The Canonical & Legal Position of the Moscow Patriarchate The Canonical & Legal Position of the Moscow Patriarchate

The Canonical & Legal Position of the Moscow Patriarchate

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Author: Bishop Gregory Grabbe

This new edition of The Canonical & Legal Position of the Moscow Patriarchate  includes:

  • New historical context concerning the Moscow Patriarchate as seen by the ROCOR and Catacomb Church.

  • Two new appendices are included, one of which contains a never-before-translated 1943 Synodal document from the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad concerning Patriarch Sergius, providing the reader with new historical context and analysis into this complex issue of the canonical and legal position of the Moscow Patriarchate.

What are the issues surrounding the question of the canonical and legal authenticity of the current Patriarch of Moscow and All-Russia? This critical volume written by His Grace Bishop Gregory Grabbe, the expert canonist of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, delves into the history of the elections of the Patriarch of Moscow and All-Russia since the time of Patriarch Tikhon, who was the last canonical and freely elected Patriarch of Moscow.

The 1917-1918 All-Russian Church Council established regulations for future elections of the Russian Church. This volume examines questions such as: What are the legitimate procedures established at that council for the election of a patriarch and were they adhered to for the subsequent ‘election’ of Sergei (Stragorodsky)? What role did the God-fighting Soviet government play in the rise to power of the patriarchs subsequent to Tikhon? Was Sergei a freely elected patriarch or merely a political appointee installed by Joseph Stalin?

Does the funding by the anti-religious Soviet Government for the material needs of an election indicate the results were compromised and violate the 30th Apostolic Canon? Does the presence of bishops from other autocephalous Orthodox Churches at councils electing the Russian Patriarch verify an undisputed election? Does a unanimous vote constitute a valid election, or does the fact that there was no secret ballot allowed preclude the election from being fair? What role did the Government Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church play in the consecration of a bishop, or ordaining of a presbyter or deacon in disallowing any candidate who may be a force of opposition to the godless state?

As Metropolitan Sergei himself professed in 1931, “without a Patriarch, the chair of Moscow remains vacant.” In this volume, His Grace Bishop Gregory elucidates the circumstances following the repose of Patriarch Tikhon that reveal the status of the Moscow Patriarchal Throne.