Absolute majority of Russian Exarchate clerics in Europe join Russian Orthodox Church
MOSCOW. Sept 28 (Interfax) - The clergy of the Russian Exarchate in Europe, who met in Paris on Saturday, decided to follow their leader's example and join the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), the ROC press service stated on Saturday.
"The meeting has adopted the relevant appeal to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia," the statement reads.
An ROC Holy Synod resolution to convert the Western European archdiocese into the Russian tradition will be made at its next meeting.
On September 14 the Synod admitted the Exarchate's leader, Archbishop John (Renneto), and any parish which would wish to follow him. The decision was prompted by most parishioners' desire to return into the fold in the Mother Church from which the Exarchate broke away after the 1917 revolution in Russia.
Late last year the Synod of Constantinople unilaterally abolished the Russian Exarchate, prompting it to look for other options for its canonical future.