Source: Novaya Gazeta The Russian Orthodox Church’s supreme administrative body has decided to remove the scandal-prone head of its Budapest and Hungarian Diocese, the church’s Holy Synod announced on Friday. Grigory Alfeyev, who took the religious name Metropolitan Hilarion, was temporarily suspended by the body in July following an investigation by Novaya Gazeta Europe that uncovered evidence of misconduct in both his financial and personal affairs. As the head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department of External Church Relations since 2009, Hilarion had been touted as a possible successor to Patriarch Kirill, the current head of the church, until he was…
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Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA Today, June 12, Metropolitan Hilarion celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” on Bolshaya Ordynka where he has been rector for 13 years. It was his farewell to the parish. On the Orthodox calendar, it is Pentecost, the feast of the Holy Trinity. The service was filmed by Portal “Jesus,” a website that was founded by Metropolitan Hilarion in 2018. https://jesus-portal.ru/ Today’s entire service can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=6nZSKtCC22g&f . As far as I could see, none of the key people from the Department of…