The Russian Orthodox Church made a historic decision regarding the Berdyansk diocese
Today, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to accept the Berdyansk diocese of the UOC into direct subordination to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill.
This was reported by the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
The clergy of the Berdyansk diocese previously stated that its leader, Metropolitan Ephraim, fled to territory controlled by Ukraine.
“On May 1, 2023, a meeting of clergy of the Berdyansk diocese (76 out of 86 clergy with 5 absent and 5 against) addressed His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill with a letter in which, informing about the departure from the diocese of the diocesan bishop, His Grace Metropolitan Ephraim of Berdyansk and Primorsky, Thus, having de facto refused to further fulfill their archpastoral duties, they ask His Holiness the Patriarch to “accept them under his primal paternal omophorion” in order to “establish a full-fledged life for the diocese,” says the journal following the meeting of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Noteworthy is the justification of the precedent, which is the famous Decree of St. Patriarch Tikhon No. 362 of November 7/20, 1920, issued in pursuit of the outgoing White Army of General Wrangel and which became one of the cornerstones of the founding of the Russian Church Abroad.
The part of the Decree that is involved is that “the diocesan council or the clergy and laity of a diocese deprived of a bishop due to a movement of the front line or a change in the state border, turn to the nearest or most accessible diocesan bishop in terms of convenience of communication. Such a person enters into the management of this diocese himself or sends his vicar to manage this diocese.
“Thus, this fateful Decree of the All-Russian Patriarch more than 100 years ago has not lost its significance and power even today. In the context of current fateful events, Russian church historians recalled him more than once in conversations. And so, we see this continuity of church thought, tradition and action from Holy Patriarch Tikhon to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill - a historical event is taking place before our eyes,” notes the former secretary of the Odessa diocese, priest Andrei Novikov.
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