New Jersey Priest of ROCOR joins Free Russian Church

(Trenton – NFTU) Fr Stephen Sabelnik of the Russian Church Abroad, formerly of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCOR-L), has officially left the ROCOR for the True Russian Orthodox Church under the Omophor of Bp Tikhon of Omsk and Siberia.

The priest was an opponent of the policies of the ROCOR’s gradual rejoining with the Moscow Patriarchate and made a final break with the ROCOR March 18. Before leaving the ROCOR, Fr Stephen issued two open letters in March calling on clergy of the ROCOR to return to their catacomb heritage.

This appears to be the first such reception since Bp Tikhon’s visit to the United States ended on February 6.