The Moscow Council (1917–1918) : The Creation of the Conciliar Institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church

"By the early twentieth century, a genuine renaissance of religious thought and a desire for ecclesial reform were emerging in the Russian Orthodox Church. With the end of tsarist rule and widespread dissatisfaction with government control of all aspects of church life, conditions were ripe for the Moscow Council of 1917-1918 to come into being. The council was a major event in the history of the Orthodox Church. After years of struggle for reform against political and ecclesiastical resistance, the bishops, clergy, monastics, and laity who formed the Moscow Council were able to listen to one other and make sweeping decisions intended to renew the Russian Orthodox Church. Council members sought change in every imaginable area―from seminaries and monasteries, to parishes and schools, to the place of women in church life and governance. Like Vatican II, the Moscow Council emphasized the mission of the church in and to the world. Destivelle’s study not only discusses the council and its resolutions but also provides the historical, political, social, and cultural context that preceded the council. In the only comprehensive and probing account of the council, he discusses its procedures and achievements, augmented by substantial appendices of translated conciliar documents. Tragically, due to the Revolution, the council's decisions could not be implemented to the extent its members hoped. Despite current trends in the Russian church away from the Moscow Council’s vision, the council’s accomplishments remain as models for renewal in the Eastern churches." -- From Amazon Cover Half title Title page Copyright CONTENTS DETAILED TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THE APPENDICES FOREWORD TO THE FRENCH EDITION PREFACE TO THE FRENCH EDITION INTRODUCTION PART 1: THE COUNCIL’S ORIGINS PART 2: TOWARDS THE COUNCIL, 1905– 1917 PART 3: THE COUNCIL ITSELF PART 4: THE DECREES OF THE COUNCIL Chapter 1: The Conciliar Organization of the Church Chapter 2: Pastoral Activity and Discipline in the Church Chapter 3: The Church, the State, and the Revolution PART 5: THE APPLICATION AND RECEPTION OF THE DECREES OF THE COUNCIL APPENDIX I APPENDIX II ADDENDUM OF SELECTED RECENT SCHOLARSHIP NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX This study is an examination of the historic All-Russia Church Council of 1917–1918 that marked both the culmination and the beginning of a new epoch in modern Russian Orthodoxy.