On February 8, 2023, the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church took note of the decision to depose the exarch of the Russian Orthodox Church in Africa, Metropolitan Leonid of Klin (Gorbachev), the official website of the EOC reports.

The Holy Synod adopted a unanimous decision, “according to the ancient church order”, to send out a circular “about the aforementioned deposition” to the Archdiocese of Athens and all the metropolitans of the Greek Church.