Author's Journal
Death ... And Transfiguration: An Introduction to Ecclesiastical Espionage in America
Every group from the CIA to the Mafia to white supremacists has been put forward as a possible perpetrator/beneficiary of the assassination of President Kennedy; but as the 21st century begins and as we experience an uncomfortably close association between church and state, between the policies of government and the spiritual agendas of religious organizations and their political action committees, we are tempted to ask how deeply were religious groups involved in American politics before the ascendancy of George W Bush. How deeply, in fact, were they involved in the assassination?
One of the places where your correspondent can make a contribution to the enormous amount of detail surrounding the people, places and events of the assassination of President Kennedy -- and ther perceived conspiracy involved in the assassination, from the theories of Mark Lane to Peter Dale Scott, from Carl Oglesby to Jim Marrs, and from Mae Brussel to Dick Russell -- is the area of the churches.
Churches are everywhere present in the assassination chronicles, but very few people concentrate on this aspect of the forty-year-old investigation as it seems like a dead end (no pun intended). Yet, it may very well be that in the milieu of the churches (and especially the Eastern Orthodox churches) at least one of the mysteries of the assassination will be solved: cui bono? Who benefits?
We know that the CIA and the Mafia forged an alliance for the assassination of Fidel Castro; that much has been documented quite extensively. We know that the CIA and the anti-Castro Cubans had a similar relationship, also well-documented. White supremacists and their participation in plots against Kennedy -- although also documented -- has not been the subject of any great focus as a separate entity, yet perhaps these racist cabals will lead us deeper into another area of the conspiracy.
The one element of American society and culture that brings all of these disparate forces together is the one that has so far been ignored. In this and in a few succeeding postings, I will explore this element in depth. It has already been described in detail in Sinister Forces, Book One: The Nine but as we go to press more information is coming to light on the role of the churches and my own investigation -- including interviews with surviving members of some of these churches -- is ongoing.
We know that Lee Harvey Oswald was befriended by George deMohrenschildt. a White Russian expatriate who was very involved in the oil industry on one side, and who was a CIA informant on the other. What is not emphasized is the fact that deMohrenschildt lived and worked in the milieu of the White Russian community in Dallas, which itself revolves around the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, known by its initials as ROCOR (or, to those of us familiar with it for many years, as simply "The Synod" or even as "93rd Street" since that is the location of their headquarters in New York City).
ROCOR was a violently anti-Communist group composed of refugees from the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. They fled first to Paris, and when Europe seemed on the verge of self-destruction in the war years and the period immediately following the end of the First World War, many Russian nobles (and their clergy) fled for the safety of North America. They purchased a mansion on Park Avenue and 93rd Street, and it was divided into a residence for the nobles on one side and a monastery and cathedral for the Russian Orthodox Church on the other.
When the dust settled in Moscow in the 1920s, the Russian Orthodox Church there was forced to accommodate itself to the new Soviet reality. Largely seen as a conduit for Chekist spies to the West, it was rebuffed by the Russians living in the United States and the church on 93rd Street declared itself "in exile" and severed relations with Moscow. Now run by a group -- or "Synod" -- of bishops, it cooperated in every possible act of anti-Communism available. Indeed, during World War II, ROCOR was believed to be largely pro-Nazi; so hateful of Communism was its congregation, reports circulated that the Synod was a hotbed of Nazi intrigue and espionage.
At the same time, the Moscow patriarchate also maintained churches in the United States, under their direct control. (To those of us in New York City, their headquarters was known as "97th Street", or simply as "the Communist Church" or the "Moscow Patriarchate".) The Moscow operation was not slow in trying to extend its influence in America where it could, and openly supported the creation of an American Orthodox church under its aegis. It was a confusing time for Russians in America, to be sure, but even more confusing for American intelligence as it tried to navigate these treacherous ecclesiastical shoals.
George deMohrenschildt and his friends were associated with ROCOR. Some rumor and innuendo has it that deMohrenschildt was a Nazi during the war. This may have been simply an acknowledgement of his Russian, anti-Communist associations more than active participation in the Nazi Party or for Nazi intelligence organs; yet, as we will see in detail in Sinister Forces, Book Two: A Warm Gun the Orthodox churches were at times only too willing to cooperate with the Nazis and to engage in all sorts of crimes against humanity in Ukraine, Romania and other Eastern regions.
When Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested, he had an address book showing phone numbers for the White Russian emigres in the Philadelphia area. It is assumed that these numbers were given to him by his friend, Ruth Paine, who had many ties to Philadelphia and who, indeed, visited that city in the months prior to the assassination. Ruth Paine brought Marina Oswald, Lee's Russian-born wife, into her home so that Marina could learn English and Ruth, Russian. That was the story, anyway.
The Oswalds had been introduced to the Paines by George deMohrenschildt in February of 1963, only nine months before the assassination. As Oswald spoke fluent Russian and had lived in Russia, and was married to a Russian woman, it was believed he would be of interest to the White Russian community in Dallas, and that the community would give Marina Oswald contacts with people who spoke her language.
How deeply was the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia involved with Lee Harvey Oswald? Certainly, through his association with deMohrenschildt, he was known to them. As a defector to the Soviet Union who had repatriated to America, he would have been of great interest to them. There were not many people in Dallas -- or in all of America -- who could claim to have defected to Russia and then returned to tell the tale. But was ROCOR involved in espionage or intelligence work, for America or simply for itself?
More to follow ...
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