Rapprochement of the Russian Church Abroad with the Old Style Movement during Metropolitan Filaret’s (Voznesensky) life

Abstract

The article is devoted to the history of rapprochement and rupture of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA) and the Greek old-style movement during the life of Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky). Being a supporter of the isolation of the ROCA and keeping alive traditions, he actually renounced unity with the world Orthodoxy, preferring communication with the Greek old-style structures, as the most “steadfast” in matters of faith. The leadership began to make statements about the Church Abroad as a “little island” in the middle of a general “apostasy”. The voices calling on the church leadership to abandon such ideas were not heard. The negative attitude towards the new calendar manifested itself in the condemnation of the Bulgarian parishes of the ROCA, as well as in the refusal to accept the position of St John (Maximovitch), who wanted to create the “universal path” of the Russian church emigration and to be tolerant towards traditions and rites. In 1970, the Abroad Synod recognized one of the branches of the Greek old-style movement, the “Florinit”. In 1971, another branch, the “Matthew’s”, was recognized. At the same time, the possibility of recognition of the latter branch was discussed at the Cathedral level. The problem was that the “Matthew’s” hierarchy began with only one bishop. Soon, however, the old-style structures began to drag the Church Abroad into their conflicts, as well as demand a final separation from world Orthodoxy. The latter was unacceptable for the ROCA, which led to a break with the Greek old-age churches in 1975–1976.

Keywords

• theology
• church history
• russian orthodox church abroad
• bulgarian orthodox church
• old-style movement
• julian calendar
• new julian calendar
• metropolitan filaret (voznesensky)
• st john (maximovitch)
• archbishop anthony (bartoshevitch)
• bishop gregory (grabbe)