ROCOR and the OCA (etc.)

I had an interesting conversation after liturgy today with a friend of mine. I started to mention the idea of a parish pilgrimage to the relics of St. John in San Francisco and inserted "since we will soon be in communion with ROCOR" or words to that effect at the beginning of the sentence. I got cut off and a discussion quickly ensued over whether we will in fact be in communion with ROCOR (we being the OCA but it could apply to all of the other canonical jurisdictions).

He seemed to feel that ROCOR would not be in communion with anyone that they were not comfortable with. I replied that ROCOR was not entering communion with Moscow as an autocephalous church. They were restoring the bonds of the once undivided Russian Orthodox Church. And while they will enjoy a fairly broad degree of administrative autonomy they will be part of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, and under the Patriarch of Moscow, not merely in communion with him as a separate church. Thus logically they will be in communion with whoever the MP is in communion with. An email from one of the Orthodox E-Lists I belong to came in tonight and seems to affirm my view of things. The relevant portion is below.

...As it is, under the Act of Canonical Communion, ROCA is quite clearly once more part of the Patriarchate of Moscow and, by definition, in communion with whomsoever the Patriarchate is in communion.

This Act is a resumption of the former unity, in which ROCA is subordinate to its own patriarchate. Our bishops will not have the freedom to choose not to be in communion with those with whom our Patriarchate is in communion. To do so would be uncanonical.

Fr Ambrose (ROCOR)

As an afterthought I should point out that this does not mean that anyone who is Orthodox will automatically be able to commune the Holy Mysteries in a ROCOR parish. The same basic rule applies there as with all Orthodox jurisdictions outside of your own. If you want to commune, you need to check with the priest before hand and be sure you meet whatever disciplines are observed in preparation for taking Holy Communion within the jurisdiction/parish you're visiting.