Without any warning, the Russian Orthodox Church was hit by a kind of earthquake last week: the second most powerful church dignitary after the patriarch, 55-year-old Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeev, who had headed the Moscow Patriarchate’s external relations department since 2009, was arrested at a regular meeting of the Holy Synod of the ROK was relieved of his office without further explanation and sent abroad without any thanks for his many years of service.
Ukraine war splits Russian Orthodox Church – culture
