Communiqué of the Diocesan Administration of September 10, 2019

An extraordinary general meeting of our Archdiocese was held on Saturday, September 7, 2019 to discuss the future of the Archdiocese, in accordance with Article 34 of the Statutes.

After the presentation of different points of view, the following question was put to the vote:

“Do you accept the act of canonical attachment of the Archdiocese to the Moscow Patriarchate as presented in the published document? “.

– On 186 ballot papers, there were 6 blank ballot papers and 1 draw, ie 179 votes cast valid.

– 104 replied yes (ie 58.1% of valid votes cast),

– On 75 the answer was no (ie 41.9% of valid votes cast),

Even if a clear majority voted in favour of the proposal of canonical attachment to the Moscow Patriarchate, it is not sufficient under article 35 of the statutes concerning the validity of the deliberations of the Extraordinary General Assemblies, which specifies, “the deliberations must be approved by a majority of two-thirds of the valid ballot papers”.

The administration council will soon examine the follow-up to be given to the situation thus created.