It is a humiliation in times of war: the Russian Orthodox Church has relieved the head of its foreign office, Metropolitan Hilarion, of this post and appointed him to lead the diocese of Budapest-Hungary.

In addition, the 55-year-old cleric, who was previously considered a possible successor to the 75-year-old patriarch Kirill, will lose his membership in the synod of the church (which formally made the decision) and as rector of a church academy.

The only 37-year-old Metropolitan of Korsun and Western Europe, Antony, became the new head of the foreign office and permanent member of the synod.

From 1989 until his election as patriarch in 2009, Kirill himself headed the foreign office, so that the personnel is a pointer to his desired successor;

especially since Metropolitan Antony worked as Kirill's secretary for a long time.

Frederick Smith

Political correspondent for Russia and the CIS in Moscow.

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The patriarch, who is said to have worked under the alias Michajlkow in the Soviet secret service KGB, is a staunch supporter of the war and the "special operation" against Ukraine.

Like President Vladimir Putin, Kirill claims that fascism, defeated in 1945, must once again be defeated in Ukraine.

He also preaches that Russia has never attacked another country and that a "metaphysical battle" of good (Russian) against evil is taking place in Ukraine.

Kirill's "foreign minister" Hilarion had visited Hungary in the first days of June.

At the same time, the government in Budapest prevented Kirill from being put on the EU sanctions list.

Kirill's synod now thanked Prime Minister Viktor Orbán "for the firm position".

War Accelerates Erosion of Russian Orthodoxy

One can only speculate about the background to Hilarion's demotion, because, as the archdeacon and publicist critical of the church Andrei Kurayev told the newspaper "Moskovskiy Komsomolets", the patriarch never explains personnel issues.

However, Kurayev emphasized that the synodal decision did not thank Hilarion for the successful trip to Hungary or for his 13 years at the head of the foreign office and that responsibility for Hungary was a step backwards in Hilarion's career.

Kirill shows that he is concerned with "banishment and punishment", according to Kurayev.

In Russia, Kirill's church is rich and powerful thanks to its ties to Putin.

Outside the country, she is under pressure.

In Ukraine in particular, their importance has been declining for years;

the independence of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine achieved three and a half years ago hit them hard;

the war is accelerating the erosion of Kirill's church in Ukraine.

Kurayev sees no reason to blame Hilarion for the decline of Kirill's church in Ukraine, but thinks it's possible that Hilarion's degradation is related to the war.

In mid-March, the orthodox "foreign minister" had let an appeal by the Catholic bishops' conferences of the EU to Kirill to work towards a "diplomatic solution to the conflict" come to nothing, but unlike his patriarch, who was involved in the justification for war, had not attracted any further attention.

According to Kurayev, it was previously assumed that Kirill approved of this reluctance so that the church would have an unsanctioned representative who could negotiate with Western politicians and church officials.

But now the impression is created that Hilarion is being punished for "excessive political caution".

In other words: for lack of loyalty to Putin and Kirill.

The case of Moscow's Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt shows that the Kremlin also wants to employ other religious communities.

At the beginning of May he said he had left Russia, but referred to his father being treated in Israel.

Now his family circle mentioned security reasons and spoke of "exile": Goldschmidt and his wife had been put under pressure by the Russian authorities and should have publicly supported the "special operation", but rejected it.