Teleconference of the Pre-Council Committee – 5th July, 2018

Attendees: Archbishop Andronik, Archbishop Sofroniy, Bishop Iriney, Bishop Andrey, Hegumen Ignatiy (Krutkov), Archpriest Sergey Klestov, Archpriest Sergey Kondakov, Archpriest Nikita Grigoriev, Mark Kotlaroff, George Lukin, Dimitri Gontscharow, Aleksey Klestov.

Also attending: Archimandrite Ilya (Empulev), Archpriest Mikhail Karpeev, Priest Aleksandr Malykh.

Absent: Bishop Stefan, Archpriest Georgiy Titov, Priest John Trepatschko, Priest Sergey Televinov, Priest Kirill Ignatiev.

The teleconference began at 9:00 PM New York time with the prayer “O Heavenly Father.”

Agenda for the 5 July 2018 Teleconference:

1. Rules of order for the Pre-Council Committee
2. What are the tasks of the All-Diaspora Council?
3. Agenda of the All-Diaspora Council
4. Plan of action for the Pre-Council Committee
5. Publication of the materials of the Pre-Council Committee
6. Appeal of the Pre-Council Committee
7. Our views on the ecclesiology of Metropolitan Cyprian (Kutsumbas)

1. Rules of order for the Pre-Council Committee

It is desirable to reach unanimous decisions and to resort to voting only if it is impossible to reach agreement. If disagreements arise, we should attempt to adjust the formulation and wording of the issues to make them acceptable, if possible, to the largest number of members.

Since the Pre-Council Committee is involved in preparations for the All-Diaspora Council and, in its composition is a miniature council, it can follow the same rules of order that were established for the All-Diaspora Councils. Specifically, decisions are made by a majority vote of 3/4 of Committee members in attendance. If the majority of bishops in attendance do not agree with a decision, then the decision is not accepted.

2. What are the tasks of the All-Diaspora Council?

The tasks of the 2nd session of the 6th All-Diaspora Council were formulated at the 1st session in January 2017 in Mountain View: “We see our main task as establishing Eucharistic communion between the disparate parts of the once unified ROCA.”

The main obstacle to such communion is the conviction cultivated in many groups that they are the only grace-filled ROCA and that all other groups are heretics and schismatics. We consider this view to be prejudice with no basis in fact. We must conduct an informational campaign in order to overcome this prejudice. The First Hierarchs of these groups frequently demonstrate no interest in any changes. In such cases, we must directly address their flock. We must make them aware that our common treasure is the Church Abroad. It exists and will continue to exist.

An important task of the All-Diaspora Council should be designating where the boundaries of the Church lie amongst the present chaos of church groups. To some extent, these boundaries were defined at the January Council, when the following four points were taken as the basis for entering into communion with a particular group: a) the canonicity of episcopal consecrations; b) the confession of the Orthodox faith; c) rejection of ecumenism and sergianism, and; d) the pious life of the episcopate.

3. Agenda of the All-Diaspora Council

Previous All-Diaspora Councils were convened at critical times for the Church. The current All-Diaspora Council is being convened in order to express the Church’s view on the situation in the Church and in the world.

We believe that an All-Diaspora Council is needed, but that the Council must include all the groups with which communion has been established. In this fashion, the All-Diaspora Council should be the culmination of a considerable amount of preparatory work. It makes no sense to conduct a unifying council when we have not yet managed to achieve unification. We must endeavor to achieve unity with as many groups as possible so that our Council will have a more substantial impact.

When such unification is accomplished, then it will be possible to discuss an agenda for the 2nd Session. Therefore, the task of the Pre-Council Committee at the present moment should be not the convocation of the All-Diaspora Council itself, but rather the work of unifying the various groups. Today it would be premature to discuss an agenda for the All-Diaspora Council itself as the time for this has not yet arrived.

It is also impossible to already discuss timeframes and set deadlines. The work of the Pre-Council Committee in preparing for the All-Diaspora Council is very important. It is an important organ of church life. We should recall that the Pre-Council entities instituted in advance of the Local Council of 1917-18 began their work 11 years before the convening of the Local Council.

The diocese of Bp. Iriney has prepared reports that were originally intended for the All-Diaspora Council. But as it is premature to hold the All-Diaspora Council, a theological conference could be held at which these reports would be presented and then published.

4. Plan of Action for the Pre-Council Committee

Experience has shown that written appeals to the First Hierarchs do not bring results, personal communication is much more fruitful. We should unofficially contact leaders of the various groups with a proposal for a personal meeting. We can try to build bridges through parishioners for whom the cause of unification is dear. Such people exist in all of the groups and unification is primarily inhibited by the leaders of these groups.

The question arises: which groups should we now contact? There are groups that are closer to us for various reasons. But for the sake of a clear conscience, we must even try to contact groups where we foresee little success.

Our communion with Bp. Stefan was a considerable accomplishment. New accomplishments with other groups would further strengthen our position.

5. Publication of materials of the Pre-Council Committee

The work of the Pre-Council Committee should be as open as possible. Only then can this work become an asset for the whole Church. However, there is no need to publish the minutes of the teleconferences as this is not a council meeting but only a preparatory process. Limiting ourselves to press releases will be adequate.

6. Appeal of the Pre-Council Committee

We propose to compose and publish a Declaration on behalf of the Pre-Council Committee in which we will set out the goals of our work.

7. Our views on the ecclesiology of Metropolitan Cyprian (Kutsumbas)

A discussion was held on this topic.

Several participants in the teleconference recalled that the Council of Bishops of the Church Abroad in 1994 adopted a resolution on Eucharistic communion with the Synod of Metropolitan Cyprian, stating that “the Synod of Metropolitan Cyprian fully adheres to the same ecclesiological and dogmatic principles as our Russian Church Abroad …” As a result, would we be betraying the former Church Abroad by casting doubt on resolutions of past Councils of Bishops?

In response, other participants objected that this decision was not supported by all the bishops, and in particular Bp. Grigoriy (Grabbe) wrote a dissent to the resolution. It is not possible for us to agree with the assertion that the ecclesiology of the ROCA is identical with the teachings of Metropolitan Cyprian.

It was also stated that since we are discussing a principle question of dogma, the simple fact that the ROCA bishops recognized Metropolitan Cyprian’s teachings as Orthodox, cannot be the deciding factor. We must consider this issue on its merits. There are many works that examine the ecclesiology of Metropolitan Cyprian and convincingly demonstrate its fallacy.

On the other hand, almost all ROCA groups have expressed their negative attitude toward the teachings of Metropolitan Cyprian. We must realize that unification with these groups will be impossible until we determine our own views on Metropolitan Cyprian’s teachings. We should also note that the episcopal consecrations of our bishops were performed with the participation of the Synod of Metropolitan Cyprian and this is being used against us by our ill-wishers.

It was proposed that members of the Pre-Council Committee prepare materials demonstrating the error of Metropolitan Cyprian’s ecclesiology that will be provided to all members of the Pre-Council Committee. It is essential that we determine our position on this issue.

The next teleconference is designated for Sunday, 22 July 2018, at 9:00 PM New York time.

The teleconference was concluded at 12:15 AM with the prayer “It is truly meet.”