PRAVMIR. June 18, 2012. The Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia has chosen the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov in Sea Cliff, NY, to be the memorial church in honor of the reunification between the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Moscow Patriarchate. A corresponding gramota will be issued to the clergy and parishioners of the church on August 1, the feast day of St. Seraphim of Sarov.
The church’s frescoes, from the narthex to the main cupola, will depict the thousand-year history of the Russian Orthodox Church from the Baptism of Rus’ to the signing of the Act of Canonical Communion in Moscow. Work on the frescoes has not yet been completed. The frescoes will depict the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called; Saints Vladimir and Olga, the Equals-to-the-Apostles; saints of Kiev and Muscovite Rus’; saints of the Synodal period; His Holiness, Patriarch Tikhon; the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia; and the patron saints of those who worked for the unity.
The Act of Canonical Communion between the two parts of the Russian Orthodox Church was signed on May 17, 2007, by the late Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia and the late Metropolitan Laurus, First Hierarch of the Church Abroad