№ 6
Definition of the Meeting of Russian Bishops in Vienna regarding the election of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky)
October 16, 1943
The meeting of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, having discussed the case of the election of the former Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal See, Metropolitan Sergius, to the Patriarchal See determines:
1. The election of Metropolitan Sergius to the See of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia is an act not only uncanonical, but also non-ecclesiastical, but political, caused by the interests of the Soviet communist government and its leader, dictator Stalin, who are experiencing a severe crisis during the war and need the help of the Orthodox Church hated by them and until recently clearly persecuted by them.
The Soviet Communist Party and Stalin in their attitude to religion and the Church of Christ, in essence, have not changed at all. Religion is still for them the "opium of the people", and when the need for the help of the Church has passed, they will not fail to resume the open persecution of believers and priests in Russia. In his statement on the radio, Stalin, in order to strengthen his tyrannical power, only wants to show the world that the Soviet Communist Party and he, as its leader, give freedom to the Church, going supposedly sincerely towards the suffering Russian people in their aspiration to God. He stretches out his hands to his captives to the hierarchs of the Russian Church, who, under his pressure, recognized the God-fighting power as legitimate and popular, offers them imaginary peace and a sly kiss, promotes the installation of the Patriarch. But it is impossible to believe him – he has not repented and, together with his communist party, still remains eager for a world communist revolution with the destruction of Christianity and all religion. He only temporarily put on the mask of an ally of the Church.
The election of the Patriarch and the convocation of the Council are needed by Stalin and his party as a means for political propaganda. The patriarch in his hands is just a toy, a utility tool in his clever combinations. He will do with him what he wants. Until there was a war, it was impossible in Russia to elect a Patriarch and organize a Synod. But when a deadly danger loomed over the Communists, then there was a full opportunity to do it in the most simplified way. The canonical, full Council of the Russian Church, provided for by the resolution of the All-Russian Council of 1917-18 (Article 1), was not convened, at least only with bishops. The confessing bishops, suffering for the faith in exile and prisons, were not invited. The martyr Church hiding in the "catacombs" of Soviet Russia was not represented. Only a tiny number of bishops were gathered, who submitted to the God-fighting government and could not be the representatives of the will of the entire Russian Church. The Patriarch is a hierarch who had long bowed before the satanic authority, who declared in 1927 on behalf of the Church that it rejoiced at the successes of this power and that there was no persecution of the Church in Soviet Russia (statement to foreign correspondents in 1930), although now Stalin himself admitted that the Soviet government had so far deprived the Russian people of the Church and freedom of religion. And the first act of the new supreme church authority was blasphemously political resolutions on the establishment of a special prayer for the opening of the so-called "second front" and on the anathematization of Russian people fighting against the Communists and the Bolshevik government.
The pressure of this satanic power on the hierarchy submissive to it is beyond any doubt. The uncanonical and non-ecclesiastical election of the Patriarch, carried out in the interests of the God-fighting government, is no less dangerous for the Church than open persecution against it. It is fraught with serious consequences. It humiliates the authority of the Church and its hierarchs, it puts them in a service position before the servants of the devil, inflicts new wounds on the martyred Church in the person of its still persecuted confessors and creates a new turmoil in the church environment. New temptations are being born for believers and new reasons for mockery of them by non-believers. By the fact that Metropolitan Sergius sacrificed the Orthodox Church to the interests of the godless Soviet power and placed it in the service of this power, he committed a betrayal of the Church of Christ.
2. In view of the above considerations, the Meeting of Bishops of the foreign part of the Russian Church, which is always faithful to its Mother Church and never breaks off spiritual communion with her, in the duty of episcopal conscience does not find it possible to recognize Metropolitan Sergius as the canonical, legitimate Patriarch of the All-Russian Church and offer prayers for him as its head.
3. The administration of the foreign part of the Russian Church should therefore remain unchanged, according to the resolutions of the Council of Bishops of 1927, based on the Decree of His Holiness the Patriarch and St. Synod of November 7/20, 1920, until the establishment of normal relations with Russia and the establishment of true freedom of faith in it.
4. To explain to the pastors of the Church and all believers that all the prohibitions and church punishments emanating from the current Moscow church authorities are illegal, invalid and should not in the least embarrass the conscience of God-abiding Russian people.
5. To address the Orthodox children of the Russian Church in the Homeland and in the scattering with a special appeal regarding the election of the Patriarch in the Soviet Union, in which to find out the true, canonical view of the election of the Patriarchs of the Local Churches and the anti-clerical act committed in Moscow on August 30/September 12 this year under the pressure of the satanic authorities.
6. To bring this resolution to the attention of the First Hierarchs of all autocephalous Orthodox Churches [2].
References
[1]. "The Primate of the Russian Church consecrated the monument to Patriarch Sergius (Stragorodsky) in Arzamas," Official Website of the Moscow Patriarchate, accessed January 2nd, 2023, http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/4981155.html
[2]. Church life. 1943. №11. Pp. 149-151
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