In the face of the militant atheism of the Bolshevik revolution, the Russian Church split into two, with the flame of traditional Orthodoxy kept burning in exile while the Church at home fell under the control of the hammer and sickle. Now, nearly 90 years on, unity has been restored<\/p>\n
With a stroke of his favourite green felt-tipped pen, Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and All Russia has put an end to the Russian civil war – nearly 90 years since the Bolshevik revolution de facto started it. On 17 May in a splendid ceremony in Christ the Saviour’s Cathedral, diocesan church of the Russian capital, the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate reunited with the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, officially referred to as the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, or Rocor.<\/p>\n
Russian \u00c3\u00a9migr\u00c3\u00a9 bishops created the latter in the 1920s, when it had become clear that whatever remained of the Orthodox Church in Russia would have to exist at the mercy and under tight control of a militantly atheist regime. But last month, Metropolitan Laurus, head of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, flew from his diocesan headquarters in the state of New York, joined Patriarch Alexis in a divine service after the unity ceremony, and took Communion from the same cup.<\/p>\n
Only 10 years ago, Laurus’ predecessor, Metropolitan Vitaly, insisted on upholding a decades-old anathema against what Rocor routinely referred to as the “KGB-controlled” Moscow Patriarchate.<\/p>\n
Standing on the ambo of the Saviour’s Cathedral, the only journalist among the priests and Religious, just a few metres from the table where the Act of Canonical Communion was to be signed, I listened to the reading of the historical document: “By this Act, Canonical Communion within the Local Russian Orthodox Church is hereby restored. Acts issued previously which preclude the fullness of Canonical Communion are hereby deemed invalid or obsolete.”<\/p>\n