The Russian Orthodox Church will hold the Jubilee Bishops’ Council in Moscow

THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH WILL HOLD THE JUBILEE BISHOPS’ COUNCIL IN MOSCOW

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia will open the Jubilee Bishops’ Council at 15.00 on August 13. The Council will sit at the recently reconstructed Cathedral Church of Christ the Saviour.

On the Sunday morning, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, assisted by bishops who will come to the Council, will celebrate the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Moscow Kremlin.

The Council will last till August 16. During the first day, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy will make a report on the life of the Russian Orthodox Church in the outgoing century. He will give special attention to the assessment of the work carried out by the Church in the pre-Council period from 1997-2000. The participants of the Council will discuss the questions raised in this report.

The agenda of the Jubilee Bishops’ Council includes items on the canonization of new saints, especially those to be ranked among the Synaxis of the New Russian Martyrs and Confessors whose names are known but not yet revealed to the world, but known to God. The Council will also consider the canonization of the Emperor Nicholas I and his family.

Among documents to be presented to the Bishops’ Council is a draft social conception of the Russian Orthodox Church and draft guidelines for the attitude of the Russian Orthodox Church to non-Orthodoxy.

It is expected that the Council will adopt a new Statute of the Russian Orthodox Church.

On August 18, a grand gathering will take place in the Church of Christ the Saviour, devoted to the Bimillennium of the Nativity of Christ.

In the evening of the same day, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia will officiate at the All-Night Vigil at the Cathedral Church of Christ the Saviour, and on August 19 the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, assisted by a host of clergy, will conduct the great consecration of the Church of Christ the Saviour. This event will be broadcast live by the official site of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Internet at the address: http://www.mospat.ru. Additional information on the history and life of the Church of Christ the Saviour is available at the newly-opened site of the church at the address: http://www.xxc.ru.

At 9.30, on August 20, 2000, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, with a host of bishops, will celebrate the Divine Liturgy and the canonization of a synaxis of new Russian martyrs and confessors at the Church of Christ the Saviour.