The former head of the church also spoke out against the war in Ukraine.
The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church has appointed Metropolitan Mark (Golovkov) of Ryazan and Mikhailovsk as Patriarchal Exarch of Western Europe.
He will head the Korsun and Western European Diocese and will oversee the parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in several European countries. At the same time, the hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church has been relieved of his management of the Ryazan Diocese, which he previously led.
Metropolitan Mark had been temporarily fulfilling the duties of the head of the Exarchate since November 2025 — after the previous exarch, Metropolitan Nestor (Sirotenko), was removed from management due to an ecclesiastical judicial investigation initiated against him.
The official messages from the Moscow Patriarchate did not specify the reasons for the investigation. The Telegram channel "Orthodoxy and Zombies," as well as "Novaya Gazeta Europe," reported that the reason was Nestor's passion for playing poker. According to journalists, he participated in international tournaments, and his total winnings could exceed several tens of thousands of dollars, Radio France reports.
The published decision of the Synod states that Nestor sent a letter to Patriarch Kirill acknowledging "actions that bring temptation to the faithful and contradict the canons," and expressing remorse. The Synod relieved him of his position as exarch and appointed him as vicar of the Korsun Diocese with the title "Stupinsky."
According to Archpriest Andrei Kordochkin, the current decision means the final transfer of the hierarch to Western Europe. "Previously, he was essentially acting: he remained a metropolitan in Ryazan, while managing the exarchate was an additional duty. Now the appointment has become permanent: he will move to Paris in the near future," Kordochkin notes.
The post of Exarch of Western Europe remains one of the most prominent in the structure of the Russian Orthodox Church outside the former USSR. "If we do not consider the countries of the former USSR, then this is perhaps the most notable figure of the Russian Orthodox Church in the so-called far abroad — simply by the scale of dioceses and the number of parishes," he explains.
This step by the Synod marks a significant reduction in the status of Metropolitan Nestor. "He remains in the system, but instead of his previous position, he becomes a vicar of the new exarch. For someone who recently headed the entire Western European exarchate, this is quite a humiliating punishment," the priest believes.
In recent years, Metropolitan Nestor was one of the few hierarchs of the Moscow Patriarchate in Western Europe who signed joint statements with Catholic and Orthodox bishops of an anti-war nature after the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Kordochkin reminds.
On April 6, 2022, together with the representative of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Spain, Archbishop Francisco Javier Martinez, they published a joint declaration reminding of the anti-war commandments of the Gospel, calling to "stop violence and barbarism and to listen in their conscience to the voice of God, which rejects evil."
In addition, Metropolitan Nestor temporarily banned Kordochkin from serving only after an unpublished resolution from Patriarch Kirill in early 2023.
At the time of the invasion, Archpriest Andrei Kordochkin was the rector of the Madrid Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is part of the Western European Exarchate, and from the very beginning of the war, he took a public position, in particular, initiating an anti-war appeal from the clergy on March 1, 2022.
Journalist and creator of the "Orthodoxy and Zombies" channel, Ksenia Luchenko, noted in November 2025 that Metropolitan Nestor was likely set up by someone. "He did not promote the Russian world. He did not bow low enough... He was always on the side of his priests, not the patriarchate, defending them," she wrote then.
According to Archpriest Andrei Kordochkin, playing poker is not formally considered a violation by canonical law and is recognized as an intellectual sport. He also states that Metropolitan Nestor invested personal funds in the fresco project of the cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church in Madrid, where Kordochkin served for 19 years.
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