ROCOR To Follow Testaments Of Founders Under New Head - Metropolitan

ROCOR to Follow Testaments of Founders Under New Head - Metropolitan

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) will continue sticking to the testaments of its founders under the new First Hierarch, Metropolitan Mark of Berlin and Germany told Sputnik

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th September, 2022) The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) will continue sticking to the testaments of its founders under the new First Hierarch, Metropolitan Mark of Berlin and Germany told Sputnik.

"We will try to continue working around the same lines as our predecessor did," Metropolitan Mark said.

He expressed confidence that the church, which became an autonomous part of the Moscow Patriarchate after their reunification in 2007, will strengthen its autonomy within the Russian Orthodox Church.

"We will try, at the same time, to witness Orthodoxy in the face of the whole world," he added.

On September 13, ROCOR's Council of Bishops elected Bishop Nicholas (Olhovsky) of Manhattan as the First Hierarch.

Mark, who was a de facto leader of the church during four months between the death of the previous primate Metropolitan Hilarion (Kapral) and the election of his successor, pointed out that the new First Hierarch was mentored by his two predecessors - Metropolitans Laurus and Hilarion.

"This means for us that he will try to continue the same steps that we have been walking up to now. He will continue along the same lines, it is important for us to keep our very peculiar situation, in which we operate, which is very unique in the world, because we are the only church body that is spread throughout the whole world," he said.

ROCOR was established by the Russian emigre in the 1920s. The church has dioceses and parishes on all continents.