 After the election of the New First Hierarch of ROCOR, Metropolitan Laurus, Metropolitan Vitaly released an epistle denouncing the latest ROCOR Synod, asserting that he continued to be ROCOR's primate.A number of ROCOR clergy and parishioners who were against ROCOR's union with the Moscow Patriarchate formed a new church administration around Metropolitan Vitaly, renaming themselves as the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile (referred to as ROCOR-Vitaly in common parlance).The episcopate of ROCOR asserted that Metropolitan Vitaly was being held hostage by schismatics who took advantage of his failing health and used his name to produce a schism.