Since its inception as an independent
jurisdiction in 1920, ROCOR had at
least five key tasks: 1) pastoral care for
the refugees of the diaspora; 2) preservation
of church tradition; 3) giving
witness to human rights abuses; 4) political
resistance to communism; and
5) missionary outreach—this last task
an unexpected burden. A brief look at
each of these follows. This article concludes
by suggesting that the first and
last of these tasks may jointly offer a
path to the future for ROCOR.
