Holy Synod meets for its regular session

HOLY SYNOD MEETS FOR ITS REGULAR SESSION

The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church met on 26 February 1998 at the working residence of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia in Chisty Lane. The meeting was chaired by the Patriarch. The Holy Synod considered issues concerning “the Yekaterinburg remains” (see the previous press-release), as well as those involved in the internal and external life of our Church.

In 1998, just in previous years, the Russian Orthodox Church will take part in the celebrations devoted to the Day of Slavonic Literature and Culture which is traditionally marked on May 24, the Commemoration Day of Sts Cyril and Methodius, the Teachers of Slavs Equal to the Apostles. Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna will participate in the work of the organizing committee for the celebrations. The traditional international conference to take place this year in Yaroslavl will be coordinated by Bishop Yevgeny of Vereya, rector of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary.

The Holy Synod considered the reports by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, on the external activity of the Church. It approved the position taken by the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church at the meeting with representatives of the Roman Catholic Church which took place on 14-15 January in Moscow. The Holy Synod stated with regret the absence of any visible changes for the better in the inter-confessional situation in western Ukraine and stressed that further contacts between the two Churches and their concrete forms will depend on positive results achieved in the peace process in the conflict regions of western Ukraine and Transcarpathia.

The bishops expressed satisfaction with the results of the visits by the delegation of the Conference of European Churches led by its President, Metropolitan Jeremiah of France, Exarch of Iberia, and its General Secretary, Rev. Keath Clements, and the delegation of the World Council of Churches led by its General Secretary, the Rev. Dr. Konrad Raiser. In the latter case, the agreement of the WCC leadership to initiate the process of a profound reform in the Council was noted with a special satisfaction. It was agreed to continue the preparation of an all-Orthodox discussion on the participation of Orthodox Church in international Christian organizations.

The Holy Synod welcomed the results of the plenary session of the Synodal Theological Commission which took place on 3 February at the Moscow Theological Academy and adopted the new composition of the commission.

Considering the canonization of Metropolitan Agafangel of Yaroslavl (Preobrazhensky; 1854-1928) as a new Russian martyr and confession, the Holy Synod resolved that the decision on this matter be referred to the next Bishops’ Council.

The Holy Synod considered questions involved in recovering the church property which belonged previously to the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius, Lithuania, and the Archdiocese of Vilna, as well as other matters of the internal order in dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church, such as the opening of two monasteries in the diocese of Saransk and two convents in the dioceses of Tobolsk and Cheboksary and a pre-seminary in Saranask.

The Holy Synod also decided to make hegumen Ignaty (Pologrudov) of the diocese of Vilnius the Bishop of Petropavlovsk and Kamchatka, and archimandrite Kirill (Nakonechny) the Bishop of Bogorodskoye, vicar of the Tula diocese.