Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Delegations of MP and ROCOR (L) to Meet in Paris

A Delegation of MP will leave on March 1 to Paris, under the auspices of the fourth joint session of the Commission for Dialogue with ROCOR (L). At the meeting, the consideration of various problems will continue, originally brought up during the official visit to Russia of First-Hierarch Metropolitan Laurus of ROCOR (L) during May 2004.

"At the present meeting, questions will be again discussed connected with status of the Church Abroad as the self-governing part of the local Russian Orthodox Church and by the canonical conditions of restoring full communion", commented Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, secretary for Inter-Orthodox relations of the division of External Church Relations of the MP. Discussion, according to him, will consist of problems, connected "with the clergymen of the Church Abroad who were ordained in the Moscow Patriarchate or other local Orthodox Churches", and also questions "on the organizations of the Church Abroad located on the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church". During the negotiations the theme of "Church and state" will also continue to be discussed.