Officers from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) have detained
the head of the Russian Orthodox Autononous Church, the Portal-Credo news website reported Wednesday.
Church leader Metropolitan Feodor and bishops from the Tula and Bryansk region were interrogated without the presence of a lawyer, the website said.
The FSB said that the detention
was linked to videos and publications by the ROAC about the “corruption of
Russian courts.” The FSB is investigating the material for
“signs of extremism,” Portal-Credo reported.
The ROAC is a branch of Orthodoxy in conflict with the Moscow Patriarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church, whose sacraments they deem invalid.
The Moscow Patriarchy took over 11 parishes from the ROAC in Suzdal in 2009, and took two relics from a ROAC cathedral by force in March 2015.
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