The RTOC was formed in 2002, when Archbishop
Lazar (Zhurbenko) and Bishop
Benjamin (Rusalenko) ordained Bishop
Tikhon (Pasechnik), Hermogen of
Chernigov and
Gomel, Bishop Irenaeus of Verniy (today
Almaty) and
Semirechiye and Bishop Dionysius of
Novgorod and
Tver. In 2003 they transformed their Hierarchical Forum into a Hierarchical Synod, the Russian True Orthodox Church. According to the RTOC, all this was in accordance with the Decree of Saint
Patriarch Tikhon number 362, with their Second All-Russian Conference of clergy and laity, and had the blessing of Metropolitan
Vitaly (Ustinov). In 2011 the hierarchs of the RTOC have ordained hieromonk Akakije (Nemanja Stanković) as the bishop of the
Serbian True Orthodox Church. In 2018 the bishops of the RTOC broke communion with the Serbian True Orthodox Church as Bishop Akakije took under his omophorion a large number of clergy that had no canonical leave from the hierarchs of the RTOC. Currently in Russia, the Russian True Orthodox Church has the following dioceses: Omsk-Siberia, Odesa-Kharkiv, Black Sea-Kuban, Chernihiv-Gomel, Novgorod-Tver, and Verney-Semirechiye (Kazakhstan). == Doctrine ==