Moscow, December 13, 2023
Fr. Cyril concelebrating with Bp. Mikhail, the Constantinople Exarch in Kiev. Photo: spzh.news
The Moscow Diocesan Ecclesiastical Court ruled on October 31 that Archimandrite Cyril (Hovorun) is subject to defrocking.
Fr. Cyril was suspended in late September after serving with the Constantinople Exarch-hierarch in Kiev in August. Recall that the Russian Orthodox Church broke communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople in October 2018. His defrocking will come into effect once confirmed by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill.
The court’s ruling from October was published today on the site of the Moscow Diocese. The decision is based on Canon 25 of the Holy Apostles, concerning perjury, as Fr. Cyril violated his priestly oath by serving with a Constantinople hierarch.
Though formally a cleric of the Moscow Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, Fr. Cyril has long been known as a supporter of the Ukrainian schismatics and has also concelebrated with them a number of times since the creation of the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” in 2018. He was even considered a candidate for the primatial throne of the schismatic OCU.
Fr. Cyril is best known in the English-speaking world for his work in liberal academia and for his frequent statements to media outlets that present him as an expert on Church matters. He was formerly a cleric of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, even serving as the head of its Department for External Church Relations, though he was later transferred back to the Russian Church.
Interestingly, it was Pat. Kirill who ordained him to both the diaconate and the priesthood when he was Metropolitan of Kaliningrad and Smolensk. Since 2017, he has been a research fellow at the Catholic Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!
