Archimandrite Feognost (Pushkov), a cleric with the Russian Orthodox Church, said that in fact the claimed number of clerics of the Patriarchate of Alexandria who expressed a desire to join the Russian Orthodox Church is double the actual figure.
“That the number of those who allegedly applied to become part of the Moscow Patriarchate is 102 is in fact misinformation. I do not think that the misinformation spin was launched by the ROC Synod. Most likely, they didn’t just take their informants at their word – they bluntly lied. Everyone who knows what’s going on there says there are no more than 51 people,” the Moscow Patriarchate’s priest wrote in a publication on social media.
He also noted that none of these 51 clerics had officially joined the ROC. Moreover, of these 51, only a few are currently valid clerics with the Patriarchate of Alexandria. “The majority are either clerics with vague jurisdiction (and dubious ordination), or those banned from service or even deprived of their position with the Patriarchate of Alexandria for very serious reasons,” the ROCinU cleric reported.
Earlier, Archimandrite Feognost (Pushkov) wrote that 102 African priests joined the ROC because they were seeking to improve their difficult financial situation. He also called the decision of the ROC regarding the Church of Alexandria equivalent to blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
