Statement on the Memorial Church in Ottawa

FROM THE CHANCERY OF THE EASTERN AMERICAN AND CANADIAN DIOCESE:

On 10 December 2002, a decision of the Supreme Appellate Court of Ontario was issued on the matter of the Holy Protection Memorial Church of the 1000th Anniversary of the Baptism of Russia in Ottawa.

The appeal in this matter, submitted by former priest D. Sever and a group of other individuals who have left the Church and do not recognize the Synod of Bishops, was heard on 14 August of this year. By law, only the attorneys for the sides could attend the hearings on this appeal; the parties themselves do not have the right to present their own witnesses or experts. The Appellate Court does not reexamine the case anew, but checks the validity of one law or another applied by the judge. We are pointing this out in that the hearing, held in Toronto (which was of course an open session, so that anyone desiring to do so could attend), all sorts of idle speculation abounded. The decision of the Supreme Appellate Court of Ontario did not overturn the previous decision regarding the Protection Memorial Church issued in February 2001, with one important exception. In accordance with the previous decision, on the basis of Article 106 of the Canada Corporations Act, an extraordinary meeting of the parishioners of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia was held in Ottawa, which spoke out against the attempts of D. Sever and other individuals to turn over the Memorial Church to others. The Supreme Appellate Court, after four months of deliberation, decided that Article 106 of the Act was misapplied. At the same time, this decision by the Appellate Court does not deny the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia the ownership of the Memorial Church.

On the same day of the announcement of the Appellate Court's decision, D. Sever and his attorneys were able to misdirect the police. At 2 p.m. on November 27/10 December, Sever and his cohorts entered Protection Church and St. Vladimir's Russian Senior Residence, changed the locks and even now refuse to leave these buildings, which do not belong to them. During this time, the Synod of Bishops and the Diocesan Administration of Canada are consulting with the Canadian authorities and with counsel, seeking to establish the propriety of the strategy employed in this matter. With this goal, the Secretary of the Synod of Bishops, His Grace Bishop Gabriel of Manhatten, Administrator of the Eastern part of the Canadian Diocese.

Further information will be provided as it becomes available.

We ask the God-loving parishioners of the much-suffering Canadian Diocese and all the faithful of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia to view this matter soberly, patiently and with understanding, remembering that hasty and rash decisions can often lead to trouble, as we have seen. The Lord visits tribulations upon us, and the Lord saves us from them, but the Lord will not be mocked.

The Canadian Diocese Defends its Legal Rights in Ottawa
From the Chancery of the Eastern American and Canadian Diocese of 24 December