Diomid, who was Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) bishop in Chukotka before being stripped of that rank by the Moscow Patriarchate, has died in an automobile accident near St. Petersburg on November 20, 2021. Given that this occurred on Patriarch Kirill’s birthday, some of his followers are likely to suspect foul play as many Russians did when journalist Anna Politkovskaya was killed on Putin’s birthday in 2006.
While bishop, Diomid was a thorn in the side of the Moscow Patriarchate and then-Metropolitan and now Patriarch Kirill’s in particular, accusing both of apostasy, betraying Orthodox principles and engaging in ecumenical activities. That led the church leadership to oust him from his position and strip him of his clerical rank.
Since 2008, the dissident churchman has formed what he claimed is the true Orthodox Church of Russia, something the Moscow Patriarchate has regularly denounced, fearing that he serves as a model for possible moves toward autocephaly at the regional level in Russia, but has been unable to block. With Diomid’s death, that threat has been reduced.
In his obituary of Diomid, Aleksandr Soldatov, a specialist on Orthodoxy, suggests that that threat has not gone away. Yes, he writes, Diomid’s “attempt to challenge the Leviathan was largely unsuccessful and even ridiculous; and the Leviathan did not forgive him.”
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- Attacking Ukrainian church: The Kremlin turns the Orthodox world into a battlefield
