An Orthodox archbishop who exchanged friendly greetings and gifts with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska has apologized to “those who have experienced pain, suffering, or confusion because of my actions.”
However, Alaska Archbishop Alexei did not directly apologize for the meeting itself, which took place in Anchorage following Putin’s Aug. 15 summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, which was focused on the war in Ukraine.
Alexei’s superior in the Orthodox Church in America, Metropolitan Tikhon, distanced his church from the meeting. Tikhon said the archbishop failed to inform him of his plans to meet Putin, despite “canonical tradition” requiring a bishop to do nothing without informing his metropolitan.
Tikhon said the meeting doesn’t represent the OCA’s position, which he said has been to “clearly and repeatedly condemn the aggression against Ukraine.”
Critics said the meeting, with its exchange of smiles and Orthodox icons, conferred legitimacy on Putin. The Russian president faces an arrest warrant issued in 2023 from the International Criminal Court, accusing him of war crimes in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Leaders of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA, a separate jurisdiction, called it “a betrayal of the Gospel of Christ and scandalous to the faithful.”
