- Sep 29, 2016
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Due to how wonderful America's jurisdictional situation can be in the Eastern Orthodox Church, there exists three different jurisdictions in which Russian Orthodox Churches can exist under - ROCOR, OCA, and Moscow Patriarchal Parishes. As far as I can tell, ROCOR is under the direct ownership of Moscow but administratively is rather independent; the OCA is completely, administratively independent from Moscow, and the Patriarchal Parishes operate directly under Moscow as vicarial parishes.
I just moved into a new area, and have just this past Sunday attended a ROCOR Church. While it was a pleasant experience with a nice community, and I can see myself settling down there (while in Slavonic, with my Russian knowledge and past Byzantine experience I was able to figure out what was going on in the Liturgy, and the sermon and Scripture readings were in English and in Russian; and the community has more successfully syncretized the Russian and English speaking people together - most people speak Russian and English together, and there are people who are my age), it was a rather small Church, which has its benefits and negatives, and before I settle down, I want to explore some of the other Orthodox Churches nearby.
For some reason that I cannot fathom, where I am located, there are two Patriarchal Parishes that are right next to each other, that's just about as far away from the ROCOR Church I attended, but both seem to be much larger Churches, and I'll probably attend at least attend one of them, if not both. One seems a bit friendlier to English speakers than Russian speakers if the website is anything to go by - so maybe that's it - but I don't know, it's weird that two parishes of the same Jurisdiction with different Priests are stationed just blocks away from each other.
So, with that being said, what are the differences between the two structures - ROCOR and Patriarchal Parishes? Are there generally differences in liturgical praxis, in terms of ideology, in terms of converts vs. cradles composition, in terms of relationships with other parishes in their structure, in terms of Pan-Orthodoxy, in terms of Seminary and formation, in terms of moral and dogmatic leniency, etc.?
I just moved into a new area, and have just this past Sunday attended a ROCOR Church. While it was a pleasant experience with a nice community, and I can see myself settling down there (while in Slavonic, with my Russian knowledge and past Byzantine experience I was able to figure out what was going on in the Liturgy, and the sermon and Scripture readings were in English and in Russian; and the community has more successfully syncretized the Russian and English speaking people together - most people speak Russian and English together, and there are people who are my age), it was a rather small Church, which has its benefits and negatives, and before I settle down, I want to explore some of the other Orthodox Churches nearby.
For some reason that I cannot fathom, where I am located, there are two Patriarchal Parishes that are right next to each other, that's just about as far away from the ROCOR Church I attended, but both seem to be much larger Churches, and I'll probably attend at least attend one of them, if not both. One seems a bit friendlier to English speakers than Russian speakers if the website is anything to go by - so maybe that's it - but I don't know, it's weird that two parishes of the same Jurisdiction with different Priests are stationed just blocks away from each other.
So, with that being said, what are the differences between the two structures - ROCOR and Patriarchal Parishes? Are there generally differences in liturgical praxis, in terms of ideology, in terms of converts vs. cradles composition, in terms of relationships with other parishes in their structure, in terms of Pan-Orthodoxy, in terms of Seminary and formation, in terms of moral and dogmatic leniency, etc.?