Changes

Since the end of the Soviet Union, ROCOR has strived to maintain maintained its independence from the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]]. One ground cited is on the grounds that the Church inside Russia had permitted itself to be been unacceptably compromised. Some accusations go went so far as to claim that the entire hierarchy within Russia were active KGB agents. ROCOR has also attempted to set up missions in post-Soviet Russia, which has not improved relations.

This has not prevented all communication, however. For many years there had been unofficial and warm contacts between the two groups. In 2001, the Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow and ROCOR exchanged formal correspondence. The Muscovite letter held the position that previous and current separation were was over purely political matters. ROCOR's response is that they were worried about expressed concern over continued Muscovite involvement in [[ecumenism]] , which was seen as compromising Moscow's Orthodoxy. Nevertheless, this has been was far more friendly a discourse than had been seen in previous decades have seen.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia began continued to establish itself in its homeland. It now has about 100 worshiping communities in Russia and the other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Currently four bishops oversee these parishes. Two of them broke with Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York|Vitaly]] in New York in April 1994, founded their own temporary administration called the ''Free Orthodox Church of Russia'', and ordained three additional bishops. They were reconciled in November 1994, and the ordination of the three new bishops was declared invalid, but some tensions remain.