Memorial Litiya served for the newly-reposed Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn at St. Sergius of Radonezh Chapel at the OCA Chancery. Arch Priest Father Eric George Tosi Serving the Panakhida: formerly from my home parish here in Las Vegas
Posted 08/06
SYOSSET, NY [OCA Communications] – On August 5, 2008, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Herman sent a letter of condolence to Natalia Dmitrievna Solzhenitsyna, widow of the recently reposed Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
The text of Metropolitan Herman's letter is as follows.
"We were saddened to receive the news of the passing away of your husband, Aleksandr Isaievich. We have offered prayers for his repose at the Chapel of St. Sergius at the Chancery of the Orthodox Church in America. We are also praying that Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ grant you and your family consolation at this sorrowful time.
"Aleksandr Isaievich was one of the great men of our times. Like the prophets of old, his writings and voice shook the world into recognition of the horrors inherent in a political system that was devoid of Christian morality and spirituality. A giant on the landscape of Russian history, he also played an important role on the world stage. During his twenty year exile from his beloved homeland, he found refuge in the United States where he could continue his research and writing. As a deeply religious man Aleksandr Isaievich also sought spiritual sustenance while living here. We recall that your husband became a close friend with the late Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann. Another priest of the Orthodox Church in America, Archpriest Andrew Tregubov frequently provided Aleksandr Isaievich and your family with sacramental life and spiritual direction during your years in Vermont.
"On behalf of the Holy Synod of Bishops, the clergy and laity of the Orthodox Church in America, we want to express our heartfelt condolences to you, your children, grandchildren and all of your family. Please be assured of our continued prayers for the repose of Aleksandr Isaievich. May Our Lord grant him rest with the saints and make his memory to be eternal!"
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was buried at the Donskoi Monastery in Moscow on August 6, 2008.
SOURCE:
.jpg)
1 comment:
Fr. Alexander Schmemann had this to say about Solzhenitsyn:
“For [Solzhenitsyn] there is only Russia. For me, Russia could disappear, die, and nothing would change in my fundamental vision of the world. ‘The image of the world is passing.’ This tonality of Christianity is quite foreign to him.”
A revitalized Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church are even now shaking up the world in fulfillment of Solzhenitsyn’s vision. Truly this man was a modern prophet who has put the lie to Fr. Alexander Schmemann's ungodly anti-Russia and anti-Russian Orthodoxy words.
The American Orthodox jurisdiction called the “Orthodox Church in America” that Fr. Alexander Schmemann birthed in 1970 has been reduced to a paltry 20,000 members with membership bleeding off yearly. Still, he has a cult following in American Orthodox Church circles who are trying desparately to fashion him into some kind of of saint or American Church Father.
And Fr. Alexander had these kind words about his friend:
“In these days spent with him, I had the feeling that I was the older brother dealing with a child, capricious and even spoiled, who will not ‘understand’-so better for me to give in (‘you are older, so give in!’) for the sake of peace, agreement, and in the hope that ‘he might grow up and understand.’ I am a student from a higher grade dealing with a younger one for whom one needs to simplify, with whom one has to speak ‘at his level.’”
Now, who looks like the "student from a higher grade" and who looks like the "younger?" In modern parlance, "Who's schooling whom now?"
Post a Comment