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Garrison plans to cook up two new bishops in the summer of 1999, a Michael Fischer of Tennessee and a Patrick Murray of Montana. None have formal theological training or religious academic credentials. Garrison attempts to "elevate" such candidates to the Roman Catholic designation of "monsignor" (not an Orthodox title) before cooking them up as pseudo bishops. In that regard, more than one priest formerly associated with Garrison have stated that Garrison admitted that he was not an Orthodox at all, never had been, and never will be; and to gain consensus for whatever he wanted to do would telephone only those who agreed with him among his clergy-synod, not polling the others, and then claim he had a synod meeting and quorum vote by telephone based on economia. Due to Garrison's claimed healing from touching soil on the grave of Aftimios Ofiesh, not validated or replicated, Garrison also attempts to make Ofiesh into a saint at http://www.occna.com/md/history/aftimios1.html, last modified May 06, 1999 which is impossible for the following reasons contained in Tim Abihider's book "Archbishop Aftimios Ofiesh", attributed to Mrs Ofiesh, reprinted 1999, ISBN 0-9660908-1-0: 1. After Ofiesh married, he "proceeded to act independently, performing "irregular" ordinations and consecrations. 2. In keeping with Ofiesh's bitter handwritten will (pp 224 ff), he selfishly had no funeral and was buried without Episcopal presence, not as a Churchman, and outside the Church; and 3. Mrs Ofiesh did not record or claim any miracle attributed to her husband. Garrison also is as intellectually dishonest as his buddy Francis Spataro in the following quotation from the web page above: "1998 Rev. Father Ed James, Contributing Editor of The Tover of St. Cassian, and his Washington, D.C. congregation visited the grave of St. [sic] Aftimios in Pennsylvania. They brought back some soil which Bishop Francis C. Spataro, Editor of The Tover of St. Cassian, had sealed into the altar of the Chapel . . . within walking distance of Camp St. Cassian, RR1, Box 192B-1, Potter Hollow, NY 12469 . . . maintained by the Society of St. Cassian, founded in 1990 by Bishop Spataro." Retired Professor James was never "Contributing Editor" to The Tover of St Cassian. He submitted a previously published and duly copyrighted article which Spataro agreed to re-publish as-is. Instead Spataro heavily modified the article then illegally republished it under his own copyright notice. The address above in Potter Hollow, NY for the Society of St Cassian is also used for the Rosicrucian Fellowship there. (See Spataro's listing here.)
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