The following excerpts/quotes are from the "Jubilee Album",
commemorating the 50th anniversary of the existence of the Russian
Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
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"THE OPENING IN MONTREAL, CANADA, OF THE SESSION OF THE SOBOR OF
BISHOPS OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OUTSIDE OF RUSSIA" (Canada,
September 1971), as delivered by Saint Philaret, Metropolitan:
Quote:
" "Most important on the agenda of the Sobor was the question of the
attitude to be taken towards the election in Moscow of Patriarch
Pimen...These matters were totally discussed at this session". "
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"THE RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF BISHOPS OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX
CHURCH OUTSIDE OF RUSSIA, OF 1/14 SEPTEMBER 1971"
ON THE CATACOMB CHURCH
" "The Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of
Russia, the only free part of the Russian Church, looks with sorrow
on the suffering to which the faithful are subjected within the
boundaries of the Soviet Union. To the open persecutions by the
atheistic rulers, whose purpose is to destroy all religion, there are
added temptations by false brethren.
In 1927, when the late Metropolitan of Nizhny Novgorod Sergius, who
called himself Patriarch of Moscow, published his well-known
declaration, the elder bishops of the Russian Church and among them
those chosen by Patriarch Tikhon in his legacy for temporary
leadership of the Russian Church, did not agree with him, seeing the
peril for Orthodox souls in the new course along which he led the
Church despite the orders of Metropolitan Peter of Krititsa. The
names of Metropolitans Peter, Cyrill, Arsenius, Joseph, Archbishop
Seraphim of Uglich and many other hierarchs, clerics and laymen will
go down in the history of the Church on an equal par with the famous
confessors of Orthodoxy in the face of persecutions, villany and
heresies.
The free part of the Russian Church, located outside the boundaries
of the USSR, is heart and soul with the confessors of the faith, whom
the antireligious guidebook call "True Orthodox Christians" and who
in common usage are often called "the Catacomb Church", since they
are obliged to hide themselves from the secular authorities in the
same way the first centuries of Christianity. The Council of Bishops
acknowledges its spiritual unity with them and the Russian Church
Outside of Russia always prays for all those who in conditions of
persecution manage to keep the true faith and "do not bend under a
foreign yoke with the unbelievers", recognizing that there is nothing
in common between light and darkness and no agreement between Christ
and Belial ((II Cor. 6, 14-15).
The free part of the Russian Church, besides praying, tries to help
its brethren who suffer for the Faith in the Fatherland also by
continually seeking to reveal to the world the true position of the
Church in the Soviet Union, exposing the falsehood of her supposed
well-being, which false pastors, travelling abroad, attempt to spread
there, glorifying the persecutors and disparaging the persecuted.
In the difficult circumstances which our brethren in the Soviet
Union must experience, it is a consolation for us to look at the
first centuries of Christianity, when the persecutors of Christ also
attempted a physical humiliation of the Holy Church. But we remember
the encouraging words of the Saviour, "Fear not, little flock" (Luke
12, 32). And we remember the Saviour's words of encouragement for
those whom the Lord has judged to be on this earth in the last days
of her existence: "then look up and lift your heads, for your
redemtion draweth nigh" (Luke 21, 28)." "