Some of the recent postings has gotten me to go back and re-examine why it is that ROCOR holds to a "moderate ecclesiology". I have found nothing at all, philosophically, patristically, or scripturally, that would make the "moderate ecclesiology" an unorthodox position. ROCOR does believe that communion must be ceased with heretics, and that there is no grace in the sacraments of a heretical group. However, it seems to be ROCOR's position, so far as I can tell (and it is my position), that the other Orthodox Jurisdictions as a whole have not yet gone into heresy.
So then, we have cut off formal communion with the patriarchs, but do not insist that the entire Churches are without grace altogether. We are able to say, as Saint Gregory the Theologian said when he was discussing the Holy Spirit with those who were perhaps "semi-Orthodox" (cf Oration 32, 24): "For I am persuaded that you are to some extent partakers of Him, so that I will go into the question with you as kindred souls..." (Oration 41, 7). This seems to me to be how ROCOR views certain jurisdictions: they are not totally Orthodox, but they have not fallen so far that we can say that they are totally without grace either.
Many of those who hold a more extreme ecclesiology (and I do not use the word "extreme" in a derogatory way) point to patristic passages such as those by Saint Mark of Ephesus and Saint Theodore the Studite. We certainly do not deny the validity of the positions or actions of these saints! What we do say, though, is that everything comes in it's time, and that the time for a formal condemnation, or for declaring that certain jurisdictions are without grace, has not come yet.
Perhaps if we compared our current situation with the situation of Saint Mark of Ephesus at Ferrara-Florence then the ROCOR position would be more understandable. In ROCOR's understanding, we are still at a point at which the "Council" is still going on, and nothing has been signed. Yes, those around us are making concessions we do not agree with, and yes things look dire; yet there is still hope in our minds that things can be turned around. If and when there is a "signing" and the "council" comes to an end, then we will take up the same position that looks upon certain other groups as being without grace. Before that time, however, we hope and pray to God that the groups will see that they are going the wrong direction and will turn back onto the royal path.
Even Saint Justin Popovich, in 1977, defended both ROCOR and the OCA (even though the OCA was certainly looked upon as being "modernist"), and what's more, while Saint Justin pointed out the unorthodox beliefs and motivations of the Patriarch of Constantinople, said of the Church which he governed: "I bow in reverence before the age-old achievements of the Great Church of Constantinople, and before her present cross which is neither small nor easy" (On a Summoning of the Great Council of the Orthodox Church). ROCOR likewise, while certainly pointing out errors and decrying innovation and modernism and ecumenism and so forth, do not fully, yet, see certain other jurisdictions as being without grace and worthy of being attacked as outside of Orthodoxy.
Justin
