New Samizdat Journal Reports Death of Catacomb Bishop

     Keston reports that on July 31 a press conference took place in Moscow to launch a new samizdat journal devoted to Church matters and spiritual life. The first issue of the new publication, Christian Community Bulletin, is over 100 pages long and contains news of the repose on Jan. 2, 1987, of 33 year-old Bishop Vladimir (secular name Vadim Abramov) of the True Orthodox (Catacomb) Church. The Bulletin reports that the bishop died “kneeling in prayer before the icons in the church at Georgevsk, Krasnodar region.” The cause of death is not stated. Bishop Vladimir was consecrated by the late catacomb Metropolitan Gennadi and Bishop (now Metropolitan) Theodosius who is currently the chief hierarch of the Catacomb Church. According to the Bulletin, the True Orthodox Church (which recognizes neither the Soviet State nor the authority of thc Moscow Patriarchate) is seeking admission into the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. (KNS #281. 282:8/6 and 8/20/87)