A Brooklyn appellate court has dismissed a long-time congregant’s suit against his former church, holding it could not resolve a lawsuit linked to the Russian Orthodox Church without wading into interpretations of religious doctrine that were prohibited by the First Amendment.
Oleg Rodzianko had been a member of Parish of the Russian Orthodox Holy Virgin Protection Church in Nyack for nearly 60 years before he left and sued over the church’s alleged adherence to a pact between leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church that intended to heal an 80-year schism caused by Communist rule.
