Translated material
Prayerfully with you
The Church Abroad is in no hurry to agree to an alliance with the Moscow Patriarchate
The relationship between the Orthodox Church in Russia and its foreign sister is increasingly reminiscent of the famous logic puzzle about Achilles and the turtle. The return of the Orthodox Church Abroad to the bosom of the Moscow Patriarchate, which seems to be getting closer with each new meeting of the bilateral commission to normalize relations, nevertheless will not take place. The status of the ROCOR and the IV All-Diaspora Council of Clergy and Laity, which ended in San Francisco over the weekend, remained unchanged.Despite the readiness officially recorded in the council’s declaration to “heal the wounds of division within the Russian Church - between its parts in the Fatherland and abroad,” the reunification so strongly desired by Moscow never happened. The participants of the council decided to keep the form of their organization unchanged - a self-governing part of the local Russian church. That is, the very form in which the foreign church existed for more than 80 years.
A formal obstacle to unification was the ecumenical activity of the Russian clergy. “The participation of the Russian Orthodox Church in the World Council of Churches causes confusion among our clergy and flock,” the council resolution says. “With heartache, we ask the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate to heed the plea of our flock for the speedy elimination of this temptation.”
Reproaches to Moscow were also heard in connection with the refusal of the Russian hierarchs to repent on behalf of the church for cooperation with the godless Soviet government, for the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius in 1927. “The hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church MP continues to profess Sergianism and ecumenism. You cannot submit to such leadership and you should not include in the resolution promises that the Act on Canonical Communion will be adopted,” said Bishop Agafangel of Tauride and Odessa, who spoke at the council.
However, the promise of canonical communion - the recognition of grace for the church and the possibility of concelebration in one church - was nevertheless voiced in the resolution of the council. But its wording turned out to be so vague that it is unclear whether the churches are ready to declare their canonical unity today or plan to do so in the indefinite future. The text speaks only of “the great hope that at a favorable time, unity in the Russian Church will be restored, on the basis of Christ’s Truth, opening up for us the opportunity to serve together and partake of the same Chalice.”
Having shown caution in its rapprochement with Russian Orthodoxy, the All-Diaspora Council decided to transfer the issue of canonical unity with the Moscow Patriarchate to the ROCOR Council of Bishops, which will be held from May 15 to 19, also in San Francisco. There will be a third attempt to reach an agreement on reunification - at a local council of the united Russian church. “The Russian Church Abroad, in its midst, at its council, was unable to reach a consensus and therefore is transferring disputes to a wider discussion platform,” says Deacon Andrei Kuraev, a professor at the Moscow Theological Academy. The mention of a local council, he believes, means that “the discussion is still ahead, that neither the foreign synod, nor the Council of Bishops of the ROCOR or the Moscow Patriarchate are recognized as the final competent authority.”
Unlike Father Andrei Kuraev, official representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate took the decision of their foreign colleagues as diplomatically as possible and pretended to be extremely pleased with the decision of the council in San Francisco. “We received with joy the news of the decision of the All-Diaspora Council on reunification with the Russian Orthodox Church,” said Bishop Mark of Yegorievsky, deputy chairman of the department for external church relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. “This historical event marks the end of the split that occurred after the 1917 revolution.” Far from theological subtleties, Russian politicians even began to comment on the supposedly already accomplished reunification of the two churches. For example, Vyacheslav Volodin, vice speaker of the State Duma from the United Russia faction, said: “The news of this significant event will be received with great joy by everyone in our country.” And the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov noted that “the unification of Russian churches will be another step towards the unification of the, unfortunately, now divided Russian people.”