Does the Moscow Patriarchate have grace in their sacraments? According to the document released by the Synod of Bishops in 1990 they do (at least in some small way):
We believe and confess that in those churches of the Patriarchate of Moscow where the priest fervently believes and sincerely prays, showing himself to be not only a "minister of the cult", but also a good shepherd who loves his sheep, to those who approach him with faith, the grace of salvation is accessible in the mysteries. Such churches are few in number on the immense territory of the Russian land.
The churches of the catacomb Christians, our brethren, in which the divine services are celebrated by priests who have preserved canonical succession from those who received the crown of martyrdom, the true archpastors of the Church, are even fewer in number and inaccessible to the vast mass of believers. - Source
Father George Lardas comments:
It has been the position of our Council (Sobor) of Bishops, right from the beginning, that we must always be open to dialog with the rest of the Russian Church, and in our decision to sever ties with Metropolitan Sergius, we appealed to a future free council of the entire Russian Church. It has never been our position that we constitute the entirety of the Russian Church, only her free voice in those troubled times, the only part of the Russian Church that is able to articulate the unconstrained conscience of the suffering Russian Church. In severing ties with Metropolitan Sergius, we did not (although it may have been the private opinion of some of our hierarchs) take the official position that his Mysteries were without grace. In appealing to a future council of the Russian Church, we have admitted readiness to dialog, and this has been repeated and reconfirmed in the official statements of our most recent Sobors (1990 and 1994), which Metropolitan Vitaly himself also signed. In dialoguing with representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate, Archbishop Mark was doing nothing else but carrying out the decisions of our bishops. - Source
While this helps to heal my understanding to an extent, it does bring up other questions in my mind. For instance, what did Bp. Valentine think of such a statement from ROCOR's synod? Bp. Gregory of Denver? Or what about in 1994 when the synod said: "We are distressed that wide circles within the Patriarchate have been following the lead of other Local Churches who have lost a healthy sense of the understanding of the Traditions of the Holy Fathers. Yet at the same time we rejoice that within the same Patriarchate there are also healthy elements. These consist of priests and even laymen who are Orthodox in mind and preach true Orthodoxy despite all obstacles"? What do the ROCiE's, ROAC's, and GOC's have to say about these sorts of statements? Or more importantly, what did they say then, and what do they say now?
