With the next court hearing for self-confessed, child abuser Fr Matthew Williams coming up next week on 29th January, a previously unheard recording has emerged this week, that sheds new light on the extent of ROCOR’s attempted coverup of the horrific case. The recording from March 2025, is of a teleconference between Matthew Williams’ wife, Elizabeth Williams, and two senior Eastern American (EA) Diocese clerics, Fr Alexandre Antchoutine and Fr Mark Mancuso. Both priests are high-ranking members of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) Eastern American Diocesan Council. Fr Alexandre Antchoutine is the Dean of New York City & Long Island while Fr Mark Mancuso is ROCOR’s Liaison for Media and Dean of the Carolinas & Tennessee.
Fr Matthew Williams is currently on bail
We remind our readers, and those unfamiliar with the case, that Fr Matthew Williams is a suspended priest of the EA Diocese who was charged with numerous counts of sexually abusing his own children over an extended period of time. His wife Elizabeth Williams first reported the allegations to ROCOR senior cleric Fr Serge Kotar, Bishop Luke Murianka and subsequently to the primate of ROCOR, Metropolitan Nicholas Olhovsky in September 2024.
Fr Serge Kotar, Metropolitan Nicholas Olhovsky, Bishop Luke Murianka. All knew the horrific details of abuse but failed to report immediately as required.
Along with Fr Serge and Bishop Luke, Metropolitan Nicholas is a mandatory reporter of any type of abuse in his Church however he failed to make any reports to authorities immediately or ensure adequate support for the victims. On the contrary, in a completely insensitive and callous manner, Metropolitan Nicholas:
- In a classic case of gaslighting, Advised Elizabeth to effectively reunite with her abusive husband and “build a strong family that shares love to Christ, and His Church, and to each other”. Gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse where a victim is given a signal that everything is well when really it is not.
- Subsequently, when she begged for correction of lies made about her not reporting the allegations earlier, he angrily and dismissively told her that she “shouldn’t be telling the Church what to do or how to inform the flock!”
- Further punished the victims, Elizabeth and her daughters, by banning them from attending their own church, St. Tikhon’s Blountville in Tennessee. This is classic “victim shunning”, a tactic practiced by many churches against abuse victims to isolate and stonewall them. So committed was Metropolitan Nicholas to this cruel act, he even put it to them in a formal papal-style “Directive” with an EA Diocese letterhead. (See below)
All these actions only further traumatized the family and signalled that if they were expecting his compassion and support, that this would not be forthcoming.
Metropolitan Nicholas’ heartless “directive” banning the Williams from their own church. The ban has caused even further trauma to the family.
Another one of those that experienced spiritual abuse from Fr Matthew Williams is St Tikhon’s parishioner Joan Furman. She was also banned from St Tikhon’s in 2025 after raising her concerns about his predatory behaviour.
Incidentally, Joan was also interviewed by the same two clerics, Fr Alexandre Antchoutine and Fr Mark Mancuso and their behaviour in talking to her was very similar to the disingenuous and unsupportive way they spoke to Elizabeth Williams.
Read full content:
https://pokrovtruth.substack.com/p/explosive-new-audio-further-implicates
