Changes

According to the statutes of the Russian Orthodox Church, its jurisdiction includes persons of Orthodox confession living on the [[canonical territory]] of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldavia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Estonia, and also Orthodox Christians living in other countries who voluntarily join the jurisdiction.

The self-governing churches receive their [[chrism]] from the Patriarch of Moscow and exercise their activities on the basis of patriarchal [[tomos]]. This claim of jurisdiction is disputed by other Orthodox churches Churches in a number of cases (particularly in Estonia and Moldova, as well as in the [[diaspora]]; there are also major schismatic elements in Ukraine that want an [[autocephaly|autocephalous]] Ukrainian church), due mainly to the changing shape of the boundaries of Russia. The canonical territory of the Russian church 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."