Joint Commission of the Russian and Serbian Orthodox Churches on Schisms holds its first meeting

JOINT COMMISSION OF THE RUSSIAN AND SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCHES ON SCHISMS HOLDS ITS FIRST MEETING

The Joint Commission of the Russian and Serbian Orthodox Churches on Schisms had its first meeting on June 26-27, 2002 in Moscow, with the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russian and Patriarch Pavle of Serbia.

As the Holy Synods of the two Churches resolved, the meeting was attended by Archbishop Clement of Kaluga and Borovsk, vice-chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, Bishop Irinej of Bac, member of the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Nikolay Balashov, DECR secretary for inter-Orthodox relations, and Dr. Nenad Milosevic, associate professor of canon law at the Theological Faculty in Belgrade.

The Commission stated the concern of the two Churches’ supreme authorities for the wide-spread schismatic movements in today’s world in general and in the canonical territories of the Russian and Serbian Orthodox Churches in particular. Bringing numerous troubles and temptations to the people of God and weakening the Orthodox witness to the one apostolic faith, schisms have pride and other sinful passions as their common root. At the same time, the involvement of large sections of believers in schismatic activities are often conditioned by political factors and the self-interest of forces which are far from the desire to save human souls.

Falling away into a schism will ultimately lead to a deviation from the church faith. Schismatic communities are characterized by a gradual growth of sectarian consciousness and inevitable further fragmentation and internal conflicts. The Commission noted the need for a more systematic study of the activity of schisms and for an exchange of information between Local Churches in this area, since their solidarity in defending canonical norms is a primary condition for overcoming schisms.

The Commission also considered the recent events in the life of the communities which have breached communion with the Plenitude of the Church. In an atmosphere of fraternal openness and mutual understanding, the Commission members discussed the situation of the Orthodox believers in Estonia, Ukraine, Moldova and other countries making up the area of canonical responsibility of the Patriarchates of Moscow and Serbia. The Commission worked out proposals for strengthening the pan-Orthodox unity and for bringing deviating brothers back into the salvific communion with the Plenitude of the Orthodox Church. It was proposed in particular to hold an ecclesiastical-theological conference on schisms with the participation of bishops, theologians, and church historians from Local Churches, organized jointly by the Russian and Serbian Orthodox Churches.

The Commission members were received by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia and had a talk with Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.

On June 28, the Commemoration Day of St. Jonas, Metropolitan of Moscow, and the Holy Martyr Prince Lazar of Kosovo, Bishop Irinej concelebrated the Divine Liturgy with Patriarch Alexy at the Kremlin Cathedral of the Dormition.

The next session of the Commission is planned to take place this autumn in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia.