WARNING: Self-Defense Ahead

I have been called out right before Holy Week! Some of you will know "Old Sarum Rite Missal" guru Derek "Fr. Aidan" Keller as a monk formerly with the Milan Synod's St. Hilarion Monastery in Austin, TX, and eventual moderator of the Yahoo group Occidentalis. [1] Although I have not been in touch with him in nearly two years, apparently a net comment by our friend Ari Adams inspired Keller to post a seven-part article in response to a message I posted on a Yahoo group 19 months ago. (Hey, thanks, Ari!) His multi-post was run on Occidentalis the Thursday before Holy Week. Since he, for whatever reason, unsubscribed me right before he posted this, it made its way to me late.

Though I've tried to keep this blog focused on WRO content rather than myself (or most vagantes), I'm giving myself leave tonight to respond to his lengthy messages, as I cannot respond elsewhere.[2] I'd prefer not to have to deal with his unpleasantness. I can't imagine who inspired Keller to raise this long-dormant contention on the eve of Holy Week, but I think it's best if it is promptly answered, so it is cleared up. I don't want to infect Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, etc., with discussions of an unpleasant man. The blog should return to actual Western Rite Orthodoxy (rather than personal charges) promptly.

If you do not wish to read about the historical, liturgical, and personal claims made by Keller vis-a-vis Antioch, WRITE liturgy, and his "Old Sarum Rite Missal" in his posts, you may wish to skip ahead over the next few entries.

As a result of the volatile nature of Keller and his partisans, comment moderation has been enabled.

For the record: In these blogs, I will link to messages posted on certain Yahoo groups, primarily Keller's "Occidentalis" or other Yahoo groups he runs. To read these, you would need to join. I recommend you either not join or join, read the quotations, then unsubscribe post haste. Occidentalis (and every other group linked, too) has been a home of misinformation and mean-spirited rumors since Keller's takeover.

NOTES:

1. Upon his expulsion in fall 2004, his former monastery, St. Hilarion, referred to him as "Derek Keller" and "Mr. Keller." (Or still do?) Although he said he was in the process of joining ROCOR, I do not know if he ever went through with it. To my knowledge, he has not been ordained, nor is he attached to any monastery. Since it is poor form to call a layman "Father" (much less for the layman to insist on it), Derek seems appropriate. Perhaps he could clear up his status? If he is a ROCOR priest, my deepest apologies.

2. I was a member (lurker) on this group, as I was of the original Occidentalis group run by St. Mark's AWRV before Keller's takeover and its current re-orientation toward non-Orthodox vagantes. However, after Keller tired of my defense of the AWRV and questions about the Milan Synod, he held a virtually unattended plebiscite and announced he would keep me as a member but bar me from posting. Suddenly late last week, he unsubscribed me without warning -- immediately before posting his "responses." Why he would time these events in such a way is open for conjecture. (I guess the original poll has mysteriously vanished from his archives.)