San Francisco, USA - After atheistic Communists seized power in Russia in 1917, exiles set up the Russian Orthodox church abroad, waiting for the day that worshipers could freely practice their faith back in the motherland.
Now for only the fourth time since then, the exile church was set to open an All-Diaspora Council on Saturday to discuss whether the time has come, 15 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, to reunify with the Moscow-based church that remained in place in Russia throughout the Communist years.
"The two specific reasons the council is convening is, Number 1, to address the matter of normalization of relations with the church in Russia, and a second reason is how do we continue our service in a contemporary world," said Archpriest Peter Perekrestov, one of the conference organizers. "But the main question is the first one. That's the hot issue.
"There is a pretty good chance that Eucharistic communion will be restored. You know, right now the clergy of the Church Abroad cannot serve with the clergy of the Moscow Patriarch."
For many decades after setting up abroad in 1920, the Church Abroad -- sometimes called the "white church" as opposed to the "red church" -- said the Moscow church was morally compromised by working with the Soviet state, including with the KGB secret police.
Yet since about 2000 the two churches have moved closer with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexiy II and Metropolitan Laurus, head of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, holding the first summit between the two rival groups in 2004.
'JUDGE NOT'
"Of course, there was bitterness, sometimes from harsh or insulting statements heard from abroad aimed against those who fought for the preservation of the church under a godless government," Alexiy told the Church Abroad in an interview posted on its Web site this week.
"I am convinced that we must not judge each other, or entire generations of our fathers and predecessors now, but in the spirit of Christ's love and joint responsibility, find the path toward unity and common witness."
The Orthodox Church itself also has its roots in division, following Christianity's Great Schism between East and West in 1054.
In an interview this week posted on the Church Abroad's Web site, Metropolitan Laurus said he envisioned an administrative separation even as the two churches unify on spiritual issues.
"If God grants, if the forthcoming councils resolve all questions hindering full communion with the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, we will recognize each other as one Local Russian Orthodox Church," he said. "At the same time, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia will preserve her autonomy -- that is, her self-governing status."
In an interview with Reuters, Archbishop Alypy, 79, deputy head of the Church Abroad synod of bishops, expressed concern about affairs in post-Soviet Russia.
"We'd prefer to remain separate until the time that Russia achieves stability both in political and religious terms," he said. "(Russian President Vladimir) Putin has a good relationship with the church but he has shown authoritarian tendencies -- as has the United States."
As an example of Russian instability, he cited companies being forced to pay protection money to criminal entities to operate.
Asked if he could envision full reunification of the two churches, Alypy responded: "Perhaps it will happen in 10 years -- perhaps when none of us are around anymore."
The church's All-Diaspora Council, which includes bishops, clergy and laity, follows 1921, 1938 and 1974 All-Diaspora Councils with meetings and prayer in San Francisco through May 14. After that bishops will meet alone for five days to make final decisions on the future of their church.