Bishops’ Council elects Drafting, Credentials and Counting Committees

At its first session on 25 January 2009, the Bishops’ Council adopted an agenda, program and rules of procedure proposed by the Holy Synod.

It also elected the Secretary of the Council and voted on the membership of the drafting, credentials and counting committees.

The secretariat of the Council will be directed by Metropolitan Clement of Kaluga and Borovsk, Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate. It includes Archbishop Varfolomey of Rovno and Ostrog and Archbishop Varsonofy of Saransk and Mordovia.

The Council elected Archbishop Alexander of Kostroma and Galich as chairman of the drafting committee, which includes Bishop Peter of Cleveland, administrator of Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America, Russian Church Outside Russia; Archbishop Justinian of Tiraspol and Dubossary, Archbishop Feodosy of Polotsk and Glubokoye, Archbishop Mitrofan of Belaya Tserkov and Boguslav, Bishop Alexander of Baku and Prikaspijsk, and Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria.

The members of the Council’s credentials committee include Metropolitan Isidor of Yekaterinodar and Kuban (chairman), Archbishop Mark of Berlin-Germany and Great Britain, Archbishop Gregory of Mozhaisk, vicar of the Moscow diocese; Archbishop Innokenty of Korsun, Archbishop Pavel of Vyshgorod, vicar of the Kiev Metropolia; Archbishop Ignaty of Petropavlovsk and Kamchatka, Bishop Feodosy of Tambov and Michurinsk, Bishop Alexander of Daugavpils, vicar of the Riga Metropolia; Bishop Markell of Petergof, vicar of the St. Petersburg diocese; Bishop Markell of Beltsy and Faleshty, Bishop Serafim of Bobruisk and Bykhov and Bishop Alexy of Belgorod-Dnestrovsky.

• Chairman of the Credentials Committee announces the number of participants in the Bishops’ Council
• Bishops’ Council elects Drafting, Credentials and Counting Committees
• Patriarchal Locum Tenens emphasizes the positive significance of the primatial service rendered by the late Patriarch Alexy
• Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church opened in Moscow
• Before the Bishops’ Council its participants assembled for Divine Liturgy at the Church of Christ the Savior