The Shepherd, June 2006
Epistle to the God-loving Flock of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia of 15th-19th May, 2006, 2
And so, we turn to our dear flock with the prayerful call to set aside quarrels and differences, and to join together for the salvific task of reestablishing the unity of the Russian Church.
As King Solomon said: “Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins” (Prov. 10:12).
The Word of God teaches us that the times are changing: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
There was a time for resistance; now the time has come for reconciliation.
The world which lies in sin requires testimony to our unity, to the fact that we who are in the diaspora and our brothers and sisters in our renascent homeland are truly “Of one body, and one Spirit… one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Eph. 4:4-6).
And we archpastors appeal to you, our flock beloved of God, imploring you, in the words of the Apostle, “that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:1-3).
Christ is Risen!
+ Lavr, Metropolitan of Eastern America and New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
+ Alypy, Archbishop of Chicago and Detroit
+ Mark, Archbishop of Berlin and Germany
+ Hilarion, Archbishop of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand
+ Kyrill, Archbishop of San Francisco and Western America
+ Evtikhii, Bishop of Ishim and Siberia
+ Agathangel, Bishop of Tavrichesk and Odessa
+ Michael, Bishop of Geneva and Western Europe
+ Daniel, Bishop of Erie
+ Gabriel, Bishop of Manhattan
+ Agapit, Bishop of Stuttgart
+ Peter, Bishop of Cleveland
+ Bishop Ambroise
May 4/17, 2006
San Francisco
Editor’s footnotes:
* The word used here in Russian is yedinodyshnoe - of one spirit. In fact, the resolution at the All-Diaspora Council and the mood of the Council was not unanimous in the more precise sense of the English word.
** Here again the word in Russian is pretenziy, which in this context might more sensibly be translated “claims” although we have left the translations as it appears on the official Synodal website.
We have printed the two resolutions of the IV All-Diaspora Council before the Epistle of the Hierarchs, not to place the Bishop’s message in second place or to show the hierarchs any disrespect, but simply to place it in context and to present the papers in chronological order .
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