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Holy Unction

2006-10-10T14:10:08Z

Sarisburium: /* Liturgical service */

{{spirituality}}
The [[sacrament]] of '''holy unction''' provides both physical and spiritual healing with holy oil blessed by the [[Holy Spirit]]. It is most commonly celebrated during [[Holy Week]] on [[Holy Wednesday]] evening, but private services are also common. Everyone in the [[parish]] in good ecclesiastical standing may be anointed with the holy oil for the healing of spiritual and bodily ills. As this is one of the [[sacraments]] of the [[Orthodox Church]], it may be administered only to Orthodox Christians.

The oil carries God's [[grace]] both to renew the body and to cleanse the spirit. The service follows the apostolic tradition mentioned in the [[New Testament]]: "...let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven" ([[Book of James|James]] 5:14-15).

Holy unction is a [[sacrament]] of great comfort to the faithful. It provides uplifting and asks for patience to accept the will of God whatever the physical outcome.

==Liturgical service==
The full service is composed of [[Psalms]] from the [[Old Testament]], hymns of direct supplication to God, and prayers to the [[saints]] to intercede for the petitioner. In addition, there are seven readings from the [[Gospels]] preceded by seven other New Testament writings, notably the [[epistles]] of St. [[Apostle Paul|Paul]] and St. [[Apostle James the Just|James]]. After each set of scriptural readings, a prayer is offered on behalf of the penitent by the [[priest]] asking for forgiveness and the sanctification of the oil. Traditionally, the service is celebrated by seven [[priest]]s, but where fewer than seven priests are available (which is often the case), it will be served by at least one.

At the end of the service, the [[priest]] puts holy oil on the forehead, eyes, ears, nostrils, lips, chest, and hands of the parishioners in the form of the cross, saying: "O Holy Father, physician of our souls and bodies, heal Thy servant [name] from every physical and emotional affliction" (Russian tradition) or "The blessing of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ: for the healing of the soul and body of the servant of God, [name], always: now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen" (Greek tradition). The exact wording varies according to tradition and translation.

When the unction is received privately, the full service is often not performed, but simply the anointing itself is done along with a few prayers.

[[Category:Sacraments]]

Oriental Orthodox

2006-09-26T16:52:26Z

Sarisburium:

The term '''''Oriental Orthodox''''' refers to the churches of Eastern Christian traditions that keep the faith of only the first three [[Ecumenical Council]]s of the [[Orthodox Church]]—the councils of [[First Ecumenical Council|Nicea I]], [[Second Ecumenical Council|Constantinople I]] and [[Third Ecumenical Council|Ephesus]]. The Oriental Orthodox churches rejected the [[dogma|dogmatic definition]]s of the [[Fourth Ecumenical Council|Council of Chalcedon]].

Thus, despite potentially confusing nomenclature, Oriental Orthodox churches are distinct from the churches that collectively are referred to as ''[[Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodoxy]]''.

The Oriental Orthodox churches came to a [[schism|parting of the ways]] with [[Christianity]] in the 5th century. The separation resulted in part from the Oriental Orthodox churches' refusal to accept the [[Christology|Christological]] [[dogma]]s promulgated by the [[Fourth Ecumenical Council|Council of Chalcedon]], which held that [[Jesus Christ]] has two [[physis|nature]]s — one divine and one human, although these were inseparable and only act as one [[hypostasis]]. To the [[hierarch]]s who would lead the Oriental Orthodox, this was tantamount to accepting [[Nestorianism]]. In response, they advocated a formula that stressed unity of the [[Incarnation]] over all other considerations. The Oriental Orthodox churches are therefore often called "[[Monophysite]]" churches, although they reject this label, which is associated with [[Eutychianism|Eutychian Monophysitism]], preferring the term ''non-Chalcedonian'' or ''Miaphysite'' churches. They are sometimes also known as ''anti-Chalcedonians''.

In the 20th century, a number of dialogues occurred between the Oriental Orthodox and the Chalcedonian Orthodox which were interpreted by some to mean that both communions now share a common [[Christology]] with differing terminology. However, this was not accepted by the majority of Orthodox and [[full communion]] has not been restored. There have also been some agreed Christological statements issued in conjuction with the [[Roman Catholic Church]] and the Orthodox (Chalcedonian) family (Ecumenical Patriarchate and official representatives of other Eastern Orthodox Churches) [http://www.monachos.net/mb/messages/4225/ORIENT3-20256.doc].

==Oriental Orthodox Communion==
{{orientalchurches}}
The Oriental Orthodox Communion is a group of churches within Oriental Orthodoxy which are in [[full communion]] with each other [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arbible/message/25751]. The communion includes:
* The [[Church of Armenia]] (Armenian Apostolic Church)
* The [[Church of Antioch (Syriac)]] (Syriac Orthodox, "Jacobite")
** [[Malankara Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church]], a branch and an integral part of the Syriac Orthodox Church with the Oriental Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch as its supreme head
* The [[Church of Alexandria (Coptic)]]
** The [[British Orthodox Church (Coptic)|British Orthodox Church]], canonically part of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria since 1994
* The [[Church of Ethiopia]] (Tewahedo Church)
* The [[Church of Eritrea]] (Tewahedo Church)
* The [[Church of India]] (Malankara, Indian Orthodox, Orthodox Syrian Church of the East)

==Assyrian Church of the East==
The [[Assyrian Church of the East]] ([[Nestorianism|Nestorian]] Church) is sometimes considered an Oriental Orthodox Church, although it is not in communion with Oriental Orthodox churches and they have a [[Nestorianism|Nestorian]] or Nestorian-like [[Christology]] that differs from the declaration of the [[Fourth Ecumenical Council|Council of Chalcedon]] in an opposite way from the Monophysites. By the time of the Monophysite controversy, the Assyrians had already separated from the Orthodox Church with the [[Third Ecumenical Council|Council of Ephesus]].

==External links==
* [http://www.ethiopianorthodox.org/indexoriental.htm Oriental Orthodox Churches]
* [http://www.armenianchurch.org The Armenian Apostolic Church]
* [http://www.prounione.urbe.it/dia-int/oo-rc_syrindia/doc/i_oo-rc_syrindia_1984.html Common declaration of Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Mar Ignatius Zakka I Iwas]
* [http://www.coptic.org The Coptic Church in the Diaspora]
* [http://www.eotc.faithweb.com/orth.html The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]
* [http://St-Takla.org/ Saint Takla Haymanot Coptic Orthodox Church (Alexandria, Egypt)]
* [http://www.orthodoxunity.org Website on the unity between Oriental and Eastern Orthodox Churches]
* [http://aggreen.net/autocephaly/oriental.html Oriental Orthodox Churches]
* [http://www.socdigest.org/ Shroro - The Syriac Orthodox Christian Digest]
* [http://www.geocities.com/mfignatius/others/byzantine.html Why I Am Oriental Orthodox Instead of Byzantine Orthodox]
* [http://www.copticchurch.org/Texts/Spirituals/Natofchr.pdf ''The Nature of Christ''] (PDF) by Pope [[Shenouda III (Gayyid) of Alexandria]]
* [http://www.orthodoxunity.org/statements.html Eastern-Oriental Orthodox Unity - Official Satements]
* A case against reunion is made by this article: [http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/ea_mono.aspx Opposition to Union with the Oriental Churches and the Unresolved Theological Differences Between the Two]
* [http://www.orthodox-library.org/ Oriental Orthodox Library]
* [http://www.orthodox-icons-olympia.blogspot.com/ Oriental Orthodox Iconographer]

[[Category:Jurisdictions]]
[[Category:Oriental Orthodox|*]]

Talk:Homosexuality

2006-08-19T14:20:58Z

Sarisburium:

Just a note to say that I appreciate [[User:Sophysduckling]]'s contribution (check history), but think it still needs work before going public. A couple notes on this: 1. I don't think we need a dictionary or Wikipedia-style definition of homosexuality here. 2. Some areas were expressed in terms of "general" feelings of Orthodox people rather than from a dogmatic perspective -- that's fine in it's own way, but the basic article should be mostly dogmatic in content. 3. Along these lines, e.g. the matter of adelphopoiese is much clearer-cut than was expressed. 4. And the issue of orientation is more complicated.

I removed rather than edited the piece because I don't have the time to write something else now and I didn't want anybody to be mislead. It's a sensitive area in many ways (though dogmatically clear), and since OrthodoxWiki is becoming a standard reference site, I think it would be good if we could start off with a more precise and expanded article. [[User:FrJohn|Fr. John]] 01:19, 20 Oct 2005 (EDT)

Under the section "Articles from an Orthodox Perspective", the first and third links link to the same article on different websites. The article is attributed to a different priest in either case. Rather than removing either of the links, I have contacted one of the priests in question as, either his article is being plagiarised or somebody else's words are being wrongly attributed to him. I thought that this course of action would be best as I don't know the true details of the situation - user Sarisburium. 15.20, 19th August, 2006. BST

Church of Russia

2006-08-11T12:52:44Z

Sarisburium: /* Old Believers */

{{church|
name= Patriarchate of Moscow|
founder= [[Apostle Andrew]], St. [[Vladimir of Kiev]]|
independence= 1448 |
recognition= 1589 by [[Church of Constantinople|Constantinople]] |
primate=[[Alexei II (Ridiger) of Moscow|Patriarch Alexei II]]|
hq=Moscow, Russia|
territory=Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, some former Soviet republics|
possessions= United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, China|
language=[[Church Slavonic]]|
music=[[Russian Chant]]|
calendar=[[Julian Calendar|Julian]]|
population=90,000,000[http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypg.aspx?eccpageID=17]|
website=[http://www.mospat.ru/ Church of Russia]
}}
The '''Church of Russia''', also referred to as the '''Moscow Patriarchate''', is one of the autocephalous Orthodox churches, ranking fifth after [[Church of Constantinople|Constantinople]], [[Church of Alexandria|Alexandria]], [[Church of Antioch|Antioch]], and [[Church of Jerusalem|Jerusalem]]. It exercises jurisdiction over Orthodox Christians in Russia and surrounding Slavic lands, as well as [[exarchate]]s and patriarchal representation churches around the world. It also exercises jurisdiction over the autonomous [[Church of Japan]] and Orthodox Christians in China. The Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia is currently His Holiness [[Alexei II (Ridiger) of Moscow|Alexei II]].

==History==
{{cleanup}}
According to tradition, St. [[Apostle Andrew|Andrew]] the First-Called, while preaching the [[Gospel]], stopped at the Kievan hills to bless the future city of Kiev. But it was [[Photius the Great|Photius]] Patriarch of Constantinople (858 – 886) who first initiated missionary work on a large scale among these Slavs.

===[[Conversion]] of the Slavs===
The south of Russia was blessed with the work of Ss. [[Cyril and Methodius]] [[Equal-to-the-Apostles]], the [[Illuminator]]s of the Slavs. Although their work was around 863 in Moravia (roughly equivalent to the modern [[Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia|Slovakia]]), the benefit was to all the Slavic lands (particularly [[Church of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]], [[Church of Serbia|Serbia]], and Russia).

===The Kiev period (988-1237)===
They not only brought Christianity in a common language, they brought Byzantium. The Slavs received a fully articulated system of Christian doctrine and a fully developed Christian civilization. The age of the [[Ecumenical Councils|Seven Councils]] was complete and the doctrines of the [[Trinity]] and the [[Incarnation]] had already been worked out. Because people were preached to in their own tongue, and of taking services in Slavonic, they truly could make Christianity their own.

Around 864 Patriarch Photius sent a bishop to Russia, but this was stopped by Oleg, who assumed power at Kiev (the chief Russian city at this time) in 878. Christian ideas from Byzantium, Bulgaria, and Scandinavia, still came into Russia.

In 954 Princess [[Olga of Kiev]] was baptized. This paved the way for what is called the greatest events in the history of the Russian, the baptism of [[Vladimir of Kiev|Prince Vladimir]] and the [[Baptism of Russia]] in 988. Olga’s grandson Vladimir (reigned 980-1015) was converted to Christianity and married Anna, the sister of the Byzantine Emperor. Orthodoxy became the State religion of Russia, and remained such until 1917. (Russia was not completely converted to Christianity at this time, and the Church was at first restricted mainly to the cities, while much of the countryside remained pagan until the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.)

The 10th and 11th centuries majestic churches and monasteries were built. St. [[Anthony of the Caves]] brought the traditions of Athonian monasticism to Russia in 1051.

The Russian Church during the Kievan period was subject to Constantinople, and until 1237 the Metropolitans of Russia were usually Greek. The Russian Church continues to sing in Greek the solemn greeting to a bishop, ''eis polla eti, despota'' ("Many years to you, Master"), in memory of the days when the Metropolitan came from Constantinople. Most of the rest of the bishops were native Russians.

===Mongol Tartars over Russia (1237-1448) ===
In the 12th century, the period of feudal divisions, the Russian Church remained the only bearer of the idea of unity of the Russian people, resisting the centrifugal aspirations and feudal strife among Russian princes. Even the Tartar invasion, this greatest ever misfortune that struck Russia in the 13th century, failed to break the Russian Church. The Church managed to survive as a real force and was the comforter of the people in their plight. It made a great spiritual, material and moral contribution to the restoration of the political unity of Russia as a guarantee of its future victory over the invaders.

The Russia which emerged from the Mongol period was a Russia greatly changed in outward appearance. Kiev never recovered from the sack of 1237, and its place was taken in the fourteenth century by the Principality of Moscow. It was the Grand Dukes of Moscow who inspired the resistance to the Mongols and who led Russia at Kulikovo. The rise of Moscow was closely bound up with the Church. When the town was still small and comparatively unimportant, Peter, Metropolitan of Russia from 1308 to 1326, decided to settle there; and henceforward it remained the city of the chief hierarch of Russia.

(This period in the history of the Russian Church included [[Alexander Nevsky]] and [[Sergius of Radonezh]], both saints. )

[[Image:Rublev Trinity.jpg|right|thumb|The [[Hospitality of Abraham]]]]Russian principalities began to unite around Moscow in the 14th century. The Russian Orthodox Church continued to play an important role in the revival of unified Russia. Outstanding Russian bishops acted as spiritual guides and assistants to the Princes of Moscow. St. Metropolitan [[Alexis]] (1354-1378) educated Prince Dimitry Donskoy. He, just as St. Metropolitan Jonas (1448-1471) later, by the power of his authority helped the Prince of Moscow to put an end to the feudal discords and preserve the unity of the state. St. [[Sergius of Radonezh]], a great ascetic of the Russian Church, gave his blessing to Prince Dimitry Donskoy to fight the Kulikovo Battle which made the beginning of the liberation of Russia from the invaders.

During these years, Russian painters indigenized the iconographic traditions which they had received from the Eastern Christian Empire. Icon painting flourished above all among the spiritual children of Saint Sergius. One of the finest of all Orthodox icons, from the artistic point of view, the Holy Trinity Icon, by Saint [[Andrei Rublev]] (1370?-1430?) is from this period.

===Autocephalous Russian Church===
Liberating itself from the invaders, the Russian state gathered strength and so did the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1448, not long before the Byzantine Empire collapsed, the Russian Church became independent from the [[Ecumenical Patriarchate]]. Metropolitan Jonas, installed by the Council of Russian bishops in 1448, was given the title of Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia.

The Russian Church thus gained its independence, more by chance than from any deliberate design. Hitherto the Patriarch of Constantinople had appointed the head of the Russian Church, the Metropolitan. At the [[Council of Florence]] the Metropolitan was a Greek, Isidore. A leading supporter of the union with Rome, Isidore returned to Moscow in 1441 and proclaimed the decrees of Florence, but he met with no support from the Russians. He was imprisoned by the Grand Duke, but after a time was allowed to escape, and went back to Italy. The chief [[see]] was thus left vacant; but the Russians could not ask the Patriarch for a new Metropolitan, because until 1453 the official Church at Constantinople continued to accept the Florentine Union. Reluctant to take action on their own, the Russians delayed for several years. Eventually in 1448 a council of Russian bishops proceeded to elect a Metropolitan without further reference to Constantinople. After 1453, when the Florentine Union was abandoned at Constantinople, communion between the Patriarchate and Russia was restored, but Russia continued to appoint its own chief hierarch. Henceforward the Russian Church was self-governing, but its autocephaly was not ratified by the rest of the Church until 1589.

After the [[fall of Constantinople]] in 1453, there was only one nation that saw itself as capable of assuming leadership in Eastern Christendom. The growing might of the Russian state also contributed to the growing authority of the autocephalous Russian Church. To the Russian people, it was a sign from God, that at the very moment when the Byzantine Empire was ending, they themselves were throwing off the few remaining vestiges of Tartar control. To them, Moscow became the [[Third Rome]], a status never acknowledged by the remainder of the Church but nevertheless which served to inspire Russian Orthodox Christians.

===Non-Possessors ===
Saint [[Nilus of Sora]] (Nil Sorsky, 1433?-1508), a monk from a remote hermitage in the forests beyond the Volga, launched an attack on the ownership of land by monasteries. Saint Joseph, Abbot of Volokalamsk (1439-1515), replied in defense of monastic landholding. This became known as the dispute between the "the Possessors" and the "Non-Possessors". (Note that both are saints of the Church.)

As the "Third Rome", the tsar derived his power and right to rule from being God's chosen representative on earth. So, to keep his status, he needed to protect and promote the church. In the Byzantium tradition, the relationship between the church and the state acted as a check on the power of the tsar. The metropolitan and the tsar were equals, and the metropolitan had the right to censure the tsar. The dispute between the Possessors and the Non-Possessors challenged this idea because about a third of the land in Russia belonged to monasteries at this time.

The Possessors and the Non-Possessors held different views about the role the church should play in society and in politics. When the Possessors triumphed, the church gained the right to wealth at the expense of political influence. The tsar became superior to the metropolitan, and could now interfere in secular matters of the church. The tsar was cut off from any source of accountability.
Also, behind the question of monastic property lay two different conceptions of the monastic life, and ultimately two different views of the relation of the Church to the world. The Possessors emphasized the social obligations of monasticism. Monks argued that they did not use their wealth on themselves, but to care for the sick and poor, to show hospitality, and to teach. To do these things efficiently, monasteries needed money and therefore they must own land. (Possessors emphasized unity in preaching and worship, beauty and dignity in ritual.)

The Non-Possessors argued on the other hand that almsgiving is the duty of the laity, while a monk’s primary task is to help others by praying for them and by setting an example. To do these things properly a monk must be detached from the world, and only those who are vowed to complete poverty can achieve true detachment. Monks who are landowners cannot avoid being tangled up in secular anxieties, and because they become absorbed in worldly concerns, they act and think in a worldly way. (Non-Possessors were more concerned with freedom in religious practice and taught that God was most pleased with a simple, contrite heart, even in the absence of an elaborate Liturgy. They were the scholars and mystics, who upheld evangelical poverty.)

===Russian patriarch===
In 1589 Metropolitan Job of Moscow became the first Russian patriarch, and the autocephaly of the Church of Russia was officially acknowledged by the Church. The patriarchs of the ancient churches recognized the Russian patriarch as the fifth in honor, defining the canonical boundaries of the Church of Russia as being that of the Russian Empire.

===Old Believers===
When [[Nikon of Moscow]] was the primate, the Russian Church was engaged in introducing alterations and amendments into its service books and rites. A great contribution to this was made by Patriarch Nikon, a bright personality and outstanding church reformer. Some clergymen and lay people were perhaps more hesitant about accepting the liturgical reforms introduced by Patriarch Nikon and were anathematised by the church authority. These groups became known as the [[Old Believers]]', many of whom have now been subsumed into the [[Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia]].

===The Synodical Church (1700-1917)===
The beginning of the 18th century in Russia was marked by sweeping reforms carried out by Peter I. The reforms did not leave the Russian Church untouched. After the death of Patriarch Adrian in 1700, Peter I delayed the election of the new Primate of the Church because he did not want another Nikon. He established, in 1721, a collective supreme administration known as the Holy and Governing [[holy Synod|Synod]]. The constitution of the Synod was not based on Orthodox Canon Law, but copied from the Protestant ecclesiastical synods in Germany. Its members were not chosen by the Church but nominated by the Emperor; and the Emperor who nominated could also dismiss them at will. Whereas a Patriarch, holding office for life, could perhaps defy the Tsar, a member of the Holy Synod was allowed no scope for heroism: he was simply retired. The Synod remained the supreme church body in the Russian Church for almost two centuries.

In the Synodal period, the Church paid a special attention to the development of religious education and mission in the provinces. Old churches were restored and new churches were built.

The Holy Synod, consisted of the most influential Metropolitans, Archbishops and Bishops. Moscow itself was administered by a territorial Archbishop, combined with Vladimir (1721-1745), with Sevsk (1745-1764), with Kaluga (1764-1799), then Metropolitan, combined with Kaluga, (1799-1917).

The early Synodical period is sometimes represented as a time of decline, with the Church in complete subservience to the State. A time of ill-advised westernization in Church art, Church music, and theology.

The Synodical period of the nineteenth century, was far from being a period of decline, it was a time of great revival in the Russian Church. People turned away from religious and pseudo-religious movements in the contemporary west, and fell back once more upon the true spiritual forces of Orthodoxy. With this revival in the spiritual life went a new enthusiasm for missionary work, while in theology, as in spirituality, Orthodoxy freed itself from a slavish imitation of the west.

===20th century the Russian Church===

Early in the 20th century the Russian Church began preparations for convening an [[All-Russian Church Council of 1917-1918|All-Russian Council]]. But it was to be convened only after the 1917 Revolution. Among its major actions was the restoration of the patriarchal office in the Russian Church. The Council elected Metropolitan [[Tikhon of Moscow]] Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia (1917-1925). St. Tikhon of Moscow exerted every effort to calm the destructive passions kindled up by the revolution.

When in 1921-1922 the Soviet government demanded that church valuables be given in aid to the population starving because of the failure of crops in 1921, a conflict erupted between the Church and the new authorities who decided to use this situation to demolish the Church to the end. By the beginning of World War II the church structure was almost completely destroyed throughout the country. There were only a few bishops who remained free and who could perform their duties. Some bishops managed to survive in remote parts or under the disguise of priests. Only a few hundred churches were opened for services throughout the Soviet Union. Most of the clergy were either imprisoned in concentration camps, where many of them perished, or hid in catacombs, while thousands of priests changed occupation. World War II forced Stalin to mobilize all the national resources for defense, including the Russian Orthodox Church as the people's moral force. This process, which can be described as a "patriotic union", culminated in Stalin's receiving on September 4, 1943, Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan Sergiy Stragorodsky and Metropolitan Alexy Simansky and Nikolay Yarushevich.

==See also==
*[[List of Primates of Russia]]

==Sources==
*[http://www.hostkingdom.net/Russia.html#Moscow HostKingdom]
*[http://www.mospat.ru/index.php?lng=1 DECR Communication Service] Communication service of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate

== External links ==
*[http://www.mospat.ru/e_startpage Church of Russia] official website in English
*[http://www.patriarchia.ru/ Patriarchia.RU] official portal of the Moscow Patriarchate (Russian only)
* [http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypg.aspx?eccpageID=17&IndexView=toc Eastern Christian Churches: The Orthodox Church of Russia] by Ronald Roberson, a Roman Catholic priest and scholar

*[http://www.orthodoxa.org/GB/orthodoxy/canonlaw/russianterritory.htm The Russian Canonical Territory], from the website of the [[Church of Estonia]]

{{churches}}

[[Category:Jurisdictions|Russia]]

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

2006-08-03T18:21:25Z

Sarisburium: AIUI, the Diocese of Great Britain is a separate diocese currently administered by the Bishop of Berlin, Germany. The See of Richmond (the seat of the Bishop of Great Britain), is currently vacant.

{{diocese|
name=Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia|
jurisdiction=[[Church of Russia|Russia]] (estranged)|
type=Semi-autonomous|
founded=1922|
bishop=[[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Metr. Laurus]]|
see=New York|
hq=New York, New York|
territory=United States, worldwide|
language=[[Church Slavonic]], English, German|
music=[[Russian Chant]]|
calendar=[[Julian Calendar|Julian]]|
population=150,000|
website=[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/indexeng.htm ROCOR]
}}
The '''Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia''' (also called the ''Russian Orthodox Church Abroad'', ''ROCA'', ''ROCOR'', ''the Karlovsty Synod'', or ''the Synod'') is a [[jurisdiction]] of the [[Orthodox Church]] formed in response against the policy of Bolsheviks with respect to religion in the Soviet Union soon after the Russian Revolution.

==History==
===Formation and early years===
In 1920, the Soviet government had revealed that it was quite hostile to the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]]. Saint [[Tikhon of Moscow|Tikhon]], Patriarch of Moscow, issued an ''[[Ukaz No. 362|ukaz]]'' (decree) that all Russian Orthodox Christians abroad currently under the authority and protection of his Patriarchate organize and govern themselves independently of the Mother Church, until such time that the Patriarchate would again be free.

Among most Russian [[bishop]]s and other hierarchs, this was interpreted as an authorization to form an emergency [[synod]] of all Russian Orthodox hierarchs to permit the Church to continue to function outside Russia and provide spiritual care for nearly three million Russian emigres.To add urgency to the synod's motives, in May of 1922, the Soviet government proclaimed its own "[[Living Church]]" as a "reform" of the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]].

On [[September 13]], 1922, Russian Orthodox hierarchs in Serbia gave their blessing to the establishment, in Serbia, of a Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad, the foundation of ROCOR. In November of 1922, Russian Orthodox in North America held a synod and elected Metropolitan [[Platon (Rozhdestvensky) of New York|Platon]] as the primate of an autonomous Russian exarchate in the Americas (also known as the ''Metropolia'', which eventually became the [[Orthodox Church in America]]). Although the hierarchs of the Metropolia participated as full equals in the Synod Abroad, eventually a three-way conflict in the United States erupted between the patriarchal exarchate, ROCOR (sometimes known as "the Synod" in this period), and the [[Living Church]], which asserted that it was the legitimate (i.e., Russian-government-recognized) owner of all Orthodox properties in the USA. (See: [[ROCOR and OCA]])

===The Church of the Refugees (1922-1991)===
{{orthodoxyinamerica}}
In 1927, ROCOR declared "The part of the Russian Church that finds itself abroad considers itself an inseparable, spiritually united branch of the Great Russian Church. It does not separate itself from its Mother Church and does not consider itself autocephalous," indicating that ROCOR considered itself to speak for all of the Russian Orthodox outside of Russia. The Church Abroad also considered itself to be the free voice of the enslaved Mother Church in the Soviet Union.

After the end of World War II, the [[Church of Russia|Patriarchate of Moscow]] broached the possibility of reunification between Moscow and ROCOR, presumably at the behest of the Soviet government, which had adopted a more conciliatory attitude towards religion during the war and was presumably trying to capitalize on its wartime alliances to win a more respectable position internationally. This was not deemed possible at that time by ROCOR, given that Russia was still under communist dictatorship and the Church was still persecuted and controlled by the atheist authorities.

===Holy Transfiguration Monastery and ROCOR===
In the 1960s, ROCOR took under its care [[Holy Transfiguration Monastery (Brookline, Massachusetts)]] (today the principal [[monastery]] of [[HOCNA]]) after the latter had broken communion from the [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]] following sexual abuse scandals regarding the monastery's leadership. At some point later, they gradually assumed responsibility for much of ROCOR's external communications and publications. (The monks of Holy Transfiguration were English-speaking and the ROCOR bishops in America mainly were not.)

It is believed by many that the allegedly sectarian spirit of ROCOR came into its flowering during this time and under the influence of this monastery, which frequently misrepresented the official policies and views of the Synod of Bishops. In the early 1980s the hierarchs of the Synod began to correct and censor the narrow-minded and incorrect views of the followers of Holy Transfiguration Monastery. Subsequently this group broke communion with ROCOR (again regarding allegations of sexual abuse by the monastery's leadership), styling themselves the [[HOCNA|Holy Orthodox Church in North America]] (HOCNA). They became affiliated with the [[True Orthodox Church of Greece]], a Greek Old Calendarist group which broke from the [[Church of Greece]]. According to Fr. Alexey Young (author of ''The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia: A History and Chronology''), the association of ROCOR and Holy Transfiguration Monastery resulted in deep damage to ROCOR.

===After the Soviet Fall===
Since the end of the Soviet Union, ROCOR has maintained its independence from the [[Church of Russia|Moscow Patriarchate]] on the grounds that the Church inside Russia had been unacceptably compromised. Some accusations went so far as to claim that the entire hierarchy within Russia were active KGB agents. ROCOR also attempted to set up missions in post-Soviet Russia, which has not improved relations.

This has not prevented all communication, however. For many years there had been unofficial and warm contacts between the two groups. In 2001, the Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow and ROCOR exchanged formal correspondence. The Muscovite letter held the position that previous and current separation was over purely political matters. ROCOR's response expressed concern over continued Muscovite involvement in [[ecumenism]], which was seen as compromising Moscow's Orthodoxy. Nevertheless, this was far more friendly discourse than had been seen previously.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia continued to establish itself in its homeland. It now has about 100 worshiping communities in Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Currently four bishops oversee these parishes. Two of them broke with Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York|Vitaly]] in New York in April 1994. They founded their own temporary administration called the ''Free Orthodox Church of Russia'' and ordained three additional bishops. They were reconciled in November 1994, and the ordination of the three new bishops was declared invalid. However, some tensions remain.

===Rapprochement with Moscow===
Since the election of Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus]] as First Hierarch of ROCOR in 2001, a steady process of rapprochement has been occurring between ROCOR and the [[Church of Russia|Moscow Patriarchate]]. Multiple official visits have been exchanged between hierarchs and other clergy of both churches, and it is generally believed that the restoration of [[full communion]] is imminent.

In October 2001 Patriarch [[Alexei II (Ridiger) of Moscow|Alexei II]] and the [[Holy Synod]] of the Moscow Patriarchate sent a letter to the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia calling for reconciliation, but without success. However, there was mutal recognition of grace in the sacraments of each church. Then, in November 2003, a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia consisting of three bishops and two priests paid an official visit to the Moscow Patriarchate. This signalled a warming in relations, and in May 2004 for the first time since the foundation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, the First Hierarch of ROCOR, Metropolitan Laurus, visited Moscow and met with Patriarch Alexei. The two church leaders established a joint committee to examine ways to overcome the division between their churches. This committee has now met successfully on several occasions, working out the details of intercommunion between the two Church bodies.

This possibility of rapprochement has led to [[schism]] from ROCOR, taking the self-retired Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York|Vitaly]] (Metropolitan Laurus's predecessor) with it (regarded by many in ROCOR as having been abducted by the schismatics). The resultant body refers to itself as the ''[[Russian Orthodox Church in Exile]]'' (ROCE/ROCiE), though it often still uses the ''ROCOR'' name.

On [[June 21]], 2005, it was announced simultaneously by both the ROCOR and the MP on their respective websites that rapprochement talks were leading toward the resumption of full relations between the ROCOR and the MP and that the ROCOR would be given the status of [[autonomy]].[http://www.mospat.ru/text/e_news/id/9553.html][http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/articles/docs.html]

In May 2006, the ROCOR met in its IV All-Diaspora Council, which was held at Most Holy Theotokos Joy of All Who Sorrow Cathedral in San Francisco, California. The council consisted of clergy and lay delegates from all dioceses of the ROCOR, and adopted a resolution, expressing "great hope that in the appropriate time, the unity of the Russian Church will be restored upon the foundation of the Truth of Christ, opening for us the possibility to serve together and to commune from one Chalice."[http://www.sobor2006.com/more2.php?id=99_0_3_0_M45]

Following the IV All-Diaspora Council, the Council of Bishops of the ROCOR was held. According to sources close to the council, it generally agreed with the text of the proposed "Act of Canonical Unity," but remitted it back to the Committee for Dialogue with the Moscow Patriarchate to rework certain aspects of the document.{{citation}} The exact nature of the elements to be worked out is unclear, but, according to sources close to the Synod of Bishops, involves property issues in the Holy Land. It is expected that the Synod of Bishops of the ROCOR will make a final decision on adopting the document sometime soon.{{citation}}

===ROCOR Today===
ROCOR currently has over 400 [[parish]]es as well as [[monastery|monasteries]] for men and women in 40 countries throughout the world, served by nearly 600 [[priest]]s. In North America, it has approximately 133 parishes in the US and 22 in Canada. There are five ROCOR communities in the United Kingdom and 21 in [[Diocese of Australia and New Zealand (ROCOR)|Australia and New Zealand]]. There are also roughly 100 communities which owe allegiance to ROCOR in Russia and the other nations of the former Soviet Union.

There are five ROCOR monasteries for men and women in North America, the most important and largest of which is [[Holy Trinity Monastery (Jordanville, New York)]], to which is attached ROCOR's seminary, [[Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary (Jordanville, New York)|Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary]].

In concert with the [[Church of Jerusalem]], ROCOR also oversees the [http://www.jerusalem-mission.org/ Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem], headed by Hegumen Andronik (Kotliaroff), which acts as caretaker to three holy sites in Palestine, all of which are monasteries.

==Ecclesiastical Status==
ROCOR is currently still in ambiguously relative [[Eucharist]]ic isolation from much of the Orthodox world, not always exchanging [[full communion]] with the majority of Orthodox [[jurisdiction]]s. It maintains good relations, intercommunion, and [[concelebration]] with the [[Church of Serbia]], the [[Church of Jerusalem]], and the [[Church of Sinai]].

ROCOR's status with regard to [[full communion]] is not entirely clear-cut. There was never a formal declaration of a break in communion made between ROCOR and other Orthodox churches, though in many dioceses [[concelebration]] has been suspended. In others, concelebration is active. A formal declaration of breaking communion with the OCA was issued by the ROCOR Synod after the Moscow Patriarchate issued the Tomos of Autocephaly to the OCA. (See: [[ROCOR and OCA]].) Generally Orthodox Christians from all local Orthodox churches are welcome to the chalice in ROCOR churches. There has never been a declaration from the ROCOR synod that grace does not exist in the [[New Calendar]] jurisdictions, in spite of statements to the contrary by the followers of Holy Transfiguation Monastery in Boston when they were still with the Synod.

ROCOR formerly maintained communion with a few [[Old Calendarist]] jurisdictions, including the [[Holy Synod in Resistance]] (True Orthodox Church of Greece, so-called "Cyprianites"), the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Romania]] (Synod of Metropolitan Vlasie), and the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria]] (Bishop Photii). In 2006, communion with the [[Holy Synod in Resistance]] was suspended, after the ROCOR Synod received a letter from Metropolitan Cyprial of Oropos and Fili stating that Metropolitan Laurus' name had been "struck from the diptych." [http://www.synod.com/synod/eng2006/2ensynodmeeting.html] The ROCOR still maintains communion with the Synod of Metropolitan Vlasie and with Bishop Photii of Triaditza. Many of the clergy and the faithful of ROCOR believe the Cyprianites to be [[schism]]atics and that [[concelebration]]s with them should be severed, though this attitude does not extend to the Old Calendarist jurisdictions of Romania and Bulgaria.

==The Episcopacy==
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia currently has 13 [[bishop]]s serving 11 [[diocese]]s throughout the world.

Ruling bishops:
* Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus (Skurla)]] of New York and Eastern America, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Ruling Bishop of the Syracuse-Holy Trinity Diocese, ''[[Locum Tenens]]'' of the Eastern part of the Diocese of Montreal and Canada
* Archbishop [[Alypy (Gamanovich) of Chicago and Detroit|Alypy (Gamanovich)]] of Chicago and Detroit
* Archbishop [[Mark (Arndt) of Berlin|Mark (Arndt)]] of Berlin, Germany and of Great Britain
* Archbishop [[Hilarion (Kapral) of Sydney|Hilarion (Kapral)]] of Sydney, [[Diocese of Australia and New Zealand (ROCOR)|Australia and New Zealand]]
* Archbishop [[Kyrill (Dmitrieff) of San Francisco|Kyrill (Dmitrieff)]] of San Francisco and Western America, Locum Tenens of the Western part of the Diocese of Montreal and Canada
* Bishop [[Evtikhii (Kurochkin) of Ishim|Evtikhii (Kurochkin)]] of Ishim and Siberia
* Bishop [[Agafangel (Pashkovsky) of Simferopol|Agafangel (Pashkovsky)]] of Odessa and Tauria
* Bishop [[Michael (Donskoff) of Geneva|Michael (Donskoff)]] of Geneva and Western Europe

Vicar bishops:
* Bishop [[Daniel (Alexandrow) of Erie|Daniel (Alexandrow)]] of Erie, Vicar President of the Synod of Bishops for the Old Believers
* Bishop [[Gabriel (Chemodakov) of Manhattan|Gabriel (Chemodakov)]] of Manhattan, Vicar Bishop of the Eastern American and New York Diocese
* Bishop [[Agapit (Gorachek) of Stuttgart|Agapit (Gorachek)]] of Stuttgart, Vicar of the German Diocese, Administrator of parishes in Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands
* Bishop [[Peter (Loukianoff) of Cleveland|Peter (Loukianoff)]] of Cleveland, Vicar of the Chicago Diocese

Retired bishops:
* Bishop [[Ambroise (Cantacuzène) of Geneva|Ambroise (Cantacuzène)]], Retired

Former bishops:
* Bishop [[Alexander (Mileant) of Buenos Aires|Alexander (Mileant)]] of Buenos Aires and South America (reposed [[September 13]], 2005 [http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/news05/balexdeath.html])

==See also==
*[[ROCOR and OCA]]

==External links==
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/ Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (Official site, Russian)
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/indexeng.htm Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (Official site, English)
*[http://www.roca.org/ ROCA: A collection of Russian Orthodox Materials] (Unofficial site)
*[http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypg.aspx?eccpageID=49&IndexView=toc The Eastern Christian Churches: The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (by Ronald Roberson, CSP, a Roman Catholic priest and scholar)
*[http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/roca_history.aspx History of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad], by St. [[John Maximovitch]]
*[http://gnisios.narod.ru/bisrocor.html Bishops of the ROCOR]
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/articles/svassasobor.htm "Glory be to God, Who Did Not Abandon His Church": The Self-Awareness of ROCOR at the Third All-Diaspora Council of 1974], by Nun Vassa (Larin)

*[http://www.sobor2006.com/ IV All-Diaspora Council] (official site)

[[Category:Jurisdictions]]

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

2006-05-07T22:52:08Z

Sarisburium: /* External links */

{{diocese|
name=Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia|
jurisdiction=[[Church of Russia|Russia]] (estranged)|
type=Semi-autonomous|
founded=1922|
bishop=[[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Metr. Laurus]]|
see=New York|
hq=New York, New York|
territory=United States, worldwide|
language=[[Church Slavonic]], English, German|
music=[[Russian Chant]]|
calendar=[[Julian Calendar|Julian]]|
population=150,000|
website=[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/ ROCOR]
}}
The '''Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia''' (also called the ''Russian Orthodox Church Abroad'', ''ROCA'', ''ROCOR'', ''the Karlovsty Synod'', or ''the Synod'') is a [[jurisdiction]] of the [[Orthodox Church]] formed in response against the policy of Bolsheviks with respect to religion in the Soviet Union soon after the Russian Revolution.

==History==
===Formation and early years===
In 1920, the Soviet government had revealed that it was quite hostile to the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]]. Saint [[Tikhon of Moscow|Tikhon]], Patriarch of Moscow, issued an ''[[Ukaz No. 362|ukaz]]'' (decree) that all Russian Orthodox Christians abroad currently under the authority and protection of his Patriarchate organize and govern themselves independently of the Mother Church, until such time that the Patriarchate would again be free.

Among most Russian [[bishop]]s and other hierarchs, this was interpreted as an authorization to form an emergency [[synod]] of all Russian Orthodox hierarchs to permit the Church to continue to function outside Russia and provide spiritual care for nearly three million Russian emigres.To add urgency to the synod's motives, in May of 1922, the Soviet government proclaimed its own "[[Living Church]]" as a "reform" of the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]].

On [[September 13]], 1922, Russian Orthodox hierarchs in Serbia gave their blessing to the establishment, in Serbia, of a Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad, the foundation of ROCOR. In November of 1922, Russian Orthodox in North America held a synod and elected Metropolitan [[Platon (Rozhdestvensky) of New York|Platon]] as the primate of an autonomous Russian exarchate in the Americas (also known as the ''Metropolia'', which eventually became the [[Orthodox Church in America]]). Although the hierarchs of the Metropolia participated as full equals in the Synod Abroad, eventually a three-way conflict in the United States erupted between the patriarchal exarchate, ROCOR (sometimes known as "the Synod" in this period), and the [[Living Church]], which asserted that it was the legitimate (i.e., Russian-government-recognized) owner of all Orthodox properties in the USA. (See: [[ROCOR and OCA]])

===The Church of the Refugees (1922-1991)===
{{orthodoxyinamerica}}
In 1927, ROCOR declared "The part of the Russian Church that finds itself abroad considers itself an inseparable, spiritually united branch of the Great Russian Church. It does not separate itself from its Mother Church and does not consider itself autocephalous," indicating that ROCOR considered itself to speak for all of the Russian Orthodox outside of Russia. The Church Abroad also considered itself to be the free voice of the enslaved Mother Church in the Soviet Union.

After the end of World War II, the [[Church of Russia|Patriarchate of Moscow]] broached the possibility of reunification between Moscow and ROCOR, presumably at the behest of the Soviet government, which had adopted a more conciliatory attitude towards religion during the war and was presumably trying to capitalize on its wartime alliances to win a more respectable position internationally. This was not deemed possible at that time by ROCOR, given that Russia was still under communist dictatorship and the Church was still persecuted and controlled by the atheist authorities.

===Holy Transfiguration Monastery and ROCOR===
In the 1960s, ROCOR took under its care [[Holy Transfiguration Monastery (Brookline, Massachusetts)]] (today the principal [[monastery]] of [[HOCNA]]) after the latter had broken communion from the [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]] following sexual abuse scandals regarding the monastery's leadership. At some point later, they gradually assumed responsibility for much of ROCOR's external communications and publications. (The monks of Holy Transfiguration were English-speaking and the ROCOR bishops in America mainly were not.)

It is believed by many that the allegedly sectarian spirit of ROCOR came into its flowering during this time and under the influence of this monastery, which frequently misrepresented the official policies and views of the Synod of Bishops. In the early 1980s the hierarchs of the Synod began to correct and censor the narrow-minded and incorrect views of the followers of Holy Transfiguration Monastery. Subsequently this group broke communion with ROCOR (again regarding allegations of sexual abuse by the monastery's leadership), styling themselves the [[HOCNA|Holy Orthodox Church in North America]] (HOCNA). They became affiliated with the [[True Orthodox Church of Greece]], a Greek Old Calendarist group which broke from the [[Church of Greece]]. According to Fr. Alexey Young (author of ''The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia: A History and Chronology''), the association of ROCOR and Holy Transfiguration Monastery resulted in deep damage to ROCOR.

===After the Soviet Fall===
Since the end of the Soviet Union, ROCOR has maintained its independence from the [[Church of Russia|Moscow Patriarchate]] on the grounds that the Church inside Russia had been unacceptably compromised. Some accusations went so far as to claim that the entire hierarchy within Russia were active KGB agents. ROCOR also attempted to set up missions in post-Soviet Russia, which has not improved relations.

This has not prevented all communication, however. For many years there had been unofficial and warm contacts between the two groups. In 2001, the Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow and ROCOR exchanged formal correspondence. The Muscovite letter held the position that previous and current separation was over purely political matters. ROCOR's response expressed concern over continued Muscovite involvement in [[ecumenism]], which was seen as compromising Moscow's Orthodoxy. Nevertheless, this was far more friendly discourse than had been seen previously.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia continued to establish itself in its homeland. It now has about 100 worshiping communities in Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Currently four bishops oversee these parishes. Two of them broke with Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York|Vitaly]] in New York in April 1994. They founded their own temporary administration called the ''Free Orthodox Church of Russia'' and ordained three additional bishops. They were reconciled in November 1994, and the ordination of the three new bishops was declared invalid. However, some tensions remain.

===Rapprochement with Moscow===
Since the election of Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus]] as First Hierarch of ROCOR in 2001, a steady process of rapprochement has been occurring between ROCOR and the [[Church of Russia|Moscow Patriarchate]]. Multiple official visits have been exchanged between hierarchs and other clergy of both churches, and it is generally believed that the restoration of [[full communion]] is imminent.

In October 2001 Patriarch [[Alexei II (Ridiger) of Moscow|Alexei II]] and the [[Holy Synod]] of the Moscow Patriarchate sent a letter to the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia calling for reconciliation, but without success. However, there was mutal recognition of grace in the sacraments of each church. Then, in November 2003, a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia consisting of three bishops and two priests paid an official visit to the Moscow Patriarchate. This signalled a warming in relations, and in May 2004 for the first time since the foundation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, the First Hierarch of ROCOR, Metropolitan Laurus, visited Moscow and met with Patriarch Alexei. The two church leaders established a joint committee to examine ways to overcome the division between their churches. This committee has now met successfully on several occasions, working out the details of intercommunion between the two Church bodies.

This possibility of rapprochement has led to [[schism]] from ROCOR, taking the self-retired Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York|Vitaly]] (Metropolitan Laurus's predecessor) with it (regarded by many in ROCOR as having been abducted by the schismatics). The resultant body refers to itself as the ''[[Russian Orthodox Church in Exile]]'' (ROCE/ROCiE), though it often still uses the ''ROCOR'' name.

On [[June 21]], 2005, it was announced simultaneously by both the ROCOR and the MP on their respective websites that rapprochement talks were leading toward the resumption of full relations between the ROCOR and the MP and that the ROCOR would be given the status of [[autonomy]].[http://www.mospat.ru/text/e_news/id/9553.html][http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/articles/docs.html]

===ROCOR Today===
ROCOR currently has over 400 [[parish]]es as well as [[monastery|monasteries]] for men and women in 40 countries throughout the world, served by nearly 600 [[priest]]s. In North America, it has approximately 133 parishes in the US and 22 in Canada. There are five ROCOR communities in the United Kingdom and 21 in [[Diocese of Australia and New Zealand (ROCOR)|Australia and New Zealand]]. There are also roughly 100 communities which owe allegiance to ROCOR in Russia and the other nations of the former Soviet Union.

There are five ROCOR monasteries for men and women in North America, the most important and largest of which is [[Holy Trinity Monastery (Jordanville, New York)]], to which is attached ROCOR's seminary, [[Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary (Jordanville, New York)|Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary]].

In concert with the [[Church of Jerusalem]], ROCOR also oversees the [http://www.jerusalem-mission.org/ Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem], headed by Hegumen Andronik (Kotliaroff), which acts as caretaker to three holy sites in Palestine, all of which are monasteries.

==Ecclesiastical Status==
ROCOR is currently still in ambiguously relative [[Eucharist]]ic isolation from much of the Orthodox world, not always exchanging [[full communion]] with the majority of Orthodox [[jurisdiction]]s. It maintains good relations, intercommunion, and [[concelebration]] with the [[Church of Serbia]], the [[Church of Jerusalem]], and the [[Church of Sinai]].

ROCOR's status with regard to [[full communion]] is not entirely clear-cut. There was never a formal declaration of a break in communion made between ROCOR and other Orthodox churches, though in many dioceses [[concelebration]] has been suspended. In others, concelebration is active. A formal declaration of breaking communion with the OCA was issued by the ROCOR Synod after the Moscow Patriarchate issued the Tomos of Autocephaly to the OCA. (See: [[ROCOR and OCA]].) Generally Orthodox Christians from all local Orthodox churches are welcome to the chalice in ROCOR churches. There has never been a declaration from the ROCOR synod that grace does not exist in the [[New Calendar]] jurisdictions, in spite of statements to the contrary by the followers of Holy Transfiguation Monastery in Boston when they were still with the Synod.

ROCOR formerly maintained communion with a few [[Old Calendarist]] jurisdictions, including the [[Holy Synod in Resistance]] (True Orthodox Church of Greece, so-called "Cyprianites"), the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Romania]] (Synod of Metropolitan Vlasie), and the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria]] (Bishop Photii). In recent years, the relationship with the Cyprianite synod has been strained, and ROCOR has reportedly received threatening letters from the synod of Metropolitan Cyprian regarding the rapprochement between ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate, which both Russian bodies regard as an internal matter of the Russian church. Many of the clergy and the faithful of ROCOR believe the Cyprianites to be [[schism]]atics and that [[concelebration]]s with them should be severed, though this attitude does not extend to the Old Calendarist jurisdictions of Romania and Bulgaria.

==The Episcopacy==
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia currently has 13 [[bishop]]s serving 10 [[diocese]]s throughout the world.

Ruling bishops:
* Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus (Skurla)]] of New York and Eastern America, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Ruling Bishop of the Syracuse-Holy Trinity Diocese, ''[[Locum Tenens]]'' of the Eastern part of the Diocese of Montreal and Canada
* Archbishop [[Alypy (Gamanovich) of Chicago and Detroit|Alypy (Gamanovich)]] of Chicago and Detroit
* Archbishop [[Mark (Arndt) of Berlin|Mark (Arndt)]] of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain
* Archbishop [[Hilarion (Kapral) of Sydney|Hilarion (Kapral)]] of Sydney, [[Diocese of Australia and New Zealand (ROCOR)|Australia and New Zealand]]
* Archbishop [[Kyrill (Dmitrieff) of San Francisco|Kyrill (Dmitrieff)]] of San Francisco and Western America, Locum Tenens of the Western part of the Diocese of Montreal and Canada
* Bishop [[Ambroise (Cantacuzène) of Geneva|Ambroise (Cantacuzène)]] of Geneva and Western Europe
* Bishop [[Evtikhii (Kurochkin) of Ishim|Evtikhii (Kurochkin)]] of Ishim and Siberia
* Bishop [[Agafangel (Pashkovsky) of Simferopol|Agafangel (Pashkovsky)]] of Simferopol and Crimea

Vicar bishops:
* Bishop [[Daniel (Alexandrow) of Erie|Daniel (Alexandrow)]] of Erie, Vicar President of the Synod of Bishops for the Old Believers
* Bishop [[Gabriel (Chemodakov) of Manhattan|Gabriel (Chemodakov)]] of Manhattan, Vicar Bishop of the Eastern American and New York Diocese
* Bishop [[Michael (Donskoff) of Boston|Michael (Donskoff)]] of Boston, Vicar of the Eastern American and New York Diocese
* Bishop [[Agapit (Gorachek) of Stuttgart|Agapit (Gorachek)]] of Stuttgart, Vicar of the German Diocese
* Bishop [[Peter (Loukianoff) of Cleveland|Peter (Loukianoff)]] of Cleveland, Vicar of the Chicago Diocese

Former bishops:
* Bishop [[Alexander (Mileant) of Buenos Aires|Alexander (Mileant)]] of Buenos Aires and South America (reposed [[September 13]], 2005 [http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/news05/balexdeath.html])

==See also==
*[[ROCOR and OCA]]

==External links==
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/ Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (Official site, Russian)
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/indexeng.htm Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (Official site, English)
*[http://www.roca.org/ ROCA: A collection of Russian Orthodox Materials] (Unofficial site)
*[http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypg.aspx?eccpageID=49&IndexView=toc The Eastern Christian Churches: The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (by Ronald Roberson, CSP, a Roman Catholic priest and scholar)
*[http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/roca_history.aspx History of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad], by St. [[John Maximovitch]]
*[http://gnisios.narod.ru/bisrocor.html Bishops of the ROCOR]
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/articles/svassasobor.htm "Glory be to God, Who Did Not Abandon His Church": The Self-Awareness of ROCOR at the Third All-Diaspora Council of 1974], by Nun Vassa (Larin)


[[Category:Jurisdictions]]

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

2006-05-07T22:51:47Z

Sarisburium: /* External links */

{{diocese|
name=Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia|
jurisdiction=[[Church of Russia|Russia]] (estranged)|
type=Semi-autonomous|
founded=1922|
bishop=[[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Metr. Laurus]]|
see=New York|
hq=New York, New York|
territory=United States, worldwide|
language=[[Church Slavonic]], English, German|
music=[[Russian Chant]]|
calendar=[[Julian Calendar|Julian]]|
population=150,000|
website=[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/ ROCOR]
}}
The '''Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia''' (also called the ''Russian Orthodox Church Abroad'', ''ROCA'', ''ROCOR'', ''the Karlovsty Synod'', or ''the Synod'') is a [[jurisdiction]] of the [[Orthodox Church]] formed in response against the policy of Bolsheviks with respect to religion in the Soviet Union soon after the Russian Revolution.

==History==
===Formation and early years===
In 1920, the Soviet government had revealed that it was quite hostile to the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]]. Saint [[Tikhon of Moscow|Tikhon]], Patriarch of Moscow, issued an ''[[Ukaz No. 362|ukaz]]'' (decree) that all Russian Orthodox Christians abroad currently under the authority and protection of his Patriarchate organize and govern themselves independently of the Mother Church, until such time that the Patriarchate would again be free.

Among most Russian [[bishop]]s and other hierarchs, this was interpreted as an authorization to form an emergency [[synod]] of all Russian Orthodox hierarchs to permit the Church to continue to function outside Russia and provide spiritual care for nearly three million Russian emigres.To add urgency to the synod's motives, in May of 1922, the Soviet government proclaimed its own "[[Living Church]]" as a "reform" of the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]].

On [[September 13]], 1922, Russian Orthodox hierarchs in Serbia gave their blessing to the establishment, in Serbia, of a Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad, the foundation of ROCOR. In November of 1922, Russian Orthodox in North America held a synod and elected Metropolitan [[Platon (Rozhdestvensky) of New York|Platon]] as the primate of an autonomous Russian exarchate in the Americas (also known as the ''Metropolia'', which eventually became the [[Orthodox Church in America]]). Although the hierarchs of the Metropolia participated as full equals in the Synod Abroad, eventually a three-way conflict in the United States erupted between the patriarchal exarchate, ROCOR (sometimes known as "the Synod" in this period), and the [[Living Church]], which asserted that it was the legitimate (i.e., Russian-government-recognized) owner of all Orthodox properties in the USA. (See: [[ROCOR and OCA]])

===The Church of the Refugees (1922-1991)===
{{orthodoxyinamerica}}
In 1927, ROCOR declared "The part of the Russian Church that finds itself abroad considers itself an inseparable, spiritually united branch of the Great Russian Church. It does not separate itself from its Mother Church and does not consider itself autocephalous," indicating that ROCOR considered itself to speak for all of the Russian Orthodox outside of Russia. The Church Abroad also considered itself to be the free voice of the enslaved Mother Church in the Soviet Union.

After the end of World War II, the [[Church of Russia|Patriarchate of Moscow]] broached the possibility of reunification between Moscow and ROCOR, presumably at the behest of the Soviet government, which had adopted a more conciliatory attitude towards religion during the war and was presumably trying to capitalize on its wartime alliances to win a more respectable position internationally. This was not deemed possible at that time by ROCOR, given that Russia was still under communist dictatorship and the Church was still persecuted and controlled by the atheist authorities.

===Holy Transfiguration Monastery and ROCOR===
In the 1960s, ROCOR took under its care [[Holy Transfiguration Monastery (Brookline, Massachusetts)]] (today the principal [[monastery]] of [[HOCNA]]) after the latter had broken communion from the [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]] following sexual abuse scandals regarding the monastery's leadership. At some point later, they gradually assumed responsibility for much of ROCOR's external communications and publications. (The monks of Holy Transfiguration were English-speaking and the ROCOR bishops in America mainly were not.)

It is believed by many that the allegedly sectarian spirit of ROCOR came into its flowering during this time and under the influence of this monastery, which frequently misrepresented the official policies and views of the Synod of Bishops. In the early 1980s the hierarchs of the Synod began to correct and censor the narrow-minded and incorrect views of the followers of Holy Transfiguration Monastery. Subsequently this group broke communion with ROCOR (again regarding allegations of sexual abuse by the monastery's leadership), styling themselves the [[HOCNA|Holy Orthodox Church in North America]] (HOCNA). They became affiliated with the [[True Orthodox Church of Greece]], a Greek Old Calendarist group which broke from the [[Church of Greece]]. According to Fr. Alexey Young (author of ''The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia: A History and Chronology''), the association of ROCOR and Holy Transfiguration Monastery resulted in deep damage to ROCOR.

===After the Soviet Fall===
Since the end of the Soviet Union, ROCOR has maintained its independence from the [[Church of Russia|Moscow Patriarchate]] on the grounds that the Church inside Russia had been unacceptably compromised. Some accusations went so far as to claim that the entire hierarchy within Russia were active KGB agents. ROCOR also attempted to set up missions in post-Soviet Russia, which has not improved relations.

This has not prevented all communication, however. For many years there had been unofficial and warm contacts between the two groups. In 2001, the Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow and ROCOR exchanged formal correspondence. The Muscovite letter held the position that previous and current separation was over purely political matters. ROCOR's response expressed concern over continued Muscovite involvement in [[ecumenism]], which was seen as compromising Moscow's Orthodoxy. Nevertheless, this was far more friendly discourse than had been seen previously.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia continued to establish itself in its homeland. It now has about 100 worshiping communities in Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Currently four bishops oversee these parishes. Two of them broke with Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York|Vitaly]] in New York in April 1994. They founded their own temporary administration called the ''Free Orthodox Church of Russia'' and ordained three additional bishops. They were reconciled in November 1994, and the ordination of the three new bishops was declared invalid. However, some tensions remain.

===Rapprochement with Moscow===
Since the election of Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus]] as First Hierarch of ROCOR in 2001, a steady process of rapprochement has been occurring between ROCOR and the [[Church of Russia|Moscow Patriarchate]]. Multiple official visits have been exchanged between hierarchs and other clergy of both churches, and it is generally believed that the restoration of [[full communion]] is imminent.

In October 2001 Patriarch [[Alexei II (Ridiger) of Moscow|Alexei II]] and the [[Holy Synod]] of the Moscow Patriarchate sent a letter to the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia calling for reconciliation, but without success. However, there was mutal recognition of grace in the sacraments of each church. Then, in November 2003, a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia consisting of three bishops and two priests paid an official visit to the Moscow Patriarchate. This signalled a warming in relations, and in May 2004 for the first time since the foundation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, the First Hierarch of ROCOR, Metropolitan Laurus, visited Moscow and met with Patriarch Alexei. The two church leaders established a joint committee to examine ways to overcome the division between their churches. This committee has now met successfully on several occasions, working out the details of intercommunion between the two Church bodies.

This possibility of rapprochement has led to [[schism]] from ROCOR, taking the self-retired Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York|Vitaly]] (Metropolitan Laurus's predecessor) with it (regarded by many in ROCOR as having been abducted by the schismatics). The resultant body refers to itself as the ''[[Russian Orthodox Church in Exile]]'' (ROCE/ROCiE), though it often still uses the ''ROCOR'' name.

On [[June 21]], 2005, it was announced simultaneously by both the ROCOR and the MP on their respective websites that rapprochement talks were leading toward the resumption of full relations between the ROCOR and the MP and that the ROCOR would be given the status of [[autonomy]].[http://www.mospat.ru/text/e_news/id/9553.html][http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/articles/docs.html]

===ROCOR Today===
ROCOR currently has over 400 [[parish]]es as well as [[monastery|monasteries]] for men and women in 40 countries throughout the world, served by nearly 600 [[priest]]s. In North America, it has approximately 133 parishes in the US and 22 in Canada. There are five ROCOR communities in the United Kingdom and 21 in [[Diocese of Australia and New Zealand (ROCOR)|Australia and New Zealand]]. There are also roughly 100 communities which owe allegiance to ROCOR in Russia and the other nations of the former Soviet Union.

There are five ROCOR monasteries for men and women in North America, the most important and largest of which is [[Holy Trinity Monastery (Jordanville, New York)]], to which is attached ROCOR's seminary, [[Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary (Jordanville, New York)|Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary]].

In concert with the [[Church of Jerusalem]], ROCOR also oversees the [http://www.jerusalem-mission.org/ Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem], headed by Hegumen Andronik (Kotliaroff), which acts as caretaker to three holy sites in Palestine, all of which are monasteries.

==Ecclesiastical Status==
ROCOR is currently still in ambiguously relative [[Eucharist]]ic isolation from much of the Orthodox world, not always exchanging [[full communion]] with the majority of Orthodox [[jurisdiction]]s. It maintains good relations, intercommunion, and [[concelebration]] with the [[Church of Serbia]], the [[Church of Jerusalem]], and the [[Church of Sinai]].

ROCOR's status with regard to [[full communion]] is not entirely clear-cut. There was never a formal declaration of a break in communion made between ROCOR and other Orthodox churches, though in many dioceses [[concelebration]] has been suspended. In others, concelebration is active. A formal declaration of breaking communion with the OCA was issued by the ROCOR Synod after the Moscow Patriarchate issued the Tomos of Autocephaly to the OCA. (See: [[ROCOR and OCA]].) Generally Orthodox Christians from all local Orthodox churches are welcome to the chalice in ROCOR churches. There has never been a declaration from the ROCOR synod that grace does not exist in the [[New Calendar]] jurisdictions, in spite of statements to the contrary by the followers of Holy Transfiguation Monastery in Boston when they were still with the Synod.

ROCOR formerly maintained communion with a few [[Old Calendarist]] jurisdictions, including the [[Holy Synod in Resistance]] (True Orthodox Church of Greece, so-called "Cyprianites"), the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Romania]] (Synod of Metropolitan Vlasie), and the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria]] (Bishop Photii). In recent years, the relationship with the Cyprianite synod has been strained, and ROCOR has reportedly received threatening letters from the synod of Metropolitan Cyprian regarding the rapprochement between ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate, which both Russian bodies regard as an internal matter of the Russian church. Many of the clergy and the faithful of ROCOR believe the Cyprianites to be [[schism]]atics and that [[concelebration]]s with them should be severed, though this attitude does not extend to the Old Calendarist jurisdictions of Romania and Bulgaria.

==The Episcopacy==
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia currently has 13 [[bishop]]s serving 10 [[diocese]]s throughout the world.

Ruling bishops:
* Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus (Skurla)]] of New York and Eastern America, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Ruling Bishop of the Syracuse-Holy Trinity Diocese, ''[[Locum Tenens]]'' of the Eastern part of the Diocese of Montreal and Canada
* Archbishop [[Alypy (Gamanovich) of Chicago and Detroit|Alypy (Gamanovich)]] of Chicago and Detroit
* Archbishop [[Mark (Arndt) of Berlin|Mark (Arndt)]] of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain
* Archbishop [[Hilarion (Kapral) of Sydney|Hilarion (Kapral)]] of Sydney, [[Diocese of Australia and New Zealand (ROCOR)|Australia and New Zealand]]
* Archbishop [[Kyrill (Dmitrieff) of San Francisco|Kyrill (Dmitrieff)]] of San Francisco and Western America, Locum Tenens of the Western part of the Diocese of Montreal and Canada
* Bishop [[Ambroise (Cantacuzène) of Geneva|Ambroise (Cantacuzène)]] of Geneva and Western Europe
* Bishop [[Evtikhii (Kurochkin) of Ishim|Evtikhii (Kurochkin)]] of Ishim and Siberia
* Bishop [[Agafangel (Pashkovsky) of Simferopol|Agafangel (Pashkovsky)]] of Simferopol and Crimea

Vicar bishops:
* Bishop [[Daniel (Alexandrow) of Erie|Daniel (Alexandrow)]] of Erie, Vicar President of the Synod of Bishops for the Old Believers
* Bishop [[Gabriel (Chemodakov) of Manhattan|Gabriel (Chemodakov)]] of Manhattan, Vicar Bishop of the Eastern American and New York Diocese
* Bishop [[Michael (Donskoff) of Boston|Michael (Donskoff)]] of Boston, Vicar of the Eastern American and New York Diocese
* Bishop [[Agapit (Gorachek) of Stuttgart|Agapit (Gorachek)]] of Stuttgart, Vicar of the German Diocese
* Bishop [[Peter (Loukianoff) of Cleveland|Peter (Loukianoff)]] of Cleveland, Vicar of the Chicago Diocese

Former bishops:
* Bishop [[Alexander (Mileant) of Buenos Aires|Alexander (Mileant)]] of Buenos Aires and South America (reposed [[September 13]], 2005 [http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/news05/balexdeath.html])

==See also==
*[[ROCOR and OCA]]

==External links==
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/ Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (Official site, Russian)
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/indexeng.htm/ Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (Official site, English)
*[http://www.roca.org/ ROCA: A collection of Russian Orthodox Materials] (Unofficial site)
*[http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypg.aspx?eccpageID=49&IndexView=toc The Eastern Christian Churches: The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (by Ronald Roberson, CSP, a Roman Catholic priest and scholar)
*[http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/roca_history.aspx History of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad], by St. [[John Maximovitch]]
*[http://gnisios.narod.ru/bisrocor.html Bishops of the ROCOR]
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/articles/svassasobor.htm "Glory be to God, Who Did Not Abandon His Church": The Self-Awareness of ROCOR at the Third All-Diaspora Council of 1974], by Nun Vassa (Larin)


[[Category:Jurisdictions]]

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

2006-05-07T22:51:00Z

Sarisburium: /* External links */

{{diocese|
name=Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia|
jurisdiction=[[Church of Russia|Russia]] (estranged)|
type=Semi-autonomous|
founded=1922|
bishop=[[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Metr. Laurus]]|
see=New York|
hq=New York, New York|
territory=United States, worldwide|
language=[[Church Slavonic]], English, German|
music=[[Russian Chant]]|
calendar=[[Julian Calendar|Julian]]|
population=150,000|
website=[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/ ROCOR]
}}
The '''Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia''' (also called the ''Russian Orthodox Church Abroad'', ''ROCA'', ''ROCOR'', ''the Karlovsty Synod'', or ''the Synod'') is a [[jurisdiction]] of the [[Orthodox Church]] formed in response against the policy of Bolsheviks with respect to religion in the Soviet Union soon after the Russian Revolution.

==History==
===Formation and early years===
In 1920, the Soviet government had revealed that it was quite hostile to the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]]. Saint [[Tikhon of Moscow|Tikhon]], Patriarch of Moscow, issued an ''[[Ukaz No. 362|ukaz]]'' (decree) that all Russian Orthodox Christians abroad currently under the authority and protection of his Patriarchate organize and govern themselves independently of the Mother Church, until such time that the Patriarchate would again be free.

Among most Russian [[bishop]]s and other hierarchs, this was interpreted as an authorization to form an emergency [[synod]] of all Russian Orthodox hierarchs to permit the Church to continue to function outside Russia and provide spiritual care for nearly three million Russian emigres.To add urgency to the synod's motives, in May of 1922, the Soviet government proclaimed its own "[[Living Church]]" as a "reform" of the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]].

On [[September 13]], 1922, Russian Orthodox hierarchs in Serbia gave their blessing to the establishment, in Serbia, of a Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad, the foundation of ROCOR. In November of 1922, Russian Orthodox in North America held a synod and elected Metropolitan [[Platon (Rozhdestvensky) of New York|Platon]] as the primate of an autonomous Russian exarchate in the Americas (also known as the ''Metropolia'', which eventually became the [[Orthodox Church in America]]). Although the hierarchs of the Metropolia participated as full equals in the Synod Abroad, eventually a three-way conflict in the United States erupted between the patriarchal exarchate, ROCOR (sometimes known as "the Synod" in this period), and the [[Living Church]], which asserted that it was the legitimate (i.e., Russian-government-recognized) owner of all Orthodox properties in the USA. (See: [[ROCOR and OCA]])

===The Church of the Refugees (1922-1991)===
{{orthodoxyinamerica}}
In 1927, ROCOR declared "The part of the Russian Church that finds itself abroad considers itself an inseparable, spiritually united branch of the Great Russian Church. It does not separate itself from its Mother Church and does not consider itself autocephalous," indicating that ROCOR considered itself to speak for all of the Russian Orthodox outside of Russia. The Church Abroad also considered itself to be the free voice of the enslaved Mother Church in the Soviet Union.

After the end of World War II, the [[Church of Russia|Patriarchate of Moscow]] broached the possibility of reunification between Moscow and ROCOR, presumably at the behest of the Soviet government, which had adopted a more conciliatory attitude towards religion during the war and was presumably trying to capitalize on its wartime alliances to win a more respectable position internationally. This was not deemed possible at that time by ROCOR, given that Russia was still under communist dictatorship and the Church was still persecuted and controlled by the atheist authorities.

===Holy Transfiguration Monastery and ROCOR===
In the 1960s, ROCOR took under its care [[Holy Transfiguration Monastery (Brookline, Massachusetts)]] (today the principal [[monastery]] of [[HOCNA]]) after the latter had broken communion from the [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]] following sexual abuse scandals regarding the monastery's leadership. At some point later, they gradually assumed responsibility for much of ROCOR's external communications and publications. (The monks of Holy Transfiguration were English-speaking and the ROCOR bishops in America mainly were not.)

It is believed by many that the allegedly sectarian spirit of ROCOR came into its flowering during this time and under the influence of this monastery, which frequently misrepresented the official policies and views of the Synod of Bishops. In the early 1980s the hierarchs of the Synod began to correct and censor the narrow-minded and incorrect views of the followers of Holy Transfiguration Monastery. Subsequently this group broke communion with ROCOR (again regarding allegations of sexual abuse by the monastery's leadership), styling themselves the [[HOCNA|Holy Orthodox Church in North America]] (HOCNA). They became affiliated with the [[True Orthodox Church of Greece]], a Greek Old Calendarist group which broke from the [[Church of Greece]]. According to Fr. Alexey Young (author of ''The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia: A History and Chronology''), the association of ROCOR and Holy Transfiguration Monastery resulted in deep damage to ROCOR.

===After the Soviet Fall===
Since the end of the Soviet Union, ROCOR has maintained its independence from the [[Church of Russia|Moscow Patriarchate]] on the grounds that the Church inside Russia had been unacceptably compromised. Some accusations went so far as to claim that the entire hierarchy within Russia were active KGB agents. ROCOR also attempted to set up missions in post-Soviet Russia, which has not improved relations.

This has not prevented all communication, however. For many years there had been unofficial and warm contacts between the two groups. In 2001, the Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow and ROCOR exchanged formal correspondence. The Muscovite letter held the position that previous and current separation was over purely political matters. ROCOR's response expressed concern over continued Muscovite involvement in [[ecumenism]], which was seen as compromising Moscow's Orthodoxy. Nevertheless, this was far more friendly discourse than had been seen previously.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia continued to establish itself in its homeland. It now has about 100 worshiping communities in Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Currently four bishops oversee these parishes. Two of them broke with Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York|Vitaly]] in New York in April 1994. They founded their own temporary administration called the ''Free Orthodox Church of Russia'' and ordained three additional bishops. They were reconciled in November 1994, and the ordination of the three new bishops was declared invalid. However, some tensions remain.

===Rapprochement with Moscow===
Since the election of Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus]] as First Hierarch of ROCOR in 2001, a steady process of rapprochement has been occurring between ROCOR and the [[Church of Russia|Moscow Patriarchate]]. Multiple official visits have been exchanged between hierarchs and other clergy of both churches, and it is generally believed that the restoration of [[full communion]] is imminent.

In October 2001 Patriarch [[Alexei II (Ridiger) of Moscow|Alexei II]] and the [[Holy Synod]] of the Moscow Patriarchate sent a letter to the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia calling for reconciliation, but without success. However, there was mutal recognition of grace in the sacraments of each church. Then, in November 2003, a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia consisting of three bishops and two priests paid an official visit to the Moscow Patriarchate. This signalled a warming in relations, and in May 2004 for the first time since the foundation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, the First Hierarch of ROCOR, Metropolitan Laurus, visited Moscow and met with Patriarch Alexei. The two church leaders established a joint committee to examine ways to overcome the division between their churches. This committee has now met successfully on several occasions, working out the details of intercommunion between the two Church bodies.

This possibility of rapprochement has led to [[schism]] from ROCOR, taking the self-retired Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York|Vitaly]] (Metropolitan Laurus's predecessor) with it (regarded by many in ROCOR as having been abducted by the schismatics). The resultant body refers to itself as the ''[[Russian Orthodox Church in Exile]]'' (ROCE/ROCiE), though it often still uses the ''ROCOR'' name.

On [[June 21]], 2005, it was announced simultaneously by both the ROCOR and the MP on their respective websites that rapprochement talks were leading toward the resumption of full relations between the ROCOR and the MP and that the ROCOR would be given the status of [[autonomy]].[http://www.mospat.ru/text/e_news/id/9553.html][http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/articles/docs.html]

===ROCOR Today===
ROCOR currently has over 400 [[parish]]es as well as [[monastery|monasteries]] for men and women in 40 countries throughout the world, served by nearly 600 [[priest]]s. In North America, it has approximately 133 parishes in the US and 22 in Canada. There are five ROCOR communities in the United Kingdom and 21 in [[Diocese of Australia and New Zealand (ROCOR)|Australia and New Zealand]]. There are also roughly 100 communities which owe allegiance to ROCOR in Russia and the other nations of the former Soviet Union.

There are five ROCOR monasteries for men and women in North America, the most important and largest of which is [[Holy Trinity Monastery (Jordanville, New York)]], to which is attached ROCOR's seminary, [[Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary (Jordanville, New York)|Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary]].

In concert with the [[Church of Jerusalem]], ROCOR also oversees the [http://www.jerusalem-mission.org/ Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem], headed by Hegumen Andronik (Kotliaroff), which acts as caretaker to three holy sites in Palestine, all of which are monasteries.

==Ecclesiastical Status==
ROCOR is currently still in ambiguously relative [[Eucharist]]ic isolation from much of the Orthodox world, not always exchanging [[full communion]] with the majority of Orthodox [[jurisdiction]]s. It maintains good relations, intercommunion, and [[concelebration]] with the [[Church of Serbia]], the [[Church of Jerusalem]], and the [[Church of Sinai]].

ROCOR's status with regard to [[full communion]] is not entirely clear-cut. There was never a formal declaration of a break in communion made between ROCOR and other Orthodox churches, though in many dioceses [[concelebration]] has been suspended. In others, concelebration is active. A formal declaration of breaking communion with the OCA was issued by the ROCOR Synod after the Moscow Patriarchate issued the Tomos of Autocephaly to the OCA. (See: [[ROCOR and OCA]].) Generally Orthodox Christians from all local Orthodox churches are welcome to the chalice in ROCOR churches. There has never been a declaration from the ROCOR synod that grace does not exist in the [[New Calendar]] jurisdictions, in spite of statements to the contrary by the followers of Holy Transfiguation Monastery in Boston when they were still with the Synod.

ROCOR formerly maintained communion with a few [[Old Calendarist]] jurisdictions, including the [[Holy Synod in Resistance]] (True Orthodox Church of Greece, so-called "Cyprianites"), the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Romania]] (Synod of Metropolitan Vlasie), and the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria]] (Bishop Photii). In recent years, the relationship with the Cyprianite synod has been strained, and ROCOR has reportedly received threatening letters from the synod of Metropolitan Cyprian regarding the rapprochement between ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate, which both Russian bodies regard as an internal matter of the Russian church. Many of the clergy and the faithful of ROCOR believe the Cyprianites to be [[schism]]atics and that [[concelebration]]s with them should be severed, though this attitude does not extend to the Old Calendarist jurisdictions of Romania and Bulgaria.

==The Episcopacy==
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia currently has 13 [[bishop]]s serving 10 [[diocese]]s throughout the world.

Ruling bishops:
* Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus (Skurla)]] of New York and Eastern America, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Ruling Bishop of the Syracuse-Holy Trinity Diocese, ''[[Locum Tenens]]'' of the Eastern part of the Diocese of Montreal and Canada
* Archbishop [[Alypy (Gamanovich) of Chicago and Detroit|Alypy (Gamanovich)]] of Chicago and Detroit
* Archbishop [[Mark (Arndt) of Berlin|Mark (Arndt)]] of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain
* Archbishop [[Hilarion (Kapral) of Sydney|Hilarion (Kapral)]] of Sydney, [[Diocese of Australia and New Zealand (ROCOR)|Australia and New Zealand]]
* Archbishop [[Kyrill (Dmitrieff) of San Francisco|Kyrill (Dmitrieff)]] of San Francisco and Western America, Locum Tenens of the Western part of the Diocese of Montreal and Canada
* Bishop [[Ambroise (Cantacuzène) of Geneva|Ambroise (Cantacuzène)]] of Geneva and Western Europe
* Bishop [[Evtikhii (Kurochkin) of Ishim|Evtikhii (Kurochkin)]] of Ishim and Siberia
* Bishop [[Agafangel (Pashkovsky) of Simferopol|Agafangel (Pashkovsky)]] of Simferopol and Crimea

Vicar bishops:
* Bishop [[Daniel (Alexandrow) of Erie|Daniel (Alexandrow)]] of Erie, Vicar President of the Synod of Bishops for the Old Believers
* Bishop [[Gabriel (Chemodakov) of Manhattan|Gabriel (Chemodakov)]] of Manhattan, Vicar Bishop of the Eastern American and New York Diocese
* Bishop [[Michael (Donskoff) of Boston|Michael (Donskoff)]] of Boston, Vicar of the Eastern American and New York Diocese
* Bishop [[Agapit (Gorachek) of Stuttgart|Agapit (Gorachek)]] of Stuttgart, Vicar of the German Diocese
* Bishop [[Peter (Loukianoff) of Cleveland|Peter (Loukianoff)]] of Cleveland, Vicar of the Chicago Diocese

Former bishops:
* Bishop [[Alexander (Mileant) of Buenos Aires|Alexander (Mileant)]] of Buenos Aires and South America (reposed [[September 13]], 2005 [http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/news05/balexdeath.html])

==See also==
*[[ROCOR and OCA]]

==External links==
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/ Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (Official site, Russian)
*[http://http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/indexeng.htm/ Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (Official site, English)
*[http://www.roca.org/ ROCA: A collection of Russian Orthodox Materials] (Unofficial site)
*[http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypg.aspx?eccpageID=49&IndexView=toc The Eastern Christian Churches: The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (by Ronald Roberson, CSP, a Roman Catholic priest and scholar)
*[http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/roca_history.aspx History of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad], by St. [[John Maximovitch]]
*[http://gnisios.narod.ru/bisrocor.html Bishops of the ROCOR]
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/articles/svassasobor.htm "Glory be to God, Who Did Not Abandon His Church": The Self-Awareness of ROCOR at the Third All-Diaspora Council of 1974], by Nun Vassa (Larin)


[[Category:Jurisdictions]]

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

2006-05-07T22:50:11Z

Sarisburium: /* External links */

{{diocese|
name=Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia|
jurisdiction=[[Church of Russia|Russia]] (estranged)|
type=Semi-autonomous|
founded=1922|
bishop=[[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Metr. Laurus]]|
see=New York|
hq=New York, New York|
territory=United States, worldwide|
language=[[Church Slavonic]], English, German|
music=[[Russian Chant]]|
calendar=[[Julian Calendar|Julian]]|
population=150,000|
website=[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/ ROCOR]
}}
The '''Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia''' (also called the ''Russian Orthodox Church Abroad'', ''ROCA'', ''ROCOR'', ''the Karlovsty Synod'', or ''the Synod'') is a [[jurisdiction]] of the [[Orthodox Church]] formed in response against the policy of Bolsheviks with respect to religion in the Soviet Union soon after the Russian Revolution.

==History==
===Formation and early years===
In 1920, the Soviet government had revealed that it was quite hostile to the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]]. Saint [[Tikhon of Moscow|Tikhon]], Patriarch of Moscow, issued an ''[[Ukaz No. 362|ukaz]]'' (decree) that all Russian Orthodox Christians abroad currently under the authority and protection of his Patriarchate organize and govern themselves independently of the Mother Church, until such time that the Patriarchate would again be free.

Among most Russian [[bishop]]s and other hierarchs, this was interpreted as an authorization to form an emergency [[synod]] of all Russian Orthodox hierarchs to permit the Church to continue to function outside Russia and provide spiritual care for nearly three million Russian emigres.To add urgency to the synod's motives, in May of 1922, the Soviet government proclaimed its own "[[Living Church]]" as a "reform" of the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]].

On [[September 13]], 1922, Russian Orthodox hierarchs in Serbia gave their blessing to the establishment, in Serbia, of a Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad, the foundation of ROCOR. In November of 1922, Russian Orthodox in North America held a synod and elected Metropolitan [[Platon (Rozhdestvensky) of New York|Platon]] as the primate of an autonomous Russian exarchate in the Americas (also known as the ''Metropolia'', which eventually became the [[Orthodox Church in America]]). Although the hierarchs of the Metropolia participated as full equals in the Synod Abroad, eventually a three-way conflict in the United States erupted between the patriarchal exarchate, ROCOR (sometimes known as "the Synod" in this period), and the [[Living Church]], which asserted that it was the legitimate (i.e., Russian-government-recognized) owner of all Orthodox properties in the USA. (See: [[ROCOR and OCA]])

===The Church of the Refugees (1922-1991)===
{{orthodoxyinamerica}}
In 1927, ROCOR declared "The part of the Russian Church that finds itself abroad considers itself an inseparable, spiritually united branch of the Great Russian Church. It does not separate itself from its Mother Church and does not consider itself autocephalous," indicating that ROCOR considered itself to speak for all of the Russian Orthodox outside of Russia. The Church Abroad also considered itself to be the free voice of the enslaved Mother Church in the Soviet Union.

After the end of World War II, the [[Church of Russia|Patriarchate of Moscow]] broached the possibility of reunification between Moscow and ROCOR, presumably at the behest of the Soviet government, which had adopted a more conciliatory attitude towards religion during the war and was presumably trying to capitalize on its wartime alliances to win a more respectable position internationally. This was not deemed possible at that time by ROCOR, given that Russia was still under communist dictatorship and the Church was still persecuted and controlled by the atheist authorities.

===Holy Transfiguration Monastery and ROCOR===
In the 1960s, ROCOR took under its care [[Holy Transfiguration Monastery (Brookline, Massachusetts)]] (today the principal [[monastery]] of [[HOCNA]]) after the latter had broken communion from the [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]] following sexual abuse scandals regarding the monastery's leadership. At some point later, they gradually assumed responsibility for much of ROCOR's external communications and publications. (The monks of Holy Transfiguration were English-speaking and the ROCOR bishops in America mainly were not.)

It is believed by many that the allegedly sectarian spirit of ROCOR came into its flowering during this time and under the influence of this monastery, which frequently misrepresented the official policies and views of the Synod of Bishops. In the early 1980s the hierarchs of the Synod began to correct and censor the narrow-minded and incorrect views of the followers of Holy Transfiguration Monastery. Subsequently this group broke communion with ROCOR (again regarding allegations of sexual abuse by the monastery's leadership), styling themselves the [[HOCNA|Holy Orthodox Church in North America]] (HOCNA). They became affiliated with the [[True Orthodox Church of Greece]], a Greek Old Calendarist group which broke from the [[Church of Greece]]. According to Fr. Alexey Young (author of ''The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia: A History and Chronology''), the association of ROCOR and Holy Transfiguration Monastery resulted in deep damage to ROCOR.

===After the Soviet Fall===
Since the end of the Soviet Union, ROCOR has maintained its independence from the [[Church of Russia|Moscow Patriarchate]] on the grounds that the Church inside Russia had been unacceptably compromised. Some accusations went so far as to claim that the entire hierarchy within Russia were active KGB agents. ROCOR also attempted to set up missions in post-Soviet Russia, which has not improved relations.

This has not prevented all communication, however. For many years there had been unofficial and warm contacts between the two groups. In 2001, the Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow and ROCOR exchanged formal correspondence. The Muscovite letter held the position that previous and current separation was over purely political matters. ROCOR's response expressed concern over continued Muscovite involvement in [[ecumenism]], which was seen as compromising Moscow's Orthodoxy. Nevertheless, this was far more friendly discourse than had been seen previously.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia continued to establish itself in its homeland. It now has about 100 worshiping communities in Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Currently four bishops oversee these parishes. Two of them broke with Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York|Vitaly]] in New York in April 1994. They founded their own temporary administration called the ''Free Orthodox Church of Russia'' and ordained three additional bishops. They were reconciled in November 1994, and the ordination of the three new bishops was declared invalid. However, some tensions remain.

===Rapprochement with Moscow===
Since the election of Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus]] as First Hierarch of ROCOR in 2001, a steady process of rapprochement has been occurring between ROCOR and the [[Church of Russia|Moscow Patriarchate]]. Multiple official visits have been exchanged between hierarchs and other clergy of both churches, and it is generally believed that the restoration of [[full communion]] is imminent.

In October 2001 Patriarch [[Alexei II (Ridiger) of Moscow|Alexei II]] and the [[Holy Synod]] of the Moscow Patriarchate sent a letter to the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia calling for reconciliation, but without success. However, there was mutal recognition of grace in the sacraments of each church. Then, in November 2003, a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia consisting of three bishops and two priests paid an official visit to the Moscow Patriarchate. This signalled a warming in relations, and in May 2004 for the first time since the foundation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, the First Hierarch of ROCOR, Metropolitan Laurus, visited Moscow and met with Patriarch Alexei. The two church leaders established a joint committee to examine ways to overcome the division between their churches. This committee has now met successfully on several occasions, working out the details of intercommunion between the two Church bodies.

This possibility of rapprochement has led to [[schism]] from ROCOR, taking the self-retired Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York|Vitaly]] (Metropolitan Laurus's predecessor) with it (regarded by many in ROCOR as having been abducted by the schismatics). The resultant body refers to itself as the ''[[Russian Orthodox Church in Exile]]'' (ROCE/ROCiE), though it often still uses the ''ROCOR'' name.

On [[June 21]], 2005, it was announced simultaneously by both the ROCOR and the MP on their respective websites that rapprochement talks were leading toward the resumption of full relations between the ROCOR and the MP and that the ROCOR would be given the status of [[autonomy]].[http://www.mospat.ru/text/e_news/id/9553.html][http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/articles/docs.html]

===ROCOR Today===
ROCOR currently has over 400 [[parish]]es as well as [[monastery|monasteries]] for men and women in 40 countries throughout the world, served by nearly 600 [[priest]]s. In North America, it has approximately 133 parishes in the US and 22 in Canada. There are five ROCOR communities in the United Kingdom and 21 in [[Diocese of Australia and New Zealand (ROCOR)|Australia and New Zealand]]. There are also roughly 100 communities which owe allegiance to ROCOR in Russia and the other nations of the former Soviet Union.

There are five ROCOR monasteries for men and women in North America, the most important and largest of which is [[Holy Trinity Monastery (Jordanville, New York)]], to which is attached ROCOR's seminary, [[Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary (Jordanville, New York)|Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary]].

In concert with the [[Church of Jerusalem]], ROCOR also oversees the [http://www.jerusalem-mission.org/ Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem], headed by Hegumen Andronik (Kotliaroff), which acts as caretaker to three holy sites in Palestine, all of which are monasteries.

==Ecclesiastical Status==
ROCOR is currently still in ambiguously relative [[Eucharist]]ic isolation from much of the Orthodox world, not always exchanging [[full communion]] with the majority of Orthodox [[jurisdiction]]s. It maintains good relations, intercommunion, and [[concelebration]] with the [[Church of Serbia]], the [[Church of Jerusalem]], and the [[Church of Sinai]].

ROCOR's status with regard to [[full communion]] is not entirely clear-cut. There was never a formal declaration of a break in communion made between ROCOR and other Orthodox churches, though in many dioceses [[concelebration]] has been suspended. In others, concelebration is active. A formal declaration of breaking communion with the OCA was issued by the ROCOR Synod after the Moscow Patriarchate issued the Tomos of Autocephaly to the OCA. (See: [[ROCOR and OCA]].) Generally Orthodox Christians from all local Orthodox churches are welcome to the chalice in ROCOR churches. There has never been a declaration from the ROCOR synod that grace does not exist in the [[New Calendar]] jurisdictions, in spite of statements to the contrary by the followers of Holy Transfiguation Monastery in Boston when they were still with the Synod.

ROCOR formerly maintained communion with a few [[Old Calendarist]] jurisdictions, including the [[Holy Synod in Resistance]] (True Orthodox Church of Greece, so-called "Cyprianites"), the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Romania]] (Synod of Metropolitan Vlasie), and the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria]] (Bishop Photii). In recent years, the relationship with the Cyprianite synod has been strained, and ROCOR has reportedly received threatening letters from the synod of Metropolitan Cyprian regarding the rapprochement between ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate, which both Russian bodies regard as an internal matter of the Russian church. Many of the clergy and the faithful of ROCOR believe the Cyprianites to be [[schism]]atics and that [[concelebration]]s with them should be severed, though this attitude does not extend to the Old Calendarist jurisdictions of Romania and Bulgaria.

==The Episcopacy==
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia currently has 13 [[bishop]]s serving 10 [[diocese]]s throughout the world.

Ruling bishops:
* Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus (Skurla)]] of New York and Eastern America, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Ruling Bishop of the Syracuse-Holy Trinity Diocese, ''[[Locum Tenens]]'' of the Eastern part of the Diocese of Montreal and Canada
* Archbishop [[Alypy (Gamanovich) of Chicago and Detroit|Alypy (Gamanovich)]] of Chicago and Detroit
* Archbishop [[Mark (Arndt) of Berlin|Mark (Arndt)]] of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain
* Archbishop [[Hilarion (Kapral) of Sydney|Hilarion (Kapral)]] of Sydney, [[Diocese of Australia and New Zealand (ROCOR)|Australia and New Zealand]]
* Archbishop [[Kyrill (Dmitrieff) of San Francisco|Kyrill (Dmitrieff)]] of San Francisco and Western America, Locum Tenens of the Western part of the Diocese of Montreal and Canada
* Bishop [[Ambroise (Cantacuzène) of Geneva|Ambroise (Cantacuzène)]] of Geneva and Western Europe
* Bishop [[Evtikhii (Kurochkin) of Ishim|Evtikhii (Kurochkin)]] of Ishim and Siberia
* Bishop [[Agafangel (Pashkovsky) of Simferopol|Agafangel (Pashkovsky)]] of Simferopol and Crimea

Vicar bishops:
* Bishop [[Daniel (Alexandrow) of Erie|Daniel (Alexandrow)]] of Erie, Vicar President of the Synod of Bishops for the Old Believers
* Bishop [[Gabriel (Chemodakov) of Manhattan|Gabriel (Chemodakov)]] of Manhattan, Vicar Bishop of the Eastern American and New York Diocese
* Bishop [[Michael (Donskoff) of Boston|Michael (Donskoff)]] of Boston, Vicar of the Eastern American and New York Diocese
* Bishop [[Agapit (Gorachek) of Stuttgart|Agapit (Gorachek)]] of Stuttgart, Vicar of the German Diocese
* Bishop [[Peter (Loukianoff) of Cleveland|Peter (Loukianoff)]] of Cleveland, Vicar of the Chicago Diocese

Former bishops:
* Bishop [[Alexander (Mileant) of Buenos Aires|Alexander (Mileant)]] of Buenos Aires and South America (reposed [[September 13]], 2005 [http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/news05/balexdeath.html])

==See also==
*[[ROCOR and OCA]]

==External links==
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/ Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (Official site, Russian)
*[http://http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/indexeng.htm Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (Official site, English)
*[http://www.roca.org/ ROCA: A collection of Russian Orthodox Materials] (Unofficial site)
*[http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypg.aspx?eccpageID=49&IndexView=toc The Eastern Christian Churches: The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (by Ronald Roberson, CSP, a Roman Catholic priest and scholar)
*[http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/roca_history.aspx History of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad], by St. [[John Maximovitch]]
*[http://gnisios.narod.ru/bisrocor.html Bishops of the ROCOR]
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/articles/svassasobor.htm "Glory be to God, Who Did Not Abandon His Church": The Self-Awareness of ROCOR at the Third All-Diaspora Council of 1974], by Nun Vassa (Larin)


[[Category:Jurisdictions]]

Anglican Communion

2005-11-19T14:44:46Z

Sarisburium: member churches are not all corerectly referred to as "national churches". supplemented list of member churches from the list in the "Canons of the C of E", clarified use of Creed without filioque

The '''Anglican Communion''' is a confederation of regional churches, each considered independent, yet sharing [[full communion]] or, in some cases, impaired communion, with one another and the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], who is the spiritual (although not administrative) head of the Communion. The Anglican Communion maintains the traditional three-fold hierarchy of clergy: Bishops, Priests and Deacons. In some member churches, women have been admitted to one or more of these orders, whereas some member churches have maintained an all-male clergy. Beyond the three-fold order the administration and leadership of each regional church is decided by that particular church. In the Church of England, for example, the Queen appoints Bishops. In the Episcopal Church (USA), on the other hand, bishops are elected by diocese and then confirmed by the triennial General Convention, or standing committees of advice in the majority of the diocese (depending on when a bishop-elect is chosen by a diocese).

Of particular interest to Orthodox inquirers is the current [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] the Most Reverend and Right Honourable Rowan Williams, formerly Archbishop of Wales. Dr. Williams, an academic, has written two books on the spirituality of [[iconography]] (''The Dwelling of the Light: Praying With Icons of Christ'' and ''Ponder These Things: Praying With Icons of the Virgin'') and did his doctoral thesis on the theology of Orthodox theologian [[Vladimir Lossky]].

Other major thinkers to come out of the Anglican Communion have been reformers John and Charles Wesley, convert to [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]] Cardinal John Henry Newman, social activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and authors Dorothy Sayers and [[C. S. Lewis]].

==Anglican Theology==

Within Anglicanism there is a wide variety of theological thought. Some Anglicans would be comfortable under the general heading of "Protestant" whereas others would shun this title in favor of "Anglo-Catholic." In actuality, Anglicanism has had a remarkable ability to hold together people of varying views on many theological issues, some of them quite major. Bishop [[Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia]], himself a convert to Orthodoxy from Anglicanism, writes in ''The Orthodox Church'' that "There are individual Anglicans whose faith is virtually indistinguishable from that of an Orthodox; but there are others within the Anglican communion, on the extreme liberal wing, who openly repudiate fundamental elements in the doctrinal and moral teaching of Christianity" (p. 321).

Among the more "orthodox" or conservative Anglican voices have been author and apologist [[C. S. Lewis]] and Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey. On the other hand, Anglicanism has been the home of such extreme liberal theologians as Bishop John Spong, author of ''Why Christianity Must Change or Die''.

All this being noted, however, there are a few things that can be said ''in a general way'' about Anglican beliefs.

First, Anglican doctrine is summed up in "the three historic creeds": The Nicene, The Apostles' ("The Roman Symbol") and the [[Athanasian Creed]] (or "Creed of St. [[Athanasius of Alexandria|Athanasius]] "). On advice from the Anglican-Orthodox Joint Doctrinal Commission, some national Churches have dropped the [[Filioque]] from the Nicene Creed in their liturgies, while others have not. The Church of England, for instance, maintains it in general, but has authorised [http://cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/texts/word/creeds.html a form without it] for use on "suitable ecumenical occasions" - a phrase that has not been further defined, with the result that some parishes use only this form of the Creed. This is also the form which was used at the enthronement of Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury.

Second, the major doctrinal statement of Anglicanism has historically been the '''39 Articles'''. A product of the English Reformation, the Articles are no longer binding on Anglicans, though many traditionalists hold very firmly to them. These, among other things, affirm a belief in the [[Holy Trinity|Trinity]], the [[Incarnation]] and the [[Resurrection]] of [[Jesus Christ|Christ]]. Protestant influence on the articles led to the inclusion of Article VI: "Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man..." This same article, however, contains certain Old Testament books that were rejected by most Protestants at the Reformation, namely the deuterocanonical or "apocryphal" books. Calvinist influences can also be read in the Articles.

Unlike other Protestant bodies, Anglicanism has also maintained belief in the historic seven Sacraments as understood by the Western Church: Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, Penance, Holy Orders, Matrimony and Unction. However, the 39 Articles make the distinction between "two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel" (Baptism and Eucharist) and the other five, which it does not consider necessary.

A traditional means of explaining the way that Anglicans do theology has been called the "Three-Legged Stool". In this approach, Scripture, tradition and reason are the three ways in which Anglicans come to an understanding of the Truth. Classically, Anglicans would explain that Scripture is the prime authority, best interpreted in light of Christian tradition, in a reasonable way. However, the Anglican-Orthodox Joint Doctrinal Commission has stated, "We agree likewise in our view of the fundamental relationship between Scripture and tradition: they are not two sources, but correlative." (article 91)

==History==

Christianity reached England by the middle of the second century. As St [[Bede]] relates in his ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'', in 156 a British King by the name of Lucius wrote to Eleutherus, bishop of Rome, asking to be made a Christian. (Bk 1, Chap 4) With the work of missionaries throughout the first few centuries AD, Christianity spread and took root.

In 596 Pope [[Gregory the Great]] decided to send a mission to the Anglo-Saxons in the British Isles. He chose a to send a group of Benedictine monks, under the leadership of St [[Augustine of Canterbury]] (not to be confused with [[Augustine of Hippo]]). Augustine and his fellow monks arrived in Kent in 597 and eventually a see city was set up in Canterbury, Augustine being the first Archbishop. It is said that that when they arrived they were "carrying a silver cross and an image of Jesus Christ painted on a board, which thus became, so far as we know, 'Canterbury's first icon.'" (''Lesser Feasts and Fasts'' p. 252)

With Augustine and those who came after him, the British Isles were slowly put under the authority of the Church of Rome. As with the rest of the Western Church, this authority increased over the next 500 years.

In the 16th century, as Western Continental Europe was struggling with the Protestant Reformation, the winds of change would eventually sweep England as well. However, as the Continental Reformation would begin in matters of religion and lead to matters of politics, the English Reformation would begin in matters of politics and end in matters of faith.

{{stub}}

==Member Churches==

The regional churches below are all self-governing members of the Anglican Communion. There are Anglicans in other countries, however. In these cases, the parishes are under the jurisdiction of one of the member churches. The "Primates" (head bishops) of each member church meet periodically to discuss matters of faith and discipline. In addition, every 10 years (1988, 1998, etc.) the Anglican bishops from around the world are gathered to Lambeth Palace (home of the Archbishop of Canterbury) for the "Lambeth Conference." The decisions of the Lambeth Conference are seen as advisory, not binding, on the member churches.

''(This list is not exhaustive)''

*The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia
*The Anglican Church of Australia
*A Igreja Episcopal do Brasil
*The Church of the Province of Burundi
*The Anglican Church of Canada
*The Church of the Province of Central Africa
*The Anglican Church of the Central American Region
*The Anglican Church of the Congo
**The Episcopal Church of Cuba
*The Church of England
*Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui
*The Church of North India
*The Church of South India
*The Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean
*The Church of Ireland
*Nippon Sei Ko Kai (Holy Catholic Church in Japan)
*The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East
*The Anglican Church of Kenya
*The Anglican Church of Korea
*The Church of the Province of Melanesia
*La Iglesia Anglicana de México
*The Church of the Province of Myanmar
*The Church of the Province of Nigeria
*The Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea
*The Episcopal Church of the Philippines
*The Church of Pakistan
*The Episcopal Church of Rwanda
*The Lusitanian Church of Portugal
*The Scottish Episcopal Church
*The Church in the Province of South East Asia
*The Church in the Province of Southern Africa
*The Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church
*The Church of Sri Lanka
*The Episcopal Church of the Sudan
*The Church of the Province of Tanzania
*The Church of the Province of Uganda
*[[Episcopal Church U.S.A.|The Episcopal Church in the United States of America]]
*The Church in Wales
*The Church in the Province of West Africa
*The Church in the Province of the West Indies

==Anglican Schisms==

Several times throughout the history of Anglicanism, there have been movements which led to schism. The various resulting bodies have maintained their Anglican heritage to differing degrees. Among these groups are the various Methodist churches, the Reformed Episcopal Church, the Anglican Catholic Church and the Anglican Church in America. Current debates within the Communion regarding the ordination of homosexuals and the church's blessing of same-sex unions threaten further schism.

==Relationship with Orthodox Christians==

===Anglican/Orthodox Organizations===
Largely through the initiative and work of Oxford Movement figure Father John Mason Neale, in 1863 there was formed the '''Anglican and Eastern Churches Association'''. This organization publishes a journal (''Eastern Churches News Letter'')and encourages interaction of Anglican and Orthodox Christians, particularly through encouraging pilgrimages. In 1928 an organization with similar goals, the '''[[Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius]]''' was formed and also publishes a journal (''Sobornost''). In the 1960s an international commission of Orthodox and Anglican clergy and theologians entitled the Anglican-Orthodox Joint Doctrinal Commission was formed and has issued two historic statements which will be addressed below.

===Agreed Statements===
In the 1960s, largely through the ecumenical work of Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey and Patriarch [[Athenagoras I (Spyrou) of Constantinople]], both the Anglican Communion and the Orthodox Churches established commissions to consider Anglican-Orthodox relations. Between 1973 and 1976 an "Anglican-Orthodox Joint Doctrinal Commission" met which led to the '''Moscow Agreed Statement''' which dealt with "the Knowledge of God, the Inspiration and Authority of Holy Scripture, Scripture and Tradition, the Authority of the Councils, the ''Filioque'' Clause, the Church as the Eucharistic Community, and the Invocation of the [[Holy Spirit]] in the Eucharist."

In 1984 the Commission again produced a joint docrinal work entitled the '''Dublin Agreed Statement'''. This one dealt with the Mystery of the Church, the Holy Trinity and worship and tradition.

It is the goal of the Commission to put together another report in 2006, which will include the all of the interim agreements that have been reached since 1989.

At the time of the first agreed statement, the hope of the Commission had been for the eventual reunion of the Anglican and Orthodox Churches. However, in between the two, a major development in Anglicanism changed the direction of the Commission. In 1978 both the [[Episcopal Church U.S.A.]] and the Lambeth Conference put forth positions accepting the ordination of women. This drastically changed the understanding of the Commission. Following the Lambeth Conference in 1978, it had now come to be seen, in the words of co-chairman Archbishop Athanagoras, "simply as an academic and informative exercise, and no longer as an ecclesial endeavour aiming at the union of the two churches."

As there is much theological variation within Anglicanism, Bishop [[Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia]] has explained rightly when he writes, "The Orthodox Church, however deep its longing for reunion, cannot enter into closer relations with the Anglican communion until Anglicans themeselves are clearer about their own beliefs" (Ware, p. 321).

==Current Issues Within Anglicanism==

{{stub}}

==Anglican-Orthodox Resources==

The following resources may be of interest to the Orthodox Christian who wants to know more about Anglicanism, or the Anglican who wants to know more about Orthodoxy.

* ''Anglican-Orthodox Dialogue: The Dublin Agreed Statement 1984'' (ISBN 0881410470)
* Billerbeck, Franklin. ''Anglican-Orthodox Pilgrimage'' (ISBN 0962271357)
* Pinnington, Judith. ''Anglicans and Orthodox: Unity and Subversion (1559-1725)''. Forward by Rowan Williams. (ISBN 0852445776)
* ''St. Andrew Service Book''. Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese, 1996. (This is the service book for the [[Western Rite]] Vicarate, which includes the [[Liturgy of St. Tikhon]] and Matins and Vespers, which are based upon the old Anglican liturgies)
* Williams, Rowan. ''The Dwelling of the Light: Praying With Icons of Christ'' (ISBN 0802827780)
* Williams, Rowan. ''Ponder These Things: Praying With Icons of the Virgin'' (ISBN 1580511244)

==Sources==

*''Anglican-Orthodox Dialogue: The Dublin Agreed Statement 1984''. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1985.
*Bede. ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People.'' New York: Penguin, 1990.
*Bernadin, J.B. ''An Introduction to the Episcopal Church'' (Rev. Ed.). Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse, 1983.
*''The Book of Common Prayer''. New York: Church Hymnal Corporation, 1979.
*''Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2003''. New York: Church Hymnal Corporation, 1993.
*Ware, Timothy. ''The Orthodox Church'' (New Edition). New York: Penguin, 1997.

==External Links==

* [http://www.anglicancommunion.org/ The Anglican Communion Secretariat]
* [http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/ The Episcopal Church USA]
* [http://www.anglicansonline.org/ Anglicans Online]
* [http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/ Official Website of the Archbishop of Canterbury]
* [http://www.sobornost.org/ The Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius]
* [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/pc/orthodoxy/index.html Project Canterbury: Writings on Anglicanism & Orthodoxy]
* [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/pc/nonjurors/langford1.html The Non-Jurors and the Eastern Orthodoxy] by the Rev. H. W. Langford
* [http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/inq_anglican.aspx The Orthodox Christian Information Center: Page for Anglican Inquirers into Orthodoxy]
* [http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/hawaweeny.aspx Pastoral Direction and Instruction on Orthodox/Episcopal Relations and Ministrations in America (1912)] by St. [[Raphael of Brooklyn]]
* [http://www.episcopalchurch.org/6947_9598_ENG_HTM.htm Statement on the Anglican-Orthodox Dialogue from the Episcopal Church Office of Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations]

[[Category:Non-Orthodox]]

Roman Catholic Church

2005-11-19T14:06:21Z

Sarisburium:

The '''Roman Catholic Church''' refers to those churches (including the [[Uniate|Unia]] and other non-Latin rite churches) in communion with the [[Bishop]] of Rome, the [[Pope]]. It also can refer specifically to the bishops under the pope's direct [[jurisdiction]], i.e., the Latin rite. Historically, the [[Church of Rome]] was one of the [[Pentarchy]] and enjoyed communion with the [[Orthodox Church]]. In 1054 a [[Great Schism|schism]] between Rome and the other patriarchal sees resulted from widening differences between Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism. The cause of the schism was initially a dispute over papal authority and the soundness of theology surrounding the term ''[[filioque]]'', a word which was added by the Western churches to the [[Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed|Creed]] without the consent of the Orthodox bishops.

Today, the main differences between the [[Orthodox Church]] and the Roman Catholic Church continue to be the inclusion of ''filioque'' in the Creed (and its concommitant theology of double-procession—that the Spirit proceeds from the Father ''and the Son'') and the scope of papal authority. However, most Orthodox also believe that there is a distinct difference in spirit and attitude, which is expressed in the manner of doing theology as well as concrete differences in pastoral care. Additionally, the Roman Catholic Church has made pronouncements of dogma since the Great Schism (such as the [[Immaculate Conception]] and papal infallibility), and other matters of doctrine (such as original sin), which are regarded as false. These pronouncements, and the theological understanding behind them, present another obstacle to the unity of Catholic and Orthodox.

{{stub}}

''The focus of this article will be on the history and present teaching of the Roman Catholic Church vis a vis the Orthodox Church, rather than a comprehensive article on Roman Catholicism in general.''

''Let's aim for intelligent discussion rather than simple potshots. Polemics are ok as long as they are basically descriptive and take into account the subtleties of controverted issues.''

''[[Uniate]] churches will have their own articles, including a general one on the Unia. They should all link back to this article.''

==History==

==Polemics==

==See also==
* [[Maronite Catholic Church]]
* [[Melkite Greek Church]]

==Sources==
* [http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm Catechism of the Catholic Church] - This is the new standard in Roman Catholic teaching, published with the intent to be the basis for local catechisms around the world.

==External links==
* [http://www.zenit.org Zenit - The World Seen from Rome] - An excellent source of news and reflection for worlds events from a Roman Catholic perspective.

===Orthodox Christians on Roman Catholicism===

[[Category:Non-Orthodox]]

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

2005-10-27T21:52:25Z

Sarisburium: /* Formation and early years */

{{diocese|
name=Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia|
jurisdiction=[[Church of Russia|Russia]] (estranged)|
type=Semi-autonomous|
founded=1922|
bishop=[[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Metr. Laurus]]|
see=New York|
hq=New York, New York|
territory=United States, worldwide|
language=[[Church Slavonic]], English, German|
music=[[Russian Chant]]|
calendar=[[Julian Calendar|Julian]]|
population=150,000|
website=[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/ ROCOR]
}}
The '''Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia''' (also called the ''Russian Orthodox Church Abroad'', ''ROCA'', ''ROCOR'', ''the Karlovsty Synod'', or ''the Synod'') is a [[jurisdiction]] of the [[Orthodox Church]] formed in response against the policy of Bolsheviks with respect to religion in the Soviet Union soon after the Russian Revolution.

==History==
===Formation and early years===
In 1920, the Soviet government had revealed that it was quite hostile to the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]]. Saint [[Tikhon of Moscow|Tikhon]], Patriarch of Moscow, issued an ''[[Ukaz No. 362|ukaz]]'' (decree) that all Russian Orthodox Christians abroad currently under the authority and protection of his Patriarchate organise and govern themselves independently of the Mother Church, until such time that the Patriarchate would again be free.

With this new authorisation, an emergency [[synod]] of all Russian Orthodox hierarchs was formed to permit the Church to continue to function outside Russia and provide spiritual care for nearly three million Russian emigres. To add urgency to the synod's motives, in May of 1922, the Soviet government proclaimed its own "[[Living Church]]" as a "reform" of the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]].

On [[September 13]], 1922, Russian Orthodox hierarchs in Serbia gave their blessing to the establishment, in Serbia, of a Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad, the foundation of ROCOR. In November of 1922, Russian Orthodox in North America held a synod and elected Metropolitan [[Platon (Rozhdestvensky) of New York|Platon]] as the primate of an autonomous Russian exarchate in the Americas (also known as the ''Metropolia'', which eventually became the [[Orthodox Church in America]]). Although the hierarchs of the Metropolia participated as full equals in the Synod Abroad, eventually a three-way conflict in the United States erupted between the patriarchal exarchate, ROCOR (sometimes known as "the Synod" in this period), and the [[Living Church]], which asserted that it was the legitimate (i.e., Russian-government-recognized) owner of all Orthodox properties in the USA. (See: [[ROCOR and OCA]])
[http://www.example.com link title]

===The Church of the Refugees (1922-1991)===
{{orthodoxyinamerica}}
In 1927, ROCOR declared "The part of the Russian Church that finds itself abroad considers itself an inseparable, spiritually united branch of the Great Russian Church. It does not separate itself from its Mother Church and does not consider itself autocephalous," indicating that ROCOR considered itself to speak for all of the Russian Orthodox outside of Russia. The Church Abroad also considered itself to be the free voice of the enslaved Mother Church in the Soviet Union.

After the end of World War II, the [[Church of Russia|Patriarchate of Moscow]] broached the possibility of reunification between Moscow and ROCOR, presumably at the behest of the Soviet government, which had adopted a more conciliatory attitude towards religion during the war and was presumably trying to capitalize on its wartime alliances to win a more respectable position internationally. This was not deemed possible at that time by ROCOR, given that Russia was still under communist dictatorship and the Church was still persecuted and controlled by the atheist authorities.

===Holy Transfiguration Monastery and ROCOR===
In the late 1970s, ROCOR took under its care [[Holy Transfiguration Monastery (Brookline, Massachusetts)]] (today the principal [[monastery]] of [[HOCNA]]) after the latter had broken communion from the [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]] following sexual abuse scandals regarding the monastery's leadership. At some point later, they gradually assumed responsibility for much of ROCOR's external communications and publications. (The monks of Holy Transfiguration were English-speaking and the ROCOR bishops in America mainly were not.)

It is believed by many that the allegedly sectarian spirit of ROCOR came into its flowering during this time and under the influence of this monastery, which frequently misrepresented the official policies and views of the Synod of Bishops. In the early 1980s the hierarchs of the Synod began to correct and censor the narrow-minded and incorrect views of the followers of Holy Transfiguration Monastery. Subsequently this group broke communion with ROCOR (again regarding allegations of sexual abuse by the monastery's leadership), styling themselves the [[Holy Orthodox Church in North America]] (HOCNA). They became affiliated with the [[True Orthodox Church of Greece]], a Greek Old Calendarist group which broke from the [[Church of Greece]]. According to Fr. Alexey Young (author of ''The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia: A History and Chronology''), the association of ROCOR and Holy Transfiguration Monastery resulted in deep damage to ROCOR.

===After the Soviet Fall===
Since the end of the Soviet Union, ROCOR has maintained its independence from the [[Church of Russia|Moscow Patriarchate]] on the grounds that the Church inside Russia had been unacceptably compromised. Some accusations went so far as to claim that the entire hierarchy within Russia were active KGB agents. ROCOR also attempted to set up missions in post-Soviet Russia, which has not improved relations.

This has not prevented all communication, however. For many years there had been unofficial and warm contacts between the two groups. In 2001, the Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow and ROCOR exchanged formal correspondence. The Muscovite letter held the position that previous and current separation was over purely political matters. ROCOR's response expressed concern over continued Muscovite involvement in [[ecumenism]], which was seen as compromising Moscow's Orthodoxy. Nevertheless, this was far more friendly discourse than had been seen previously.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia continued to establish itself in its homeland. It now has about 100 worshiping communities in Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Currently four bishops oversee these parishes. Two of them broke with Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York|Vitaly]] in New York in April 1994. They founded their own temporary administration called the ''Free Orthodox Church of Russia'' and ordained three additional bishops. They were reconciled in November 1994, and the ordination of the three new bishops was declared invalid. However, some tensions remain.

===Rapprochement with Moscow===
Since the election of Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus]] as First Hierarch of ROCOR in 2001, a steady process of rapprochement has been occurring between ROCOR and the [[Church of Russia|Moscow Patriarchate]]. Multiple official visits have been exchanged between hierarchs and other clergy of both churches, and it is generally believed that the restoration of [[full communion]] is imminent.

In October 2001 Patriarch [[Alexei II (Ridiger) of Moscow|Alexei]] and the [[Holy Synod]] of the [[Church of Russia|Moscow Patriarchate]] sent a letter to the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia calling for reconciliation, but without success. However, there was mutal recognition of grace in the sacraments of each church. Then, in November 2003, a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia consisting of three bishops and two priests paid an official visit to the Moscow Patriarchate. This signalled a warming in relations, and in May 2004 for the first time in over 80 years, the First Hierarch of ROCOR, Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus]] visited Moscow and met with Patriarch Alexei. The two church leaders established a joint committee to examine ways to overcome the division between their churches. This committee has now met successfully on several occasions, working out the details of intercommunion between the two Church bodies.

This possibility of rapprochement has led to [[schism]] from ROCOR, taking the self-retired Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York|Vitaly]] (Metropolitan Laurus's predecessor) with it (regarded by many in ROCOR as having been abducted by the schismatics). The resultant body refers to itself as the ''[[Russian Orthodox Church in Exile]]'' (ROCE/ROCiE), though it often still uses the ''ROCOR'' name.

On [[June 21]], 2005, it was announced simultaneously by both the ROCOR and the MP on their respective websites that rapprochement talks were leading toward the resumption of full relations between the ROCOR and the MP and that the ROCOR would be given the status of [[autonomy]].[http://www.mospat.ru/text/e_news/id/9553.html][http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/articles/docs.html]

===ROCOR Today===
ROCOR currently has over 400 [[parish]]es as well as [[monastery|monasteries]] for men and women in 40 countries throughout the world, served by nearly 600 [[priest]]s. In North America, it has approximately 133 parishes in the US and 22 in Canada. There are five ROCOR communities in the United Kingdom and 21 in [[Diocese of Australia and New Zealand (ROCOR)|Australia and New Zealand]]. There are also roughly 100 communities which owe allegiance to ROCOR in Russia and the other nations of the former Soviet Union.

There are five ROCOR monasteries for men and women in North America, the most important and largest of which is [[Holy Trinity Monastery (Jordanville, New York)]], to which is attached ROCOR's seminary, [[Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary (Jordanville, New York)|Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary]].

In concert with the [[Church of Jerusalem]], ROCOR also oversees the [http://www.jerusalem-mission.org/ Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem], headed by Hegumen Andronik (Kotliaroff), which acts as caretaker to three holy sites in Palestine, all of which are monasteries.

==Ecclesiastical Status==
ROCOR is currently still in ambiguously relative [[Eucharist]]ic isolation from much of the Orthodox world, not always exchanging [[full communion]] with the majority of Orthodox [[jurisdictions]]. It maintains good relations, intercommunion, and [[concelebration]] with the [[Church of Serbia]], the [[Church of Jerusalem]], and the [[Church of Sinai]].

ROCOR's status with regard to [[full communion]] is not entirely clear-cut. There was never a formal declaration of a break in communion made between ROCOR and other Orthodox churches, though in many dioceses [[concelebration]] has been suspended. In others, concelebration is active. A formal declaration of breaking communion with the OCA was issued by the ROCOR Synod after the Moscow Patriarchate issued the Tomos of Autocephaly to the OCA. (See: [[ROCOR and OCA]].) Generally Orthodox Christians from all local Orthodox churches are welcome to the chalice in ROCOR churches. There has never been a declaration from the ROCOR synod that grace does not exist in the [[New Calendar]] jurisdictions, in spite of statements to the contrary by the followers of Holy Transfiguation Monastery in Boston when they were still with the Synod.

ROCOR formerly maintained communion with a few [[Old Calendarist]] jurisdictions, including the [[Holy Synod in Resistance]] (True Orthodox Church of Greece, so-called "Cyprianites"), the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Romania]] (Synod of Metropolitan Vlasie), and the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria]] (Bishop Photii). In recent years, the relationship with the Cyprianite synod has been strained, and ROCOR has reportedly received threatening letters from the synod of Metropolitan Cyprian regarding the rapprochement between ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate, which both Russian bodies regard as an internal matter of the Russian church. Many of the clergy and the faithful of ROCOR believe the Cyprianites to be [[schism]]atics and that [[concelebration]]s with them should be severed, though this attitude does not extend to the Old Calendarist jurisdictions of Romania and Bulgaria.

==The Episcopacy==
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia currently has 13 [[bishop]]s serving 10 [[diocese]]s throughout the world.

Ruling bishops:
* Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus (Skurla)]] of New York and Eastern America, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Ruling Bishop of the Syracuse-Holy Trinity Diocese, ''[[Locum Tenens]]'' of the Eastern part of the Diocese of Montreal and Canada
* Archbishop [[Alypy (Gamanovich) of Chicago and Detroit|Alypy (Gamanovich)]] of Chicago and Detroit
* Archbishop [[Mark (Arndt) of Berlin|Mark (Arndt)]] of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain
* Archbishop [[Hilarion (Kapral) of Sydney|Hilarion (Kapral)]] of Sydney, [[Diocese of Australia and New Zealand (ROCOR)|Australia and New Zealand]]
* Archbishop [[Kyrill (Dmitrieff) of San Francisco|Kyrill (Dmitrieff)]] of San Francisco and Western America, Locum Tenens of the Western part of the Diocese of Montreal and Canada
* Bishop [[Ambroise (Cantacuzène) of Geneva|Ambroise (Cantacuzène)]] of Geneva and Western Europe
* Bishop [[Evtikhii (Kurochkin) of Ishim|Evtikhii (Kurochkin)]] of Ishim and Siberia
* Bishop [[Agafangel (Pashkovsky) of Simferopol|Agafangel (Pashkovsky)]] of Simferopol and Crimea

Vicar bishops:
* Bishop [[Daniel (Alexandrow) of Erie|Daniel (Alexandrow)]] of Erie, Vicar President of the Synod of Bishops for the Old Believers
* Bishop [[Gabriel (Chemodakov) of Manhattan|Gabriel (Chemodakov)]] of Manhattan, Vicar Bishop of the Eastern American and New York Diocese
* Bishop [[Michael (Donskoff) of Boston|Michael (Donskoff)]] of Boston, Vicar of the Eastern American and New York Diocese
* Bishop [[Agapit (Gorachek) of Stuttgart|Agapit (Gorachek)]] of Stuttgart, Vicar of the German Diocese
* Bishop [[Peter (Loukianoff) of Cleveland|Peter (Loukianoff)]] of Cleveland, Vicar of the Chicago Diocese

Former bishops:
* Bishop [[Alexander (Mileant) of Buenos Aires|Alexander (Mileant)]] of Buenos Aires and South America (reposed [[September 13]], 2005 [http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/news05/balexdeath.html])

==See also==
*[[ROCOR and OCA]]

==External Links==
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/ Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (Official site, Russian)
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/english/ Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (Official site, English)
*[http://www.roca.org/ ROCA: A collection of Russian Orthodox Materials] (Unofficial site)
*[http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypg.aspx?eccpageID=49&IndexView=toc The Eastern Christian Churches: The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (by Ronald Roberson, CSP, a Roman Catholic priest and scholar)
*[http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/roca_history.aspx History of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad], by St. [[John Maximovitch]]
*[http://gnisios.narod.ru/bisrocor.html Bishops of the ROCOR]

[[Category:Jurisdictions]]

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

2005-10-27T16:35:09Z

Sarisburium: /* Ecclesiastical Status */

{{diocese|
name=Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia|
jurisdiction=[[Church of Russia|Russia]] (estranged)|
type=Semi-autonomous|
founded=1922|
bishop=[[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Metr. Laurus]]|
see=New York|
hq=New York, New York|
territory=United States, worldwide|
language=[[Church Slavonic]], English, German|
music=[[Russian Chant]]|
calendar=[[Julian Calendar|Julian]]|
population=150,000|
website=[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/ ROCOR]
}}
The '''Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia''' (also called the ''Russian Orthodox Church Abroad'', ''ROCA'', ''ROCOR'', ''the Karlovsty Synod'', or ''the Synod'') is a [[jurisdiction]] of the [[Orthodox Church]] formed in response against the policy of Bolsheviks with respect to religion in the Soviet Union soon after the Russian Revolution.

==History==
===Formation and early years===
In 1920, the Soviet government had revealed that it was quite hostile to the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]]. Saint [[Tikhon of Moscow|Tikhon]], Patriarch of Moscow, issued an ''[[Ukaz No. 362|ukaz]]'' (decree) that all Russian Orthodox Christians abroad currently under the authority and protection of his Patriarchate organize and govern themselves independently of the Mother Church, until such time that the Patriarchate would again be free.

Among most Russian [[bishop]]s and other hierarchs, this was interpreted as an authorization to form an emergency [[synod]] of all Russian Orthodox hierarchs to permit the Church to continue to function outside Russia and provide spiritual care for nearly three million Russian emigres.To add urgency to the synod's motives, in May of 1922, the Soviet government proclaimed its own "[[Living Church]]" as a "reform" of the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]].

On [[September 13]], 1922, Russian Orthodox hierarchs in Serbia gave their blessing to the establishment, in Serbia, of a Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad, the foundation of ROCOR. In November of 1922, Russian Orthodox in North America held a synod and elected Metropolitan [[Platon (Rozhdestvensky) of New York|Platon]] as the primate of an autonomous Russian exarchate in the Americas (also known as the ''Metropolia'', which eventually became the [[Orthodox Church in America]]). Although the hierarchs of the Metropolia participated as full equals in the Synod Abroad, eventually a three-way conflict in the United States erupted between the patriarchal exarchate, ROCOR (sometimes known as "the Synod" in this period), and the [[Living Church]], which asserted that it was the legitimate (i.e., Russian-government-recognized) owner of all Orthodox properties in the USA. (See: [[ROCOR and OCA]])

===The Church of the Refugees (1922-1991)===
{{orthodoxyinamerica}}
In 1927, ROCOR declared "The part of the Russian Church that finds itself abroad considers itself an inseparable, spiritually united branch of the Great Russian Church. It does not separate itself from its Mother Church and does not consider itself autocephalous," indicating that ROCOR considered itself to speak for all of the Russian Orthodox outside of Russia. The Church Abroad also considered itself to be the free voice of the enslaved Mother Church in the Soviet Union.

After the end of World War II, the [[Church of Russia|Patriarchate of Moscow]] broached the possibility of reunification between Moscow and ROCOR, presumably at the behest of the Soviet government, which had adopted a more conciliatory attitude towards religion during the war and was presumably trying to capitalize on its wartime alliances to win a more respectable position internationally. This was not deemed possible at that time by ROCOR, given that Russia was still under communist dictatorship and the Church was still persecuted and controlled by the atheist authorities.

===Holy Transfiguration Monastery and ROCOR===
In the late 1970s, ROCOR took under its care [[Holy Transfiguration Monastery (Brookline, Massachusetts)]] (today the principal [[monastery]] of [[HOCNA]]) after the latter had broken communion from the [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]] following sexual abuse scandals regarding the monastery's leadership. At some point later, they gradually assumed responsibility for much of ROCOR's external communications and publications. (The monks of Holy Transfiguration were English-speaking and the ROCOR bishops in America mainly were not.)

It is believed by many that the allegedly sectarian spirit of ROCOR came into its flowering during this time and under the influence of this monastery, which frequently misrepresented the official policies and views of the Synod of Bishops. In the early 1980s the hierarchs of the Synod began to correct and censor the narrow-minded and incorrect views of the followers of Holy Transfiguration Monastery. Subsequently this group broke communion with ROCOR (again regarding allegations of sexual abuse by the monastery's leadership), styling themselves the [[Holy Orthodox Church in North America]] (HOCNA). They became affiliated with the [[True Orthodox Church of Greece]], a Greek Old Calendarist group which broke from the [[Church of Greece]]. According to Fr. Alexey Young (author of ''The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia: A History and Chronology''), the association of ROCOR and Holy Transfiguration Monastery resulted in deep damage to ROCOR.

===After the Soviet Fall===
Since the end of the Soviet Union, ROCOR has maintained its independence from the [[Church of Russia|Patriarchate of Moscow]] on the grounds that the Church inside Russia had been unacceptably compromised. This was heightened when it came to light that many bishops and priests within Russia were active KGB agents. ROCOR also attempted to set up missions in post-Soviet Russia, which has not improved relations.

This has not prevented all communication, however. For many years there had been unofficial and warm contacts between the two groups. In 2001, the Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow and ROCOR exchanged formal correspondence. The Muscovite letter held the position that previous and current separation was over purely political matters. ROCOR's response expressed concern over continued Muscovite involvement in [[ecumenism]], which was seen as compromising Moscow's Orthodoxy. Nevertheless, this was far more friendly discourse than had been seen previously.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia continued to establish itself in its homeland. It now has about 100 worshiping communities in Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Currently four bishops oversee these parishes. Two of them broke with Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York|Vitaly]] in New York in April 1994. They founded their own temporary administration called the ''Free Orthodox Church of Russia'' and ordained three additional bishops. They were reconciled in November 1994, and the ordination of the three new bishops was declared invalid. However, some tensions remain.

===Rapprochement with Moscow===
Since the election of Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus]] as First Hierarch of ROCOR in 2001, a steady process of rapprochement has been occurring between ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate. Multiple official visits have been exchanged between hierarchs and other clergy of both churches, and it is generally believed that the restoration of [[full communion]] is imminent.

In October 2001 Patriarch [[Alexei II (Ridiger) of Moscow|Alexei]] and the [[Holy Synod]] of the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]] sent a letter to the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia calling for reconciliation, but without success. However, there was mutal recognition of grace in the sacraments of each church. Then, in November 2003, a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia consisting of three bishops and two priests paid an official visit to the Moscow Patriarchate. This signalled a warming in relations, and in May 2004 for the first time in over 80 years, the First Hierarch of ROCOR, Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus]] visited Moscow and met with Patriarch Alexei. The two church leaders established a joint committee to examine ways to overcome the division between their churches. This committee has now met successfully on several occasions, working out the details of intercommunion between the two Church bodies.

This possibility of rapprochement has led to [[schism]] from ROCOR, taking the self-retired Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York|Vitaly]] (Metropolitan Laurus's predecessor) with it, him having been abducted by the schismatics. The resultant body refers to itself as the ''[[Russian Orthodox Church in Exile]]'' (ROCiE), though it often still uses the ''ROCOR'' name.

On [[June 21]], 2005, it was announced simultaneously by both the ROCOR and the MP on their respective websites that rapprochement talks were leading toward the resumption of full relations between the ROCOR and the MP and that the ROCOR would be given the status of [[autonomy]].[http://www.mospat.ru/text/e_news/id/9553.html][http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/articles/docs.html]

===ROCOR Today===
ROCOR currently has over 400 [[parish]]es as well as [[monastery|monasteries]] for men and women in 40 countries throughout the world, served by nearly 600 [[priest]]s. In North America, it has approximately 133 parishes in the US and 22 in Canada. There are five ROCOR communities in the United Kingdom and 21 in [[Diocese of Australia and New Zealand (ROCOR)|Australia and New Zealand]]. There are also roughly 100 communities which owe allegiance to ROCOR in Russia and the other nations of the former Soviet Union.

There are five ROCOR monasteries for men and women in North America, the most important and largest of which is [[Holy Trinity Monastery (Jordanville, New York)]], to which is attached ROCOR's seminary, [[Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary (Jordanville, New York)|Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary]].

In concert with the [[Church of Jerusalem]], ROCOR also oversees the [http://www.jerusalem-mission.org/ Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem], headed by Hegumen Andronik (Kotliaroff), which acts as caretaker to three holy sites in Palestine, all of which are monasteries.

==Ecclesiastical Status==
ROCOR is currently still in ambiguously relative [[Eucharist]]ic isolation from much of the Orthodox world, not always exchanging [[full communion]] with the majority of Orthodox [[jurisdictions]]. It maintains good relations, concelebration and inter-communion with the [[Church of Serbia]], the [[Church of Jerusalem]], and the [[Church of Sinai]].

ROCOR's status with regard to [[full communion]] is not entirely clear-cut. There was never a formal declaration of a break in communion made between ROCOR and other Orthodox churches, though in many dioceses [[concelebration]] has been suspended. In others, concelebration is active. A formal declaration of breaking communion with the OCA was issued by the ROCOR Synod after the Moscow Patriarchate issued the Tomos of Autocephaly to the OCA. (See: [[ROCOR and OCA]].) Generally Orthodox Christians from all local Orthodox churches are welcome to the chalice in ROCOR churches. There has never been a declaration from the ROCOR synod that grace does not exist in the [[New Calendar]] jurisdictions, in spite of statements to the contrary by the followers of Holy Transfiguation Monastery in Boston when they were still with the Synod.

ROCOR formerly maintained communion with a few [[Old Calendarist]] jurisdictions, including the [[Holy Synod in Resistance]] (True Orthodox Church of Greece, so-called "Cyprianites"), the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Romania]] (Synod of Metropolitan Vlasie), and the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria]] (Bishop Photii). In recent years, the relationship with the Cyprianite synod has been strained, and ROCOR has reportedly received threatening letters from the synod of Metropolitan Cyprian regarding the rapprochement between ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate, which both Russian bodies regard as an internal matter of the Russian church. Many of the clergy and the faithful of ROCOR believe the Cyprianites to be [[schism]]atics and that [[concelebration]]s with them should be severed, though this attitude does not extend to the Old Calendarist jurisdictions of Romania and Bulgaria.

==The Episcopacy==
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia currently has 13 [[bishop]]s serving 10 [[diocese]]s throughout the world.

Ruling bishops:
* Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus (Skurla)]] of New York and Eastern America, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Ruling Bishop of the Syracuse-Holy Trinity Diocese, ''[[Locum Tenens]]'' of the Eastern part of the Diocese of Montreal and Canada
* Archbishop [[Alypy (Gamanovich) of Chicago and Detroit|Alypy (Gamanovich)]] of Chicago and Detroit
* Archbishop [[Mark (Arndt) of Berlin|Mark (Arndt)]] of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain
* Archbishop [[Hilarion (Kapral) of Sydney|Hilarion (Kapral)]] of Sydney, [[Diocese of Australia and New Zealand (ROCOR)|Australia and New Zealand]]
* Archbishop [[Kyrill (Dmitrieff) of San Francisco|Kyrill (Dmitrieff)]] of San Francisco and Western America, Locum Tenens of the Western part of the Diocese of Montreal and Canada
* Bishop [[Ambroise (Cantacuzène) of Geneva|Ambroise (Cantacuzène)]] of Geneva and Western Europe
* Bishop [[Evtikhii (Kurochkin) of Ishim|Evtikhii (Kurochkin)]] of Ishim and Siberia
* Bishop [[Agafangel (Pashkovsky) of Simferopol|Agafangel (Pashkovsky)]] of Simferopol and Crimea

Vicar bishops:
* Bishop [[Daniel (Alexandrow) of Erie|Daniel (Alexandrow)]] of Erie, Vicar President of the Synod of Bishops for the Old Believers
* Bishop [[Gabriel (Chemodakov) of Manhattan|Gabriel (Chemodakov)]] of Manhattan, Vicar Bishop of the Eastern American and New York Diocese
* Bishop [[Michael (Donskoff) of Boston|Michael (Donskoff)]] of Boston, Vicar of the Eastern American and New York Diocese
* Bishop [[Agapit (Gorachek) of Stuttgart|Agapit (Gorachek)]] of Stuttgart, Vicar of the German Diocese
* Bishop [[Peter (Loukianoff) of Cleveland|Peter (Loukianoff)]] of Cleveland, Vicar of the Chicago Diocese

Former bishops:
* Bishop [[Alexander (Mileant) of Buenos Aires|Alexander (Mileant)]] of Buenos Aires and South America (reposed [[September 13]], 2005 [http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/news05/balexdeath.html])

==See also==
*[[ROCOR and OCA]]

==External Links==
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/ Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (Official site, Russian)
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/english/ Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (Official site, English)
*[http://www.roca.org/ ROCA: A collection of Russian Orthodox Materials] (Unofficial site)
*[http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypg.aspx?eccpageID=49&IndexView=toc The Eastern Christian Churches: The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (by Ronald Roberson, CSP, a Roman Catholic priest and scholar)
*[http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/roca_history.aspx History of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad], by St. [[John Maximovitch]]
*[http://gnisios.narod.ru/bisrocor.html Bishops of the ROCOR]

[[Category:Jurisdictions]]

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

2005-10-27T16:31:54Z

Sarisburium: /* Rapprochement with Moscow */

{{diocese|
name=Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia|
jurisdiction=[[Church of Russia|Russia]] (estranged)|
type=Semi-autonomous|
founded=1922|
bishop=[[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Metr. Laurus]]|
see=New York|
hq=New York, New York|
territory=United States, worldwide|
language=[[Church Slavonic]], English, German|
music=[[Russian Chant]]|
calendar=[[Julian Calendar|Julian]]|
population=150,000|
website=[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/ ROCOR]
}}
The '''Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia''' (also called the ''Russian Orthodox Church Abroad'', ''ROCA'', ''ROCOR'', ''the Karlovsty Synod'', or ''the Synod'') is a [[jurisdiction]] of the [[Orthodox Church]] formed in response against the policy of Bolsheviks with respect to religion in the Soviet Union soon after the Russian Revolution.

==History==
===Formation and early years===
In 1920, the Soviet government had revealed that it was quite hostile to the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]]. Saint [[Tikhon of Moscow|Tikhon]], Patriarch of Moscow, issued an ''[[Ukaz No. 362|ukaz]]'' (decree) that all Russian Orthodox Christians abroad currently under the authority and protection of his Patriarchate organize and govern themselves independently of the Mother Church, until such time that the Patriarchate would again be free.

Among most Russian [[bishop]]s and other hierarchs, this was interpreted as an authorization to form an emergency [[synod]] of all Russian Orthodox hierarchs to permit the Church to continue to function outside Russia and provide spiritual care for nearly three million Russian emigres.To add urgency to the synod's motives, in May of 1922, the Soviet government proclaimed its own "[[Living Church]]" as a "reform" of the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]].

On [[September 13]], 1922, Russian Orthodox hierarchs in Serbia gave their blessing to the establishment, in Serbia, of a Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad, the foundation of ROCOR. In November of 1922, Russian Orthodox in North America held a synod and elected Metropolitan [[Platon (Rozhdestvensky) of New York|Platon]] as the primate of an autonomous Russian exarchate in the Americas (also known as the ''Metropolia'', which eventually became the [[Orthodox Church in America]]). Although the hierarchs of the Metropolia participated as full equals in the Synod Abroad, eventually a three-way conflict in the United States erupted between the patriarchal exarchate, ROCOR (sometimes known as "the Synod" in this period), and the [[Living Church]], which asserted that it was the legitimate (i.e., Russian-government-recognized) owner of all Orthodox properties in the USA. (See: [[ROCOR and OCA]])

===The Church of the Refugees (1922-1991)===
{{orthodoxyinamerica}}
In 1927, ROCOR declared "The part of the Russian Church that finds itself abroad considers itself an inseparable, spiritually united branch of the Great Russian Church. It does not separate itself from its Mother Church and does not consider itself autocephalous," indicating that ROCOR considered itself to speak for all of the Russian Orthodox outside of Russia. The Church Abroad also considered itself to be the free voice of the enslaved Mother Church in the Soviet Union.

After the end of World War II, the [[Church of Russia|Patriarchate of Moscow]] broached the possibility of reunification between Moscow and ROCOR, presumably at the behest of the Soviet government, which had adopted a more conciliatory attitude towards religion during the war and was presumably trying to capitalize on its wartime alliances to win a more respectable position internationally. This was not deemed possible at that time by ROCOR, given that Russia was still under communist dictatorship and the Church was still persecuted and controlled by the atheist authorities.

===Holy Transfiguration Monastery and ROCOR===
In the late 1970s, ROCOR took under its care [[Holy Transfiguration Monastery (Brookline, Massachusetts)]] (today the principal [[monastery]] of [[HOCNA]]) after the latter had broken communion from the [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]] following sexual abuse scandals regarding the monastery's leadership. At some point later, they gradually assumed responsibility for much of ROCOR's external communications and publications. (The monks of Holy Transfiguration were English-speaking and the ROCOR bishops in America mainly were not.)

It is believed by many that the allegedly sectarian spirit of ROCOR came into its flowering during this time and under the influence of this monastery, which frequently misrepresented the official policies and views of the Synod of Bishops. In the early 1980s the hierarchs of the Synod began to correct and censor the narrow-minded and incorrect views of the followers of Holy Transfiguration Monastery. Subsequently this group broke communion with ROCOR (again regarding allegations of sexual abuse by the monastery's leadership), styling themselves the [[Holy Orthodox Church in North America]] (HOCNA). They became affiliated with the [[True Orthodox Church of Greece]], a Greek Old Calendarist group which broke from the [[Church of Greece]]. According to Fr. Alexey Young (author of ''The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia: A History and Chronology''), the association of ROCOR and Holy Transfiguration Monastery resulted in deep damage to ROCOR.

===After the Soviet Fall===
Since the end of the Soviet Union, ROCOR has maintained its independence from the [[Church of Russia|Patriarchate of Moscow]] on the grounds that the Church inside Russia had been unacceptably compromised. This was heightened when it came to light that many bishops and priests within Russia were active KGB agents. ROCOR also attempted to set up missions in post-Soviet Russia, which has not improved relations.

This has not prevented all communication, however. For many years there had been unofficial and warm contacts between the two groups. In 2001, the Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow and ROCOR exchanged formal correspondence. The Muscovite letter held the position that previous and current separation was over purely political matters. ROCOR's response expressed concern over continued Muscovite involvement in [[ecumenism]], which was seen as compromising Moscow's Orthodoxy. Nevertheless, this was far more friendly discourse than had been seen previously.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia continued to establish itself in its homeland. It now has about 100 worshiping communities in Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Currently four bishops oversee these parishes. Two of them broke with Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York|Vitaly]] in New York in April 1994. They founded their own temporary administration called the ''Free Orthodox Church of Russia'' and ordained three additional bishops. They were reconciled in November 1994, and the ordination of the three new bishops was declared invalid. However, some tensions remain.

===Rapprochement with Moscow===
Since the election of Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus]] as First Hierarch of ROCOR in 2001, a steady process of rapprochement has been occurring between ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate. Multiple official visits have been exchanged between hierarchs and other clergy of both churches, and it is generally believed that the restoration of [[full communion]] is imminent.

In October 2001 Patriarch [[Alexei II (Ridiger) of Moscow|Alexei]] and the [[Holy Synod]] of the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]] sent a letter to the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia calling for reconciliation, but without success. However, there was mutal recognition of grace in the sacraments of each church. Then, in November 2003, a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia consisting of three bishops and two priests paid an official visit to the Moscow Patriarchate. This signalled a warming in relations, and in May 2004 for the first time in over 80 years, the First Hierarch of ROCOR, Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus]] visited Moscow and met with Patriarch Alexei. The two church leaders established a joint committee to examine ways to overcome the division between their churches. This committee has now met successfully on several occasions, working out the details of intercommunion between the two Church bodies.

This possibility of rapprochement has led to [[schism]] from ROCOR, taking the self-retired Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York|Vitaly]] (Metropolitan Laurus's predecessor) with it, him having been abducted by the schismatics. The resultant body refers to itself as the ''[[Russian Orthodox Church in Exile]]'' (ROCiE), though it often still uses the ''ROCOR'' name.

On [[June 21]], 2005, it was announced simultaneously by both the ROCOR and the MP on their respective websites that rapprochement talks were leading toward the resumption of full relations between the ROCOR and the MP and that the ROCOR would be given the status of [[autonomy]].[http://www.mospat.ru/text/e_news/id/9553.html][http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/articles/docs.html]

===ROCOR Today===
ROCOR currently has over 400 [[parish]]es as well as [[monastery|monasteries]] for men and women in 40 countries throughout the world, served by nearly 600 [[priest]]s. In North America, it has approximately 133 parishes in the US and 22 in Canada. There are five ROCOR communities in the United Kingdom and 21 in [[Diocese of Australia and New Zealand (ROCOR)|Australia and New Zealand]]. There are also roughly 100 communities which owe allegiance to ROCOR in Russia and the other nations of the former Soviet Union.

There are five ROCOR monasteries for men and women in North America, the most important and largest of which is [[Holy Trinity Monastery (Jordanville, New York)]], to which is attached ROCOR's seminary, [[Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary (Jordanville, New York)|Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary]].

In concert with the [[Church of Jerusalem]], ROCOR also oversees the [http://www.jerusalem-mission.org/ Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem], headed by Hegumen Andronik (Kotliaroff), which acts as caretaker to three holy sites in Palestine, all of which are monasteries.

==Ecclesiastical Status==
ROCOR is currently still in ambiguously relative [[Eucharist]]ic isolation from much of the Orthodox world, not always exchanging [[full communion]] with the majority of Orthodox [[jurisdictions]]. It maintains good relations, intercommunion, and concelebration with the [[Church of Serbia]], the [[Church of Jerusalem]], and the [[Church of Sinai]].

ROCOR's status with regard to [[full communion]] is not entirely clear-cut. There was never a formal declaration of a break in communion made between ROCOR and other Orthodox churches, though in many dioceses [[concelebration]] has been suspended. In others, concelebration is active. A formal declaration of breaking communion with the OCA was issued by the ROCOR Synod after the Moscow Patriarchate issued the Tomos of Autocephaly to the OCA. (See: [[ROCOR and OCA]].) Generally Orthodox Christians from all local Orthodox churches are welcome to the chalice in ROCOR churches. There has never been a declaration from the ROCOR synod that grace does not exist in the [[New Calendar]] jurisdictions, in spite of statements to the contrary by the followers of Holy Transfiguation Monastery in Boston when they were still with the Synod.

ROCOR formerly maintained communion with a few [[Old Calendarist]] jurisdictions, including the [[Holy Synod in Resistance]] (True Orthodox Church of Greece, so-called "Cyprianites"), the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Romania]] (Synod of Metropolitan Vlasie), and the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria]] (Bishop Photii). In recent years, the relationship with the Cyprianite synod has been strained, and ROCOR has reportedly received threatening letters from the synod of Metropolitan Cyprian regarding the rapprochement between ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate, which both Russian bodies regard as an internal matter of the Russian church. Many of the clergy and the faithful of ROCOR believe the Cyprianites to be [[schism]]atics and that [[concelebration]]s with them should be severed, though this attitude does not extend to the Old Calendarist jurisdictions of Romania and Bulgaria.

==The Episcopacy==
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia currently has 13 [[bishop]]s serving 10 [[diocese]]s throughout the world.

Ruling bishops:
* Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus (Skurla)]] of New York and Eastern America, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Ruling Bishop of the Syracuse-Holy Trinity Diocese, ''[[Locum Tenens]]'' of the Eastern part of the Diocese of Montreal and Canada
* Archbishop [[Alypy (Gamanovich) of Chicago and Detroit|Alypy (Gamanovich)]] of Chicago and Detroit
* Archbishop [[Mark (Arndt) of Berlin|Mark (Arndt)]] of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain
* Archbishop [[Hilarion (Kapral) of Sydney|Hilarion (Kapral)]] of Sydney, [[Diocese of Australia and New Zealand (ROCOR)|Australia and New Zealand]]
* Archbishop [[Kyrill (Dmitrieff) of San Francisco|Kyrill (Dmitrieff)]] of San Francisco and Western America, Locum Tenens of the Western part of the Diocese of Montreal and Canada
* Bishop [[Ambroise (Cantacuzène) of Geneva|Ambroise (Cantacuzène)]] of Geneva and Western Europe
* Bishop [[Evtikhii (Kurochkin) of Ishim|Evtikhii (Kurochkin)]] of Ishim and Siberia
* Bishop [[Agafangel (Pashkovsky) of Simferopol|Agafangel (Pashkovsky)]] of Simferopol and Crimea

Vicar bishops:
* Bishop [[Daniel (Alexandrow) of Erie|Daniel (Alexandrow)]] of Erie, Vicar President of the Synod of Bishops for the Old Believers
* Bishop [[Gabriel (Chemodakov) of Manhattan|Gabriel (Chemodakov)]] of Manhattan, Vicar Bishop of the Eastern American and New York Diocese
* Bishop [[Michael (Donskoff) of Boston|Michael (Donskoff)]] of Boston, Vicar of the Eastern American and New York Diocese
* Bishop [[Agapit (Gorachek) of Stuttgart|Agapit (Gorachek)]] of Stuttgart, Vicar of the German Diocese
* Bishop [[Peter (Loukianoff) of Cleveland|Peter (Loukianoff)]] of Cleveland, Vicar of the Chicago Diocese

Former bishops:
* Bishop [[Alexander (Mileant) of Buenos Aires|Alexander (Mileant)]] of Buenos Aires and South America (reposed [[September 13]], 2005 [http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/news05/balexdeath.html])

==See also==
*[[ROCOR and OCA]]

==External Links==
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/ Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (Official site, Russian)
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/english/ Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (Official site, English)
*[http://www.roca.org/ ROCA: A collection of Russian Orthodox Materials] (Unofficial site)
*[http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypg.aspx?eccpageID=49&IndexView=toc The Eastern Christian Churches: The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (by Ronald Roberson, CSP, a Roman Catholic priest and scholar)
*[http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/roca_history.aspx History of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad], by St. [[John Maximovitch]]
*[http://gnisios.narod.ru/bisrocor.html Bishops of the ROCOR]

[[Category:Jurisdictions]]

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

2005-10-27T16:28:14Z

Sarisburium: /* After the Soviet Fall */

{{diocese|
name=Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia|
jurisdiction=[[Church of Russia|Russia]] (estranged)|
type=Semi-autonomous|
founded=1922|
bishop=[[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Metr. Laurus]]|
see=New York|
hq=New York, New York|
territory=United States, worldwide|
language=[[Church Slavonic]], English, German|
music=[[Russian Chant]]|
calendar=[[Julian Calendar|Julian]]|
population=150,000|
website=[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/ ROCOR]
}}
The '''Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia''' (also called the ''Russian Orthodox Church Abroad'', ''ROCA'', ''ROCOR'', ''the Karlovsty Synod'', or ''the Synod'') is a [[jurisdiction]] of the [[Orthodox Church]] formed in response against the policy of Bolsheviks with respect to religion in the Soviet Union soon after the Russian Revolution.

==History==
===Formation and early years===
In 1920, the Soviet government had revealed that it was quite hostile to the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]]. Saint [[Tikhon of Moscow|Tikhon]], Patriarch of Moscow, issued an ''[[Ukaz No. 362|ukaz]]'' (decree) that all Russian Orthodox Christians abroad currently under the authority and protection of his Patriarchate organize and govern themselves independently of the Mother Church, until such time that the Patriarchate would again be free.

Among most Russian [[bishop]]s and other hierarchs, this was interpreted as an authorization to form an emergency [[synod]] of all Russian Orthodox hierarchs to permit the Church to continue to function outside Russia and provide spiritual care for nearly three million Russian emigres.To add urgency to the synod's motives, in May of 1922, the Soviet government proclaimed its own "[[Living Church]]" as a "reform" of the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]].

On [[September 13]], 1922, Russian Orthodox hierarchs in Serbia gave their blessing to the establishment, in Serbia, of a Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad, the foundation of ROCOR. In November of 1922, Russian Orthodox in North America held a synod and elected Metropolitan [[Platon (Rozhdestvensky) of New York|Platon]] as the primate of an autonomous Russian exarchate in the Americas (also known as the ''Metropolia'', which eventually became the [[Orthodox Church in America]]). Although the hierarchs of the Metropolia participated as full equals in the Synod Abroad, eventually a three-way conflict in the United States erupted between the patriarchal exarchate, ROCOR (sometimes known as "the Synod" in this period), and the [[Living Church]], which asserted that it was the legitimate (i.e., Russian-government-recognized) owner of all Orthodox properties in the USA. (See: [[ROCOR and OCA]])

===The Church of the Refugees (1922-1991)===
{{orthodoxyinamerica}}
In 1927, ROCOR declared "The part of the Russian Church that finds itself abroad considers itself an inseparable, spiritually united branch of the Great Russian Church. It does not separate itself from its Mother Church and does not consider itself autocephalous," indicating that ROCOR considered itself to speak for all of the Russian Orthodox outside of Russia. The Church Abroad also considered itself to be the free voice of the enslaved Mother Church in the Soviet Union.

After the end of World War II, the [[Church of Russia|Patriarchate of Moscow]] broached the possibility of reunification between Moscow and ROCOR, presumably at the behest of the Soviet government, which had adopted a more conciliatory attitude towards religion during the war and was presumably trying to capitalize on its wartime alliances to win a more respectable position internationally. This was not deemed possible at that time by ROCOR, given that Russia was still under communist dictatorship and the Church was still persecuted and controlled by the atheist authorities.

===Holy Transfiguration Monastery and ROCOR===
In the late 1970s, ROCOR took under its care [[Holy Transfiguration Monastery (Brookline, Massachusetts)]] (today the principal [[monastery]] of [[HOCNA]]) after the latter had broken communion from the [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]] following sexual abuse scandals regarding the monastery's leadership. At some point later, they gradually assumed responsibility for much of ROCOR's external communications and publications. (The monks of Holy Transfiguration were English-speaking and the ROCOR bishops in America mainly were not.)

It is believed by many that the allegedly sectarian spirit of ROCOR came into its flowering during this time and under the influence of this monastery, which frequently misrepresented the official policies and views of the Synod of Bishops. In the early 1980s the hierarchs of the Synod began to correct and censor the narrow-minded and incorrect views of the followers of Holy Transfiguration Monastery. Subsequently this group broke communion with ROCOR (again regarding allegations of sexual abuse by the monastery's leadership), styling themselves the [[Holy Orthodox Church in North America]] (HOCNA). They became affiliated with the [[True Orthodox Church of Greece]], a Greek Old Calendarist group which broke from the [[Church of Greece]]. According to Fr. Alexey Young (author of ''The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia: A History and Chronology''), the association of ROCOR and Holy Transfiguration Monastery resulted in deep damage to ROCOR.

===After the Soviet Fall===
Since the end of the Soviet Union, ROCOR has maintained its independence from the [[Church of Russia|Patriarchate of Moscow]] on the grounds that the Church inside Russia had been unacceptably compromised. This was heightened when it came to light that many bishops and priests within Russia were active KGB agents. ROCOR also attempted to set up missions in post-Soviet Russia, which has not improved relations.

This has not prevented all communication, however. For many years there had been unofficial and warm contacts between the two groups. In 2001, the Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow and ROCOR exchanged formal correspondence. The Muscovite letter held the position that previous and current separation was over purely political matters. ROCOR's response expressed concern over continued Muscovite involvement in [[ecumenism]], which was seen as compromising Moscow's Orthodoxy. Nevertheless, this was far more friendly discourse than had been seen previously.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia continued to establish itself in its homeland. It now has about 100 worshiping communities in Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Currently four bishops oversee these parishes. Two of them broke with Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York|Vitaly]] in New York in April 1994. They founded their own temporary administration called the ''Free Orthodox Church of Russia'' and ordained three additional bishops. They were reconciled in November 1994, and the ordination of the three new bishops was declared invalid. However, some tensions remain.

===Rapprochement with Moscow===
Since the election of Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus]] as First Hierarch of ROCOR in 2001, a steady process of rapprochement has been occurring between ROCOR and the [[Church of Russia]]. Multiple official visits have been exchanged between hierarchs and other clergy of both churches, and it is generally believed that the restoration of [[full communion]] is imminent.

In October 2001 Patriarch [[Alexei II (Ridiger) of Moscow|Alexei]] and the [[Holy Synod]] of the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]] sent a letter to the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia calling for reconciliation, but without success. However, there was mutal recognition of grace in the sacraments of each church. Then, in November 2003, a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia consisting of three bishops and two priests paid an official visit to the Moscow Patriarchate. This signalled a warming in relations, and in May 2004 for the first time in over 80 years, the First Hierarch of ROCOR, Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus]] visited Moscow and met with Patriarch Alexei. The two church leaders established a joint committee to examine ways to overcome the division between their churches. This committee has now met successfully on several occasions, working out the details of intercommunion between the two Church bodies.

This possibility of rapprochement has led to [[schism]] from ROCOR, taking the self-retired Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York|Vitaly]] (Metropolitan Laurus's predecessor) with it (regarded by many in ROCOR as having been abducted by the schismatics). The resultant body refers to itself as the ''[[Russian Orthodox Church in Exile]]'' (ROCE), though it often still uses the ''ROCOR'' name.

On [[June 21]], 2005, it was announced simultaneously by both the ROCOR and the MP on their respective websites that rapprochement talks were leading toward the resumption of full relations between the ROCOR and the MP and that the ROCOR would be given the status of [[autonomy]].[http://www.mospat.ru/text/e_news/id/9553.html][http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/articles/docs.html]

===ROCOR Today===
ROCOR currently has over 400 [[parish]]es as well as [[monastery|monasteries]] for men and women in 40 countries throughout the world, served by nearly 600 [[priest]]s. In North America, it has approximately 133 parishes in the US and 22 in Canada. There are five ROCOR communities in the United Kingdom and 21 in [[Diocese of Australia and New Zealand (ROCOR)|Australia and New Zealand]]. There are also roughly 100 communities which owe allegiance to ROCOR in Russia and the other nations of the former Soviet Union.

There are five ROCOR monasteries for men and women in North America, the most important and largest of which is [[Holy Trinity Monastery (Jordanville, New York)]], to which is attached ROCOR's seminary, [[Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary (Jordanville, New York)|Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary]].

In concert with the [[Church of Jerusalem]], ROCOR also oversees the [http://www.jerusalem-mission.org/ Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem], headed by Hegumen Andronik (Kotliaroff), which acts as caretaker to three holy sites in Palestine, all of which are monasteries.

==Ecclesiastical Status==
ROCOR is currently still in ambiguously relative [[Eucharist]]ic isolation from much of the Orthodox world, not always exchanging [[full communion]] with the majority of Orthodox [[jurisdictions]]. It maintains good relations, intercommunion, and concelebration with the [[Church of Serbia]], the [[Church of Jerusalem]], and the [[Church of Sinai]].

ROCOR's status with regard to [[full communion]] is not entirely clear-cut. There was never a formal declaration of a break in communion made between ROCOR and other Orthodox churches, though in many dioceses [[concelebration]] has been suspended. In others, concelebration is active. A formal declaration of breaking communion with the OCA was issued by the ROCOR Synod after the Moscow Patriarchate issued the Tomos of Autocephaly to the OCA. (See: [[ROCOR and OCA]].) Generally Orthodox Christians from all local Orthodox churches are welcome to the chalice in ROCOR churches. There has never been a declaration from the ROCOR synod that grace does not exist in the [[New Calendar]] jurisdictions, in spite of statements to the contrary by the followers of Holy Transfiguation Monastery in Boston when they were still with the Synod.

ROCOR formerly maintained communion with a few [[Old Calendarist]] jurisdictions, including the [[Holy Synod in Resistance]] (True Orthodox Church of Greece, so-called "Cyprianites"), the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Romania]] (Synod of Metropolitan Vlasie), and the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria]] (Bishop Photii). In recent years, the relationship with the Cyprianite synod has been strained, and ROCOR has reportedly received threatening letters from the synod of Metropolitan Cyprian regarding the rapprochement between ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate, which both Russian bodies regard as an internal matter of the Russian church. Many of the clergy and the faithful of ROCOR believe the Cyprianites to be [[schism]]atics and that [[concelebration]]s with them should be severed, though this attitude does not extend to the Old Calendarist jurisdictions of Romania and Bulgaria.

==The Episcopacy==
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia currently has 13 [[bishop]]s serving 10 [[diocese]]s throughout the world.

Ruling bishops:
* Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus (Skurla)]] of New York and Eastern America, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Ruling Bishop of the Syracuse-Holy Trinity Diocese, ''[[Locum Tenens]]'' of the Eastern part of the Diocese of Montreal and Canada
* Archbishop [[Alypy (Gamanovich) of Chicago and Detroit|Alypy (Gamanovich)]] of Chicago and Detroit
* Archbishop [[Mark (Arndt) of Berlin|Mark (Arndt)]] of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain
* Archbishop [[Hilarion (Kapral) of Sydney|Hilarion (Kapral)]] of Sydney, [[Diocese of Australia and New Zealand (ROCOR)|Australia and New Zealand]]
* Archbishop [[Kyrill (Dmitrieff) of San Francisco|Kyrill (Dmitrieff)]] of San Francisco and Western America, Locum Tenens of the Western part of the Diocese of Montreal and Canada
* Bishop [[Ambroise (Cantacuzène) of Geneva|Ambroise (Cantacuzène)]] of Geneva and Western Europe
* Bishop [[Evtikhii (Kurochkin) of Ishim|Evtikhii (Kurochkin)]] of Ishim and Siberia
* Bishop [[Agafangel (Pashkovsky) of Simferopol|Agafangel (Pashkovsky)]] of Simferopol and Crimea

Vicar bishops:
* Bishop [[Daniel (Alexandrow) of Erie|Daniel (Alexandrow)]] of Erie, Vicar President of the Synod of Bishops for the Old Believers
* Bishop [[Gabriel (Chemodakov) of Manhattan|Gabriel (Chemodakov)]] of Manhattan, Vicar Bishop of the Eastern American and New York Diocese
* Bishop [[Michael (Donskoff) of Boston|Michael (Donskoff)]] of Boston, Vicar of the Eastern American and New York Diocese
* Bishop [[Agapit (Gorachek) of Stuttgart|Agapit (Gorachek)]] of Stuttgart, Vicar of the German Diocese
* Bishop [[Peter (Loukianoff) of Cleveland|Peter (Loukianoff)]] of Cleveland, Vicar of the Chicago Diocese

Former bishops:
* Bishop [[Alexander (Mileant) of Buenos Aires|Alexander (Mileant)]] of Buenos Aires and South America (reposed [[September 13]], 2005 [http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/news05/balexdeath.html])

==See also==
*[[ROCOR and OCA]]

==External Links==
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/ Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (Official site, Russian)
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/english/ Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (Official site, English)
*[http://www.roca.org/ ROCA: A collection of Russian Orthodox Materials] (Unofficial site)
*[http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypg.aspx?eccpageID=49&IndexView=toc The Eastern Christian Churches: The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (by Ronald Roberson, CSP, a Roman Catholic priest and scholar)
*[http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/roca_history.aspx History of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad], by St. [[John Maximovitch]]
*[http://gnisios.narod.ru/bisrocor.html Bishops of the ROCOR]

[[Category:Jurisdictions]]

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

2005-10-27T16:23:50Z

Sarisburium: /* Holy Transfiguration Monastery and ROCOR */

{{diocese|
name=Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia|
jurisdiction=[[Church of Russia|Russia]] (estranged)|
type=Semi-autonomous|
founded=1922|
bishop=[[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Metr. Laurus]]|
see=New York|
hq=New York, New York|
territory=United States, worldwide|
language=[[Church Slavonic]], English, German|
music=[[Russian Chant]]|
calendar=[[Julian Calendar|Julian]]|
population=150,000|
website=[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/ ROCOR]
}}
The '''Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia''' (also called the ''Russian Orthodox Church Abroad'', ''ROCA'', ''ROCOR'', ''the Karlovsty Synod'', or ''the Synod'') is a [[jurisdiction]] of the [[Orthodox Church]] formed in response against the policy of Bolsheviks with respect to religion in the Soviet Union soon after the Russian Revolution.

==History==
===Formation and early years===
In 1920, the Soviet government had revealed that it was quite hostile to the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]]. Saint [[Tikhon of Moscow|Tikhon]], Patriarch of Moscow, issued an ''[[Ukaz No. 362|ukaz]]'' (decree) that all Russian Orthodox Christians abroad currently under the authority and protection of his Patriarchate organize and govern themselves independently of the Mother Church, until such time that the Patriarchate would again be free.

Among most Russian [[bishop]]s and other hierarchs, this was interpreted as an authorization to form an emergency [[synod]] of all Russian Orthodox hierarchs to permit the Church to continue to function outside Russia and provide spiritual care for nearly three million Russian emigres.To add urgency to the synod's motives, in May of 1922, the Soviet government proclaimed its own "[[Living Church]]" as a "reform" of the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]].

On [[September 13]], 1922, Russian Orthodox hierarchs in Serbia gave their blessing to the establishment, in Serbia, of a Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad, the foundation of ROCOR. In November of 1922, Russian Orthodox in North America held a synod and elected Metropolitan [[Platon (Rozhdestvensky) of New York|Platon]] as the primate of an autonomous Russian exarchate in the Americas (also known as the ''Metropolia'', which eventually became the [[Orthodox Church in America]]). Although the hierarchs of the Metropolia participated as full equals in the Synod Abroad, eventually a three-way conflict in the United States erupted between the patriarchal exarchate, ROCOR (sometimes known as "the Synod" in this period), and the [[Living Church]], which asserted that it was the legitimate (i.e., Russian-government-recognized) owner of all Orthodox properties in the USA. (See: [[ROCOR and OCA]])

===The Church of the Refugees (1922-1991)===
{{orthodoxyinamerica}}
In 1927, ROCOR declared "The part of the Russian Church that finds itself abroad considers itself an inseparable, spiritually united branch of the Great Russian Church. It does not separate itself from its Mother Church and does not consider itself autocephalous," indicating that ROCOR considered itself to speak for all of the Russian Orthodox outside of Russia. The Church Abroad also considered itself to be the free voice of the enslaved Mother Church in the Soviet Union.

After the end of World War II, the [[Church of Russia|Patriarchate of Moscow]] broached the possibility of reunification between Moscow and ROCOR, presumably at the behest of the Soviet government, which had adopted a more conciliatory attitude towards religion during the war and was presumably trying to capitalize on its wartime alliances to win a more respectable position internationally. This was not deemed possible at that time by ROCOR, given that Russia was still under communist dictatorship and the Church was still persecuted and controlled by the atheist authorities.

===Holy Transfiguration Monastery and ROCOR===
In the late 1970s, ROCOR took under its care [[Holy Transfiguration Monastery (Brookline, Massachusetts)]] (today the principal [[monastery]] of [[HOCNA]]) after the latter had broken communion from the [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]] following sexual abuse scandals regarding the monastery's leadership. At some point later, they gradually assumed responsibility for much of ROCOR's external communications and publications. (The monks of Holy Transfiguration were English-speaking and the ROCOR bishops in America mainly were not.)

It is believed by many that the allegedly sectarian spirit of ROCOR came into its flowering during this time and under the influence of this monastery, which frequently misrepresented the official policies and views of the Synod of Bishops. In the early 1980s the hierarchs of the Synod began to correct and censor the narrow-minded and incorrect views of the followers of Holy Transfiguration Monastery. Subsequently this group broke communion with ROCOR (again regarding allegations of sexual abuse by the monastery's leadership), styling themselves the [[Holy Orthodox Church in North America]] (HOCNA). They became affiliated with the [[True Orthodox Church of Greece]], a Greek Old Calendarist group which broke from the [[Church of Greece]]. According to Fr. Alexey Young (author of ''The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia: A History and Chronology''), the association of ROCOR and Holy Transfiguration Monastery resulted in deep damage to ROCOR.

===After the Soviet Fall===
Since the end of the Soviet Union, ROCOR has maintained its independence from the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]] on the grounds that the Church inside Russia had been unacceptably compromised. Some accusations went so far as to claim that the entire hierarchy within Russia were active KGB agents. ROCOR also attempted to set up missions in post-Soviet Russia, which has not improved relations.

This has not prevented all communication, however. For many years there had been unofficial and warm contacts between the two groups. In 2001, the Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow and ROCOR exchanged formal correspondence. The Muscovite letter held the position that previous and current separation was over purely political matters. ROCOR's response expressed concern over continued Muscovite involvement in [[ecumenism]], which was seen as compromising Moscow's Orthodoxy. Nevertheless, this was far more friendly discourse than had been seen previously.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia continued to establish itself in its homeland. It now has about 100 worshiping communities in Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Currently four bishops oversee these parishes. Two of them broke with Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York|Vitaly]] in New York in April 1994. They founded their own temporary administration called the ''Free Orthodox Church of Russia'' and ordained three additional bishops. They were reconciled in November 1994, and the ordination of the three new bishops was declared invalid. However, some tensions remain.

===Rapprochement with Moscow===
Since the election of Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus]] as First Hierarch of ROCOR in 2001, a steady process of rapprochement has been occurring between ROCOR and the [[Church of Russia]]. Multiple official visits have been exchanged between hierarchs and other clergy of both churches, and it is generally believed that the restoration of [[full communion]] is imminent.

In October 2001 Patriarch [[Alexei II (Ridiger) of Moscow|Alexei]] and the [[Holy Synod]] of the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]] sent a letter to the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia calling for reconciliation, but without success. However, there was mutal recognition of grace in the sacraments of each church. Then, in November 2003, a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia consisting of three bishops and two priests paid an official visit to the Moscow Patriarchate. This signalled a warming in relations, and in May 2004 for the first time in over 80 years, the First Hierarch of ROCOR, Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus]] visited Moscow and met with Patriarch Alexei. The two church leaders established a joint committee to examine ways to overcome the division between their churches. This committee has now met successfully on several occasions, working out the details of intercommunion between the two Church bodies.

This possibility of rapprochement has led to [[schism]] from ROCOR, taking the self-retired Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York|Vitaly]] (Metropolitan Laurus's predecessor) with it (regarded by many in ROCOR as having been abducted by the schismatics). The resultant body refers to itself as the ''[[Russian Orthodox Church in Exile]]'' (ROCE), though it often still uses the ''ROCOR'' name.

On [[June 21]], 2005, it was announced simultaneously by both the ROCOR and the MP on their respective websites that rapprochement talks were leading toward the resumption of full relations between the ROCOR and the MP and that the ROCOR would be given the status of [[autonomy]].[http://www.mospat.ru/text/e_news/id/9553.html][http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/articles/docs.html]

===ROCOR Today===
ROCOR currently has over 400 [[parish]]es as well as [[monastery|monasteries]] for men and women in 40 countries throughout the world, served by nearly 600 [[priest]]s. In North America, it has approximately 133 parishes in the US and 22 in Canada. There are five ROCOR communities in the United Kingdom and 21 in [[Diocese of Australia and New Zealand (ROCOR)|Australia and New Zealand]]. There are also roughly 100 communities which owe allegiance to ROCOR in Russia and the other nations of the former Soviet Union.

There are five ROCOR monasteries for men and women in North America, the most important and largest of which is [[Holy Trinity Monastery (Jordanville, New York)]], to which is attached ROCOR's seminary, [[Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary (Jordanville, New York)|Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary]].

In concert with the [[Church of Jerusalem]], ROCOR also oversees the [http://www.jerusalem-mission.org/ Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem], headed by Hegumen Andronik (Kotliaroff), which acts as caretaker to three holy sites in Palestine, all of which are monasteries.

==Ecclesiastical Status==
ROCOR is currently still in ambiguously relative [[Eucharist]]ic isolation from much of the Orthodox world, not always exchanging [[full communion]] with the majority of Orthodox [[jurisdictions]]. It maintains good relations, intercommunion, and concelebration with the [[Church of Serbia]], the [[Church of Jerusalem]], and the [[Church of Sinai]].

ROCOR's status with regard to [[full communion]] is not entirely clear-cut. There was never a formal declaration of a break in communion made between ROCOR and other Orthodox churches, though in many dioceses [[concelebration]] has been suspended. In others, concelebration is active. A formal declaration of breaking communion with the OCA was issued by the ROCOR Synod after the Moscow Patriarchate issued the Tomos of Autocephaly to the OCA. (See: [[ROCOR and OCA]].) Generally Orthodox Christians from all local Orthodox churches are welcome to the chalice in ROCOR churches. There has never been a declaration from the ROCOR synod that grace does not exist in the [[New Calendar]] jurisdictions, in spite of statements to the contrary by the followers of Holy Transfiguation Monastery in Boston when they were still with the Synod.

ROCOR formerly maintained communion with a few [[Old Calendarist]] jurisdictions, including the [[Holy Synod in Resistance]] (True Orthodox Church of Greece, so-called "Cyprianites"), the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Romania]] (Synod of Metropolitan Vlasie), and the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria]] (Bishop Photii). In recent years, the relationship with the Cyprianite synod has been strained, and ROCOR has reportedly received threatening letters from the synod of Metropolitan Cyprian regarding the rapprochement between ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate, which both Russian bodies regard as an internal matter of the Russian church. Many of the clergy and the faithful of ROCOR believe the Cyprianites to be [[schism]]atics and that [[concelebration]]s with them should be severed, though this attitude does not extend to the Old Calendarist jurisdictions of Romania and Bulgaria.

==The Episcopacy==
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia currently has 13 [[bishop]]s serving 10 [[diocese]]s throughout the world.

Ruling bishops:
* Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus (Skurla)]] of New York and Eastern America, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Ruling Bishop of the Syracuse-Holy Trinity Diocese, ''[[Locum Tenens]]'' of the Eastern part of the Diocese of Montreal and Canada
* Archbishop [[Alypy (Gamanovich) of Chicago and Detroit|Alypy (Gamanovich)]] of Chicago and Detroit
* Archbishop [[Mark (Arndt) of Berlin|Mark (Arndt)]] of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain
* Archbishop [[Hilarion (Kapral) of Sydney|Hilarion (Kapral)]] of Sydney, [[Diocese of Australia and New Zealand (ROCOR)|Australia and New Zealand]]
* Archbishop [[Kyrill (Dmitrieff) of San Francisco|Kyrill (Dmitrieff)]] of San Francisco and Western America, Locum Tenens of the Western part of the Diocese of Montreal and Canada
* Bishop [[Ambroise (Cantacuzène) of Geneva|Ambroise (Cantacuzène)]] of Geneva and Western Europe
* Bishop [[Evtikhii (Kurochkin) of Ishim|Evtikhii (Kurochkin)]] of Ishim and Siberia
* Bishop [[Agafangel (Pashkovsky) of Simferopol|Agafangel (Pashkovsky)]] of Simferopol and Crimea

Vicar bishops:
* Bishop [[Daniel (Alexandrow) of Erie|Daniel (Alexandrow)]] of Erie, Vicar President of the Synod of Bishops for the Old Believers
* Bishop [[Gabriel (Chemodakov) of Manhattan|Gabriel (Chemodakov)]] of Manhattan, Vicar Bishop of the Eastern American and New York Diocese
* Bishop [[Michael (Donskoff) of Boston|Michael (Donskoff)]] of Boston, Vicar of the Eastern American and New York Diocese
* Bishop [[Agapit (Gorachek) of Stuttgart|Agapit (Gorachek)]] of Stuttgart, Vicar of the German Diocese
* Bishop [[Peter (Loukianoff) of Cleveland|Peter (Loukianoff)]] of Cleveland, Vicar of the Chicago Diocese

Former bishops:
* Bishop [[Alexander (Mileant) of Buenos Aires|Alexander (Mileant)]] of Buenos Aires and South America (reposed [[September 13]], 2005 [http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/news05/balexdeath.html])

==See also==
*[[ROCOR and OCA]]

==External Links==
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/ Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (Official site, Russian)
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/english/ Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (Official site, English)
*[http://www.roca.org/ ROCA: A collection of Russian Orthodox Materials] (Unofficial site)
*[http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypg.aspx?eccpageID=49&IndexView=toc The Eastern Christian Churches: The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] (by Ronald Roberson, CSP, a Roman Catholic priest and scholar)
*[http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/roca_history.aspx History of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad], by St. [[John Maximovitch]]
*[http://gnisios.narod.ru/bisrocor.html Bishops of the ROCOR]

[[Category:Jurisdictions]]

Western Rite

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[[Image:Alexander Turner2.jpg|right|frame|Fr. [[Alexander Turner]] celebrating the Mass]]
The '''Western Rite''' is a strand of Orthodox Christian worship based on the liturgical traditions of the ancient pre-[[Great Schism|Schism]] Orthodox Church of the West. Western Rite Orthodox Christians hold in common the full Orthodox faith with their brethren of the Byzantine Rite, and at present, all of the [[bishop]]s who care for such [[parish]]es are themselves followers of the Byzantine Rite.

==Modern History==
===The Nineteenth Century===
In 1864, 44-year-old [[Joseph Julian Overbeck]], a former German [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] priest who had left the priesthood, become Lutheran and later married, was [[chrismation|chrismated]] into the [[Orthodox Church]] at the Russian Embassy Chapel in London. Overbeck was a Syriac scholar and professor in Bonn who had become disillusioned with the papal claims of supremacy. Two years after his chrismation, he published ''Catholic Orthodoxy and Anglo-Catholicism'', in which he developed the schema with which he was about to begin his work for the next twenty years. In 1867, he published the first issue of the ''Orthodox Catholic Review'', a periodical which "aimed at setting forth the truth of Catholic Orthodoxy as opposed to Popery and Protestantism, clearing its way through the heap of rubbish stored up by both parties for centuries past." Overbeck regarded both the Papacy and the Church of England to be on the verge of collapse.

In March of 1867, Overbeck circulated a petition to the [[Holy Synod]] of the [[Church of Russia]] explaining his designs and requesting the establishment of a Western Rite church in [[full communion]] with the Eastern Rite of the Orthodox Church, saying, "we are Westerns...and must plead an inalienable right to remain Westerns." In September of 1867 the petition, with some 122 signatures—mainly Tractarian clerics (the "Oxford Movement")—was sent to the Russian synod. Upon receipt, a synodal commission was formed, comprised of seven members under the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg, inviting Overbeck to attend the deliberations. Accompanying him was Fr. Eugene Popoff (chaplain of the Russian embassy in London), and the two were present in January of 1870 when the scheme was approved. Overbeck was then requested to submit a draft of the Western liturgy for examination.

The liturgy which Dr. Overbeck developed for the Russians was based on the 1570 Roman rite of Pope Pius V, but also included a brief [[epiclesis]] and the [[Trisagion]] hymn after the ''Gloria'', "in remembrance of our union with the Orthodox Church." Returning to Russia in January of 1871, Overbeck submitted the rite. In two long sessions of the commission, the liturgy was examined and then approved for use.

Over the next few years, Overbeck mainly focused on the development of the Old Catholic movement in Europe (which had gone into [[schism]] from Rome over the new [[dogma]] of [[Papal Infallibility]] promulgated at the First Vatican Council), probably hoping to find fertile ground for the establishment of his liturgical use, a Western liturgical rite within the Orthodox Church. In his magazine, he engaged in polemics with both Roman Catholics and Anglicans, as well as Orthodox converts who used the Byzantine rite.

In 1876, he reiterated his design and issued an ''Appeal to the Patriarchs and Holy Synods of the Orthodox Catholic Church''. Three years later, he travelled to Constantinople to meet the Ecumenical Patriarch, [[Ioachim III of Constantinople|Ioachim III]], who gave him authorization for delivering sermons and addresses in defense of Orthodoxy. In August of 1881, the [[Church of Constantinople]] appointed a commission to examine the scheme and made the announcement that "an agreement on certain points has already been reached," recognizing the right of the West to have a Western church and rite as had existed before the [[Great Schism]].

Much to Overbeck's disappointment, no further developments occurred. He had hoped to be a [[priest]] within the Orthodox Church, but his marriage after his Roman Catholic [[ordination]] was seen as an impediment, rendering him ineligible. He became somewhat paranoid in his later years, especially regarding the Greeks in London as hostile toward him. The ''Orthodox Catholic Review'' ended its run in 1885, and seven years later he admitted that his project had failed, saying that he had had "Hopes entertained with joy by all the truly Orthodox, recommended and pushed forward by the Holy Synods of Russia, Romania, and Serbia, approved by Patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem, but finally crushed and destroyed by the veto of the Greek Synod!" He died in 1905, his dream unfulfilled.

Fr. [[Georges Florovsky]] wrote: "it was not just a fantastic dream. The question raised by Overbeck was pertinent, even if his own answer to it was confusedly conceived. And probably the vision of Overbeck was greater than his personal interpretation."

===The Twentieth Century===
[[Image:Fon-du-Lac Circus.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The so-called “Fon-du-Lac Circus

Western Rite

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Western Rite

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