This is a story I hadn't heard, about an Australian priest found guilty of pedophilia. The priest belongs to the Australian and New Zealand Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ANZ ROCOR).

A fellow high-ranking priest told his congregation that it was wrong for them to condemn the guilty priest convicted of sexual abuse.

“Sheep do not judge their shepherd,” he told them. He went further saying judging the pedophilic priest was a deadly sin, equivalent of judging Christ.

The scandalous case that sank the Aussie Cossack revealed: Sydney Morning Herald

A senior priest of the Russian church in Australia can be revealed as a pedophile after a court suppression order concealed his name from the public as he faced trial.

Meanwhile, a devout Kremlin propagandist has chalked up 930 days hiding in Sydney’s Russian consulate after flagrantly breaching the same suppression order, having played a bizarre part in the priest’s downfall.

Alexis Rosentool is a senior figure in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, a branch of the church that went into exile during the rise of the Soviet Union in 1920. Last week he was found guilty of four charges related to his abuse of three males, this masthead can reveal.

Two male victims were indecently assaulted in the 1980s, and Rosentool had an “unlawful sexual relationship” with a child victim two decades later.

Details of the crime are sparse because Rosentool’s name has been suppressed by the courts for years. The order suppressing his name only lifted as the priest was taken into custody to await sentencing.
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"Sheep do not judge the shepherd": Australian Priest defends convicted colleague in shocking sermon

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