One Thing the Late “Metropolitan” Laurus (Skurla) Forgot to say in His Interview BY ODESSA SEMINARY’S ST ANDREW’S VESTNIK

– As we know, the Church Abroad consecrated bishops for several Old Calendar jurisdictions. What are the current relations with these jurisdictions after the reestablishment of unity of the Russian Orthodox Church?

– The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia never officially participated in the episcopal consecrations of Old Calendar jurisdictions. These consecrations were performed by individual hierarchs who were members of our Council of Bishops of our Church, though Metropolitan Anastassy (Gribanovsky +1965) of blessed memory, the second of our Primates, was against recognizing these ordinations. Judging from the minutes of the meetings of the Synod of Bishops of the 1960s, Metropolitan Anastassy spoke out against our interfering in the matters of the Greek Church and was inclined to subject those archpastors who participated in these consecrations to Spiritual Court. But he did not do that, limiting himself to a First-Hierarchal rebuke. Under Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky, +1985), these consecrations were nevertheless recognized, and then, later in the mid-1970s, seeing the fragmentation of the Old Calendar Greeks, the Council of Bishops ceased prayerful communion with them.