Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe

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The Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe is an exarchate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Russian Orthodox tradition, based in Paris, and having parishes throughout Europe, mainly centered in France. The Exarchate is sometimes known as Rue Daru from the street in Paris where its cathedral is located. The current leader of the Exarchate is Archbishop Gabriel (de Vylder) of Komana. In 2006 the Exarchate has incorporated a newly established vicariate in Great Britain and Ireland.

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[edit] The history of the Exarchate

The Exarchate traces its origins to the episcopal service of Metropolitan Evlogii, who in the late 1930s felt himself unable to guide his flock of the Russian Orthodox Church within the embrace of the Moscow Patriarchate, given the atheistic influence of Communism in Russia after the revolution of 1917. Metropolitan Evlogii sought to carry forward his service under the protection of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The Exarchate therefore sees itself as the successor of the earlier ‘Provisional administration of the Russian parishes in Western Europe’ founded by Patriarch Tikhon (later St Tikhon) of Moscow and entrusted to Evlogii in 1921.[1]

The Exarchate was closed in 1965 by Patriarch Athenagoras I (through a letter dated 22 November), with an assembly meeting the following year (16-18 February 1966) noting that such provisional ethnic structures were no longer necessary, given that the passage of several generations had allowed immigrants to become accustomed to their new lands, which were now made up of more and more converts to the faith.

The Exarchate remained closed until 1971, when it was reinstated by the same Patriarch Athenagoras I - again under the Omophorion of the Ecumenical Patriarch, but with internal autonomy of organisation. This status was blessed by Patriarch Bartholomew I in 1999, who, according to the Exarchate's own account 'recognised the full autonomy of the Archidiocese in administrative, pastoral and material terms'.[2]

[edit] The structure and composition of the Exarchate

[edit] The Episcopal Vicariate of Great Britain and Ireland

The Episcopal Vicariate of Great Britain and Ireland is the Exarchate's vicariate in these countries (known at times simply as 'The Vicariate'), made up of two full-time parishes and a few parishes and communities that meet less frequently. It was created by an act of the Council of the Archdiocese during an extraordinary meeting held on 9 June 2006, one day after the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople had met (8 June 2006) and issued a statement receiving Bishop Basil of Sergievo into the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The same statement gave Bishop Basil the new title, Bishop of Amphipolis (Amphipolis is taken from an ancient see in Greece that no longer has a bishop), and charged him with the care of Exarchate's parishes in Great Britain and Ireland, as auxiliary bishop under Archbishop Gabriel of Komana in Paris.[3] At that time, no such parishes existed. Since his appointment over a dozen parishes and communities, and over half of the clergy and laity of the original Diocese of Sourozh, have followed Bishop Basil into the Exarchate and now constitute the Episcopal Vicariate.

Bishop Basil's first liturgical service as a member of the Exarchate was a concelebration of the Divine Liturgy with Archbishop Gabriel in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Paris on 18 June 2006. Statutes were adopted by the Episcopal Vicariate on 23 June 2007 [4]and the Vicariate has applied for registration as a charity.

Parishes and communities of the Vicariate:

The Vicariate has two parishes that keep a normal cycle of Saturday Vespers, Sunday Matins, Sunday Liturgy and Festal Liturgies:
Additionally, one parish shares its building with a Greek Parish, with each responsible for services on two weekends of the month; together they celebrate the normal cycle of Sunday Liturgies and services, each being responsible for roughly half the services celebrated:
Other parishes hold services less regularly:
The Vicariate also includes the following Eucharistic Communities:
Of the above, three parishes (Canterbury, Clapham and Lewes/Newhaven)at present all share a single priest (Fr Alexander Fostiropoulos).
Two additional Parishes deserve mention:
  • Orthodox Parish of the Dormition Holborn - the first services in this new Community, later created as a Parish, took place on 17 September 2006. This parish offers services on the weeks that the parish in Clapham does not meet.[http://www.exarchate-uk.org/Directory/Parishes/parishes_index.html [6]. This Parish is seen as the successor to the congregation under Metropolitan Anthony which formerly worshipped at the Cathedral in Ennismore Gardens.
  • Disputed: Parish of Saints Aidan and Chad in Nottingham - while this parish is still claimed to belong canonically to the Diocese of Sourozh, the Parish belongs to the Vicariate. The Parish was received by the Exarchate, as was its parish priest, at the end of August 2006, without being released by the Diocese of Sourozh (in fact no other Parish asked for or was granted such release), the parish council being almost evenly divided.[7]. The parish priest, along with the other clergy of the former Diocese of Sourozh who moved to the Exarchate, was granted a Letter of Release in September 2007 by the Moscow Patriarchate. [8] [9] [10]
There is now a small monastic community at St Anne's House in the city of York. [11]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Autocephalous and Autonomous Churches of Eastern Orthodoxy
Autocephalous Churches
Four Ancient Patriarchates: Constantinople | Alexandria | Antioch | Jerusalem
Russia | Serbia | Romania | Bulgaria | Georgia
Cyprus | Greece | Poland | Albania | Czechia and Slovakia | OCA*
Autonomous Churches
Sinai* | Finland | Estonia* | Japan* | China* | Ukraine | Western Europe* | Bessarabia* | Moldova* | Ohrid* | ROCOR**
The * designates a church whose autocephaly or autonomy is not universally recognized.
The ** designates a semi-autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church.
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