Following the Assembly in Paris, the fate of Archdiocese remains uncertain

General Assembly of the Western European Archdiocese in Paris, September 7, 2019. Photo: Facebook

On September 7, 2019, a meeting of the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Archdiocese of Orthodox Russian Churches in Western Europe took place in the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky in Paris, at which the issue of accession to the Moscow Patriarchate was considered.

There was a secret ballot voting. According to the meeting participants, the majority of delegates voted for the transition – 104 people, but the proposal did not gain 2/3 of the votes required by French law.

It is known that out of 176 delegates who participated in the General Assembly, 75 people voted against transferring to the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate, which makes 41.9% of the total number of voters.

Thus, the future fate of the Archdiocese remains uncertain.

Recall that on November 27, 2018, the Synod of the Church of Constantinople decided to abolish the Patriarchal Tomos of 1999, which Patriarch Bartholomew had granted to the Archdiocese of Orthodox Russian churches in Western Europe. The Archdiocese refused to comply with the decision of Phanar on its dissolution before the general meeting of the clergy and delegates from the laity.

In August this year, on behalf of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Department for Foreign Institutions of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Anthony (Sevriuk), addressed the Archbishopric of Russian Parishes in Western Europe with a proposal to join the Russian Orthodox Church. In response to this, Phanar invited the Russian Archdiocese to become a French Vicariate.

On August 31, Archbishop John (Renneteau) received a canonical letter of affranchisement from the Patriarchate of Constantinople with the possibility of transferring to another jurisdiction. Phanar later appointed Metropolitan Emmanuel of Gaul as the head of the Western European Archdiocese.

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