Russian Orthodox Church Fires Archpriest Over Controversial Icon Transfer

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has fired his expert on art and restoration, Archpriest Leonid Kalinin, for obstructing the transfer of a historic 15th-century Trinity icon from Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery to the Church. Russian President Vladimir Putin had decided that the icon be handed over to the Church because of its importance to believers. Icons are stylised, often gilded religious paintings considered sacred in Eastern Orthodox Churches. The icon is thought to have been painted to honour Saint Sergius of Radonezh in Sergiyev Posad, near Moscow.