Post-2007 “ROCOR” Splinter Groups

After the 2007 Act of Canonical Communion reunited the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) with the Moscow Patriarchate, several small bodies continued to claim the ROCOR name or its mantle as “true Orthodoxy.” These groups must be carefully distinguished: only one — the body around Bishop Agafangel (Pashkovsky) — left specifically over the 2007 reunion; the others had already separated years earlier (1986–2002). None is in communion with any mainstream Orthodox church.

Tradition: ROCOR / Russian Orthodox

A Caution on Scale and Sources

Reliable membership statistics for these groups do not exist. None publishes an audited census, the bodies have repeatedly fragmented, and partisan websites inflate or deflate numbers according to allegiance. Where figures appear below they are the best available estimates, attributed and dated; they should be read as orders of magnitude, not counts. Collectively these jurisdictions represent a very small fraction of ROCOR’s former membership — the overwhelming majority of ROCOR’s parishes, monasteries, clergy, and faithful accepted the 2007 reunion (Act of Canonical Communion, May 17, 2007, synod.com; cf. the discussion in the 2007 reunion file).

The taxonomy matters. Popular usage lumps every “True Orthodox” Russian body together as a “ROCOR splinter,” but the canonical and historical realities differ sharply between (a) the group formed because of 2007, (b) groups that had already left ROCOR in earlier disputes, and (c) a body that departed in 1986 over an entirely separate controversy.

(a) The Group Formed Over the 2007 Reunion

ROCA(A) / ROCA-PSCA — the Agafangel body

The only ROCOR diocesan bishop to reject the Act of Canonical Communion was Bishop Agafangel (Pashkovsky) of Odessa and Tauris (consecrated 1995). On May 20, 2007, the ROCOR Synod suspended him for inciting schism, disobeying lawful authority, and refusing a transfer to the Buenos Aires cathedra; on May 22, 2007, days after the signing, Agafangel and the retired Bishop Daniel of Erie announced a “Provisional Supreme Church Authority” (ROCA-PSCA) for those who claimed to “remain in the ROCOR,” invoking Patriarch Tikhon’s Ukaz No. 362 of November 7/20, 1920 (Statement of Bishop Agafangel, May 22, 2007; ROCOR Synod of Bishops decisions, 2007, synod.com; “Russian Orthodox Church Abroad — Provisional Supreme Church Authority,” OrthodoxWiki, locator).

The new body lacked the bishops to perpetuate itself, so on December 7, 2007 Agafangel performed episcopal consecrations with the assistance of hierarchs of the Greek Old Calendarist “Holy Synod in Resistance” (the Cyprianite synod founded by Metropolitan Cyprian of Oropos and Fili), elevating Andronik (Kotliaroff) and Sophrony (Musienko) to the episcopate. This act sealed the organizational breach. In November 2008 a self-styled “Fifth All-Diaspora Council” elected Agafangel Metropolitan and First Hierarch of what came to be called the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (commonly “ROCA(A)” or “ROCOR-A,” from Agafangel) (Statement of Bishop Agafangel, May 22, 2007; “Agafangel (Pashkovsky) of Odessa,” OrthodoxWiki, locator).

Geography and scale. The body’s strength was always concentrated in Ukraine, especially in and around Odessa and the southern regions, with scattered parishes in North America, Western Europe, and Russia. No reliable parish count exists; estimates of a few dozen parishes worldwide circulate but cannot be verified against any official directory.

Fragmentation (2016–2017). The reconciliation in 2016 of the breakaway Far East diocese under Bishop Anastassy brought new internal tension. A faction accused Agafangel of “usurping power,” uncanonical administration, and what critics called “a quasi-papal attitude.” On August 27, 2016, Bishops Sophrony (Musienko) of St. Petersburg and Andronik (Kotliaroff) of Syracuse announced their non-submission to Agafangel’s Synod; a self-appointed “Pre-Council Commission” demanded he resign as chairman and decentralize the church into autonomous districts. When this failed, Andronik convened a rival assembly — styled a “Sixth All-Diaspora Council” — that opened in New York on January 11, 2017, producing yet another separation and further micro-jurisdictions claiming the ROCOR heritage (“ROCA: Summary from Vladivostok about the latest Schism,” australiaorthodoxroca.org, Jan. 2017; “A Split to End the Splits? Archbishop Andronik…,” NFTU, 2016; interview with Archbishop Andronik, rocana.org, 2017).

Current status (as of June 2026). Both the Agafangel synod and the Andronik-aligned grouping continue as separate small bodies. Agafangel (b. 1956) remains the figurehead of the larger fragment. As with all True Orthodox Russian bodies, neither is recognized by, or in communion with, the Moscow Patriarchate, ROCOR, or any other canonical Orthodox church. Precise current membership is undocumented in any reliable source.

(b) Groups That Had Already Left Before 2007

These bodies are routinely but inaccurately described as “products of 2007.” Each separated earlier and over its own issues; each absorbed some clergy and parishes that later rejected the 2007 reunion, but none was created by it.

ROAC — the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church (1995)

In 1990 Archimandrite Valentin (Rusantsov), a Moscow Patriarchate cleric in Suzdal, was received into ROCOR and made bishop of Suzdal in 1991, building up Russian parishes under the “Russian Orthodox Free Church” label. In 1995, Valentin together with Bishops Theodore (Gineyevsky) and Seraphim (Zinchenko), their clergy and parishes, separated from the ROCOR Synod’s administrative authority. The withdrawal was approved on a visit to Suzdal by ROCOR’s long-serving former Synod secretary, the retired Bishop Gregory (Grabbe), shortly before his death. The body was renamed the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church (ROAC) in 1998, headquartered in Suzdal (Mayer, Jean-François, “Orthodox Churches: Schism in the ROCOR,” Religioscope, Jan. 26, 2002; “Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church,” OrthodoxWiki, locator).

Leadership succession. Valentin (raised to Metropolitan within the ROAC) led the church until his death in 2012; he was succeeded by Metropolitan Theodore (Gineyevsky) of Suzdal and Vladimir. ROAC has a small American diocese (roacusa.org). It is the group that first proclaimed a glorification of Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky) in 2001 — an act ROCOR does not recognize (verification log, saints/README.md).

Scale. A 2017 figure circulated for ROAC gives roughly 35 registered parishes, additional unregistered (“catacomb”) communities, about 10 bishops and 40 priests, and on the order of 5,000 laypeople; these are estimates, not an audited census (“Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church,” Wikipedia, locator, citing a 2017 survey).

Current status (as of June 2026). ROAC continues under Metropolitan Theodore as a small True Orthodox body, not in communion with any mainstream Orthodox church. It has been weakened by prolonged Russian state litigation over the Suzdal churches.

RTOC — the Russian True Orthodox Church (2001–2002)

ROCOR’s bishops inside Russia who refused the trajectory toward Moscow formed a separate body. Archbishop Lazar (Zhurbenko) — secretly consecrated for the Catacomb flock in Moscow in 1982 (verification log, sergianist-controversy.md) — and Bishop Benjamin (Rusalenko) broke from the ROCOR Synod amid the Mansonville crisis of late 2001 and in 2002 consecrated additional bishops for Russia, constituting the Russian True Orthodox Church (RTOC) (“The Russian True Orthodox Church,” saintjonah.org; “Russian True Orthodox Church (Lazar Zhurbenko),” Wikipedia, locator).

Leadership succession. After Lazar’s death, Tikhon (Pasechnik) was elected First Hierarch on July 7, 2003, with the title Archbishop of Omsk and Siberia; he chairs the RTOC Synod, which also includes Archbishop Benjamin and several bishops (“The Russian True Orthodox Church,” saintjonah.org).

Current status (as of June 2026). RTOC continues under Archbishop Tikhon (Pasechnik) as a small True Orthodox jurisdiction with parishes in Russia and abroad, not in communion with mainstream Orthodoxy. Reliable membership figures are not available.

ROCiE / ROCOR(V) — the Vitaly group (2001)

When the aged First Hierarch Metropolitan Vitaly (Ustinov) agreed to retire (July 10, 2001) and Metropolitan Laurus was elected (October 2001) to lead ROCOR toward reconciliation, Vitaly repudiated the election, declared he had been removed by force, and withdrew his resignation from his residence at the Holy Transfiguration Skete in Mansonville, Quebec. A body formed around him, calling itself the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile (ROCiE), popularly “ROCOR-Vitaly” or “ROCOR(V).” Bishop Varnava (Prokofiev) consecrated new bishops for it (Sergius Kindiakov, Vladimir Tselishchev) (verification log, exile-period.md; “Russian Orthodox Church in Exile,” OrthodoxWiki, locator; “Metropolitan Vitaly (Ustinov),” orthodoxcanada.ca).

Fragmentation. ROCiE began fracturing almost immediately amid internal disputes, including bitter accusations over the use of the frail Vitaly’s name and authority. After Vitaly’s death on September 25, 2006, the body splintered into several rival factions. A remnant continued to use the “Russian Orthodox Church in Exile” name, reorganizing in 2008 into Eurasian and American districts from Mansonville (verification log, exile-period.md; “Russian Orthodox Church in Exile,” OrthodoxWiki, locator).

Current status (as of June 2026). No single successor body commands the “ROCOR-V” legacy; several small fragments persist, none in communion with mainstream Orthodoxy, and none with verifiable membership figures.

(c) The Group That Left in 1986 — HOCNA

The Holy Orthodox Church in North America (HOCNA) is sometimes grouped with the “ROCOR splinters,” but it left ROCOR in 1986 over an entirely different controversy. Its core community, Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Boston under Archimandrite Panteleimon (Metropoulos), had been a convert-led, formerly Greek-tradition community received into ROCOR in the 1960s as a center of anti-ecumenist zeal. In December 1986 the ROCOR Synod suspended Panteleimon amid serious accusations of sexual misconduct, and the monastery with its dependent parishes left ROCOR. After a brief period under independent Greek bishops, they were received by the Old Calendarist Synod of Archbishop Auxentios of Athens, which in 1988 consecrated Ephraim (then of Boston) and formally constituted HOCNA (“Holy Orthodox Church in North America,” OrthodoxWiki and Wikipedia, locators).

Later crisis. From 2011–2012 HOCNA was convulsed by the “name-worship” (imiaslavie) controversy and by the renewed surfacing of the historic abuse allegations surrounding Holy Transfiguration Monastery. Bishop Demetrius of Boston, with a number of parishes and clergy, departed for the Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece in 2012, and a body of monks left the monastery (“Chronology of Name-Worshipping in HOCNA,” 2012; NFTU coverage, 2012).

Scale and current status (as of June 2026). HOCNA is small — on the order of about two dozen parishes in the United States and Canada centered on Holy Transfiguration Monastery, organized into a few metropolises; this is an estimate, not an audited figure. It remains a Greek Old Calendarist–rooted True Orthodox body, not in communion with ROCOR, the Moscow Patriarchate, or any mainstream Orthodox church (“Holy Orthodox Church in North America,” OrthodoxWiki, locator).

Canonical Framing

In Orthodox ecclesiology, communion is the test of canonical standing. Each of the bodies above stands outside communion with the Moscow Patriarchate and with ROCOR — and therefore outside communion with the other autocephalous churches recognized by them. They are best described neutrally: small ecclesial communities that, for differing reasons and at different dates, separated from ROCOR and have not been reconciled. This file records who they are and how they arose, without adjudicating their self-understanding as the “true” continuation of the Church Abroad (cf. METHODOLOGY §4 on sensitive jurisdictional topics; Anti-Ecumenism on the disputes that animate many of them).

See Also

References

  • Act of Canonical Communion of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia with the Moscow Patriarchate. May 17, 2007. Official English text: https://www.synod.com/synod/engdocuments/enmat_akt.html
  • Statement of Bishop Agafangel (Pashkovsky), May 22, 2007; Russian Orthodox Church Abroad Synod of Bishops decisions, 2007. synod.com.
  • Mayer, Jean-François. “Orthodox Churches: Schism in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR).” Religioscope, January 26, 2002. https://english.religion.info/2002/01/26/orthodox-churches-schism-in-the-russian-orthodox-church-outside-russia-rocor/
  • “The Russian True Orthodox Church.” saintjonah.org. http://www.saintjonah.org/articles/RTOC.htm (locator for the True Orthodox jurisdiction lists).
  • “Russian Orthodox Church Abroad — Provisional Supreme Church Authority”; “Agafangel (Pashkovsky) of Odessa”; “Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church”; “Russian True Orthodox Church”; “Russian Orthodox Church in Exile”; “Holy Orthodox Church in North America.” OrthodoxWiki (used as locators per METHODOLOGY §2.3).
  • “Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church”; “Russian True Orthodox Church (Lazar Zhurbenko)”; “Holy Orthodox Church in North America.” Wikipedia (used as locators).
  • “ROCA: Summary from Vladivostok about the latest Schism.” Australian and New Zealand Diocese (ROCA), January 2017. http://australiaorthodoxroca.org/?x=entry:entry170131-144536
  • “A Split to End the Splits? Archbishop Andronik Holding 6th All-Diaspora Council to Try Metropolitan Agafangel.” NFTU, 2016.
  • “Metropolitan Vitaly (Ustinov).” Canadian Orthodox History Project, orthodoxcanada.ca.
  • “Chronology of Name-Worshipping in HOCNA as of September 14/27, 2012.” onimyaslavie.blogspot.com / NFTU, 2012.