80 Year Split Between Russian Orthodox Churches On the Mend
In Moscow, Russian Orthodox leaders have signed an agreement to start to patch up an 80-year split between the Russian Orthodox Church and the offshoot formed after the 1917 Revolution, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. The split occurred because the Russian church refused to defy the Communist government.
The ceremony, which was nationally televised, was watched by President Vladimir Putin along with a large number of worshippers in the Christ the Savior Cathedral. The church, located on the Moscow River not far from the Kremlin, has become a vibrant symbol of the religious revival that has occurred in Russian since the fall of the Soviets. The original was destroyed in 1931 by Stalin and replaced by a swimming pool and was rebuilt in the 1990’s.
The two clerics from each faction, both elderly and bearded wearing sparkling headgear, kissed each other on the cheeks. Worshipers snapped pictures of the historic event of their cell phones and crossed themselves while tears streamed down the cheeks of some as the smell of incense was in the air.
The pact makes the church outside Russia a self-governed part of a common Russian Orthodox Church, but both churches will have their own leaders and bishop councils. Clergy will have the authority to lead services in both churches and parishioners can take communion in both churches.
