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bishop=''see vacant''<!-- [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Metr. Laurus]]--->|

In 1927, ROCOR declared "The part of the Russian Church that finds itself abroad considers itself an inseparable, spiritually united branch of the Great Russian Church. It does not separate itself from its Mother Church and does not consider itself autocephalous," indicating that ROCOR considered itself to speak for all of the Russian Orthodox outside of Russia. The Church Abroad also considered itself to be the free voice of the enslaved Mother Church in the Soviet Union.<ref>For more on how ROCOR viewed its relationship to the Mother Church, see [http://web.archive.org/web/20030430123024/http:/orthodoxinfo.com/resistance/mpmother.htm Is the Moscow Patriarchate the "Mother Church" of the ROCOR?] by Protopresbyter Alexander Lebedeff, December 28th28, 2007</ref>

It is believed by many that the allegedly sectarian spirit of ROCOR came into its flowering during this time and under the influence of this monastery, which frequently misrepresented the official policies and views of the Synod of Bishops. In the early 1980s the hierarchs of the Synod began to correct and censor the narrow-minded and incorrect views of the followers of Holy Transfiguration Monastery. Subsequently this group broke communion with ROCOR (regarding allegations of sexual abuse by the monastery's leadership), styling themselves the [[HOCNA|Holy Orthodox Church in North America]] (HOCNA). They became affiliated with the [[True Orthodox Church of Greece]], a Greek Old Calendarist group which broke from the [[Church of Greece]]. According to Fr. Alexey Young (author of ''The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia: A History and Chronology''), the association of ROCOR and Holy Transfiguration Monastery resulted in deep damage to ROCOR.<ref>For more on the history of this schism, see [http://pages.prodigy.net/frjohnwhiteford/hocna_facts.htm http://pages.prodigy.net/frjohnwhiteford/hocna_facts.htmArticles for those who wish to know the Truth about the Panteleimonite Schism and the so called "Holy Orthodox Church in North America"], December 28, 2007</ref>

:“The "The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia is an indissoluble part of the Russian Orthodox Church, and for the time until the extermination in Russia of the atheist government, is self-governing on conciliar principles in accordance with the resolution of the Patriarch, the Most Holy Synod, and the Highest Church Council [Sobor] of the Russian Church dated 7/20 November, 1920, No. 362.”"<ref>'The Statutes of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia', first paragraph, [http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/english/pages/regulations/rocorregulations.html http:Regulations Of The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Confirmed by the Council of Bishops in 1956 and by a decision of the Council dated 5//www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/english/pages/regulations/rocorregulations.html18 June, 1964], first paragraph, December 28, 2007</ref>

:“As "As regards the Moscow Patriarchate and its hierarchs, then, so long as they continue in close, active and benevolent cooperation with the Soviet Government, which openly professes its complete godlessness and strives to implant atheism in the entire Russian nation, then the Church Abroad, maintaining Her purity, must not have any canonical, liturgical or even simply external communion with them whatsoever, leaving each one of them at the same time to the final judgment of the Council (Sobor) of the future free Russian Church.”"<ref>'The last will and testament of Metropolitan Anastassy, 1957' [http://www.orthodox.net/articles/anastasy-will.html http://www.orthodox.net/articles/anastasy-The last will.htmland testament of Metropolitan Anastassy, 1957], December 28, 2007</ref>

ROCOR viewed the Russian Church as consisting of three parts during the Soviet period: 1. The Moscow Patriarchate, 2. the Catacomb Church, and 3. The Free Russian Church (ROCOR). The Catacomb Church had been a significant part of the Russian Church prior to World War II. Most of those in ROCOR had left Russia during or well before World War II. They were unaware of the changes that had occurred immediately after World War II -- &mdash;most significantly that with the election of Patriarch [[Alexei I (Simansky) of Moscow|Alexei I]], most of the Catacomb Church was reconciled with the Moscow Patriarchate. By the 1970's1970s, due to this reconciliation, as well as to continued persecution by the Soviets, there was very little left of the Catacomb Church. Alexander Solzhenitsyn made this point in a letter to the 1974 All-Diaspora Sobor of ROCOR, in which he stated that ROCOR should not "show solidarity with a mysterious, sinless, but also bodiless catacomb."<ref>[http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/cat_1974.aspx The Catacomb Tikhonite Church 1974], The Orthodox Word, Nov.-Dec., 1974 (59), 235-246, [http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/cat_1974.aspx http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/cat_1974.aspx], December 28, 2007.</ref> The fact that the catacomb Church had essentially ceased to exist was de facto recognized when, as Communism was about to finally collapse in Russia, ROCOR began to establish "Free Russian" parishes in Russia, and to consecrate bishops to oversee such parishes, and never recognized any alleged Catacomb bishop as having a legitimate episcopacy.

Finally, the collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union precipitated a crisis in ROCOR, because the very reason that had initially resulted in its separation from the Moscow Patriarchate had been removed, and so the basis of the consensus that had previously united ROCOR began to unravel. There were those who did not believe that the Moscow Patriarchate was yet free from the control of the KGB, and that in any case they had not sufficiently renounced the policies of Metropolitan Sergius. There were also those who believed that regardless of the political situation in Russia, that the question of Ecumenism had become sufficient grounds for continued separation. But after the August 2000 All-Russian Sobor of the Moscow Patriarchate, in which the MP officially condemned the Branch Theory of Ecumenism, and also renounced in principle, if not in name, the policies of Metropolitan Sergius, the question of reconciliation with the Moscow Patriarchate become an unavoidable question that had to be resolved, one way or another.<ref>Status Quo, ROCOR?, [http://pages.prodigy.net/frjohnwhiteford/statusquo.htm http://pages.prodigy.net/frjohnwhiteford/statusquo.htmStatus Quo, ROCOR?], December 28, 2007.</ref>

Since the election of Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus]] as First Hierarch of ROCOR in 2001, a steady process of rapprochement occurred between ROCOR and the [[Church of Russia|Moscow Patriarchate]]. Multiple official visits have been exchanged between hierarchs and other clergy of both churches, and the date for restoration of [[full communion]] was officially announced by both sides.<ref>[http://www.antiochian.org.au/content/view/587/6/ http://www.antiochian.org.au/content/view/587/6/]</ref>{{citation}}

On [[June 21]], 2005, it was announced simultaneously by both the ROCOR and the MP on their respective websites that rapprochement talks were leading toward the resumption of full relations between the ROCOR and the MP and that the ROCOR would be given the status of [[autonomy]].<ref>[http://www.mospat.ru/text/e_news/id/9553.html http://www.mospat.ru/text/e_news/id/9553.html][http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/articles/docs.html http://wwwDocuments Developed at the Joint Sessions of the Commission of the Moscow Patriarchate on Discussions with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia on Discussions with the Moscow Patriarchate.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/01newstucture/pagesen/articles/docs.html]</ref>

In May 2006, the ROCOR met in its IV All-Diaspora Council, which was held at Most Holy Theotokos Joy of All Who Sorrow Cathedral in San Francisco, California. The council consisted of clergy and lay delegates from all dioceses of the ROCOR, and adopted a resolution, expressing "great hope that in the appropriate time, the unity of the Russian Church will be restored upon the foundation of the Truth of Christ, opening for us the possibility to serve together and to commune from one Chalice."<ref>[http://www.sobor2006russianorthodoxchurch.com/more2.php?id=99_0_3_0_M45 http:ws/synod/www.sobor2006.comeng2006/more25ensobresolution.php?id=99_0_3_0_M45html Resolution of the IV All-Diaspora Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia]</ref>

Following the IV All-Diaspora Council, the Council of Bishops of the ROCOR was held. According to sources close to the council, it generally agreed with the text of the proposed "[[Act of Canonical Communion with the Moscow Patriarchate|Act of Canonical Unity]]," but remitted it back to the Committee for Dialogue with the Moscow Patriarchate to rework certain aspects of the document.{{citation}} The exact nature of the elements to be worked out is unclear, but, according to sources close to the Synod of Bishops, involves, among other things, property issues in the Holy Land.{{citation}}

On September 6, 2006 The , the Synod of Bishops of ROCOR decreed their confirmation and approval of the revised Act of Canonical Unity and instructed the Commission on Discussion with the Moscow Patriarchate to work jointly with the Moscow Patriarchate to work out details of the official signing of the Act.<ref> [http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/eng2006/9enaktko.html http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/eng2006/9enaktko.htmlThe Synod of Bishops Makes a Decision on the "Act on Canonical Communion"]</ref> Subsequently on September 11, 2006 The , the Synod of Bishops of ROCOR published on ROCOR's website a clarification of their decision to confirm and approve the Act.<ref>[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/eng2006/9enaktexplanantion.html http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/eng2006/9enaktexplanantion.htmlClarifications on the Negotiation Process and the "Act on Canonical Communion"]</ref> Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia acknowledged the work of the commissions and declared that the act of reunification, while moving in the right direction, will take time.<ref> [http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=1977 http://www.interfaxUnification of Orthodox Church with its branch abroad will not be fast -religion.com/?act=news&div=1977Alexy II]</ref>

Both the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia published on their respective websites the final full text of the Act of Canonical Unity <ref>[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/engdocuments/enmat_akt.html http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/engdocuments/enmat_akt.htmlAct of Canonical Union]</ref> with all relevant supporting documents <ref>[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/engdocuments/enmat_addendum.html http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/engdocuments/enmat_addendum.htmlAddendum to the Act of Canonical Communion] , [http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/eng2006/11ensummation.html http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/eng2006/11ensummation.htmlSummation of the Joint Work of the Commissions of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Moscow Patriarchate] </ref> on November 1, 2006. The Act having been approved by both the Moscow Patriarchate and ROCOR, it was formally signed in Moscow on May 17, 2007, followed by a concelebration of the Divine Liturgy, bringing the ROCOR into the Moscow Patriarchate.

ROCOR formerly maintained communion with a few [[Old Calendarist]] jurisdictions, including the [[Holy Synod in Resistance]] (True Orthodox Church of Greece, so-called "Cyprianites"), the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Romania]] (Synod of Metropolitan Vlasie), and the [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria]] (Bishop Photii). In 2006, communion with the [[Holy Synod in Resistance]] was suspended, after the ROCOR Synod received a letter from Metropolitan Cyprian of Oropos and Fili stating that Metropolitan Laurus' name had been "struck from the diptych."<ref>[http://www.synod.com/synod/eng2006/2ensynodmeeting.html http://www.synod.com/synod/eng2006/2ensynodmeeting.htmlA Regular Session of the Synod of Bishops is Held]</ref> Relations with the Synod of Metropolitan Vlasie and with Bishop Photii of Triaditza were subsequently severed as well.

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