Announcement from the Chancellery of Synod of Bishops
At the Bishops’ Conference, which took place on 06/19 until 07/20 in June of this year, with the participation of Archbishop Tikhon of Omsk and Siberia,President of the Synod of Bishops of the RTOC, Archbishop Benjamin of Chernomorsk and Kuban, Vice-Chairman of the Synod, and Bishop Stefan, of Trenton and North America, and which was held at the Cathedral of the Holy Resurrection in the City of Worcester, MA, USA, the Synodal Podvorie of the RTOC in North America, and after interviews and careful study of the petitions and personal documents submitted by certain clergy of the True Orthodox Church of Greece, having determined their motives to come under the temporary omophor of the Synod of Bishops of the RTOC, in terms of their confession of Faith, and until the restoration of the hierarchy of the True Orthodox Church of Greece, a decision was made regarding the acceptance of said petition of the Greek clergy.
In fulfillment of this decision, on 08/21 of June of this year, during the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of the Holy Resurrection, in the City of Worcester, MA, USA(the Synodal Podvorie in North America), the following clergy were received under the omophor of the RTOC:
- Archimandrite Philaretos (Klimatikis), Athens, Greece
- Archpriest Sotirios Prasinos, Rhodes,Greece
- Priest Savvas Pizanios, Sydney,Australia
Divine Liturgy was celebrated by Archbishop Tikhon of Omsk and Siberia, along with Archbishop Benjamin of Chernomorsk and Kuban, and clergy from Russia, North America, Greece and Australia.
In this manner, the Synod of the RTOC has made a step in the restoration of the True Orthodox Church of Greece, of which the current hierarchy has departed from the unadulterated confession of Faith following its union with the Greek Synod in Resistance on March 10/23, 2014.
Protopresbyter Victor Melehov, Secretary
Synod of Bishops
Russian True Orthodox Church
