ABSTRACT
The model presents the canonization agents and the order of the canonization process. The main step in the canonization process occurs when local proposers decide to send material to their local diocesan canonization commission. When the Bishop's Council of 1992 canonized the first nine new martyrs and confessors, the canonization act had an entire section dedicated to the establishment of diocesan canonization commissions. The act stated that the Bishops' Council decided to 'form canonization commissions in all dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) to collect and study material for the canonization of ascetics of faith and piety, particularly martyrs and confessors of the 20th century'. ROC statutes determine that the Holy Synod may 'establish commissions or other working groups concerned with various topics which are of vital importance to the Church'. The opposing sides in the canonization controversy seem to disagree, or perhaps to misunderstand each other, at a fundamental level.
