Russian Orthodox Church Abroad

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The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROKA, short: Russian Orthodox Church Abroad ) is a self-governing church within the Patriarchate of Moscow . It is based in New York . It has dioceses in Western Europe, Oceania, North and South America. The church was founded by exiles after the October Revolution and was an independent church from 1927 to 2007; in 2007 it was reunified with the Russian Orthodox Church .

history

The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad was founded by Russian Orthodox Christians outside the Soviet Union after the October Revolution and the Civil War . It emerged from communities of refugees who had to leave Russia because of the communist persecution of Christians. When contact with the church leadership in Russia itself broke off in the 1920s, the then Patriarch Tichon issued a decree calling on those parts of the Russian church that were not connected to the church leadership because of the political situation to set up their own supreme church administration. The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad has been self-governing since 1927.

Task and essence

During the 70-year history of the Soviet Union , the Russian Orthodox Church abroad tried to preserve the religious heritage of Russian Orthodoxy. Disputes with the Moscow Patriarchate mainly concerned political issues, since large sections of the Russian diaspora believed that the Moscow Patriarchate was too close to the Soviet regime and was partially infiltrated by the KGB . For its part, the Moscow Patriarchate viewed the Russian Orthodox Church abroad during its independence as a church with an irregular status, but at the same time as part of the one Russian Orthodox Church.

For years, ROKA has endeavored to spread the Orthodox faith among Western, non-Orthodox believers, whereby Western liturgical forms are still respected. In the last few decades a kind of “Orthodoxy with a Western rite” has emerged, which individual parishes and monasteries have adopted. After St. Petroc Abbey in Cascades, Tasmania , a suburb of Hobart , closed in 2012, Christ the Savior Abbey , which moved from Hamilton, Ontario , Canada to Niagara Falls, New York in June 2013 , is the most important monastery of the ROKA with a western rite.

head

The "Supreme Church Administration" was headed by the "Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad" and had its seat first in Constantinople , then since 1957 in New York . From 2001 until his death on March 16, 2008, ROKA was headed by its first hierarch Laurus Schkurla .

First Hierarchs

Bishops' Council

Resolutions of overall ecclesiastical importance were passed by the bishops' council formed by all bishops.

Dioceses

The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad comprised around 450 parishes and eparchies in North and South America, Western Europe, Great Britain, and Germany. Since 1990 there have also been parishes of the foreign church in Russia .

Educational institutions

  • Clerics are trained at the Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville , founded in 1948 , which is the only Russian Orthodox seminary outside Russia. They acquire a theological degree there in a five-year course. The Holy Trinity School has also been affiliated to the seminary as a distance learning facility since 2001 .
  • The Diocese of Detroit and Central America also has a pastoral school for the training of mostly lay workers. This pastoral school offers a recognized distance learning course in Orthodox theology with a focus on pastoral theology and work.
  • Church schools, some with boarding schools, exist in San Francisco, Nyack NY , Toronto , Sydney , Brussels , Buenos Aires and Bethany ( Israel ).

Monasteries

Some monasteries worldwide belong to the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.

USA and Canada

  • Holy Trinity Stavropighial Monastery in Jordanville
  • Stavropighial Convention of Dormition, "Novo Diveevo", in Nanuet , New York
  • Hermitage in Mahopac , New York
  • Holy Cross Skite in Wayne, West Virginia
  • St. Elizabeth's Convent in Mohawk , New York
  • Monastery of the Most Merciful Savior in Vashon Island , WA
  • Convent of the Birth of the Virgin Mary in Wayne, WV
  • Mary Protection Convention in Bluffton, Canada

Europe

  • Lesna Convent of Our Lady of All Saints in Provemont , France
  • Convent of Saint Edward the Martyr in England
  • Annunciation Convention in London , England

Germany

Jerusalem

  • Mount of Olives Convention in Jerusalem
  • Gethsemane Convent, Church of Saint Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem

Australia

  • Russian Orthodox Convention of Our Lady of Kazan, “Novoye Shamarino” in Kentlyn
  • Skite of the Transfiguration of the Redeemer in Bombala
  • Convent of Archangel Michael in Marrickville , NSW
  • Sisters of the Presentation of the Lord in Bungarby , NSW

Elsewhere

Spin-offs

There have been several splits from the Russian Orthodox Church

  • Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia under Vitaly (Ustinov) ( ROCOR (W) , Русская Православная Церковь Заграницей под омофором Метрополита Виталия (Устинова) РПЦЗ (В)), also Russian Orthodox Church in Exile ( Russian Orthodox Church in Exile ), 2001 founded , headquartered in Mansonville, Canada, but believers mainly in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, founded by Vitaly Ustinow.This resulted in several spin-offs:
    • Russian Orthodox Church Abroad under the Metropolitan in Moldova ( ROKA (M) ), officially the True Orthodox Church of Moldova , since 1997, in Moldova, with parishes in Birmingham, Paris, Brussels, only officially registered in 2007 after years of litigation
    • Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (Antonius) ( ROKA (WA) , Русская православная церковь зарубежная (Антония), РПЦЗ (В-А)), officially the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia (в -А) , Russia, and since 2006 Пекекая асвекасвиская in Russia, Belarus, and since 2006 Прекасваская асвекасвиская аасрекасва in Russia other states, arose after internal disputes over the bishopric

Also came into being

  • Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia under Arthangelos (Pasch Frankowski) ( ROCOR (A) , Русская Православная Церковь Заграницей под омофором Агафангела (Пашковского) РПЦЗ (А)), founded in 2007 by believers who the unification of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad with the Patriarchate rejected by Moscow

Reunification with Moscow Patriarchate

Since the political upheaval at the beginning of the 1990s, the Russian Orthodox Church abroad has sought to restore full church unity and has held official talks with the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate since 2003. In May 2006 the foreign church decided at its 4th Bishops' Council to end the division of the church and to restore church unity. Archbishop Mark, who grew up in the FRG , played an essential role here, because there was strong resentment on the part of the foreign church against the Moscow Patriarchate because of its collaboration with the Soviet regime. A big problem was that many of the faithful of the foreign church demanded an official condemnation of so-called Sergianism , that is, the loyalty of the Moscow Patriarchate to the Soviet state (named after Metropolitan Sergij Stragorodsky , 1867–1944).

The official reunification took place on May 17, 2007 in Moscow with the signing of an “act of canonical communion” by both church leaders. Patriarch Alexius II signed for the Moscow Patriarchate and Metropolitan Lavr ( Laurus ) signed for ROKA . As a result, the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad submitted to the superordinate jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate as a self-governing church . With regard to its administrative affairs, the foreign church remains largely independent.

See also

swell

  1. ↑ See the abstract: The Russian Orthodox Church ( Memento from February 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Cf. Georg Silk: The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad with Special Consideration of the German Diocese , p. 23 ff.
  3. ↑ See OrthodoxWiki: St. Petroc Monastery (Cascades, Tasmania) (as of May 1, 2015) and the blog (as of May 1, 2015).
  4. ↑ See Christminster.org (as of May 1, 2015).
  5. ↑ The name Laurus is also occasionally given as Lawr, cf. Лавр.
  6. ↑ from him comes a strongly anti-Semitic and anti-Masonic writing from August 28, 1932, called Pastoral Letter of the Council of Orthodox Russian Archbishops Abroad , location Sremskije Karlowzy , Yugoslavia, available in German in Hans Krebs ed .: Die Weltfront. Voices on the Jewish question. Episode 1. Nibelungen, Berlin and Leipzig 1935, as well as online in a documentation of the anti-Semitic German expert Ulrich Fleischhauer in the Bern process about the authenticity of the protocols of the Elders of Zion , called "Expert reports: The real protocols ..." pp. 439–445. Antonius' writing is used here as proof of the authenticity of the forgery. The complete Berner process documents in the reference article on the "protocols" as a web link. Butcher
  7. ↑ Detailed information about the German diocese on the ROKA website. ( Memento from April 20, 2001 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ See additional information on the website of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad.
  9. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from March 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ See http://www.synod.com/synod/engrocor/eneducation.html
  11. ↑ Cf. http://www.orthodoxtheologicalschool.org/ , report on the first graduate year ( memento of September 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ^ ROCOR Western Rite
  13. ↑ own website ( Memento from April 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (English, Russian)
  14. ↑ Russian Orthodox Church in Exile Orthodoxwiki (English)
  15. ↑ Vitaly (Ustinov) Orthodox Wiki (English)
  16. ↑ Cf. CHURCH / 512: Russian Orthodoxy ends division (Herder correspondence)
  17. ↑ Cf. the article Association with cosmetic defects by Gerd Stricker in Herder-Korrespondenz No. 4/2007 .
  18. ↑ See the exact wording on the website of the Maria Obhut Church in Düsseldorf
  19. ↑ Cf. Radio Vatican: Russia: Reunification among Orthodox .

literature

  • Georg Silk: The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad with Special Consideration of the German Diocese , 2001, Verlag Russian Orthodox Monastery, ISBN 978-3-935217-00-2
  • Gernot Silk: History of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad from its Foundation to the Present , 1983, Verlag O. Harrassowitz, ISBN 978-3-447-02352-8

Web links

Individual churches