Russian Orthodox Church Fires Archpriest Over Icon Transfer Obstruction

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has dismissed 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. Kalinin was also banned from the priesthood. Icons are considered sacred in Eastern Orthodox Churches, and the Trinity icon is one of the holiest and most artistically important Russian icons.