosinija sat in the car and tried to get away from them, but she
> couldn't because they followed her all the way to the monastery: with two
> cars in front and two behind. When they arrived at the monastery the
pursuit
> began. Those of us who stayed in the monastery begged father Akakije to
move
> deeper into the forest, fearing his stay in the monastery could be very
> dangerous. After a short urging, father Akakije and monk David, a brother
> from the metochion of the Athonite monastery of Esphigmenou, hid in the
> forest Jelica. Very soon a large number of vehicles filled the not so
small
> parking area in front of the monastery. In the begining there were about
50
> priests in the courtyard of the monastery together with a hundred incensed
> laypeople. As time went by the number increased to 200 bystanders. They
> insisted in coming inside the church at once, which we allowed them to do
> immediately. They had all come to frighten the eight nuns and make them
> change their minds, or to throw them out of the monastery. 200 men vs 8
> nuns! Almost all of them were convinced that they were doing a good thing
by
> evicting the nuns. From the start they provoked and were aggresive to the
> small and unprotected sisterhood. They said that the church had been
> desecrated by schismatics and had to be reconsecrated. This was never done
> after joint prayers with the heretics or after papists and Anglicans
entered
> their altars. In the western world it is common to using the altar and
holy
> table with various heretics, without reconsecrating the desecrated table.
> Finally when they came out of the church having finished the ceremony, and
> when the provocation became vulgar, the nuns unanimously sang the
beginning
> of David's Psalter: »Blessed is the man..«
> Hearing the nuns sing, the priests went into the church to serve the
> All-night vigil which lasted for half an hour. Afterwards they came out to
> the courtyard, lit their cigarettes and started a new attack aimed at the
> nuns.
> It seems they were actually just preparing everything for the arrival of
the
> bishop. Even though there was only a few truly believing orthodox people
> with the nuns, strengthening them, the Vladika was afraid to come, so the
> priests were informing him what was going on in the monastery on cellular
> telephones. Their fear was so great that they encouraged one police
officer
> to ask the nuns if it was true that they were armed?!!
> Among the civilians who came with the clergy, there were some suspicious
> characters. As soon as thay found out that father Akakije was hiding they
> turned towards the forest above the monastery. They were armed with chains
> with a big lock hanging at the ends. A miracle of God miracle saved him.
> They searched the nearby forest several times, searching for the two
monks.
> Their readiness to take a life was obvious at first sight, and it seemed
> they had permission for this. The aggressive followers of the bishop
pushed
> the nuns down the stairs whenever they came upon them, and even shoved the
> severely ill nun Anisia. A couple of hours later Vladika Chrysostom came.
As
> he was getting out of his car, surrounded by bodyguards, priests welcomed
> him in a bolshevik manner, with a song and church bells. Having come out
of
> the church, standing with a sceptre in his hand, he asked for the abbess,
> insisting that no one else come near. The priests roughly drew her away
from
> the sisters and took her to the bishop, making a human wall, so that no
one
> could approach her. Mother Efrosinija was standing alone, like a sheep
> brought to a wolf to be slaughtered. This obviously upset the bishop, who
> asked mother Efrosinija whether she recognised the Serbian Orthodox
Church,
> and to the surprise of all present she said yes. She also answered the
> second question whether she would be obedient affirmatively. However, at
> that moment she was continuing to confess her recognition of, and complete
> obedience to, the True Serbian Church, but not to their ecumenist Serbian
> Church. She said she would not obey them, stating that the Genuine
Orthodox
> Christians of Serbia are the Genuine Serbian Orthodox Church and that she
> would obey only the true Archbishop Chrysostom of the Old Calendar
Greeks.
> Then Vladika, full of fury, started yelling: »Seize the monastery!« In ten
> minutes the monastery quarters were invaded by Vladika's followers -
laymen
> and the clergy. From that moment on their living quarters together with
> their personal things could not be approached by the nuns. They started
> singing »God have mercy«, happily and with inspiration making the sign of
> the Holy Cross.
> A deacon from Zica approached mother and the nuns and told them to leave
the
> monastery. Mother said that they would not do such a thing unless they
were
> shown some kind of a legal document. Instead of the expected legal
document,
> they received several hours of torment, mental harassment, insults...
> Meanwhile, the personal belongings of the nuns were wrapped into sheets
and
> thrown out of the monastery courtyard. The sisters begged the pursuers to
> allow them to take some of the belongings from the cells, like a pump for
> asthmatics, which one of the sisters needs badly. Insulting them, they let
> them take their things, controlling what they took. The sisters found
their
> cells in chaos, things taken out of the drawers, cupboards opened and
> everything thown all over the place. By then the locals living near the
> monastery arrived. They cried as thye watched 200 maddened people taking
out
> their anger on eight poor confessors.
> All the sisters were on the field in front of the monastery, surrounded
and
> without any possibility of taking shelter. Continuously they answered to
the
> provocations of the mad aggressors, defending the Orthodox religion.
> Soon a document for their eviction was typed out, without a stamp only
with
> the signature of Vladika Chrysostom. With this so called document, the
> inspector of the police came to the abbess and insisted the sisterhood
leave
> the monastery. Neither the police nor the town authorities could stop the
> lawless and aggressive eviction of the nuns. Helpless in providing them
with
> any legal protection, stunned by the aggressiveness of the church leader
and
> his servitors, the lawyer said he had never seen such law-breaking and
that
> he was not able to offer them legal protection. It was as if it had been
> ordered from some more powerful force. Those who wanted to help the nuns
had
> their hands tied. The mayor himself was called upon by the Vladika to help
> him evict the nuns. During all this the police officers were protecting
the
> nuns from being lynched, and if it wasn't for them who knows how this
story
> would end!
> The sisters moved to a neutral area, across the creek, belonging to a
public
> company Srbija Sume, from where their pursuers could not chase them away.
> Evening had already come, the sisters stayed on the field, while most of
the
> people left with Vladika. In the occupied monastery there remained only a
> few of the bodyguards and priests who soon filled the gate of the
monastery
> with cigarette filters. They never stopped watching over the nuns, but
> mostly they nervously walked through the gate, in and out of the
monastery.
> The nuns spent the night reading the Psalter and singing spiritual songs
by
> a fire they lit so they wouldn't freeze. The temperature was about zero.
> After midnight a group of 15 true Orthodox Christians joined them led by
> priest Atanasije from Smederevo. The occupiers of the monastery were
stunned
> by this unexpected night visit, so they called the police, who came at
once.
> The police asked for the documents of the newcomers, writing down the
serial
> numbers of their cars. But the visitors hadn't come to make chaos or take
> over the monastery, they had come to support the nuns.
> As the night grew colder, the sisters worried about the fathers hidden in
> the deep mountain forest. Praise the Lord, who hid the fathers form their
> pursuers in the forest dark. At dawn, while dark was still covering
mountain
> Jelica, father Akakije showed up, trying not to be spotted by the police
and
> pursuers. We begged him to leave the mountain while it was still dark, and
> one of the brothers took him to the city by car, leaving him at a safe
> place. As for monk David, we didn't know where he was. We found out later
> that he hid in the forest caves for 48 hours. He was without food or
water,
> dressed in thin clothes in the cold mountain night.
>
> Wednesday, October 8th 2003. Feast of Saint Ephrosinia
> At dawn the group of truly Orthodox Christians left the nuns with the
> blessing of father Akakije. The sisters had not slept, singing the
troparion
> to the saint Efrosinija. They congratulated their abbess on her name's
day,
> thanking God for such a beautiful vigil under the stars. They split the
> feast cake themselves and shared it among each other. It was the first
meal
> they had had in 24 hours. They had never had a better and more blessed
> feast. Never had there been so many wanted and unwanted guests. All the
> sisters were filled with happiness and peace. It is that kind of peace
which
> Orthodoxy gives - peace given only to those who follow the signs of the
> Tradition of the Holy Fathers.
> On this day, the name's day of our mother Efrosinija, in our monastery,
the
> Liturgy was being served by those who had sold their faith for dinner and
> not by the truly Orthodox. A song could be heard coming form the
> church: »..Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake..«
> We sat under a clear sky and listened to the cynical Liturgy of the
orthodox
> ecumenists. We were only a dozen meters away and a small bridge was
between
> us. The truly Orthodox and the truly nonorthodox. On one side the truly
> Orthodox without food, drink and shelter, praising their Lord Jesus
Christ,
> and on the other food, drink, cigarettes, Liturgy and the warm monastery
> quarters. And it started to rain.
> Suddenly we noticed father David coming out of the forest walking towards
> the monastery, not knowing anything about our eviction. The pursuers
> immediately went for him, but he managed to escape and come to us. We
> created a human wall between him and the pursuers. The above-mentioned
> Deacon Rados openly swore in front of everyone, and addressing Saint
Simeon
> the myrrh-gusher said he would strangle father David with his bare hands.
We
> pulled out our icons and turned them towards Deacon Rados and his company.
> At that moment he turned to father David and said that he was lucky this
> time, having the sisters to save him, but that he would not get away the
> next time.
> After this we moved to a bush near the monastery, seeking shelter from the
> rain.
> Our things were still lying all over the field. When the rain stopped, we
> moved inside a van one of our brothers in Christ left parked in front of
the
> monastery. At that moment it started snowing. This was unbelievable, snow
in
> October! Meanwhile, one of the brothers of the official church came to
visit
> us with his wife and children. We begged him to take father David to
Cacak,
> so he could escape another attack of the beastly pursuers. He accepted,
and
> as soon as they started for Cacak, two eparchy bodyguards hurried after
> them. Brother Stefan, who was with us all the time, frozen and sleepy, got
> in his YUGO and managed to get in between the car in which father David
was
> and the pursuers. Intentionally slowing down he didn't let them reach
father
> David, and when father David's car was well out of reach, brother Stefan
> tried to get away himself, but the slippery roads and lack of rest and
sleep
> stopped him - the car overturned and brother Stefan stayed unconscious.
The
> woman and child came got out the car frightened, and begged the pursuers
to
> help brother Stefan. They did so, giving him mouth-to-mouth first aid, and
> afterwards taking him to the hospital. While brother Stefan was lying
> unconscious and suffocating with a brain concussion, a car with
> archimandrite Benjamin passed him. He saw the very tragic situation but
didn
> 't stop to see if the man was alive, but waited until the people moved him
> from the road and continued coldly full of contempt.
> With him in the car were nuns from the monastery of the Holy Meeting of
the
> Lord, and as we found out later, they were carrying food and beer for the
> new inhabitants of our monastery, who were smoking and drinking in the
> monastery dining room. We heard in the van about brother Stefan's
accident.
> Fear and uncertainty overcame us, since we did not know how serious his
> injury was. Two sisters wanted to go with the monastery car to the
hospital,
> but the eparchy servitors wouldn't let them. We begged them to let the
> sisters visit brother Stefan and at last they let them. We stayed in the
> van. We shook from fever and fear for brother Stefan's life. There is no
> heating in the van and it is very cold. All of a sudden we lost
confidence.
> We were not sure what had happened to father Akakije and David. Our souls
> shook with uncertainty. This Wednesday was spiritually the hardest day in
a
> series of unpleasant events. The hours passed. We waited. At last the
> sisters come with good news. Brother Stefan was alive and well, in
hospital.
> The fathers were safe and sound too. Again we were filled with
inexplicable
> happiness. The sisters brought food from the town, festal consolation.
Later
> on we tried to fall asleep, but we couldn't since it was so cold. Our
teeth
> chattered. We could see new cars coming and going from the monastery. The
> archimandrite Benjamin and Timotej from Studenica and of course the
bishop's
> assistant, Deacon Rados, were in charge of the new inhabitants. Monks from
> Studenica have taken our monastery. Antonije from Studenica, Pajsije from
> Uvce and German also from Studenica came to the monastery. Antonije was to
> be abbot. This was the new brotherhood of the monastery. They all eat meat
> and drink, while the abbot even smokes.
> Late at night one brother in Christ travelled a few miles to come and take
> us to a temporary hide out. One car with priests followed us, but they
> stopped near the hospital, where we visited brother Stefan, the true
> Orthodox Serb who condescended to give his life for the truly holy
> Orthodoxy, protecting the Orthodox monk from his pursuers. On our way we
> noticed one more eparchy loyalist following us closely.
> Having come to our temporary hide out, we finally rested from our small
> confessors' accomplishment and suffering for Christ's Truth. We thank God,
> our Lord Jesus Christ, Saint John the Baptist, monk-martyr John from
Stjenik
> and all the other martyrs from Stjenik for enabling us to confess our
faith,
> our beloved Orthodoxy. And also to expose the ones who ran away from the
> Tradition of Holy Fathers.
> We hope with all our hearts that the Lord will strength us, so that our
> lives don't bring shame on Him, our Savior. Because Thine is the kingdom
and
> the power and glory of the Father, of the Son, and the Holy Spirit for
ever.
> Amen.
>
> "We shall never give up on you, our beloved Orthodoxy!
> We shall never be unfaithful to our fathers' piety!
> We shall never leave you, our mothers' piety!
> We were born in you; in you we live, and in you we shall die.
> If the time demands it we shall die a thousand times for you!"
>
> Composed in the name of sisters evicted from Stjenik monastery,
> by schema-nun Nina.
>
>
> ADDITION
> The Golgotha of the sisters continues
>
> Saturday, October 11th St. Chariton the Confessor.
> The nuns have gained shelter in a family house. Even though it allows them
> to rest for two days, and restore the monastic way of life and circle of
> daily services, their temptations continue with constant threats. The
> greatest occurred on Saturday night (October 11th 2003), when two priests
> tried to persuade the pursuers in a nearby inn to approach the house where
> the nuns were hidden and try to set it on fire. After a few hours they
went
> away, while a car was parked next to the house, watching over it all
night.
> Today, Sunday October 12th, the nuns are fearfully awaiting the carrying
out
> of this threat. This is the last information we have from them.