Paris, September 30, 2019
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Gathered in Paris on Saturday, the vast majority of the clergy of the Archdiocese of Russian Churches in Western Europe, formerly of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, voted to follow the example of their beloved hierarch His Eminence Archbishop John of Dubna, formerly of Chariopoulis, and join the Russian Orthodox Church, reports the Church’s press service.
According to the communiqué published by the Archdiocese, 51 clergymen who attended the meeting and 37 who could not attend confirmed their full support for Abp. John’s pastoral decision to canonically unite the Archdiocese to the Moscow Patriarchate.
The assembly adopted a corresponding appeal to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, which will be examined at the upcoming session of the Holy Synod of the Russian Church at the Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra on October 8, His Grace Bishop Savva of Zelenograd told RIA-Novosti.
“The clergy of the Archdiocese, gathered together in a Pastoral Assembly on September 28, 2019, confirmed by majority our decision to ask for canonical unity with the Moscow Patriarchate on the terms worked out by the mixed commission and approved by Your Holiness. I also have the honor and joy of address your Holiness and presenting to you the official request for the canonical union of our Archdiocese with the Moscow Patriarchate on the above-mentioned terms. We ask, Your Holiness, to present this request to the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church and to inform us of its decision,” reads the address published by the Archdiocese’s Deacon Alexander Zanemonets.
Meanwhile, Metropolitan Emmanuel of Gaul of the Patriarchate of Constantinople will meet with the handful of representatives from the Archdiocesan Council who do not want to join the Moscow Patriarchate on September 30.
On September 7, 58% of the Archdiocese voted to join the Moscow Patriarchate. On September 14, Abp. John announced that he had been received into the Russian Church and was moving the Archdiocese with him, after Constantinople suddenly released him. In response, several members of the Archdiocesan Council appealed to Constantinople to appoint a Locum Tenens in place of Abp. John. In response, they appointed Met. Emmanuel.
Abp. John responded that this second attempt to appoint a locum tenens has no canonical basis. Moreover, it is unclear what it means for the Patriarchate of Constantinople to appoint a Locum Tenens over a structure that it itself had canonically dissolved last November.
According to a report from the OCP Media Network, Met. Emmanuel was reportedly behind the canonical release of Abp. John, to get rid of the Russia-friendly parishes that would complicate the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s goals of uniting with several schismatic groups operating in France.
