Moscow, May. 18, 2007 (CWNews.com) - The Russian Orthodox Church has restored unity with the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, a group that broke with the Moscow patriarchate after the Russian revolution of 1917.
Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow and Metropolitan Laurus of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA) signed a reunification accord at a solemn ceremony held on May 17 at the Church of Christ the Savior in Moscow.
The agreement allows ROCA to govern its own churches independently, but establishes the overall leadership of the Moscow patriarchate. ROCA will have the right to representation at the annual assembly of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow ,and priests of the two churches may concelebrate the Divine Liturgy.
The reunification ceremony on Ascension Thursday was attended by 7 Orthodox bishops, as well as about one-third of the priests active in ROCA and 600 members of the faithful. The ceremony was broadcast live by the television channel Rossia.
ROCA, founded by supporters of the old Tsarist regime, broke away from the Russian Orthodox Church in 1917, and formalized the separation in 1927 when the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Sergei pledged loyalty to the Soviet Union. ROCA, which now has headquarters in New York, began talks about reunification with Moscow after the fall of the Communist regime.
Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed the reunification agreement. "The rebirth of ecclesial unity is the most important foundation for re-establishing the lost unity of the Russian world," he said. Putin, who is seeking to enhance Russia's status as a world power, is believed to have pushed the Moscow patriarchate to go forward with the reunification, over some resistance from Patriarch Alexei. The Russian president has also pressed for friendlier ties between Moscow and the Vatican.
Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, Russia's top Catholic prelate, welcomed the Orthodox reunification agreement. "The bridging of divisions between Christians always means triumph of a love that overcomes everything," he told the Interfax news service. The Catholic archbishop added that he hoped the agreement would point the way toward new cooperation between the Catholic and Orthodox leadership of Russia.