Delegation from the Russian Orthodox Church

This past October, when I stood before over 600 Presbyterians who had gathered in Louisville for the Mission Celebration ’07, I felt as though the Mission Yearbook had come alive.

I had that same sensation again this week when I welcomed to my office a delegation from the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). Their arrival marked the first time in over a decade that a Russian Orthodox delegation has formally visited the Presbyterian Center.

Their primary reason for coming to the United States this month is to see models for halfway ministry and to deepen their understanding of methodologies that will help to transition clients from the Russian Orthodox rehabilitation centers back to urban life.

Father Mefodii Kondrateev, Abbott of St. George’s parish/monastery on the banks of the Volga River and director of a drug rehabilitation center, told us that the church in Russia has had a long history of providing social services, a role which was lost during Communism. He stressed how important it is now for the church to reestablish its historic role in rehabilitation. Another member of the delegation, Father Sergei Goncharov, a parish priest in the village of Grigoyevo, is a founder of an AIDS hotline in the Ivanovo region and also serves there as director of a rehabilitation center.

One of our PC(USA) mission co-workers in Moscow, Ellen Smith, is with the group, accompanying them as they visit sites in Kentucky, Texas, and Pennsylvania. Forging partnerships and making connections is a specialty of Ellen’s. She reminded us that what we have in common more than outweighs our differences.

Margarita Nelyubova, who serves on the staff of the Department of External Relations of the ROC, expressed gratitude for the humanitarian assistance that Presbyterians provide through the Boots for Children program. Gifts to this project provide warm boots and other clothing for the children and adults in the frozen extremes of Russia. Wouldn’t a gift to this program make a marvelous alternative Christmas gift?

It is so often said that to be Presbyterian is to be ecumenical. I believe this in my heart. My friend and colleague, Cliff Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, recently told a group of ecumenical leaders that maintaining the church’s historic leadership in ecumenism “will require a major reorientation and recommitment” to the world ecumenical movement. May that recommitment begin with each and every one of us.