Russian Orthodox reunion

The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad voted yesterday to accept the Moscow patriarch, Aleksy II, as its head. If the church receives final approval from its leaders next week (which is highly likely) this will end a bitter separation which has spanned 80+ years.

The ROCA (also called Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia) was founded by emigres who fled Russia after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. In 1920, it severed ties with the Moscow Patriarchate which had come under control of the atheistic communist government. And it has existed in an ecclesial limbo ever since. The other Orthodox bodies around the world didn't sever ties with the Moscow Patriarchate so they couldn't officially recognize the ROCA, but they acknowledged that the situation was an irregularity which would eventually be repaired. And in Eastern Orthodox time 86 years is pretty fast.