The title ROCOR-Vitaly refers to that part of the formerly-united ROCOR which has followed Metropolitan Vitaly in his post-retirement break with ROCOR-Laurus (see ROCOR-Laurus), which occurred in 2000, and which has rejected their former course of communion with Ecumenist Pseudo-Orthodoxy and the Soviet Moscow Patriarchate.
After his retirement from the episcopacy, intimates of Metropolitan Vitaly urged him to re-claim, against Church rules, the headship of the ROCOR, only this time under the banner of trying to be more faithful to Orthodoxy, in the name of saving her from the ecumenical policies of Metropolitan Laurus. This is grossly hypocritical, because the ecumenical course of Metropolitan Laurus is the same course which Metropolitan Vitaly himself had set for the ROCOR. Consequently, another ROCOR formed around Met. Vitaly, who repudiated his former decisions of union with the heretical Cyprianites and communion with Ecumenist Pseudo-Orthodoxy and the Soviet Patriarchate; however, having repudiated his erroneous decisions, he unacceptably preferred to repent to himself in a protestant fashion, rather than to those bishops who had remained faithful, and he did not seek reunion with those Russian and Greek hierarchs who had broken communion with him in 1994-5 when he first fell away from the Church.
Metropolitan Vitaly fell away from Orthodoxy in 1994, when he entered into communion with the ecumenical heretic Metropolitan Cyprian who believes that heretical World Orthodoxy still possess the grace of the Holy Spirit and are therefore valid churches. Metropolitan Vitaly admitted openly eight years later that Cyprian was indeed a heretic. Consequently, Met. Vitaly had fallen under the "Anathema of 1983" by this union. He, however, maintained that by some illogical reasoning, being in heresy and under anathema did not affect him, although at that very time many ROCOR faithful abandoned the heretic Vitaly.
Thus, having renounced his heresy and his communion with World Orthodoxy, ROCOR-Vitaly has chosen not to reunite with true Orthodox churches, but rather to remain in schism from all those who have remained pure in their confession of faith. Thus, out of blind loyalty to the obstinate person of Metropolitan Vitaly, who refuses out of pride to correct the schism, the group ROCOR-Vitaly, sadly, finds a place in this list of contemporary Schisms.
Why Metropolitan Vitaly’s Group is Uncanonical
An Open Letter to Metropolitan Vitaly, the Clergy and the People of the ROCE
ОТКРЫТОЕ ПИСЬМО ЕПИСКОПА ДЕНВЕРСКОГО ГРИГОРИЯ МИТРОПОЛИТУ ВИТАЛИЮ, КЛИРИКАМ И МИРЯНАМ РПЦЗ(В)
Concerning the Canonical Status of ROCE and Metropolitan Vitaly
Two Letters Explaining Why ROCIE (ROCOR-V) is Uncanonical
Archbishop Gregory P.O. Box 3177 Buena Vista, CO 81211-3177 USA Email: ArchbishopGregory@starband.net
Copyright 2005.
