Metropolitan Seraphim of Moscow Suspends Communion with Bulgarian and Smaller Russian Group

At a recent emergency Synod meeting of the True Orthodox Church of Russia under the presidency of Metropolitan Seraphim of Moscow on Monday, the Synod unanimously voted to suspend Communion with two jurisdictions, one in Russia and another in Bulgaria, that it had previously been in Communion with.

The jurisdiction in Bulgaria had been headed by a Metropolitan Sergiy (Moiseenko); no formal reasons were given in the minutes.  However, Met. Sergiy from other sources may have been the figure who helped negotiate the discussions with the figure known as Michael Dedeic of the so-called “Montenegrin Orthodox Church”; such negotiations caused objections from other Churches. Therefore, it seems likely this is a repudiation of the previous public statements regarding the so-called “Montenegrin Church” after significant objections had been raised by the other Sister Churches of the International True Orthodox Synaxis; though, further information will need to be forthcoming.

The other jurisdiction, known as the Russian Orthodox Catholic Church, was also suspended from communion for unknown reasons at this time.

The International Synaxis of True Orthodox Churches was formed in 2011 through the Intercommunion agreement of Metropolitan Seraphim of Moscow, the True Orthodox Synod of the Patristic Calendar in Avlona, Greece headed by Metropolitan Cherubim of Avlona, and the Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of North and South America and the British Isles. Currently the Church has also subsidiary jurisdiction in Bulgaria, Georgia, and various other countries throughout the Orthodox world and is the second largest True Orthodox communion globally.