Ex-Russian metropolitan sent to Brazil after Czech cocaine bust

Cocaine was found in a vehicle belonging to Metropolitan Hilarion of the Russian Orthodox Church, who was previously detained in the Czech Republic, according to local media reports citing police sources.

Read also: Independent priest and peace advocate hit with drug den case.

According to Deník N, Czech law enforcement officials confirmed to journalists that the Russian cleric serving in the Czech Republic was transporting containers holding a white narcotic substance in his vehicle. After being questioned, the cleric was released and later returned to Moscow.

Subsequently, Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, reassigned Hilarion to a new post in the Argentina and South America Diocese, based in Brazil.

The Moscow Patriarchate said Hilarion could no longer continue his ministry in the Czech Republic «due to objective circumstances.» It said his new assignment includes service at the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul and the Church of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian in the Brazilian cities of Santa Rosa and Campina das Missões.

Hilarion described his detention as a provocation and denied any involvement in the illegal possession of prohibited substances.