UPDATE - Patriarch Kirill Says Divisions Within Russian Orthodox Church Abroad Finally Settled

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th September, 2019) MOSCOW (Pakistan Point news / Sputnik - 15th September, 2019) The decision to allow Archbishop John (Renneteau), the head of the Archdiocese of Russian Orthodox churches in Western Europe (AROCWE), and his supporters among AROCWE's priests and parishioners to join the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) settles the issue of divisions within the Russian Orthodox church abroad, Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, said on Sunday.

On Saturday, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church allowed Archbishop John to join the ROC together with all those members of the archdiocese who wish to follow him.

"The granting of that [Archbishop John's] request settles the issue of divisions within the Russian Church Outside of Russia and between Russians living abroad. That it happened on the first day of the new [Orthodox] liturgical year [September 1 according to the Julian Calendar, September 14 according to the Gregorian calendar], helps to understand that this reunification is forever, for the future that lies before us," the patriarch said after a service in the Church of Princess St.

Olga in Moscow.

He added that it was Archbishop John's initiative to send him a reunification request, and noted that all Russian Orthodox parishes in Western Europe were part of the ROC now, since the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia already restored the canonical link with the ROC in 2007.

The Archdiocese of Russian Orthodox churches in Western Europe was created in 1931 as a part of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Its original members were mostly Russian immigrants, who had left their country after the October Revolution.

In 2018, the Patriarchate of Constantinople decided to revoke the AROCWE's special status and put its churches directly under Constantinople's jurisdiction. The Russian Orthodox Church offered AROCWE to join it instead. During the latest assembly the majority of AROCWE's priests and parishioners voted for joining the ROC.