Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia - Schism

Schism

The possibility of rapprochement, however, led to a minor schism from the ROCOR in 2001, taking with it ROCOR's self-retired former First Hierarch, Metropolitan Vitaly (Oustinoff), and the suspended Bishop Varnava (Prokofieff) of Cannes. The two formed a loosely associated jurisdiction under the name Russian Orthodox Church in Exile (ROCiE). It was claimed that Metropolitan Vitaly's entourage forged his signature on epistles and documents. Bishop Varnava subsequently issued a letter of apology, and was received back into the ROCOR in 2006 as a retired bishop. Even before the repose of Metropolitan Vitaly in 2006, the ROCiE began to break up into eventually four rival factions, each claiming to be the true ROCOR.