The movement for local Orthodoxy of the Russian tradition in Western Europe

The immediate reason for the creation of this organization was the appeal of Patriarch Alexy II of April 1, 2003 to Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, Archbishop of Brussels and Belgium Simon , Archbishop of Korsun Innocent , Bishop of Comana Gabriel , Bishop of Geneva and Western Europe Russian tradition in Western Europe. It was proposed in the appeal to form a metropolitan okrug based on the existing church dioceses of Russian origin and Russian spiritual tradition, which would have the rights of self-government , including the right to elect the primate as a council of the okrug, consisting of hierarchs, clergy and laity on the basis of their own charter ^[2] .

In June 2003, Patriarch Alexy II explained the desire to create in Western Europe the metropolitan area of ​​the Russian tradition in the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate “by caring for the fate of the Russian-speaking Orthodox flock, other Orthodox Christians who associate themselves with the Russian spiritual tradition”:

We receive many letters from these people who want to open new parishes, do not have proper spiritual guidance, sometimes they are completely deprived of the possibility of regular confession, confidential conversation with the priest. Most of these people do not think of the Church without unity and asks: why do one people have different “jurisdictions”? Over the past years, millions of our believers have arrived in Europe for various reasons. They need a single Church that maintains a connection with the homeland, but lives according to local circumstances. <...> Some of our believers, as well as their pastors, fear that the creation of a self-governing metropolitanate might weaken their connection with the Church in the Fatherland. But this is not about separation, but about the restoration of unity, that unity that was destroyed many years ago due to the revolution and the civil war, and then the Cold War ^[4] .

As the head of the DECR, Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad Kirill (Gundyaev) ,

The proposed model of the metropolitan district could help restore the spiritual unity of the Russian-speaking diaspora, which is now divided between three jurisdictions (the Moscow Patriarchate, the Exarchate of Russian Orthodox parishes in Western Europe in the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Russian Church Abroad), taking into account the local specific features that have developed in the Russian long years of their existence in isolation from their homeland. Despite the fact that a significant part of the communities of the Russian Orthodox tradition is made up of representatives of local peoples who converted to Orthodoxy, in the future the structure of the metropolitan district could become a good basis for the formation of its Local Church in Western Europe ^[2] .

As Serafim Rebinder, chairman of the movement,

The appeal of the Patriarch caused an ambiguous reaction in the Russian diaspora. Many understood this appeal simply as an invitation to join the Russian Church and restore the situation that existed before 1917. Such a false interpretation was used to criticize the Russian Church, which allegedly preaches ecclesiology marked by phyletism. However, it is enough to re-read the letter of the Patriarch to understand that we are talking about the unification of Orthodox Christians of Russian origin in the bosom of the autonomous metropolis, with the further goal of creating the Local Church. Moreover, for the first time, the First Hierarch of one of the autocephalous Churches calls on dioceses originating from this Church to embark on the path of creating a truly local and canonical Church, that is, uniting all Orthodox Christians, regardless of their ethnic origin. Gradually, the need emerged for the creation of a movement that would contribute to a correct understanding of the Patriarchal appeal and which received concrete formulation only now, a year later ^[5] .

March 31, 2004 was followed by the establishment of the public organization "Movement for Local Orthodoxy of the Russian Tradition in Western Europe" (OLTR). The main ideas of OLTR were presented in a communiqué:

Orthodox Christians living in Western Europe are becoming increasingly aware of the division of the Orthodox Church in our countries into various jurisdictions, mainly according to ethnic criteria. Among them, Russians by origin are doubly affected: at the heart of their divisions are those black decades when the Russian Church was under the rule of a totalitarian God-fighting regime. We recognize that this situation was deeply contrary to the very essence of the Church. For the outside world, the image of the Russian Church was distorted. Many among us believe that after the appeal that the First Hierarch of the Russian Church addressed to us, His Holiness Alexy II, it was time to make every effort to move on to a new church dispensation that was more consistent with the foundations of our faith ^[3] .

At the constituent assembly of the Movement for Local Orthodoxy of Russian Tradition in Western Europe, Serafim Rebinder was elected Chairman of the OLTR Council (he died on March 13, 2018). In addition to him, the founding members of OLTR were 24 more lay people of all three jurisdictions of the Russian tradition in Western Europe: Mark Andronikov , Konstantin Davydov, Sergey von Palen , Vasily von Tizengauzen , Sergey Kapnist , Nikita and Ksenia Krivosheiny , Oleg Lavrov, Victor Lupan , Konstantin Malinin, Andrey Malinin , Elena Markova , Mikhail Milkovich, Sergey Obolensky , Andrey Rachinsky , Nikolay Ross , Dimitri Shakhovskoy , Andrey Shmeman (November 7, 2008), Alexey Chertkov , Vadim Tikhonitsky , Alexander Trubetskoy , Emilia van Taak, George von Rosenshild-Paulin , Anna In ontsova-Vel'yaminov ^[3] .

On December 9, 2004, the Council of the Archdiocese under the chairmanship of the newly elected Archbishop Gabriel (de Wilder) rejected the proposal of the Moscow Patriarchate as unacceptable, referring to the 1966 document in which “our fathers and teachers in faith” rejected “every possibility of returning to the Moscow Patriarchate <... > if even in Russia the position of the Church was normal ”and stated that“ the Archdiocese has become a local and multinational Church ” ^[6] . Later in the OLTR statement, it was noted that “supporters of a deeper consideration of the proposal of the patriarch were systematically removed from the council of the archdiocese and parish councils” ^[7] . According to Victor Lupan, the appearance of the “Movement for Local Orthodoxy of the Russian Tradition in Western Europe”, created by the laity, “was greeted by the top of the Archdiocese with open hatred” ^[8] .

On June 16, 2006, at the Three Holy Metochion in Paris, a meeting was held between the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, and Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Germany (Arnda) (Russian Church Abroad) with representatives of the leadership of the Local Orthodox Church Movement of Russian Tradition ^[9]

From 2004 to 2013, OLTR issued 14 communiqués and 5 special statements devoted to the most important events of the Russian Orthodox tradition in Western Europe. Often, statements were related to various conflicts between the Paris Archdiocese and the Moscow Patriarchate.

• Communiqué No. 1 of April 11, 2004 - Creation of OLTR
• Communiqué No. 2 of June 4, 2004 - Un débat doit s'engager
• Communiqué No. 3 of September 10, 2004 - Building a Local Church (and Appendix to Statement No. 3 )
• Communiqué No. 4 of November 12, 2004 - Des statuts fondateurs pour une Métropole en devenir
• Special Communiqué No. 1 of January 18, 2005 - Regrettable Events
• Communique No 5, January 23, 2005 - OLTR Response
• Communiqué No. 6 of February 23, 2006 - Biarritz Case
• Communiqué No. 7 of May 30, 2006 - Concerning the Events Currently Occurring in the Orthodox Church in Europe
• Communiqué No. 8 of November 3, 2006 - A Call for Wisdom to Overcome Tensions.
• Communique No. 9 of November 21, 2006 - Publication of the Act on Canonical Communion between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
• Communiqué No. 10 of September 17, 2007 - On the Situation in Nice
• Special Communiqué No. 2 of September 19, 2007 - Arrival in France of His Holiness Alexy II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
• Communique No. 11 of October 15, 2007 - Visit to Paris of His Holiness Alexy II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
• Communique No 12 of October 21, 2007 - Reunions - Parish of Lyon
• Communiqué No. 13 of February 24, 2008 - On the Conflict in Biarritz
• Special Communiqué No. 3 of December 6, 2008 - Death of His Holiness Alexy II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
• Communiqué No. 14 of January 13, 2009 — 40 days after the death of Patriarch Alexy II
• Special Communiqué No. 4 of January 27, 2009 - New Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill Elected!
• Communiqué No. 15 of June 6, 2009 - Participants in the pan-Orthodox meeting from June 6 to 13, 2009 in Chambesy, Switzerland.
• Communiqué No. 16 of March 16, 2011 - Concerns over the Election of Bishops in the Archdiocese
• Communiqué No. 17 of October 15, 2011 - How to solve the problem of Nice?
• Special Statement of March 24, 2013 - OLTR Declaration Regarding the Current Difficulties of the Archdiocese

• George von Rosenchild — President
• Dmitry Shakhovskoy - vice president
• Mikhail Milkovich - general secret
• Sergey Kapnist - Treasurer

• Official site