Why Is This Important for ROCOR to Remain in Communion withthe Church in Russia?
Fr. Mark is the rector of a small, but growing ROCOR community in the region of the province of Ontario close to the US border. His community is named Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God.
Why should ROCOR stay in communion with the Moscow Patriarchate when they are still carrying on the same Ecumenist agenda that was Anathematized by ROCOR in 1983?
Ja, das habe ich mich auch schon gefragt. Es ist wirklich verheerend, dass die ROCOR seit dem Zusammenschluss mit dem Sergianistischen Patriarchat von Moskau zwangsweise sich einem ausufernden Oekumenismus öffnen musste trotz dessen feierlichen Verurteilung vom Jahre 1983. Es wird dieser Zustand in einer Katastrophe enden, das ist abzusehen.
A historical question: Why was it important for ROCOR to break communion with the Moscow Patriarchate in the 1920s?
Obviously the “break” (aka “walling off”) was meant to be a temporary measure since the Act of Canonical Communion restored communion between ROCOR (or at least a larger part of it) with the Moscow Patriarchate.
The 2007 Act of Canonical Communion states: “The supreme ecclesiastical, legislative, administrative, judicial and controlling authority in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia is her Council of Bishops, convened by her Primate (First Hierarch), in accordance with the Regulations [ Polozheniye ] of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.”
#3 of the the “General” regulations of ROCOR states: “The basic task of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia is the preservation abroad of complete independence of the Russian Orthodox Church from atheistic and anti-Christian forces and the overall spiritual nourishment of the Orthodox Russian flock in the diaspora, independent of nationality; and in particular, the preservation and strengthening in the souls of the faithful flock the purity and wholeness of the holy Orthodox faith; and the encouragement of devotion in the flock, dispersed throughout the world, to the suffering Mother Church.”
What would the Council of ROCOR Bishops do if the “suffering Mother Church” became subject to “atheistic” and/or “anti-Christian forces” again?
Does the Council of Bishops reserve the right to “wall” itself off again from the Moscow Patriarchate in order to save its own flock?
Look how the current Patriarch of Moscow blessed the slaughter of his own flock in Ukraine. Look at how the Patriarch of Moscow put the Russian Orthodox Church (including the ROCOR) under the subjection of one man, the President of the Russian Federation, to serve this one man’s political and worldly aspirations.
This subjugation of the Russian Orthodox Church is clearly antichristic and foreshadows the coming of the big “A” anti-Christ that St. John of Shanghai warned us against: “He will do what pleases men, on the condition that they recognize his Supreme Authority. He will let the Church function, and allow her to hold Divine services, he will promise to build magnificent temples—provided he is recognized as the ‘Supreme Being’ and that he is worshipped…There will be a mass falling away from the faith; even many bishops will betray the faith, justifying themselves by pointing to the splendid position of the Church.”
Is it possible that the time is drawing near for the Council of Bishops to “build that wall” again by taking another temporary break of communion with the Moscow Patriarchate, or did ROCOR sign away its independence from the “yoke of godless authority” (cf. Prayer for the Salvation of Russia – Jordanville Prayer Book) in 2007 when it signed the Act of Canonical Communion?
Indeed. I wonder what it will take for ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate to break communion this time. Patriarch Kyrill is jingoistic in support of the war in Ukraine, he cracks down on Russian clergy dissenting against Russia’s involvement in the war, and demands that churches everywhere read a prayer for Russian victory. Thankfully, that has not happened in ROCOR parishes. Now, there are smaller-scale protests in ROCOR (refusing to pray for the “God-preserved Russian land”, praying for the “suffering Ukrainian land”, commemorations of Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev), though some now attend other parishes because of Patriarch Kirill’s attitude to the war. I wonder if Patriarch Kirill will do something big enough to get the ROCOR Synod of Bishops to disassociate themselves from him.