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ROCOR and OCA

309 bytes removed, 01:35, July 14, 2020
Prologue: Contrasts and Stereotypes: Eliminated a paragraph which repeats stereotypes without explaining how valid they may or may not be.
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==Prologue: Contrasts and Stereotypes==Numerous stereotypes exist regarding the ROCOR and the OCA. The ROCOR is monarchist ("white"), while the OCA is associated with Russian Communism ("red"). The OCA is modernist, but the ROCOR is traditionalist. The ROCOR is "Great Russian," while the OCA is "Little Russian." These stereotypes have their origins in the history of Russian Orthodoxy in the West, a history which, like much of the history of the Russians, is complex and often sad.
The beginnings of the OCA and the ROCOR as distinct from the Church of Russia are in the early 20th century Soviet takeover of the Russian state. When the monarchy in Russia fell and the Church of Russia began being persecuted, a group of Russian [[bishop]]s fled from northern Russia, joining with some in the southern portion of the country and organizing themselves via meetings in Constantinople and Serbia. These came to be known as the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.
However, on the OCA website in the section regarding the [[All-American Sobor#Sixth All-American Sobor|6th All-American Sobor]] of 1937 in New York, the claim is made that the ROCOR actually was made part of the Metropolia, confirming a 1935 agreement made in Serbia between the Metropolia's primate and the ROCOR synod:
:Moreover, Metropolitan THEOPHILUS had traveled to Serbia where, under the leadership of the Serbian Patriarch, an agreement was signed by the leading hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) along with other exiled Russian hierarchs throughout the world forging a peaceful coexistence. Under this agreement, the American Church was to retain her administrative autonomy while maintaining close relations with the ROCOR Synod and being accountable to it only in matters of faith. The parallel jurisdictions of the Metropolia and ROCOR were thus eliminated and the four ROCOR hierarchs in North America along with their clergy and parishes were integrated into the Metropolia. The vote of the Sixth Sobor on this loose affiliation with the ROCOR was as follows: 105 for, 9 against, 122 abstentions. The large number of abstentions reveals that there was much apprehension on this issue at the council. However, in approving the matter, the council delegates showed respect and obedience to Metropolitan THEOPHILUS' primatial leadership.[http://www.oca.org/dochistory-archives/aacs/the-aas6th-06all-synopsis.asp?SID=8american-sobor]
{{orthodoxyinamerica}}
The website then goes on to describe this "integration" as merely a "loose affiliation," which seems to contradict the notion that the two bodies were truly integrated, eliminating "parallel jurisdictions" and making the Metropolia accountable to the ROCOR in matters of faith. On another portion of the website, regarding the [[All-American Sobor#Seventh All-American Sobor|7th All-American Sobor]] in 1946, the relationship then being severed with the ROCOR is described as having been a "temporary arrangement"[http://www.oca.org/dochistory-archives/aacs/the-aas7th-07all-synopsis.asp?SID=8american-sobor].
The nature of the association between the Metropolia and the ROCOR is characterized quite differently by ROCOR writers:
==1970: Autocephaly for the OCA==
At the same time that the [[Church of Russia]] was about to declare the autocephaly of the Metropolia, it announced that it was going to begin communing [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholics]]. Vladimir Moss, a former ROCOR layman, writes in his ''[http://uk.geocities.com/guildfordian2002/History/OrthodoxChurch20thCenturyP1.htm The Orthodox Church in the Twentieth Century]'':
:...in In Octoberof 1970, 1969, Metropolitan Nicodemus gave communion to Catholic students in the Russicum in Rome. This was followed, on December 16, by a decision synod of the Russian Holy Synod to give permission to Orthodox clergy ROCOR sent the following declaration to administer the sacraments to Old Believers and Catholics... The decision bishops of the Moscow Patriarchate to give communion to Catholics put the other Russian jurisdiction in North America, the Metropolia, into a difficult position; for in the early 1960s the Metropolia (a body in schism from the ROCA since 1946) had been, through Fathers [[John Meyendorff]] and [[Alexander Schmemann]], among the most conservative participants in the ecumenical movement.[http://uk.geocities.com/guildfordian2002/History/OrthodoxChurch20thCenturyP3.htm] He further writes that the autocephaly about to be received from Moscow was part of a secret deal between the Metropolia and Moscow, and that the price of the Metropolia's autocephaly was response to be the newly revitalized [[Church news of Japan]]: :However, this Church had been secretly negotiating with the Moscow Patriarchate for having granted them a grant Tomos of autocephaly. According to the deal eventually agreed upon, the patriarchate was to declare the Metropolia to be the autocephalous Orthodox Church of America (OCA) in exchange for the Japanese parishes of the Metropolia coming within the jurisdiction of the patriarchate. This deal, which was recognized by none of the other Autocephalous Churches and was to the advantage, in the long run, only of the patriarchate and the KGB, was made public in December, 1969 – just at the moment that the patriarchate announced that it had entered into partial communion with the Catholics. Thus the former Metropolia found that it had been granted autocephaly by a Church that was now in communion with the Catholics.[http://uk.geocities.com/guildfordian2002/History/OrthodoxChurch20thCenturyP3.htm] In October of 1970, the synod of the ROCOR sent the following declaration to the bishops of the Metropolia:
:It is impossible for the Moscow Patriarchate, under the complete control of the Soviet atheistic regime which has set for itself the goal of destroying all religion, to do anything which could be to the overall benefit of the Church and it must be remembered that the Moscow Patriarchate cannot engage in foreign affairs without a direct order of the Soviet government.... It is not our intention to inflict upon you any hurt, but rather to give you again a brotherly warning of the danger now threatening you.... The Synod of Bishops [Abroad] has not forgotten that until very recently we and you were united in one Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.... We grieved when this unity was disrupted.... In your hearts you must all know that the Moscow Patriarchate in its present form is not the true representative of the Russian Orthodox Church.... There we are addressing you all, Bishops, Pastors, and Laity, for the last time. Let all other considerations fall. Return back to the unity of the free [Church] before it is too late (quoted in Young, p. 62).
==2001-present: Warming of Relations==
[[Image:Bishops Peter and Nikolai.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Bishops [[Peter (Loukianoff) of Cleveland|Peter]] ([[ROCOR]]) and [[Nikolai (Soraich) of Sitka|Nikolai]] ([[OCA]]) greet one another at an OCA episcopal consecration service in May 2005.]]
Since After the election of Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York]] as First Hierarch of the ROCOR and that body's subsequent ongoing movement towards rapprochement with Moscow, signs have appeared of better relations between the OCA and ROCORbegan to appear. Seminarians studying at OCA seminaries have attended retreats at the ROCOR's [[Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary (Jordanville, New York)]], and ROCOR seminarians have also participated in [[OISM]] events at OCA seminaries. The first member of the OCA to study at Holy Trinity Seminary, Vitaly Efimenkov, graduated in 2002. It is also worth noting that several graduates of Holy Trinity Seminary, upon receiving their Bachelor of Theology, went on to receive Masters Degrees from [[St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (Crestwood, New York)|St. Vladimir's Seminary]]. The most recent graduate of both Holy Trinity and St. Vladimir's is Andrei Psarev, instructor of Russian Church History at Holy Trinity.  Warmly worded letters from the OCA hierarchy have also been sent to the ROCOR hierarchy.[http://www.oca.org/Docs.asp?ID=49&SID=12] Further, pilgrims from the ROCOR have visited the OCA [[metochion]] in Moscow [http://www.st-catherine.ru/en/news/0118.htm] and Metropolitan Laurus has received representatives of the OCA for informal discussions.[http://www.st-catherine.ru/en/news/0113.htm] Additionally, the OCA's [[chancellor]] and one of its senior priests have attended a banquet at a ROCOR [[clergy]] conference.[http://www.orthodoxnews.netfirms.com/53/OCA%20Chancellor.htm]
Warmly worded letters from the OCA hierarchy have also been sent to the ROCOR hierarchy.[http://www.oca.org/Docs.asp?ID=49&SID=12] Further, pilgrims from the ROCOR have visited the OCA [[metochion]] in Moscow [http://www.st-catherine.ru/en/news/0118.htm] and Metropolitan Laurus has received representatives of the OCA for informal discussions.[http://www.st-catherine.ru/en/news/0113.htm] Additionally, the OCA's [[chancellor]] and one of its senior priests have attended a banquet at a ROCOR [[clergy]] conference.[http://www.orthodoxnews.netfirms.com/53/OCA%20Chancellor.htm]
===Parishes concelebrate===
With the reconciliation of the ROCOR with the Moscow Patriarchate in 2007, the ROCOR and the OCA have resumed full communion and clergy of both jurisdictions have [[concelebration|concelebrated]] in multiple areas; one area of note is Seattle, where clergy and communicants of thirteen area parishes concelebrated within a week of the canonical reunification (see this site [http://www.antiochianladiocese.org/pastevents/2007/washing_rocor.htm] for photos).
On October 5, 2010, a two day meeting of the members of the Joint Commission of the Orthodox Church in America and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia opened at Saint Seraphim Church (ROCOR) in Sea Cliff NY. The Joint Commission met as a result of the directives of the OCA and ROCOR hierarchs to "discuss and resolve issues that have in the past stood in the way of full Eucharistic communion and to come to an understanding of how we can pray and work together in the future, said Archpriest Eric G. Tosi, OCA Secretary." OCA representatives included His Grace, Bishop [[Tikhon (Mollard) of Philadelphia|Tikhon of Philadelphia]] and Eastern Pennsylvania; Archpriests Alexander Garklavs, Leonid Kishkovsky and John Erickson; and Igumen Alexander (Pihach). Mr. Alexis Liberovsky served as a consultant. ROCOR representatives included His Grace, Bishop [[George (Schaefer) of Mayfield|George of Mayfield]]; Archimandrite [[Luke (Murianka)]]; Archpriests Alexander Lebedeff and David Moser; and Priest Peter Jackson. Archpriest Seraphim Gan, ROCOR Chancellor, also was to be present.
===Hierarchs of the OCA and ROCOR concelebrate===
On Saturday, December 10, 2011, at the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign, New York, NY, His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, and His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, Primate of the Orthodox Church in America, concelebrated the Divine Liturgy for the first time. This was the first time in nearly 70 years that the primates and hierarchs of the OCA and ROCOR have concelebrated. Concelebrating with the Metropolitans was His Eminence, Archbishop [[Justinian (Ovchinnikov) of Naro-Fominsk|Justinian of Naro-Fominsk]], Administrator of the [[Russian Orthodox Church in the USA|Patriarchal Parishes in the USA]].
 
Other concelebrating ROCOR hierarchs were His Eminence, Archbishop [[Mark (Arndt) of Berlin|Mark of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain]]; His Eminence, Archbishop [[Kyrill (Dmitrieff) of San Francisco|Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America]]; His Eminence, Archbishop [[Gabriel (Chemodakov) of Montreal|Gabriel of Montreal and Canada]]; His Grace, Bishop [[Michael (Donskoff) of Geneva|Michael of Geneva and Western Europe]]; His Grace, Bishop [[Peter (Loukianoff) of Cleveland|Peter of Cleveland, Administrator of the Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America]]; His Grace, Bishop [[George (Schaefer) of Mayfield]], Vicar of the Diocese of Eastern America and New York; and His Grace, Bishop [[Jerome (Shaw) of Manhattan|Jerome of Manhattan]], Vicar of the Diocese of Eastern America and New York.
 
OCA Holy Synod hierarchs who concelebrated were His Grace, Bishop [[Benjamin (Peterson) of San Francisco|Benjamin of San Francisco and the West]]; His Grace, Bishop [[Tikhon (Mollard) of Philadelphia|Tikhon of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania]]; His Grace, Bishop [[Melchisedek (Pleska) of Pittsburgh|Melchisedek of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania]]; His Grace, Bishop [[Michael (Dahulich) of New York|Michael of New York and New Jersey]]; and His Grace, Bishop [[Matthias (Moriak) of Chicago|Matthais of Chicago and the Midwest]].
==Timeline of Parish and Monastery Transfers==
*FitzGerald, Thomas E. ''The Orthodox Church''. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1998.
*Lebedeff, Fr. Alexander. [http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/general/amer_jur.aspx Orthodox Jurisdictions in America]
*Liberovsky, Alexis. [http://www.oca.org/dochistory-aasarchives/aacs/the-044th-synopsis.asp?SID=8 all-american-sobor Synopsis of the 4th All-American Sobor] (1924)*Liberovsky, Alexis. [http://www.oca.org/dochistory-aasarchives/aacs/the-5th-all-05american-synopsis.asp?SID=8 sobor Synopsis of the 5th All-American Sobor] (1934)*Liberovsky, Alexis. [http://www.oca.org/dochistory-aasarchives/aacs/the-6th-all-06american-synopsis.asp?SID=8 sobor Synopsis of the 6th All-American Sobor] (1937)*Liberovsky, Alexis. [http://www.oca.org/dochistory-archives/aacs/the-7th-aasall-07american-synopsis.asp?SID=8 sobor Synopsis of the 7th All-American Sobor] (1946)*Liberovsky, Alexis. [http://www.oca.org/DOChistory-AACarchives/aacs/the-5th-all-05american-synopsis.asp?SID=12 council Synopsis of the 5th All-American Council] (1977)*Matusiak, Fr. John. [http://www.oca.org/QA.asp?ID=49&SID=3 Q&A: OCA and ROCOR]*Matusiak, Fr. John. [http:/questions/www.oca.orgnamerica/QA.asp?ID=50&SID=3 russian-orthodox-church-in-america Q&A: Russian Orthodox Church in America]
*Maximovitch, St. John. [http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/roca_history.aspx History of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad] (from ''The Orthodox Word'', 1971)
*Moss, Vladimir. [http://uk.geocities.com/guildfordian2002/History/OrthodoxChurch20thCenturyP1.htm ''The Orthodox Church in the Twentieth Century'']
*[[Andrew Phillips|Phillips, Fr. Andrew]]. [http://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/ruedaru.htm The Last Days of Rue Daru?], 2005
*Rodzianko, M. [http://www.monasterypress.com/anonftp/pub/Rocatruth.pdf ''The Truth About the Russian Church Abroad''], 1954 (tr. 1975)
*Stokoe, Mark and Kishkovsky, Fr. Leonid. [http://www.oca.org/MVorthchristiansnamericaTOC.asp?SID=1 history-archives/orthodox-christians-na ''Orthodox Christians in North America 1794 - 1994'']
*Surrency, Archim. Serafim. ''The Quest for Orthodox Church Unity in America'', 1973
*Woerl, Michael. [http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/bookrev_woerl.aspx Book Review: A History of the Orthodox Church in America (1917-1934)]
*[http://www.ssppoc.org/news_071210_1.html ROCOR hierarch served Divine Liturgy in an OCA parish] first since the time of the Cleveland Sobor of 1946.
===OCA===
*[http://www.oca.org/QA.asp?ID=49&SID=3 Q&A: OCA and ROCOR]*[http:questions/namerica/www.oca.org/QA.asp?ID=50&SID=3 russian-orthodox-church-in-america Q&A: Russian Orthodox Church in America]*[http://www.oca.org/Docs.asp?ID=170&SID=12 holy-synod/statements/fr-kishkovsky/rocor-mp-reconciliation ROCOR/MP Reconciliation], Fr. Leonid Kishkovsky*[http://oca.org/news/headline-news/oca-rocor-metropolitans-hierarchs-concelebrate-the-divine-liturgy-at-rocors OCA and ROCOR concelebrated the Divine Liturgy for the first time in nearly 70 years].
===ROCOR===
*[http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/general/amer_jur.aspx Orthodox Jurisdictions in America], by Fr. Alexander Lebedeff
*[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/english/pages/history/briefhistory.html A Brief History of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, 1922-1972], by Protopriest Sergii Shchukin
*[http://www.synod.com/synod/eng2011/20111212_ensynod.html backround] Statement by the Synod of Bishops, NEW YORK: December 10, 2011
[[Category:Church History]]
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