Russian catechism delayed, may be split into three books

(ROC) - In his address at the Bishops’ Council that opened in Moscow on 29 November 2017, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia focused, among other things, on the preparation of the Catechesis of the Russian Orthodox Church.

“From all evidence, this task requires more time than was expected,” His Holiness said, “Following up the decision of the last year’s Council, the text was sent to all the hierarchs who had expressed their wish to take part in reviewing it, as well as to the synodal and leading theological educational institutions. Then the text was amended, based on the comments that had been made. For instance, taking into consideration the specific character of Catechesis as a genre, excluded were those fragments in which some debatable theological issues were discussed. Besides, the text was published for wide discussion, and its term has not expired yet.”

As His Holiness Patriarch Kirill noted, the text prepared by the Biblical and Theological Commission is too long and consists of the following three parts: basics of the Orthodox doctrine, basics of the moral teaching of the Russian Orthodox Church, and the major principles of the canonical and liturgical organization of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Primate of the Russian Church suggested that after all amendments had been made, three separate catechetical texts might be created and published on behalf of the Synodal Biblical and Theological Commission.