Epistle of the Sobor of Bishops

Beloved in Christ fathers, brothers and sisters in the homeland and in the diaspora!

We, the bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, gathered in Montreal (Canada) for the Bishop's Council under the protection of the miracle-working icon of the Vladimir Mother of God (Harbin-Moss Beach Convent) and the Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God and strengthened by a small piece of the Lord's Life-Creating Cross with a feeling of gladness report to you of a long-awaited event, that occurred at the council, specifically the decision to glorify among the saints the Ever-Memorable Metropolitan Philaret, third hierarch of our Church as Hierarch and Confessor.

 

We bring to your attention that the glorification itself will take place, God willing, on the 10/23 August, 2009 simultaneously in the Synodal church of the Holy Transfiguration in Mansonville (Canada) and in the church of St John of Shanghai in Kiev (Ukraine).

We believe that the Bishop's Council, which transpired in the spirit of brotherly Christian love, was under the invisible protection of the new Saint, a Pillar of our Church, whose significance for all true-worshipping Christians in an age of Apostasy is impossible to overestimate. The ever-memorable Metropolitan Philaret was not only an outstanding follower of the Gospel Commandments but also a fiery zealot for Christ's Truth, an untiring guardian of the purity of Orthodoxy. The strict views of the Hierarch-Confessor, also held by the Church Fathers, in relation to today's Church issues, shunning fatal extremes, have not lost their timeliness and importance, however. And, more so, the Saint's opinions, in an age of world Apostasy, are the most important guide to those who are struggling to stay in the Truth, and they give us a proper direction amidst the incredible spreading of confusion in the Church, hypocrasy and all sort of falsifications as the Truth.

Let us attempt, beloved in Christ brothers and sisters, in today's complicated times to keep the commandment of the great Saint of our time: "Hold that fast which thou hast!" (Rev. 3:11) and follow his path as a confessor, a path that was followed by the last remaining in the Truth our lawful First Hierarch, the Most Blessed Metropolitan Vitaly.

Specifically, following the position of Hierarch Philaret, we, the Bishops of the Church Abroad, remind again of the impossibility of considering the non-canonical Moscow Patriarchate as the true Russian Orthodox Church "having violated its faithfulness to Christ's Truth from the moment that Metropolitan Sergius laid as its foundation the concurrent serving of Christ and the Belial" and it hierarchs as being the successors of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, the Confessor. (Bishop's Council, 1971)

We will also note that the apostates that followed Archbishop Laurus, having joined the Moscow Patriarchate, have lost their continuation not only with Most Blessed Metropolitan Vitaly by whose words they already "can not be considered as being within the Church boundary" but also with His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, the Confessor. This also concerns Bishop Agafangel (Pashkovsky) who participated in the persecutions against the elder Metropolitan Vitaly and his followers, faithful to Archbishop Laurus and only at the last moment isolating from him and forming his own non-canonical group-a forgery of the Russian Church Abroad. But, having broken his continuity with Metropolitan Vitaly and not restoring it in due time, bishop Agafangel and his fellow brothers do not have the right to be called hierarchs of the Church Abroad: no matter with which "All-Diaspora Councils" they cover themselves. And, in this manner, all their actions have no real relationship to the Russian Church Abroad.

The so-called RTOC (Russian True Orthodox Church) does not have any continuity from the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, in relation to which the Most Blessed Metropolitan Vitally declared repeatedly that with this group, unlawfully disguised in catacomb and foreign clothing, he does not maintain "any prayer or Liturgical relationship". With their actions, the founders of RTOC have placed themselves "outside the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad"

According to the views of Hierarch Philaret in relation to splits in the Church, went into the canonical wilderness (i.e. into schism) all those that separated from the Russian Church Abroad, the so called "splinter groups": the followers of monk Valentin of Suzdal, "bishop" Gregory (Lurieux), the group of Archbishop Anthony (Orloff) and Bishop Victor (Pivovaroff), who have been defrocked by our Council at this time and the group derived from them headed by Archimandrite Damaskin (Balabanoff) who has been forbidden to serve. Bishop Anthony (Rudei), now forbidden to serve, also separated himself from the conciliar unity having performed an unlawful and uncanonical action (see 1st Apostolic rule) and unilaterally declared himself "archbishop".

There can not be any discussion of a union or a dialogue with these lost in the faith, since, according to the words of our Hierarch-Confessor, only a monologue is possible with a schismatic, which is a repentant return into the true Church.

Wishing to fill the number of bishops in our Church, we, by God's Mercy, consecrated the candidate Hieromonk Victor (Parbus). His Grace, Bishop Victor, occupies one of the oldest posts, vacant until now, in the Russian Church Abroad with the title of Paris and Western Europe. Hieromonk Alexei (Pergamentsev) was also consecrated as Bishop of Saltanov, vicar of the Moldavian diocese.

At the Council, in connection of the approval of the petition on the restoration of "the throne of Orthodox tsars" (in the prayer "Salvation of Russia") we discussed the question of Orthodox monarchy. A deep sentiment was expressed that an Orthodox monarchy, on the condition of a symphony with the Orthodox Church, is the only God-established form of government rule in Russia bound by the oath of the Zemskii Council of 1613. This view was already approved at the First All-Diaspora Council in 1921 and was confirmed at the last Zemskii Council in Vladivostok in 1922 and this position was held by all our Ever-memorable first Hierarchs.

We, the archpastors of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, attempting to follow the path indicated by our faithful and True Hierarchs, call upon all our children in the homeland and in the diaspora the blessing of the Holy Spirit which heals the infirm and strengthens the weak. We ask that you not be troubled seeing the Church discord but always keep in your heart the promise of our Lord Jesus Christ: "Fear not, little flock! For it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32).

Amen

+Bishop Vladimir of San Francisco and Western America

+Bishop Anastassy of Vladivostok and the Far East

+Bishop Victor of Paris and Western Europe

+Bishop Alexei of Saltanov, Vicar Moldavian diocese