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Submitted July 10, 2005
Pokrov.org Has a
Deeper Agenda |
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From time to
time I have seen postings and articles from the
women of Pokrov.org present on OCN. These
self-professed "watchdogs" of abuse in the
Orthodox Church claim to provide a website for
"victims" of Orthodoxy, and claim to bring abuse
to the forefront in the Orthodox Church. If one
digs deeper into their web page, however, and
listens to statements the founders themselves have
publicly made, one has to wonder if
there is a deeper agenda that Pokrov.org is trying
to keep under wraps.
First of all, in an interview with the San
Francisco Weekly periodical, co-founder Greta
Larson is quoted: "You feel like it's just you
against this big historical thing," says Greta
Larson. "That's in the Catholic Church, too, but
it's more so in the Orthodox Church.
There's a liberal vein of the Catholic Church, but
[the Orthodox Church] is not even close to having
that." (taken from SFWeekly.com article:
"Un-Orthodox Behavior" 5-22-2002).
If you do not see any significance in that
statement, consider co-founder Greta Larson's own
personal website: on her "links" page, if you
scroll down to "Other fun/important links,"
directly under her link to Pokrov.org, she has a
link to Moveon.org (http://www.gretalarson.com/mainlinks.html).
For those who may not know what Moveon.org is, it
is a highly left-wing political activist group
that are staunch
supporters of abortion and gay rights. The fact
that she has such a link, under a so-called
"Orthodox" link is shameful. Moveon.org supports
causes that are entirely contrary to the Holy
Orthodox Church and her teachings.
The Pokrov women’s own Bishop, Tikhon of
California has been outspoken in his admonishment
of these women and their refusal to stand up and
be counted on the abortion issue. In various
Orthodox chat rooms, the Pokrov women have been
almost outright defiant when challenged by their
Bishop on that matter. The closest any of the
three of these women have come to taking a stance
is when co-founder attorney Melanie Sakoda quoted
something from Fr. Hopko and the church’s position
on abortion and said she personally was in
agreement with the statement she quoted. Many
people, challenging Ms. Sakoda’s position have
wondered if perhaps her answer was a clever
political tactic to avoid coming right out and
condemning abortion. The other Pokrov women have
remained silent, co-founder Cappy Larson also
implied that Pokrov’s
lack of support for the pro-life movement should
not negate the "good" they are doing for victims
of abuse. If their claim really is to support
victims of ABUSE, why are they so defiant in
supporting the ultimate victims of abuse: the
unborn children?
The Orthodox Church canons are very clear in
stating that abortion is murder.
Furthermore, the Pokrov women have expanded their
scope beyond convicted child molesters and have
added groups which they deem to be
"controversial," providing mostly one-sided
propaganda that is slanderous and defamatory in
nature. Their page on Elder Ephraim, a canonical
monk-priest with monasteries that are under the
canonical Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, presents
accusations of cult-abuse. What’s more, his
presence on a website devoted to pedophiles and
other perverts implies something very wrong is
going on in his monasteries. The women at Pokrov
provide no solid proof for any of the things that
they say. They are very resistant to printing
anything that goes against the allegations they
imply. The assault that they are launching on the
Elder and Athonite monasticism is, in my opinion,
deplorable. The fact that they are tainting
readers by providing very inflammatory opinions
and articles (that have no supportive proof)
against Elder Ephraim is equally deplorable, and
completely irresponsible from both a journalistic
and an Orthodox perspective.
These few things are enough to make me wonder what
their true mission is; I feel their motives are
highly suspect, and traditional Orthodox
Christians should be wary. It seems to me that
Greta Larson’s words of a "liberal vein" not
existing in the Orthodox
Church, paired with her activism to such liberal
social causes like Moveon.org are quite telling of
their true agenda. Their resistance to their own
Bishop’s urging to stand up and be counted on the
abortion issue, coupled with their unfounded
vicious attacks on traditional Athonite
monasticism makes me wonder if they are not out to
seek to create the "liberal vein" of the Orthodox
Church they so desire.
If that is the case, one has to wonder what other
issues they are going to try to bring next to the
forefront in the Orthodox Church. Gay Rights?
Abortion Rights? Certainly the Roman Catholic
Church has a branch of followers who are seeking
to press these
issues, issues about which our Holy Church speaks
clearly. This small group of Catholics is trying
to pave the way for gay rights and abortion rights
and other liberal issues of contemporary society.
Is this who Pokrov is using as their model? Is
this why they attack Athonite monasticism, which
speaks out openly against such liberal agendas? Do
they believe Holy Orthodoxy is nothing more than a
"Boys Club" that
needs to be reformed to suit a liberal agenda (or
"vein")? One has to wonder. These issues should
cause Orthodox Christians to be concerned and
vigilant. It would be shameful if the women at
Pokrov were using abuse as a backdoor way to
launch an attack on the teachings of the Orthodox
Church. Pokrov is always challenging Bishops to
answer some tough questions. Maybe it is time for
Pokrov to answer some
questions.
Respectfully-
Olga Petrova
(Mathematics graduate student in California)
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