DECREE
From the Synod of
Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
To all Diocesan Right
Reverend Hierarchs and rectors of churches directly subject to the President of
the Synod of Bishops.
Synod of Bishops of
the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
December 19,
1969/January 1, 1970
The following resolution was
adopted: The lodging of a protest against the celebration of the centenary
of Lenin’s birth. The President of the Synod of Bishops had already sent an
appropriate letter to the President of the United States, requesting that he
lodge a resolute protest against this celebration. Russian Orthodox people
cannot agree that Lenin, the greatest of criminals, should be called a great
humanitarian and that the free world should commemorate the day of his birth.
Resolved: The Russian
Church Abroad, expressing the cherished aspirations of her archpastors, clergy,
and flock, with particular maternal solicitude always calls upon all to unite
in prayer for the deliverance of our suffering people from the bloody yoke of
godless communism imposed by Lenin, in consequence of which the Synod of
Bishops determines:
1. On Sunday, March 16/29, 1970,
the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross, after the Divine Liturgy, a service
of supplication is to be celebrated in all the churches of the Russian Orthodox
Church Outside of Russia, preceded by the reading aloud of the 1918 Epistle of
His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon concerning the excommunication of the Bolsheviks
and accompanied by an appropriate sermon—For the salvation of the Russian realm
and the pacification of human passions (This order of service is appended on
separate sheets).
2. After the dismissal of the
service of supplication, an anathema is to be proclaimed against Lenin and all
the persecutors of the Church of Christ, who were anathematized by His Holiness
Tikhon, Patriarch of All Russia, as early as 1918, according to the following
form:
To Vladimir
Lenin and the other persecutors of the Church of Christ, impious apostates who
raised their hands against the Anointed of God, who murder the clergy, trample
upon holy things, destroy the churches of God, torture our brethren, and have
defiled our Fatherland: Anathema.
The choir sings: Anathema,
thrice.
3. Proclaim Memory Eternal:
In blessed
repose grant eternal rest, O Lord, to Thy departed servants: the slain Most
Pious Tsar-Martyr Nicholas Alexandrovich and all who were slain with him; His
Holiness Patriarch Tikhon; the metropolitans, archbishops, bishops, clergy,
monks and nuns, soldiers, and all Orthodox people slain and tortured to death
by the godless regime; and make their memory eternal.
The choir, thrice: Memory
eternal.
4. Proclaim Many Years:
To the Orthodox
Episcopate of the persecuted Russian Church; to our lord, His Eminence
Philaret, Metropolitan of Eastern America and New York, First Hierarch of the
Russian Church Abroad; to our lord (name of the Diocesan Hierarch); to our
suffering Russian land; to all who contend for the Orthodox Faith and the
Fatherland; and to all Russian people in the Fatherland enslaved by the godless
and those dwelling in the dispersion: grant, O Lord, a prosperous and peaceful
life, health and salvation, victory and triumph over enemies, and many years.
The choir, thrice: Many years.
Concerning the foregoing, a
circular decree is to be sent to all the Right Reverend Hierarchs and rectors
of churches directly subject to the President of the Synod of Bishops, with the
text of the aforementioned service of supplication and the text of the Epistle
of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon appended thereto.
President of the Synod of Bishops
Metropolitan Philaret
Secretary: Bishop Laurus
January 9/22, 1970
Decree No. 107
Russian source:
https://sinod.ruschurchabroad.org/Arh%20Synod%201969dek_yanv1970_Ukaz.htm
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