XXI. The property and assets | The Russian Orthodox Church

XXI. The property and assets

1. The assets of the Russian Orthodox Church and of its canonical units shall be formed from the following:

a) donations received during the celebration of divine services, Sacraments, requested services and rites;

b) voluntary donations of natural persons and legal entities, governmental, public and other enterprises, institutions, organizations and foundations;

c) donations received in disseminating Orthodox religious objects and Orthodox religious literature (books, journals, newspapers, audio- and video-recordings, etc.) and from the sale of these objects;

d) income received from the activity of the institutions and enterprises of the Russian Orthodox Church assigned for the statutory objectives of the Russian Orthodox Church;

e) allocations from the synodal institutions, dioceses, diocesan institutions, missions, church representations, representations, as well as parishes, monasteries, brotherhoods, sisterhoods, their institutions, organizations, etc.;

f) allocations from the profits of the enterprises established by the canonical units of the Russian Orthodox Church independently or together with other legal entities or natural persons;

g) other returns which are not prohibited by the legislation, including income from securities and deposits in the deposit accounts;

2. The general church plan of expenditures shall be formed from the resources allocated by the dioceses, stavropegic monasteries and parishes in Moscow, as well as from the designated funds coming from the sources mentioned in Par.1 of this section.

3. The Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and the Holy Synod shall manage the general church financial assets.

4. The Russian Orthodox Church may own buildings, plots of land, objects of industrial, social, charitable, cultural, educational and other purposes and objects of religious purposes, financial assets and other property necessary for ensuring the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church, including the objects classified as monuments of history and culture, or receive the such for usage on other legal basis from governmental, municipal, public and other organizations and citizens in accordance with the legislation of the country in which the property is located.

The Russian Orthodox Church owns the movable and immovable property in the far abroad.

5. The property belonging to the canonical units of the Russian Orthodox Church by the right of ownership, use or on other legal basis, including the religious buildings, the buildings of the monasteries, general church and diocesan institutions, theological educational institutions, general church libraries, general church and diocesan archives, other buildings and facilities, plots of land, objects of religious worship, the objects used for social, charitable, cultural, educational and economic purposes, the financial assets, the literature and other property purchased or created at their own expense, donated by natural persons and legal entities, enterprises, institutions and organizations, as well as handed over by the state and purchased on other legal basis shall be the property of the Russian Orthodox Church.

6. The manner of ownership, use and disposal of the property belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church by the right of ownership, use or on other legal basis shall be determined by the present Statute, the rules approved by the Holy Synod and the Provision for the Church Property.

7. The right of disposal of the property of the Russian Orthodox Church shall belong to the Holy Synod.

The ownership and use of the said property shall be exercised by the canonical units on the basis of canonical, legal and material accountability to an appropriate higher canonical unit of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Holy Synod shall delegate the right of partial disposal of the said property – excluding the worship buildings, the buildings of the monasteries, the diocesan institutions, the theological schools, the general church, diocesan and other archives, the general church libraries and the objects of religious worship, which have historical value – to the canonical units which own this property and use it on the basis of accountability to the appropriate higher canonical unit of the Russian Orthodox Church.

8. The Self-governing Churches, the Exarchates and the Metropolitan Areas shall use for their needs the plots of land, the buildings, including religious ones, the objects of industrial, social, charitable, cultural, educational and other purposes, including those classified as the monuments of history and culture, as well as any other property which they need for ensuring their activity and which were made available for them by governmental, municipal, public and other organizations and citizens, in accordance with the legislation of the country in which the Self-governing Church, the Exarchate and the Metropolitan Area is located or owns this property.

9. The Self-governing Churches, the Exarchates and the Metropolitan Areas shall use the property that belongs to them in accordance with the order established by the Provision for the Church Property.

10. The Moscow Patriarchate and the synodal departments shall be entitled to own or to use for their needs the plots of land, the buildings, including religious ones, the objects of industrial, social, charitable, cultural, educational and other purposes, including those classified as the monuments of history and culture, as well as any other property which they need for ensuring their activity and which were made available for them by governmental, municipal, public and other organizations and citizens in accordance with the current legislation.

11. The Moscow Patriarchate and the synodal institutions shall use the property belonging to them in accordance with the order determined in the Provision for the Church Property.

12. The Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia shall manage the financial assets of the Moscow Patriarchate.

13. The Synodal institutions shall be financed from the general church assets and through self-financing at the expense of the assets generated from the sources mentioned in Par.1 of this section.

14. The heads of the synodal institutions shall manage their assets within the plan of expenditures.

15. The diocesan budgets shall be formed from the sources mentioned in Par.1 of this section.

16. The Diocesan Bishop shall manage the general diocesan assets.

17. The Diocese shall be entitled to own or to use for its needs the plots of land, the buildings, including religious ones, the objects of industrial, social, charitable, cultural, educational and other purposes, including those classified as the monuments of history and culture, as well as any other property which they need for ensuring their activity and which were made available for them by governmental, municipal, public and other organizations and citizens in accordance with the legislation of the country where the Diocese is located.

18. The property which belongs to the Diocese by the right of ownership, including the buildings, constructions, the objects of religious purpose, the objects of social, charitable, cultural, educational and economic purposes, the plots of land, financial assets, literature and other property purchased or created at their own expense, donated by the natural persons and legal entities – enterprises, institutions and organizations handed over by the state, as well as purchased on other legal basis, shall be the property of the Russian Orthodox Church.

19. In the event of the dissolution of the diocese as legal entity, its movable and immovable property of religious purpose, which it possessed by the right of ownership, shall be transferred to the ownership of the Russian Orthodox Church, also in the person of the Moscow Patriarchate. Other property shall be sold to satisfy the creditors and to meet the contractual and other legitimate claims of the legal entities and natural persons. After the legitimate claims of the creditors are met, the rest of the property shall be transferred to the ownership of the Russian Orthodox Church, also in the person of the Moscow Patriarchate.

20. In the event of the dissolution of the diocese, all property which it acquired by the right of economic day-to-day management, use or any other legal basis in the manner and under the conditions stipulated by the law of the country where the diocese is located, shall be placed at the disposal of the Russian Orthodox Church, also in the person of the Moscow Patriarchate.

21. The financial assets of the parishes, monasteries, theological educational institutions, brotherhoods or sisterhoods shall be formed from the sources mentioned in Par.1 of this section.

The estimate of expenditure of the theological educational institutions shall be approved by the Diocesan Bishop, and in the event of general church financing of the school, the Diocesan Bishop shall submit the estimate to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia for approval after its prior consideration by the Education Committee.

22. The financial assets of the parishes, monasteries, theological educational institutions, brotherhoods and sisterhoods shall be managed on the basis of accountability to the Diocesan Bishop within the budgets approved by him respectively by the Chairman of the Parish Council on the basis of accountability to the Parish Meeting, considering the specifics provided for by the present Statute and the statute of the parish; by the abbot or father superior (mother superior) of the monastery; by Rector of the theological educational institution; by the chairman of the brotherhood or sisterhood together with the members of the Council of the brotherhood and the Council of the sisterhood.

23. The parishes, monasteries, theological educational institutions, brotherhoods and sisterhoods shall be entitled to own or to use for their needs the plots of land, the buildings, including religious ones, the objects of industrial, social, charitable, cultural, educational and other purposes, including those classified as the monuments of history and culture, as well as any other property which they need for ensuring their activity and which were made available for them by governmental, municipal, public and other organizations and citizens in accordance with the legislation of the country where the parish, monastery, theological educational institution, brotherhood or sisterhood is located..

24. In addition to the main church building, the parish may have, with the blessing of the Diocesan Bishop, the attached churches and chapels, including those in hospitals, boarding schools, old people’s homes, military units, places of imprisonment and cemeteries as well as in other places, provided that the legislation is observed.

25. The parishes, monasteries, theological educational institutions, brotherhoods or sisterhoods may rent, build or purchase in the prescribed manner the houses and premises for their needs, as well as become owners of other necessary property.

26. The property belonging to the parishes, monasteries, theological educational institutions, brotherhoods or sisterhoods by the right of ownership, including the buildings, constructions, objects of religious purpose, objects of social, charitable, cultural, educational and economic purposes, the plots of land, financial assets, libraries, the literature and other property purchased or created at their own expense, donated by natural persons and legal entities – enterprises, institutions and organizations, handed over by the state as well as that purchased on other legal basis, shall be the property of the Russian Orthodox Church.

27. In the event of the dissolution of the parish, monastery or theological educational institution as legal entity, their movable and immovable property of religious purpose belonging to them by the right of ownership shall be transferred into the ownership of the Diocese. Other property shall be sold to satisfy creditors and to meet contractual and other legitimate claims of the legal entities and natural persons. After the legal claims of the creditors are satisfied, the rest of the property shall be passed over to the Diocese.

28. In the event of the dissolution of the parish, monastery or theological educational institution, all property which they acquired by the right of economic management, efficient administration, use and on other legal basis in the manner and under the conditions established by the law of the country, where the parish, monastery and Theological educational institution are located, shall be passed over to the Diocese.

29. In the event of the dissolution of the brotherhood and sisterhood as legal entity, their movable and immovable property of religious purpose belonging to them by the right of ownership shall be transferred into the ownership of the parish, at which they were established. Other property shall be sold to satisfy creditors and to meet contractual and other legitimate claims of the legal entities and natural persons. After the legitimate claims of the creditors are met, the rest of the property shall be passed over to the aforementioned parish.

30. In the event of the dissolution of the brotherhood and sisterhood, all property which they acquired by the right of economic management, efficient administration, use or on any other legitimate basis in the manner and under the conditions stipulated by the law of the country where the brotherhood and sisterhood are located, shall be passed over to the parish at which they were established.

31. The overseas institutions shall provide themselves with the assets in accordance with their resources and the laws of the countries on the territory of which they are located.

32. The overseas institutions may receive subsidies from the general church assets. The size of the subsidies shall be approved by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

33. Church money shall be deposited in the banks in the name of a respective overseas institution and shall be cashed by cheques drawn by the manager of credits.

34. The overseas institutions shall use the property belonging to them in the manner determined by the Provision for the Church Property.

35. The Holy Synod shall be entitled to make a financial auditing of general church and diocesan assets and shall set up a special synodal commission for this purpose.

36. The financial auditing of the stavropegic monasteries shall be carried out by the Audit Commission appointed by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

37. The financial auditing of the diocesan monasteries, diocesan administrations and parishes shall be carried out at the instruction of the Diocesan Bishop by the Audit Commission appointed by the diocesan authority.

38. The parish Audit Commissions shall act in accordance with Article XVI, 55-59, of the present Statute.

39. The management and stocktaking of the church property shall be carried out by materially accountable persons in accordance with the law of the country of location, the requirements of the present Statute and the Provision for the Church Property.

40. The church use of candles and other church items purchased or produced outside the Church shall not be allowed.