Archpriest Leonid Kalinin, whom Patriarch Kirill removed from all posts on May 27 and banned from serving, was hospitalized with a heart attack. Two sources close to Father Leonid told the BBC about this – a priest and an expert on church heritage.
“He is on a drip, his heart is bad,” said one of the interlocutors of the publication. Both sources said that Kalinin himself did not want to comment on information about his health to the media.
Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev) removed the head of the expert council on church art, priest Leonid Kalinin, from his post with the wording "for obstructing" the transfer of Rublev's "Trinity" to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
Kalinin participated in a meeting of the restoration council of the Tretyakov Gallery, at which it was decided not to transfer the icon to the church for the time being, since its condition does not allow it to be taken out of the museum. At the moment, the icon is in the restoration workshop in the process of urgent restoration of the monument. Kalinin then told reporters that the Russian Orthodox Church "with understanding" reacted to the conclusions of experts, and that "at the forefront" should be the issue of the preservation of the icon.
A few days later, Patriarch Kirill not only fired him from all positions, but also banned him from serving.
The decision to transfer the icon to the Russian Orthodox Church was announced on May 15 by Vladimir Putin. He said that this would be done "in response to the numerous requests of Orthodox believers." On May 26, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that the Trinity would be moved to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior by June 4. The Ministry of Culture, in turn, assured that "the safety of the icon during transportation and exhibition will be ensured by the most modern means."
