The document was adopted at the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church on July 19, 2023.

1. The bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, gathered at the head of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia in the monastery of the hegumen of the Land of Russia, the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh, offer thanksgiving to God, glorified in the Holy Trinity, for His all-good Providence for the Church and His people, visibly working in the present difficult times, when those who want to fight have turned against Holy Russia, wishing to divide and destroy its united people (from the prayer for Holy Russia).

2. The calamities experienced by our peoples prompt all faithful children of the Church to strengthen their prayer to God, to strengthen their faith in Him, to persevere in the hope of His mercy and intercession, to grow in love for Him and for their neighbors.

3. We are deeply saddened by the news of those killed and wounded as a result of the military confrontation, those who have lost their homes, and refugees. May the Lord rest the souls of all those killed in the days of the current war. To those who mourn He will give comfort, to the destitute He will send from His bounty all good things for their needs. By the grace of God, many people – clergy and laymen, statesmen and simple laborers – have shown true Christian love in the present circumstances, uniting to help the needy and suffering as much as they can. May the Lord reward them both in this century and in the next.

4. With a special feeling the participants of the Bishops’ Meeting offer their prayers to God for the military leaders and soldiers. May the Lord preserve them from wounds, captivity and death, and protect them from all evil, sin and unrighteousness. May the souls of the soldiers who laid down their lives for the faith and the Fatherland on the battlefield, who died of wounds or were tortured in bitter captivity, rest in His villages. Eternal memory to them.

5. Warriors involved in combat operations need special pastoral attention and care. Clergy sent to serve in the combat zone must undergo thorough training, and diocesan bishops are called upon to ensure that such family clerics maintain their income in the parishes to which they are assigned.

The pastoral involvement of clergy in the rehabilitation of soldiers returning from combat is also important. In accordance with centuries of pastoral practice, the teaching of the Blessed Sacrament may be restricted because of participation in hostilities for a period of repentance only after individual consideration of the situation by the pastor and in special cases, for example, when a soldier has committed war crimes that have resulted in the loss of life, or when it may help to heal spiritual wounds.

6. Today on Ukrainian soil the state power has revealed itself to be the direct heir of the Bolshevik God-fighters and is erecting persecutions against the Orthodox Church. Faithful children of the Church are expelled from churches, hierarchs, clergy and lay people are subjected to unjust arrests and dishonorable trials, shrines are desecrated and plundered. Particularly bitter are the news that clergy and laity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are being forced to renounce God’s truth and pushed into schism. The participants of the Bishops’ Meeting call for fervent prayer for the Orthodox brothers and sisters in Ukraine, for those who, in spite of threats, slander and persecution, strive to preserve the Church’s unity, and especially for those who show a truly confessional feat, courageously raising their voices in defense of this unity. Long live Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod and Chernobyl, who is currently in prison, and all confessor hierarchs who are undergoing criminal persecution for the faith and the Church!

7. The Council of Bishops regretfully states that one of the instruments of political forces hostile to Orthodoxy has become the leaders of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, blinded by a thirst for the satisfaction of private interests and ambitions. Having considered the conclusion presented by the Synodal Biblical Theological Commission “On the distortion of the Orthodox teaching on the Church in the acts of the hierarchy of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the speeches of its representatives”, the participants of the Synod of Bishops agree with the conclusions of this document and submit it to the Holy Synod for approval.

8. Noting that in the current troubling conditions people especially need the comfort and kind attention of shepherds, the Bishops’ Meeting calls on all bishops and presbyters of the Russian Orthodox Church to unceasing pastoral labor, to attentiveness to parishioners, to multiplication of efforts to educate the people, and on church children to active participation in the liturgical, social and charitable life of parish communities. Diocesan bishops are called upon to care deeply for the needs of the clergy and parish workers entrusted to them.

9. The Council of Bishops once again emphasizes the need for careful preparation of candidates for the priestly ministry. It is necessary, according to the words of the holy Apostle, to lay hands on no one hastily (cf. 1 Tim. 5:22), to test candidates for the sacred ministry, to prepare them properly for the vocation before them, and to observe with special attention the first steps of newly ordained clerics. Noting with satisfaction the ongoing Church-wide work to improve the educational level of the clergy, the Synod of Bishops asks the Holy Synod to consider the possibility of merging existing clergy educational institutions for more effective further work on the education and upbringing of future pastors. In doing so, the rules established by the Holy Synod (Journal No. 112 of August 30, 2019) regarding the distribution of graduates to the dioceses from which they were sent for training must be carefully observed.

10. The participants of the Bishops’ Meeting in the House of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity at the sacred tomb of St. Sergius of Radonezh, abiding in love for one another and in unanimity, pray with faith and hope to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Who is able to heal every affliction, to comfort every sorrow, and to grant His people deep and inalienable peace. May the Lord and God protect the Russian Church and all her ministers: archpastors, reverent shepherds and deacons, pious monks and nuns, faithful laity, and may He send His people abundant graces, “that we may grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and to him to the day eternal. Amen” (2 Peter 3:1).