We, the bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, having gathered in the Holy Transfiguration monastery in Mansonville (Canada), are sending this epistle to orthodox faithful in Russia and in the diaspora.

During the last eighty years, witnessing for our faith, which Metropolitan Antony (Khrapovitsky) established as a cornerstone of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, has been bearing its fruits. In our own time, it has not lost its power:

“From our Holy Russian Orthodox Church Abroad we can hear the voice of Holy Russia, the essence and nature of which is – the inner, intimate, spiritual, insatiable thirst to live the life of the Saints, to live according to the Holy Gospel, as much as it is in our power and always with the help of God. Its voice has always been heard during the thousand years of the history of Orthodox Russia.” (Epistle of Metropolitan Vitaly: “the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad – Its significance in our modern times”. 1998, March 15/28).

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia has kept its purity, did not enter into any compromise or any contact with the atheistic government in Russia or with its offspring, the Moscow patriarchate. She alone recognized the true nature of the Evil which had engulfed Russia, and, in her selfless exile for Truth’s sake, she gives witness about this Evil.

One of the first to speak about the special vocation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia was Varnava, First-Hierarch of the Serbian Church, who said:

“You, faithful sons of Russia, must remember that you are the only support of the great Russian people. You must by all means keep intact the national orthodox traditions. This is your duty before God, before your great Motherland, and before the whole Christian world. The inter-church conflicts, instigated by the enemies of your Motherland, must be stopped at all costs. You have among you a great hierarch, the Very Honorable Metropolitan Antony (Khrapovitsky), who is a jewel of the Orthodox Church in the world. He has a great mind, similar to the mind of the Fathers of the Church, the first hierarchs of the Church of Christ at the beginning of Christianity. In him you find the Truth of the Church.”.

In recent years, in view of the fact that, among the members of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, there was an increasing number of deviations from the path of the Truth, on June 9/22 2001, Metropolitan Vitaly send an Epistle to the Bishops and faithful of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, which said: “Wishing to keep the peace and unity among us, I am again addressing you as the First- Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, since I consider it as my duty to express my assessment of the situation having arisen after the Council of Bishops which took place in October 2000.

The creation of a so-called Committee for a “reunification” with the Moscow Patriarchate must be clearly called a mistake made by the Council of Bishops. No such Committee should be created , since there is no object to it.

I, as the First-Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, continue to follow the path set forth by the Very Blessed Metropolitans Antony, Anastasy, and my very blessed predecessor Metropolitan Filaret, whose incorrupt relics were found in 1998, which is a clear sign that the path he has followed through his whole life was the right one. Therefore, I am asking all of you to have patience and to refrain from any hasty decisions and acts. We are living in difficult times. And the enemy of our salvation is always ready to catch us in his nets”.

After the events of July 2001, which were characterized by a tragic rebellion of the Synod bishops against their lawful First-Hierarch, Metropolitan Vitaly felt that he was bearing the full responsibility for the destiny of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. On 5/18 October, 2001, five days before the planned opening of the Council of Bishops, he said: “Realizing the gravity of the sin in which some members of the Council of Bishops of our Church have fallen, in their intense, but not yet fully expressed, desire to unite with the Moscow patriarchate, I, in full responsibility before God, the Russian Orthodox people and my own conscience, consider it to be my duty to declare that the Council of Bishops, which is about to begin on October 23 2001, cannot be called otherwise than a meeting of the irresponsible.

I am calling all orthodox bishops, clergy, monastics and faithful children of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad to stand together against all the lawless acts of the present Council and of the Moscow patriarchate”.

On October 27, 2001, the Metropolitan sent from Mansonville an “Extraordinary Declaration”, in which he condemned the acts of the bishops and took a fateful decision:

“… seeing that the majority of bishops is unwilling to bring peace, and to calm down the unprecedented bewilderment of our clergy and faithful, and also taking into account requests of some bishops and of many faithful from our Church Abroad, I declare, with all responsibility, that, according to § 3 of the Bylaws of Orthodox Church Abroad, I am removing my signature from my declaration about going freely into retirement and about transferring my authority to archbishop Laurus. As before, my name should be intoned in the services of all the churches of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.

Again and again, I am calling to repentance those bishops who have reneged their faith; and to those bishops, clergy, and God fearing faithful, who are the sons of the true Church of Christ, I say: stand fast in the Truth, in unity of mind and spirit, against the obstinate “children of disobedience” (Gal. III, 6), constantly praying to our Lord Jesus Christ, asking for His mercy and help”.