Recently the OCA issued a statement regarding the liturgical service of girls in the altar.

The text below was originally sent as an email to members. The main response was submitted to the OCA for publication in their newspaper. It was not published. Since there did/does not seem to be any formal mechanism to let the hierarchy know the thoughts and feelings of those in their flock, we have collected a number of responses to this policy that are included. (We had asked for anonymous submissions but some people included their names so they were included in the composite response. In general, they have not been edited.) They represent the thoughts and in some cases, frustrations of many regarding this issue.

Dear Metropolitan Laurus, Archbishops and Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia,

Christ is Risen! We ask for your blessings and that you hear the concerns of many women of the church. The commencement of the All-Diaspora Council on the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women - without the participation of women - has left many of us with a personal spiritual pain and desire to express our views.

Elisabeth Behr-Sigel has been referred to as a "mother of the Church" in and for our time. Born in 1907, she was a living memory of the Church in the 20th century. Baptized into the Protestant Church, Madame Behr-Sigel heard the call to follow Jesus at an early age. She followed this call and was one of the first women students of theology in France, graduating from the University of Strasbourg. After graduation she served as the pastor of a country parish in the Reformed Church for one year.