The presentation of the Greek edition of documents on the reunion of the Kiev Metropolitan Church with the Russian Church took place in Moscow

The assembly hall of the Synodal Library of the Russian Orthodox Church hosted the presentation of the fundamental work «Reunification of the Kiev Metropolitanate with the Russian Orthodox Church. 1676-1686. Studies and Documents», translated into modern Greek. The publication is a comprehensive archival study designed to familiarize the Greek-speaking audience with authentic historical acts confirming the final nature of the transition of the Kiev Metropolitanate under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate in the XVII century.

According to the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church’s OVCS, the book is based on a study prepared in 2019 by specialists of the Orthodox Encyclopedia Center and a group of historians led by Boris Flory. The Greek edition included 246 archival documents from the fonds of the Russian State Archive of Documents, which clearly demonstrate that the decision of 1686 was the only possible way to preserve Orthodoxy in the territories of the Polish-Lithuanian state and had no time or authority restrictions.

During the event, Hegumen Dionysius (Shlyonov), Deputy Chairman of the ROC Study Committee, stressed that the authority of the acts of 1686 had been recognized for centuries by all Local Churches, including Constantinople. He noted that the current revision of these decisions by the Phanar and the creation of the PCU is a disregard for canonical norms, which leads to deep divisions in world Orthodoxy.

Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, Counselor to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, pointed out in his speech the importance of bringing the entire corpus of documents to the scholarly community outside Russia. According to him, this was a response to the «very scarce selective collections of documents» previously published by the Greek side. The participants in the presentation expressed the hope that this work will help the «Greek brothers» to better understand the historical truth and contribute to the resolution of the current ecclesiastical crisis.