The following is a translation of a document posted on the WEB site of the Moscow patriarchate, reporting the patriarch's address to representatives of the clergy of Moscow diocese.  That document was not a full-text transcription of the report but contained several paraphrases and many elipses, which are indicated in this translation. (tr. note)
 

INFORMATION FOR THE PRESS FROM DIOCESAN COUNCIL OF MOSCOW

Today, 23 December 1998, at the conference hall of the St. Daniel's hotel complex the annual diocesan meeting of the city of Moscow was held.  The patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus serves immediately as ruling bishop of the capital city.  The meeting's participants included assistant bishops, representatives of the parish clergy and parish councils, stauropigial monasteries, central administrative agencies of the Russian Orthodox church, and guests.

Presented below are several summaries and excerpts from the address by his holiness, Patriarch Alexis II, at the opening of the meeting.  The full text of the speech will be published later.

According to the "Charter on Administration of the Russian Orthodox Church" the presider at the diocesan meeting of the city of Moscow is the patriarch.  At the diocesan meeting in December 1995 a diocesan council for the city of Moscow was elected whose authorization now has expired inasmuch as its term was for three years.  This term length was established in view of the fact that one year is insufficient for effective work.  In these years the diocesan council held twenty-seven sessions at which many issues of parish life of Moscow were resolved:  disciplinary actions and complaints against clergy and members of parish councils were reviewed and interviews were conducted with persons who wanted to enroll in ecclesiastical educational institutions or take clerical orders, as well as with clergy of other dioceses who intended to transfer their ministry among the clergy of the city of Moscow.

In accordance with the charter on administration of the Russian Orthodox church, the secretary and half of the members of the diocesan council are appointed by the ruling bishop and half are elected by ballot.  This happened at the beginning of the diocesan meeting.  In addition, for more effective functioning of the diocesan council there also exist commissions for various responsibilities of parish work:  examination, worship, discipline, canonicity, church social activity, auditing, editorial, artistic, church education, and the activity of Sunday schools.

Patriarch Alexis II addressed the gathering:  "Reverend archpastors, worthy fathers, and beloved brothers and sisters in Christ.  'May the Lord grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and you may know the love of Christ that you may be filled with all the fullness of God' (Eph 3.16, 17, 19).  By God's grace we have lived through yet another year and our meeting today should review the results of the past year.  It should become a mirror reflecting everything that has happened in the course of the passing year, a mirror that is accurate, not distorting, so that nothing is exaggerated and nothing is minimized. But such an accurate assessment is possible only if we approach all events from the criteria of eternity and we ourselves place all our thoughts and deeds before the face of the Righteous God.  Often in the course of the year we have peered into his holy face, often we have attuned our deeds and desires with the tuning-fork of God's Word, or we have lived in accordance with our own will and desires.  In terms of externals this year we have lived in unstable and severe conditions; it is possible even to say that we have lived in an insane world where there is no morality, where the laws of the jungle dominate, where brother robs brother, and where the lie and deceit have become the norms of conduct. But among ourselves, among believers, there has been an inner support in this restless world, the rock of faith, the holy church, which is the pillar and foundation of truth.  Precisely as believing people we have had the happy possibility of turning with confidence to the Almighty and ever compassionate God and in accordance with his holy will to resolve all of our problems and difficulties. Therefore let us once again review the basic events of the passing year and with collective judgment evaluate them and draw the necessary conclusions.

"Under the difficult circumstances of our time the work of resurrecting the sancta of our fatherland which had be subjected in the past decades to desecration, abandonment, and destruction, has been carried out as pleasing to God. Church life of the capital city has had few of those great waves that have shown up on the stormy sea of the political and economic life of the country. The internal unity of the church has been maintained, damaged churches and monasteries have been reconstructed, and new ones have been built, although not at the accelerated pace of previous years because of the difficult economic situation in the country which has lain like a heavy burden even upon the church.  This causes anxiety for those of little faith, but, recalling the great mercy of God which he has always shown our church and was especially evident in the past decade in the wondrous return to it of sancta which had been confiscated, we believe that the Lord will not leave his faithful servants without his gracious aid and protection. This faith inspires us to greater ministry and service before the throne of God."

The most holy patriarch reported that in the current year he had performed 219 liturgies, had consecrated six bishops, 45 priests, and three deacons, and had visited seven dioceses of the Russian Orthodox church:  Tambov, St. Petersburg, Minsk, Polotsk, Vitebsk, Kaluga, and Voronezh.  He also made a fraternal visit to the Bulgarian Orthodox church, where he cooperated in the healing of the schism that had arisen within it and subsequently there was a joyous meeting with the Bulgarian patriarch in Moscow on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Bulgarian annex. No less joyous were meetings between the most holy patriarch and representatives of other fraternal Orthodox churches, the Polish and Albanian churches, during their visits to Moscow.

Further his holiness enumerated several specific data regarding his liturgical service in the current year.  He noted especially the solemn day of repentance on the eightieth anniversary of the murder of the Russian emperor and his family, the celebration of the 600th anniversary of the Savvino-Storozhev monastery, and other commemorative events.

Then Patriarch Alexis gave some statistical data: at the present time the Russian Orthodox church has 127 dioceses and counts 151 bishops, not including eight retirees. The number of parishes of the Russian Orthodox church is greater than 19,000, in which there are around 17,500 priests and 2,300 deacons, for a total of about 19,700 churchmen.  The number of monasteries has reached 478, not counting 87 monastery annexes.  Of these, 299 monasteries (151 male and 148 female) are located on Russian territory, plus 74 monastery annexes. On the territory of Ukraine there are 111 monasteries (51 male, 60 female) and also nine monastery annexes. On the territory of the CIS there are 58 monasteries (25 male, 33 female) and two annexes. On the territory of the Baltic republics there are five monasteries (2 male, 3 female) plus three skete annexes.  In the far abroad there are five monasteries (2 male, 3 female). In Moscow the number of monasteries has remained constant:  four male and four female. Immediately under the control of the patriarchate are another 24 stauropigial monasteries.

The number of church schools of the Russian Orthodox church has grown slightly, including five ecclesiastical academies, 26 ecclesiastical seminaries, 29 church schools, one theological institute, two Orthodox universities, 13 preparatory pastoral courses, two diocesan women's church schools, and 28 icon painting schools. Besides this, there are choral departments and courses as well as numerous parish church schools.  At the church of the Epiphany of our Lord of the former Epiphany monastery a choral seminary opened its doors this year. At the present time the city of Moscow has 428 Orthodox churches and 39 chapels.  Liturgies are being performed in 352 churches while 46 still have not been restored.  Thirty-three churches still have not been given up by their former renters. Besides this there are 36 churches and chapels that are being restored and built.  The distribution of churches about the territory of Moscow is somewhat uneven, so that in the central administrative region there are 178 parish churches and chapels while in the nine other administrative regions there are 230 parish churches and chapels.

In the parishes of Moscow 745 churchmen, 539 priests and 206 deacons, perform their ministry.  The number of clerics who are ministering in Moscow has grown in the past year by 72. At the same time, 13 persons retired, five were banned from the ministry, eight clergy moved to other dioceses and 11 moved here from other dioceses, and 14 persons passed on to another world in the current year.  The preparation of candidates for the priesthood has been proceeding, primarily in the Moscow Ecclesiastical Academy and Seminary which are schools of education for the whole church that at the same time are called to supply the needs for personnel in the Moscow diocese.  In 1998, 33 day students graduated from the Moscow Ecclesiastical Academy and 26 completed the correspondence section. Of these, ten were granted the degree of Candidate of Theology. The Ecclesiastical Seminary graduated 104 day students and 77 correspondence students.  The choral school of the Moscow Ecclesiastical Academy graduated 36 and the Icon Painting school graduated 20.  For ministry in the Moscow diocese, synodal institutions, and the stauropigial monasteries, the academy provided 12 persons, the seminary, 21, the icon painting school, nine, and the choral school, ten.

At the present time the Moscow Ecclesiastical Academy has 163 students, the seminary, 373, the choral school, 122, and the icon painting school, 80 students. The teaching staff of the Moscow ecclesiastical schools comprises nine professors, ten docents, and 82 instructors. During the current academic year, the first class has begun a new curriculum which was developed in accordance with the decision of the Holy Synod of 2 October 1997, extending the course of study to five years.

The patriarch continued:  "Alongside the positive features of the life of the Moscow diocese, such as the increase in the number of parishes and churches, construction of parish institutions, and expansion of evangelistic and catechetical activity, in which we rejoice, there also has continued the rapid growth of negative processes in the live of our society as a whole and within the church, in particular.  The dominance of negative ethical principles within society willy-nilly has an impact upon, and sometimes even takes over a substantial number of believers, especially those who still are 'moving along the road to the church,' and who are insufficiently grounded in the faith or wavering or hangers-on, for whom we also must give account before God and whom we must protect from the spiritual wolves.

"In this regard it is appropriate to recall the words of the Apostle Paul that 'the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way' (2 Th. 2.7). This action of the mystery of lawlessness, for now being restrained by divine force, the power of piety and prayer, has become especially evident, aggressive, and massive in our days. Today it is not a matter of sporadic outbreaks of sin or separate episodes of evil, vile, and destructive action but the accelerated construction of the worldwide system of evil.  The population is being deliberately organized on satanic principles of the lie, forgery, deceit, and respect for crude external power. Greed, egoism, ambition, debauchery, drug addiction, and love for satisfaction and entertainment at any price are being passed off as the bases of 'normal' life.  Even more dangerous are the covert manifestations of the abandonment of morality, righteousness, and truth and the more subtle forms of evil, forms of imitations and counterfeits which have, in the apostle's words, 'the form of godliness but deny its power,' such as false religion, false science, and false culture.  We are seeing a flood of false Christian and totalitarian sects, a flood of black magic, astrology, occultism, and fortunetelling.  Traditional Christian culture is not only being relegated to last place and scorn but also is being parodied and ridiculed as atavism, passe, and useless. With increased force neopaganism and the so-called 'post-Christian civilization' are being proclaimed and disseminated. Our entire life is being saturated with a bloody cult of violence, brutality, treachery, and debauchery.  The notions of obligation, honor, shame, conscience, and chastity  are being defamed and destroyed.  Orthodox consciousness and peacemaking are being eroded and the power of faith and piety is being belittled. Life in accordance with one's passions is being promoted and responsibility for error is being minimized by any means possible.  In a word, an irreconcilable and brutal battle between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil is underway.  'Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they be of God, because many false prophets have appeared in the world' (1 Jn 4.1).

"Our believers are living in this complex, contradictory, and in many respects sinful world, where ever more often unrighteousness, brutality, evil, and vice are dominant. Surrounded by evil and corruption, they nevertheless must remain true to their religious convictions, moral values, and the way of life of the higher world, recalling that our true homeland is in heaven and the end is not our temporary earthly life but Christ and his eternal kingdom of truth and goodness. In this life we are Christ's warriors who must courageously oppose falsehood and evil; we are called not to cooperate in lawlessness in any way and 'to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.' On the other hand, if our life must be an imitation of the Chief Shepherd Christ, then in this world  and in this life we must be concerned about food and clothing for the poor, shelter for the homeless, advocates for the widows, defenders of orphans and innocent victims, instructors of the spiritually lost, comforters for the lonely and despairing, gentle pastors for repentant sinners, and we must with fraternal love reveal the pure treasure of Christ's saving faith and life-giving truth to all who are seeking and longing for it.

"For several years now the Russian Orthodox church has been living in conditions of freedom from state pressure that are new and unusual for it.  Its divine-human organism consists of living members, people who expect from their pastors instruction on the way to the heavenly kingdom which sometimes disappears from view in the briars of the current, most troublesome times.  In a brief space of time the Russian clergy has learned a great deal not only in the newly opened church schools but also in life itself.  All over the place monasteries and churches are being restored and a multitude of young Christians are aspiring to the monastic life. Thousands of young, zealous, and innocent young people are coming to serve Mother Church as clergy. But we must consider with regret that the level of spiritual education and the depth of churchmanship and grounding in Orthodox tradition are obviously insufficient in the case of many. . . .

"The Saint Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Institute has grown and developed, which has not only really helped the Moscow diocese in preparing personnel for church ministry but also, in its ten affiliates in various districts, is spreading education far from the large centers.  In 1998 the Saint Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Institute graduated 115 students, of whom five were ordained presbyters and three, deacons.  In 1998 four persons defended candidate's dissertations in the institute.  The total number of students of the regular, day, and evening divisions is 1049, of whom 255 are in the pastoral theology course, 163 are in the evangelism and catechetical course, 202 in the historical and philology course, 219 in church arts, and 80 in church music.  At the present time in all courses of the regular, day, evening, and correspondence divisions of the institute there are 2234 students.  In the institute students from 165 parishes of Moscow and Moscow province are studying as well as some from 78 dioceses of the Russian Orthodox church.  The teaching staff of the institute comprises six professors, 21 docents, and 312 instructors.

"For many it is time to recognize that the business of church education is not only  the affair of bishops but also of every parish.  The time has passed when the church lived at the subsistence level, but the instinct of concern only for their own internal parish matters is still being nourished by some rectors.  We must learn to look more broadly.  If parishes do not learn to join together in joint programs, if they won't support church publications, radio stations, and television broadcasts in a material way, if they won't help churches and monasteries that are struggling to their feet, then the possibility for the impact of Orthodoxy on our long-suffering people will be greatly restricted.  The time has come for everyone to understand that we must find the means for the creation within the churches of various children's educational and training institutions and to revive church orphanages and charities and soup kitchens for the poor.  If a parish is not in a position to be able to form some educational institution by itself, then it should contribute to those church institutions which are being created elsewhere.

"Conditions of parish life and the skills of the rectors do not always permit the creation within the church of a substantial organization like, for example, the Saint Dmitry's medical nursing society or the Princess Elizabeth nursing society. But this does not mean that the rectors of churches should withdraw from some kind of social activity.  In any parish good-hearted people are to be found who would be ready with joy to help neighbors, mothers with several children, invalids, or lonely aged women. All that is needed is evidence of a desire to organize these people.  If such a form of testimony for Christ were to be found in each of our parishes, no attacks from ill-wishers could turn away from the church those who are seeking for God. Such attacks are increasing ever more both on the part of some elements of the press who are hostile to the church and on the part of the so-called Christian Church and Public Channel.

"Regrettably we must admit that except for a single priest, none of the regular writers for the radio station 'Sophia' has taken account of our sermon delivered at the last diocesan meeting but, on the contrary, several have embarked on a course of opposition to the conciliar will of their brethren and of the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox church.   Charitable works conducted in our church, the renovation of damaged  churches and monasteries, and the reorganization of parish life, as a rule, have been assessed negatively by the writers of this channel.  Similar assessments are given also to our decrees and resolutions.  A priest whom we banned from ministry for misappropriation of church property and other misdeeds was portrayed by this channel as some kind of martyr.  The stream of constant slanders against the hierarchy of the church, ordinary clergy, and employees of the Moscow patriarchate flows from just about every broadcast of this radio station as well as from the editions of the Paris newspaper bearing the name Russian Thought.  The main goal seems to be the creation within the mind of people of distrust toward the church hierarchy and the alienation of as many people as possible from it, that is, a division within our believing people. Operating on the principle of 'divide and conquer,' they are trying to cover this with calls for the renovation of the church and elimination of its shortcomings, offering as a model for emulation the church of the West, mainly the Roman Catholic church.

"In calling the people of our country to unity and to creative action for the good of people and the country, we cannot remain silent about the destructive work going on within the church itself.  Freedom of speech is a noteworthy matter, but the church also has the right to expel those members who have deadly diseases in order to protect the whole flock from harm.

"But we can improve the spiritual atmosphere within our church not only by expulsion from our midst of those apostates who are captive to pride and vainglory. Christians, and more so priests, must never forget for a moment that they belong to the church militant and that the world will never accept the church nor be reconciled to its existence.  Of course 'our warfare is not against flesh and blood' nor against people, but against the lie and evil.  All traditional forms of preaching have been revived anew:  many fine preachers have arisen, many churches have been restored to their former magnificence, which by their mere presence in cities give testimony to the kingdom of heaven and glorify Christ the Savior and his saints. Amidst urban clatter the sounds of church bells, calling people to prayer and repentance, are heard ever more insistently.

"Pilgrimage to Christian shrines is expanding widely. A great quantity of Orthodox literature is being published. In a word, in a short period of time almost everything from before the revolution has been reprinted. And there have been some original publications.  Many newspapers have appeared, as well as magazines with an Orthodox orientation both in Moscow and throughout all of Russia.  But there are shortcomings. Not all publications meet the contemporary needs of the believing people but they occasionally sustain and disseminate various superstitions and evil notions. We have already spoken about how rectors and chairs of parish councils must maintain control over what is being sold in church bookstands and boxes.   Publications must be evaluated not on the basis of their profitability but primarily of their spiritual benefit.

"Contemporary life requires new approaches. We all must labor not only in prayer and fasting but also in preaching and in the construction of a complete church-parish life.  With great effort we have found the means for the restoration of churches and splendid iconostases; now we must find them for other no less important forms of church activity.  We must join together.  What a single parish cannot do, two or three can.  Deans must exert their efforts so that parishes can be unified not only administratively and in worship but also in joint efforts.   Such is already being done in Moscow and it is bringing good results.

"One of the most important applications of our efforts in the regeneration of the Christian life of our long-suffering Russian people is the spiritual education of youth--the preparation of new pastors, catechists, evangelists, singers, icon painters, and people who are well acquainted with the doctrines of the Orthodox church and church history.  This educational activity is difficult for our church because of the lack of the necessary church personnel as well as the general economic crisis.  What is now being accomplished is the achievement of Orthodox teachers who have the will and who sincerely devote their efforts to serving Mother Church and their homeland.  But without general church support, the most important efforts will not succeed as they should.  It is necessary to organize broad church support for the Saint Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Institution which, unlike the other church educational institutions, does not have any centralized financial support and for seven years has been accomplishing enormous educational activity on a virtually voluntary basis.  Four hundred teachers and employees receive for their work a 'salary' which sometimes does not even pay for their transportation. While more than 2000 people have been educated in this institute and ten affiliates of the institute are active in dioceses of the Russian Orthodox church, including abroad, some dioceses have been retaining for a  long time the salaries of the institute's teachers, and one of the dioceses closed its affiliate on the eve of its first graduation, where about 100 people had been studying, without paying the teachers their salary for a whole year (Ekaterinburg diocese). At the same time, if only Moscow parishes would donate a small amount for support of the institute, it would be able to continue its activity. . . .

"It is necessary to expand the extremely valuable experience of the evangelistic youth campaigns.  In the past two or three years the priests, teachers, and students of the institute have conducted more than ten such trips, including to Yakutsk, Arkhangelsk, Ekaterinburg, Pskov, and Tver dioceses. Everywhere that these evangelistic groups have gone they have conducted baptisms and confession. Frequently they have conducted the Divine Liturgy, at which an evangelistic youth choir has sung.  Within one or two weeks of such activity they have managed literally to bring life to the local population.  People who had at the outset been destitute of church life, after a week of the presence of the evangelistic group have come in droves to the young evangelists and requested baptism and communion in the holy sacraments of Christ.  The evangelists' talks have been broadcast on local radio and television and the expressions of gratitude have been endless.  There is literally no substitute for such trips to areas on the periphery of the church's reach, where there are no priests and the people have forgotten the church's service.  It is remarkable that the arrival of an Orthodox missionary group immediately paralyzes the activity of sectarians--the people always opt for Orthodoxy.  On the other hand, such campaigns are the best school for church youth and for future pastors and all who wish to labor for the benefit of Christ's church.  It would seem that such evangelistic groups could be formed not only by church schools, which simply must create them, but also by many parishes that have young parishioners.  Naturally, in this matter there must be both spiritual and material support from the diocesan bishops. There is not much cost for helping student groups for a short time.  It is strange to hear of cold refusals from bishops when church schools propose such a campaign.  Such missionary activity should be conducted also in the main cities where formerly there has been little activity in children's homes, old folks homes, hospitals, prisons, drug and alcohol rehab centers, and in soup kitchens and in the army.

"Among matters for theological contemplation we must mention the problem of receiving into the Orthodox church people who are coming from other confessions. . . . It has been seen as necessary in our synodal theological commission to review critically the 'rite' of membership, taking into account the changing situation in other confessions and the changes of practice employed in fraternal Orthodox churches.

"Since the time of the apostles, bishops in the church of Christ, as successors of the apostles, have distributed to the people of God the gracious gifts of the holy sacraments.  'Without a bishop there is no church,' according to the holy martyr Ignatius.  And 'where there is a bishop, there must also be people, just as where Christ is, the catholic church must be also.' In recent times our church's past has been portrayed in a negative light and its bishop has been the object of malignant slander.  This has engendered among those who are infants in the faith a negative image of bishops.  This is being done intentionally:  'strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered' (Mt 26.31).  I would like to recall that our predecessors, primates of the church of the martyrs and confessors, fought with these tendencies from the moment of the restoration of the patriarchate in 1918.  The holy confessor, all-Russian patriarch Tikhon and the holy martyr, Metropolitan Peter of Krutitsy, were subjected to criticism for their submission to the powers that existed from people who were living in the security of foreign exile and who thought they could judge their persecuted brethren and place their own ambitions above the interests of the Russian church.  They tried to discredit Patriarch Sergius, whose dialogue with the authorities allowed many thousands of Christians to avoid execution and perhaps avoided even the destruction of the Russian Orthodox church itself.  The most holy patriarch Alexis I, who in the memories of his contemporaries celebrated the liturgy in a way that kept many who simply observed this true to Mother Church, was also accused of apostasy from Orthodoxy for initiating, with his blessing, ecumenical contacts which at the time often were the only means for resisting the persecution of the church.  Such slander has not ceased even now, although the foreign critics who denounce our church for its dependence upon the totalitarian state have now lost  their chief argument. It is horrible to see that even among people who live in Russia there now are those who are trying to maintain this 'zeal for Orthodoxy.'  Even some clerics of our church, who maintain in words their submission to its hierarchy, are behaving like schismatics, aspiring to the role of some kind of 'elders.'  In criticizing the hierarchy they, in contrast to the spiritual fathers of the past and present, are trying by their criticism to draw attention to themselves and thus to inspire authority for themselves.  As a rule, as the unalterable and sole condition for salvation they stipulate complete submission to themselves of those who accept their leadership, and they transform them into some kind of robots who are unable to do anything, however simple, without the permission of their 'elder.'  In this way a person is deprived of the freedom of choice which God has bestowed.  To confirm their righteousness they misuse citations from the works of the holy fathers, profaning their great deeds and distorting the notion of eldership.  The genuine elder, owing primarily to high spirituality, treats every individual with care.  By virtue of his experience and gracious gift he reveals the image of God in the individual by means which promote spiritual growth. But these contemporary 'elders' (it would be more accurate to call them 'youngsters') who lack spiritual discernment are placing unbearable burdens on those who are coming to the church (Lk 11.46) and are applying in their pastoral actions requirements that are destructive of spiritual life which laity cannot endure because for the most part they are appropriate only for monastics. . . .

"The unhealthy dependence of neophytes upon the personalities of these 'youngsters' has given rise to distorted forms of parish life.  People are going to church in order to meet 'their father,' and not Christ, and in order to talk with acquaintances and not to engage in prayerful communion with the fullness of the church.  Characteristically such converts have a damaged church consciousness in which there is no room for the notions of conciliarity and universality of the church, which is maintained by their pastors who induce in their flocks ideas that salvation is possible only inside the bounds of their congregation and contempt for other priests whereby they entice their flocks away from them. This leads to the self-isolation of such congregations from other parishes and from the bishop and ultimately from the church. This self-isolation often has the consequence of an impermissible politicizing of these congregations, when a 'left' or 'right' political orientation becomes the only one that accords with an Orthodox point of view.  In such congregations there easily arises the criticism of the hierarchy that is destructive of church unity of which we already have spoken.  It is not surprising that the unhealthy forms of congregational life in these parishes  seems more like the sectarian tendencies of schismatic societies or protestant groups.  Many such congregations arose in the period after the revolution and their sorry fate is well known to us.  A congregation that is not headed by a bishop cuts itself off from the church and that means that it is condemned to spiritual death. . . .

"It is extremely important to make as soon as possible the transition from the formal performance of the sacraments to a proper, thoughtful conduct of the sacraments and rituals, principally baptism, confession, marriage, and burial.  This always requires the sincere participation of the priest and catechetical instruction as a preparation for the performance of the sacraments and preaching, since in these important moments of human life it is especially easy to make contact with the opened heart of a person. . . ."

In addition the most holy patriarch Alexis dealt with the performance of the sacraments of confession, communion, and baptism.  Then he continued:  "As before, I continue to hope for the improvement of preaching.  In order that the sermon be useful to the audience one most not only think about it beforehand or write it out, but also bring it to maturity in one's mind.  Any sermon must speak to real problems of spiritual life and show how one can fulfill the commands of God in contemporary life. . ."

The most holy patriarch Alexis dealt with matters of the liturgical text and liturgical traditions, particularly with cases of extreme haste and verbosity in worship services:  "The Worship Group of the diocesan council has worked out the necessary minimum of liturgical content for parish churches of Moscow. . . . This pertains to the liturgy, its solemnity, length, and time of performance.  This has taken into account the need for allowing people to attend church amidst the bustle of urban life and to experience the solemnity and fullness of the liturgy while at the same time not neglecting their families and employment. . .

"In order to get the attention of believers, especially people of middle age and youth, we should return to the more or less forgotten practice of the post-vespers discussion in which the meaning and beauty of the prayers, canons, tropars, and the preceding services are disclosed.  When people attend with interest and comprehension to what they read and sing in church they are able to participate in the liturgy more thoughtfully and to hunger for the service.  In some churches in the past, despite the impediments from the secular agents of the council on religious affairs, such conversations were conducted, especially in the evenings and during the fasts:  Christmas, Lent, Dormition.  And there always was an audience.  It simply requires that one explain the liturgical texts simply, clearly, and in a way that is accessible for the audience. . . .

"In our difficult times people are turning to the church.  Many, who do not know how to behave in the liturgy, are coming to the church at times when there is no service and they often find it closed or at least vacant. There is no priest there nor a deacon, who could catechize them or answer their questions. Whole field trips of children are visiting churches now.  This is a splendid opportunity for priests to perform evangelism and catechetical work. . . ."

After some reference to administrative matters and liturgical practice and discipline, his holiness continued:  "The diocese of the capital, headed by the patriarch, must serve as a model for other dioceses of our church.  This pertains also to the level of education of its clerics, which should be rather high.    It is preferable that the rector of every prominent Moscow parish have a higher religious education.  We are pleased with the desire of newly ordained priests to complete their religious education through study in church schools and we do not comprehend and do disapprove reports from church schools about some clerics who neglect such education, for which they have been disenrolled. . ."

The most holy patriarch noted the necessity of observing propriety in external conduct of clerics, noting a number of organizational shortcomings and matters of ministerial discipline.  Then the most holy patriarch Alexis noted:  "In some churches the fees for services, candles, and churchware are too high and out of reach for ordinary people and elderly parishioners, who have been supporting these churches for many years.  Now, when they are unable not only to pay for the sacraments but even to buy candles, they are forced to abandon these  churches.  We will have to bear enormous responsibility for such parishioners before God.  We do not have the right to leave the people of God outside the church's fence.    Such parishioners must be given what they need at minimal cost, or even without any charge at all.

"In our days parish life cannot be restricted simply to the liturgy and on church holidays. It should include communal activity as well as charitable, evangelistic, and catechetical activity.  Each parish should have a church parish school and library.  The concern of some rectors only for the outward appearance of the church can damage the fullness of the liturgical life of the parish.  The church and associated buildings should be restored, but the parish is something more.   It is the fullness of parish life which is united by a Christian spirit of love and brotherhood that binds all into one. Wherever the main concern is to preserve the material aspect and the parish is only a means for maintenance, or worse,  compulsion, there cannot be unity and brotherhood. In such a place, as a rule, there is enmity and disorder.  Such a parish can hardly be called Orthodox.

"It is impossible not to speak about the pernicious 'spirit of the times' to which a certain portion of our clergy are striving, the lifestyle of the so-called 'new Russians' from a religious and moral point of view.  Really this is nothing more than the sinful manifestation of egoism, self-satisfaction, indulgence, hedonism, and domination over others on the basis of wealth that often is acquired by illegal and criminal means.  This is an abandonment of modesty, sobriety, and temperance in all matters. Unfortunately, a portion of the clergy of our capital city is influenced by this 'splendid' life style.  This leads to an attempt to outdo one another in dress and competition in repasts and holiday feasts. All while half of the population is living beneath the poverty level.  There are too many foreign cars, cell phones, and the like.  In the first place, such a comfortable life style is, in essence, sinful and un-Christian, abandonment of God and service to Mammon, and insensitivity to the tragedy and temporality of earthly life. This is, perhaps, one of the most overt manifestations of neopaganism.  Second, such a life for the clergy is for the ordinary rank and file parishioners, who are overwhelmingly poor people, a scandal and is associated in their mind with betrayal of Christ's poverty and denigration of the church.  Isn't this why some parishioners have left the churches and sought a place for themselves in various sects and new religious movements, where they are accepted with understanding and care.  We must keep in mind that a massive transformation of thinking is taking place among the simple, ordinary people.  They see that actually nobody needs them or cares about them--not the state, nor society; and now even the church is showing that it cares more for the rich than the poor.  And it is hard for them to understand that it is not the church, which was and remains a loving Mother for all regardless of their material condition, that has abandoned them, but a portion of the clergy that has rejected the spirit and power of Christ's love and righteousness.  In this situation their consciences bear full responsibility for their false pastorship. Inequality in property has always existed, but 'woe to the one through whom scandal comes to the least of these' members of the church. Let the final fate of the evangelical rich man and the parable about Dives and Lazarus serve as a warning for such priests.  'Let us have no self-conceit, no provoking of one another, no envy of one another. . . for whoever thinks he is something when he is nothing deceives himself. . . and everyone will bear his own burden' (Gal 5. 26; 6. 3, 5).

"In some Moscow parishes, despite our frequent warning, there continues to be extortion both on the part of clergy and singers as well as employees of the church. In some churches, where such instances have appeared, we have removed the leadership of these churches and some clergy have been dismissed and singers have been deprived of the right of singing in Moscow churches. In the future the disciplinary commission of the diocesan council will have to investigate cases of excessive charges for sacraments and rituals beyond the collection box, in preparation for our taking disciplinary action. . . .

"From the moment of appointment, every rector becomes juridically the head of the parish assembly, but the main thing is that he should become this not as a bureaucrat but as a father in the full sense of the word, who loves his congregation and whose heart has a place for everyone.  We are pleased that the majority of parishes have such a situation. In this regard it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a replacement for rectors who die.  Newly ordained priests are not ready for such work, and the rectors of other churches, even those which have just been opened, have so settled in that even a rumor about the possibility of a transfer  practically causes many heart attacks. Really, the church should be a second home for a priest, but it is not a fief, as it sometimes becomes, where the boundary between private and church property is erased.  What is donated to the parish cannot become the property of the rector, clergy, or members of the parish council, no matter what it is, moveable or immovable property.  Such violations can lead to canonical punishment, for clerics, either banning from ministry or defrocking, and for members of the parish council, dismissal and possible criminal action.

"In recent years some clergy have tried to use their relations with big businessmen and representatives of circles close to politicians to put pressure on us.  Many of those who have tried to do this have been persuaded of the error of such actions.  In the case of those who have not yet been persuaded, I remind them that no outside pressure on us is permissible. And if this causes disorder in the church it will bring about canonical discipline.

"It is a pleasure to see how many parishes are developing economic activity on their own.  But at the same time such activity forces churchmen to enter into business dealings with representatives of private firms, banks,  and shady operations that are interested in legalizing their business through the church. Is it necessary for me to say how much this violates Christian ethics?. . ."

Then his holiness discussed several problems of the restoration of churches and the need to pay attention to aesthetic harmony in such work, for which it is necessary to get help from the diocesan artistic commission.  Then he spoke about monastic life:  "Questions and problems which have come to the synodal Commission on Monastery Affairs for study testify in separate cases to the carelessness of monastics regarding their internal life, to their unwillingness to develop in themselves qualities of patience and virtue, to the intrusion into the manner of monastic life of the pernicious, corrupt spirit of this world and the inability to recognize their own weakness and corruption and to work for their amendment, and to manifestations of insubordination, ambition, and criticism of superiors (including even the ruling bishop).  Monasteries are a propitiatory sacrifice to God for the whole world, and thus such shortcomings and evils must be eliminated by the most decisive measures, recalling the words of the Savior:  'If salt has lost its strength, how can it be fixed?' (Lk 14.34).

"Deficiencies in respectful relations toward authorities, the hierarchy, and superiors is an urgent and burdensome problem.  Misunderstanding of the importance of the church hierarchy, which is of divine institution, sometimes places clergy and monastics at odds with the canonical position of the church and with church laws, and it leads to the dangerous position of a kind of 'ecclesiastical dissidence' which is destructive for the condition of one's spirit.  Unfortunately, such incidents, especially among young and newly tonsured monks, have not been rare in the practical work of the synodal Commission on Monastery Affairs.  This speaks of the need for scrupulous, serious, strict, as well as compassionate attention on the part of abbots and superiors to the training of the flock which has been entrusted to their keeping.  Some cloisters have a hard time coping with the great floods of pilgrims and tourists, while others, on the contrary, complain about the lack of visitation. Monasteries which are located far from population centers have extremely problematic financial and economic conditions. . . . However, while manifesting zeal and concern for ordering the internal life and propriety of cloisters, they cannot isolate themselves from those problems and disorders that pervade contemporary society. Concentration exclusively upon one's own difficulties can undermine moral authority and forfeit the trust of the people.

"In likening the commandment about love for one's neighbor to the first and greatest commandment, love for God, the Lord summons each of us to performance of sacrificial service.  How does one display love for one's neighbor in our chaotic times which are filled with anxiety over the poverty of the peoples of Russia, when the population of whole regions of the country has fallen into difficult conditions of subsistence, when suffering and instability of many social and age strata (retirees, invalids, children, military, physicians, education workers) are multiplying, and when human labor potential remains unused by the state so that people cannot support themselves and their loved ones?  The answer to this question must be found in raising the level of the social ministry of the church, an important element of which must be the charitable activity of monasteries.  In the history of our church we find significant and instructive testimony to care for one's neighbors in the most troubled of times.  And now we must follow the example of those feats of piety and compassion which have been left to us by the holy champions of the Russian land.

"Many cloisters, which have been sufficiently consolidated after their return to the church, have developed social programs, including coordination of philanthropic work with governmental and commercial structures and the local administrative agencies of government. As in the past, there have been numerous cases of parishes and monasteries receiving truckloads of humanitarian aid with the cooperation of the synodal Commission on Economic and Humanitarian Matters. At the same time we must not forget that such aid, first of all, is meant for the infirm, suffering, and poverty-stricken strata of the population.

"It is necessary and timely for parishes and monasteries to establish programs, and to find ways of implementing them, which are intended both for their own needs as well as caring for and sustaining the needy.  'Water does not flow under a lying stone,' a folk proverb declares; our time requires a vigorous active position of parishes and monasteries in matters of social service. Monasteries, and especially those that are located in the Russian countryside, can and should develop their own agriculture and become models of such work, which is especially important  in the condition of the persistent decline of domestic production of food supplies. Conduct of their own agricultural activity is a historical distinctive of Russian monasteries and it is absolutely necessary to revive this tradition. Churchwide charitable work is planned for development with the participation of the synodal commission on economic and humanitarian matters, including an expansion of the possibilities for foreign charitable organizations.

"Speaking about the social service and charitable activity of monasteries, we would like to note also the considerable work in this matter of the synodal Department of Church Charity and Social Service, headed by Archbishop Sergius of Solnechnogorsk.  In the current year the department continued to do everything possible in order to alleviate the fate and condition of the infirm, sick, orphans, invalids, elderly, emigrants, and victims of natural disasters.  A special place among the programs of the department is occupied by medical programs.  One of the few charitable medical institutions of the capital, the St. Alexis Central Clinic Hospital of the Moscow Patriarchate, has been conducting its activity for the sake of the indigent patients who are residents of Moscow and other districts.  Under the circumstances of the financial and economic crisis, the administration of the clinic has devoted great efforts to keeping the church hospital a charitable institution.  In the current period, 4145 patients have been treated in the 205-bed clinic.  The consultation and diagnostic center had 9948 patients and 9495 were treated as out-patients. At the present time 326 persons work in the hospital, including highly qualified specialists in neurology, cardiology, and surgery.  Manifesting concern for the infirm and elderly, the Department of Church Charity has devoted considerable effort to expanding the sphere of activity of the experimental and methodological center, 'Home Nursing Service,' whose efforts now are serving 35 elderly persons. As in past years, there has been cooperation between the department and the ministries and administration of the social block. Concrete steps were taken for implementation of agreements signed earlier between the hierarchy and the ministries of health and social security of the population. The Coordinating Group of the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, which was formed at the end of 1997, which includes representatives of the department and clergy of Moscow, has met often during the year for discussion of critical matters of charitable activity. Substantial attention in the activity of the department has been devoted also to children's programs. In this regard I would like to mention the St. Sergius of Radonezh Boarding School in Medvedkovo, where 77 children from broken families reside, study, and receive training.  Services are conducted in the school's chapel and classes on the Law of God are held regularly.  Other shelters of the capital also are conducting fruitful work at the St. Dmitry's Nursing Clinic and at the church of the Ascension of the Lord at Serpukhov Gates.  Under the circumstances where the number of homeless children and minors is growing every day, each parish has the obligation of caring for them and extending a helping hand to them.  Not every parish is in a position to open its own shelter, but every parish can give increased support to those church boarding schools and shelters which already are carrying out this worthy activity.

"As in the past, the charitable Society of Saints Kosma and Damian has been dealing with matters connected with the medical and pedagogical rehabilitation of invalid children and orphans. At the present time they are taking care of 616 children who have disorders of the central nervous system and psychiatric problems, as well as providing special classes for parents in educating sick children.

"In the course of 1998 the department continued its support of the Eleventh Psychoneurology Department of the Moscow Morozov Children's Hospital, which takes in children who have been abandoned by their parents. Within the parameters of its long-term program 'Children of Chernobyl,' youth were sent in 1998 from Briansk, Smolensk, and Moscow dioceses to Italy for rest and medical observation by the department on church charity.  The department has devoted special attention to resolving problems of refugees and displaced persons.  In this regard periodic seminars have been conducted which have included not only representatives of distant dioceses but also clergy of the city of Moscow. With the participation of the department, charitable activity has been revived in cloisters and dioceses and training of social workers has been conducted.  In the year under review the department began publication of the magazine 'Church and Society.'    The department on church charity has distributed food, clothing, and medical aid through parishes and monasteries of the Russian Orthodox church, medical and educational institutions, prisons, orphanages, boarding schools, and homes for the elderly and invalids.  In the current year 12.2 tons of food, 3028 items of clothing, and 2316 pairs of shoes were distributed. One of the most substantial activities of the department in 1998 was the traditional charitable parties, concerts, and acts of philanthropy associated with the holidays of Christmas, Easter, and other commemorative days. Speaking of the ministry of deaconesses conducted by parishes and cloisters of our capital city, I cannot fail to enumerate the most active of them: first of all are the churches of the Blessed Tsarevich Dmitry, St. Mitrofan of Voronezh, St. Theodore the Studite, the Resurrection on Arbat, the Elevation of the Cross of the Lord in Altufevo, Saints Peter and Paul in Basman, the Moscow annex of the Holy Transfiguration monastery of Valaam, and the cathedral of the Epiphany. However for Moscow, where the number of churches is in the hundreds, it must be recognized that too few are actively engaged in social service.

"Every year I appeal to rectors and parish superintendents for expanding works of charity at the parish level.  But unfortunately my words have not always been heeded.  If today we do not wish to help the suffering, then tomorrow when we are sick and lonely no one will want to extend a helping hand to us.  It is a truth that 'judgment is without mercy for those who have shown no mercy,' as holy scripture says."

After having dwelt on several shortcomings in relations between the department on church charity and social service and specific parishes, his holiness called those present " . . . to more involvement of parishioners in the work of social service, charity, and benevolence.  Now, as never before, we are expected to engage broadly in the solution of social problems.  None of us has the right to find any kind of justification for our own inaction.

"A number of new, good initiatives of a religious educational character were taken this year also by the Department for Religious Education and Catechesis, headed by Hegumen Ioann Ekonomtsev.  He conducted the successful annual Christmas Educational Readings in which around 2000 persons participated from almost every diocese of Russia and a number of dioceses of the near abroad.  The growth of the authority of this powerful educational forum in our country and its ever increasing significance in the total system of Russian education is attested not only by the participation of clergy and Orthodox pedagogues but also of many representatives of the secular educational system. . . . In the course of the readings 366 papers were presented which dealt with the problems of teachers of doctrinal and religious ethical topics in all types of Russian schools and approaches to an Orthodox conception of disciplines in the humanities and natural sciences, the place and role of Orthodox culture in public life, the ways of expanding book publishing and providing textbooks appropriate for the entire system of Orthodox education.  Special attention was given to Orthodox pedagogy, family and preschool education, problems of the Russian school, new forms of work with youth, cooperation of the church and army, religious education in penal institutions, and opposition to the expansion of totalitarian sects.  At the present time the department is actively participating with other synodal departments and the St. John the Divine Russian Orthodox University in preparing for the Seventh Christmas Educational Readings, which is devoted to the approaching jubilee, the second millennium of Christianity. By decision of the synodal commission, these readings will be opened by a jubilee celebration.

At the present time there exist in Moscow 22 nongovernmental Orthodox schools.  Four of them have been founded by parishes, 14 by public organizations and brotherhood, and four are private; more than 1500 students participate in them. Several of them have become distinctive Orthodox educational and cultural centers.  An important milestone in the improvement of coordination of the activity and possibilities for cooperative action of Orthodox high schools in Moscow was reached by the formation under the department in December 1997 of a council of directors of Orthodox educational institutions of general and supplementary education of Moscow.  The council adopted "Rules for orthodox Educational Institutions of General and Supplementary Education," which is the basic document governing the work of Orthodox educational institutions.  The council of directors has facilitated closer relations between the synodal department of religious education and catechesis and the schools and  among the Orthodox educational institutions. For the first time since their formation, Orthodox educational institutions have emerged from their self-isolation.  They have begun conducting joint contests, olympiadas, conferences, and they have clarified and shared better pedagogical experience.  Considerable help in this matter has come from the Russian Orthodox University, which is comprehensively supported and supervised by the department.  At the present time there are around 500 students in the Russian Orthodox University in seven departments:  philosophy and theology, bible and patristics, history and philology, juridical, economics and ecology, and ecclesiastical journalism.  The last department was created this year in cooperation with the publishing council of the Moscow patriarchate.  Beginning this year the university has opened a two-year icon painting school and church choral school.

Under the department for a second year courses of continuing education for religion teachers for Moscow and Moscow diocese have been successfully conducted. The location for these classes has been provided by the Russian Orthodox University.  Thirty-two persons constituted the first graduating class.  Since many students have expressed the wish to continue their studies, the courses were transformed into a two-year program.  The students in the classes go through the basic Orthodox doctrinal disciplines and acquire elementary knowledge in such subjects as dogmatic theology, sacred history, liturgics, church history and hagiography, apologetics, and Orthodox anthropology, and the study the fundamentals of Orthodox pedagogy and methodology of teaching the Law of God in the schools.  Under the department the certification of teachers with right to teach the Law of God is carried out.  More than half the students in the second year of study successfully completed the certification process and now are performing their teaching activity in Sunday schools, day care centers, and schools in Moscow and vicinity.  In cooperation with the Russian Children's Fund, the department has continued to publish the richly illustrated children's magazine, 'God's World,' which is distributed to the Moscow parishes.  A collection of Christmas readings was published. It contains the best reports by priests, pedagogues, and scholars that were presented in January of this year at the readings.  A splendid educational aid has been prepared for publication for elementary schools by the famous foreign pedagogue Sophia Kulomzina, 'Sacred History in Stories for Children.'  This book has come out already and it is being vigorously employed by Moscow churches for Sunday schools.  By the time of the Christmas Readings, the department intends to publish a collection of the better curricula in doctrinal teaching for Orthodox pedagogues.  Work is being done on an illustrated Orthodox anthology for literature for elementary schools, whose publication is scheduled for the beginning of the next academic year.  On the basis of requests of various publishers and writers, the department regularly reviews academic Orthodox literature. It has revived the publication of the Information Bulletin, whose goal is illuminating the most important events in the area of Orthodox education and discussion of critical questions of church and public life and the educational activity in the dioceses.  Since January 1998, three times each week at one o'clock the radio program of the department 'Logos' has been broadcast from the radio station 'Center.'  The program is devoted to urgent questions of Orthodox education and problems of Orthodox culture. The department has carried out preparatory work for building a site on the Internet devoted to Orthodox education.

Several words about the activity of the synodal department for relations with the armed forces and law enforcement institutions.  In the passing year its relations with the power ministries was conducted on the basis of agreements signed between the Russian Orthodox church and military ministries and administrations. The instability of the political situation, specifically the frequent changes in the leadership of the upper echelons of the administration, as well as the entire command structure, has forced employees of the department to work under complex conditions; it would seem that they have to go over the same road repeatedly.  Nevertheless, the department did everything within its power to strengthen the spiritual and moral quality of the uniformed services.  The department has the services of a good helper in the Saint Tikhon's Instituted, in which officers were able to get supplementary religious education and raise their religious and cultural level.  Orthodox priests are being asked to participate ever more frequently in various kinds of military ceremonies; the administering of the oath, graduations from military educational institutions, blessing of military technology and weapons, and the departure of recruits from mustering points. Regular visits by Bishop Savva of Krasnogorsk to Russian peacekeepers in Bosnia have become traditional, where for two years already an Orthodox priest has been laboring, support the moral spirit of our soldiers and offices who are located far from their homeland.  The presence of the priest  controls and disciplines the officers and forces them to think about what is important, about their soul and the meaning of life and faith. Without these fundamental concept sacrificial military service for the Fatherland is impossible.

As has been reported in previous years, young people of Orthodox confession now have the possibility of fulfilling their military obligation to the Fatherland without being deprived of church life by performing their military service in units that have a church.  However, lately cases have been increasing where young men who have been recommended for such military units have not justified the confidence of their priests and they have behaved in ways that crudely violate discipline and military charters and they often have voluntarily deserted from their place of service.  In order to prevent repetition of such cases which cast a shadow over the church, the department this autumn created its own commission to which young men were invited for interviews. It was very surprising to find out in several cases that the lads who had been recommended did not know anything about the recommendation but that the request to the president of the department had been written by the mother and not the youth himself.

I would like to clarify one matter:  in the armed forces of the Russian federation there are no 'Orthodox regiments.'  Such a formulation has evoked a storm of dissatisfaction on the part of representative of other confessions, who have demanded the creation of 'Muslim' or other military units.  Protests about 'Orthodox regiments' have resounded at the government level and in the State Duma. It should be understood:  through the department on cooperation with armed forces and law enforcement institution Orthodox youth are drafted into ordinary military units for military service and not for round-the-clock prayer and restoration of churches, as many conscripts think.  I am pleased to note the cooperation of the department and the military educational structures in preventive actions with regard to violations of military discipline, desertion, unstable relations, and suicides.

In 1998, upon the initiative of the Ministry for States of Emergency and Civil Defense at Mitin cemetery a chapel was built in memory of the heroes of Chernobyl and all of those who gave their lives 'for their friends' in various catastrophes.  Work is being done on the question of building a chapel of eternal memory to those who died in the Afghan war.

At the present time a critical situation has developed in the investigative isolation cells of Moscow and in the corrective labor camps of Russia. . . .

Everyone can and should to respond to those who make appeals, including parishes.  For example, the church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Tushino in 1997 made mailings to places of confinement worth 14,000 rubles (in new valuation) and in 1998, 18,000 rubles. And what was in these mailings:  clothing donated by parishioners and religious literature which the church had.  The church has a great role as does each parish in determining what kind of a person the convict returns as--embittered or hopeful--depending on how we respond to those who appeal to us.  I hope that each Moscow parish will be able to share some amount every month.

Some years back, on the suggestion of the diocesan council, we authorized a number of priests to provide spiritual nurture in places of confinement, places where in times of sorrow and grief the hearts of people are especially open.  Many of the priests whom we appointed performed their service worthily and they were always welcomed and awaited impatiently.  Some performed perfunctorily and did not show up very often while some gave up without permission.  The newly elected diocesan council must investigate this and take measures so that this area of church ministry gets the necessary attention. . . . I would hope the leadership of the department will have greater openness and accessibility so that . . . the pastoral care of souls and attentiveness to people will be more frequent and not those hierarchical relations that one finds in the army.

I would especially like to deal with the problems of publishing activity and in this regard take not of the work of the Moscow patriarchate publishing house.  Until recently the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate has come out practically without delay but interruptions in its delivery to several regions have resulted from conflicts between the railroad and post office.  Unfortunately, the definite growth in subscriptions to the journal which occurred last year has declined in the current year and with a publishing run of 6,000 copies on 1 November there was a total of 4362 subscriptions.  Like last year, dioceses place orders for the journal in extremely unequal numbers; some order hundreds of copies while others order a few dozen or even less.  As in the past, the situation for subscriptions to the journal in Moscow churches is bad (according to information from the publishing house, only 253 copies). The majority of them do not order from the publishing house either periodicals or any other kind of literature, including the patriarchal church calendar. Meanwhile nobody is paying any attention to the decision of the bishops' council to achieve universal subscription to the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. . . . In many churches they do not know the new form for commemorating the Moscow primate which was adopted by the Holy Synod just as they do not know the place for the liturgical petition 'Lord, save the devout and hear them.' All of this was published in the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. I want to talk especially about the table calendar.  These calendars have been produced in numerous print shops and as a result variants in the schedule of saints' days, gospel and epistle lections, and in commemorative Saturdays.  At the end of October of this year the patriarchate received a mass of telephone calls with the question:  'When is St. Dmitry's commemorative Saturday observed?'  In a number of calendars it said 31 October, but in the patriarchal calendar it says 7 November.  Obviously those who print calendars without our imprimatur relied on the old calendars and reprinted from them, which created great confusion for the people.  To the suggestion from the patriarchate that they should buy calendars in church and not elsewhere, many responded that they got their calendars in Moscow churches. . . .

In the report submitted by the chairman of the publishing department, Bishop Tikhon of Bronnits, there is quite detailed information about the plentiful activity of the publishing department under the current financial conditions which are far from good.  We are grateful to the chairman of the publishing department for his labors and we hope the Master Tikhon, along with the entire staff of the publishing house, will not only continue to produce a wide range of material but will even find new forms of publication activity and exert additional efforts so that all publications of the Moscow patriarchate will become more interesting for readers . . .  In our time believers and people who are just coming to faith, of whom there are many, are confronted daily with a multitude of diverse information on religious and ecclesiastical topics. Along with valid information that deserves respect and attention, often they are offered information that is unreliable, distorted, and sometimes simply deliberately false, which promotes distrust, disgust, and hatred for the church. . . .  Without getting into an argument with the antichurch press, we must try to be more open and more transparent in our difficulties and problems. Without avoiding controversial issues or covering them up, we must outdo others in speaking frankly and justly about all problems that exist today in our church life and we should not wait for others, including our enemies, to raise and expose these problems.  We should not hide anything from believers and from our friends.  Indeed, we do have problems and unresolved questions regarding ecumenism, interconfessional and inter-Orthodox relations, structural interrelationships, church discipline, and doctrine. These are our pains and difficulties and we are resolving them and we will resolve them.  Believers should be about this through the church press and should participate in the resolution of all church matters.  In Orthodoxy there is no 'taboo' on the participation of laity in the resolution of any church matters.  From the pages of our publications believers should learn about the problems and about the proposed ways and means for their resolution.  It is necessary only that all questions be treated professionally and competently and that the proposed responses by considered and thought through from all points of view and be theologically and canonically established. . . . The Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate should also help in another regard.  Many  bishops complain that the pages of the journal give insufficient and unequal treatment to diocesan life or the work of various church institutions. . . . It is necessary that the journal devote proper attention to the life of the dioceses so that through it there can be an exchange of experience among monasteries, church schools, ecclesiastical institutions, and parishes.  But the diocesan bishops themselves and the directors of church institutions and readers in the country must be more active in cooperating with the journal and submit regularly the materials that are needed for publication.  It is impossible to leave everything to the small staff of the journal, which for understandable reasons is unable to travel regularly to the dioceses on reporting assignments.  The Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate is our common business and we must work together for its publication. This year the publishing department began to produce a supplement to the journal which is an Orthodox informational and educational journal 'Insight' (Prozrenie), devoted to the activity of new religious movements and their adherents. Another supplement is also being prepared, which will be a church archaeology magazine called 'The Lamp' (Svetilnik); the revival of such a magazine, which existed before the revolution, is extremely timely in connection with the approach of the second millennial jubilee of Christianity, which has evoked growth of the number of publication on church archaeological topics.  The newspaper Moscow Church Herald is being produced, whose publications reflect in action the urgent problems of church life.  Since March of this year it began appearing twice a month.  It is possible to subscribe to it, as well as to the journal, not only through Rospechat but also directly from the publishing house.  However it can be said about Moscow Church Herald, like the journal, that for the publishing run of 10,000 copies, on 1 November there were only 999 subscriptions.   In 1998 the 34th volume of the collection 'Theological Works' appeared, as well as a children's almanac 'The Bee' and three issues of the magazine 'Russian Renaissance.'  As always, in 1998 the publishing house produced the table 'Orthodox Church Calendar' for 1999 (250,000 copies) as well as a wall calendar (100,000 copies).  In 1998 the publishing house issued more than 60 book titles, including three official editions, eight liturgical books, six hymn books, twelve titles of spiritual literature, and 36 publications in cooperation with other publishing houses.  I would especially like to note the jubilee edition of the Bible, dedicated to the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Christ, as well as the production of a new series of books called 'The Pastor's Library.' . . .  The total output for 1998 exceeded 1.2 million copies.  In this same year the publishing house of the Moscow patriarchate, with financial support from a number of firms, performed a variety of tasks that led to the completion of the building of a WEB page on the Internet.  At the present time, it has the following divisions:  Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate (posting the issues of the past two years), Orthodox Church Calendar, with a system of links that provide movement from the text of the calendar to short lives of saints, description of the feast day, iconographic information, as well as to the gospel and epistle lections of the day; the Bible (Russian synodal translation); saints calendar; and children's page.  Further plans for the server call for including the newspaper Moscow Church Herald, catalogs of Orthodox publications, and handbooks and educational literature.  Plans for the more distant future include development of a data base of material dealing with various aspects of Christian doctrine and the life of the church. . . .  In the passing year of 1998 the activity of the publishing council of the Moscow patriarch has continued to coordinate successfully the work of Orthodox publishing houses in Russia.  In this period about sixty books have passed through the council. . . . In 1998, in cooperation with the 'Book-Service' company the publishing house prepared a second edition of the catalog of Orthodox publications which including books from more than 40 publishing houses of Russia.  The staff of the publishing house takes an active part in various church and public events:  book shows, conferences, interviews with reporters of the church and secular media.

This year marks the fifth year since publication began of the newspaper 'Orthodox Moscow,' which reflects on its pages the church life of Moscow as well as of the Russian Orthodox church as a whole.  The newspaper comes out three times a month in a run of 300,000 copies.  The newspaper is distributed free in churches of Moscow and the region, as well as in other regions of Russia and abroad. Subscription is through Rospechat and free subscriptions are available at the publishing house for invalids and in-service military personnel. . . . The monthly supplements 'Orthodox Pilgrim,' 'The Stairway," and the antisectarian 'Missionary Review' enjoy great popularity. . . . At the present time in connection with the worsening of the economic situation in Russia, the newspaper unfortunately is experience serious financial difficulty.  As a result its staff has been forced to go on unpaid leave while some of them possibly will work in the future on a voluntary basis without pay.  Because of the difficulties with financing, next year the press run of a number of monthly publications will be reduced.  But even then it will not be possible in the future, as previously, to publish the newspaper solely on the means from two Moscow parishes; it will be necessary for other Moscow churches to provide more active help.

One of the new spiritually useful newspapers of Orthodox persuasion is the weekly 'Sunday School' which has been coming out for the last two years and which could serve as a methodological guide for teachers of the Law of God in Sunday and general education schools.  Its pages contain materials under titles 'Spiritual Health,' 'Church Feasts,' 'Patristic Doctrine,' 'The Pedagogical Shop,' 'School of Prayer,' and others.  Many diocesan publications of our church frequently reprint materials from this paper.  Thereby it renders fraternal aid to the diocesan press while offering attractive family reading. . . . For now the 'Sunday School' newspaper still is not well known to the broad circle of Orthodox readers, but it perform quite good service in the Christian education of children and youth. . . .

It is pleasant to note that in the course of the preparation of the new law "On freedom of conscience" and after its adoption, the antisectarian work of our church has been vitalized.  More conferences began to be held on this burning issue, more parishes and deaneries have begun inviting Orthodox specialists to address them and to provide the clergy and active laity of our church with necessary information.  It is a good sign that agencies of the local administration as well as military units and other state educational institutions have begun inviting more often Orthodox specialists on questions of sectarianism.  I would especially like to note the role in this process of the St. Irenaeus of Lyon Information and Consultation Center.

A significant event for us is the appearance of the new Orthodox informational and educational magazine Insight which is a supplement to the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, which I have already mentioned.  The journal began to appear on the initiative of the publications council of our church under the auspices of the St. Irenaeus of Lyons Center.  This is the first time in our country as well as in the whole world that there has been such a complete and profound Orthodox journal on the problems of sectarianism. There is no need to speak of how timely this publication is; at the present time in Russia there are more than 300 periodical publications coming from the sectarians themselves.  The publication of the Insight journal is the first attempt of the Russian Orthodox church to reply to the blatant sectarian monologue which is surrounding our citizens from all sides.  The journal warns its readers against embarking on the false roads of spiritual life. . . .

A weighty contribution in the work of religious education also has been accomplished by the Orthodox 'Radonezh' society, which is currently celebrating its tenth anniversary.  Thousands of children have studied in the 'Saburovo,' 'Krylatskoe,' and 'Yasenevo' Orthodox high schools that have been organized by the Radonezh society.  Tens of thousands of persons have been able to make pilgrimages to sancta because of this society.  For five years now Radonezh has been conducting Christmas parties for Moscow's children. On the feast day of the Annunciation, by Russian tradition, the release of birds has been conducted.  In recent years we have done this on the stairway of the Annunciation cathedral of the Kremlin.  The daily radio programs and weekly newspaper of the same name, Radonezh, enjoy great popularity among Orthodox believers. . . .

We are grateful to all those who are laboring in Christ's field, who sometimes work in most difficult conditions in parishes and monasteries, recovering the damaged and desecrated sancta of our homeland from nonexistence and restoring the former tradition of Orthodox parish and monastic life.  It is our sacred duty to protect the priceless traditions of our Russian Orthodoxy.  Where else is it possible to find such faith, such devotion and confidence in the church and its pastors, and such spiritual unity.  It's always easy to destroy.  For many years in our country they tried to destroy the old world to its foundations, but in destroying the old they persuaded themselves that they were impotent to create anything new that was so hopeful and strong. But even in our own time this attempt to destroy has not let up.

Observing the life of the West, some try to bring many aspects of that life, including religion, into our country, which has its own centuries old traditions and its own experience that has been attested by the lives of many saints.  It is the obligation of every priest not own the preserve these by all means, as our fathers and forefathers preserved them, but also to pass them on to the coming generations in the same wholeness.

Another years in our churchwide  and parish life is coming to an end and all parishes and monasteries, in accordance with their charter, must conduct a review for the past year and submit for our review an annual report.  The deadline for submission of the report is 1 February. Last year because of the currency reform large parishes were given an extension to 15 February for their financial accounts.  This year, since the income of churches has fallen sharply, there is no need to speak of such extensions. . . .

Beginning in 1990 the government of Moscow has given allocated to parishes church building and housing for clergy free of charge and without time limitation.  Recently in the department of property there has appeared a tendency to set time limits on the use of buildings belonging to the church before the revolution. Thus, the parish was restricted in the use of the building of the church of the Presentation of the Icon of the Mother of God in Aksinin to a term of 25 years.  Only as a result of our intervention was the order of the government changed and the parish was permitted unlimited use of the church building.  For some reason, the parish was given only five years' use of the building of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God in Kazach settlement and of the manse and it was authorized to renovate this building.  Unfortunately there are many such instances.  There also has appeared a tendency to restrict parishes in their use of manses and offices are not being granted free of church but on a lease which now has become rather expensive. Thus it is necessary to get the government to allocate buildings to parishes only on the basis of use free of charge and for unlimited time.  If they refuse this, then appeal to the patriarchate and we shall try to help you.

It is also important to try to formalize the ownership of parish buildings.  Now a number of parishes are constructing buildings and offices or they are reconstructing buildings without given necessary attention to formalizing the documents and then they are having difficulties resolving problems.  In accordance with the law and practice established in Moscow, buildings which undergo capital reconstruction, and there are many such structure, and buildings constructed since the war may  be established as the property of the parish.  But for this it is necessary to have three documents:  1) permit for construction or reconstruction; 2) proof of the financing of this work by the parish; 3)  receipt of acceptance of the work.  If these documents do not exist, then in accordance with article 222 of the civil code the parish can establish its right to ownership through the courts.  In doing this you will be adjudicated not by the government of Moscow but only to establish by judicial procedure the identity of the owner.  Again I remind you that if you have difficulty with the return of church buildings and with formalization of property and land rights, don't be idle.  If it is impossible to solve these problems by yourself, appeal for help to the Moscow patriarchate.

The enactment of the federal law "On freedom of conscience and religious associations" required us to reregister with the agencies of justice all the civil charters, including parish and monastery charters as well as the patriarchal and monastery annexes.  In fulfillment of this law, the Russian Orthodox church has already been reregistered with the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation with certificate number one.  In the near future the Moscow diocese will be reregistered, and beginning in January of next year the reregistration of all parishes of Moscow will be set up.  In doing this, first to be registered will be newly established parishes and then, in accordance with an agreement with the administration of justice some kind of order will be established for conducting reregistration of already operating parish churches of Moscow.  First of all this order will be by deanery districts.  Which documents will be required for this will be reported to each parish either by the dean of the district or by the chancellery of the Moscow patriarchate along with the designated date for the reregistration. . . .

In conducting a review of the diocesan life of our capital city for the current year, we cannot fail to notice the great mercies of God which have been  poured out upon us and the whole Russian church in this year.  At the same time we cannot fail to realize that our diocesan life still is a long way from perfection and those shortcomings which we have enumerated are testimony to this.  The chief of them is the great loss of Christ's life which makes possible binding us all in one.

We are getting ever nearer to the celebration of the great bimillennium of Christianity, the coming of our Lord and Savior into the world.  Recalling the great mercy of our God and Creator, who 'so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that all who believe in him will not perish but have everlasting life' (Jn 3.16), we who live in a society surrounded by evil and vice which continually tears us apart cannot fail to recognize that only the all-encompassing mercy and love of God is able to resist that evil which is multiplying so much in our time and is promoting so much division and opposition. And we must not merely recognize it.  Each of us must testify by our own life about our faith just as the Christians in the first centuries testified about it, and in testifying this way we will draw the whole Orthodox church people into the process of preparing for this glorious jubilee which will offer enormous prospects for reviving Christian faith and life and for the Christian mission in this world.  If we fulfill completely our Christian duty and show ourselves to the world as genuine Christians, then our people will be restored and throw off the yoke of sin and unbelief, turn to Christ, and thereby renew and purify their entire lives.  Accordingly 'I beseech you to act worthy of the calling by which you have been called, in all humility and meekness and long-suffering, bearing with one another in love' (Eph 4.1-2).

 (tr. by PDS)