| The Russian Orthodox Church will have its own judicial system The Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, which ends today in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, has become the most successful in the entire period of the post-Soviet history of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The main achievement of the Russian bishops was an unprecedented rapprochement with state power. In response to the clergy’s absolute approval of the president’s actions to strengthen Russian statehood, Vladimir Putin supported on Wednesday at a meeting with hierarchs in the Kremlin the Council’s proposal to reject barriers between the church and secular authorities, promising the patriarchy personal assistance at any time to solve any problems. The Church is entrusted with strengthening all-Russian unity, engaging in the spiritual and patriotic education of the nation, helping the state in the fight against terrorism and providing social assistance.
The very next day after the visit to the Kremlin, the Council, in fact, with the approval of the authorities, made a statement about the need for a radical revision of social foundations. “The system of social relations today is built in such a way that religion remains only a private matter. Under the pretext of protecting human rights, sin is being defended, which is being introduced into life as some kind of painful norm. For the good of the state and society, it is necessary to increase the presence of Orthodoxy in all areas of social life. Religious values must be taken into account when implementing any public projects that affect the interests of a large number of people,” says the final address of the Council of Bishops.
The foreign policy activities of the Moscow Patriarchate turned out to be no less successful. The Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, Metropolitan Kirill, spoke yesterday at the final press conference about the extremely successful progress of negotiations on unification with the Orthodox Church Abroad and for the first time named specific terms for the merger of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. “We expect that this event will take place before the Council of Bishops in 2008,” said the bishop. “The Council of Bishops delegated to the Synod to carry out a canonical act by which Eucharistic communion and unity will be restored.” According to the Metropolitan, the Council of Bishops of the Moscow Patriarchate can be replenished with new hierarchs - those who today represent the Russian Church Abroad.
The Council decided to eliminate shortcomings directly in the church structure. Now the Russian Orthodox Church, like the Roman Catholic Church, will have its own court. He will examine exclusively canonical issues of the life of the church, in particular the dissolution of a church marriage or a ban on the priesthood. Reporting on this decision of the bishops, the manager of the affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Kliment of Borovsk and Kaluga, emphasized that the independent institution of the church court appears for the first time in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church. Before the revolution, it was part of the system of so-called spiritual consistories, and in the 20th century, controversial issues were resolved by the Holy Synod. The Council of Bishops decided, however, to adopt only a temporary provision on the establishment of such a structure. Over the next two years, only lower courts - diocesan courts - will begin to work. If this experience turns out to be positive, the Synod promises to also introduce a church-wide court and the highest court of the Council of Bishops. According to the regulations on the courts, they are created and abolished by the decision of the ruling bishops, who, in turn, are subject to the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church - the Moscow Patriarch. Kirill VASILENKO |
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