Documents of the Sacred Sobor 2017

From the year 2000, as the Synod of ROCOR began officially to accept the canonicity of the MP and initiated union talks with it, the Church both inside and outside of Russia that remained faithful to the truth began to separate into so-called “splinters” (oskolki), small Synods not in communion with each other. Most of them claimed that their canonical existence, like that of ROCOR, was based on Patriarch Tikhon’s ukaz no. 362. Read more →

The thesis of this Report is that since its foundation in 1920 the Russian Church Abroad has remained on the right path as long as it has acknowledged itself to be a part of the True Russian Church in the Homeland and has rejected three temptations: (A) the temptation of ecumenism coming from outside the Russian Church, (B) the temptation of recognizing the false sergianist church of the Sovietized Moscow Patriarchate as the “Mother Church” in the Homeland, and (C) the temptation of recognizing itself as having dominion over the True Church inside Russia. I shall examine each of these temptations in turn, from a historical point of view. Read more →

In this informative critique of the so-called “Great" and “Holy” Council that was held in Kolymvari of Crete in the year 2016, I will attempt to explain why this council caused unrest even though nothing really novel for the “World Orthodox” was discussed in this meeting. We will analyse this Synod starting from its supposed goals, the idiosyncratic reaction of the conservative “World Orthodox” to this Synod, and the futile interim of those who remain in “World Orthodoxy”. And finally we will demonstrate how this council gives victory to the sagacious stand of the True Orthodox. Read more →

The purpose of this article is to address a number of related questions and topics regularly demonstrated to be of concern to people previously from the Moscow Patriarchate (MP), currently in the Moscow Patriarchate, or, as is the case today, people formerly within the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) and, since 2007, unconditionally joined to the Moscow Patriarchate by Metropolitan Laurus (ROCOR-MP). The common thread of these three groups is their relationship to the Moscow Patriarchate. Read more →

At first glance, Cyprianism appears to offer a “middle-of-the-road” ecclesiology to those seeking to avoid harshly judging “World Orthodoxy,” from Sergianism to the “New Calendar,” to Ecumenism. In certain cases, the ecclesiology of Cyprianism offers special solace to those coming to True Orthodox jurisdictions from “World Orthodoxy” jurisdictions. For many such clergy and laity, it is difficult to admit that they were in error to the extent that they were not in the True Church of Christ. Without giving serious thought to the consequences of their self-contradicting ecclesiology, they console themselves with the erroneous perspective that they left a flawed or ailing church to join a purer version – a True Orthodox jurisdiction. This error not only impedes their own salvation, but it also infects the True Orthodox jurisdiction with the virus of “Crypto-Ecumenism.” Read more →