Metropolitan Laurus

Metropolitan Laurus, who helped heal an 80-year rift between the Russian Orthodox Church and the offshoot Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, died March 16 at the Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, in upstate New York. He was 80. In May 2007, Laurus signed an accord in Moscow with Moscow patriarch Alexsy II of the Russian Orthodox Church at a ceremony attended by Russian president Vladimir Putin. "This historic deed will be forever remembered by grateful descendants," Putin said. In 1927, the Moscow patriarch had pledged loyalty to the Soviet state, and the overseas group had rebuked its mother church and cut all ties.

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