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Church of Russia

1,576 bytes removed, 13:15, February 22, 2015
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External links: Fixed broken link to CNEWA website.
primate=[[Kyrill I (Gundyayev) of Moscow|Patr. Kyrill I]]|
hq=Moscow, Russia|
territory=Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, some and other former Soviet republics|
possessions=United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Western Europe, China|
language=[[Church Slavonic]]|
calendar=[[Julian Calendar|Julian]]|
population=90,000,000[http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypg.aspx?eccpageID=17]|
website=[http://www.mospatpatriarchia.ru/ Russian Orthodox Church of Russia]
}}
The '''Church of Russia''', also referred to known officially as the '''Moscow PatriarchateRussian Orthodox Church''' and known officially also referred to as the '''Russian Orthodox ChurchMoscow Patriarchate''', is one of the [[autocephalous]] Local Orthodox churchesChurches, ranking fifth after the Churches of [[Church of Constantinople|Constantinople]], [[Church of Alexandria|Alexandria]], [[Church of Antioch|Antioch]], and [[Church of Jerusalem|Jerusalem]]. It exercises [[jurisdiction]] over the Orthodox Christians living in Russia and the surrounding Slavic lands as well as [[exarchate]]s former member republics of the USSR and patriarchal representation churches around the worldtheir diasporas abroad. It also exercises jurisdiction over the autonomous [[Church of Japan]] and the Orthodox Christians living in the People's Republic of China. The current Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia is His Holiness [[Kyrill I (Gundyayev) of Moscow|Kyrill I (Gundyayev)]].
==Jurisdiction==
According to the statutes of the Russian Orthodox Church, its jurisdiction includes persons of the Orthodox confession faithful living on the its [[canonical territory]] of the Russian Orthodox Church in RussiaAzerbaijan, UkraineBelarus, BelarusChina, MoldaviaEstonia, AzerbaijanJapan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, EstoniaUkraine, Japan and also Uzbekistan as well as Orthodox Christians living in other countries who voluntarily join the submit to its jurisdiction.
This includes these In addition to its regular [[diocese|dioceses]] the Russian Orthodox Church is comprised of the following self-governing and/or autonomous churches:*The [[Church of Estonia (Moscow Patriarchate)|Estonian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)]]
*The [[Latvian Orthodox Church]]
*The [[Moldovan Orthodox Church|Orthodox Church of Moldova]]
*The [[Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia]]
*The [[Church of Ukraine|Ukrainian Orthodox Church]]
* The [[Church of Japan|Japanese Orthodox Church]] The autonomous and self-governing churches receive their [[chrism]] from the Patriarch of Moscow and exercise their activities on the basis of their patriarchal [[tomos|tomoses]]. This claim of The Russian Orthodox Church's jurisdiction over particular territories is disputed by other Orthodox churches in a number of cases (particularly , most notably in Estonia and , Moldova, as well as in the [[diaspora]]; there are also major schismatic elements in and Ukraine that want an [[autocephaly|autocephalous]] Ukrainian church), due mainly to the changing shape of the boundaries of Russia. Due to the moving of political borders in history, the canonical territory of the Russian church is not clearly defined—the 1593 Council of Constantinople which confirmed its [[autocephaly]] defined it as the territory of "Moscow, Russia, and all the Northern Lands."The Ecumenical Patriarchate does not recognize Moscov's patriarchate Jurisdiction over Ukrainian Church. A 1924 Tomos of Ecumenical Patriarchate says :" ...(for but it is recorded that the first separation from our See of the Kyivan Metropolia and the Orthodox Metropolia of Lithuania and Poland, dependent upon it, as well as their incorporation within the Holy Moscovite Church was accomplished contrary to canon law, as also all that which was agreed upon regarding the full church autonomy of the Kyivan Metropolitan, who at the time had the title Exarch of remains by far the Ecumenical See)...The question of Granting Ukrainian largest Orthodox Church authocephaly was met with anger from Russian Patriarch Alexy who attached and threatened Ecumenical Patriarch with schism. Patriarch Alexy sent a letter to all heads of churches accusing Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of ties with the Kiev Patriarchate and threatening the former with a schism “comparable to the events of 1054”.The Church canon is specific to what is "canonic" territory of the church. And it is geographical boundaries. This is what Patriarchal and Synodical Act says about the Patriarchate of Moscow:"The Patriarchate of Moscow, as the local Church and present in accordance with its official founding ecclesiastical Acts, also has its canonical jurisdiction with geographical boundaries and geographical restrictions, according once again to the canonical teaching and ecclesiology of the Orthodox Church.Its canonical jurisdiction - "the territory" - extends "to all Russia", namely as noted also above, within the boundaries of the Russian dominion and not beyond thesethree countries."
==History==
The 10th and 11th centuries majestic churches and monasteries were built. St. [[Anthony of the Caves]] brought the traditions of [[Mount Athos|Athonite]] monasticism to Rus' (present day Ukraine) in 1051.
The Orthodox Church during the Kievan period was subject to Constantinople , and had its autonomy. The Kyiv Metropolitan had a title of Exarch of the Ecumenical See. Until until 1237 the Metropolitans of Rus' were usually Greek. The Rus' Church continues to sing in Greek the solemn greeting to a bishop, ''eis polla eti, despota'' ("Many years to you, Master"), in memory of the days when the metropolitan came from Constantinople. Most of the rest of the bishops were native Ukrainians or Russians.
===Mongol Tartars over Russia (1237-1448) ===
In the 12th century, the period of feudal divisions, the Kievan-Rus' Church (present day Ukraine) remained the only bearer of the idea of unity of the people, resisting the centrifugal aspirations and feudal strife among Rus' princes. Even the Tartar invasion, this greatest ever misfortune that struck Rus' in the 13th century, failed to break the Orthodox Church. The Church managed to survive as a real force and was the comforter of the people in their plight. It made a great spiritual, material and moral contribution to the restoration of the political unity of Russia as a guarantee of its future victory over the invaders.
Also, at this same time, the Grand Duke Alexander of Novgorod, won a great victory on the banks of the Neva' over the Swedes, who had been incited by the Pope to conquer Russia for the Latin Church.
===Autocephalous Russian Church===
Liberating itself from the invaders, the Russian state gathered strength and so did the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1448, not long before the Byzantine Empire collapsed, the Russian Church separated from Kyiv Metropolia and self proclaimed its independents became independent from the [[Ecumenical Patriarchate]] without the blessing of Ecumenical Patriarch. Metropolitan Jonas, installed by the Council of Russian bishops in 1448, was given the title of Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia.
The Russian Church thus gained its independence, more by chance than from any deliberate design. Hitherto the Patriarch of Constantinople had appointed the head of the Russian Church, the Metropolitan. At the [[Council of Florence]] the Metropolitan was a Greek, [[Isidore the Apostate|Isidore]]. A leading supporter of the union with Rome, Isidore returned to Moscow in 1441 and proclaimed the decrees of Florence, but he met with no support from the Russians. He was imprisoned by the Grand Duke, but after a time was allowed to escape, and went back to Italy. The chief [[see]] was thus left vacant; but the Russians could not ask the Patriarch for a new Metropolitan, because from year of separation in 1448 until 1589 1453 the official Church at Constantinople did not recognize Russian Church as canonicalcontinued to accept the Florentine Union. Reluctant to take action on their own, the Russians delayed for several years. Eventually in 1448 a council of Russian bishops proceeded to elect a Metropolitan without further reference to Constantinople. After 1453, when the Florentine Union was abandoned at Constantinople, communion between the Patriarchate and Russia was restored, but Russia continued to appoint its own chief hierarch. Henceforward the Russian Church was self-governing, but its autocephaly was not ratified by the rest of the Church until 1589. It was non canonic for 141 years.
After the [[fall of Constantinople]] in 1453, there was only one nation that saw itself as capable of assuming leadership in Eastern Christendom. The growing might of the Russian state also contributed to the growing authority of the autocephalous Russian Church. To the Russian people, it was a sign from God, that at the very moment when the Byzantine Empire was ending, they themselves were throwing off the few remaining vestiges of Tartar control. To them, Moscow became the [[Third Rome]], a status never acknowledged by the remainder of the Church but nevertheless which served to inspire Russian Orthodox Christians.
===Non-Possessors and Josephites ===Saint [[Nilus of Sora]] (Nil Sorsky, 1433?-1508), a monk from a remote hermitage in the forests beyond the Volga, launched an attack on the ownership of land by monasteries. St. [[Joseph of Volokolamsk|Joseph, Abbot hegumen of Volokolamsk]] (1439-1515), replied in defense of monastic landholding. This became known as the dispute between the "Possessors" (Josephites) and the "Non-Possessors". (Note that both are saints of the Church.)
As the "Third Rome", the tsar derived his power and right to rule from being God's chosen representative on earth. So, to keep his status, he needed to protect and promote the church. In the Byzantium tradition, the relationship between the church and the state acted as a check on the power of the tsar. The metropolitan and the tsar were equals, and the metropolitan had the right to censure the tsar. The dispute between the Possessors and the Non-Possessors challenged this idea because about a third of the land in Russia belonged to monasteries at this time.
The Possessors and the Non-Possessors held different views about the role the church should play in society and in politics. When the Possessors triumphed, the church gained the right to wealth at the expense of political influence. The tsar became superior to the metropolitan, and could now interfere in secular matters of the church. The tsar was cut off from any source of accountability.
===Old Believers===
The reforms caused the separation from the Church of those who ignorantly and blindly rightfully supposed that the corrupted old service-books were divinely inspired. Some [[clergy]]men and [[laity|lay people]] were perhaps more hesitant about accepting the liturgical reforms introduced by Patriarch Nikon and were wrongly anathematized by the church authority. Hieromartyr Andrew, Archbishop of Ufa confessed that: "On the basis of Patriarch Nikon's mistake was established that caesaropapism which has, since the time of Patriarch Nikon, undermined all the roots of Russian Church life and was finally expressed in the formation of the so-called '[[Living Church]]', which is at present the ruling hierarchy and which has transgressed all the church canons... But I, although I am a sinful and unworthy bishop, by the mercy of God ascribe myself to no ruling hierarchy and have always remembered the command of the holy Apostle Peter: 'Pasture the flock of God without lording it over God's inheritance'."
===The Synodical Church (1700-1917)===
===The Russian Church (20th century)===
Early in the 20th century the Russian Church began preparations for convening an [[All-Russian Church Council of 1917-1918|All-Russian Council]]. But it was to be convened only after the 1917 Revolution. Among its major actions was the restoration of the patriarchal office in the Russian Church. The Council elected Metropolitan [[Tikhon of Moscow]] Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' (1917-1925). St. Tikhon of Moscow exerted every effort to calm the destructive passions kindled up by the revolution.
When in 1921-1922 the Soviet government demanded that church valuables be given in aid to the population starving because of the failure of crops in 1921, a conflict erupted between the Church and the new authorities who decided to use this situation to demolish the Church to the end. By the beginning of [[World War II ]] the church structure was almost completely destroyed throughout the country. There were only a few bishops who remained free and who could perform their duties. Some bishops managed to survive in remote parts or under the disguise of priests. Only a few hundred churches were opened for services throughout the Soviet Union. Most of the clergy were either imprisoned in concentration labor camps, where many of them perished, or hid in [[catacombs]], while thousands of priests changed occupation. World War II forced Stalin to mobilize all the national resources for defense, including the Russian Orthodox Church as the people's moral force. This process, which can be described as a "patriotic union", culminated in Stalin's receiving on September 4, 1943, Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan [[Sergius I (Stragorodsky) of Moscow|Sergiy Sergius (Stragorodsky)]] and Metropolitan [[Alexei I (Simansky) of Moscow|Alexy Alexius (Simansky)]] and [[Nicholas (Yarushevich) of KievKrutitsy|Nikolay Nicholas (Yarushevich)]].
The Russian clergy outside the USSR, who rejected demands of loyalty to the Soviet Communist authoroties authorities put forth by Sergiy Sergius (Stragorodsky ) in 1927 (in the so called [[Declaration of 1927]]), formed the [[Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia]].
==The Russian Orthodox Church today==
{{stub}}
The Russian Orthodox Church claims about 26,000 parishes. Out of these, more than 50% (14,700) are in Ukraine.[http://www.risu.org.ua/library/doc/MP_canter.pdf]
 
== Modern Writers ==
*[[Nicholas Afanasiev]]
==See also==
==External links==
*[http://www.mospatpatriarchia.ru/index.php?lng=1 Church of RussiaMoscow Patriarchate] official website in English(Official Website)*[http://www.patriarchiamospat.ru/ Patriarchia.RUen/ Department of External Affairs] official portal of the Moscow Patriarchate (Russian onlyOfficial Website)* [http://www.cnewasynod.orgcom/synod/ecc-bodypg-usindexeng.aspx?eccpageID=17&IndexView=toc Eastern Christian Churches: The htm Russian Orthodox Church of Outside Russia] by Ronald Roberson, a Roman Catholic priest and scholar(Official Website)<!--- * [http://www.pravoscnewa.org/indexdefault.htm Commission Dialogue Moscow Patriarchate-aspx?ID=17&pagetypeID=9&sitecode=HQ&pageno=1 Article on the Orthodox Church outside of Russiaby Ronald Roberson on the CNEWA web site] --->*[http://www.risu.org.ua/library/doc/MP_canter.pdf "The Canonical Territory of the Moscow Patriarchate: An Analysis of Contemporary Russian Orthodox Thought], " by Fr. J. Buciora, Ph.D. ] (a paper criticizing the actions of the MP outside RussiaArticle)*[http://www.orthodoxaregels.org/GB/orthodoxy/canonlaw/russianterritoryrushistory-1.htm The Russian Canonical Territory], from the website of the Church in history of Estonia (a paper critical of the MP's actions in Estonia)Russia. Lev Regelson.]
==Further Reading==
52
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