Some Problems of Reception of Canonization of Saints at the Present Stage

Abstract

The report is devoted to a description of some of the legal problems and conflicts that arose in the 2nd half of the 20th century in the question of veneration of locally venerated saints. The report examines the cases of saints glorified without the direct sanction of the Primate of the Autocephalous Church — primarily canonizations performed within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, as well as canonizations performed in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia in the days of separation from the Church in the Fatherland; as well as contemporary veneration of saints (predominantly ancient, including those of pre-Mongolian and Mongolian times), whose canonizations were not issued by a separate name decree of the highest church authority, but whose names under Patriarchs Alexy I, Pimen, and Alexy II were included in the cathedral commemorations.