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James J. O'Meara's avatar

Oh yes, I've heard of this stuff from way back. As a mere teen I was really into Alan Watts, just before he died, and also just before he died, he published his autobiography, In My Own Way (1972), which I read around 1975. Anyway, therein, he tells of a school pal, Patrick Fermor, who, among other later adventures, "he visited the monks of Mount Athos, which he discovered to be an elaborate homosexual organization."

A bit later I somehow began hearing about Fr. Seraphim Rose, I think when he published his autobiography (?). As a naive American I found it interesting that the Orthodox, who were unknown to me, seemed to have a strong Pacific NW presence, with actual saints in San Francisco and Alaska, due to the Russian colonial settlements I guess.

"Most importantly, I don’t wear a big, fancy hat. Therefore, how could I be telling the truth?"

In the Seinfeld episode where George tries to impress a girl by converting to Latvian Orthodoxy, the head priest asks him what attracts him to Latvian Orthodoxy, and after a pause, George offers this: "I think the hats. The hat conveys that solemn religious look you want in a faith. Very pious." Of course, this is the Seinfeld Jews mocking silly Christian faith; in fact, the writers made up the idea of a "Latvian Orthodox" church, but it turned out to really exist. Ironically, as you point out, the hats are actually part of the Jewish larp.

James J. O'Meara's avatar

You might be interested in The Holy Order of MANS (mysterion/agape/nous/sophia) which started as a New Age cult in San Francisco (of course) and ran restaurants as service/missionary work (like the Process Church or the 7th Day Adventists). They eventually converted en masse to... Orthodoxy, and apparently this was due to the influence of your Fr. Pod.

https://culteducation.com/group/975-holy-order-of-mans/36755-awkward-christian-soldiers.html

"But Podmoshensky was also in the process of being defrocked. In 1984, he was suspended from his priestly duties by his archbishop due to a series of "moral indiscretions" that have never been publicly disclosed. By 1988, he was no longer a priest. Regardless, by the mid-'80s, Holy Order of MANS publications were espousing Orthodox doctrine, and Podmoshensky was the Orthodox spiritual leader Rossi felt the order needed. All that was left to be taken care of was finding a bishop, and a diocese that would take in the order and make it truly part of the Orthodox community. The perfect bishop would be one who would give them a sort of canonical authority, and yet allow the order's members to pursue a new spiritual direction, while preserving the group's assets.

The order found Pangratios Vrionis.

Through the 1960s, Vrionis was a priest in the Greek Orthodox Church, serving a parish in Harrisburg, Pa. In 1969, he abruptly left. Court documents from Dauphin County, Pa., show that in 1969 Vrionis was indicted on two counts of sodomy and one of corrupting the morals of minors. The documents state that in November 1968, Vrionis performed sex acts with two 14-year-old boys. He later pleaded guilty to the charges, and in 1970 paid a $250 fine and served 23 months probation for each charge, sentenced concurrently.

That same year, he was defrocked by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America. And also that same year, Vrionis started his own church, the Archdiocese of Vasiloupolis, in Queens, N.Y. He was consecrated as metropolitan of Vasiloupolis by a trio of bishops from Russia, Albania, and Romania. And Pangratios was now a bishop himself, although his diocese was not recognized as legitimate by canonical Orthodox authorities in America."

Yes, not only was George Constanza joining the Latvian Orthodox in presumably Queens, but the ex-MANS cult had its "cathedral" in a small building in Queens, which, in turn, was just up the street from yours truly! When I found that out, I of course stopped in to check out the services, which were quite ordianary. I think Bishop Pan was still around, so this must have been in the 90s or about. So who says diversity (Queens is supposed to be the "most diverse county in the US") isn't cool?

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