The False Shepherd: Father Moses McPherson’s War Against the True Orthodox Church
- Subdeacon Nektarios, M.A.
- 35 minutes ago
- 16 min read
Subdeacon Nektarios, M.A.
As many are aware, there is a growing interest in the Old Calendarist Orthodox Church due to its staunchly traditional way of life, its firm defense of the faith in the face of persecution and slander, and its unwavering rejection of the heresies of Ecumenism and Sergianism. Consequently, a significant number of people from the ROCOR-MP have come under the omophorion of our God-fearing, Orthodox-confessing hierarchs of the Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece.
In a recent message from one of our laity, I received a screenshot of a post by Father Moses McPherson, a YouTube-famous priest known for his Protestant-style worldview. He frequently promotes the “alpha male” lifestyle—posting videos of himself powerlifting and sharing his views on various Orthodox topics, including heresies such as Protestantism.
He has also shared selfies in priestly vestments, for example with icons of the Theotokos accompanied by background music such as Metallica’s “The Four Horsemen.” In this recent message to our True Orthodox layman, McPherson writes that our parishioner has left the Orthodox Church, that the Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece is graceless, and that we are merely “LARPing” as Orthodox Christians. This is not the first time this pseudo-priest and false teacher has slandered the True Orthodox and continues his unholy persecution of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece (GOC). In the past, this pseudo-priest and false teacher sent me similar messages when I left the Moscow-controlled ROCOR-MP, ironically with the blessing of Bishop Luke of Jordanville, for the Old Calendarist Church.
When I received his message, however, I presented the historical facts to him one after another as he slandered and persecuted me for joining the GOC. After each message he sent, I countered with documented evidence showing his claims were baseless and driven by nothing more than a desire to persecute an Orthodox Christian who confesses True Orthodoxy and refuses to submit to his Soviet KGB Patriarch in Moscow.
I provided him with documented evidence, photographs, and undeniable historical facts demonstrating that ROCOR and the Old Calendarist Greeks were once in communion with each other and, in fact, have never been considered schismatic or outside the Church. McPherson is the chief persecutor of the True Orthodox in the post-union Modernist ROCOR-MP and soon realized that his gaslighting techniques and contrived “alpha male” persona would not work on me and simply blocked me. After realizing that his attempts at guilt, slander, and persecution for my choice to leave the ROCOR-MP had failed, he retreated to social media to publicly decry me as a schismatic and eventually blocked me on all platforms.
In his most recent Facebook message to one of our newly received laymen in the GOC, McPherson repeated the same historically illiterate talking points and slanders that he had sent me years ago. In this message, McPherson writes:
"I hope you heed these words: I’m extremely sad you’ve left the Orthodox Church for larpers. There’s nothing in the schismatic groups, no Grace, no sacraments, no nothing… I pray you come to a place of repentance and turn back. Many Church fathers faced serious persecution (st. John Chrysostom, st. Athanasius, etc), but they never left the canonical Church. And st. Joseph the hesychast was clear about the old calenderists,[sic] they’re like a cancer. God help you and save you."
I will address McPherson’s slanders point by point. Before doing so, however, it is necessary to establish some context regarding McPherson and his so-called “Orthodox” background. McPherson is not originally from the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia; rather, he is a transplant from the Orthodox Church in America (formerly the Metropolia), an ecclesiastical body widely regarded by the old Russian Church Abroad as both schismatic and heretical. It was within this schismatic jurisdiction that McPherson was formed, educated, and ordained, which explains much of the slanderous and prosecutorial positions he takes against the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece and why it is evident that he entirely lacks the worldview and mindset of someone truly formed within the Russian Church Abroad.
McPherson received his training and education in the same milieu as Alexander Schmemann and John Meyendorff at the OCA’s Saint Tikhon Seminary in June 2013 [1]. Saint Seraphim Rose comments on both of these figures, stating:
These three men are traitors to Orthodoxy, on the same level (although more refined) as Patr. Athenagoras and Archbp. Iakovos, and it is time that the Orthodox faithful be informed of this. Archbp. John Shahovskoy for 40 years has been preaching a “poetical” Christianity that is against monasticism and every kind of strict Orthodoxy; Fr. Schmemann is clearly attempting to Protestantize Orthodoxy; and Fr. Meyendorff, by his irresponsible and slanderous attack against the hierarchs and faithful of the Russian Church Abroad (in the Feb. Orthodox Church) shows himself so anxious to follow in their footsteps that he departs even from ordinary honesty and fairness. These men are clearly leading the Metropolia into “Eastern-rite Protestantism,” and now the Metropolia hierarchs have unanimously joined with the enemies of Christ’s Church [Moscow Patriarchate] in order to speed up this aim—it is too late to do anything for the Metropolia, anyone who wishes to remain in Christ’s Church must leave her now before being caught in her snares [2].
Likewise, Saint Philaret of New York, the third First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, wrote at length to his friend Abbess Magdalena in 1979 concerning the schismatic Metropolia—now known as the Orthodox Church in America. In this letter, he stated that they are indeed schismatics who possess neither a valid priesthood nor any other mysteries. Saint Philaret writes in this letter:
You, Matushka, have probably grasped the main idea. I (speaking, of course, only for myself) believe that the schismatics—both the American and Parisian groups—have no grace, for otherwise, one would have to accept the absurdity of the existence of several true Churches that do not recognize each other and have no spiritual communion. This is absurd already because the Divine Founder of the Church said, “I will build My Church,” and not “My Churches.” I have come to this conclusion both from the words of the ancient Holy Fathers (which I have quoted) and from the words of Abba Anthony about the seemingly valid performance of the sacraments by those who have separated from the true Church. And I do not believe in the grace of the schismatic “maneuverings” so much that if I were dying and needed last rites, I would not accept it from a “Parisian” or an American pseudo-autocephalous bishop, lest I swallow a piece of bread and wine instead of the Holy Sacraments [3].
This was not merely the view of the saintly and incorrupt First Hierarch, but also of many who adhered to the pre–false-union ethos of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. Even the ROCOR first hierarchs—were they still alive—would have considered McPherson a schismatic and heretic, originating from an ecclesiastical institution and lacking a valid priesthood, due to itself being created out of schism from the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.
As we can see, it is clear that the saintly hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad would have viewed the very jurisdiction from which McPherson came as truly schismatic, which is ironic in and of itself. What McPherson should do is contemplate the history of the jurisdiction from which he originated and compare it to the history of the ROCOR, which he fled to, and to see whether what he falsely teaches as Orthodoxy aligns with what has long been taught by his current jurisdiction.
Now let us briefly answer the accusation that this GOC layman left the Holy Orthodox Church. We can expect a historical illiterate to say something that of course is lacking any historicity. In fact, as many of you know due to my many published articles and historical volumes that ROCOR and the Old Calendarist Greeks both Florinites and Matthewites were in Eucharistic Communion with each other at various points throughout the history of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. First let us look at the main historical evidence with this to keep this brief since historical volumes of this have been written ad nauseum. In 1969 the Hierarch Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia issued the following decree:
18/31 December 1969
To His Beatitude Auxentios,
Archbishop of the Church of the
True Orthodox Christians of Greece
Your Beatitude,
Your Beatitude’s fraternal letter of 25 November 1969, was read by us at a meeting of our Synod today.
The many trials which the Orthodox Church has endured from the beginning of its history are especially great in our evil times, and, consequently, this especially requires unity among those who are truly devoted to the Faith of the Fathers. With these sentiments, we wish to inform you that the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad recognizes the validity of the episcopal ordinations of your predecessor of blessed memory, the reposed Archbishop Akakios, and the consequent ordinations of your Holy Church. Hence, also taking into account various other circumstances, our hierarchical Synod esteems your hierarchy as brothers in Christ in full communion with us.
May the blessing of God rest upon all the clergy and faithful of your Church, especially during the coming days of the Nativity in the flesh of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
The President of the Synod of Bishops
† Metropolitan Philaret
The Members:
† Nikon, Archbishop of Washington and Florida,
† Seraphim, Archbishop of Chicago and Detroit
† Vitaly, Archbishop of Montreal and Canada
† Anthony, Archbishop of Los Angeles and Texas
† Averky, Archbishop of Syracuse and Trinity
† Anthony, Archbishop of Western America and San Francisco
† Sabbas, Bishop of Edmonton
† Nectary, Bishop of Seattle
† Andrew, Bishop of Rockland
† Laurus, Bishop of Manhattan [4]
In August of 1970 Bishop Laurus of Manhattan, Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, came to Athens and concelebrated with Archbishop Auxentios and the other Hierarchs (Akakios, Gerontios, and Petros) and the clergy of the Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece to Seal this proclaimed unity.
Later in 1972, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia issued a resolution to the President of the Matthewite Synod Archbishop Andreas which stated the following:
October 21/November 3, 1972
We make it known to all, that after the laying on of hands, which has been fulfilled as a blessing to Your Beatitude’s Sacred Hierarchy, our Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia enters into full Ecclesiastical and Sacramental Communion with the Orthodox Church of the True Orthodox Christians of Greece, of which Your Beatitude is a Bishop.
I cordially pray that our Lord will bless and guide the Hierarchy, Clergy, and Laity of Your Beatitude’s God-protected Church forever.
Your Beatitude’s devoted brother in Christ,
†Metropolitan Philaret President of the Synod of Bishops
† Bishop Laurus Secretary to the Synod of Bishops [5]
Just in these two synodal decrees alone, we can see that McPherson is historically illiterate and entirely dishonest for saying that the Greek Old Calendarists are outside the Orthodox Church and that we lack grace in our mysteries. By this very logic, his very own jurisdiction is schismatic and heretical. However, we all know that McPherson and those like him will appeal to the timeline and say that was 56 and 53 years ago, respectively.
Since this is often an argument among those who have no argument, let us go chronologically even further and look at a few other things that continue to show that McPherson is a dishonest bad actor with an agenda to keep you within his Sergianist MP cult rather than be truthful about the history of the Russian Church Abroad.
In 1994, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia canonized the saintly and incorrupt hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, Saint John of San Francisco and Shanghai, who himself had been in communion with the Greek Old Calendarist Bishop, Metropolitan Petros of Astoria and who was known for serving at Saint Markella’s in Astoria, New York, regularly. At the canonization liturgy of Saint John, held at the Cathedral in San Francisco where his incorrupt relics still remain, the service was presided over by Saint Vitaly (Ustinov) and Metropolitan Vlasie of the Old Calendarist Romanian Orthodox Church.
Again, if we follow the non-sensical logic of McPherson, we would automatically have to conclude that Metropolitan Vitaly (Ustinov) was a schismatic himself, simply for serving the Divine Liturgy with an Old Calendarist hierarch—and therefore the canonization of Saint John of San Francisco would have been invalid, because he would have been canonized by schismatics. One can clearly see the absurdity of McPherson’s reasoning when it is taken to its logical conclusion.
What makes this even more striking is that Holy Trinity Monastery at Jordanville, along with the official organ of the Russian Church Abroad, Orthodox Life, published a celebratory account of this canonization, explicitly naming those who served at this hierarchal glorification liturgy. In this official publication of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Igumen Luke—now Bishop Luke of Jordanville—writes:
Over ninety clergy from around the world were fully vested to concelebrate the triumphant Liturgy headed by Their Eminences, Metropolitan Vitaly (Ustinov) and Vlasie (Old Calendarist Romanian Orthodox Church) [6].
Continuing along the chronological timeline, in 1996 Bishop Gabriel—now Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal and a sitting member of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia—was consecrated at Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York, by the hierarchs of ROCOR, as well as by two Greek Orthodox Old Calendarists: Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Etna and Bishop Auxentios of Photiki. [7] Following the nonsensical logic of McPherson, this would make Archbishop Gabriel an unrepentant schismatic; yet he now sits on the Synod of Bishops, especially since ROCOR itself—and the hierarchs involved in his consecration—have never renounced or repudiated it.
In the book The Truth About the Russian Church Abroad, republished in 2002 by the Printshop of St. Job of Pochaev at Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, a clear history of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and its relationship with the Old Calendarist Orthodox Christians—whom McPherson repeatedly slanders and persecutes as being outside the Orthodox Church—is presented. This volume explains the relationship between the World Orthodox and the Old Calendarist Churches, stating:
The Church Abroad, being sufficiently well informed about the character and aims, so pernicious for the Church, of the Ecumenical Movement, is not a member of the World Council of Churches and does not take part in any of its work whatsoever. Moreover, under Ecumenism, instead of an open and vocal witness to Orthodoxy, the [World] Orthodox Churches travel a path searching for compromising dogmatic, ecclesiological, and other commonalities with non-Orthodox and even non-Christian confessions. The leadership of the Church Abroad has more than once expressed its negative attitude toward ecumenism and has not changed this position till this day.
More evidence of the correct path of the Church Abroad, besides the above mentioned, is that her ties with her sister Old Calendar Churches, in Greece, Rumania and Bulgaria are being supported and strengthened. However, the Church Abroad has no canonical union with the eastern Patriarchates, which represent “official Orthodoxy,” because of their participation in the Ecumenical Movement and their acceptance of the New Calendar [8].
We can see that McPherson is ignorant of this history because he was never formed or educated within the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. Instead, he was formed by the Metropolia (OCA), which all the saintly hierarchs of old ROCOR considered schismatic. Saint Seraphim Rose likewise regarded it as nothing but a false church, born in schism from the true Russian Church, and having received its illegitimate autocephaly from the Soviet-created Moscow Patriarchate—the very patriarchate that sent thousands of New Martyrs to their deaths.[9]
By 2007, when ROCOR was finally subjugated to the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Laurus wrote two letters to the Old Calendarist First Hierarchs of Romania and Bulgaria on July 3, 2007. He continued to correspond with them and recognized them as Orthodox Christian bishops. In his letters to Metropolitan Photii and Metropolitan Vlasie of the Romanian and Bulgarian Old Calendarist Churches, he wrote, in part, stating:
Once again we address a brotherly letter to Your Eminence about the events in the life of our Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
As you know, on May 4/17 of this year, on the day of the Ascension of the Lord, the ceremonial signing of the Act of Canonical Communion between the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate took place in Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow. According to this Act, the Russian Church Abroad remains independent in “pastoral, educational, administrative, management, property, and civil matters.
We studied some of Your Grace's words on the process of the reestablishment of unity within the Russian Church. We are truly dismayed that for some unexplained reasons, you did not receive our latest letter from the Synodal Chancery, in which we expressed our lofty evaluation of Your Grace's firm standing for the preservation of the Orthodox church calendar and other ancient traditions, and expressed our intention to maintain good brotherly relations with you [10].
I would like to address regarding the historical relationship between ROCOR and the Old Calendarists concerns the perspective of a priest of ROCOR-MP who is well respected within that jurisdiction, lived through this entire history, and personally served with the Old Calendarists on numerous occasions. Ironically, he is also part of the Diocese of the Mid-West in Texas. In a debate on the Orthodox Christian Theology Channel of Patrick Craig Truglia, entitled The ROCOR–True Orthodox Schism ft. Fr. John Whiteford and Fr. Joseph Suaiden, Father John Whiteford recounts from his personal experiences how communion between ROCOR and the Old Calendarists existed at that time—once again completely refuting the false teachings of McPherson.
Craig Truglia poses the question to Father John Whiteford: “Does ROCOR recognize the holy orders of any True Orthodox jurisdiction?” Father Whiteford gives an honest but hesitant reply, affirming that ROCOR does, in fact, recognize the holy orders of the Old Calendarists. He responds, “Well, I know that we have received clergy from them, so on some level I would have to say yeah.” Craig then replies, “All right, so the answer is yes, because clergy have been received without being baptized or re-ordained.”[11]
It is also well known that in 2007 Metropolitan Laurus granted canonical releases to those ROCOR clergy who did not wish to go along with the union with the Moscow Patriarchate. Some of these priests remain in the GOC to this day. Instead of persecuting the True Orthodox faithful—those who actually confess Holy Orthodoxy and refuse to participate in the heretical ecumenical movement as his patriarchate does—McPherson should take a lesson from one of the more senior priests in his own diocese, rather than making ROCOR-MP and himself appear entirely foolish.
Concerning McPherson’s historical claim that the Saints did not “leave the canonical Church,” this is, of course, another World Orthodox historical fallacy that figures like McPherson use to gaslight individuals into remaining in communion with his KGB-controlled Patriarchate.
In my recently published book, The History of Resistance: From the Apostles to the Twentieth Century, I provide a chronological account demonstrating that throughout history, the teaching of Scripture, the Saints, the Church Fathers, canon law, and liturgical texts consistently supported breaking communion with publicly heretical bishops.
To provide a brief example, Saint Athanasius the Great, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, Saint Maximos the Confessor, Saint John Chrysostom, and the more recent Russian Catacomb Church all broke communion with the “Official Church”—for many of them, the “Imperial Church.” Indeed, in the cases of Saint Athanasius, Saint Gregory, Saint John Chrysostom, and the Russian Catacomb Saints, they established “parallel churches” that were, in reality, the true Church, while those they separated from them were the schismatics.
We must ask: In light of the truth and the historical record available to all, why does McPherson continue to obfuscate and teach false history in order to keep more people in communion with his KGB-controlled patriarchate?
Why does he insist on slandering and persecuting the True Confessors of Orthodoxy—those who have never embraced either Ecumenism or Sergianism and have faithfully maintained the Apostolic faith—while demanding that others remain in communion with his heretical patriarchate, which has been a loyal, dues-paying member of the heretical World Council of Churches? And when people refuse, he labels them schismatic for not joining him and his patriarchate in the pan-heresy of Ecumenism.
For those who follow these pseudo-priests and false teachers, I urge you to conduct your own independent research, follow the bibliographic references I have provided, ask questions, and read my books. If Old ROCOR and all the saintly hierarchs who faithfully governed the Church were in communion with the Old Calendarists, who is McPherson—a man clearly teaching a tradition contrary to the Russian Church Abroad—to question and declare us schismatic and graceless? It is, in fact, McPherson who violates over forty years of ROCOR tradition recognizing the Greek, Bulgarian, and Romanian Old Calendarists as truly Orthodox Christians.
What this demonstrates is that he believes his opinion outweighs the authority of the Saints of ROCOR—Saint Anthony Khrapovitsky, Saint Anastassy, Saint Philaret of New York, Saint John of San Francisco, Saint Vitaly Ustinov, and Saint Seraphim Rose—many of whom were in communion with the Old Calendarists during their lives.
The last question I want people to ask is: Why does McPherson persecute and slander the Orthodox Old Calendarists? Think deeply about this and ask yourself the following questions.
Do the Orthodox Old Calendarists teach heresy?
Do they profess doctrines contrary to those established by the Fathers of the Church?
Have they introduced new dogmas or innovations foreign to Holy Tradition?
Have they rejected the Ecumenical Councils or the Holy Canons?
Do they promote the heresy of Ecumenism?
Do they pray with Hindus, Buddhist, Jews, and other Heterodox Religions?
Are they members of the World Council of Churches who violate canons?
Have they rejected the New Martyrs and embraced Sergianism?
Do they consistently conduct ecumenical services with heretics and other heterodox?
If you can answer these obvious questions—which are clearly “no”—then why does he harbor such vitriolic hatred toward those who wish to adhere to Holy Orthodoxy in its purest and original form, rejecting innovations and ecumenism, and resisting bishops who practice the heresy of ecumenism and proudly embrace innovations?
At the end of the day, will you follow the Apostles, Saints, and Church Fathers of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, or will you follow McPherson—the persecutor of the True Orthodox—who tramples even his own jurisdiction’s history and tradition and spreads hatred toward those who confess True Orthodoxy?
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven; for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” - St Matthew 5:10-12
References
[1]. “Alumni Update: Moses McPherson Ordained to the Holy Priesthood,” Saint Tikhon Seminary accessed September 14th, 2025, https://stots.edu/news_130604_2
[2]. Father Seraphim (Rose) to Father Seraphim, Letter 37, Platina, California (April 19/May 2,1970).
[3]. Saint Philaret of New York, In Their Own Words: The Private Letters of Saint Philaret of New York & Bishop Gregory Grabbe (Washington DC: Orthodox Traditionalist Publications, 2025), 311.
[4]. Hierarchal Synod of the Russian Church Abroad, Saint Philaret of New York: His Collected Works (Washington DC: Orthodox Traditionalist Publications, 2024), 555-556.
[5]. Hierarchal Synod of the Russian Church Abroad, Saint Seraphim Rose on the Old Calendarists: From 1962-1982 (Washington DC: Orthodox Traditionalist Publications, 2024), 6-8.
[6]. Igumen Luke (Murianka), “The Glorification of Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco,” Orthodox Life 44, no. 4 (July–August 1994): 4–11, Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville.
[7]. “Consecration of New ROCA Bishop for Australia,” Orthodox Tradition, vol. XIII, nos. 3–4 (1996): 73–74.
[8]. M. Rodizanko, The Truth About the Russian Church Abroad (Jordanville: Printshop of St. Job of Pochaev, 2002), 51.
[9]. Saint Philaret of New York, In Their Own Words: The Private Letters of Saint Philaret of New York & Bishop Gregory Grabbe (Washington DC: Orthodox Traditionalist Publications, 2025), 376-377.
[10]. “The Synod of Bishops Sends a Letter to Bishop Photii of the Bulgarian Old Calendar Church,” The Official Website of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, accessed September 15th, 2025, https://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/eng2007/7enposlphotii.html ; https://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/eng2007/7enposlvlasie.html
[11]. “The ROCOR-True Orthodox Schism Ft Fr John Whiteford and Fr Joseph Suaiden,” Orthodox Christian Theology – YouTube Channel, accessed September 15th, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=551TFcRlgRQ&t=7657s