Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) of Leningrad and Ladoga passed away on this day in 1978. The figure of Metropolitan Nikodim is comparable to another Metropolitan, a saint of the Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox Churches, Peter (Mohyla, +1647) of Kiev. Metropolitan Peter’s view of Roman Catholics differed from today’s mainstream view of them in many parts of the ROCOR. Viewed, for example, through the lens of his adaptation of Catholic liturgical rites in his famous trebnik (‘Book of Needs’), he might be termed ‘Philocatholic’. However, if one had called Metropolitan Peter Latin-minded in his presence, he would likely have reacted with surprise, because he spent his life promoting education within the Orthodox Church and boosting its status before the Polish authorities. Similarly, Metropolitan Nikodim, who passed away at a reception with Pope John Paul I in the Vatican on September 5, 1978, did much for the Russian Church. He succeeded in repopulating the declining St. Panteleimon Monastery with monks from the Soviet Union. Two other Russian monastic houses, St. Andrew’s Skete and St. Elajah’s Skete, refused to do business with the "Soviet Church." Eventually, their property was lost to the Russian Church. Another significant achievement of Metropolitan Nikodim was to lead the negotiations between the Soviet state and the North American Metropolia in the process of granting autocephaly to the latter. The last fifty years have demonstrated that the Orthodox Church in America has a mission of its own here. At the same time, the Japanese Church, which had been handed over to the Metropolia after the American occupation of Japan, was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. At the same time, Metropolitan Nikodim had a strong affection for Roman Catholicism, to the point that he persuaded the Synod of the Russian Church decided in 1969 to provide “Eucharistic hospitality” to Russian Roman Catholics who did not have access to the sacrament within Russia. As head of the Department for External Church Relations from 1960–1972, he was responsible for ecumenical contacts between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Roman Catholic Church, and he spent much time in Rome. The extent and nature of his ‘philocatholic’ attitudes have drawn controversy within the Russian Church. Relevant Links Resolution of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. 1971. Historical Studies of the Russian Church Abroad Archimandrite Robert Taft, “Are You Part of the Problem, or Are You Part of the Solution?” | 
