Protopresbyter
Mikhail Polskii
Witnessing the Truth
The origin of the Cathedral of the Mother of God “Joy
of All Who Sorrow” and its parish in San Francisco
was a testimony to the truth of the Church by a group of
local Russian Orthodox people, and its existence for 25
years is its triumph. “May all be as one,” is
the law of Christ our God, and the unity of the church is
Divine truth, expressing the very essence of Christianity--love.
If one was in unity, but then fell away, then he has sinned
against truth, and therefore, against love. But we must
remain faithful to this law of God and of the Church. As
it always is, at first, unity and love reigned among us
in the diaspora—but then, the enemy came and sowed
the seeds of weeds, of schism and enmity. Since the end
of the civil war, in 1920, old Russian émigré
dioceses and parishes and those of the new emigration, of
exile communities, which quickly formed dioceses and parishes
all over the world were separated by the “iron curtain”
of bolshevism from the central Church administration in
Russia and, with the agreement of the entire episcopacy
abroad, united under the Supreme Authority of its Council
and a single Church Administration Outside of Russia. This
temporary united Church administration, until the reunification
with the emancipated Russian Church, was an equally necessary
and canonical administration for the entire Russian Orthodox
Church Abroad as the very central Church authority was in
Russia. This was established by the Ukase of the Moscow
Patriarchate (No. 362, 1920) on the administration of other
parts of the Russian Church in the event that they become
separated from it, and confirmed by all the canons of the
Church on the principle of unity and conciliarity of the
Church authority. This unity existed for five years, until
1926, when the American diocese, now called the “Metropolia,”
under the leadership of Metropolitan Platon, along with
the Western European diocese, violated that unity, fell
away from communion with the other archpastors and dioceses
of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, all for
the sake of self-determination and the arbitrariness of
their leadership. Were there, could there have been Russian
Orthodox people who desired to preserve our original and
crucial unity in accordance with Church law and Christian
conscience? There must have been. It couldn’t be that
there were no Orthodox Christians in North America who knew
the truth of the Church. The Mother of God “Joy of
All Who Sorrow” parish in San Francisco, and the parish
of All Saints in New York were at the time the first witnesses
and spokesmen for the truth in America.
An unwilling witness to this canonical and moral truth of
our unity is the history of the Metropolia over these last
32 years. Metropolitan Platon, choosing the path of schism
in 1926, himself participated in the organization of the
Supreme Ecclesiastical Authority Abroad in 1920 and together
with Metropolitan Anthony and the other hierarchs requested
permission of the Constantinople Patriarchate to organize
the same on the latter’s territory. Being sent to America
in 1922, he was appointed by the Synod of Bishops Abroad
to head the American diocese, and in leaving the Synod Abroad
after that, in 1927, he declared the autocephaly of the
American church, which was recognized by no one. After his
death, in 1935, Metropolitan Theophilus restored unity with
the Synod of Bishops Abroad, a unity that lived on for 11
years, until the end of 1946, when he switched his allegiance
to the Moscow Patriarchate. A year later, he rejected this
unity, and the Metropolia was left without canonical leadership,
its bishops in isolation, separate from the Council and
the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside
of Russia, under which it had twice before existed. This
attempt at autocephaly or permanent separation from the
Russian Church occurred in a difficult moment in its life,
and the attempt to gain communion with the Moscow Patriarchate,
with that unfortunate agent and ally of the godless bolshevik
authority, is a witness to the errors made every time during
its separation from the Synod of Bishops Abroad, for which
such ways are foreign. The advice of the entire episcopacy
abroad, under the guidance and lawful leadership of the
eldest bishops, would have guaranteed a better path for
the American part of the church in the diaspora. The same
belonging to the Mother Russian Church of all of its parts
abroad, the same conditions of its breaking of communion
with her, the temporary situation of all in expectation
of its emancipation and its expression of free will in the
matters of the church, and finally the demands of the Christian
conscience and Church laws and regulations persistently
and in every way require unity within our Russian Orthodox
Church Outside of Russia.
But still, a great deal of effort is expended in creating
impossible, artificial and very unsubstantial reasons for
the continuation of the schism, which will continue for
the unforeseen future. Still, one cannot but celebrate and
rejoice that the canonical path within our American Mission-diocese,
from its establishment in 1794 until this day was never
broken. At the crucial moment in our Mission, in 1926-1927,
when by separating from the canonical ecclesiastical authority
of the Council and Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox
Church Outside of Russia, loyal to its Mother Russian Church,
and by unilaterally establishing an autocephalous administration,
the canonical thread of its existence could have been torn—and
yet caught and restored. The North American Diocese of the
Council continues the canonical jurisdiction of the Council
and Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
in America after the departure of Metropolitan Platon. The
path of truth on the territory of our old Mission was preserved.
It continues even now in the Diocese of the Russian Orthodox
Church Outside of Russia "[n.b. The North American
and Canadian Dioceses were often viewed as a single diocese
of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, even though
it was divided by region.]."
The beginning of this Diocese, this Parish of the Cathedral
of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” in
San Francisco, originated 25 years ago for the sake of preserving
and continuing, unchanged, the former path of the united
Church, which had already existed in America, for the sake
of preservign the unity of the Church Abroad and with the
Russian Church (but not with its enslaved leadership) and
within the Church Abroad itself. God blessed this Diocese
to strengthen and to become the home of the Synod of Bishops
itself, the ecclesiastical authority of the entire diaspora.
At one time those who defended the schism said that the
Synod cannot rule the Metropolia, because it is too distant.
Now it is here. For sixteen years, all told, the Council
and Synod of Bishops was considered the lofty leadership
of the Metropolia. For whom did it become an unwelcome guest
but for those who departed from the path of truth? The truth
of our unity is memorialized by the Diocese in America of
the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, andit will
continue to do so.
It will be a thorn in the side of all who follow the wavering
path in regards to the truth, and it will continue to be
such until our Orthodox unity is restored. The banner of
God’s truth was raised 25 years ago by the founders
of the Parish of the Cathedral of the Mother of God in San
Francisco, who is indeed the “Joy of All Who Sorrow.”
She Herself felt the weapon pierce Her heart with the lies
of mankind against Her Son. She defeated Her sorrow with
the joy of His arrival, and so She Herself became the joy
of all who sorrow, and those who sorrow from untruth. With
heartfelt pain did the Orthodox faithful feel the untruth
of schism. They did not follow that path, but with the grace-filled
help of the Mother of God they stood fast, and strengthened.
For this they rejoice this day, they celebrate and give
thanks to God.
Protopresbyter Mikhail Polskii
San Francisco, 1952
On the 25th anniversary of the Parish of the Mother of God
“Joy of All Who Sorrow”
