Press-conference on the results of the Jubilee Bishops’ Council

THE JUBILEE BISHOPS’ COUNCIL
RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
Moscow, August 13-16, 2000

PRESS-CONFERENCE ON THE RESULTS OF THE JUBILEE BISHOPS’ COUNCIL

A press-conference for the accredited journalists took place at the Church of Christ the Saviour on August 17, the day after the Jubilee Bishops’ Council completed its work.

Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, chairman of the Synodal commission for the canonization of saints, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations and chairman of the Council’s drafting committee, and Metropolitan Agafangel of Odessa and Izmail, chairman of the Council’s credentials commission, told representatives of the Russian and foreign mass media about the work and actions of the Bishops’ Council.

Making brief statements for the press before the press-conference began, the most reverend bishops noted a special significance that the documents adopted by the Council had for the Church and for society as a whole. They also testified to the spirit of fraternal unanimity with which the conciliar actions of the archpastors who gathered in Moscow were blessed.

Metropolitan Juvenaly spoke in particular about the painstaking work that his Synodal commission for the canonization of saints had carried out for many years. Answering one of the questions, His Eminence Juvenaly noted: «The work of the commission was absolutely free from any political pressure from any side. At the same time, the commission did not consider it possible for itself to ignore the opinion of dozens of thousands of citizens and organizations who supported in their appeals the idea of the glorification of the last Russian Emperor and his family among the holy passion-bearers».

As a result of the work carried out by the commission, which was unanimously approved by the Council, in total 1154 holy people will be canonized, among them 1090 Russia’s new martyrs and confessors who martyred in the 20th century. Among the newly glorified saints, there are 160 pious lay people.

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, who headed the Synodal working group for developing the Basis of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church, spoke about the work carried out at this fundamental philosophical document which formulates the Church’s answers to the challenges emerging at the turn of the century. «The Basis of the Social Concept of the Church, approved by the Council after an engaged six hour-long discussion, points to a qualitatively new level of the Church’s awareness of her responsibility before the individual, family and society», His Eminence Kirill said, adding, «today the success of the Church’s work should be appraised not by the number of newly-opened parishes and restored monasteries, but by the real, active and effective contribution of the Church to the ordering of life on the basis of Christian morality rooted in Holy Scriptures and the Holy Tradition».

The Basis of the Social Concept of the Church, approved by the Council, was commended to the Synodal institutions, dioceses, monasteries, parishes, as well as clergy and laity as a guide in their relations with the government, various secular associations and organizations and the non-church mass media. The provisions of this document will be applied in the pastoral practice connected with new phenomena in the life of society.

As chairman of the Synodal commission for reviewing the Statute of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Kirill spoke on the essence of particular changes made to the document and the significance of its new version for the canonical life of the Church at the present stage.

Answering questions on the situation in Ukraine, Metropolitan Agafangel of Odessa and Ismail noted the significance of the Bishops’ Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is completing its work, for overcoming the present crisis. According to His Eminence Agafangel, the fact that the Jubilee Bishops’ Council confirmed the status of independence and self-government of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which was granted broad autonomy by the Bishops’ Council in 1990, gave hope for the healing of the schisms and created good preconditions for uniting all the Orthodox in the fold of one Church.

Answering the question about the Russian Church’s attitude to Heterodoxy, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad reaffirmed her readiness, while remaining faithful to her spiritual and canonical order, to continue, following the example of the apostles of Christ, the mission of witness to the Truth of Orthodoxy before the world. «This life-giving spiritual perspective is characteristic also of the actions of the Sacred Bishops’s Council which is about to complete its work», His Eminence Kirill emphasized.