the moscow patriarchate celebrates the 40th anniversary of its restoration
Post on 29-Sep-2016
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454 THE ECUMENICAL REVIEW
THE MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE CELEBRATES THE 40th ANNIVERSARY OF ITS RESTORATION
The month of May was a month of joyful festivities for the Russian Orthodox Church.
Dignitaries from all Orthodox Autocephalous Churches, with the excep tion of the churches of Jerusalem and Cyprus, gathered in Moscow and solemnly celebrated the 40th anniversary of the restoration of the Russian Patriarchate.
It was in the year 1589 that the Russian Orthodox Church was elevated to a Patriarchate by the Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremiah 11.
But in 1720, by a royal decree of Czar Peter the Great, the Patriarchal system was abolished, and replaced by the Synodical system.
Finally in 1927, a few days after the Revolution began, the remaining members of the Synod declared vacant the see of the Patriarch and on Novem- ber 21 of the same year Tychon, then Metropolitan of Moscow, was elected the first Patriarch of the post-revolutionary Church.
Present at the celebrations, marking the 40th anniversary of the re-estab- lishment of the Russian Patriarchate, were the Patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch and Rumania. Also the Catholicoi of Georgia (Orthodox) and of Echmiadzin (Armenian).
The celebrations began with a solemn Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of the Epiphany (Moscow) and were concluded in the Theological Academy of Holy Trinity at Zagorsk (70 kilometres east of Moscow).
The historical significance of the restoration was eloquently expounded by Bishop Michael of Smolensk and Berlin, while its development constituted the subject of an important discourse given by Metropolitan Nikolai of Krutitsky and Colomna, the director of the Department of Foreign Rela- tions of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Bishop Michael stressed the point of the full canonical and political independence of the present Orthodox Church in Russia, and Metropolitan Nikolai called the Orthodox Churches to act together in their relations with the World Council of Churches, and in relation to nations imperilling world peace.
The festivities ended on Thursday, the day of the Ascension of our Lord (May 22), by the signing of a “Church Deed” expressing the wish for con- tinued cooperation by the Orthodox Churches in all fields and especially in promoting peace among the churches and peoples of the earth.
Metropolitan JAMES OF MELITA.