DECISION

Of the Vth All-Diaspora Council

On the Nonacceptance

Of the “Act of Canonical Communion”

Of the ROCOR(MP) of May 4\17, 2007

The following are the main reasons we do not accept this Act:

1. In the course of the many meetings that occurred before the signing of this document, two issues which have always divided us from the ROC MP were not resolved satisfactorily – the Declaration of 1927 and the church policies based on it, and the Moscow Patriarchate’s involvement in the heresy of ecumenism.

2. The Act did not receive the necessary conciliar review and approval.

The signing of the Act signified a renunciation of the traditional ecclesiological principles of the ROCA. In its relations with the ROC MP, the Church Abroad always insisted on the resolution of the two fundamental problems which divided us. The first is what is known as “sergianism,” and secondly, the ROC MP’s involvement in the heresy of ecumenism, which the Synod of Bishops of the Church Abroad proclaimed anathema in 1983.

Only if these two obstacles are removed, will it be possible to unite the Russian Church at a Local Council.

It is these questions that were deliberated at the previous, IVth All-Diaspora Council in San Francisco.

Governed by a spirit of sobornost, the delegates approved the idea of union in the final Resolution, but at an appropriate time and founded on Christ’s Truth. The appropriate time for the restoration of unity was predicated again by the renunciation of “sergianism,” the resignation of the ROC MP from the WCC, and the cessation of ecumenical activities. In fact, the delegates rejected the first draft of the Resolution, which called for immediate Eucharistic and canonical communion with the Moscow Patriarchate.

As a result, the “Act of Canonical Communion” was not approved at the sobor level either at the IVth All-Diaspora Council or at the Council of Bishops, which followed it. Therefore those who wanted the union of the ROCA with the ROC MP at any cost were unsuccessful, as this document did not grant legal authority to the Synod.

Nevertheless, in September, 2007, the ROCA Synod of Bishops willfully approved the “Act,” even though two of its permanent members did not agree.

On the basis of the aforementioned facts, the Vth All-Diaspora Council of the ROCA considers that the entry of the Synod of Metropolitan Laurus into union with the Moscow Patriarchate was not approved at a conciliar level and is not canonical.