Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, until 2007 officially Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, abbreviation ROKA, today Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia, the Orthodox Church founded by Russian Orthodox Christians outside the Russian Federal Socialist Soviet Republic (RSFSR) after the October Revolution and the Civil War, which existed as an independent church of Russian Orthodox tradition until the reestablishment of church unity with the Russian mother church (2007). Its head carried the title of “Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad” and had his seat in New York since 1957. Resolutions of overall ecclesiastical importance were passed by the bishops’ council formed by all bishops. A separate training facility was maintained with the Jordanville Monastery near New York. The Russian Orthodox Church abroad comprised around 450 parishes worldwide (including around 40 in Russia), over 20 monasteries and eparchies (dioceses) in North and South America, Western Europe, Great Britain, Germany (»Diocese of Berlin and Germany« with 40 parishes) and since 1990 also in Russia. Under canon law, the Russian Orthodox Church abroad was regarded as a church with irregular status until the reunification of church unity on the part of the Russian Orthodox Church and the whole of Orthodoxy; However, it saw itself neither as an autocephalous nor as an autonomous church, but as part (until 1990 as the free part) of the one Russian Church, to which for it the Moscow Patriarchate and the “Free Russian Orthodox Church” belong. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad was Metropolitan from October 2001 Under canon law, the Russian Orthodox Church abroad was regarded as a church with irregular status until the reunification of church unity on the part of the Russian Orthodox Church and the whole of Orthodoxy; However, it saw itself neither as an autocephalous nor as an autonomous church, but as part (until 1990 as the free part) of the one Russian Church, to which for it the Moscow Patriarchate and the “Free Russian Orthodox Church” belong. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad was Metropolitan from October 2001 Under canon law, the Russian Orthodox Church abroad was regarded as a church with irregular status until the reunification of church unity on the part of the Russian Orthodox Church and the whole of Orthodoxy; However, it saw itself neither as an autocephalous nor as an autonomous church, but as part (until 1990 as the free part) of the one Russian Church, to which for it the Moscow Patriarchate and the “Free Russian Orthodox Church” belong. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad was Metropolitan from October 2001 to which for her the Moscow Patriarchate and the “Free Russian Orthodox Church” belong next to her. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad was Metropolitan from October 2001 to which for her the Moscow Patriarchate and the “Free Russian Orthodox Church” belong next to her. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad was Metropolitan from October 2001 Lawr (Wassili Michailowitsch Schkurla, * 1928, † 2008).
According to thesciencetutor, originated on the basis of the resolutions of the Karlowitz Synod, the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad originally formed the independent church administration of the Russian Orthodox Church outside the RSFSR and the areas of the former Russian Empire occupied by Soviet Russian troops. The triggering moment for the establishment of an own church organization under the leadership of the Kiev Metropolitan, who has lived in Karlowitz since 1921 and the first head of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, Antoni Chrapowitzki (* 1863, † 1936), was the “declaration of loyalty” of the later Patriarch Sergi, after before the question of the Church’s relationship to the Soviet state and that of Patriarch Tikhon In 1922, under political pressure, the dissolution of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad (not recognized by it) had led to an estrangement between it and the Moscow Patriarchate. Since 1990 the Russian Orthodox Church abroad has been striving to restore full unity of the Russian Orthodox Church and has held official talks on this issue with the Russian Orthodox Church since 2003. For its part, the Russian Orthodox Church abroad passed a formal resolution in May 2006 to end the division of the Church and to restore ecclesiastical unity. The official reunification of both churches took place on May 17, 2007 in Moscow with the signing of the “Act of Canonical Communion” by the two church leaders, Patriarchs Alexi II and Metropolitan Lawr. With the restoration of church unity, the Russian Orthodox Church abroad again submitted itself to the superordinate jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate, but retained relative independence as a church that managed its own internal affairs.
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and other countries
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and other countries, abbreviation ELKRAS.
From the German Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Soviet Union, which was again registered by the state in 1990 and accepted into the Conference of European Churches (KEK)(1991–93 “Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republics of Euro-Asia”) emerged Lutheran Church in the CIS. The ELKRAS sees itself as a »Russian Church of German Tradition« to which predominantly Russian-German Lutheran Christians belong. It ties in with the history of Lutheran communities in Russia since the Reformation and since the immigration of German settlers in the Volga region in the 18th century. After the state registration as a religious community was revoked in the 1930s, the murder or flight of most of the pastors and the subsequent forced resettlement of Germans to Siberia, the Far East and Central Asia, many believers held on to their creed under the most difficult external conditions.
The ELCRAS comprises seven regional churches headed by bishops or provosts with episcopal rights : European Russia; Urals, Siberia and the Far East; Ukraine; Georgia; Kazakhstan; Uzbekistan; Kyrgyzstan; there are other communities in Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan) and Belarus. The seat of the church chancellery and the archbishop is Saint Petersburg. – Today the estimated total church membership is more than 75,000 (including children, youth, and unconfirmed members).
