Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

[Julianna]

An Excerpt from a Letter of Saint Philaret to Archbishop Anthony of Geneva:

November 16/29, 1977

[bogoliubtsy]

From Fr. John Whiteford's wepage:

The present Archbishop Anthony of Geneva and Western Europe, in his "Messenger of the West-European Eparchy of the Russian Church Abroad", no. 14, September, 1979, pp. 50-51, writes to ... Fr. Dmitri Dudko(an MP priest), as follows:

Code: Select all

      "Dear in the Lord Batyushka, Father Dmitri, -- I write to you by reason of your letter to Vladyka Metropolitan Philaret. First, I hasten to reassure you that the part of the Russian Church which is free beyond the frontiers of our homeland has never considered the Moscow Patriarchate, which is officially recognized in the U.S.S. R., to be without Grace..." Further on Archbishop Anthony writes:

"...We are governed in recent times by the opinion of the late Archbishop John, who is respected and well-thought-of by all, who said that "the official Church in the U.S.S.R. is, of course, Grace-bearing, although the hierarchs who stand at its head conduct themselves in an inadmissible fashion"...

[Nevski]

"Yes, that's what it says. Out of obedience, which is hard to find in the Church these days, this right-believing Archbishop of ROCOR "remembered" Patriarch Sergius. If anything, the position of ROCOR has gotten MORE extreme over the years, not less. I believe now, after the fall of the Soviet Union, ROCOR is getting back to its original flavor, as some, with the inability to see anything out of a strictly "black and white" context have formed sects and splinter groups comprised of extremists, sexually deviant bishops, misguided overly zealous converts, and power hungry individuals with no real training in the history or purpose of ROCOR."

"Bingo," I would say. But my hope and prayer is that the "moderate Old Calendarists" who make up the more reasonable faction of ROCOR and the Greek OC movement will pull "canonical" Orthodoxy back to the Tradition.

Nevski

[Protopriest Dionysi]

ROCOR has been in communion with Serbia since its inception.

As an aside: until the 1960's, ROCOR was listed by the Greek Archdiocese of America as a jurisdiction they share communion with. ROCOR has even had some New Calendar parishes throughout its history(thought I'd throw this in for good "heretical" measure).

ROCOR hasn't changed. Extremists have just gotten louder.

This is true. At one time Rome was also in union with the Orthodox Church. BUt, I pray that this does not mean to you that you need to "look past their (Rome's) heresy and enter communion with them.

The GOA are ecumenist, so are the Serbs, and this not 1960 anymore. In 1983 ROCOR had its anathema against ecumenists that taught not only against the branch theory, but that also did not distinguish between the Mysteries of the faithful and the heretics (e.g. ecumenism with Rome et al).

So, yes there were relations in the past that we may not be proud of, but this is no excuse to continue in the mistakes.

[bogoliubtsy]

Priest Dionysi,
I asked this question a few posts back.

If it's wrong to concelebrate with the Serbs, why were the future ROAC folks with ROCOR when it was happening?

Also,
I'd like to include this bit from Patriarch Alexei II, 1993 on the day of the martyrdom of the Royal Family. It's interesting, to say the least:

With augmented prayer and great pain in our hearts we commemorate this sad Anniversary… The sin of regicide, which took place amid the indifference of the citizens of Russia, has not been repented of by our people. Being a transgression of both the law of God and civil law, this sin weighs extremely heavily upon the souls of our people, upon its moral conscience. And today, on behalf of the whole Church, on behalf of her children, both reposed and living, we proclaim repentance before God and the people for this sin. Forgive us, O Lord! We call to repentance all of our people, all of our children, regardless of their political views and opinions about history, regardless of their attitude toward the idea of Monarchy and the personality of the last Russian Tsar. Repentance of the sin committed by our forefathers should become for us a banner of unity. May today’s sad date unite us in prayer with the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, with whom we so sincerely desire restoration of spiritual unity in faithfulness to the Spirit of Christ...

[Protopriest Dionysi]

[quote="Peter J. Hatala"]Priest Dionysi,
I asked this question a few posts back.

If it's wrong to concelebrate with the Serbs, why were the future ROAC folks with ROCOR when it was happening?quote]

Remeber, their were instances, rumors and such, but no real official type of directive. At the 2000 sobor of ROCOR is when the letter to the Serbs came out making it official in black and white. This was the start of the more recent exodus out of ROCOR.

But, lets face it, this is a side issue. The question should be. Is ecumenism alright or not? If so, then why not go all the way. Why does the ROCOR not act as a "good child" and return to their "mother (as they say)" the MP.

If ecumenism is bad, do not try to justify it by acts of it in the past.

[Nektarios14]

Father bless!

Remeber, their were instances, rumors and such, but no real official type of directive. At the 2000 sobor of ROCOR is when the letter to the Serbs came out making it official in black and white. This was the start of the more recent exodus out of ROCOR

Because of his sanctity of life I think Saint John should be an example also of ecclesiology. It is very well docuented that he had good relations with the Serbians, especially Saint Nikolaj. To me the best thing to do is follow the path of the saints of our times: Saint John, Saint Nikolaj, Saint Justin, Elder Joseph the hesychast, Father Seraphim of Platina et al.
Of those three were in world Orthodoxy and two were in indirect communion!

Kissing your right hand,
Nektarios