Holy Order of MANS

From OrthodoxWiki
Revision as of 01:19, June 20, 2006 by Magberry (talk | contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search
This article forms part of the series
Orthodoxy in America
Orthodox us.gif
History
American Orthodox Timeline
American Orthodox Bibliography
Byzantines on OCA autocephaly
Ligonier Meeting
ROCOR and OCA
People
Saints - Bishops - Writers
Jurisdictions
Antiochian - Bulgarian
OCA - Romanian - Moscow
ROCOR - Serbian

Ecumenical Patriarchate:
Albanian - Carpatho-Russian
Greek - Ukrainian
Palestinian/Jordanian

Monasteries
Seminaries
Christ the Saviour
Holy Cross
Holy Trinity
St. Herman's
St. Tikhon's
St. Sava's
St. Sophia's
St. Vladimir's
Organizations
Assembly of Bishops
AOI - EOCS - IOCC - OCEC
OCF - OCL - OCMC - OCPM - OCLife
OISM - OTSA - SCOBA - SOCHA
Groups
Amer. Orthodox Catholic Church
Brotherhood of St. Moses the Black
Evangelical Orthodox Church
Holy Order of MANS/CSB
Society of Clerks Secular of St. Basil
Edit this box


The Holy Order of MANS (usually abbreviated as HOOM or HOM) was a religious cult founded by ex-engineer Earl Blighton that started in the 1960s. It was based on another religious idea of Blighton and others called the Science of Man. MANS is an acronym for the greek words:

  • Mysterion
  • Agape
  • Nous
  • Sophia

In 1988, after denouncing the heresy involved with the religious movement, many of its members and hierarchy joined a non-canonical group of the Orthodox Church under the name Christ the Saviour Brotherhood (or Christ the Savior Brotherhood; abbreviated as CSB). In 2000, members of CSB joined canonical jurisdictions of the Orthodox Church.

A thorough Orthodox explanation of the journey of the Holy Order of MANS and Christ the Saviour Brotherhood can be read in Again, Vol. 23, No. 1, January-March 2001, pp. 23-26

Controversy

Real Property

In reality, some question the validity of true conversion to the Orthodox faith by members of Christ the Saviour Brotherhood. It is reported that many of the properties once belonging to HOOM actually stayed legally in possession of HOOM long after the Order was said to be dissolved, as late as the year 2000. It has also been stated that CSB continued to operate as a non-profit organization under the HOOM name with very little change in their articles of incorporation. Several religious cults still exist today because of the influence of HOOM. In fact, in some ways, HOOM still exists to this day.

Raphael House, a property previously belonging to HOOM was originally an integrated charitable activity of CSB, but was incorporated as its own California nonprofit organization in 1991. It is under the OCA jurisdiction.

Liturgical Practices

Some claim that clerics who were former members of HOOM/CSB still practice some non-traditional forms of liturgical practices in their services.

Abuse

A number of the clergy, e.g. Pangratios Vrionis, associated with the initial non-canonical acceptance of HOOM had criminal records for or were later accused of child molestation, further complicating the association of HOOM/CSB with the historic Church.

Parish/Clergy

Some of the existing congregations that include former members/clergy of HOOM/CSB include:

Timeline

  • 1968 - Earl Blighton (aka Father Paul) founds the Holy Order of MANS. He takes the title of Director General.
  • 1974 - Earl Blighton dies.
  • 1978 - Andrew and Isjesian Rossi become co-directors general of HOOM.
  • 1983 - Fr. Herman (Gleb) Podmoshensky and Andrew Rossi of HOOM meet
  • 1984-1988 - Rossi introduces some Orthodox liturgical and spiritual practices to members of HOOM.
  • 1987 - Rossi attends meetings of the Evangelical Orthodox bishops with Metropolitan Philip of the Antiochian Archdiocese
  • 1988 - HOOM members, under the leadership of Andrew Rossi and Fr. Herman, joined a non-canonical jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church under Metropolitan Pangratios (Vrionis) of the Archdiocese of Vasiloupolis (Queens, NY). The name of the group was then changed to Christ the Saviour Brotherhood.
  • 2000 - Members of Christ the Saviour Brotherhood join three different jurisdictions in America. The men's and women's monasteries that came out of the St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood and some parishes and missions were received by Bishop Jovan of the Diocese of Western America, and Bishop Longin of the New Gracanica Diocese, both of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Many parishes and missions have gone into the Orthodox Church in America under Archbishop Dimitri of Dallas, Bishop Job of Chicago, and Bishop Tikhon of San Francisco. Several other parishes and missions were received by Metropolitan Joseph of the Bulgarian Patriarchate [source: Again article].


This article or section is a stub (i.e., in need of additional material). You can help OrthodoxWiki by expanding it.



External Links

These links can be used to expand this article or for sources of information.

Holy Order of MANS

Books

  • Bread Upon the Waters: A Pilgrimage Toward Self-Discovery and Spiritual Truth by Peter Reinhart (ISBN 0738204323)
    • Peter Reinhart is a lay member of Christ the Saviour Brotherhood.
  • The Odyssey of a New Religion: The Holy Order of Mans from New Age to Orthodoxy by Phillip Charles Lucas (ISBN 0253336120)
    • Lucas has also published a scholarly article including some information about CSB entitled Enfants Terribles: The Challenge of Sectarian Converts to Ethnic Orthodox Churches in the United States