TO  HIS 
EMINENCE  BISHOP  AGAFANGEL OF 
ODESSA  AND  TAVRIS 
AND  THE  CLERGY 
AND  PEOPLE   OF 
THE  RUSSIAN  CHURCH 
ABROAD ASSEMBLED  IN  ASTORIA 
NEW  YORK,  JUNE 
2007

Your Eminence, dear brothers and
sisters in Christ our God and Saviour,

It is with the greatest pain of heart that we have witnessed the fall
of the glorious Russian Church Abroad from its confession of Orthodoxy against
the twin evils of Ecumenism and Sergianism, and its
acceptance not only of subjection to the Moscow Patriarchate, but also of full
communion with all the other local Orthodox Churches, which are almost all more
deeply involved in the apostasy of ecumenism than is the Moscow Patriarchate
itself. The Russian Church Abroad, which, over the years 1992-94 entered into
full and official communion with the Old-Calendar Churches of Romania, Greece
and Bulgaria,
and last year, at the request of the Moscow Patriarchate, severed communion
with them, advised these three Churches to follow
their own example and to unite with their new-calendar so-called “Mother
Churches”.  This call we have all,
naturally, rejected, as we are fully aware of what is the purpose of our
struggle as Orthodox pastors.

Our pain is however relieved by the fact that one of the bishops of our
sister Russian Church, who, what is more, had consistently refused to accept
the severance of official communion with us, has resolutely refused to follow
the path of apostasy, or, as has been succinctly expressed by our brother,
Bishop Photii of Bulgaria, of descent from the cross
of Orthodox confession,  and, followed by
a number of clergy of the ROCA, has resolved to continue its witness and its
confession of pure Orthodoxy. As Bishop Agafangel has
never severed communion with us, nor we with him, he continues to be for us the
representative of the Russian Church Abroad, and we encourage all those who
wish to continue the witness of the ROCA to
follow him, and to help him to re-organize the structure of the remaining
faithful part of your Church.

In order for this to be realized, it is clear that other bishops will
have to be consecrated, and we have already expressed to Vladyka
Agafangel our willingness to taking part, together
with representatives of the Romanian and Bulgarian Churches, in such
ordinations at some date in the future.  This would be a wonderful way to repay the
debt which we owe to the Russian Church Abroad, which, in 1960-61 consecrated a
new episcopate for the Greek Church of the Old Calendar, which had remained without  bishops since
1955. We also take this occasion to warn you that there will be other Old Calendarist groups from Greece
which may well approach you, probably with various accusations against us; such
accusations were fully examined by the episcopate of the ROCA which decided in
1994 that these are baseless, and that our ecclesiological position corresponds
exactly with that of the ROCA.
From then until
the falling-away of the majority of the ROCA, she was in full union with both
us and our sister-Churches in Romania
and Bulgaria.

The process of union with Moscow has
been underway for several years, with the result that a number of groups broke
away from the ROCA previous to the union
itself. Some of these have adopted positions inconsistent with the history of
the ROCA, while others have divided in such a
way as to lose all semblance of churchliness. However, the one group that has
preserved both a serious witness and a true continuation of the teaching of the
ROCA is that headed by the late Archbishop
Lazar, and now by Archbishop Tikhon. We fully
recognize the canonical problems involved, but there are ways in which these
can be overcome, and, at this critical moment for the Russian Church,
it would be tragic if its forces were divided between these two entities whose
aim is, in essence identical. As we have received from this group their appeal
to serve as intercessors, we implore you to find every way possible within the
context of good reason, to achieve unity with them. We are certain that such an
event would convince many others, who are at present uncertain where to turn,
to follow your good example.

We pray that our gracious Lord may enlighten you all, Vladyka and dear brothers in Christ, to make wise and
well-considered decisions which may assure the future of the Russian Church Abroad;
it is our prayer that you, together with the three local Orthodox Churches here
in the Balkans, may continue in harmony the same struggle for the preservation
and preaching of our true Orthodox faith.

In the love of Christ our Lord and God and Saviour,

+Cyprian, Metropolitan of Oropos and Fili,

          President of the Holy Synod