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ROC Approves Appointment of New ROCA Head

16.05.2008, [13:27] // Inter-Christian relations //

Kyiv— On 14 May 2008, the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church approved the election of Archbishop Hilarion (Kapral) of Sidney, Australia and New Zealand as Head of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA). Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and All Russia consecrated the archbishop metropolitan on 12 May 2008 in view of his election by the Synod of Bishops of the ROCA.

Metropolitain Volodymyr Sabodan, Head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate, congratulated Metropolitain Hilarion in a letter posted on the UOC-MP website.

According to the Orthodoxy in Ukraine website, Archbishop Hilarion is of Ukrainian descent; his parents are originally from the village of Obenizhi of the Turii district in the Volyn region. The family immigrated to Canada in 1929, at a time when much of the Western Ukrainian population was being oppressed by Polish authorities.

• http://orthodoxy.org.ua/uk/tserkovni_hroniki/2008/05/13/16035.html