CANADA: Resolution of the Eastern Canadian Diocese--10 August

Resolution passed at the end of the pastoral retreat of the clergy of the Eastern part of the Diocese of Canada.
Kanata (Ottawa) 20 March / 11 April 2002.

The clergy of Eastern Canada, gathered in the Church of St. Xenia of Petersburg for a pastoral retreat, under the leadership of the Most Reverend Metropolitan Laurus and the Right Reverend Bishop Gabriel, express their complete and absolute unity of mind and soul with the ecclesiastical leadership of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia and its First Hierarch. The clergy and God-loving flock of Eastern Canada hope that the new structure of the diocese, reorganized by the Holy Synod and conformed by the other members of the Council of Bishops, will lead, with God's help, to the healing of the many ills which for our sins have afflicted the Diocese of Canada with particular severity over the past year. Although once well organized and prosperous, the Canadian Diocese now exists in extremely difficult circumstances. As we seek ways to bring about a speedy resolution of this state of affairs, we must bear in mind that before all else, we must direct all our energies to bringing health to our spiritual life. And only then can we hope that the Lord will show us the way to bring the other urgent tasks that are before to a successful conclusion. All the participants of the retreat of the Eastern part of the Canadian Diocese grieve over the treatment of the Most Reverend Metropolitan Vitaly. We all listened with compunction of heart as our present First Hierarch, Metropolitan Laurus, recounted his early, childhood encounters with the future Vladyka Vitaly in Ladomirovo, in the Monastery of St. Job of Pochaev. But no less is the grief experienced by our pastors in knowing that today, through the efforts of certain people, our elder-Metropolitan has been torn away from his brother bishops and from those who for years have been his spiritual children. We pray unceasingly for the health and salvation of our beloved Vladyka Vitaly and humbly beseech the Almightly Lord that He, in His ineffable mercy, would grant that all those who have departed from the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia would return to the enclose of the Church. As proposed by the Most Reverend Metropolitan Laurus, it was resolved that at the present time, which is so difficult for the Canadian Diocese and also for the Church as a whole, pastoral retreats and gatherings should be held more frequently, so that important issues can be discussed in an atmosphere of prayerful seclusion. Accordingly, it was decided to hold the next pastoral retreat for the clergy of the Canadian Diocese in Toronto in early October.