About the Church

In May 1919, in the city of Stavropol - on territory controlled by the White movement - the Temporary Supreme Church Administration of the South-East of Russia was formed under the chairmanship of Archbishop Mitrofan (Simashkevich) of Novocherkassk and the Don. Subsequently, the establishment of the TSCA was legitimized by the issuance of the Decree of Patriarch Tikhon, the Holy Synod, and the Supreme Church Council of November 7/20, 1920, No. 362 - an Act considered by ROCOR canonists as the main law-establishing document.

Earlier, in November 1918, a Temporary Supreme Church Administration was created by the Siberian Church Conference in Tomsk, uniting 13 bishops of the dioceses of the Urals and Siberia. After the defeat of Anton Ivanovich Denikin's army in the Kuban in March 1920, Archbishop Mitrofan remained in Russia, secluding himself in a monastery in Starocherkassk. On October 2/15, 1920, the TSCA of Southern Russia, at that time already located in Simferopol, appointed Archbishop Evlogy (Georgievsky) as administrator of Western European Russian churches with the rights of a diocesan bishop, which appointment was confirmed by a Decree of Patriarch Tikhon of March 26/April 8, 1921 ("in view of the decision made by the Supreme Russian Church Administration Abroad") - "temporarily, pending the restoration of proper and unimpeded communication of said churches with Petrograd" (since foreign parishes historically were under the subordination of the Petersburg diocese).

By November 6/19, 1920, in Constantinople, then occupied by Entente forces, under the leadership of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Southern Russia in Crimea, General Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel, over 125 ships of the Russian and foreign fleets arrived and concentrated on the Bosphorus, overcrowded with refugees from Crimea numbering about 150 thousand. Among them was a group of bishops led by Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky). On the advice of Bishop Benjamin (Fedchenkov) of Sevastopol, on November 19, aboard the steamer "Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich," the first foreign session of the TSCA of the South-East of Russia took place (in December of the same year it was transformed into the Supreme Russian Church Administration Abroad (SRCAA)); in particular, it was resolved "to communicate with the Constantinople Patriarchate to clarify canonical mutual relations." On December 2, 1920, Metropolitan Anthony was sent a Letter from the Synod of the Constantinople Patriarchate (at the head of the Synod at that time stood the locum tenens of the Patriarchal Throne, Metropolitan Dorotheos (Mammelis) of Prussia), which granted "Russian hierarchs" the right "to perform for Russian Orthodox refugees everything required by the Church and religion for the consolation and encouragement of Orthodox Russian refugees." They were permitted "to form for pastoral service a temporary church commission (Epitropia) under the supervisory administration of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for oversight and guidance of the general church life of Russian church colonies within the limits of Orthodox countries, as well as for Russian soldiers <...>."

The last session of the SRCAA in Constantinople took place on April 29 (May 12), 1921. In 1921, at the invitation of Serbian Patriarch Dimitrije (Pavlović), the Supreme Church Administration of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad moved to Serbia, to Sremski Karlovci, where it remained until evacuation in 1944. Serbian Patriarch Dimitrije († 1930) provided his residence at the disposal of the Russian bishops. Five Russian bishops had arrived in Serbia even earlier, on February 5, 1920, having been evacuated from Novorossiysk in January 1920. The first session of the SRCA in Sremski Karlovci took place on July 21, 1921, under the chairmanship of Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky).

In July 1921, Metropolitan Anthony presented to His Holiness the Patriarch a report with a proposal to establish a Supreme Administration of the Russian Church Abroad, uniting all foreign Russian parishes and dioceses of the Moscow Patriarchate, including Finland, the Baltic countries, Poland, North America, Japan, and China, under the chairmanship of a Patriarchal Vicar. Blessing was also requested for convening a foreign assembly of the Russian Church. On October 13, 1921, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, the Holy Synod, and the Supreme Church Council of the Russian Orthodox Church recognized the establishment of the position of Patriarchal Vicar as inexpedient "as not called for by anything," left the Supreme Church Administration "with its former powers," not extending its sphere of action to Poland and the Baltics, and took note of the communication about the forthcoming assembly.

On August 31, 1921, the Bishops' Council of the Serbian Church granted the Church Administration Abroad the right of jurisdiction over Russian clergy not serving in the Serbian Church. From November 8-20 (according to the Julian calendar), 1921, in Sremski Karlovci, the All-Diaspora Russian Church Assembly took place, subsequently renamed a Council (in modern literature often called the First All-Diaspora Church Council). At the council, an "Instruction to the Council" was heard, an Address to the soldiers of the Russian army was adopted, an Epistle to the children of the Russian Orthodox Church in dispersion and exile, as well as an Epistle to the World Conference (Genoa Conference). A number of the Council's statements were purely political in nature, in particular the call for the restoration to the Russian throne of "the legitimate Orthodox Tsar from the House of Romanov" and a direct appeal to world powers to provide assistance for the armed overthrow of the regime in the RSFSR.

Metropolitan Evlogy (Georgievsky) recalled that before the vote on the Council's "Epistle to the children of the Russian Orthodox Church in dispersion and exile," there were "long and heated debates lasting two to three sessions." Bishop Evlogy himself urged the most influential monarchists - members of the Council: "Take care of the Church, the Patriarch. The statement is untimely... And how we will burden his position! The Patriarch already has it hard enough." However, when voting, 2/3 of the Council participants voted for the proposed address to the Russian people, 1/3 against. Thirty-four members of the Council, including Metropolitan Evlogy, reserved their special opinion and submitted a reasoned statement noting that "raising the question of monarchy with mention of a dynasty is political in nature and, as such, is not subject to consideration by a church council, therefore we do not consider it possible to participate in the decision of this question and in voting."

The resolution indirectly affected both the Patriarch and the organs of the SCA in Moscow, since the statute on the Karlovci Council directly indicated that this church assembly in all respects recognizes over itself the full authority of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow. Moreover, all resolutions of the Council began with the words: "By the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon," although in fact none of the documents of this council were sent for approval to the Patriarch.

The Council formed the Supreme Russian Church Administration Abroad (SRCA) under the chairmanship of Metropolitan Anthony, who was given the title of deputy to the Patriarch. The SRCA consisted of a bishops' Synod and a Supreme Church Council and claimed to lead the church life of the entire Russian diaspora.

Some statements of the Council reflected the participants' determination to resist Bolshevik atheistic aggression. In particular, the Epistle to the Genoa Conference, sent upon completion of the Council, contained an appeal not to admit representatives of the Soviet state to this conference. The decisions and participants of what became known in the Soviet press as the Karlovci Council were subjected to condemnation in Soviet Russia.

On March 3 (March 16), 1922, Patriarch Tikhon officially thanked Serbian Patriarch Dimitrije for providing refuge to the Russian bishops.

On May 5, 1922, in Moscow, in a joint session of the Holy Synod and the Supreme Church Council under the chairmanship of Patriarch Tikhon, a resolution was issued, which was sent as a decree of the Patriarch to Metropolitan Evlogy (Georgievsky), elevated to metropolitan rank, for transmission to the SCAA. The Patriarchal Decree stated: "1. I recognize the Karlovci Council of foreign Russian clergy and laity as having no canonical significance, and its epistle about the restoration of the Romanov dynasty and its address to the Genoa Conference as not expressing the official voice of the Russian Orthodox Church; 2. In view of the fact that the foreign Russian Church Administration is being drawn into the area of political action - and on the other hand, foreign Russian parishes have already been entrusted to the care of His Grace Metropolitan Evlogy residing in Germany, the Supreme Church Administration Abroad is to be abolished <...>."

Upon becoming acquainted with the decree, the majority of members of the SCAA came to the opinion that it had been signed under pressure from the Bolsheviks. A collection of signatures began in Russian foreign parishes under appeals to Metropolitan Anthony with a request not to retire.

The Bishops' Council, which took place on September 2, 1922, decided to formally fulfill the will of Patriarch Tikhon: the Council abolished the SCAA and formed a Temporary Foreign Holy Synod. The Council's decision stated: 1. In fulfillment of the Decree of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow and All Russia and the Holy Synod with him, dated April 24 (May 5), 1922, No. 348, the existing Supreme Russian Church Administration is to be abolished; 2. To organize a new Supreme Church authority, convene an All-Diaspora Russian Council on November 21, 1922; 3. In order to preserve the succession of Supreme Church authority, form a Temporary Foreign Bishops' Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad with mandatory participation of Metropolitan Evlogy, to which Synod all rights and powers of the Russian Church Administration Abroad are to be transferred; 6. The formation of the Temporary Bishops' Synod is to be brought to the attention of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon and all heads of Autocephalous Churches, as well as Russian ambassadors.

On September 13, 1922, the Bishops' Council resolved to form a Bishops' Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad under the omophorion of the Serbian Patriarchate, which meant a break with the jurisdiction of the Constantinople Patriarchate without proper, from the latter's point of view, coordination with it.

The administrator of the North American diocese was appointed Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky) in accordance with the Decree of Patriarch Tikhon of April 14 (27), 1922.

At that time, ROCOR included not only emigrant bishops but also those parts of the Russian Church that found themselves outside the borders of the former Russian Republic: numerous parishes in Western Europe, a diocese in America, two dioceses in the Far East (Vladivostok and Beijing), and from the Vladivostok diocese, which until November 1922 was under White authority, a third Far Eastern diocese was separated - Harbin in Manchuria. The Orthodox Spiritual Mission in Palestine and the parish in Tehran also joined the Church Abroad.

The Bishops' Council of ROCOR, which opened on June 5, 1923, rejected the use of the new style in liturgical life and other reforms adopted at the All-Orthodox Congress in Constantinople under the chairmanship of Constantinople Patriarch Meletios IV.

On September 5, 1927, the Bishops' Council of ROCOR, having heard the Epistle of the deputy of the patriarchal locum tenens, Metropolitan Sergius, and the Temporary Patriarchal Holy Synod of July 16/29, 1927 ("Metropolitan Sergius's Declaration"), decreed: "The foreign part of the All-Russian Church must cease communications with Moscow church authority in view of the impossibility of normal relations with it and in view of its enslavement by the atheistic Soviet authority, depriving it of freedom in its expressions of will and canonical administration of the Church."

On May 9, 1928, by resolution of the Temporary Patriarchal Synod No. 104, "the Supreme Administration of Russian foreign Orthodox dioceses and communities that arose in Sremski Karlovci was declared abolished, and its actions and orders as having no canonical force and cancelled. Bishops and clerics subordinate to the Administration were required (regardless of whether they give or do not give a certain pledge of loyalty) to make a resolution on the liquidation of the Administration or, at least, each individually to break with this Administration and with the entire group headed by it (paragraph VII). Those who refuse to fulfill our resolution (again 'regardless of whether the aforementioned pledge is given or not given') are to be 'brought to conciliar trial as disobedient to lawful sacred authority and instigators of schism, with suspension (depending on guilt and stubbornness) from sacred service pending trial or repentance' (VIII-v)."

In practice, this order could have no real consequences.

By Decree of the Deputy of the Patriarchal Locum Tenens and the Patriarchal Holy Synod with him, Concerning the Karlovci Group, dated June 22, 1934, No. 50, it was decreed:

Foreign Russian bishops and clerics of the so-called Karlovci group, as having risen against their lawful Sacred Authority and, despite many years of admonishment, persisting in schism, are to be brought to church trial on charges of violating the rules of the Holy Apostles 31, 34, 35; the Two-fold Council 13-15 and others, with removal of the accused pending their repentance or trial decision from church positions (if they hold such).

For the reasons indicated in the proposal and for the same period, suspension from sacred service of the Most Reverend: former Metropolitan Anthony of Kiev, former Archbishop Anastasius of Kishinev, former Archbishop Meletius of Transbaikalia, former Archbishop Seraphim of Finland, former Bishop Nestor of Kamchatka, as well as Bishop Tikhon (Lyashchenko), Bishop Tikhon heading the Karlovci in America, and Bishop Victor in Beijing.

To warn Orthodox archpastors, clergy, and laity that those entering into prayerful communion with schismatics, receiving Sacraments and blessing from those suspended, are subject according to church rules to the same punishment as they.

On September 10, 1934, the Bishops' Council in Sremski Karlovci rejected Metropolitan Sergius's Decree by special resolution; the resolution was signed by 17 bishops, not counting the signature of Metropolitan Anthony. At the same time, the trial of foreign bishops mentioned in the decision of June 22, 1934, never took place.

On April 24, 1936, the Reich Ministry of Church Affairs of Germany informed Metropolitan Anthony of the Prussian government's decision and the possibility of building a new cathedral in Berlin, the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ on Hohenzollerndamm, partially funded by the ministry. In response, Metropolitan Anthony wrote in a letter of thanks to Minister Hanns Kerrl: "At a time when the Orthodox Church in our Homeland is subjected to unprecedented persecution, we are especially touched by the attention of the German government and yours personally, awakening in us a feeling of deep gratitude to the German people and its glorious leader Adolf Hitler and prompting us to heartfelt prayer for his and the German people's health, well-being, and for Divine Help in all their affairs."

In September 1936, a Conference of ROCOR bishops convened by Serbian Patriarch Varnava adopted a Temporary Statute on the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, which, in particular, established Far Eastern and North American metropolitan districts. The North American district was headed by Metropolitan Theophilus (Pashkovsky). The First Chapter of the Statute defined the Russian Church outside the USSR as follows: The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, consisting of dioceses, spiritual missions, and churches located outside Russia, is an inseparable part of the All-Russian Orthodox Church, temporarily existing on autonomous principles. The name of the Locum Tenens of the All-Russian Patriarchal Throne, Metropolitan Peter, is always commemorated during divine services in all foreign churches.

At the end of 1936, news came (as would turn out much later, incorrect) of the death in the GULAG of Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan Peter (Polyansky). In Moscow, the Deputy Locum Tenens, Metropolitan Sergius, assumed the title of Patriarchal Locum Tenens. Due to non-recognition of the latter by ROCOR, the last connection (commemoration of the name of the Locum Tenens) between ROCOR and the Patriarchate was severed, although in the Bishops' Synod for several years they considered Metropolitan Cyril (Smirnov), not knowing of his execution on November 20, 1937, as the lawful head of the Russian Church.

On February 25, 1938, a decree of the German government was issued on the transfer of all church properties to the Reich Ministry of Church Affairs.

The Second All-Diaspora Council of the Church Abroad gathered in August 1938 in Sremski Karlovci under the chairmanship of Metropolitan Anastasius (Gribanovsky), who had previously, since 1924, administered the Russian Orthodox Mission in Jerusalem. Thirteen bishops participated in it (in the USSR at that time, no more than 6-7 bishops of the Patriarchal Church remained on their sees). In addition to considering current affairs, the Council addressed two epistles: "To the Russian People Suffering in the Homeland" and "To the Russian Flock in Dispersion." The Council also condemned the teaching of Priest Sergius Bulgakov on Sophia, confirming the previous qualification of his teaching as heresy by the Bishops' Council of 1935.

As Germany's successes progressed during World War II, the First Hierarch of ROCOR, Metropolitan Anastasius, began to consider the possibility of transferring the church center to Switzerland. After Belgrade was occupied by German troops in April 1941, repressions followed against the leadership of the Serbian Church; on April 25, Patriarch Gavrilo was arrested. The attitude of the military administration in Yugoslavia toward the Bishops' Synod was more favorable.

According to research by Mikhail Shkarovsky, on June 22, 1941, a search was conducted by Gestapo officers in the chambers of the First Hierarch of ROCOR, Metropolitan Anastasius, where he was known as an Anglophile. Searches were also conducted in the chancellery of the Bishops' Synod and at the apartment of the head of the synodal chancellery, Grigory Grabbe. Metropolitan Anastasius refrained from issuing any epistle in connection with the beginning of the war on the territory of the USSR, although some part of Russian emigrants welcomed the beginning of the war between Germany and the USSR, associating it with the imminent collapse of the Bolshevik regime in Russia. Individual hierarchs, such as Metropolitan Seraphim (Lukyanov) of Western Europe in his epistle of June 22, 1941, as well as Archbishop (later Metropolitan) Seraphim (Lade) of Berlin and Germany, who was ethnically German, and some other clerics of ROCOR, supported the "liberation campaign" of the Wehrmacht against the USSR, considering the communist regime a much greater evil for Russia.

Despite the policy of religious and jurisdictional pluralism pursued by the German leadership in the occupied territories of the USSR, the attitude toward ROCOR was distrustful, and its activity on USSR territory was extremely limited; Metropolitan Anastasius himself was under de facto house arrest. Nevertheless, Metropolitan Anastasius sent to the occupied territories of the USSR, both through the Berlin hierarch Seraphim and directly, antimensions, baptismal crosses, and liturgical books collected in Serbia.

In September 1944, the Synod left Belgrade and traveled to Vienna. On November 10, the staff and members of the Synod settled in Karlsbad. In Germany, Metropolitan Anastasius had several meetings with General Vlasov and blessed the creation of the Russian Liberation Army (ROA). On November 18, 1944, he attended a ceremonial gathering in Berlin that proclaimed the establishment of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR), and on November 19 in the Berlin cathedral he delivered a speech dedicated to the establishment of the committee. In connection with the approach of Soviet troops, Metropolitan Anastasius and the Synod staff, with the assistance of General Vlasov, traveled to Bavaria.

From 1945, the leadership of ROCOR, headed by Metropolitan Anastasius, was located in Munich. Structurally, organizationally, and in other respects, after the end of World War II, ROCOR found itself in crisis due to the recognition by part of the foreign episcopate of the Moscow Patriarchate as the lawful successor of the Orthodox Russian Church and the transition to the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate of almost all ROCOR parishes in the Far East, as well as some parishes in Western Europe and other regions. At the same time, the flock of ROCOR during this period was supplemented by numerous refugees from territories of the USSR occupied by Wehrmacht units.

In 1944-1945, a significant part of ROCOR parishes and clergy reunited with the Moscow Patriarchate. In early September 1945, Metropolitan Evlogy with 75 parishes in Western Europe and North Africa (Western European Exarchate) transferred to the Moscow Patriarchate, as did Metropolitan Seraphim (Lukyanov) (about 30 parishes) - head of the Western European diocese of ROCOR. In Yugoslavia, as early as April 1945, a number of clergy, after repentance, were received into the Moscow Patriarchate. In October 1945, Russian Orthodox communities in Bulgaria and Manchuria were received into the Moscow Patriarchate. In the same year, 1945, Russian Orthodox parishes in Eastern Germany and Czechoslovakia transferred to the Moscow Patriarchate.

Thanks to the active actions of Metropolitan Anastasius, the ROCOR crisis was successfully overcome by May 1946, when a Bishops' Council took place at which the Bishops' Synod was recreated and the ROCOR episcopate was supplemented by 12 Russian bishops who had served during the war years on German-controlled territory of the USSR.

The VII Council of the North American Metropolia, under the chairmanship of Metropolitan Theophilus (Pashkovsky), held in June-August 1946 in Cleveland, resolved to "ask His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow to reunite us into his bosom... on condition of preserving our full autonomy." After fruitless negotiations with the emissary of the Moscow Patriarchate, the status of the Metropolia became completely undefined and could be characterized as de facto self-proclaimed autocephaly.

In 1949, the Bishops' Synod of ROCOR moved to the USA, initially settling in Novo-Korennaya Hermitage in Mahopac, New York State, and in 1952 moved to New York. In 1950, Metropolitan Anastasius (Gribanovsky) and the newly elected head of the North American Metropolia, Metropolitan Leonty (Turkevich), attempted to achieve reconciliation. On December 11, a meeting was held in New York between Metropolitans Anastasius and Leonty and the episcopate of the Metropolia and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. Despite joint efforts to establish fraternal relations, the paths of the Russian Church Abroad and the American Metropolia remained separate.

On November 1, 1964, the canonization of John of Kronstadt was performed in ROCOR, and on September 24, 1978 - of Blessed Xenia of Petersburg. The most important ecclesiastical-political act of ROCOR was the canonization performed on October 19 (November 1), 1981, of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia and the Royal Martyrs.

On May 15, 1990, the Bishops' Council of ROCOR adopted the "Statute on Free Parishes," which envisioned the beginning of legal existence of dioceses and parishes of ROCOR on the territory of the USSR, that is, on territory within the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate.

In August 1991, Patriarch Alexius II in Moscow received a prominent figure of ROCOR - G. A. Rar, transmitting through him to the hierarchy of ROCOR a proposal for the reunification of the Russian Church while preserving full autonomy for ROCOR. The Bishops' Council of ROCOR, however, rejected this proposal.

Soon after the collapse of the USSR, in January 1992, the Bishops' Synod sent to Russia the vicar of the Western European diocese of ROCOR, Bishop Barnabas (Prokofiev) of Cannes, with the task of organizing a permanently operating Synodal Podvorye in Moscow that would exercise the authority of the Bishops' Synod in Russia. Upon arrival in Moscow, at the invitation of former Moscow Patriarchate cleric Alexey Averyanov, he opened a ROCOR podvorye in one of the buildings of the former Martha and Mary Convent on Bolshaya Ordynka, which belonged to a city polyclinic; the unofficial headquarters of the National-Patriotic Front "Pamyat" (Memory), headed by Dmitry Vasiliev, was also located there, which led to a number of scandalous situations. The connection with "Pamyat" caused enormous damage to ROCOR's reputation in Russia.

On December 8, 1992, the Bishops' Synod of ROCOR entered into Eucharistic communion with the Romanian Old Calendarist Church. In 1993, Bishop Valentine (Rusantsov), received in the rank of archimandrite in 1990 from the Moscow Patriarchate, with parishes subordinate to him, left ROCOR. In 1994, reconciliation was achieved, but already in early 1995 he went into schism definitively. Archbishop Mark (Arndt) was forced to admit: "...In general, we must see that transitions from the Moscow Patriarchate to us largely have no ideological basis, <...> they are made on the basis of personal conflict with the ruling bishop or some other conflict. Thus, we accept far from the best representatives of the Russian Church. Basically, these people know little or nothing about the Church Abroad. And in those cases when someone has some information, one has to doubt that he is generally capable of understanding it due to his own deceitfulness, the deceitfulness of his position..."

On July 11, 1994, the Bishops' Council of ROCOR decreed to "establish prayer and Eucharistic communion with the Greek Old Calendarist Synod of Metropolitan Cyprian, as well as with His Grace Photius of Triadica, Bulgarian Old Calendarist Orthodox Church."

By determination of the Bishops' Council of November 17/30, 1994, the territory of Russia was divided into six dioceses, the borders of which coincided with the administrative-territorial borders of the regions of the Russian Federation included in them, namely: 1. Moscow diocese; 2. St. Petersburg and North Russian diocese; 3. Suzdal and Vladimir diocese; 4. Odessa and Tambov diocese; 5. Black Sea and Kuban diocese; 6. Ishim and Siberian diocese.

At the ROCOR Council of 2000, a course toward rapprochement with the Moscow Patriarchate was proclaimed. The Acts of the Bishops' Council of ROCOR provoked protest from members of ROCOR around the world who were hostile to the Moscow Patriarchate. Dozens of appeals from clergy and laity began arriving addressed to the First Hierarch and the Synod, requesting cancellation of what they considered unlawful decisions of the 2000 Bishops' Council to begin dialogue with the Moscow Patriarchate.

On October 23, 2001, Metropolitan Vitaly (Ustinov), who opposed the new course, retired at his own request. On October 24, Archbishop Laurus (Shkurla) was elected First Hierarch of ROCOR. Metropolitan Vitaly participated in the evening session of the Council, occupied the chairman's seat, and congratulated Archbishop Laurus on his election to the post of First Hierarch of ROCOR. His participation in the enthronement of the newly elected metropolitan, scheduled for October 28, was planned.

On October 25, Metropolitan Vitaly was taken from the Synod building and delivered to the Transfiguration Men's Hermitage in Mansonville, where on October 27 an "Emergency Statement" was distributed on behalf of Vitaly, stating that Metropolitan Vitaly was withdrawing his signature "on his voluntary retirement and transfer of my powers to Archbishop Laurus."

On November 3, defrocked bishop Barnabas (Prokofiev) arrived at the Holy Transfiguration Hermitage in Mansonville, where he began the uncanonical "Russian Orthodox Church in Exile" under the formal leadership of Metropolitan Vitaly, performing the consecration of Archimandrite Sergius (Kindyakov) as Bishop of Mansonville, vicar of the Canadian diocese, "in the presence of Metropolitan Vitaly but without his personal participation." Barnabas then became deputy to Metropolitan Vitaly. Shortly thereafter, Vladimir (Tselishchev) (November 6, 2001) and Bartholomew (Vorobyov) (November 11, 2001) were ordained - "against the will and without the participation of Metropolitan Vitaly." Several dozen ROCOR parishes in Russia, Western Europe, North and South America transferred to the schismatic structure formally headed by Metropolitan Vitaly, thereby expressing protest against the new course of the metropolitan of the Russian Church Abroad under the leadership of Metropolitan Laurus (Shkurla).

From November 13-16, 2001, a conference was held in Szentendre (Hungary) on the topic: "History of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 20th Century," dedicated to Russian church history of 1917-1930s. The honorary chairman of the conference was Serbian Bishop Daniel (Krstić), the conference leader and organizer was Archpriest Nikolai Artemov. From November 13-16, 2002, a second conference on the same topic, dedicated to the history of the 1930s-1940s, was held in the Synodal Library of St. Andrew's Monastery in Moscow.

On December 26, 2003, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church formed a commission for dialogue with the Russian Church Abroad under the chairmanship of Archbishop Innocent (Vasiliev) of Korsun. In the same month, a commission for negotiations with the Moscow Patriarchate was also established by the Bishops' Synod of the Russian Church Abroad.

On February 21, 2006, the Bishops' Synod, having considered the last letter from Metropolitan Cyprian (Kutsumbas) and the "Synod of the Resisters," which announced the cessation of all church communion with the Russian Church Abroad in 2005, resolved to recognize communion with the Synod of "the Resisters" as broken, "which will be brought to the attention of the Primates of the Old Calendarist churches of Romania and Bulgaria."

From May 7-14, 2006, the IV All-Diaspora Council was held in San Francisco, which positively assessed the steps already taken to restore unity and expressed intention to continue this process. In May 2006, the Bishops' Synod accepted the repentant schism-maker Barnabas (Prokofiev) in episcopal rank; ROCOR(V) fragmented into small factions.

Some parishes that rejected the Act transferred to the jurisdiction of the Greek Old Calendarists of the Synod of the Resisters, the "Russian True Orthodox Church," or ROCOR(V). Another part of parishes that rejected the Act convened a meeting of their representatives, at which they determined the composition of a self-proclaimed "Temporary Supreme Church Administration of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia" (TSCA ROCOR) headed by Bishop Agathangel (Pashkovsky), in connection with which Bishop Agathangel was suspended from service by the Bishops' Synod of ROCOR. Having no possibility of replenishing the episcopate, in 2007 Bishop Agathangel appealed to the Greek Old Calendarists for help, and on December 7-8, 2007, jointly with bishops of the "Synod of the Resisters": George (Puhate) of Alania and Ambrose (Baird) of Methone - two new bishops were ordained by them, which led to the emergence of a new schism in the Russian Church Abroad. In autumn 2008, at the Tolstoy Foundation farm, a council was held by supporters of Bishop Agathangel, which they called the "Fifth All-Diaspora," and at which Bishop Agathangel was elected First Hierarch of the newly formed church structure with his elevation to the rank of metropolitan.

In an interview published on May 14, 2008, the designated First Hierarch of ROCOR, Hilarion (Kapral), acknowledged that between ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate "purely psychological questions and barriers remain. Unfortunately, some part of the clergy and flock has no trust in the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church."

In October 2008, Metropolitan Hilarion noted that in Brazil ROCOR had 7 parishes and all of them withdrew from subordination to the ROCOR Synod after the signing of the Act of Canonical Communion.

In February 2013, at the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill noted in his report: "The service of the Russian Church Abroad is difficult to overestimate. Many parishes of this self-governing part of the Russian Orthodox Church have a long history and are connected with the lives of several generations of people who found themselves by the will of fate outside the Fatherland. After the signing of the Act of Canonical Communion, a new stage began in their history. Our compatriots began to fill the churches of the Russian Church Abroad, becoming active workers in the revival of church life in them. We try to help these parishes with clergy and monastics in those places where there are difficulties. Questions of church restoration and equipping them with furnishings are being jointly resolved. It is especially gratifying to observe the joint work of the youth of our parishes."