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24 July 2006 Patriarch hopes ROCOR reunites with the Moscow Patriarchate towards the end of the year Moscow, July 24, Interfax - The unity of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Moscow Patriarchate may be completely re-established by the end of 2006, Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia thinks. In the end of this year a joint liturgy may be celebrated by representatives of the two branches of the Russian Church in the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Moscow Kremlin, he said in his interview to Pervyi canal on Sunday. According to church canons...

Russian Church abroad backs reunion with Moscow Patriarchate San Francisco, May 17, Interfax - A San Francisco session of the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad has approved a resolution proposing a reunion with the Moscow Patriarchate, the Russian Church abroad said on its official website. The council will also adopt an act on interaction with the Moscow Patriarchate. Last week's All-Diaspora Convention agreed that "this creative deed must culminate in the restoration of the long-sought unity of the Russian Church," the resolution reads.

SAN FRANCISCO: May 11, 2006 Resolution of the IV All-Diaspora Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia Christ is Risen! We, the participants of the IV All-Diaspora Council, having gathered in the God-preserved city of San Francisco, in the blessed presence of the Protectress of the Russian Diaspora, the Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God, and the holy relics of Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco, in trembling recognition of the duty laid upon us, in obedience to our Archpastor, Christ, with complete trust and love of the pastors and laity to our First Hierarch, His...

The Enemies of Russian Orthodox Unity Foreword It is now no longer a matter of years or months until the Fourth Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), but of weeks and days. It is now clear that those opposed to the re-establishment of eucharistic communion between the Moscow Patriarchate (MP) and ROCOR share the same argument: that it is 'premature', 'not yet time', 'too early', that the process has been 'rushed'. In other words, they admit the inevitability of the event, it is only the timing which is at stake. Some of them forget that there are...

http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/eng2006/5eninterviewpa.html  MOSCOW: May 1, 2006   Responses of Patriarch ALEXY II of Moscow and All Russia on Questions From the Official Internet Site of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia   From the Editors: At the last joint meeting of the church Commissions held last February in New York, it was decided to address questions to the First Hierarchs of both parts of the Russian Church relating to the reconciliation process between the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Moscow Patriarchate. This proposal was approved by the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of...

02 May 2006, 18:00 Russian Church Abroad must assess its history - Alexy II Moscow, May 2, Interfax - Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia said the history of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad "must" be studied in detail and objectively, which is "of importance." "Its history should be viewed from the canonical angle. But one must be aware that it's difficult to come to absolute and final unanimity while assessing all occurrences and historical figures. The whole truth can only be judged by God," the Russian patriarch said in an interview granted to the official website of...

02 May 2006 State Duma deputy urges Russian Church Outside Russia not to doom itself to role of ‘ethnographic museum of gone civilization’ Moscow, May 2, Interfax – Natalia Narochnitskaya, a State Duma deputy and well-known historian, suggests that the Russian Church Outside Russia cast away doubts as to the advisability of restoring unity with the Moscow Patriarchate. ‘Today’s doubts are like temptations endured by a person who wants to adopt baptism but the enemy of humankind whispers into his ear: Wait, you are not ready; don’t do it today but tomorrow!’ Narochnitskaya writes in her article published in Rossiyskaya...

Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev: Will the Ecumenical Ship Sink? Excerpts from the interview to the official website of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia Doesn't membership in the World Council of Churches (WCC) obligate acceptance of its fundamental principles which contradict Orthodox ecclesiology? Membership in the WCC does not require from any Church the recognition of all the other member churches of the WCC as churches in the literal sense of the word. This is stated in the foundational documents of the Council. If we call one Protestant community or another a "church," which in...

17 April 2006, 14:58 Division in Russian Orthodox Church senseless - patriarch Moscow, April 17, Interfax - Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Alexy II said on Monday that he prays for the unity of the Russian Orthodox Church inside and outside Russia in every service he ministers. "Today there are no reasons for schism between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian people who found themselves abroad during the Revolution. It is our duty to resolve problems that remain in our relations," he said. Many Russian emigrants have died and the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia "is losing its Russian...

Time is right for Russian Orthodox By Peggy Fletcher Stack The Salt Lake Tribune Every week, in a nondescript white building behind a tax office in West Valley City, Russian Orthodoxy comes alive. On an ordinary Wednesday morning, the new home of a burgeoning Russian Orthodox Church - about the size of a large living room - was ablaze with candles, smelling of incense and awash in the traditions of the country many left behind. The wooden icon screen compels reverence with its images of Jesus, Mary and the saints. A dozen or so believers stand for the two-hour service,...

2005.12.25 AP: Posted on Sun, Dec. 25, 2005 Russian Orthodox (ROCOR) church seeks money for expansion Associated Press CINCINNATI - The leader of southwest Ohio's only Russian Orthodox church says his congregation is booming and desperately needs more space. About 200 worshippers attend a holiday service at St. George the Great Martyr, which has an 850-square-foot sanctuary. Membership has nearly doubled this year, Father Paul Bassett said. As is tradition in the Russian Orthodox church, worshippers stand throughout the service. "It's worse than a problem," Bassett said. "It's an urgent problem. We're afraid people aren't coming to church because it's...

This is where the Orthodox Church is being drawn. Outwardly this movement is manifested by unending "dialogues"; Orthodox representatives are engaged in dialogues with Roman Catholics and Anglicans; they in turn are in dialogue with each other, with Lutherans, other Protestants, and even with Jews, Moslems and Buddhists. Just recently, the Exarch of Patriarch Athenagoras in North and South America, Archbishop Iakovos, took part in a dialogue with Jews. He noted that as far as he knew, at no other time in history has such "a theological dialogue with Jews taken place under the sponsorship of the Greek Church." Besides...

Reaching for Religious Reunion By Lawrence A. Uzzell Unlike Poland and the Baltic states, Russia lacks a key source of "soft power": a united body of ethnic expatriates who can be relied on to support the mother country's policies in places like Washington. But this could change in the very near future. Moscow may bring into its sphere of influence what used to be a key ideological base for the Kremlin's emigre foes, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, or ROCOR. The Kremlin and the domestic, Kremlin-dominated Russian Orthodox Church could gain a new seal of moral and historical legitimacy...

Archbishop Mark’s “Friend” By Konstantin Preobrazhensky 1. Revelations from Mitrokhin’s Archives. “Friend” – that is the secret police code name of archpriest Vasiliy Fonchenkov, a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. In the 1970s, he helped the KGB imprison anti-communist priests. Now, his past does not prevent him from being a member of the clergy of the Church Abroad. The KGB is so sure of the Church’s indifference, it can openly reveal its agents. “Friend” serves as a priest in Salzburg, Austria. Don’t believe me? Allow me to refer you to the book, “Mitrokhin’s Achives,” co-authored with Professor Christopher...

They tell us there is no more communist government in our Homeland. We beg to differ. G.M. Soldatow Fascist regimes have crashed in Germany and Italy. The populations of these countries and their representative governments have broken all ties with their shameful past. In Germany, for instance, it is forbidden by law to disseminate and sell Nazi emblems, posters, photos, literature, songs, etc. Stores do not sell musical recordings, and the youth dos not hear, nor does it sing songs of the “Hitler Youth”. Streets, formerly bearing names of Hitler and other Nazi criminals have been renamed, their monuments have...

High Treason: The Luring of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad to the Moscow Patriarchate

News and Commentary that don't fit anywhere else. Folks, time for another tidbits of things from around the world of news and blogs that don't exactly fit on one post, or that I don't have either the time or the wherewithal to properly study and analyze for you in depth and hence, you'll probably want to do that yourself. Or news that don't quite deserve a their own post, but that fit in here. Or whatever fits my fancy…:-) The Russian News Agency Novosti reports that the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia ("ROCOR" or "the Synod") is finally reconciling...

Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia to join Moscow Patriarchate 12:59 MOSCOW, June 21 (RIA Novosti, Olga Lipich) - The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) is set to join the Moscow Patriarchate as a self-governed branch, similar to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The union was envisaged by a draft act on canonical communication, which was published Tuesday on the official Web sites of the foreign ties department of the Moscow Patriarchate and ROCOR, along with other documents adopted by the cross commissions for the bilateral dialogue. "These documents cover the key issues that ROCOR considered to be major...

21/06/2005 Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia to join Moscow Patriarchate MOSCOW, June 21 (RIA Novosti, Olga Lipich) - The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) is set to join the Moscow Patriarchate as a self-governed branch, similar to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The union was envisaged by a draft act on canonical communication, which was published Tuesday on the official Web sites of the foreign ties department of the Moscow Patriarchate and ROCOR, along with other documents adopted by the cross commissions for the bilateral dialogue. "These documents cover the key issues that ROCOR considered to be major...

COMMUNIQUE on the Meeting of Metropolitan Laurus, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Members of the Synod of Bishops and President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir V. Putin A meeting took place in the Consulate of the Russian Federation in New York on 24 September between the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, His Eminence Metropolitan Laurus, members of the Synod of Bishops and President V.V. Putin of the Russian Federation. Participating in the meeting were Archbishop Mark of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain, Bishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America,...