Russian True-Orthodox Church (Vyacheslav)
The Russian True Orthodox Church is an autogenic jurisdiction which claims to have arisen from differences with the Moscow Patriarchate that resulted from the Bolshevik revolution in Russia but was given a hierarchy through the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. The group is not in communion with any of the historical and canonical Orthodox Christian Churches. Due to the similarities of naming conventions, they are commonly confused with the Russian True Orthodox Church, an early splinter from the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile
History
In the period from the 1970s-80s, many of the True Orthodox Church communities had lost their last bishops and much of their clergy. Many of these groups were forced to exist and celebrate services in the absence of a priest.
After the change in political conditions in the late 1980s, the True Orthodox Church began to emerge from the underground. Various churches solved the question of their future existence in different ways. Some of the communities joined the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, which by that time had begun to open communities within Russia, many of which developed into existing Russian traditionalist jurisdicitions, such as the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church or the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile.
In 1996 an initiative group of Russian orthodox clergy and laity approached Patriarch Dimitriy of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, asking him to assist them in the canonical restoration of a hierarchy for the True Orthodox Church. It was decided that the name for the restored church would be the "Russian True Orthodox Church". The reason they did not go under the other existing Russian jurisdictions is unclear.
In June of 1996, with the blessing of Patriarch Dimitriy, Archbishop Roman and Bishop Methodiy (Kuriakov) of the UAOC ordained Hieromonk John a bishop of the Russian True Orthodox Church in order to restore Apostolic succession. In December of 1996 Bishops John and Methodiy consecrated Archimandrite Stefan a bishop for the new body.
These two bishops, In 2000 the jurisdiction officially changed the name to "Russian True Orthodox Church-Metropolia of Moscow" in order to distinguish it from other groups within Russia. The jurisdiction has been fraught with divisions usually due to modernists within their ranks and is most notable for revision of the term "godless authority" as a general admonition towards those who "hurt the poor".
Today, the Church is led by Metropolitan Vyacheslav of Moscow and Kolomensk, together with Archbishop Mikhail of Bronitsk and Velensk, and Bishop Vladimir. In the United States this group is represented by Archbishop Alexy of Minneapolis and Chicago, who was born in Kiev, Ukraine. He and his clergy run several small missions in the upper Midwest. Bishop Haralampos of Dallas runs some missions and also has a small Western Rite monastic community (whom uses a variety of Western Rites, including a "liturgy of St James-Scottish rite" of Anglican provenance.)
