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The '''Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church''' (or {{lang-ru|Российская православная автономная церковь}}, before 1998 - '''Free Russian Orthodox Church''' or , {{lang-ru|Российская православная свободная церковь}}, the Moscow Patriarchate also has the designation '''Russian True Orthodox ChurchSuzdal schism''', {{lang-ru|Суздальский раскол}}) is one of several [[True Orthodox|"True" Orthodox]] churches in Russia which has roots in the [[Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia]] and claims to be a continuation of the [[Catacomb Church of Russia]]. Its current primate is Metropolitan Valentine Theodore (Gineyevsky) of Sudzal and Vladimir and Sudzal (1990 – presentsince 2012). It functions independently and is not in communion with any of the recognized Orthodox Churches.
==Establishment of the "Free Russian Orthodox Church"==
At the end of World War II, many parts of the catacomb church reconciled with the [[Moscow Patriarchate]], due to the election of a new patriarch ([[Alexei I (Simansky) of Moscow|Alexei I]]) and to a lessening of the level of persecution on the part of the Soviets. By the 1980s, what was left of the catacomb church no longer had any hierarchy of its own, and was very small and scattered. Due to a desire to support these people, the ROCOR decided to consecrate a secret bishop for the catacomb church in 1982—Bishop Lazar (Zhurbenko). This was the first step towards the establishment of ROCOR parishes inside Russia—a policy that was controversial even at the time, and which ROCOR later came to regret. These parishes came to be known as the ''Free Russian Orthodox Church'' (FROC).