Holy Synod meeting

HOLY SYNOD MEETING

The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church met for its regular session on April 19-20. It was chaired by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia.

With regard to the brutal murder on March 21, 2000, of hieromonk Gregory (Yakovlev), rector of the church of the Holy Trinity at the Tura village in Krasnoyarsk region, the Holy Synod adopted a special Statement expressing the attitude of the Russian Orthodox Church to the crime committed (the text has been distributed separately).

Having studied the draft Statute of the Representation of a Monastery as an Orthodox Religious Organization subordinate to the diocese, the Holy Synod adopted the text of the Statute as model and blessed its use throughout the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church. Monasteries’ representations shall be registered with the territorial agencies of justice.

In order to introduce a procedure whereby newly-composed liturgical texts are to be reviewed and to enhance their liturgical level and to reduce the period in which these texts are considered by the Synodal Liturgical Commission, the Holy Synod decided to recommend the establishment of diocesan liturgical commissions.

Having heard the report of the chairman of the Synodal Canonization Commission, Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, the Holy Synod referred to the Bishops’ Council the question concerning the canonization of a number of bishops, clerics and lay people, whose names were presented by the dioceses of Astana, Ivanovo, Kostroma, Moscow, Orel, Saransk and Ufa, as new Russian martyrs and confessors to be venerated by the whole Church.

The celebration of the Synaxis of St. Petersburg’s Saints has been fixed for the third Sunday after Pentecost.

On the basis of the report made by Bishop Alexis of Orekhovo-Zuevo, chairman of the Synodal Liturgical Commission, the Holy Synod adopted and recommended for usage the texts of an akathistos to the Holy Righteous Matrona venerated locally in Moscow and the Moscow diocese and the troparion and kontakion to the Sainted Athanasios (Sakharov), Bishop of Kovrovo and Confessor.

On the basis of the information given by Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk and Slutsk, Patriarchal Exarch for All Belarus, chairman of the Synodal Theological Commission, it was decided to acknowledge the final documents of the Fifth All-Church Congress of Diocesan Missionaries as reflecting the present state of the missionary work in the Russian Orthodox Church. The Missionary Department was charged with taking into account the remarks made by the Synodal Theological Commission.

The Holy Synod considered the report of Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, on the talks that the Russian Orthodox Church delegation, of which he was head, had with a delegation of the Patriarchate of Constantinople on March 28, 2000, in Geneva. Regret was expressed with regard to the unconstructive attitude adopted by Metropolitan Stephen, who heads the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Estonia, as it complicates the registration of churches as property of the parishes of the Estonian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate and prevents a final settlement of this issue between the Russian and Constantinopolitan Orthodox Churches in the light of the decision made by them in 1996 in Zurich. Consultations with the Patriarchate of Constantinople will continue. Hope was expressed that through their prayers and efforts the two Churches will help heal the canonical disorder in Ukraine. It was considered necessary for diocesan bishops of the Patriarchates of Moscow and Constantinople in Hungary to enter into dialogue for solving vexed questions.

On the basis of the report by Metropolitan Kirill on the state of the Russian Orthodox Church parishes in Hungary, a blessing was given to transform the Hungarian Orthodox Deanery into the Diocese of Hungary with the see in Budapest. Bishop Paul of Vienna and Austria was commissioned to administer the new diocese, his title henceforth be changed into Bishop of Vienna and Budapest.

The Holy Synod also considered the appeal of the so-called Bishops’ Synod of «Russian Church Abroad» to the Russian Orthodox people, which has been distributed in the mass media. Putting trust in the immeasurable mercy of God and His all-good and saving providence towards those who, having rooted themselves in schism, oppose church unity and continue in all possible ways to revile at the faithfulness of the Russian Orthodox people to their church Holy authorities and Fatherland both in the present and the present, the Holy Synod called all the Orthodox believers in diaspora, who associate their church life with Russia’s spiritual ideals but for various reasons continue to be outside the canonical communion with the Mother Church, to restore canonical unity with the Russian Orthodox Church. It was emphasized that during the last decades the Moscow Patriarchate has repeatedly expressed its good will for the soonest possible restoration of canonical unity in the fold of the Mother Church with the bishops, clergy and monastics of the «Russian Church Abroad» who wish it. The leadership of this Church, however, failed to respond to this appeal with due understanding.

The Holy Synod heard and acknowledged the report by Archbishop Tikhon of Bronnitsa, chairman of the Publishing Board of the Moscow Patriarchate, on the work carried out by the Moscow Patriarchate Publishers in 1999 and thanked the chairman and his staff for their efforts.

Acknowledgment was also given to the report by Archbishop Ioann of Belgorod and Stary Oskol, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Missionary Department, on the work his department carried out in 1999. The chairman and his staff were thanked for their efforts. Blessing was given upon the department’s work plan for 2000.

Having heard and acknowledged the report by Bishop Savva of Krasnogorsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for the Armed Forces and Law-Enforcement Agencies, on the work carried out by his department in the last year, the Holy Synod expressed gratitude to the chairman and his staff for the pastoral work they carried out in the army, navy and prisons.

On the basis of the report by Hegumen Ioann (Ekonomtsev), chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate‘s Department for Religious Education and Catechism, on the work carried out by his department in 1999, his efforts were approved and the work of the Orthodox Theological University of St. John the Theologian was noted. Gratitude was expressed to the chairman and his staff.

The Holy Synod approved the report by Archbishop Alexander of Kostroma and Galich, chairman of the All-Church Orthodox Youth Movement, on the work carried out by the movement in the last year. The Holy Synod also approved the conception of the youth service in the Russian Orthodox Church.

Having heard the report of Bishop Alexis of Orekhovo-Zuevo, chairman of the Synod Liturgical Commission, the Holy Synod approved the work carried out by this commission to prepare services, rites and other liturgical texts in the period from January 1999 to April 2000.

The Holy Synod gave its blessing upon the opening of 5 monasteries in the dioceses of Arkhangelsk, Nizhni Novgorod, Petrozavodsk, Stavropol, and Chita and one convent in the diocese of Chita.

On the basis of the report by the DECR chairman Metropolitan Kirill, blessing was given upon the admission of the Orthodox Parish of St. Alexander Nevsky in Copenhagen and the newly-formed Orthodox Parish of St. Nicholas in Orchus, Denmark, into the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church as they petitioned. Rev. Alexander Gorbunov of the Department for External Church Relations was appointed rector of the Parish of St. Alexander Nevsky in Copenhagen and was asked to take pastoral care of the Parish of St. Nicholas in Orchus.