Ukaz No. 362
Ukaz No. 362 is the decree that was issued by Patr. Tikhon of the Church of Russia in 1920 during the ascendency of the Bolshevik government in Russia. The ukaz established governance rules for dioceses of the church that may find themselves cut-off from the patriarchal organization. The ukaz became the basis for various actions and decisions by the elements of the Russian church outside the fatherland.
As the Bolsheviks increased their pressure on the church organization and people after the October 1917 revolution Patr. Tikhon, the newly elected patriarch of the Russian Church, experienced increasing difficulties communicating with the dioceses of the church. Recognizing that communications between the patriarchate and the dioceses may cease he prepared an order containing instructions for those parts of the church that find they cannot communicate with the patriarchate. This order, Ukaz No. 362, he signed on November 20, 1920. It was using this ukaz that the overseas dioceses and church in diaspora organized themselves during the years of Bolshevik domination of the Russia.