Father Pierbattista Pizzabella explained that the change was prompted by a desire to strengthen ecumenical ties between Catholics and Orthodox, and also by pastoral concern for the many families in the Holy Land that include both Catholic and Orthodox believers.

The Orthodox churches set their liturgical feasts according to the old Julian calendar. For some years the Orthodox observe Easter on the same day as Catholics; in other years the dates may differ by either one week (as it does this year) or 5 weeks. The change in the liturgical calendar for Catholic churches would not apply to the basilicas in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, which draw thousands of Catholic pilgrims for Easter and Christmas every year. Those basilicas are governed by agreements that date back to the Ottoman empire, and include detailed accords on when feasts are to be celebrated.

— via catholiccultore.org

Material help was collected by the Cyril and Methodius Mission Charitable Foundation and Missionary Department of Saint Tikhon’s Orthodox University of Humanities with the support of the Missionary Commission at the Moscow Diocesan Council, organizers told Interfax-Religion.

Last November, Father John came to Moscow and met with the students of the Missionary Department. Powerful monsoon rains in Pakistan resulted in floods and epidemics of fever. According to the UN data, over two million people suffered from the epidemics, including 500,000 children. Then St.Tikhon’s University students initiated fundraising for the suffering brothers.

“Father John with his community asks for prayers. Three hundred people out of five hundred Pakistan Orthodox believers make his parish. The only other Orthodox community, in the jurisdiction of the Constantinople Patriarchate, holds divine services in the priest’s house as they don’t have a church,” the press service of the Missionary Commission mentions.

Leaving Kampala’s chaotic streets and the usual bustle of cars and moto taxis, brick houses give way to thatched huts and then brambles. Dwarf trees and giant grasses flank the road, stretching to a horizon broken by small hills. On both sides of the tarmac, mud huts are clustered together while wisps of smoke drift through thatched roofs from cooking fires. Women walk along the verges of the road with baskets and water jars on their heads followed by bare foot children that carry their younger siblings on their backs. Drive in the tarmac until it turns to dirt and after 75Km, you arrive in Luweero district, one of the most impoverished areas in Uganda.

Life is tough in Luweero. Unemployment in the district is as high as 80% and most people cannot ensure a daily meal. Children are forced to drop out of school because their parents fail to pay school fees. Many babies and toddlers die before the age of five from preventable diseases as there is no clean water and no adequate health services.

Yet, in this forgotten place of Africa, a man has dedicated his life to create a better future for hundreds of poor children. Father Antonios Mutyaba, together with his wife Charitini, and with the support of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Kampala, is working hard to provide a chance in life for the children in Luweero. Although Father Antonios was born in Uganda, he was adopted in 1980 by a Greek family and moved to a small village in Crete. He first studied Agronomy at the University of Athens but his dream in life was to become a priest. He joined the Seminary of St. Matthew in Chania, where he was ordained a priest with the blessing of His Eminence Amphilochius. In Greece he met his wife Charitini, also Ugandan but born and raised in Greece, and in 2004, together with their 4 children, they decided to return to Uganda. The family settled in Wakiso, a small town of 50.000 people in the outskirts of Kampala.

For the last five years Father Antonios gets up at 5 o clock in the morning to visit the destitute villages in Luweero. Thanks to private donations from Greece, he is managing 3 boarding schools that provide education, medical care, food and shelter to more than 1200 poor and orphaned children, instilling hope and dignity to their lives. In this difficult task, he has the help of Charitini, who on her turn, is trying to support the families of the children by teaching their mothers and sisters sewing and weaving in order to generate a small income for their communities.

In the schools of Aghios Antonios, Aghios Demetrios and Aghia Triada, children dressed in bright pink and blue uniforms welcome you with a big smile. They are either orphans or come from extremely poor families where even daily food was a luxury. For those children, the work of Father Antonios is their only chance for a better life. Yet, their future is still far from being reassured. The financial crisis has hit Uganda, driving the already vulnerable population to the extreme. At the same time it has also hit Greece very hard, bringing the private donations to the schools to a halt. The food crisis, the skyrocketing prices in all basic commodities and the cost of fuel and transportation have impacted the functioning of the schools.

Father Antonios struggles hard to provide food for the children and ensure their education. He had to restrict the daily food to beans and corn porridge, as this was the only way to offer at least 2 meals per day for the children. He is trying to organize a small farm hoping to purchase some chickens and a few cows so he can provide eggs and milk at the schools. He also hopes that he will soon find the necessary money to drill a bore hole so that the community and the schools can have access to clean water.

It takes less than 20 dollars a month to send a child to school and ensure access to health care, books, clothes and a daily meal. All those things that in our western world we take for granted, in Uganda is a luxury that very few people can afford. In a country where extreme poverty affects more than half of the population and where children die from preventable diseases and lack of clean water, the work of Father Antonios is just a drop in the ocean. Even if Uganda seems to be too far from our western life style, we have a chance to make compassion and solidarity prevail. At the end of the day what actually matters is not what we have, but what we give…

— by Fragkiska Megaloudi, greekreporter.com

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) —Priests with the Russian Airborne Troops will take a crash course next week to operate the world’s only paradrop Orthodox Christian church, the military said.

The one-week course for the priests, many of whom are experienced paratroopers with more than 500 jumps, will take place at an airborne troops facility in Ryazan region in central Russia, a Defense Ministry spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

Orthodox Christianity has many rituals utilizing many religious items, which makes catering to the flock without a church impossible, the senior priest for the Airborne Troops, Archpriest Mikhail Vasilyev, told RIA Novosti.

The paradrop church comes complete with nonbreakable religious items, a crate to carry them, as well as a diesel generator, air conditioning, refrigerator and a multimedia unit complete with a mini-theater booth and projector, the military said.

The number of Orthodox Christians among airborne troops grew 10 percent to reach 90 percent of all paratroopers since last fall, the military said.

"It doesn’t matter what happens. I have to center my attention on consecrating the gifts," the Rev. Sexton explained Monday.

After accounting for his eight children and making sure his wife had called 911, Sexton finished the final 20 minutes of the liturgy at St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church before checking on the magnitude of the fire. Unconcerned about his possessions, Sexton said he updated the 50 people in attendance about the situation and asked them to pray for the safety of his fellow firefighters.

"I told them, ‘If you aren’t aware of it already, the ruckus outside is the rectory burning down.’ I said, ‘Have no fear, we are safe. Pray for my dear friends, the firefighters who are putting themselves in grievous danger because they love me,’" said the Rev. Sexton, the chaplain and a volunteer firefighter for the Nanticoke Fire Department.

The Rev. Sexton, 34, his wife, Angie, 34, and their eight children – Alyscia, 12; Jacob, 11; Raeman, 10; Josiah, 8; Ilia, 6; Bede, 4; Gabriel, 3; and Seamus, 1 – lost just about everything in the blaze that consumed the 100-year-old church rectory at 106 Welles St. in the city’s Hanover section.

"We lost everything material, but I haven’t lost a thing. My children, my wife and firefighters are safe," the Rev. Sexton said. "Yesterday was a very beautiful day."

The family of 10 is temporarily staying at the Host Inn in Wilkes-Barre.

Nanticoke’s fire department is now organizing efforts to raise money, clothes and other belongings for the family. Monetary donations may be sent to the Father Adam Sexton Fire Fund, c/o Vantage Trust Federal Credit Union, 158 S. Market St., Nanticoke, PA 18634. Clothing, toys and other household items may be dropped off at Nanticoke Fire Headquarters, 2 E. Ridge St., Nanticoke, PA 18634.

"Obviously, any loss is terrible, but when the person is one of our own, it’s even greater. We want to do what we can to help his family get back on their feet," said Nanticoke firefighter Greg Grzymski, president of the city fire union.

Grzymski said it was not surprising the Rev. Sexton asked his parishioners to pray for firefighters, rather than him.

"That’s exactly how he is. He worries about us all the time. He always says he’s praying for us. We appreciate it," Grzymski said.

The exact cause of the fire was not determined, though investigators said it wasn’t suspicious. The Rev. Sexton said he was told authorities believed it was an electrical fire near the hot water heater in the basement.

The Rev. Sexton has led St. John the Baptist for about 3½ years. It was his first assignment after finishing St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in South Canaan Township, Wayne County, in 2005. Previously, the Rev. Sexton lived in Virginia and worked in customer service.

After being assigned to the Nanticoke church, the Rev. Sexton became chaplain of the fire department. Then, he decided to become a volunteer firefighter, recently completing the dozens of hours of essentials training.

To make some extra money, the Rev. Sexton also recently began working at Larry’s Pizza, a pizza shop owned by friend and fire Capt. Larry Karnes and often referred to as the "Church Street Station." The Rev. Sexton said his official titles are dishwasher and grillmaster, but it would be more appropriate to call him "chief cook and bottle washer" because he does a little of everything. Coincidently, his first job ever was working in a pizza shop and, thanks to the fire department, he is working at one again.

"I think to be a good chaplain, you have to become a brother. I wanted to walk a mile in their shoes," the Rev. Sexton said. "I don’t think in my life I have felt more love from friends and brothers like I do from the Nanticoke Fire Department."

bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2055

QUICK INFO:

The Nanticoke Fire Department is collecting donations to help department chaplain and volunteer fireman, the Rev. Adam Sexton, pastor of St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church in Nanticoke. Sexton, his wife, Angie, and their eight children are displaced following a fire Sunday at the church rectory.

• Monetary donations may be sent to the Father Adam Sexton Fire Fund, c/o Vantage Trust Federal Credit Union, 158 S. Market St., Nanticoke, PA 18634.
• Clothing, toys and other household items may be dropped off at Nanticoke Fire Headquarters, 2 E. Ridge St., Nanticoke, PA 18634. Those with questions may call fire headquarters at 570-735-5860.

The Sexton children include:

Alyscia, 12, Jacob, 11, Raeman, 10, Josiah, 8, Ilia, 6 Bede, 4, Gabriel, 3, and Seamus, 1.

Via

Read more: citizensvoice.com, Nanticoke, Pennsylvania

SARGODHA, PAKISTAN (ANS) — A Russian Orthodox church leader, the Rev Fr. Adrian Augustus, who is the special missionary sent by His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion, paid a visit in Sargodha and laid the foundation stone of “The Archangel Michael Russian Orthodox Mission,” in Sargodha, Pakistan, at the end of last month (January, 2012.)

His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion

Metropolitan Hilarion (Kapral) of Eastern America and New York is the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia (ROCOR) and was formally enthroned on May 18, 2008. He also remains (at least for the time being) the ruling bishop of the Diocese of Australia and New Zealand.

ANS was apprised of the event by Cyril Amer and Ferhan Mazher, active congregants of the Orthodox Church, who said that the Rev. Fr. Adrian Augustus, was given a warmhearted welcome by the congregants of the newly-born church.

ANS participated in the ceremony at which the Rev. Fr. Adrian Augustus was accompanied by the Rev. Fr. Nayyar Azad and Rev Fr. Farooq (former catholic priest) and other local esteemed Christian clergymen and local youth leaders of the Russian Orthodox congregation.

Rev. Fr. Adrian Augustus teaching Orthodox rituals and doctrines to the newly planted church

Fr. Augustus, while addressing the congregation, said that he admired the “untiring struggle of Orthodox Church youth leaders” in the area.

He added, “This is a historical step taken by Russian Orthodox Church in Sargodha. The dream has become a reality and this is only due to the labor of our Orthodox Church youth leaders, Cyril Amer, Ferhan Mazher, Imran Mazher and Nadeem Samuel.”

Some 200 congregants participated in the inaugural ceremony at which they learned more about the doctrines of Russian Orthodox Church from Fr. Augustus.

Rev. Fr. Adrian Augustus blesses (chrismation) a congregant

He spoke about the Orthodox view of baptism and also chrismation, a term, that is used because the recipient of the sacrament is anointed with Chrism, which according to eastern Christian belief, the Apostles sanctified and introduced for all priests to use as a replacement for laying on of hands by the Apostles. It consists of a “mixture of forty sweet-smelling substances and pure olive oil” sanctified by a bishop with some older Chrism added in,[3] in the belief that some trace of the initial Chrism sanctified by the Apostles is contained therein.

After his sermon, Fr. Augustus gave the sacrament of baptism to 57 of those attending and chrismation to a further 117, who were all inducted into the “The Archangel Michael Russian Orthodox Mission” at Sultan Colony, Sargodha.

A little congregant gets baptized into the Russian Orthodox Church

ANS also established through local Orthodox Church sources that state-run agencies had made a bid to foil the gathering of these Orthodox Christians which was nothing but a normal Orthodox Christian service.

They only allowed the Special Envoy of His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion only after a Christian politician, Tahir Naveed Chaudhary, submitted a request to their office.

After learning about the doctrines and rituals of the Russian Orthodox Church, many people asked for the membership of this new church, which is the first of its kind in this major Pakistani city in Punjab province.

Jawad Mazhar is a Pakistani journalist specializing in writing about Christian persecution. He was born on November 28, 1976 at Sargodhas village Chak and raised in Sargodha, a city in Pakistan’s Punjab province. He earned his Bachelors Degree from Allama Iqbal Open University majoring in computer sciences and has taught at various educational institutes in his country. He is also involved with “Rays of Development,” an organization working for minority rights in Pakistan. He says, “My aim is to help eradicate Christian persecution through my writing as I bring the plight of these brave people under the spotlight of the whole world.”

You may republish this story with proper attribution.

On February 9, 2012, Archbishop Mark of Yegoryevsk, director of the Moscow Patriarchate’s office for institutions abroad, who is on a visit to Thailand, consecrated the church dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God at the Monastery of the Dormition in Ratchaburi.

With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, Fr. Seraphim Raicha of St. Nicholas’s in Bangkok was ordained in the newly-consecrated church as hieromonk to continue his service in Thailand. Present at the service were pilgrims from various parishes in the country, officials of the Russian Embassy in Thailand and the head of the local administration.

His Eminence Mark presented Rev. Danai (Daniel) Vann with a patriarchal award, a golden pectoral cross. The right to wear it was granted to the first Thai Orthodox priest for his zealous work for the good of the Church and the Thai translation of Archpriest Seraphim Slobodskoy’s Bible chairs.

Archbishop Mark also presented Archimandrite Oleg Cherepanin, representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Thailand, with the Order of St. Innocent of Moscow in acknowledgement of his work for many years for the good of the Church and on the occasion of his 50th birthday.

The previous day, Archbishop Mark held at the monastery an assembly of the clergy, members of the parish councils of Orthodox churches in Thailand and Cambodia, representatives of the Orthodox parish in Laos and the committee of the Orthodox Church Foundation in Thailand. Archimandrite Oleg Cherepanin made a report stating the progress made and existing problems, the main ones being an acute need for purchasing some land for building a church in Bangkok and a shortage of clergy at the acting parishes.

Members of parish councils reported on the life of their communities, describing the special features of each of them. Rev. Danai (Daniel), chairman of the committee of the Orthodox Church Foundation in Thailand, introduced the assembly to the work of the Foundation.

In conclusion, Archbishop Mark addressed the assembly thanking all the participants and stating that some problems will be settled in the course of his visit, while others will be submitted to the consideration of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.

He also received each of the monastery brethren in individual audience for a private talk, after which he identified candidates for taking monastic vows and instructed the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Thailand to submit an appropriate report to Patriarch Kirill.

In the evening, Archbishop Mark officiated at All-Night Vigil at the monastery’s church of the Dormition. During the service he presented Vladimir Buntilov, assistant to the Russian Orthodox Church representative in Thailand and lecturer at the Mahidol University in Bangkok, with a patriarchal award, the Medal of St. Innocent, Metropolitan of Moscow, in recognition of his church work, the website of the Orthodox Church in Thailand has reported.

(via mospat.ru)

The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America, which is comprised of the 65 canonical Orthodox bishops in the United States, Canada and Mexico, join their voices with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and all those who adamantly protest the recent decision by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and call upon all the Orthodox Christian faithful to contact their elected representatives today to voice their concern in the face of this threat to the sanctity of the Church’s conscience.

In this ruling by HHS, religious hospitals, educational institutions, and other organizations will be required to pay for the full cost of contraceptives (including some abortion-inducing drugs) and sterilizations for their employees, regardless of the religious convictions of the employers.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion. This freedom is transgressed when a religious institution is required to pay for “contraceptive services” including abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization services that directly violate their religious convictions. Providing such services should not be regarded as mandated medical care. We, the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops, call upon HHS Secretary Sebelius and the Obama Administration to rescind this unjust ruling and to respect the religious freedom guaranteed all Americans by the First Amendment.

SYOSSET, NY [OCA] — His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, Primate of the Orthodox Church in America, and His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, concelebrated the Divine Liturgy for the first time at the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign, New York, NY, on Saturday, December 10, 2011.

The celebration marked the first time in nearly 70 years that the primates and hierarchs of the OCA and ROCOR have concelebrated. It is noteworthy that the Liturgy was celebrated on the cathedral’s Patronal Feast of the Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God, which was present during the Divine Liturgy.

At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, Metropolitans Jonah and Hilarion exchanged warm greetings and spoke of the historic significance and importance of the occasion.

“I am profoundly grateful for this opportunity to come together, to pray together, to celebrate our brotherly love together as one Church. Truly, there is only one Church,” said Metropolitan Jonah. “God has called us to that love, to that communion with one another. It is my fervent prayer that from now on, we work together and cooperate together in many different projects and support one another in our common task.

“God has seen fit over the past decades that our two Churches have received different ministries, each working in different communities of people, each bearing fruit for the Lord according to His will, and going after the vineyards which He has given to us to cultivate,” Metropolitan Jonah continued. “And now He has brought us together in a new way to constantly share in the same Eucharistic cup, working together in unity to cultivate this vineyard of North America and everywhere else that God calls us to, in preaching the Gospel of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.”

Metropolitan Hilarion presented Metropolitan Jonah with the Order of Kursk-Root Icon, First Class, the highest award given by ROCOR. In turn, Metropolitan Jonah presented the OCA’s highest award, the Order of Saint Innocent, Gold Class, to Metropolitan Hilarion.

“I am tremendously grateful for this honor of the Kursk Order,” Metropolitan Jonah responded. “It is my joy and my honor to present you also with the highest order of the Orthodox Church in America, by the grace of God, the Order of Saint Innocent, Apostle to America. This gold medal is presented to Metropolitan Hilarion, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, in grateful recognition of the alliance and recognition of the Orthodox Church in America.”

Metropolitan Jonah also presented Metropolitan Hilarion with a hand-painted icon of Saint Jacob Netsvetov.

“Saint Jacob was the first native American priest to be ordained on the territory of North America,” Metropolitan Jonah explained. “He was half Russian and half Aleut—a great missionary. He came returned from seminary in Russia to serve his people on the Aleutian Islands, after which he was sent by Saint Innocent to the mouth of the Yukon River, where he evangelized the Yupik people. At the end of his life he evangelized the Tlingit people. Saint Yakov is one of the greatest of the saints of Alaska, and his work is the foundation of so much of the Alaskan mission. It also is the foundation of our common work, because we are both sons of the Russian Orthodox mission and the continuation of that mission that was sent in 1794. We are both heirs of that common legacy. So it is a great joy to present to you this holy icon.”

Concelebrating with the Metropolitans was His Eminence, Archbishop Justinian of Naro-Fominsk, Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA.

Members of the OCA Holy Synod who concelebrated were His Grace, Bishop Benjamin of San Francisco and the West; His Grace, Bishop Tikhon of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania; His Grace, Bishop Melchisedek of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania; His Grace, Bishop Michael of New York and New Jersey; and His Grace, Bishop Matthais of Chicago and the Midwest. OCA clergy concelebrating included Archpriest John Jillions, OCA Chancellor; Archpriest Eric Tosi, OCA Secretary; Archpriest Leonid Kishkovsky, OCA Director of External Affairs and Interchurch Relations; Archpriest Joseph Lickwar, Chancellor of the Diocese of New York and New Jersey; Archpriest Wiaczeslaw Krawczuk, Dean of the New York City Deanery; Archpriest Samuel Kedala, Dean of the New Jersey Deanery; Archpriest Chad Hatfield, Chancellor of Saint Vladimir’s Seminary; and Protodeacon Joseph Matusiak.

ROCOR hierarchs who concelebrated were His Eminence, Archbishop Mark of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain; His Eminence, Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America; His Eminence, Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal and Canada; His Grace, Bishop Michael of Geneva and Western Europe; His Grace, Bishop Peter of Cleveland, Administrator of the Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America; His Grace, Bishop George of Mayfield, Vicar of the Diocese of Eastern America and New York; and His Grace, Bishop Jerome of Manhattan, Vicar of the Diocese of Eastern America and New York.

Historical background information may be found in this Statement by the ROCOR Synod of Bishops on Relations with the OCA

A photo gallery of the historic celebration may be found here.

Since the normalization of ties between the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Moscow Patriarchate in 2007, there have been numerous concelebrations between ROCOR and the Orthodox Church in America, including some at the hierarchical level. This year is marked by the first two concelebrations between the First Hierarchs of the Church Abroad and the Orthodox Church in America, and we state the following, in response to questions by the clergy and faithful:

The Russian Orthodox diocese in the New World was formed in Alaska, while Alaska was still part of the Russian Empire, in 1795. In the following century, after the United States obtained Alaska from Russia, more and more Russian Orthodox parishes were formed in the continental US, and the seat of the diocese, which eventually was to become a Metropolia, was moved to New York. The seizure of power by the Bolsheviks in 1917 made administration from Russia virtually impossible, and from 1921, with the formation of the Church Abroad administration in Yugoslavia, the American Metropolia was considered part of the ROCOR.

However, relations with the rest of the Church Abroad were complicated by the difference in background of those who had come to the United States before and after the Revolution: the earlier emigres had moved to America seeking a better life and a permanent new home, while those who fled from the communists had a strong attachment to Russia and in most cases, hoped to return one day, when the political situation there would change.

In 1925, Holy Patriarch Tikhon reposed after years of persecution by the Bolsheviks, and in the same year, the “Living Church” or “Renovationists” led by Alexander Kedrovsky, managed to gain control of St Nicholas Cathedral in New York City, winning a court case against Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky). The court found in favor of Kedrovsky, on the grounds that his group was “under a Holy Synod of Russia,” but the Church Abroad was not. The death of Patriarch Tikhon also removed a unifying figure, and these factors and others led to a division between the American Metropolia and the Church Abroad. Despite a period of reconciliation from 1935 to 1946, the Metropolia and Synod separated again, largely over relations with the Church in Russia.

The reconciliation in 2007 between the Church Abroad and the Moscow Patriarchate removed the main point of dissention between the two jurisdictions.

At that time, each side lifted the disciplinary suspensions that had been placed on clergy for joining the other. This meant that the canonical obstacles to concelebration had been rectified, and clergy from each could concelebrate with the other. Regardless of that, differences in the points of view and traditions between the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Orthodox Church in America are possible: they have occurred more than once in history between Orthodox hierarchies, and do not have any bearing on official relations. Meanwhile, in 1970, the Moscow Patriarchate had by its own initiative, unilaterally granted the title of “autocephaly” to the former American Metropolia, which changed its name to the “Orthodox Church in America”. The full logical consequences of autocephaly would have been a single, canonical hierarchy for that given area, but this was never accepted by the other Orthodox Local Churches, most of which continued, and still continue, to have their own hierarchies in the United States. Nonetheless, the current situation does not constitute an obstacle to communion between the Orthodox Churches here.

ROCOR has always claimed to be only one part of the Church of Russia, and not to be “the Church of Russia in Exile”—a Church of Exiles, at its inception, but not the Church in exile. This has always been confirmed by the decisions of the Bishops’ Councils. The Church Abroad has never claimed to be the only canonical Orthodox Church, or that the various Local Churches are not canonical Churches. ROCOR remains committed to its conservative, traditional positions, and so does the Moscow Patriarchate. Therefore we are not compromising any principles by normalizing relations with the rest of the Orthodox Church.

The Church Abroad was formed for the purpose of uniting the Russian communities outside of Russia, who desired to remain faithful members of the Orthodox Church of Russia, awaiting its revival, and from the beginning also carried on the missionary function of spreading the Orthodox faith among non-Russians, wherever possible. These roles remain unchanged.