The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad & The Local Churches: Were They in Communion with Serbia and Jerusalem?
A rather head-turning article from Orthodox Traditionalist Publications!
Within the last few years in the Orthodox Church in the United States, the question of what makes a church canonical has come to the surface. Many Orthodox Christians, catechumens and inquirers are being told that in order to be considered a “canonical church” one has to be in communion with the so-called local churches. In order to answer this question, we have to look to the Fathers of the Church. One such father who gives us insight into this matter is Saint Ignatius of Antioch. After he instructs us to separate from heretics saying, “that ye should keep aloof from such persons, and not to speak of them either in private or in public,” his Epistle to the Smyrnaeans teaches us where the canonical church is [1]. In Chapter VIII, Saint Ignatius teaches us saying,
See that ye all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as ye would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is [administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast; but whatsoever he shall approve of, that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is done may be secure and valid [2].
The two criteria for maintaining apostolic succession are that the bishops have been canonically consecrated by bishops who have historical apostolic succession themselves and that they are maintaining the Orthodox faith. In the recent history of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad prior to the 2007 union with the Moscow Patriarchate, there have been many different accusations leveled at this jurisdiction concerning its canonicity in the past.
Read the rest here: https://www.orthodoxtraditionalist.com/ … a-and-jeru