His Eminence, The Very Most Reverend Metropolitan VALENTINE of Suzdal and Vladimir, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church, Chairman of the Hierarchal Synod of the ROAC
Metropolitan Valentine of Suzdal and Vladimir (in the world Anatoli Petrovich Rusantsov) was born on March 3, 1939 in the town of Belorechensk, Krasnodar region. Because his father died from war wounds and his mother became seriously ill, Anatoli was sent to an orphanage, from which he was adopted into the family of Ekaterina Buriak (in the city of Maycop, Krasnodar region), members of the Catacomb Christian Church.
In 1952, during a pilgrimage to the sacred places of the Georgia region in the former USSR, the young Anatoli met monks who gave a new direction to his life. In 1956 he left for the Holy Dormition Monastery in the city of Odessa, where he met Archbishop Nestor (Anisimov). Well-known as a missionary to Kamchatka, the Archbishop for a considerable length of time served one of the Far Eastern eparchies of the Russian Church Abroad. Together with him, Anatoli departed for the Novosibirsk eparchy and was appointed as a psalm-reader in the village of Great Uluj in the Krasnojarsk region.
In 1957, Archbishop Nestor sent Anatoli to the Holy Spirit Monastery in the city of Vilnius. There, in 1958, he became a monk and took the name Valentine. He was tonsured by Archimandrite Seraphim (Smykov), who had been ordained to the priesthood by Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky). In 1960, Monk Valentine was ordained to the Holy Priesthood by Archbishop Anthony (Romanovki) of Stavropol and Baku, who was made a bishop by the Holy New Martyr, Patriarch Tikhon. Hieromonk Valentine then applied himself to the fulfillment of his pastoral duty in the Stavropol and Vladimir eparchy. Hieromonk Valentine became the superior of the Cathedral in Makhachkala (an Islamic center), where he revived Orthodox Christianity, saving the Cathedral from closure.
In 1970, he obtained a diploma from the historical faculty of Dagestan University. He graduated from the Moscow Theological College in 1973 and in 1979 he obtained a Ph.D. degree from Moscow Theological Academy.
In 1973, Archimandrite Valentine came to serve in Suzdal as superior of the magnificent Kazan church, which for the previous five years had been left without Divine Services. He revived the parish and attracted young people to the Divine Services, while using his diplomatic abilities and influence to protect church life from the interference of the atheist authorities. In 1977, however, disgruntled by the revival taking place in Suzdal, the authorities forced the community to leave the church, which was situated on the city's trading square, and move to another, less prominent location. From that time until the present, Metropolitan Valentine has carried out Divine Services in the Saint Constantine church of the city of Suzdal. He has passed all these years in unceasing labor to administer church life despite ongoing struggles both with the atheist authorities and the leadership of the Moscow Patriarchate (MP), which has zealously attempted to hinder Metropolitan Valentine in his efforts to create a strong community of believers both in Suzdal and abroad, rather than a "showcase" for tourists.
In 1987, the authorities and the leaders of the Moscow Patriarchate initiated a persecution against Archimandrite Valentine that lasted for almost three years, primarily for his frank remarks concerning the lack of religious freedom in the USSR during a lecture tour to America. In spite of numerous protests by believers, Archimandrite Valentine was retired, and it was proposed that he be exiled to a remote village. In view of the cynicism and mendacity in the highest ranks of the Moscow Patriarchate during these events, coupled with the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the subsequent presence of the Russian Church Abroad in the former USSR, Archimandrite Valentine decided to leave the Moscow Patriarchate, considering it a graceless entity, a tool of the Soviet regime. He was followed by the believers and clergy of his parish. On April 7, 1990, the departure of the Suzdal believers from the Moscow Patriarchate was completed. On April 11th they were received under the omophorion of the Russian Church Abroad, and on October 4th, Archimandrite Valentine was appointed exarch of the Russian Church Abroad within the territory of the USSR.
On February 10, 1991, by the decision of the Synod of Bishops, in the church of St Job the Much-Suffering in Brussels, a memorial church dedicated to the memory of the Holy Royal New-Martyrs, Archimandrite Valentine was consecrated Bishop of Suzdal and Vladimir. The consecration was carried out by the following bishops of the Russian Church Abroad: Archbishop Anthony of Geneva, Archbishop Mark of Germany, Bishop Barnabas of Cannes and Bishop Gregory Grabbe, who had for many years assisted the great first hierarchs of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitans Anthony, Anastassy and Philaret, and who rendered priceless assistance in years to come in the formation of the Russian [Rossijskaja] Autonomous Church.
From this time onward, Bishop Valentine directed his labors towards strengthening the Russian Church, building up her internal life, and asserting the firmness of his opposition to the Moscow Patriarchate. He thus attracted both the hatred of the patriarchate, the atheists and political operatives, and the envy of many of his brethren in the episcopate of the Russian Church Abroad, who had lost their former spirit of zeal for God. When the Russian Church Abroad in the person of Bishop Barnabas became involved in the fascist organization "Pamyat" and sent a letter to the Ukrainian "Patriarch" Vladimir with the request to receive the Russian Church Abroad into communion, Bishop Valentine issued a strong protest. Immediately thereafter the canonical territory of the Suzdal Diocese was subjected to a series of invasions, aimed at tearing parishes away from it while compromising its president in preparation for a union with the Moscow Patriarchate. Communion with the Ukrainian Patriarchate would open the door to communion with the Moscow Patriarchate, just as communion with the Romanian Old-Calendarist Church helped the Russian Church Abroad bring about a union with the Synod of Resistors under Metropolitan Cyprian of Fili. Archbishop Mark became an irreconcilable struggler against the bishops in Russia, and most of all against Bishop Valentine. Fueled by desire to unite with the Moscow Patriarchate, the Russian Church Abroad Synod, under the covert instigation of Archbishop Mark, strove to remove Bishop Valentine, as an obstacle to this longed-for union. Therefore, the Synod of the Russian Church Abroad began to search for any denunciations that they might find of the most absurd content directed against Bishop Valentine by individuals from the Moscow Patriarchate. This laid the groundwork for recognition of the Moscow Patriarchate as a grace-filled entity, since the canons stipulate that in ecclesiastical tribunals of a moral nature, the witnesses must be morally upright and members of the Church. These types of canons were laid down to protect righteous hierarchs from being attacked by the heretics. Finally, the Russian Church Abroad Hierarchal Synod found their "canonical justification" to retire Bishop Valentine in July of 1993, based upon his alleged ill health. The Synod illegally disregarded the adequate physical condition of Bishop Valentine, and neither did they ask if he wished to retire. Such a course of action would be used again and again against various hierarchs in the Russian Church Abroad, notably the late Archbishop Anthony of Los Angeles, as the Russian Church Abroad juggernaut cleared the path of all "obstacles" to union with the Moscow Patriarchate.
Under these circumstances, Bishop Valentine worked with great energy to protect the resurgent Russian Church from destruction. Without interrupting his efforts to re-establish full communion with the Russian Church Abroad, he created, in March, 1994, the Higher Church Administration of the Russian Orthodox Church (as stipulated by Ukase #362 of Patriarch Tikhon of All Russia), which entity acted to regulate the situation in the dioceses which had been abandoned, in effect, by the clerical leadership of the Russian Church Abroad. These measures were ardently supported by the faithful of the Russian Church, who saw in Bishop Valentine their reliable and wise leader. In the words of Archbishop Theodore of Borisovsk, it took much time and many uncanonical actions by the Russian Church Abroad hierarchs for the deep respect and love the Russian hierarchs had for them to begin to be replaced with the recognition that the Russian Church Abroad was striving by all possible means to crush the revival taking place in Russia.
In the winter of 1994, a temporary truce with the Synod of the Russian Church Abroad was effected at the Council in the Lesna Monastery, France, due to the readiness of Archbishop Valentine (who, as a result of the turmoil he experienced at this council, fell seriously ill) to make substantial compromises in the name of ecclesiastical peace. It was at this council also that Archbishop Valentine attempted to raise the question of the Russian Church Abroad's new union with the Greek Old Calendar Synod of Metropolitan Cyprian, whose Orthodox ecclesiology was questioned by all the Bishops in Russia who had not participated in the vote for this union. The Council, however, would not let Archbishop Valentine bring up this topic for discussion! Soon, however, the insincerity of the foreign bishops became apparent, and in February of 1995 they imposed uncanonical bans on the Russian hierarchs. Therefore, the Temporary Higher Church Administration (THCA) of the Russian Church was re-established in June, 1995, under the leadership of Archbishop Lazar (Zhurbenko). At such a difficult moment in the history of the Russian Church, the THCA resolved to end its administrative and canonical submission to the Hierarchal Synod of the Russian Church Abroad in view of the numerous canonical violations that had been introduced into the system, considering that obedience to this entity was tantamount to handing their flocks over to the Moscow Patriarchate.
It was at this time, by decree of the THCA, that Bishop Valentine was elevated to the rank of Archbishop.
In 1996, the Hierarchal Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church was created, under the official name of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church (ROAC). In this manner, the Russian Church finally defined its independent canonical existence as a self-governing part of the local Russian Church. At the Synod meeting of March 2/15, 2001, it was decided that the head of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church should have the rank of Metropolitan.
Despite poor health, Metropolitan Valentine administers all matters subject to his jurisdiction as ruling bishop of Suzdal and Vladimir, as well as all matters pertaining to his position as First Hierarch. He defines the general course of the Church; supervises parish life and the selection of worthy candidates for the priesthood; protects the heritage of the Church from the scheming civil authorities; pays the most careful attention to the development of spiritual education, specifically in the Sunday School attached to the Saint Constantine Cathedral Suzdal; teaches his flock by means of instructive epistles; and watches over, and often personally takes part in, the restoration of dilapidated church buildings restored to the Church. Vladika carries out Divine Services in the churches of Suzdal and regularly carries out pastoral trips throughout Russia and beyond its boundaries, including America.
Vladika is also known as an authority on the history and architecture of Suzdal, and is the author of several books about the city. He was proclaimed an honorary citizen of Suzdal by the City Council.
In the year 2002 another wave of persecution started against the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church. Many churches were attacked by arsonists, and some were broken into and vandalized, while clergy were beaten and the faithful were terrorized, in order to incite them to leave the Russian Orthodox (Autonomous) Church and join the Moscow Patriarchate. All this was instigated by the Moscow Patriarchate because the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church is the only alternative in Russia to the Soviet-started, ecumenist Moscow Patriarchate. This persecution was also directed at Metropolitan Valentine in a most vicious manner through slanderous accusations attacking the First-Hierarch's morality. All of these false attacks proved ineffectual, for the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church has not lost one of its four hundred churches; but on the contrary, more have been added, and the Church grows day by day.
His Eminence, The Most Reverend Archbishop THEODORE of Borisovsk and Sanino
In the world Vladimir Alexandrovich Gineyevsky, Archbishop Theodore was born on April 5, 1955, in the Kuban of the Otradnaya Region, where he grew up surrounded by catacomb Christians. In 1972, while living in Makhachkape, he became acquainted with the then-Archimandrite Valentine (Rusantsov) and became his spiritual son. Over the next several decades, he became Archimandrite Valentine's irreplaceable assistant. In 1973, he followed Fr Valentine to Suzdal where he was appointed reader in the Kazan church. In 1976 he was tonsured into monasticism. He was later ordained first as hierodeacon and then as priest of the St Constantine cathedral in Suzdal, and finally to the rank of hegumen. Supporting the labors of Archimandrite Valentine, he took a most active part in the regeneration of church life in Suzdal.
In 1990, following the initiation of the persecution of Archimandrite Valentine, he petitioned for retirement, and together with Archimandrite Valentine and the Suzdal believers, he transferred to the Russian Church Abroad. He was then raised to the rank of archimandrite, became secretary of the Suzdal Diocesan Administration, and undertook great labors to regulate the life of the diocese.
On March, 19, 1994, in accordance with a decision of the Temporary Higher Administration of the Russian Orthodox Church, he was consecrated as Bishop of Borisovskoye and Sanino, a vicariate of the Suzdal Diocese. As a result of intrigue initiated by Archbishop Mark and his faction, the consecration was not immediately recognized by the Hierarchal Council of the ROCA. Following the reconciliatory Lesna Council of the ROCA in December of 1994, the foreign bishops recognized his consecration and invited Bishops Theodore and Seraphim to a session of the Hierarchal Synod of the ROCA in New York. Trampling upon their expressed word, at this session, the Hierarchal Sobor revealed their true motive for inviting the Russian Bishops to New York, imposing uncanonical bans on the Russian Bishops. Archbishop Valentine and Bishops Theodore and Seraphim were informed by this Hierarchal Sobor (which wished to remove them as a cause of trouble with the Moscow Patriarchate) that they would remain bishops only if they would agree to never return to Russia, accepting instead residence in another remote place such as Australia. As mentioned previously, at the diocesan assembly of the Suzdal Diocese and the sessions of the THCA, it was decided to cease submission to the Hierarchal Council of the ROCA in view of its uncanonical policies. Since 1996 Bishop Theodore has served as secretary, and then as chancellor of the Hierarchal Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROAC).
Archbishop Theodore is ardently loved by the believers for his kind and simple manner and unfailing goodwilll. In the diocese and Synod he bears a huge load of administrative work, helps Metropolitan Valentine in all his labors, and carries out numerous pastoral journeys.
His Eminence, The Most Reverend Archbishop SERAPHIM of Sukhumi and Abkhazia
Vladyka Seraphim is a Catacomb bishop who spends the majority of the year traveling all around Russia, Georgia, and other places, visiting his parishes. He is quiet, very modest, and simple.
In order to safeguard the Catacomb communities in which he serves, very little is made public knowledge about the life and struggles of Vladyka Seraphim. It is commonly-known that, in his youth, he was under the omophorion of St Schema-Bishop Peter (Ladygin) (+1957), and he was at one time with Catacomb priest, Fr Michael Rozhdestvensky (+1988). Vladyka Seraphim, a native of the very mountainous Caucasus region, in which many Catacomb communities can be found, has been blessed with the agility of a good climber. In spite of his age, he has used this talent to help repair roofs in Suzdal. There, at times and without the slightest apparent fear or hesitation, he has been seen walking along the roof ridge without rope slings. When he needed to turn around, he just jumped up and turned himself around without losing his footing.
Vladyka is always prayerful, and he knows the Psalter and the entire Horologion by heart. He also has the hobby of making wooden crosses for newly tonsured monks and for parish churches.
His Eminence, The Most Reverend Archbishop VICTOR of Daugavpils and Latvia
Archbishop Victor was born in 1944, and tonsured into monasticism in 1988. He was consecrated a bishop on June 21, 1995.
Archbishop Victor is the head of the Latvian Orthodox (Autonomous) Church under the jurisdiction of the Synod of ROAC. The Latvian Church is greatly persecuted by the Latvian government, which desires that all Orthodox parishes within its borders be canonically-subject to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. As a result, on many occasions the faithful have been harassed or arrested, and churches, dwellings, and diocesan buildings have been set on fire or have been vandalized. For resisting submission to the Ecumenist Patriarchate of Constantinople, the ROAC/LOAC faithful in Latvia are denied legal recognition by the government, which, while granting legal recognition to heterodox confessions in Latvia, even goes so far as to deny Archbishop Victor's flock the right to place crosses on their temples.
Vladyka Victor has ten parishes in Daugavpils, Riga, Tukumsa, and Jurmala. Two of these parishes are involved in building projects for the erection of a Cathedral dedicated to the Holy Equal-to-the- Apostles Saint Prince Vladimir in Daugavpils and for the construction of a monastery dedicated to the Holy Protection of Mother of God in Tukumsa.
His Eminence, The Most Reverend Archbishop ANTHONY of Vyatka and Yaransk
Bishop Anthony was born in 1925 into a family of Catacomb Orthodox Christians. His parish priest was Protopriest Nikita (Ignatiev).
The future Bishop Anthony was made a priest on the 12th of January 1966 by Catacomb Archbishop Anthony (Galinski-Mikhailov). He was among those priests who were received in 1980 under the omophor of St Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesenski), First-Hierarch of the ROCOR (+1985). He joined the ROAC (at that time the FROC) on the 15th of November, 1991. On the 13th of August, 1998, he was tonsured by Bishop Theodore of Borisovsk and Sanino into monasticism with the name of Anthony, after St Anthony the Great.
On May 24, 1999, Father Anthony was made bishop of Yaransk. He is responsible for Catacomb parishes.
His Grace, The Right Reverend Bishop HILARION of Smeli
Vladyka Hilarion was born in 1926. He was a spiritual son of persecuted priest Father Mitrophan. In 1952, he entered the Theological Seminary in Kiev, but he was expelled for his connections with the Catacomb Church. He was persecuted throughout his life.
In June 1993, he was tonsured, and on September 19 of the same year he was made a hieromonk by Archbishop Lazar (Zhurbenko) of the ROCOR.
On September 29, 1996, hieromonk Hilarion was received into the ROAC. In 1998, he was made an Archimandrite and then made Bishop of Sukhodolsk. From February 2001 he has been Bishop of Smeli. He is responsible for Catacomb parishes.
His Grace, The Right Reverend Bishop TIMOTHY of Orenburg and Kurgan
In the world Anatoly Alexeyevich Sharov, he was born on October 3, 1954, into a peasant family in the village of Ivanovka, Orenburg province, and graduated from the historical department of the Orenburg pedagogical institute. In November, 1989, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Gabriel of Khabarovsk (MP) and served in the town of Magadan. During his time there, he also completed a correspondence course with the Moscow Theological Seminary.
In 1991, confessing before the Church of God his will to strive “to serve the Church even unto confession and martyrdom”, “firmly standing for the truth, for the purity of the Orthodox faith”, Archimandrite Timothy and his community were received into the Free Russian Orthodox Church (FROC). Later, on November 24, 2000 in the St Constantine church, Archbishop Valentine, together with Bishops Theodore, Seraphim, Victor and Anthony, carried out the hierarchal consecration of Archimandrite Timothy to the bishopric of Orenburg. In the Fall 2002 synod meeting of the ROAC, Bishop Timothy was made ruling-bishop of Orenburg and Kurgan.
Vladyka Timothy continues to serve the faithful in the village of Ivanovka, Orenburg province, in a small church he built, dedicated to the Holy Trinity. He helps to improve church life through publishing educational leaflets, and he sometimes submits articles for Vertograd-Inform Information bulletin (a journal published by members of ROAC from Moscow and St Petersburg).
His Grace, The Right Reverend Bishop AMVROSE of Khabarovsk
In the world Nicholas Victorovich Epiphanov, he was born on January 29, 1963, in the city of Vyazniki, Vladimir province, and studied in the Gorky Medical Institute. On August 28, 1988, he was tonsured into monasticism by Archimandrite Eulogy, who at that time was prior of Optina Skete, and, on October 10, 1988, he was ordained to the diaconate by Archbishop Barnabas of Chelyabinsk (MP). Graduating from the Moscow Theological Seminary in 1989, he was ordained to the priesthood on November 8, 1989, by Bishop Gabriel of Khabarovsk (MP). From 1989 to 1996 (inclusive) he served as the superior of churches in the cities of Ussuruisk, Vladivostok and Khabarovsk, and in the churches in the Astrakhan and Krasnodar dioceses of the MP. On June 10, 1996 he was retired in accordance with his own petition.
On coming to understand the unrighteousness of sergianism, and the uncanonicity and the heretical nature of the Moscow Patriarchate, he broke communion with it. On April 29, 2000 he petitioned to be received into the Russian Orthodox (Autonomous) Church.
On November 26, 2000, in the cathedral church of St Constantine there took place the consecration of Archimandrite Ambrose (Epiphanov) as Bishop of Khabarovsk, a vicariate of the Suzdal diocese of the ROAC. In the sermon that Archimandrite Ambrose gave at his election, he thanked God Who by His ineffable Providence had led him out of “the dead, antichristian, ecumenist false-church” into His holy persecuted Church, which has preserved the purity of the faith “in woods and thickets, in houses and basements, in mountains and deserts, in prisons and exile” – the true Russian Church, which has steeped the Russian land in the blood of its martyrs, and has filled Paradise with holy confessors and the earth with holy relics. Vladyka besought the help of God and the prayers of the Church, which he recognized are so necessary for him in the work of gathering the lost sheep deceived by the false church “into one flock, the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church”.
In 2001, because he does not submit to the MP, Vladyka was attacked and severely-beaten by people connected with that organization as he exited one of the churches of his diocese. Thank God, he recovered fairly quickly, and he is now back to full health.
His Grace, The Right Reverend Bishop IRINARCH of Tula and Briansk
Bishop Irinarch was born in 1967 into a family of believers in the Nizhni-Novgorod region, where he attended church from childhood onward. He arrived in Suzdal in 1984, where he later met then-archimandrite Valentine, became part of his parish, and, in 1987, was tonsured into monasticism. In 1990, the future-Bishop Irinarch left the MP along with then-archimandrite Valentine and many other clergy and believers, repudiating it, and becoming a part of the FROC. He was later made a priest-monk and eventually an archimandrite.
On November 23, 2003, in the temple of the Mother of God in Suzdal, Archimandrite Irinarch was consecrated Bishop of Tula and Briansk by now-Metropolitan Valentine aling with Archbishop Theodore of Borisovsk and Sanino, and Bishop Ambrose of Khabarovsk.
He is quiet, prayerful, and has served in Suzdal for many years and is well-loved and respected by all. Along with his parishes, he is establishing a women's convent in his diocese.
His Grace, The Right Reverend Bishop ANDREI of Pavlovskoye
By decision of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox
Autonomous Church, taken on May 13/26, 2006, (Protocol
#54)Archimandrite Andrei (Maklakov), rector of St Nicholas Church in
New Jersey (USA) was chosen to become the Bishop of Pavlovsk, Vicar
Bishop of the Suzdal Diocese. Archimandrite Andrei's consecration to
the episcopate was performed on June 8/21, 2006.
Fr Igumen Andrei's candidacy (Maklakov) was originally put forth by
the American clergy of the ROAC in 2004. At the Synod of Bishops
meeting on December 13/26, 2004, it was resolved that Fr Andrei should
be considered a candidate for the episcopacy and that his biography and
that this recommendation together with his biography should be sent to
all of the bishops for their response.
Metropolitan Valentine of Suzdal and Vladimir, First Hierarch of the
ROAC, presided at the all-night vigil held in the Tsar Constantine
Cathedral for St Theodore, the first Bishop of Suzdal and Enlightner
of the entire Suzdal region. Concelebrating with him were the Secretary
of the Synod of Bishops, Archbishop Theodore of Borisovsk and of
Otradnaya, and His Grace Irinarkh of Tula and of Bryansk, together with
a large number of clergy from the Suzdal Deanery as well as clergy who
came in from other cities throughout Russia. Following the dismissal at
the First Hour, in the center of the church, the Order of Election to
the Episcopacy was performed. The next morning, following the blessing
of water, the akathist to St Theodore, and the Hours, Archimandrite
Andrei, Bishop elect for the see of Pavlovsk, made his confession of
faith before the Gospel and the Cross, pronounced his oath and
hierarchical vows to be loyal to the holy Canons of the Church, to the
First Hierarch and the Sobor of Bishops in all things, even if the
people or the powers that be in this world should require him to
apostasize.
After the little entrance and the singing of the thrice holy hymn,
Archimandrite Andrei was consecrated as Bishop of the see of Pavlovsk.
The consecration was performed by Metropolitan Valentine of Suzdal and
of Vladimir, Archbishop Theodore of Borisovsk and of Otradnaya, and by
Bishop Irinarkh of Tula and of Bryansk. The newly consecrated bishop
partook of the Holy Mysteries of Christ from one chalice together with
the rest of the clergy, and then received their congratulations.
Following the end of the Divine Liturgy, His Eminence Metropolitan
Valentine handed the bishop's crozier-the symbol of episcopal
authority-to the newly consecrated Hierarch, and told him that God
had been preparing Fr Andrei for this moment for a long time, testing
his patience, humility and loyalty to the Holy Church, and the dogmas
and Canons of Orthodoxy, through many and various temptations. His
service included time spent in Rome and in Denmark. Vladyka briefly
described Vladyka Andrei's life journey, and cautioned him that,
above all, a bishop should not be a scandal for anyone, and should not
lead anyone into the sin of judging, but should lead his flock along
the path of Christ, swerving neither to the left nor to the right.
Vladyka Andrei will be mainly performing his archpastoral service in
the USA, tending to the True Orthodox Christians of the Russian Church.
Afterwards, all present were invited to a banquet held in the church
next door to the cathedral, which has been arranged as a trapeza. After
the banquet was ended, Bishop Andrei conversed with the parishioners
and answered a multitude of questions. Vladyka said that he is an
American himself, who has lived for more than thirty years amongst the
Russian Orthodox diaspora. He was ordained to the priesthood in the
ROCOR by St Metropolitan Philaret, and that he had been under the
spiritual tutelage of His Eminence Archbishop Andrei (Rimarenko) of
Rockland, who himself was a spiritual son of the last Optina elder
Nektary. Vladyka explained that in America, his flock is not large, but
that at the present time there is a split taking place in the ROCOR,
and that many people, priests and lay people alike who do not want to
join the MP, do not know where to go. Many of them are casting an eye
in the direction of our Church since it has kept the essence of
Orthodoxy and continues to hold on to the best traditions of the ROCOR.
"Unfortunately," said Vladyka Andrei, "the most important thing
for many in the ROCOR has been the keeping of their 'Russianness,'
and not their Orthodox Faith. Four years ago, the so-called Patriarch
Alexis sent a letter to the Bishops of the ROCOR, in which he said that
without us, i.e. without the MP, you can certainly be Orthodox, but you
can't remain Russian for long. But for us, for believing people, the
most important thing is not to be Russian, but to be Orthodox. We do
not believe in and worship Russia, but we worship Jesus Christ, Who
spared not His own Jewish nation, spared not the Roman empire, nor the
Byzantine empire, and will not spare Russia either, if it does not keep
the True Faith. For us, what is important is to be Russian Orthodox,
with the emphasis on the Orthodox part, rather than to be Russian, but
apostates."
"Many in the diaspora," continued Vladyka Andrei, "fail to
understand what is going on inside Russia at the present moment, and
think that the massive effort to rebuild churches and regild their
domes is a sign of a genuine religious renaissance in Russia and
amongst the Russian people. Many are not aware that there are still
catacomb Christians in Russia, who never for a moment belonged to the
MP, or else belonged in ignorance. These people have remained unbroken
by the difficulties that they experienced, have remained loyal to the
Canons and the dogmas of the Faith, have striven to keep their faith
and their consciences pure, and never stained them by joinging with the
false church, which is the MP. And having come to Suzdal, I can now say
that I am convinced that this is so."
"In America, we have absolute freedom of religion; this is one of the founding principles upon which our government was established, and therefore it is impossible that there should be any kind of
governmental force, which weighs upon our conscience there. We are deeply in awe at the experience of your Faith, here in Russia, pressured as it is by the state authorities and their sanctioned church authorities in turn, which you have had to endure in order to preserve your spiritual freedom. Of course, the American authorities understand that the MP represents a "church of spies," and that just as earlier it served the purposes of the Soviet government, so now it serves the interests of Putin's government. But the government in the US does not understand our church matters well enough that they could defend the Church Abroad, or Her canonical and dogmatic purity."
His Eminence, The Very Most Reverend Metropolitan VALENTINE of Suzdal and Vladimir, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church, Chairman of the Hierarchal Synod of the ROAC