The ROCOR Bishop Council, which established the ROCOR’s current church governance, convened in Sremski Karlovci, Serbia, from August 31 to September 14, 1922. The frontlines of the Civil War divided the Russian Church through the unique experiences of those on either side. Those сhurchmen who found themselves in the capitals controlled by the Bolsheviks had to adapt to their new reality. Those beyond the frontlines had to confront the trauma of losing their homeland, relatives, and loved ones and becoming political refugees. Throughout history, two mindsets have competed with each other within the Russian Church Abroad. These patterns are still with us today. The first of these emphasizes the apparent superiority of the part of the Russian Church outside of Russia; this has at times had the potential to spill over into schism. The second is more philosophical and less categorial, yet one doesn’t ‘get a kick out of it’ quite so easily. The 1917–1918 All-Russian Council classified monarchist views as political. Contrary to this opinion, the All-Diaspora Council of 1921 made a declaration on the restoration of the House of Romanov in Russia. The Soviet secret police required Patriarch Tikhon to respond to this. As a result, in May 1922, he issued a decree on the dissolution of the Supreme Church Authority Abroad established at the All-Diaspora Council in Serbia, ‘in the light of the explicit political pronouncements admitted by the Supreme Russian Church Administration Abroad […]’ The discussions on September 1, 1922, at the Council in Serbia represented this mindset of superiority. In his report to the Secretary of the Council of the Supreme Church Administration Abroad (SCAA), Eksakustodian I. Makharoblidze suggested that not following Patriarch Tikhon’s decree was to defend the unity of the Russian Church in the homeland and in the diaspora. Makharoblidze disagreed with Patriarch Tikhon regarding the responsibility of the SCAA for political encyclicals since they had been adopted by a majority of the Council’s members. Having admitted the possibility that Patriarch Tikhon was guilty of encroaching on the conciliarity of the Church by issuing his decree, Makharoblidze pointed to the different circumstances of the Church in the homeland and in the diaspora and suggested that the SCAA should not obey the decree, especially given the Renovationist schism. The next day saw an instance of the second attitude. Upon his arrival on September 2, 1922, Archbishop Anastasii (Gribanovskii) of Kishinev and Khotyn drew attention to the fact that the decree allowed the matter to be considered further: ‘temporarily keeping the Russian parishes abroad under the governance of Metropolitan Evlogii, and entrust[ing] him with the task of drawing up schemes [emphasis mine —A. P.] for the governance of these churches’. As a result, on September 2, 1922, the Council decreed as follows: - In executing Decree No. 348 of April 22/May 5 of the current year of His Holiness, the Most Holy Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow and All Russia and the Holy Synod under him, to dissolve the extant Supreme Russian Church Governance Abroad;
- In order to organize a new Supreme Church Authority, to call a Russian All-Diaspora Church Synod on November 21 (o.s.) 1922;
- With the aim of retaining the lawful succession of Supreme Church Governance, to form a temporary Synod of Bishops Abroad with the mandatory participation of Metropolitan Evlogii, and to entrust this same Synod with all the rights and prerogatives of the Supreme Russian Church Governance Abroad;
- To set the number of bishops in the Synod at five;
- For the above-named Synod to take the necessary measures for the convocation of the Russian All-Diaspora Church Council (Minutes No. 1. of the session of the Synod of Russian Orthodox Bishops abroad in Sremski Karlovci, at which was discussed the Decree of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon.
This is how the ‘temporary’ Synod of Bishops, which still exists today, was initially founded. Sources
Andrei A. Kostriukov, Russkaia Zarubezhnaia Tserkov' v pervoi polovine 1920-kh godov [The Russian Church Abroad in the first half of 1920s]. Moscow, 2007 Relevant Links Archbishop Anastassii (Gribanovskii), “Letters to G. N. Troubetskoy and to G. P. Fedotov” Historical Studies of the Russian Church Abroad Protodeacon Andrei Psarev, “The Historical Conteхt of the Adoption of Saint Tikhon's Decree of May 5, 1922: Dissolving the Supreme Church Governance Abroad” Academia.edu Priest Peter James, “Monarchy and Politics in the Foundation of the Russian Church Abroad” Historical Studies of the Russian Church Abroad Yu. A. Biriukova, “The Influence of Political Forces on the Activity of the Southwestern Church Council and the First Russian All-Diaspora Church Council (1919-1921)” Historical Studies of the Russian Church Abroad | 
