Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
To His Grace, the Right Reverend Ambrose
Bishop of Geneva & Western Europe
Christ is risen!
Your Grace,
Having reviewed your report on the letter of Patriarch Alexis II, dated 1 April
2003, #1378, the Synod of Bishops shares your opinion that this document is
capable of causing doubts and further turmoil.
When this document first appeared, it was unclear whether it was the personal
initiative of the head of the Moscow Patriarchate, and whether this letter
expresses an official position which coincides completely with the opinion of
the Synod and the Council of Bishops of the Moscow Patriarchate.
The letter was received by FAX, and hitherto neither you nor our Synod of
Bishops have had access to the original letter. At the same time, the letter of
the Patriarch was widely publicized in the mass media, being directed to "all
the Orthodox parishes of the Russian tradition in Western Europe".
Your diocese is one of the dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. In
your capacity as its diocesan bishop you are a member of the long-functioning
Council of Bishops. In the light of conciliar, ecclesiastical order, questions
of the organization of dioceses, and, all the more, of ecclesiastical regions,
fall under the jurisdiction of the supreme ecclesiastical authorities. As you
have correctly noted, the fact that they are addressing to Your Grace such a
question, by-passing the head of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church
Abroad, places you in an unacceptable position from the ecclesio-canonical
point of view.
No less lamentable is that the document is submitted without regard to your
rights and powers as a ruling bishop vis-?-vis the flock. It must be left to
you, as a hierarch who has received such a written appeal, to publish it with
your own considerations. Actions circumventing your hierarchal position divide
you from the flock entrusted to your episcopal care, and likewise introduce
division in the midst of the flock. The woeful events in the British diocese of
the Moscow Patriarchate itself further convince us that caution is required in
dealing with these questions.
The variant readings you have pointed out are, in this sense, cause for further
caution: while the Russian original of this letter speaks of "the tradition of
Russian Orthodoxy in the lands of the West", the French translation speaks
directly of "Orthodox parishes of Russian origin and tradition in Western
Europe". It is obvious that your apprehension that the letter of the Patriarch
may be used to influence parishes and their internal life, and not in an
edifying way, are not groundless.
The Synod of Bishops is in agreement with you that the consideration of
questions of the unity and wholeness of the Church of Russia cannot be
fruitfully resolved by way of precipitous administrative transformations. All
the more, it ought not to introduce division among bishops who constitute a
single Council, the succession of which may be traced back to the Pan-Russia
Council of 1917-1918.
You rightly note that the allegation that the independence of the Russian
bishops abroad from Moscow's ecclesiastical administration is supposedly based
"more on political than any other reasons" is incorrect. We cannot term
"political" the struggle of the confessor-bishops and people of the Church of
Russia. And the Russian Church Abroad has felt itself obligated to them, has
striven to be of one mind with them. It has never broken with its Mother, the
Church of Russia, preserving the legacy of the confessor-bishops of Solovki,
that "Her [the Church's] power does not lie entirely in an external
organization, but in the unity of faith and love of Her children, who are
devoted to Her."
The unity of the various parts of the Church of Russia already exists among the
Russian Orthodox people in the homeland and in the diaspora. The grace of the
Mysteries in the churches in Russia is not questioned by the Russian Church
Abroad, just as the Moscow Patriarchate accepts the Mysteries performed by
clergymen of the Russian Church Abroad. Any further rapprochement must
originate from our common growth in the Truth of Christ and, in particular,
through a spiritual comprehension of the historical paths of our Church of
Russia.
The Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad has blessed
various initiatives whose purpose is the elucidate the paths toward the
"restoration of the historical succession" of Russia, mentioned in the letter
of Patriarch Alexis. We wish to continue efforts in this direction.
The concept of the desirability of an orderly ecclesiastical state for the
Russian diaspora, spoken of by Patriarch Alexis in his letter, is in and of
itself good; but this question must develop while taking into account the
ecclesiastical comunity of pastors and flock. At the foundation of this process
must lie the Truth of Christ, mutual respect and mutual understanding.
Internal questions of the unity of the Church of Russia-an integral part of
which we and our fathers have considered and still consider ourselves to be-are
not viewed by us as "external". Consequently, the Department of External Church
Ties (DECT) must not meddle in them. Questions of the internal life of the
Church of Russia fall exclusively within the competence of the Council of
Bishops, and not the DECT, which is not envisioned by the canons.
Our ecclesiastical way of life is defined by the decisions of the major
conciliar entities of the Russian Orthodox Church (1917-1920). We are bound to
strive toward the restoration of this conciliarity, and look forward to a
Pan-Russia Church Council which will prove to be the culmination of various
undertakings which serve for "the healing of the onerous division", not only of
the Russian diaspora in Western Europe, but of the Church of Russia as a whole.
In this spirit, you are blessed and entrusted with the task of actively
participating in all possible conversations on the topic of the further fate of
the Russian Orthodox diaspora. As regards measures of an
ecclesio-administrative character, you should adopt the position of a
benevolent observer.
With fraternal love in the Lord,
+Metropolitan Laurus
+Bishop Gabriel
Munich, 1/14 May 2003
Holy Prophet Jeremiah
