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	Nikolai Heads to Synod Meeting Where Officials Will Decide His Fate By Ralph Gibbs Kodiak Daily Mirror April 16, 2008 http://www.kodiakdailymirror.com/?pid=19&id=6082 Alaska Diocese leader Bishop Nikolai Soraich won another round with Russian Orthodox Church leader Metropolitan Herman this week, and on Thursday he steps in the ring for what could be the knockout round. But the fix may be in. In private correspondence earlier this week, Metropolitan Herman requested Bishop Nikolai not attend Thursday's meeting of the Holy Synod of Bishops convened in special session to decide his fate in New York. Bishop Nikolai dissented. "You can't have a Holy Synod without inviting every member of the synod," the bishop said. Bishop Nikolai said what he has been saying throughout the church crisis: "Procedure must be followed." In early March, when Bishop Nikolai refused to recognize his mandatory leave of absence, he said he did so because proper procedure had not been followed. He argued the point at a special meeting of the synod last month, and won. The bishop returned to Alaska reinstated. "We're still in a country where you're allowed to have certain rights," the bishop said. "They shouldn't be taken away from you." This week, Bishop Nikolai, in a letter to the metropolitan again argued that procedure must be followed and again, he won. This morning, Bishop Nikolai boarded a plane for New York and his fate is expected to be decided on Thursday. An indication of how that decision could end may have been revealed in a recent letter from the Right Rev. Tikon to Bishop Nikolai, posted on the Alaska Diocese's Web site. Bishop Tikon was one of two bishops who came to Alaska to investigate allegations that Bishop Nikolai has been ruling the diocese by fear and intimidation. Bishop Tikon is a supporter of Bishop Nikolai. In his letter to Bishop Nikolai, he criticized the church's leader for trying to keep Bishop Nikolai from attending the synod meeting. "I contemplated the recent letter you got from the Metropolitan Herman in which he rather haughtily told you that while the Holy Synod would be meeting for a second 'extraordinary' time during the great 40-day fast, you, a constituent member of that synod, should not come, for all members (except you of course) want to have their meeting to discuss you without you being there," he wrote. "Where I grew up, that's called 'talking behind someone's back,' a common human vice." He went on to compare those posting on the Web site, ocanews.org, as a mob. "By mob, I do not mean to refer to the Laos, of which you and I are ordained members, but those producing their noisome cries on the Internet, frequently anonymous, hence, brazenly and cowardly scornful," he wrote. "This mob has no leaders, only followers." Bishop Tikon, a member of the synod, then closed with words of hope and an indication of where his vote may lean. "As one who knows you better than probably any other member of the Laos (both clergy and non-clergy) alive today, I wish to offer you my version of 'Keep the Faith' by providing you a most apt quotation from the classic Latin master of the epigram, Martial," he wrote. "It seems to me the words must have been created centuries ago in order to (be) made available to you, as a kindness." If the vote does go in favor of Bishop Nikolai he will return to Alaska, no longer under threat of removal. That has clergy worried that the bishop will begin a reign of retaliation against those who have spoken out against him. "I've never done that," he said. "There's never been any retaliation from me on anybody for anything, ever. What you'll find in my history is when I find someone that has really not been favorable toward me, that person gets more time, more effort than anyone else. Those fears need to be dispelled." But the clergy are dubious, pointing to what happened to Fr. Michael Oleska. After an interview with the Anchorage Daily News where he openly criticized Bishop Nikolai, Fr. Michael was removed from his teaching position at the St. Herman Theological Seminary. "The deal was, he was (in Kodiak) spewing anti-bishop stuff at the seminary to faculty and students," Bishop Nikolai said. "Two students came to me concerned about that." Instead of worrying about possible disciplinary actions the bishop said when he gets back, he wants to focus on healing. "We have to get out there and talk about the issues. How can we resolve them and heal them?" he said. "I think that is important. I don't think we can allow this stuff to fester out there, that has tragically taken a very long time to get to this point." He said he wants to hold meetings to try and heal and if he had known about the issues earlier, he would have tried to heal the rift sooner. "As soon as I found out, I would have called a meeting up here and started the process right away," he said. "I would like nothing more than to have these people back in the church. No one chased them away, they left on their own and they need to come back." Mirror writer Ralph Gibbs can be reached by e-mail at rgibbs@kodiakdailymirror.com.
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