English: Main schisms from the Russian Orthodox Church since its recognition by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1589.
Some churches may have other abreviations (e.g. the ROCOR-A is also called ROCOR-PSCA; the ROCOR (V) is also called ROCiE (V); the ROCOR (M) and the RusOC are sometimes also called ROCOR (V-A) after their respective heads Anthony (Rudey) and Anthony (Orlov), etc.) and other names (e.g. the church of the Lubnyan schism is also called the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church with continuous canonical hierarchy).
Churches whose line is in yellow are churches which left their church for various reasons; churches whose complete line (not just the beginning) are in yellow are churches whose status is too complex for me to retranscribe properly. True Orthodoxy is defined as "traditionalist Eastern Orthodox Churches which have severed communion since the 1920s with the mainstream E. Orthodox Churches for various reasons, such as calendar reform, the involvement of mainstream E. Orthodox Churches in ecumenism, or the refusal to submit to the authority of mainstream E. Orthodox Churches." (source). Churches whose whole lines are in orange left their church to become True Orthodox; churches who split from True Orthodox Churches have the beginning of their line in yellow. In case of doubt concerning the position of a church, it is assumed the church kept the ideology of the church it left.
The name "Mansonville schism", from what I understood, designates both the ROCOR (V) and the events which took place at the Holy Transfiguration skete at Mansonville, Canada (i.e., Vitaly (Ustinov), retired, former First Hierarch of the ROCOR, who was retired at the Holy Transfiguration skete at Mansonville, decided after his resignation that he still was the First Hierarch and established a new Holy Synod and church to rival the ROCOR, see РПЦЗ(В) for more information).
The ROCOR was pretty ambiguous and changed its positions concerning what to think about Ecumenism, sergianism, etc., so it is put in yellow because its positions changed from being closer to True Orthodoxy to accepting to unite with the ROC. ROCOR (V) is True Orthodox from what I can see from this 2002 statement my Met. Vitaly (Ustinov): "Never join the Moscow Patriarchate, which was created by the KGB. Never transfer to the Moscow Patriarchate, which can in no way be called a Church. The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia is the true Church of Christ, only abide to It, confess, take communion, baptize your children, in it for this is the real, Genuine Russian Church." (source) I do not know if the ROCOR (A) is True Orthodox. The Russian True-Orthodox Church (Vyacheslav)/Russian True Orthodox Church - Moscow Metropolia claims to be True Orthodox, but is at the same time pretty liberal. Since I could not find much about it, I left its line in yellow.
I chose to show the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church as a single line, because this is what the English WP article does, althought the situation is more complicated. I also chose to show the ROCOR as one line, despite its situation being more complex (e.g. at one point it joined the Ecumenical Patriarchate).
The claims of the Seraphimo-Guennadite branch of the True Orthodox Church to descend from the ROC are dubious, hence why there is "⸘" (inverted interrobang) next to "1972" and in its circle.
I created the abbreviations "ROCOR V-F (S)" and "ROCOR V-F (R)" out of necessity; I never saw those abbreviations used before.
See also another attempt at: orthodoxie-libre blog
This timeline does not include:
- - the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Synodal Church, as it received autocephaly from the Living Church
- - the ROCA – Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (Diaspora District of the Russian Orthodox Church) (ROCANA, AUROCA (which has as subdivision the AUSTROCA), Vishegorod), a split from ROCOR-A, as there is almost no information on it
- - the Holy Orthodox Church in North America (HOCNA) (also called Panteleimonite Schism): it left the Ecumenical Patriarchate to join the ROCOR, then sources are unclear as to what happened; they are currently autocephalous
- - the Genuine Orthodox Church of America which is a complicated case on which I did not find much information; it also calls itself the "Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church" despite not being part of the other church called the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church which is in the timeline.
- - the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (BAOC), as before the election of Sergius (Okhotenko) (who was from the UAOC) its situation is pretty obscure and confusing, and Sergius (Okhotenko)'s election as head of the BAOC was approved by the UAOC so it is not a direct schism.
- - the Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of North and South America and the British Isles as its situation is pretty obscure and complex
- - the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church Canonical as it apparently comes from the Polish Orthodox Church and I am unable to understand properly how it came to exist as well as its origin
- - the church of Raphael (Potovilov) as well as the church of Vyacheslav (Lisovoy), as their origins are obscure and they do not have much notability
- - the Russian True Orthodox Church (Raphaelites): I found nothing sourced on it, and very few on its head, Рафаил (Мотовилов)
- - the far-right religious group Russian Catacomb Church of True Orthodox Christians (led currently by Ambrose von Sievers): few information concerning its origins, very small church
- - the Holy Synod of Milan as it comes from the Greek Auxentios Synod
- - the Russian Orthodox Church in America: its origin is unknown, and its notability is pretty low
- - the Holy Governing Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church of Diomid (Dzyuban): it was very small and there is very few information on it and its successors
- - the Kharkiv-Poltava Diocese of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (renewed): it is too small as it is just a diocese; it joined the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in 2020
- - the Apostolic Orthodox Church: too few information on it
- - the Latvian Orthodox Church: the situation is unclear, and if there was any autocephaly it happened in 2022 anyway.
- - groups which have left groups which have previously left Eastern orthodoxy (e.g. the Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church)
- - Old Believer groups, as apparently there is so many of those groups that they are worth their own, separate timeline
