Orthodox News

MOSCOW, June 26 (Itar-Tass) – Talks on issues in relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Church Abroad began in Moscow on Monday.

The key task is the finalisation of an act on canonical communication, the passing of which will mean the restoration of unity of the Russian Church.

An official of the Moscow Patriarchy?s department of relations between Orthodox churches told Itar-Tass that one of lingering issues was the fate of parishes of the Church Abroad that formed in Russia in the 1990s.

The department?s chief Archpriest Nikolai Balashov expressed the hope that ?agreeing upon the disputed questions will not become protracted?.

He said that a possibility of serving liturgies and making communion jointly in churches of the Moscow Patriarchy and the Church Abroad would appear before final settlement of remaining issues.

Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Germany leads a delegation of the Church Abroad.

He admitted at a meeting of the All-Abroad Assembly in San Francisco in May that the formation of the foreign parishes in a Russia was a mistake.

The delegation comprises priests from the US and Germany.

Archbishop Innokeny of Korsun, who is manager of the Moscow Patriarchy? s parishes in France, heads its commission.

The talks in Moscow?s St. Daniel Monastery will continue for a week.