Lazar (Puhalo) of Ottawa
Retired archbishop Lazar (Puhalo) is an outspoken heretic who has switched jurisdiction several times between the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, the Free Serbian Orthodox Church, Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece, the Holy Synod of Milan, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church–Kiev Patriarchate, and most recently the OCA.
Abp. Lazar is especially infamous for his wholehearted endorsement of transgenderism. Not as a personal choice of adults does he endorse it—which would be horrifically evil by itself—but he also states categorically that children are the opposite sex of their actual sex from before birth.[1] His heretical teachings on transgenderism and homosexuality have been censured by the OCA—among the most radically liberal of all World Orthodox jurisdictions—and Abp. Lazar is not permitted to express them publicly. Despite this he has in no way repudiated his teachings and has in fact claimed that he is not permitted to teach the truth.[2]
Like most modernists he denies the inerrancy of Holy Scripture, but he takes it one step further by explicitly denying the inspiration of Scripture.[3]
Abp. Lazar (at the time Deacon Lev Puhalo) stirred controversy with his reaction to Fr. Seraphim Rose's book, The Soul After Death, in prolific correspondence as well as his own book, The Soul, the Body and Death. Dcn. Lev wrote blatantly erroneous accusations of heresy against Fr. Seraphim, in the process making various heretical claims including soul sleep. Due to these issues, the Holy Synod of ROCOR in 1980 forbade Dcn. Lev from teaching until he agreed not to engage in disputes which may confuse the faithful. Both sides were ordered to end the controversy.[4] Along with Fr. Michael Azkoul, Abp. Lazar remains one of the main opponents of the doctrine of the Aerial Toll-Houses.[5]
References
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUEh55uM07E
- ↑ This Facebook post appears to no longer be available but here is commentary by Fr. John Whiteford (ROCOR-MP) who quotes: “I have been forbidden by "higher ups" to express any truth about the nature of the issue, so I only express the official doctrine of the Church.”
- ↑ In truth this is the logical conclusion of all modernist teaching on Scripture since God must necessarily be inerrant. However, other modernists are often not as open with their views. In this video Abp. Lazar claims that the Bible was written by men, sometimes with and sometimes without God.
- ↑ http://orthodoxinfo.com/death/tollhouse_debate.aspx
- ↑ https://classicalchristianity.com/2012/03/01/from-repose-to-resurrection-the-intermediate-state-of-souls/
