Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church
The Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church (ROAC, , РПАЦ) is a non-canonical Russian Orthodox church body. ROAC identifies as part of True Orthodoxy. It was formed in 1994 by a number of former ROCOR parishes, who formed an independent jurisdiction because of disagreements with the ROCOR and the Russian Orthodox Church. Their synod is located in Suzdal, Russia. The ROAC rejects the "Sergianist heresy" and holds that the sacraments of the Moscow Patriarchate (considered distinct from the Russian Orthodox Church that existed before the Bolshevik revolution) are anathema or invalid and ineffectual for salvation. The ROAC upholds  in principle and emphasizes the ROCOR 1983 anathema against ecumenism. The ROAC has 10 bishops, including five Archbishops (Seraphim, Hilarion, Victor, Timothy and Andrei), led by Metropolitan Theodore. The ROAC has a section in Latvia called the Latvian Orthodox Autonomous Church. History. In 1990 some surviving members of the Catacomb Church organized the "Russian Orthodox Free Church" and acknowledged their subordination to the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. All the church properties were legally recognized to belong to the Moscow Patriarchate and defectors were forced to build up new buildings in order to become an authonomous religious community. In 1998, this  church, which numbers approximately 60 congregations in the Russian Federation and the former Soviet republics, changed its name to the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church. In 2009 a Russian court confiscated 13 churches in Suzdal from the ROAC. In March 2015 Federal Bailiffs Service officials took two relics from a ROAC cathedral by force and gave them to the Russian Orthodox Church.