The Russian Orthodox Church has failed to find in itself the living force to lead Russian society morally or spiritually, as was hoped by both believers and nonbelievers when the collapse of the Soviet state had become obvious. The 1988 Millennial Council (Sobor) of the Church adopted a statute which is close in essence and spirit to the statutes and decisions adopted by the Moscow Sobor of 1917-18. The statute is largely ignored, however. Thus, for example, no ecclesiastical courts, as stipulated by the statute, have been created. The resulting tendency is for bishops either to rule their dioceses as despots or to allow total independence to each parish priest and ecclesiastical anarchy to prevail. When the situation becomes intolerable and the bishop gets too many complaints from the laity a priest is removed, suspended, pensioned off or defrocked administratively; this then allows him to complain of injustice and seek acceptance either by another bishop in another diocese or by the Synod of the Church in Exile, and to publish brochures under such headings as Pochemu ya pereshel v Zarubezhnuyu chast' Russkoi Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi (Why 1 Have Joined the Russian Church Abroad).' Let us take as an example the case of Archimandrite Adrian of Noginsk (formerly Bogorodsk). Parents of Sunday-school children he had taught sent in protests about his homosexual activity. Patriarch Aleksi threatened him with suspension, whereupon on 18 January 1993 he joined the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) under Valentin of Suzdal'. On 16 March of the same year, however, the ROCOR Synod suspended him for 'very grave moral transgressions'. In the summer of 1993, allegedly in protest against the ROCOR leadership's support for Pamyat' and other fascist and antisemitic groups, Bishop Valentin organised a conference of some sixty schismatic parishes and declared temporary autocephaly independence from both the emigre ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate. Archimandrite Adrian chose not to abide by the order of his ecclesiastical superiors, and joined the new autocephalous formation. The marriage was brief, however: on 23 January 1994 Bishop Valentin banned Adrian 'for violating the Apostolic rules and the canons of our Church Fathers, [as well as J for allowing unordained persons to serve at the altar and for sacking priests without episcopal approval'. Adrian consequently addressed himself to the schismatic metropolitan of Kiev Filaret, defrocked by a 1992 council of all the bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church for immoral behaviour, mistreatment of the clergy and scandalous revelations about his collaboration with the KGB. Filaret, who on his return from the Moscow council of bishops had violated the oath to retire he had