New Alaska bishop seeks to heal rift in Orthodox congregation

MARY LOCHNER

June 26, 2008 at 10:26AM AKST

The Russian Orthodox Church in America retired former Alaska diocese Bishop Nikolai Soraich Tuesday, May 13 after its Holy Synod of bishops investigated allegations he behaved insensitively in regards to Alaska Native culture and responded insufficiently to a priest’s report of sexual misconduct by one of his assistants.

The Holy Synod in New York is the church’s governing body in America. It has provisionally appointed Bishop Benjamin Peterson of the diocese of the West as bishop of the Alaska diocese.

Bishop Ben served as dean in Kodiak from 2002-04 and was elected bishop at Berkeley in 2004. He retains his duties as bishop of the diocese of the West while serving as bishop to the Alaska diocese and said the post is a provisional one until the church finds a permanent bishop for Alaska.

A native of Southern California from Pasadena, Bishop Ben now resides in San Francisco and Boulder City, Nev.

He’s made several trips throughout Alaska since May of this year. Bishop Ben spoke with Alaska Newspapers on Sunday, June 8, about what he hopes to accomplish for the Alaska diocese while he is serving as its bishop.

When did you first visit Alaska as its bishop?

Right after our Pascha, at the beginning of May. There’s a lot I have to learn about what’s going on. Whenever you have a transition, there’s financial things, personnel things, that one has to find. I have to find out who’s unhappy and try and see if there’s some remedy I can make.

Bishop Nikolai moved some priests from communities they’d been in for a long time. I understand you received letters, for example, from people in New Stuyahok who want their old priest back.

I’ve received letters from priests, letters from a few parishes and I’ve spoken to the deans.

One of the things I did here was meet with the area deans. We discussed some of these personnel issues. I need to find out what is wise to do. Just because somebody wants to move somebody, or three people in the village write you a letter, doesn’t mean everybody in the village necessarily wants that. So I have to check and make sure I’m not making a worse mistake.

But unfortunately in the last year there were a number of priests who were moved around. There wasn’t really much consideration about families and what was doable for people, and I think it’s a real serious issue.

What is the general practice in the Russian Orthodox Church on moving priests vs. keeping them in the same community for a long time?

Traditionally, in the Orthodox Church, we don’t like to move clergy. I don’t like to move people around if I don’t have to. Some of the priests who were unhappy a year ago are happy now. There were some priests who were unhappy a year ago and are unhappy now.

Is this something you might be looking at, returning some of the priests to their original communities?

It’s all being reconsidered. People have spoken to their deans. Each (situation) has to be looked at individually, with sensitivity to the people in the village and to the priests and their families, too.

How is that kind of fact-finding happening?

I’ve asked each of the regional deans to speak to the clergy in their deanery and ask them if they are happy with their assignment, or if there’s a problem with their assignment. I met with them, we got some of their counsel, brainstormed a little bit those ideas.

Another set of issues is the expression of concerns about the former bishop’s purported lack of respect or understanding for Alaska Native cultures.

Whatever his strengths, whatever his weaknesses are, (Bishop Nikolai) is no longer here. He was retired by the Holy Synod of bishops of the Orthodox Church in America.

He’s not coming back here. So whatever his problems are, they’re just not issues anymore.

I don’t believe that he will ever be getting another diocese in another church. He’s right now looking for another Orthodox Church in the world that will receive him, and if he can find one, I think that our holy synod would consider releasing him to that other Orthodox Church. But he’s not coming back here. Whatever his issues are, they’re not mine.

We’re trying to find someone who can be the bishop of this diocese. I think it will take some time, because we don’t want to make a mistake. We want to find someone who is just the right person for this diocese. I don’t think they can afford to have another bad assignment here.

I would say Bishop Nikolai left the diocese in much better financial condition than it was. But there are these personality issues — they’re the human issues that need to be addressed now.

I think one of the difficulties with the previous bishop was he was a personality that was just too big for people to handle. And I’m not here to judge him. I just want to help the people move on.

What do you see as being your role in helping people move on?

I’m looking for the priests and the diocesan council to give me counsel about how I can best help the people in this diocese run their local church.

There are two models of shepherds. In Scotland, where my family comes from, shepherds stand off the side, the sheep are out in the field; and they have these dogs.

They whistle at the dogs, and the dogs run around and bite the ankles of the sheep and terrorize them into staying together.

But the way shepherding is done in the Middle East — and that’s the example used in the gospel — the shepherd walks in front of his sheep. Every shepherd has a particular sound, a vocalization they make, that their sheep know.

And the sheep stay with the shepherd, because they know his voice and they trust him.

That’s the way I think a bishop should lead his priests and his flock; it’s the way a priest should lead his parish. They should be confident in the love the shepherd has for them, so that they follow him. They hear his voice, and they follow him.

You said Bishop Nikolai left the church in better financial state than when he started.

But there have been concerns about the way land deals were handled.

There’s always concerns about land. When the Russians sold Alaska to the United States, certain parcels of land were given to the church so that the church could take care of itself and run its affairs here. Because of Alaska’s very liberal laws of adverse possession and things like that, much of the land was lost.

There are cemeteries where people have built houses. I know of one hotel that’s built on a cemetery plot. The management of those properties was very poor.

Bishop Nikolai did a very good job of organizing all that. He got some very good professional people in Alaska to help him understand what was church property and what wasn’t, and how it’s being managed.

Financial things, I’m very concerned about because we don’t generate a lot of money at collections. So we depend on some of these things like land, and gift shops and stuff to help us meet the financial requirements of running a big diocese like this.

Mary Lochner can be reached at (907) 348-2438 or (800) 770-9830, ext. 438.