Appeal for Unity - ROAC, RTOC

[Dcn.Ephrem]

Sorry there is no translation yet.

http://catacomb.org.ua/modules.php?name ... e&pid=2043

[Fr. Steven Allen]

May the Lord prosper all God-pleasing efforts for the unity of the True Orthodox!

[Barbara]

Yes ! Well expressed !

The title seems to bode well for a blooming unification of 2 very similar jurisdictions.

Waiting for the exact translation whenever it's ready.

[Jean-Serge]

Interesting move, let us see what comes next

[Barbara]

Despite many other preoccupations regarding worldly things at the moment, I found myself thinking over THIS idea of the unification of the 2 similar True Orthodox jurisdictions this morning into a single fortified jurisdiction.
So I rushed to look here to find out if any news yet.
The fact is, of course, that the ecclesiologies are so similar, and even the heads of both are long-time veterans of
the Great Old Rocor.
So, I think that bodes well for a merger of the two.
That way, our enemies will not be able to make jibes at True Orthodox jurisdictions [they call them vagante, I guess ? Funny way of looking at our principled stand] that we are splinters ever splintering further the way they like to characterize us.

[Dcn.Ephrem]

The appeal actually does not propose that the two Synods merge into a single group, only that they more officially recognize and cooperate with one another. The lengthy historical note at the end points out that the Russian Church since St. Tikhon's time has had the unique canonical opportunity to organize into small groups, with no group having the right to claim authority over the entire Russian Church. Thus ROCOR always maintained that its decisions were subject to the judgement of a "future All-Russian Council," which would include representatives from abroad and from the Catacomb Church. ROCOR always considered itself and the Catacomb Church to constitute one Russian Church, even while they had no administrative unity. The canonical foundation for this was an Ukaze issued by St. Tikhon which gave groups of bishops the right to organize into essentially independent hierarchies. This is why it is possible for there to be many many "Russian groups" which are not necessarily in schism from one another.

This is how the Catacomb Church was organized. Really, there was no "Catacomb Church" in the sense that there was one administrative group that governed the Catacomb communities. Instead, groups of bishops (and often single bishops) organized and governed Church life independently.

[Maria]

The appeal actually does not propose that the two Synods merge into a single group, only that they more officially recognize and cooperate with one another. The lengthy historical note at the end points out that the Russian Church since St. Tikhon's time has had the unique canonical opportunity to organize into small groups, with no group having the right to claim authority over the entire Russian Church. Thus ROCOR always maintained that its decisions were subject to the judgement of a "future All-Russian Council," which would include representatives from abroad and from the Catacomb Church. ROCOR always considered itself and the Catacomb Church to constitute one Russian Church, even while they had no administrative unity. The canonical foundation for this was an Ukaze issued by St. Tikhon which gave groups of bishops the right to organize into essentially independent hierarchies. This is why it is possible for there to be many many "Russian groups" which are not necessarily in schism from one another.

This is how the Catacomb Church was organized. Really, there was no "Catacomb Church" in the sense that there was one administrative group that governed the Catacomb communities. Instead, groups of bishops (and often single bishops) organized and governed Church life independently.

The idea of communist cells proves how effect they are in avoiding detection.

Throughout its existence, during certain periods of persecution, the Holy Church has had to have "cells" or underground "house churches" in order to avoid detection by the authorities. In Muslim countries, there are accounts that millions of "Muslims" are living as underground Christians.

I hope that the ROAC and RTOC can come together in communion yet maintain separate synods. On the other hand, in cities where they have more than one parish, it might help if the local parishes can merge so that the priest might be free to start a mission elsewhere if feasible.

If we look at the situation in the USA with the Antiochians, the Greeks, the MP churches, the OCA, the ROCOR-MP, the Serbians, the Ukrainians, etc., all these jurisdictions do not have one synod. Instead these World Orthodox have many synods, yet intercommunion.