About recent events in the Parish of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in New York

As the Parish Council of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, we consider it our duty to convey the events that occurred in our Parish within the last two weeks.

 

On Wednesday, November 26th, in a telephone conversation with bishop Vladimir Mrs. Peter Budzilovich demanded that he would vacate the premises in their house immediately. She informed the Bishop that they have already changed the locks, and they no longer wanted the Church to remain in their house. Bishop Vladimir asked for the Church property and his personal things to remain in their house for another month, so that another place could be found. That request was denied. Now, Mr. Peter Budzilovich states that his actions were motivated by the "anti-church activities of the Sobor", not explaining, however, what exactly he means by it. At the time of the occurrence, Sobor just ended, and none of the documents were published yet.

 

 As the Parish Council of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, we consider it our duty to convey the events that occurred in our Parish within the last two weeks.

On Wednesday, November 26th, in a telephone conversation with bishop Vladimir Mrs. Peter Budzilovich demanded that he would vacate the premises in their house immediately. She informed the Bishop that they have already changed the locks, and they no longer wanted the Church to remain in their house. Bishop Vladimir asked for the Church property and his personal things to remain in their house for another month, so that another place could be found. That request was denied. Now, Mr. Peter Budzilovich states that his actions were motivated by the "anti-church activities of the Sobor", not explaining, however, what exactly he means by it. At the time of the occurrence, Sobor just ended, and none of the documents were published yet.

 

On the same evening, on Wednesday, Bishop Vladimir called some of the parishioners informing them about what had occurred. Bishop Vladimir asked the Secretary of the Parish Council to send out a notice about the emergency assembly of the extended Church Parish Council meeting on Sunday November 30th, with a special request for Mr. and Mrs. Peter Budzilovich to be present as Church officials,- Warden and Treasurer of the Parish . To this request, Mr. Peter Budzilovich answered with the quotes from the Parish by-laws on how an extraordinary Parish meeting could be called, and stating that our meeting, in his opinion, was unlawful. The quoted rules from the by-laws, however, where not applicable to the given situation, since the notice did not call for the parish meeting, but for the extended extraordinary Parish Council meeting, which the rector can assemble at any time, especially under extraordinary circumstances.

 

The news about the occurrences became known in the Parish very quickly. Parishioners, in astonishment, called each other; nobody expected this kind of events; it was difficult to believe what was going on. Astonishing was not so much what had happened, but how it was done. It would have been quite understandable and acceptable, if, for whatever reason, or without any reason at all, Mr. and Mrs Peter Budzilovich announced to the Bishop and to the Parish that they no longer wish for the Church and the Bishop to remain in the their house and would give some time so that parishioners could find another space. But what struck us were the methods themselves, the changing of the locks as if they were dealing with the thieves and robbers.

 

The extended meeting of the Parish Council was scheduled for 11 am. However, one of the parishioners, wishing to verify for himself as to what had occurred, telephoned Mr. and Mrs Peter Budzilovich the night before. In that conversation, time was scheduled 10 am on Sunday so that parishioners could collect Church property and personal things (library) of the Bishop.

 

Parishioners elected a small group of people amongst themselves so that they could take apart the Iconostasys, pack up Sacred Objects, books, music, analoys, candle holders, etc., One of the parishioners kindly offered to temporarily store all of the Church property in his house. Since among this group of people were members of the Church Parish Council, it was decided to postpone the Church Parish Council meeting until the work was completed.

 

On Sunday, November 30th, parishioners packed up and took away everything that Mr. and Mrs. Peter Budzilovich allowed them to take. Mr. and Mrs. Peter Budzilovich did keep however, part of the Church property that does not belong to them. After completion of the work, already in the evening , the group of the parishioners that worked on packing up Church property came to the place where everyone agreed to meet, and where the rest of the members of the Parish were already waiting for them, for about three hours, and the meeting began.

 

On the same Sunday, November 30th, a Miracle Working Icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir from our Convent in California was supposed to visit our Parish. The Icon did not come to the Church, however, since it was not welcomed there; instead, She came to a private apartment, where the entire parish assembled. An Akafist was served. One of the parishioners donated an abundance of flowers and the Icon was framed by them.

 

After the prayers, matushka Isihia, who brought the Icon, blessed for the flowers to be given out to all who were present and prayed. To all the parishioners, at this difficult time, the presence of the Icon, was a great comfort.

 

There were only two people who did not support the Bishop, Mr George Timofeev, and ryasofor monk Boris (Efremov), who both of them seldom attended Services and parish meetings. The son and daughter of Mr. Budzilovich did not yet express their opinion on the recent events. The Parish Council, in complete accordance with the parish by-laws, unanimously decided to vote Mr. and Mrs. Budzilovich off as Parish Members, and being no longer members of the Parish, they cannot be officers of the Church. This step was taken out of necessity, with regret, and with hope that in the future Budzilovichs will repent.

 

We would like to stress, that we deeply appreciate Mr. and Mrs. Peter Budzilovich making their home available for the use of the Church for these last, almost five years. During this time all the parishioners grew to love them, and that is why this occurrence is especially sad and disheartening to us. With prayer for them, and with the hope in the mercy of God, we sincerely wish for them to repent and return to Church.

 

At present, our Parish is looking for another space where we could pray, and where Bishop Vladimir could live. Trusting in God's mercy, we hope that Our Lord will not leave us at this difficult time, and we are asking for prayers of all of the faithful of Our Church.

 

December 8, 2008, New York