Hundreds attend funeral for head of Russian Orthodox Church Offshoot
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JORDANVILLE, N.Y. - Hundreds of people gathered Friday morning for the funeral of a man who played a key role healing an 80-year-old schism in the Russian Orthodox Church.
Metropolitan Laurus, head of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, was found dead Sunday in his residence at the Holy Trinity Monastery in rural Jordanville, N.Y., about 60 miles northwest of Albany. 80-year-old had reported feeling ill for several days. Dozens of priests and bishops packed the candlelit front room of the cathedral at the Holy Trinity Monastery for the divine liturgy and funeral service, dressed in ornate purple vestments to symbolize mourning.Members of clergy read from sacred texts and recited numerous incantations in a nearly four-hour traditional Russian Orthodox ceremony conducted mainly in old church Slavonic, the Eastern Orthodox Church's liturgical language that incorporates singing, chanting and call-and-response. The lavish ceremony on the holy day of Good Friday was held around an open casket in the center of the incense-filled room. Laurus was born Vasily Skurla in Czechoslovakia in 1928. He joined a local monastery at age 11, and in 1946 he emigrated with other monks to New York's Mohawk Valley. He was admitted to the monastic life two years later and was renamed Laurus. In 1954, he was ordained as a priest and consecrated bishop in 1967.
In October 2001, Archbishop Laurus was elected by the Synod of Bishops _ the Orthodox church's ruling body _ to be the fifth Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. He also continued to be the superior of Holy Trinity Monastery. "We lost a remarkable person. This was a living saint with whom we could spend time with. On the other hand, we gained an intercessor in the other world," said Father Serafim Gan, Laurus' personal secretary.
Funeral attendees included Orthodox leaders from around the U.S. and Canada, representatives from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and Metropolitan Juvenaly, a leader of the Moscow Patriarchate. Among those who delivered eulogies were Mitred Protopriest George Larin of the Holy Virgin Protection Church in Nyack, N.Y., and Bishop Onufry of Kiev from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. A rift in the Russian Orthodox Church came after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, an offshoot set up abroad, cut off all ties in 1927 after Moscow Patriarch Sergiy declared loyalty to the Communist government. Reunification talks began after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Laurus and Moscow Patriarch Alexy II signed a reunification pact in May 2007 at a televised ceremony attended by President Vladimir Putin and a throng of worshippers in Moscow's vast Christ the Savior Cathedral.
The reunion pact wasn't a merger, according to Laurus, and his branch has maintained administrative control over its more than 400 parishes worldwide. Each church maintains its own council of bishops, but priests can participate and lead Mass in both churches. The New York-based church has 480,000 U.S. members. "He was able to love everyone, and to forgive everyone," said Archpriest Gregory Naumenko of the Holy Protection Russian Orthodox Church in Rochester after the funeral. "In our particular parish, he was the spirit behind it for many years and inspired us to build a beautiful new temple." After the funeral, Laurus' casket was carried around the cathedral three times before proceeding to the tomb where he will be buried. He left no immediate survivors. Following a 40-day mourning period, the church's ruling body _ the Synod of Bishops _ will get together to decide who will be the next leader.
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Metropolitan Laurus, head of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, was found dead Sunday in his residence at the Holy Trinity Monastery in rural Jordanville, N.Y., about 60 miles northwest of Albany. 80-year-old had reported feeling ill for several days. Dozens of priests and bishops packed the candlelit front room of the cathedral at the Holy Trinity Monastery for the divine liturgy and funeral service, dressed in ornate purple vestments to symbolize mourning.Members of clergy read from sacred texts and recited numerous incantations in a nearly four-hour traditional Russian Orthodox ceremony conducted mainly in old church Slavonic, the Eastern Orthodox Church's liturgical language that incorporates singing, chanting and call-and-response. The lavish ceremony on the holy day of Good Friday was held around an open casket in the center of the incense-filled room. Laurus was born Vasily Skurla in Czechoslovakia in 1928. He joined a local monastery at age 11, and in 1946 he emigrated with other monks to New York's Mohawk Valley. He was admitted to the monastic life two years later and was renamed Laurus. In 1954, he was ordained as a priest and consecrated bishop in 1967.
In October 2001, Archbishop Laurus was elected by the Synod of Bishops _ the Orthodox church's ruling body _ to be the fifth Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. He also continued to be the superior of Holy Trinity Monastery. "We lost a remarkable person. This was a living saint with whom we could spend time with. On the other hand, we gained an intercessor in the other world," said Father Serafim Gan, Laurus' personal secretary.
Funeral attendees included Orthodox leaders from around the U.S. and Canada, representatives from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and Metropolitan Juvenaly, a leader of the Moscow Patriarchate. Among those who delivered eulogies were Mitred Protopriest George Larin of the Holy Virgin Protection Church in Nyack, N.Y., and Bishop Onufry of Kiev from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. A rift in the Russian Orthodox Church came after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, an offshoot set up abroad, cut off all ties in 1927 after Moscow Patriarch Sergiy declared loyalty to the Communist government. Reunification talks began after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Laurus and Moscow Patriarch Alexy II signed a reunification pact in May 2007 at a televised ceremony attended by President Vladimir Putin and a throng of worshippers in Moscow's vast Christ the Savior Cathedral.
The reunion pact wasn't a merger, according to Laurus, and his branch has maintained administrative control over its more than 400 parishes worldwide. Each church maintains its own council of bishops, but priests can participate and lead Mass in both churches. The New York-based church has 480,000 U.S. members. "He was able to love everyone, and to forgive everyone," said Archpriest Gregory Naumenko of the Holy Protection Russian Orthodox Church in Rochester after the funeral. "In our particular parish, he was the spirit behind it for many years and inspired us to build a beautiful new temple." After the funeral, Laurus' casket was carried around the cathedral three times before proceeding to the tomb where he will be buried. He left no immediate survivors. Following a 40-day mourning period, the church's ruling body _ the Synod of Bishops _ will get together to decide who will be the next leader.
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