The head of the Archdiocese of Russian Tradition Parishes in Western Europe, Metropolitan John (Renneto) of Dubna, spoke about the modern life of the Archdiocese, and also shared his opinion about the sad misunderstanding between the Archdiocese and the Russian Church Abroad (ROCOR) that arose at the end of last year. Excerpts from the interview were published by the Khrizma Center.

“Unfortunately, today we see a certain tension in relations with the Church Abroad. We do not have any problems with the Moscow Patriarchate, there are absolutely brotherly relations. There are some difficulties in relations with the Church Abroad, which, for example, does not support our presence in Germany .

Metropolitan Mark made several statements that completely stunned us. We do not oppose someone or something, we are open. If there are communities that want to become part of the Archdiocese, we accept them. We had problems in England because the bishop of the Church Abroad did not agree with what the Archdiocese was doing,” Metropolitan John said.

According to the head of the Archdiocese, sooner or later the presence of all the structures of the Russian Orthodox Church in Western Europe “should take shape in some kind of unity.”

Recall that the Archdiocese of the Western European parishes of the Russian tradition in 2019 reunited with the Russian Orthodox Church, leaving the jurisdiction of the schismatic Patriarchate of Constantinople.