Meeting of the Pre-Council Committee – Summary

Meeting of the Pre-Council Committee – Summary September 22, 2016

The Pre-Council Committee made up of the people listed below held a regularly scheduled meeting by phone on September 22, 2016, to continue its work in preparing for the 6th All-Diaspora Council. Hegumen Andrei Erastov was elected Committee Secretary, while a Council Secretary will be selected at the appropriate time. The main topic of the meeting was to begin to review the way delegates were chosen for previous councils to determine who will be able to attend this one.

The role of women in the council was discussed. Though there is no specific rule that prohibits their attendance or active participation, it challenges tradition. The role of women in the life of the Church is significant and their voices should be heard. The subject will be considered further.

The committee agreed to begin its outreach to various clergy and laypeople and the groups that did not agree to union with the MP. Unlike Metropolitan Agafangel who is a shepherd that scatters his flock and turns his back on those who may have strayed, one of the primary goals of the Council is to restore a healthy, nourishing spiritual state in the Church, where clergy and laypeople will feel safe from capricious decisions. It is time to gather the flock of those who resist betraying their religious principles and seek to uphold the traditional Church.

An ukase will be forthcoming to begin collecting funds for the Council. Our means are limited, so it may not be possible to pay for the travel of the delegates to the Council. The funds will be used to feed and lodge and transport the delegates locally. The Committee agreed preliminarily to designate Mountain View as the location for the Council. The many rooms of the main building will help to defray the cost of lodging. There are also several reasonably-priced hotels and motels in the area.

Recently, the charge has been heard from various quarters that the Council is being convened without having first attempted to resolve differences within the Church through personal meetings and discussions with Metropolitan Agafangel. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Scores of personal entreaties from individuals have been made to the Metropolitan in the past several years. One on one meetings were conducted with little result. Appeals were submitted to the Synod, only to be summarily ignored. An overview of these attempts will be compiled.

The date and time of the next meeting of the Committee is still to be determined.

+Archbishop Andronik + Archbishop Sophroniy Archpriest Nikita Grigoriev Hegumen Andrei (Erastov) Hieromonk Ignaty (Krutkov) Mark Kotlaroff Dimitri Gontscharow Vadim Yarmolinets