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[Daphne Mack <dmack@dfms.org>]

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99-129

Communique

     The Most Revd Frank Griswold, Presiding Bishop of the 
Episcopal Church in the USA, made his first official visit to 
Russia and to the Russian Orthodox Church from 3 July to 7 July 
1999, at the invitation of His Holiness Alexei II, Patriarch of 
Moscow and All Russia.

     The Presiding Bishop was accompanied by the Rt Revd Roger 
White, Bishop of Milwaukee and co-chair of the Joint Coordinating 
Committee for Relations of the Episcopal Church with the Russian 
Orthodox Church; the Rt Revd Richard F Grein, Bishop of New York, 
chair of the Episcopal Church's national committee for relations 
with the Orthodox churches in the USA and founder of the New York 
Diocesan Russia Committee; The Rt Revd Charles Keyser, Bishop for 
Military, Prison, and Hospital Chaplaincies of the Episcopal 
Church; The Revd Canon David Perry, Officer for Ecumenical 
Relations of the Episcopal Church; The Revd Canon Professor J 
Robert Wright, Theological Consultant to the EcumenicalOffice of 
the Episcopal Church; The Revd Canon John Backus, Chair of the 
New York Diocesan Committee for Relations with the Orthodox 
Churches; Mr James Solheim, Director of the Office of News 
Information of the Episcopal Church; and Canon Mr James 
Rosenthal, Director of Communications for the Anglican Communion. 

     The delegation received a warm welcome from His Holiness the 
Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow and all Russia, who gave lunch in 
honour of the Presiding Bishop and his associates at his 
residence in the Danilov Monastery. Discussions were held with 
His Eminence Kyrill, Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, 
Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the 
Moscow Patriarchate, and the staff of the Department, after which 
dinner was hosted by His Eminence Metropolitan Kirill. The 
Presiding Bishop hosted a concluding dinner in honour of His 
Holiness the Patriarch. 

     Highlights of the visit included services of worship at the 
Patriarchal Cathedral of the Epiphany, the Church of the Holy and 
Life-Giving Trinity at Khoroshevo, the Church of St. Metropolitan 
Peter on the Hill, and the Church of the Great Martyr St 
Catherine in the Fields (the representation of the Orthodox 
Church in America). Visits were also made to the Danilov 
Monastery, where the delegation stayed in the nearby hotel, to 
the Shrine and Relics of St Patriarch Tikhon, formerly Russian 
Archbishop in North America and later Patriarch of Moscow and 
confessor of the faith, at the Donskoy Monastery; to the Anglican 
Church of St Andrew, to the Christ the Saviour Cathedral, 
formerly bombed and where reconstruction is nearly complete; to 
the Moscow Theological Academy and the Holy Trinity-Sergius 
Lavra, where the Presiding Bishop venerated the Relics of St. 
Sergius. Discussions with the Department of External Church 
Relations, led by the Presiding Bishop and Metropolitan Kyrill, 
focused on five topics: 

     1.The recent situation in Yugoslavia and the question of how 
the two churches can collaborate to develop a common strategy and 
even a conference that will promote peace and the avoidance of 
such crises as Kosovo in the future;

     2.A possible proposal for the re-structuring of the World 
Council of Churches in a way that is more fully reflective of the 
aspirations and commitments of the various confessional families 
that belong to it;

     3.The Joint Coordinating Committee and its work for future 
relations between the two churches;

     4.The next theological dialogue to be sponsored jointly 
between the two churches, which should focus on the New 
Millennium and better ways to understand and surmount the 
ideological differences that seem to exist between East and West; 
and

     5.Matters of practical cooperation for the future, such as 
the exchange of students.

     Overall, the discussions were conducted in the context of 
open exchange of views, and much hope for the future and ever-
deepening relationships of the two churches in their friendship 
that has existed already for well over a century and began 
officially with the establishment of the Russo-Greek Committee by 
the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the year 1862.

     The Joint Coordinating Committee had its meeting on 6 July, 
and set the dates for its next meeting as 6-10 Mar 2000.