One of many Russian Orthodox Church’s most senior bishops in Europe has been abruptly faraway from his put up for “disciplinary causes” — although reviews counsel the actual challenge could also be his surprising curiosity in poker.
In line with Russian outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe, Metropolitan Nestor has been defrocked and is underneath investigation for allegedly utilizing church funds to enter tournaments, amid hypothesis that his softer stance on the conflict in Ukraine additionally performed an element.
Who Is The “Poker Priest”?
On November 8, Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, introduced that Metropolitan Nestor, who oversaw parishes throughout France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy, had been dismissed and positioned underneath church investigation.
Metropolitan Nestor, whose secular identify is Evgeny Sirotenko, was born in Moscow in 1974 and entered the Moscow Theological Seminary in 1995.
He grew to become a monk in 1998, taking the identify Nestor, and was ordained a priest quickly after. He went on to serve parishes throughout France, and rose steadily via the Church hierarchy earlier than lastly being appointed Metropolitan of Korsun and Western Europe in 2022, overseeing the Church’s actions throughout a lot of Western Europe.
Nevertheless, a fast Google search exhibits that Sirotenko has additionally been lively on the poker scene. His Hendon Mob profile exhibits he has earned greater than $47,000 in prize cash, together with 12 cashes in 2025 alone, in locations such because the Netherlands, France, Cambodia and the Czech Republic.
Sirotenko seems to play recurrently on the Circus Membership Paris, successful a €350 event earlier this 12 months on the similar venue the place he recorded the biggest money of his profession, successful a €500 tournametn for €7,664.
Whereas these buy-ins is probably not that of an excellent excessive curler, the Russian Orthodox church takes a dim view on playing, with Orthodox canon regulation technically forbidding clergy from playing.
A Church Energy Play
The choice to oust Nestor was made by Patriarch Kirill, who solely discovered of Nestor’s poker-playing habits within the final weeks. In line with Novaya, Nestor had travelled to the Czech Republic the place he met with a fellow bishop and former head of international relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Hilarion.
Hilarion was exiled from Russia after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and now lives in Karlovy Range — an hour away from King’s Resort in Rozvadov, the place Nestor has beforehand performed and cashed.
Though there isn’t a suggestion that Nestor had performed poker on this journey, and the poker scandal dominates the headlines, this determination by Kirill comes in opposition to a wider backdrop involving not only a marketing campaign for rehabilitation by Hilarion, however Nestor’s quiet dissent over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In April 2022, Nestor signed a joint assertion with a Spanish Catholic archbishop condemning the conflict and refused to punish a Madrid priest who known as it “satanic.”
In Paris, parishioners are actually gathering signatures in his protection, praising Nestor as a considerate and compassionate chief. Some even say they’d comply with him if he broke with the Moscow Patriarchate and joined the extra unbiased Constantinople Church.
In the long run, poker stands out as the cost, however few doubt that the actual sport is energy.
Will Shillibier
Managing Editor
