Posted by Leo
on 8/25/2009, 10:43 am
This March 2009 note to the Patriarchal Parishes of Moscow in the U.S. followed the appointment of Canada Patr. Parishes administrator, Bishop JOB of Kashir, as also temporary adm. of those in the U.S. (linked from here.):
It should be brought to the attention of the clergy of the Patriarchal Parishes as to the form of the prayer for the remembrance of the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church during the Divine Services: During the Litany: “For our Great Lord and Father His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, and for our Lord His Grace Bishop Job,” and throughout the text. During the Great Entrance: “Our Great Lord and Father His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and of All Russia, His Beatitude Jonah, Metropolitan of All American [sic] and Canada, and our Lord His Grace Job, Bishop of Kashir, may the Lord God remember them in His Kingdom, always, now, and forever, and unto the ages of ages” (emphasis Leo's).
I can't determine at this time whether they have commemorated the OCA Primate continuously since autocephaly in 1970, or some other time, but it seems rumors of the demise of the MP's regard for its first-born sister-Church of this land are greatly exaggerated! Nor can I discern the subtleties of their use of the word "lord" (Gr. kyr, sometimes translated "Mr."!) for KIRILL and JOB but not JONAH; e.g., Job is still only a vicar-bishop, almost but not quite a Ruling Hierarch technically, but Auxiliary to Kirill, who remains actual Ruling Hierarch of both sets of PPs.* Curiouser and curiouser!
--Leo
(*--The MP retains full dioceses "Far Abroad" in Western and Central Europe, and South America, not counting ROCOR, Japan, China, and scattered individual parishes elsewhere. Only in the US and Canada, which it recognized as The Autocephalous OCA's canonical territory in '70, are its own parishes [ie, not ROCOR's] structured as administrations or vicariates, by agreement with the OCA at that time, pending those parishioners' agreement in the future to join The OCA [only!]. Though my perusal of the US PPs' past and present websites has led me to believe they are functioning as dioceses in everything but name, in deference to the OCA.)
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