More on Ambrose Moran and the Genuine Orthodox Church of America
“To Archbishop Gregory of Denver, and to whom it may concern:
I, Archbishop Ambrose (Moran), by this instrument and by my signature affixed hereto, renounce and condemn the heresy of Ecumenism, and in accordance with the 1983 Anathema¹ issued by the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad under Metropolitan Philaret, which is presented herein below, I also anathematize those who profess this heresy: To those who attack the Church of Christ by teaching that Christ‘s Church is divided into so-called ‘branches‘ which differ in doctrine and way of life, or that the Church does not exist visibly, but will be formed in the future when all ‘branches‘ or sects or denominations, and even religions will be united into one body, and who do not distinguish the priesthood and Mysteries of the Church from those of the heretics, but say that the baptism and eucharist of heretics is effectual for salvation; therefore, to those who knowingly have communion with these aforementioned heretics, or who advocate, disseminate, or defend their new heresy of Ecumenism under the pretext of brotherly love or the supposed unification of separated Christians, Anathema.”
Signed: +Archbishop Ambrose, stamped with his seal.
Dated: October 17/30, 2007.
Source: https://www.archbishopgregory.info/chapter_41_reception_ab_ambrose.shtml
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- Ambrose Moran
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- Page last updated July 12, 2011
This is allegedly what Ambrose Moran wrote to Archbishop Gregory of the Genuine Orthodox Church of America in October 2007 when Ambrose Moran was seeking to join him. More can be read about Ambrose Moran’s time with Archbishop Gregory, as narrated by Archbishop Gregory, at the following link:
https://www.gocamerica.org/history_canonicity_2007-8_events_goc.shtml
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- 2007 – 2008 Events
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- Timeline pertaining to Ambrose Moran
Now Ambrose Moran, when asked about his involvement with Archbishop Gregory, claims that Archbishop Gregory led him to believe that he wished to be received into the Catholic Church. So, according to Ambrose Moran, his involvement with Archbishop Gregory was to bring him into the Catholic Church. Who, then, are we to believe?
Archbishop Gregory belongs to a group of Orthodox churches known as “Old Calendarists”. They are in the Orthodox world analogous to what Traditional Catholics are in the Catholic world. They reject ecumenism and changes to Orthodox historical teachings and practices. Archbishop Gregory owns Dormition Skete, which his base location. All this information is provided by OrthodoxWiki, which is considered to be the Wikipedia of the Orthodox world.
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- Genuine Orthodox Church of America
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- Old Calendarists
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- Dormition Skete
According to Archbishop Gregory, Ambrose Moran presented these pieces of evidence that he was an Orthodox bishop in an effort to being accepted into the Genuine Orthodox Church of America:
1) Curriculum vitae
2) Orthodox episcopal consecration certificate
3) Decree of appointment to Orthodox episcopal vicar
According to Archbishop Gregory, “On Sunday, November 18, 2007, Archbishop Ambrose was received into the Church by joint agreement of Archbishop Gregory of the GOC of America and Archbishop Makarios of the GOC of Greece. The reception of Archbishop Ambrose took place in the Cathedral of the Dormition before all the faithful, where he made his renunciation in public and was chrismated back into the Church.” Archbishop Gregory provided the following pictures as evidence:
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- Ambrose Moran reading and signing the Confession of Faith drafted by Archbishop Gregory
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- Archbishop Gregory reading the Final Blessing at the end of the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostomos
According to Archbishop Gregory, “On Sunday, January 6, 2008, the Eve of the Nativity of Christ, Archbishop Gregory and Archbishop Ambrose consecrated to the holy episcopacy Archimandrite George, who was renamed Bishop John. This was conducted in the Cathedral of the Dormition, before all the faithful.” Archbishop Gregory provided pictures in the following link as evidence:
https://www.gocamerica.org/photos-consecration-bpjohn-2008-01.shtml
Notice that Archbishop Gregory is the principal consecrator by the fact that he sits and stands in the middle. This thereby also indicates that he is the head of his church:
According to an Orthodox discussion forum in which a thread was posted on November 28, 2007 regarding Ambrose Moran’s alleged reception into the Genuine Orthodox Church of America, Ambrose Moran wrote a letter to his faithful after joining. The following is the link:
http://www.euphrosynoscafe.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8279
The same Orthodox discussion forum publishes another letter in the same thread, allegedly written by Archbishop Gregory, which welcomes Ambrose Moran into the Genuine Orthodox Church of America:
Other independent sources have written about Ambrose Moran’s reception into the Genuine Orthodox Church of America:
1) History of the Orthodox Churches (1924 to 2008) – see Footnote 2 on page 332.
2) OrthodoxWiki
3) Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece
Now note that Ambrose Moran has had many years to refute any of the information provided by Archbishop Gregory or the other sources. For example, you can see in the second picture at the top of this post that Archbishop Gregory has not updated that web page since July 12, 2011. Instead, Ambrose Moran had a website running up until October 2015 in which he asserted that he was an Orthodox bishop in the line of Metropolitan Hryhorij. I wrote about this in the following two links, including showing that Ambrose Moran was indeed the owner of that website:
Owner of Schismatic Orthodox Website Confirmed to Be Ambrose Moran
Point 4 in the following screenshot of the website even makes proud that Metropolitan Hryhorij was an Old Calendarist:
It was in October 2015 that this website was taken down at the behest of Fr. Joseph Pfeiffer, but as you can see, Ambrose Moran did not oppose any claims made by Archbishop Gregory regarding his involvement with the Genuine Orthodox Church of America even though he had plenty of opportunity to do so. It was only when he was questioned in late 2015 that he made his claim that he was involved with Archbishop Gregory in order to convert him to the Catholic Church. And what evidence has Ambrose Moran provided in defence of his claim? It has been only his word.
Therefore, my friends, with all the evidence presented above that Ambrose Moran was involved with Archbishop Gregory precisely as an Orthodox bishop and that there is no evidence to the contrary except the word of Ambrose Moran, what is the likelihood that Archbishop Gregory sought conversion to the Catholic Church with the assistance of Ambrose Moran, then made up everything to support his claims of Ambrose Moran’s involvement with the Genuine Orthodox Church of America, and that no one else picked up on it and reported it? The answer is, “Next to zilch!” Any reasonable person can only conclude that the claim that Archbishop Gregory had a desire to convert to the Catholic Church is an invention of Ambrose Moran, just like he invented his claims of being ordained a priest and consecrated a bishop by Cardinal Slipyj (see here for a presentation regarding this matter).
It is so sad that Ambrose Moran refuses to publicly admit to and repent of his schismatic past, but it is even more sad that Fr. Joseph Pfeiffer has introduced Ambrose Moran as a Catholic bishop ready to continue the true Resistance. Please pray for both of them and all involved with supporting this fraud.
¹Information about the Orthodox 1983 Anathema against Ecumenism may be found at the following links, which demonstrate the Old Calendarists’ (and by extension Archbishop Gregory’s) detestation of the Catholic Church:
http://orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/ecum_anath.aspx
http://www.orthodoxchristianbooks.com/articles/670/-1983-anathema-against-ecumenism/
https://www.roacusa.org/htdocs/Catechism/ANATHEMAS%20AND%20FR%20JOHN%20SHAW.pdf
http://www.euphrosynoscafe.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3627
