Opinion ID: 805822
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: A Tale of Two Monasteries

Text: 1 We construe the record in the light most favorable to the nonmovant and resolv[e] all reasonable inferences in the party's favor. Meuser v. Fed. Express Corp., 564 F.3d 507, 515 (1st Cir. 2009) (quoting Rochester Ford Sales, Inc. v. Ford Motor Co., 287 F.3d 32, 38 (1st Cir. 2002)) (internal quotation mark omitted). -2- Plaintiff-Appellee Society of the Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Inc. (the Monastery) is an Eastern Orthodox monastic order located in Brookline, Massachusetts. It was founded in the early 1960s and incorporated as a non-profit organization. In 1965, the Monastery began a spiritual affiliation2 with the bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR). Although the Monastery concedes it commemorated the bishops of ROCOR for a time (until 1986 to be precise), it considers itself an independent entity in both its organization and governance. Stated differently, the Monastery was not formed at the order or direction of ROCOR or any bishop a part thereof; instead, its formation occurred prior to its spiritual affiliation with ROCOR. On December 8, 1986, the Monastery ceased its commemoration of the ROCOR bishops, thus ending its spiritual affiliation with ROCOR. Since the Monastery's formation, its members, consisting of approximately thirty-five monks, have worked on translating religious texts, including services, psalms, and prayers, from their original Greek into English. The cardinal works at issue (the Works) consist of (1) the St. Isaac Work,3 (2) the Psalter, 2 The record reflects that spiritual affiliation, often used interchangeably with the terms ecclesiastical jurisdiction or in communion, is a term used when a monastery agrees with the particular confession of faith of a bishop or group of bishops and enjoys their blessing during that time. 3 The full title of the St. Isaac work is The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian. -3- (3) the Octoechos, (4) the Pentecostarion, (5) the Dismissal Hymns, (6) the Prayer Book, and (7) the Horologion.4 Though the Works and their corresponding translations are of ancient texts, they became in demand over the years amongst parishes due to an increasing need for English versions of Orthodox liturgical texts for liturgies conducted in English. The Monastery obliged such requests, but on a limited basis. For instance, it provided copies of its then-in-progress Dismissal Hymns to approximately twelve parishes with specific instructions that no copies be made. Its limited distribution purpose was two-fold: the Monastery hoped to receive feedback as to the quality of the translations for those parishes seeking a linguistically-friendly English-language religious text, and at the same time, help to meet the growing need for religious texts in English language religious services. Not all were satisfied with the Monastery's vocation. In the late 1970s (before the Monastery's termination of its spiritual affiliation with ROCOR), Defendant-Appellant Archbishop Gregory (the Archbishop), a member of the Monastery at that time, 4 The respective known dates of registration for these Works are January 3, 1986 (St. Isaac Work), February 24, 1986 (Psalter), June 24, 1986 (Octoechos), June 24, 1986 (Pentecostarion), December 10, 1987 (Dismissal Hymns), November 16, 1988 (Prayer Book), and December 3, 1997 (Horologion). Of the seven, four works were registered as published works (St. Isaac, Horologian, Prayer Book, and Psalter), and three, as unpublished works (Octoechos, Dismissal Hymns, and Pentecostarion). -4- obtained ROCOR's permission to leave the Monastery and move west to Colorado where he formed his own monastery, the Dormition Skete. Throughout the years, the Dormition Skete has dedicated itself to painting traditional Byzantine Orthodox icons for both church and private use. It is only composed of a few members; those relevant to this dispute include the Archbishop and Father Peter, a priest monk5 in the order who, true to his apostolic name, has served and supported the Archbishop in various capacities. In addition to forming the monastery, the Archbishop created a website devoted to the Orthodox faith, www.trueorthodoxy.info (the Website), over which he has conceded to having authority and ownership. The asserted purpose of the Website is to share information about the Orthodox Christian religion with users of the internet. Created on February 8, 2005, religious works have since been posted free-of-charge to the Website for non-profit, educational purposes. Of relevance to this dispute are a posting of a portion of the St. Isaac work, done sometime in 2005, and postings of the remaining six Works in August 2007. To perform such postings, the Archbishop relied on Father Peter, who helped build, design, and program the Website. 5 At deposition, Father Peter defined the position of priest monk as a monk (a member of a monastic order who has withdrawn from the world for religious reasons and assumed certain vows) who also performs religious services. -5- Like many a missionary before him, the spreading of religious teachings (here, through the posting of translated religious texts via the internet) brought trouble upon the Archbishop -- trouble not isolated to this dispute alone. On January 23, 2006, the Monastery filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against the Archbishop and his publisher at the time, Sheridan Books, Inc. The Monastery alleged copyright infringement of two works, the St. Isaac work (at issue on this appeal)6 and the St. Andrew work (not at issue on this appeal).7 The parties ultimately entered into a Settlement Agreement on July 24, 2006. Pursuant to the terms of this agreement, the court dismissed the Michigan lawsuit with prejudice. Notably, the Archbishop, in settling, agreed to the following: [T]he Monastery is the owner of the copyrights in and to the translations of [the St. Andrews work and the St. Isaac work] . . . . [The Archbishop] further agree[s] that, in consideration of the overall settlement of the dispute concerning the Works, [he] will not challenge the validity of the Monastery's copyright and/or the registrations in and to the Works at any time in the future. . . . Archbishop Gregory warrants and represents that . . . no copy, duplicate, transcript, reproduction or replica, of any 6 The electronically posted (and now contested) St. Isaac work consisted of one of the homilies from the Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac, specifically, Homily 46. 7 The full title of the St. Andrew work is The Life of Saint Andrew the Fool-For-Christ of Constantinople. -6- portion of the St. Isaac Work has been or will be printed or published by or for Archbishop Gregory and that Archbishop Gregory asserts that he does not have any knowledge of the existence of any copy, duplicate, transcript, reproduction, or replica of any portion of the St. Isaac Work in any medium, and will not assist in the creation of copy [sic], duplicate, transcript reproduction or replica of the St. Isaac Work in any medium, at any time in the future. (Emphasis added.) Despite this agreement, the contested portion of the St. Isaac work remained on the Dormition Skete's Website post resolution of the Michigan dispute, and in August 2007, a collection of the remaining six Works also was posted to the site.