After 60 years of separation from the Patriarchate of Romania, representatives of the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America – His Eminence Archbishop Nathaniel, Very Rev. Frs. Laurence Lazar, Remus Grama, Catalin Mitescu, Ian Pac-Urar, and Romey Rosco – met at the Patriarchal Palace in Bucharest, on February 25-27, 2008, with representatives of the Patriarchate of Romania – His Eminence Archbishop Nifon, His Eminence Archbishop Nicolae, His Grace Bishop Ciprian Câmpineanul, Very Rev. Frs. Mircea Ut¸a˜ and Ioan Armas¸i – with the intent of seeking a historical reconciliation, and have jointly agreed to acknowledge the following realities:

1) The break between the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America – the historical diocese of Bishop Policarp (Morus¸ca) – and the Patriarchate of Romania was the result of the instauration of the communist regime in Romania, and expressed the will of its faithful and of the 1947 Episcopate Congress, whom that Congress officially represented. Given its unrestricted freedom in the free world, the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America acted in accordance with its duty to denounce, to reject with the utmost clarity, and to disassociate itself from the evils of atheistic communism, which had separated the diocese both from its Mother Church and from Bishop Policarp, of thrice-blessed memory, whom the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America continued to acknowledge as its ruling hierarch up to the time of his falling asleep in the Lord (1958).

2) The Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America, rejecting communism, found itself compelled to sever its canonical ties to the Patriarchate of Romania, conscious of the fact that, by doing so, it was defending the faith and identity of the Romanian Orthodox community on the North American continent, particularly in those days when the interference of the communist government of Romania in the life of the Church was blatantly evident.

3) Under the critical and dramatic circumstances of those times, when Bishop Policarp was held against his will in Romania, Vicar Bishop Valerian (Trifa) dutifully sought a solution that preserved the canonicity of the Episcopate, taking the best possible course of action available in those particularly difficult times.

4) The Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America never rejected or denied the Patriarchate of Romania as its Mother Church but, given the reality of the "Iron Curtain," the only remaining means for her canonical survival was to affiliate canonically with the "Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of North and South America" (known as the "Metropolia," which eventually became the Orthodox Church in America). Within the OCA, the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America always maintained the status of an administratively autonomous diocese.

5) The Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America recognizes that the hierarchs and faithful of the Church of Romania suffered and struggled greatly through the terrible, unprecedented circumstances of the communist oppression. But the actions of the communist government of those times also imposed great suffering on the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America, as well as upon her hierarchs of thrice-blessed memory: Bishop Policarp and Archbishop Valerian, Confessors of the Faith, who were persecuted, slandered and marginalized.

6) We happily note that, after the fall of the communist regime, the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Romania recognized, in 1991, the canonicity of the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America, and the apostolic succession of her hierarchs. Since that time our relationship has been marked by fraternal dialogue and liturgical concelebration with the Patriarchate of Romania as well as with the hierarchs and clergy of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of the two Americas, by exchanges of hierarchal visits, and by very significant aid provided to Romania through the efforts of the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America.

7) On the basis of the above acknowledgements, we ask each other for mutual forgiveness, in the name of our predecessors, for any ways in which we may have offended one another, and we ask Almighty God to bless us, and to guide us on the path toward a common vision of the Romanian Orthodox presence in America, and toward the strengthening of the unity of all Orthodox people on the North American continent.

8) Having recognized the errors of the past, and having asked each other for mutual forgiveness, the representatives of the Patriarchate of Romania and those of the ROEA express their sincere desire for the realization of the unity of all Romanian Orthodox on the American continent, in a canonical relationship with Church of Romania.

Order of Corporate Reunion