I am normally disinclined to write about ecclesiastical gossip on Opus Publicum, especially when it involves the fringes of either the Catholic or Orthodox churches. However, this one is too good to pass up. Although there are very few concrete details at the moment, it appears that Bishop Ambrose (Moran), a (former?) member of the Old Calendarist Genuine Orthodox Church in America (GOCA), has aligned himself with the so-called “Resistance,” a very loose confederation of traditionalist Catholic priests de facto headed by former Society of St. Pius X Bishop Richard Williamson. Moran, as the story goes, was either “received” or “consecrated” by the head of GOCA, a move that initially sparked outrage among some traditionalist Orthodox due, ironically enough, to its “uncanonical” nature. The story later surfaced that Moran had already been a bishop in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (a point that remains unclear), though the YouTube video linked above indicates that he was, in fact, consecrated clandestinely by Patriarch Josyf Slipyj, the saintly head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. One can easily imagine why hyper-traditionalist Orthodox wouldn’t want that fact coming to light.
Perhaps Moran had a falling out with GOCA since he is now pledging to assist the traditionalist Catholic movement and, aside from some remarks that he had worked with some Ukrainian Orthodox back in the 1970s and 80s, makes no mention of any direct Orthodox affiliation. Certain traditionalist Catholics are, naturally, going nuts over this, albeit for all of the wrong reasons. That the “Resistance” could even think of interacting with a bishop (loosely) associated with the Orthodox is beyond the pale. Beyond the pale—or beyond comprehension—as well is the reality that the borderlands between Greek Catholicism and Orthodoxy have shifted considerably over the centuries; if there is a wall between the two confessions, it’s a porous one. None of this is to say that Moran should have anything to do with the “Resistance” or any other traditionalist movement that routinely demonstrates flagrant contempt toward Rome, but there you have it.
Strange times these be.
September 26, 2015
Archbishop Ambrose (Moran-Dolgoruky) was born in 1949 in a family of Russian-Serbian noble origin. In 1974-1985 gg. he studied first at the Ukrainian College in Rome, then studied Byzantine theology at Fordham University, major Theology at the Seminary Maryknoll (New York), received a master’s degree in psychology Bacon College (New York), and then a doctorate in clinical psychology at Columbia University, has a state certificate school psychologist. Belonging to the jurisdiction of one of the branches of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in exile, in 1966, he was tonsured in rassophore, and in 1973 a monk. Ordained to the diaconate in 1973 and to the priesthood in 1974. In 1976 he accepted the great schema in the Athos monastery of St. Elias. In 1976, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church hierarchs was ordained bishop (http://minds.by/news/88#.VgO2cMtVhBc)
September 29, 2015
It would be easy to check this man’s, perhaps so-called, status as a Russian noble. The Dolgoruky name is indeed of ancient and noble Russian ancestry, but the Russian nobility, even today, are very jealous in guarding its membership. If the man is not listed or known, he is a fake.
September 29, 2015
[…] week I posted about the case of one Bishop Ambrose Moran, an Eastern hierarch who had been linked previously to the Genuine […]