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…