Regarding:



>Father, I was not aware of this statement - can you provide more
>information on the occasion of these remarks, and if possible, a
>translation of the text?
>
>James Baglien
>Corvallis, OR

Sure, James.

Here are some quotes from an interview of the head of the MP, Alexis II,
given to "Izvestia" No 137, June 10, 1991, entitled "Patriarch Alexis II:
-- I Take upon Myself Responsibility for All that Happened":

=============================


Pat A.: "Being a person of the Church, I must take on myself responsibility
for all that occurred in the life of my Church: not only for the good, but
also for the difficult, the sorrowful, the erroneous."

Regarding the 1927 Declaration of Metropolitan Sergius:

Pat. A.: "Today we can say that falsehood is interspersed in his
Declaration, which stated as its goal 'placing the Church into proper
relations with the Soviet government.' But these relations--and in the
Declaration they are clearly defined as the submission of the Church to the
interests of governmental politics--are exactly those which are incorrect
from the point of view of the Church."

And, regarding the statements and activities of the Moscow Patriarchate
during the time of the oppression of the Church:

Pat. A.: "Of people, then, to whom these compromises, silence, forced
passivity or expressions of loyalty that were permitted by the Church
leadership in those days, have caused pain -- of these people, not only
before God, but also before them, I ask forgiveness, understanding, and
prayers."




With love in Christ,

Prot. Alexander Lebedeff