The Bitter (and Revisionist) Opinion of the Matthewites on ROCOR…

From a letter of Professor Antonios Markou to a brotherhood of Zealot Fathers of the Holy Mountain, dated July 15/28, 2009.

 

 

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The available evidence proves that the ROCOR was a creation of political expediency. It arose because its founder, the monarchist Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky, † 1936) of Kiev, failed to be elected Patriarch of Moscow in 1917 (although he had secured the votes of the majority of the members of the All-Russian Council, because the election was ultimately decided by lot) and was compelled to flee to the West, where he organized the ROCOR and worked for the restoration of the Romanov Dynasty in Russia.

The schism in the Russian Church was already brewing in 1917, the year in which the Local All-Russian Council was convened. The Council assembled on August 15, 1917, in Moscow, in the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Theotokos in the Kremlin, under the presidency of the senior hierarch, Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev (Hieromartyr, † 1918). Among other matters, it dealt with the question of whether or not the Patriarchate should be restored, having been abolished by Peter the Great in 1721.

The lengthy discussions were hastened by the rapid political developments, namely the October Revolution of the Bolsheviks and Lenin’s rise to power. At the critical vote of October 30, 1917, out of 317 members present, 265 voted, of whom 141 were in favor of and 112 against the restoration of the Patriarchate. The Council then proceeded to the election of a Patriarch, upon the proposal of Professor Sokolov. In the voting, Archbishop Anthony of Kharkov received 101 votes, Archbishop Arseny of Novgorod 27, and Metropolitan Tikhon [sic: Peter] of Krutitsy 25.

The final election was conducted by lot before the Icon of the Theotokos of Vladimir. The one chosen by the will of God was not Archbishop Anthony, the choice of the body of the Council, but Metropolitan Tikhon. As it was characteristically written, “it was not the ‘cleverest,’ Archbishop Anthony, who was elected, nor the ‘strictest,’ Archbishop Arseny, but the ‘moderate’ and ‘kindly’ Metropolitan Tikhon” (from the Life of the Hieromartyr Victor, Bishop of Vyatka, † 1934). He was raised to the rank of Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia by means of the lot drawn by the elderly Hieromonk Alexy and handed to the presiding Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev.

Tikhon was enthroned at the center of Russian Orthodoxy, the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Theotokos in the Kremlin, on November 29, 1917.

The election of Tikhon displeased Archbishop Anthony (whom Patriarch Tikhon nevertheless elevated to Metropolitan of Kiev).

Tikhon wanted the Russian Church to be completely independent of the Soviet State, and for this reason he did not identify himself, either personally or as the head of the Church, with Tsarism, but kept his distance from the monarchist faction led by Metropolitan Anthony.

Metropolitan Anthony subsequently fled to the West. In 1921, with the permission of the Yugoslav Government and the support of the Patriarchate of Serbia, he convened at Karlovci in Serbia a Council of the Russian Bishops who had fled abroad (approximately 20). This Council was the founding Council of the Russian Church Abroad; there is, however, also a decision of this Council which demonstrates the real reason for the creation of the ROCOR. The Council of Karlovci resolved upon the restoration of the Romanov Dynasty. This was not an ecclesiastical decision, but a political one. Through the ROCOR’s identification with Tsarism, it gradually provoked two schisms within its body. Initially, Metropolitan Eulogius of Paris became independent and was ultimately placed under the Patriarchate of Constantinople (today the Russian Archdiocese of Western Europe, under the Ecumenical Patriarchate through the Metropolis of France). Subsequently, Metropolitan Platon of America united with the by-then Sovietized Patriarchate of Moscow (under Metropolitan, and later Patriarch, Sergius), and thus the “Orthodox Church in America” was created (today under Metropolitan Jonah), whose autocephaly is not recognized by the Patriarchates and the Local Churches, with the exception of the Patriarchate of Moscow, although ecclesiastical communion exists between them.

Until his death (1936), Metropolitan Anthony was in communion with all the Patriarchates and Local Churches, with the exception of the Patriarchate of Moscow. Indeed, some of his actions could characterize him as an ecumenist (e.g., in 1925 he participated in events of the Anglican Church commemorating the 1600th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council, following an invitation from the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Randall Davidson). As regards his position on the calendar question, it is characteristic that in October 1925 he participated in the enthronement of the first Patriarch of Romania, Miron Cristea, a former Uniate, who introduced the Papal New Calendar into the Church of Romania and mercilessly and with great cruelty persecuted the Romanian Genuine Orthodox Christians.

Even at his death, Metropolitan Anthony remained united with so-called official Orthodoxy, with the exception of the Patriarchate of Moscow. He died on August 10, 1936, in Sremski Karlovci, Serbia, and was buried in Belgrade, in the Chapel of the Iveron Icon of the Theotokos in the Russian Cemetery, by clergy of his own jurisdiction as well as of the Serbian Patriarchate, with Patriarch Varnava of Serbia presiding.

It is also significant that the second-ranking hierarch of the ROCOR, Archbishop Anastasy of Kishinev, later Metropolitan, participated in the Pan-Orthodox Congress of 1923 under the Ecumenist Meletios Metaxakis, and in 1934 consecrated Timothy as Patriarch of Jerusalem.

After the death of Metropolitan Anthony (1936), his successor, Metropolitan Anastasy, continued the same ecclesiastical communion until his death (1965). The situation changed in 1965, under Metropolitan Philaret, when the Patriarchate of Constantinople, under pressure from the Sovietized Patriarchate of Moscow, broke communion with the ROCOR, compelling the other Patriarchates and Local Churches to do the same. The Patriarchates of Jerusalem and Serbia did not conform to this decision and continued to maintain communion with the ROCOR even into the time of Metropolitan Laurus. (In 1981, for example, during the translation of the relics of the New Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth in Jerusalem, hierarchs of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem jointly officiated with hierarchs of the ROCOR.)

From the foregoing it follows that the Russian Church of the Diaspora was created out of political expediency and not because of confessional, ecclesiological, or even canonical ecclesiastical issues. For this reason, after the fall of the communist regime (1989), under Metropolitan Laurus, it united with the Patriarchate of Moscow under Patriarch Alexy II.

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Greek source: https://sangiulio.org/articles/%CE%B7-%CF%81%CF%89%CF%83%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%B7-%CE%B5%CE%BA%CE%BA%CE%BB%CE%B7%CF%83%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%83-%CE%B4%CE%B9%CE%B1%CF%83%CF%80%CE%BF%CF%81%CE%B1%CF%83/