His Holiness reported that the Moscow patriarchate and ROCOR have created a commission at whose joint sessions questions of bilaterial relations have been discussed, which have not yet been resolved. The most critical of these are the reception of clergy by ROCOR from the Moscow patriarchate and other local Orthodox churches who have been banned from ministry or even unfrocked and the existence of parallel parishes that have been created in Russia, Ukraine, Belorus, and Kazakhstan. "It is necessary to decide what to do with the parallel structures of ROCOR on the territory of the Russian Orthodox church," His Holiness noted. "For the most part these structures were created by former clergy of the Moscow patriarchate, who were disciplined by their bishops for canonical reasons. And as a sign of protest they declared: 'We are going into ROCOR.' And they were received by ROCOR in defiance of canonical norms. It is necessary to resolve this matter so that such incidents will not be repeated in the future. Canonical norms are the same for everyone, and if a person acts improperly from a canonical point of view, then this should be treated in the same way by both the hierarchy of the Moscow patriarchate and the hierarchy of ROCOR. We recognize the canonical validity of ordination of clergy by ROCOR only in such cases where the ordination was performed for parishes outside of the boundaries of the territory of the Moscow patriarchate. For example, Father Oleg Steniaev was ordained a priest by ROCOR somewhere in Siberia. We did not recognize his ordination, and when he returned to the Moscow patriarchate he was received in the rank of deacon. At the time of the liturgy that I celebrated in the church of the Zachatiev monastery, he performed penance and subsequently he was approved for wearing the alb and he performed the ministry of a deacon. Afterward he was ordained a priest. Now Fr Oleg Steniaev is renown for his work in rehabilitation of former sectarians," His Holiness recounted.
Pat. Alexei on Relations with the ROCOR
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joasia
- Protoposter
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- Location: Montreal
This is pathetic. The MP should be in repentance for what their hierarchy did in the past. And yet, they make it look like this priest was a dissedent who needed to be reformed. ROCOR may have faults, but they were the suffers of the Revelution. They upheld the edict of St. Thikon. If there was no ROCOR, then the MP would do what they wanted and there would be no true Orthodox faith of the Russian people, till this day.
Are we to forget about the millions who were slaughtered because they did not conform to the new government of the U.S.S.R. And that weasle Sergei who signed their death warrants?
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George Australia
- Sr Member
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- Location: Down Under (Australia, not Hades)
Sts. Peter and Paul had their differences too, and went their seperate ways for a time before being reconciled again. I believe that pretty soon, none of this is going to matter much. Today I received my subscription to "The Orthodox Word" from the St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, and as well as the latest issue, I was given a back-copy of issue No. 233 which contains horrible accounts of the persecution of the Orthodox Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija given by Patriach Pavle, Bishop Artemije and monks of Decani Monastery. Orthodox Christian people raped,tortured, murdered, kidnapped and their houses burnt to the ground. Orthodox Churches, monasteries and cemetries desecrated, burnt down, buldozed. Pogroms against Orthodox Christians. And all this is taking place in the sight of the international 'community', the UN, KFOR and UNMIK.
What the West has done and is doing to Serbian Orthodox Christians, it can also do,(and is already attempting to do) to Russian Orthodox Christians- just look at the role the Unia are playing, and the recent anti-Orthodox/pro-Uniate sentiment in the western media (eg http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 37,00.html ).
And from Russia, then to Greece, and from Greece to the West.
I have no doubt that a day is coming when identifying as Orthodox and having an Icon corner and vigil lamp in your house will mean torture and death- no matter whether you're in ROCOR or the MP.
"As long as it depends on Monothelitism, then Miaphysitism is nothing but a variant of Monophysitism."
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Justin Kissel
Sounds like a positive step...
"The most critical of these are the reception of clergy by ROCOR from the Moscow patriarchate and other local Orthodox churches who have been banned from ministry or even unfrocked..." - Pat. Alexei
And then today, in response to something Vladimir Moss posted on the Orthodox-Traditions list, Fr. John Shaw said the following:
It is now the practice for the MP and ROCOR not to accept clergy
from each other's jurisdiction, without a canonical release.There has already been at least one such canonical transfer from the
Patriarchate to ROCOR, as reported a while ago on the website.Unity still has not been achieved and there remain thorny issues and
problems that divide us, but this much restoration of order is
currently being accepted.In the past, ROCOR had accepted many priests from the MP (and
elsewhere) without careful examination of their background, simply
because they had proclaimed they were (now) against the MP.
The sad part is that I haven't seen the MP make any admission to wrongdoing whatsoever. There is no backing down on Sergianism or Ecumenism from the MP. Every concession is coming from ROCOR. It is almost as if ROCOR-L is glad to be accepted by the MP rather than it being the other way around. Certain syncophants within ROCOR-L are re-writing history as well. This is a travesty. Metropolitans Anastasy, Philaret and Vitaly all warned of the approach of this tragic day.