The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad

BY SAINT JOHN (MAXIMOVITCH)
OF SHANGHAI & SAN FRANCISCO

THE RUSSIAN CHURCH ABROAD is that part of the Russian Church which is outside the boundaries of the Russian State and at the present time is headed by a Chief Hierarch and a Synod of Bishops which are chosen by the Sobor (Assembly) of Bishops of the Russian Diaspora.

The Russian Church has had a part outside of Russia for about two centuries. The preaching of Christianity to the pagan tribes of Asia involved the founding of missions which became in the course of time dioceses in China and Japan. The spreading of Orthodoxy among the pagan population of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska, and the establishment of the Mission, and then dioceses for North America, were a continuation of the preaching in Asia. In Western Europe beginning with the 18th century churches were built, at first at the Russian embassies and then separately from them, in those places which were visited by Russians in their trips abroad. All these churches were considered to be in the diocese of the Metropolitan of Petrograd and most recently they were directly dependent on his vicar, the Bishop of Kronstadt. None of the Eastern Patriarchs, whose authority has been highly respected by the Russian people, and likewise none of the other heads of the Orthodox Churches, ever protested against such a spreading of the Russian Church. If, according to the Church canons, a duration of thirty years is sufficient to cause a church or a place to belong to that diocese which in the course of those years was in possession of it, then all the more must one recognise as undisputed the right of the Russian Church to those places which have been cared for by her for many decades. One may say quite certainly that this question would never have been raised if the Russian Empire and with it the Russian Church had remained in its former power and glory and if no misfortune had befallen them.

After the collapse of the monarchy, at first the Russian Church continued both within and without Russia to enjoy her former rights. But this did not last long. Soon persecution began. The Communist regime, which soon came to power, set as its aim the uprooting of all religion, which according to Marxist teaching is prejudice and superstition. The chief blow was directed against the Orthodox Church, to which belonged the overwhelming majority of the Russian people and which had inspired them over the centuries from the very Baptism of Russia. Churches began to be closed, clergy were persecuted and murdered, and this turned later into a systematic battle against the Church with the aim of exterminating her.

Foreseeing the possibility that the Higher Authority of the Russian Church would be deprived of freedom and that it would become impossible for separate parts of the Russian Church to have contact with it, Patriarch Tikhon, who was then head of the Church, gave an instruction that, in those regions which were separated from the Church Administration, temporary church administrations should be established under the leadership of the eldest of the hierarchs in that region. At that time church administrations had already been established in places which had no contact with Moscow at the time of the civil war within Russia itself (in the south of Russia and in Siberia). And when there followed the great exodus of Russians from their homeland after the defeat of the troops that were fighting against the Communist regime, the Higher Church Administration of South Russia headed by Metropolitan Antony [Khrapovitsky], who was known to the entire Orthodox world, found itself outside of Russia.